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one-piece-musings · 3 years

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"Sanjiiii," the captain whined, sprawled out on the deck as if he were starving, "Meeeeaaaaaaaat." He hadn't had meat in like... four hours. This was a crime.

The blond had woken early as usual in routine. As the others slumbered he could not help but smile, enjoying the silence that had settled over the sunny. With such a lively group of friends silence was rare and the cook held no complaints.

About an hour later, he could see the sun peering through the windows in hues of bright hues of red and orange and cast a smile to greet the new day. The male had chosen to dress down in a simple pair of patterned shorts and a white sleeveless t-shirt. His steps did not echo down the halls today the blond having chosen to wear a simple pair of brown sandals.

On board the sunny, it was proper to relieve the night guard if you were the first person up. It was the first duty in their order of chores. None cast a care to such a request because it was only fair to any who had stayed up all night to ensure all of their safety.

Sanji stopped by the kitchen only to prepare a quick cup of coffee to go with his first cigarette before he started his day. But, before he finished his cup, his greyish blue hues studied the cabinet that slightly hung open. He could have sworn even while a bit drunk he had secured everything the evening prior.

⚜"Odd!"⚜

The blond set the cup aside moving to inspect what he assumed to be another broken lock. His brow twitched and Sanji took a few calming breaths to center his mood once more blowing out a few rings of smoke. In swift motion, he turned on his heel to seek out his calendar to find out exactly who was on guard. Some had very specific preferences and in turn this incident could be his own fault.

A slim finger slid down the paper hanging on the fridge until he found the proper date sliding the same finger in horizontal. When the name came into view he cringed. His morning routine would need to be a lot bigger but again he held no complaints and went right to it.

Shaking his head he turned intent to see if any leftovers had made it and to check his storage closets. The pantry thankfully enough was safe and secured so what was left had held the captain and the blond found himself thanking whatever deity had blessed him the night prior. As suspected, he turned the corner to find dishes scattered in and around the sink and could do nothing but laugh. At least the dishes had made it back to the kitchen or never left rather. Of course none of the leftovers had made it past Luffy and his monstrous appetite but that was also a good thing for the cook. A compliment if you will.

Sanji was not upset but humbled by such things, in fact it brought a soft laugh from the male because he had actually forgotten Luffy was in routine for nightshift. Usually, he cooked a large meal prior to leave plenty for the captain to consume during the night. It just so happened, Sanji the previous evening had already cooked large.

Before they docked he often cooked large if he knew he could shop for fresh ingredients and groceries after. Sanji had found it amusing that he had lucked up by chance and noted to pay closer attention to the routine. He continued to laugh a bit harder as he approached the mess to clean it up content to prepare a large enough breakfast to satisfy a very hungry captain and crew.

When Finished, Sanji threw the towel over his shoulder to check the time ensuring his friends were even awake. In the same step he covered the trays pulling a tray cart from the secured pantry so he could deliver breakfast to his friends in style. A soft squeak was heard as he pulled it along the wooden planks with paced steps.

As soon as the door swung open he could not help but raise a brow in question to the other sprawled out across the deck. Without a word he simply slid the bottom warmer open to pull out a special piece he had prepared by request. No matter what he served, his captain always enjoyed some large piece of meat to start.

Thin lips stretched into a smile as Sanji held out a large drumstick for his captain to take. In a soft voice the blond finally greeted his captain bending over his shadow casting over the male.

⚜"Good morning Luffy, I see the leftovers I wrapped last night did not make it very far I am very glad you enjoyed it. However, I also see that a few locks on the cabinets are also broken. It took me three weeks to convince Nami to allow me to buy those because of their price. And now they dangle to the floor. You wouldn't happen to know why that is when I secured them in one piece last night?"⚜

He brought his arms over his chest folding them as he stood straight half glaring down to the captain with a raised curly brow. He truly held no grievance against Luffy finishing the leftovers or anything else he prepared but did wish that he and the crew would cast more cares to the kitchen itself.

⚜"I assume you will speak to Nami so I can,..............nevermind!!"⚜

The blond paused taking his attention away from Luffy for the moment to process the late thoughts. Sanji could not be angry because Luffy had already solved such issues when he selected each of them for his crew. Why replace something that could be fixed with ease now for free-ish. It would probably cost him Cola but Sanji had at least one barrel of his own to give up. With that last thought, he again turned to pull the ten trays of breakfast out setting them in front of the captain.

⚜"This morning I went with a bit of sausage, egg, and cheese omelet alongside a bit of oatmeal and fresh fruit. Of course, there are also two other drums for you to enjoy."⚜

He could not help but find himself thankful to his captain in one or another and passed on the first thought to bop him over the head. Luffy had convinced Franky to join them and Franky could fix everything in two seconds and chances were it would be a lot better. These plans he did not articulate as he simply gripped the handle of the cart to pull it again. With care he set a gallon of fresh orange juice in front of Luffy to wash it down leaving the other to enjoy his breakfast.

He still needed to serve his friends as well and he was certain Nami and Robin were now awake.

⚜"ROBIIIINNNNNN CHANNN, NAMMMMMII CHWWWANNNN! I HAVE BROUGHT YOU YOUR BREAKFAST DELIGHTS."💕⚜

#fancyfeetsanji #morningroutines #muselexum #luffy #onepiecerp #I LOVE ME SOME LUFFY #my poor hungry captain #Drumsticks #@muselexum

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kchuarts · 4 years

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Flowers in Blood

A/N: This is actually really fun to write!! I am definitely trying to go for a bit slower build with romantic feelings being realized in later chapters. Right now they are just like frenemies of sorts.

Summary: The mission begins.

Warnings: Attempt at assault

Taglist: @lucywrites02 *(Let me know if you’d like to be added!!)*

Chapter 2: Wolfsbane

BEEP, BEEP! BEEP, BEEP! BEEP, BEEP!

Jonathan’s hand slammed down on the alarm clock, turning the irritating machine off. He raised his head and groaned as it was 4:40 AM and it made him wonder why in the hell he set the alarm that early. Angela told he and Katie to be at her office at 6 AM sharp, but for god sake-

“Five more minutes…” He mumbled, ticking the alarm to ten minutes instead of five like he said so.

He was trying to sleep off his moderate hangover and dull headache from last night after he made the dumb decision of upsetting his partner for the investigation. It was not until 1 AM that Pine decided to call it quits on the partially helpful alcohol and head back. The way that Katie had rushed out after he let slip that he was her brother’s friend and watched him die made him feel horrible. So much for a first introduction of sorts and hoping to form at least a decent bond with the young woman. Pine pleaded to whatever God was listening that the mission they were assigned on would pass by quickly or become cold again. It was rather dark to think that, but he could not deal with the literal lingering guilt at his side. He would have to come up with a way to push those feelings aside and quick in order for their mission to go as smoothly as possible. Just as the thought settled and Jonathan’s eyes lulled shut, the incessant beeping returned with a vengeance and for some reason, it was louder than before. Once again, Pine’s large hand slammed down on the noisy clock and forced himself from the confines of his bed. A shiver ran down his body from the cool air of his room as he stretched his waking body from the stasis of sleep. His blue eyes glanced over to the window and naturally, it was raining. He sighed with slight irritation and rubbed the bridge of his nose as the headache made its presence more apparent. Hopefully a hot shower before he left would help ease the now growing throb of his head.

Unfortunately for Katie, she had not gotten a wink of sleep last night and spent her waking moments dissociating. Logically, she knew that it was not Pine's fault that Cameron had died but she couldn’t help but let herself morbidly blame him for it. Her opinion of Jonathan had quickly changed as did her attitude of working with him as he was a man. She guessed by her reaction, he would show his true colors like all men did once they upset a woman and be an absolute prick. The brunette shook her head and let out a deep sigh, smacking the heel of her palm against her forehead. “Stupid, stupid, stupid…” She muttered to herself, getting up and whining from the unpleasant tingle that shot to her feet. Maybe she could convince Angela to let her go on her own? If she told the truth and her discomfort of men? No. She had only met the woman yesterday but she seemed like the type of person to tell you to bite the bullet and stick to it. “Fuck me.” She groaned softly, walking toward the bathroom and shedding her clothes off to shower before she left. Why did she even accept this stupid job? Sure it meant being paid well and going to travel, but she would be risking her life along with another person. If she chickened out now, then all those years of study and training would go down the drain. Katie also assumed that Cameron would be super disappointed in her after she had worked so hard to get where she was now. “I just had to be partnered up with your old buddy, didn’t I?” She asked out loud while scrubbing the chill from her skin with warm water and soap. After spending around ten more minutes in the shower, Katie just about screamed from noticing what time it was. The clock read 5:30 AM and the ten minutes spent basking in the hot water was not ten minutes at all. “Shit!! Wonderful first impression off to a good start!!” she grabbed the clothes that were set out for this morning and quickly shoved them on the best she could as her body was not completely dried off. Katie wanted to hit her head against a brick wall as hard as she could at this point and hopefully knock herself unconscious. Thankfully, the only thing that seemed to be in her favor was that her suitcase was already packed and good to go. The brunette furiously brushed her teeth and jumped around while trying to pull a sock onto her foot. “MMMGH!!” She clenched her teeth together and almost fell to the floor as she hit her exposed knee on the doorwall. Foamy toothpaste dribbled from her mouth as she shut her eyes tightly and eventually did fall flat on her bottom and cried. She prayed no one heard her or that she woke anyone up, though it was unlikely she did not.

“Perfect, just fucking perfect!” She spit into the sink and rinsed her mouth, growling in frustration and shoving her toiletries into her suitcase. “Hi Angela! Sorry I’m like twenty minutes late on my first fucking day of the job!!” She began to monologue and search for her wallet and phone charger. “I didn’t get any sleep last night because of my fear of men and my existential dread over my dead brother-” she fished the last of her needed items out and grabbed the door handle, “because the asshole you paired me with is the guy who killed him-!” Katie’s jaw dropped as Pine had been standing right outside of her door, presumably waiting for her. Her hands flew over her mouth and her eyes quickly fell to the floor from shame. “To answer your question, I heard everything. Even the part about me being an arsehole and “murdering” your brother.” His tone was cool and face unreadable.

“You didn’t have to wait for me…” Katie’s voice became quiet.

“Well I did because I thought that maybe I should apologize about last night and perhaps talk things through. However, it seems apparent that your mind has been made up already.” Pine snapped, huffing and turning on his heel to walk out. Here he thought maybe talking to her would start them off fresh and possibly help to deal with the guilt he felt. Turns out that was not an option in the slightest and further wounded the ex soldier after hearing her rant.

Katie raised her hand to stop him from walking so fast, but he had already left her alone in her doorway. Sighing loudly, the brunette girl did a once over around her flat before locking the door and slamming it shut. She didn’t really give a shit if she woke anyone up now as this mission was already a complete failure.

Naturally, Pine was first to arrive at Angela's office and took the time on his walk to cool off and shove what happened to the back of his mind. All those thoughts were forced back up front when Katie stumbled in five minutes later, panting. Angela’s brows knit together at the girl, “You’re late.” She bluntly stated. The younger woman waved her hand and took another second to catch her breath, shooting a glare at Pine who subtly smirked at her being called out. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I swear to God I am NEVER late-”

“Except for now?” Jonathan spoke sarcastically and raised his brows, amused by how little it took to anger the American woman.

Katie glared at Pine, stomping her way over and pulling the chair aggressively seated next to the man away. Rob slowly lifted his head from some papers to witness what all was happening, keeping to himself. “Aren’t you two just chummy.” Angela muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes, “Great to see you took my advice of trying to get to know each other.” She frowned, folding her hands on her desk. “Excuse me!! I wasn’t aware that I would have the displeasure of being paired up with my dead brother’s killer-”

“Killer!? There you go again with blaming his death on me. I did not kill him, Katelyn O’Connor. If you knew half of what went down that day, maybe you would have a different outlook!” Pine swivelled his body around to face Katie.

The younger woman’s nostrils flared, “Really?! Then why was he sent home in fucking pieces!? Did you know we had to have a closed casket funeral that oh by the way, I never saw you, Jonathan Pine, attend?! It is your fault he is six feet underground when you could have saved him!!”

Jonathan stood up abruptly and loomed over the shorter woman who also rose from her seat, half tempted to spit in his handsome face. “You-”

“ENOUGH!! Fuck!” Angela slammed her palms down on her desk and growled. “I swear you two are worse than my fucking toddler! I don’t know what the hell went on last night, but it ends now if we are going to solve this case and bring whoever is running this circus down! I’m sorry to say that there is not anyone else I have to take your places and that you are stuck together. So unless you want to get killed out on the field over personal matters, I suggest you put it aside and at least be civil with each other!” The Director looked at both of them and threw her hands up, “Sit down!!”

Not wanting anymore issues, the agents obliged to Angela’s words but still cast nasty glances at each other. “Now if we are done being school children, I would like to debrief on what is going to happen. Can you handle that? Or do I need to bring out a get along t-shirt?” Angela waited for a reply, but got a silent nod from them instead. Whatever, as long as she got the information out and them on their way. “There has been a new break in the investigation and evidence has been found in Moscow. See here, there are poppies on the arms of victims from over in our neck of the woods and another similar marking on victims across the pond.” Her brown eyes glanced up at Katie before she continued, “However, with the recent uprising with this strange group making a comeback, a new flower is being used. Wolfsbane.” She tapped a picture that was recently printed. Pine quickly snatched it from Angela before Katie had a chance to look at it, causing both women to roll their eyes. “What’s with the flowers anyhow?” He shook his head and gave the picture back to Angela who then handed it to Katie. The Director shrugged, “Haven’t a clue. I suppose that’s just a signature they like usin’ after they finish with a crime.”

“Could have to do with poison.” Katie cleared her throat and handed the picture back. “Poppies and Wolfsbane are poisonous flowers, I’m just making a guess here but I think they’re using those kinds of flowers as a warning that these people are not to be messed with.” She folded her arms over her chest. “No, I thought that maybe they wanted to decorate the crime scene with pretty flowers.” Jonathan shot at his partner who in turn clenched her fists. “What the fuck did I just say?” Angela whined, dragging her hands down her face and growling from irritation. “Sorry, Angela. I think some of us just don’t have the decency to hold back any snark when they aren’t in the spotlight.” Katie smirked and slyly winked at Pine. The nerve of this woman! Pine could definitely see the side of his late friend in her that he absolutely detested. “Right then. Anyways, while I like your theory Katie, the reasoning behind these symbols are still unknown.

If the two have any correlation, report it back immediately. In the meantime, your target is Abaddon Hasapis.” Angela pulled a picture of a very elegant, yet sinister looking woman out. Her hair was curled and frame confident, knowing. Her eyes held a nefarious gleam and bow shaped lips cast a dirty smirk. “I want details on this woman as her name seems to be popping up in each new case that we receive on the Wolfsbane crimes. She is a socialite and often attends auctions, charities and parties for the wealthy. Naturally, none of the money in the charity events actually goes to the intended group. There is a gala in Moscow that she will be attending within the next three days.” Angela took a deep breath in, pursing her lips and looking at her agents sternly, “You two will be attending this gala and are a lovely couple who recently got engaged.”

Both of their jaws dropped slightly and each made a move to complain about their roles before Angela stopped them. “No, no! I will not be having any other interjections! Katie O’Connor no longer exists for the time being nor does Jonathan Pine. Instead, you are Steven Ranger and Natasha Romans. Your hotel is the Metropol and let me just say it was not an easy feat to get reservations. It is around a 10 minute drive from the gala and a bit of a hike should you find yourselves without transportation. I’ve had your measurements marked down and your appropriate attire sent to your room.” She clapped her hands together and raised her brows, sighing quickly. “Any questions before you go? And not about why you’re a couple.” She shot that complaint down faster than the agents could say uncle. The room went silent and Angela looked from Katie to Jonathan one last time before standing up and ushering them out. “Off you go then! As soon as you reach the train, shoot me a text, the hotel give me a call and then keep track of whatever information you gather. You won’t be returning to England for some time so I expect your best behavior. I cannot believe I am having to even say that. Please try not to bite each other’s heads off.” Her arms fell to her sides and she gave a frown. Pine nodded, flashing a small smile “There won’t be any biting since her bark is the worst she can do.”

“PINE!!” Katie smacked the tall man’s arm hard and growled.

“Ah, ah. Steven is my name, dear Natasha.”

Katie had not the faintest idea how in the hell she would survive this mission with this asshole or if she didn’t end up killing him by the end of it.

The way to the train station was relatively quiet for the most part except for the occasional grunt or cough. “Watch where you’re going! Fuckin’ wanker.” A pedestrian bumped hard into Katie and made her turn around, glaring before catching Pine smirk out of the corner of her eye. “You think me getting called a wanker is funny?” She clenched her jaw. Jonathan made a disgusted face, “Please refrain from saying that word ever again. It does not sound right when you say it with your, your whatever American accent. In fact, please refrain from speaking at all. Your voice is annoying.” He felt the girl sock him in the ribs with her elbow and trudge through. As she stomped forward to the conductor, Pine noticed a group of men eyeing Katie up and down while she was too busy being a piss ant. “She yours?” One of them asked, pulling a cigarette from his lips and blew smoke. The men must have seen her little stunt that she pulled earlier. “Ah, no. She’s not. I actually do not even know her, she’s just some rude American. Bloody foreign women, feisty they are.” He lied, giving a curt nod to the men before following Katie in short. They sat 3 rows apart as neither of them wanted to even so much as look at one another. At least now Pine could get some peace and quiet for a bit with the two day trip to Russia ahead of them. Technically, they didn’t have to put on the gag-inducing task of acting like a couple right away, but unbeknownst to them, it would have been wise to do so in the first place.

Pine shot Angela a text before putting his phone away to read up on the case and a book he had brought. He was an avid reader and quite enjoyed Shakespearean works and complicated theories. The book he had brought would serve great entertainment as it was packed with an abundance of Plato’s work. A few more passengers hurried onto the train before it departed, rudely shoving their way through the corridors. “Watch it!” One of them bumped into Pine rather harshly and caused his book to fall. The dark blonde man looked up while grabbing his book at the stranger and scoffed. He thought about retorting back, but decided it wasn’t worth the time to get into a fight when he already knew of the nonsense he’d be bickering over with Katie. Shaking his head, Pine dusted his book off and sighed. Around fifteen minutes had passed since the train departed and a very strong smell of nicotine permeated the air. Normally, Jonathan didn’t mind it as he was an occasional smoker himself. However, it was overwhelmingly pungent and particularly disgusting. Unfortunately for him, the source of the smell was sitting nearby and likely not to change carts soon.

“Hey there poppet.” A rough looking man took a seat in front of Katie, flashing his yellowed teeth. Two more men followed in suit, one of them sitting next to her and causing her to scrunch her nose from the strong odor of nicotine. Her heart began to race as she could practically feel the intention of these men radiate off them. “Please don’t call me that. I don’t mean to be standoffish, but I’d like to be left alone.” Katie’s voice cracked and she turned to look out the window, trying to calm down as past trauma was racing into her bloodstream. “That chap from earlier was right about you American women.” A dirty hand snatched Katie’s chin as the owner forced her to look at him. He licked his cracked lips and eyed her up and down with his soulless gaze, “Pretty one she is though. You may be a bitch, but that makes ‘em all the more fun to toy with.” He chuckled and released her face, grabbing her arm. Katie’s eyes widened and she shook her head. She was completely frozen as she felt grubby fingers crawl over her knee and up her thigh. Small, quiet noises of panic were the only thing that could escape her throat as fear came over the young woman. The touches stopped once a tear slid down her cheek and her body flinched hard as one of the men wiped the tear away. “Aww little poppet’s scared. What’sa matter? You still a maiden waiting for the right one?” The third man’s breath was enough to make Katie want to throw up. She shook her head no, unable to speak still and felt the fingers resume their unwanted caresses. Her breath began to pick up and her eyes flicked down as the button on her jeans was undone. “Please don’t-” She muttered, her body trembling as she felt fingers start to slide down her pants. “Please.” She cried softly, shutting her eyes before feeling the touches aggressively ripped off of her.

“Oi! What’s all this about!? You’re that bloke from earlier!! I thought you said she wasn’t yours!! Bloody liar, she ain’t about to be yours no more-”

The sound of Pine’s fist hitting one of Katie’s assailants had everyone in the cart turn their attention to the sudden fight. Jonathan grabbed the other two and tossed them out, bringing his elbow down on the back of one's neck and twisting the arm of the other until he heard a pop. A scream of pain erupted from the man and the train suddenly jolted to a complete stop. Pine grabbed the front of the man who initiated Katie’s attempted assault and growled, “She belongs to no one but herself. Unlike people of your ilk, I actually respect women and don’t fucking touch them without their consent! You would be wise to use the single brain cell in that thick head of yours to exit now considering our interaction has caused an issue. Get. Out. NOW!!” He threw the man to the ground and saw the trio scamper off the train as the doors opened. Police shortly put them in handcuffs before another came in to interrogate Pine. “I’d have you in bars too for what you did, but these three have been a problem for months now with harassing women. Keep yourself outta trouble, will ya?” The officer nodded to Pine before waving to everyone as a signal the situation had been handled. Once the officer departed and the doors shut, Jonathan held his hand out to Katie. “I doubt you want to continue to sit here and reminisce over those pigs. I know we aren’t on good terms but-” Jonathan stopped as Katie took his hand and got up, her bag over her shoulder and her eyes full of tears. The spy nodded and exhaled, leading the way to where he was sitting and helping Katie settle in. It was only until she finally calmed down that the girl released Pine’s hand.

“Why?” She sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve. “Why’d you come to my rescue? You hate me.”

“I hate it when women are taken advantage of.” His blue eyes sparkled for a moment as he thought of his late Sophie Alekan. “I don’t… I don’t hate you, Katie. Just because you blame me for that,” He paused, choosing his next words carefully, “Doesn’t mean that I hate you. Actually, if you would have let me explain earlier I still feel that it was my fault. I have nightmares about that day and there isn’t a moment that goes by where I wish I would have been in his stead.” He looked at her, an honest expression resting on his face.

Katie’s brows turned upward and caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “Pine-” She closed her eyes and then sighed, “Steven.” She corrected herself, “I’m sorry for what happened i-it’s just it was so sudden and you know how humans are; we have a horrible habit of putting the blame onto someone and-” She stopped as Jonathan waved his hand as a signal that he no longer wished to dwell on the topic. “We can talk about it some other time but right now, are you ok? They didn’t hurt you?” His tone became soft. Katie shook her head and she gave a small, wry smile. “Thankfully, no. I just couldn’t fight back.” She admitted weakly, not wanting to see the disappointment in Jonathan’s stunning baby blues. “Is that why you were so nervous around me yesterday evening? And your flinch when we shook hands?” his question caused her to force her gaze back up. Katie’s pink lips parted as she was flabbergasted at how easy she was to read and nodded slowly. She pulled her arms around herself and swallowed the urge to cry down, “I’ll admit when Angela told me I was working with you, I felt afraid. For two years, I lived in a nightmare and never thought I would escape. By the time I did, I changed.” She rubbed her lips together, unable to stop the tears. “His name is Travis Smithson and he is the man that made me frightened of men and unable to live normally for three years.” she sniffled, wiping her tears and rubbing her face in her sleeve.

Jonathan’s heart sank and he felt the urge to hug her, but did not do so. “I’m so very sorry to hear that, Natasha. You certainly didn’t deserve it…” He made a mental note of her ex's name, stashing it in the back of his head for future reference. “Are you still afraid of me?” He asked softly, leaning forward just a bit. Katie shook her head and gave a shaky exhale before giving him a tiny smile, “No. I’m just mad I’m stuck with an asshole.” She began to giggle and brighten up, causing Pine to smile as well. “Well if we’re going to be on those terms again, then you’re just as much of an arsehole as I am… No, not as much because you’re too short.” He laughed as Katie hit him with her sleeve that wasn’t covered in snot. “Leave my height out of this!!” She smiled at him and chuckled softly at his jeer. “Hey, thank you for rescuing me. Maybe you aren’t as much of an asshole as I thought you were, even if you did call me a bitch to those men.” She smirked and pulled her tablet out. “To be fair, you kind of were acting like one.” He received a playful kick for his comment and shoved her leg away from anymore kicks. “But, I would at least like to make up for earlier and it is the right thing to do. Your brother would have kicked my ass if I didn’t.” He saw a smile at the mention of Cameron. “Yeah he would have. No one messes with Cam’s little sister and gets away with it.”

The rest of the trip went smoothly with Katie and Jonathan coming to civil terms and an agreement to have a long in depth discussion regarding Cameron’s death. “Shit.” Jonathan smacked his forehead and groaned softly to himself. “What? What is it?” Katie became alarmed and sat up from her light snooze. “I don’t know a lick of Russian. Please tell me you know enough to get us by? I did read your file but didn’t see anything about languages except Japanese.” He opened one eye, looking at his younger companion. “Luckily for us, I do. Unfortunately, I can’t read jack shit of it and I only know a few basics. Other than that, we will have to play stupid.” She immediately ate her words as a smirk crept onto Pine’s face. “I thought you already were playing stupid- Hey!!” He laughed as she quickly changed seats to get him into a sort of choke hold and rub her fist on his curly head. Jonathan fought her off after a few more seconds before she returned to her seat. “It says you’re 24 but you certainly act like you’re a teenager.” He mused, raising a brow at her as the train came to its final stop. Katie stood up and smiled at him, shifting her bag “What’s the fun in life acting like a 38 year old who bullies young ladies?” She grinned, watching him pack his belongings before exiting the train with her. “You forgot- Short, young ladies.” his large hand grabbed Katie’s head gently and ruffled her hair before chuckling at her pout. “Watch it, you-” Her smile soon faded as police lights flashed brightly ahead with plenty of caution tape to spare. Jonathan looked behind himself and gently took Katie’s hand, walking fast and attempting to get a glance at the scene. Russian officers kept shouting at the ongoers, telling them to move along and that there was nothing to see. A tarp had been laid out over the apparent victim with their pale arm visible to Katie and Jonathan’s view.

A wolfsbane flower had been carved into the victims arm along with the same flower decorating the scene.

#the night manager #the night manager canon divergence #jonathan pine x ofc #flowers in blood #fanfic #my writing #writing #spies in love

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straight-outta-hobbiton · 5 years

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A Few Notes About American Legal Documents (Specifically For Proving Citizenship/Legal Residency and Traveling)

I work with a lot of legal documents associated with citizenship and legal residency. With the rise of legal residents and citizens unlucky enough to actually look like their ethnicity, I thought it might help to give a basic rundown of legal documents that could help in a sticky situation. It’s mostly simple stuff, but there might be something of value to your personal situation or the situation of someone you know, so, y’know.

VALID BIRTH CERTIFICATES:

Your birth certificate needs a raised seal on it, with as little damage as possible. I see a lot of folded/fucked up BCs from people in less than ideal living situations, and I understand that there are times when the only thing you can do to protect yourself is keep your shit with you all the time (abusive/controlling parents, foster care, intermittent homelessness, etc), but if the print is illegible, the seal torn or damaged, or the BC is in pieces, YOU NEED TO GET A NEW ONE. Most state ID places won’t accept it if there’s too much damage— it fucks with the security features, and most government worker grunts aren’t going to chance their jobs on faith in your puppy dog eyes.

If you need a new BC and you don’t have a way to get to the county clerk’s office (you need to go to the county you were born in, which is a hassle for some people)— vitalchek.com is a website where you can securely order your documents and have them delivered to whatever address you feel is best. It takes a little while sometimes, though, so it isn’t a perfect solution to more immediate issues.

If possible, see if you can get yourself a wallet-sized BC. I typically see older folk carrying them, but I’m pretty sure some states still offer the option. I highly recommend this for anyone who might be targeted by the current administration— again, it doesn’t solve every problem, but for right now, all American-born Latine and other non-whites can only benefit from having as much paperwork as they can. At the very least, it might slow some officers down.

IF YOU HAVE A PUERTO RICAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE, MAKE SURE IT’S THE MOST RECENTLY UPDATED VERSION. Plain PR birth certificates have been stolen from legal agencies on multiple occasions in the past to be used in the forgery of false documents for other Latin immigrants of a less-than savory nature, and it happened again in the wake of Hurricane Maria. The only BC most government agencies accept at this point have English translations next to the Spanish, and they won’t take anything older/untranslated.

PASSPORTS/PASSPORT CARDS/GLOBAL ENTRY CARDS/NEXUS CARDS:

Google the nearest place you can go to get your passport. I went to a post office and they took my picture, but not every place offers the option— you might have to go to Walgreens or some equivalent first to get your picture taken and bring it with you to the office.

They’ll need your birth certificate when you go get your passport. They will take it from you and ship it out to whatever undisclosed location it needs to go to in order for them to print your paperwork. You’ll get it when your passport is sent to you.

It costs around $145 dollars including service fees to get your American passport, which is an unfortunate reality.

Passports take up to eight weeks to get to your house, so it isn’t a solution to immediate problems. That being said, GET IT DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Passport cards exist, and they’re pocket-sized. If you’re eligible to get one (meaning you were born here or were naturalized), DO IT. GET A PASSPORT CARD AND KEEP IT WITH YOU. It’s just as good as a regular passport and far easier to keep with you if the worst happens and you need to get out. They’re also a cheaper than the average passport at a total of $65 (including service fees).

Passports/passport cards work as federal ID as well as international. In some states, children under a certain age might be unable to get state identification (in my state you have to be at least fourteen). If you have American-born/naturalized children that could be targeted and they’re under a certain age, get them their passports, get them their cards. Our government has proven they have no issue with snatching kids, but it’s a little harder to justify when the kid has legal US identification.

Global Entry Cards are accepted at every land and sea port in the US. They’re available to US citizens, legal US residents, and Mexican nationals, as well as citizens of Argentina, Colombia, Germany, India, Panama, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the UK. This I would recommend for people who already have passports/other legal documentation within the realms of the above listed countries but are uncomfortable with the idea of carrying a passport with them. It costs about $100.

Global Entry fingerprints you, no exceptions.

Global Entry does not help you enter countries not listed above.

Nexus Cards are the Canadian equivalent of Global Entry. It allows passage between Canada and America at any land crossing as well as airports. If you have one of these already and they’ve already fingerprinted you, you can get a GEC with minimal hassle, with the added bonus of being able to cross the Canadian border freely.

Nexus Cards require interviews, and once you’ve been approved they take your fingerprints and a retinal scan. Considering we’re living in the beginnings of a Big Brother dystopia, this might make some people uncomfortable, but again, it’s a cheap option for people who might not want to carry passports. Plus, it has the added benefit of being attached to Canada, and the potential disaster of arresting a possible legal Canadian resident might be enough to stall some of the more reasonable officers. It costs about $50.

LEGAL RESIDENTS AND VISA CARRIERS, GENERAL THINGS:

If you’ve gotten your Permanent Resident card you need to make sure you get a new social security card, one without the ‘NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT’ or ‘VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION’ on the front. These cards aren’t valid to use alongside your new green card, and they can get you into trouble if the person checking your paperwork is in the wrong sort of mood.

MAKE SURE ALL YOUR PAPERWORK MATCHES. I realize that American paperwork sometimes can’t handle non-white naming traditions and that makes it difficult for you to keep your shit together. Ideally, though, whatever it says on your immigration papers should be exactly what’s printed on all your other documents— your credit cards, mail, whatever. If your naturalization paperwork lists both your mother and father’s names, you need to either make sure you have that shit on everything and if it isn’t, you’ve got a decision to make. Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but they will use any excuse to detain a ‘suspicious’ person, and dropping your second middle name on your driver’s license so it doesn’t match your visa is exactly the sort of thing they’ll pick at. My grandparents had to make this decision a few years ago— for convenience’s sake, they changed everything to match the anglicized forms of their names. I realize for a lot of people it isn’t an ideal solution, but for now, we’ve got to work with what we’ve got.

If you’re here as a Dependent Spouse (H-4) I don’t have to tell you that you’ll need your partner with you to do a lot of legal stuff. That being said, when you need to get stuff handled, please make sure your spouse has ALL of their paperwork proving they’re here legally. Even if the focus is on you, if their shit’s not in order, you won’t be able to get anything done. It is an inconvenient facet of the nature of your visa, but you’ve got to work with it until you can change your status to something less limited.

If you’re here on a Student Visa, the SAVE won’t update your status until your classes start. Keep that in mind when handling paperwork reliant on your status as a legal immigrant.

If your Permanent Resident Card has no expiration date on it, if it’s a laminated paper card, or if it’s just plain damaged— REPLACE IT. They don’t accept the old cards now thanks to a huge boom in forgeries, so particularly if you have an older relative who hasn’t been naturalized, you need to make sure that shit is up to date.

MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES:

(Marriage certificates are less important in the grand scheme of legal residency, but any little bit helps, and if you’re an immigrant married to a citizen, it’s another little piece that proves you just might have a legitimate reason or two to be here.)

Nobody is going to take the pretty version of the MC. The one you get from your place of worship is NOT the official certificate. It needs to be from the probate//surrogate’s/orphan’s court, not just signed in accordance with the official document.

It MUST have a seal on it. Not every state does the raised seal, so you have to double-check with your local, but it will have something that makes it a recognizable, official document.

If you got married in a country that doesn’t have English as the official language, you NEED a translation. In my state, you have to go to an official state translator and get— you guessed it— an official seal.

When you get married, that receipt slip they give you is not the official certificate. The official certificate is supposed to be mailed to you (the first one’s usually complimentary) after about a month. If you didn’t get it or you lost it, GO AND GET A NEW ONE. Little things like that can make or break you in the eyes of a government official.

If you have older relatives who are immigrants, CHECK TO MAKE SURE THEIR PAPERWORK IS UP TO DATE. I know it’s common for older folk to let their IDs expire because they’re in in a care facility or simply unable to leave their homes. I know that shit gets lost in the shuffle of life and most of the time those documents just sit in a box and do nothing, but this shit is important. Make sure they have their stuff and make sure their documents are all up to federal standard— relatively undamaged, legible, and with the right seals.

I know this isn’t stuff we want to talk about, but it’s important. If you are a person of one of the groups targeted by this administration, you cannot make mistakes. You have to make sure there is no reason besides gross incompetence on the part of the ICE officers for them to detain you— as we all know, they will take advantage of any excuse they can find to fuck you and the people you love over.

Don’t let them.

#immigration #legal documents #ICE #detention centers #preparing for the worst

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moeruhoshi · 5 years

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getting ready for school so here we go again

I’ve been working on this idea for a while, this is just a rough sketch of an AU I lowkey wanna turn into a multi-chap

Lucy sighed for the umpteenth time as she stared out the window, her mind in another place as the teacher drawled on with the lesson. She found herself zoning out like this often, not because she was under a lot of stress or anything, even though it was her senior year.

Besides, Macao-sensei really knew how to talk about one particular fact for twenty long minutes; most of the class was either avoiding his gaze or finding themselves daydreaming at this point.

It had been about four or so months since the school year started and the foolish, idiotic men of Magnolia High still had an annoying pact set in stone, preventing anyone from asking Lucy Heartfilia out.

Who the hell were they to decide who she would date or not?! And what the hell were they planning to do when Lucy actually started dating someone?

The whole bullshit system practically began as soon as she took her first steps onto campus by a group of third years, and the baton had been passed on ever since. Lucy had yet to find out who was at the center of this weird fan group, but they’d face a world of hurt for ruining her high school life like this.

Not that Lucy had especially wanted a boyfriend, wasn’t it just one of those things a girl wanted to experience at least once with someone before college? Lucy had grown up reading a lot of romantic stories that had her wishing to meet someone who wanted to hold and cherish her for something more than her looks.

Lucy blushed at the thought, but she was a grown woman! Some things couldn’t be solved by reading one of Erza’s novels, no matter how many the blonde was given. Although Lucy was pretty sure she was just shoving them onto her so Jellal wouldn’t find out that Erza had such an extensive collection.

She thought she would be quick to accept her first confession, as long as whoever gave it to her had good intentions. If he was smart enough to ignore this shitty pact then, wouldn’t he be a good person to date? It felt like asking too much for him to be a good looking guy that was slightly muscular and had sharp eyes like a warrior…maybe a bit possessive...Lucy blamed Erza for creating such weird standards held in her heart. But any girl would be excited if a pretty boy were to confess his love for her;

“E-E-Eh…?! Y-You’d really want someone like me…?” She flushes as he takes her hand, eyes earnest and unwavering.

“I’ve loved you for a long time...please...You’re the only one for me,” He pulls her close to his chest as he wraps his arms around her and declares that he’ll never let her go.

Something like that seemed a bit dramatic but so what? It was hard for a guy to even befriend her since the rumor being spread that she was supposedly some perfect angel with an incredibly high standard for friends and men.

Lucy wasn’t anything special, she felt that she was your average teenage girl that had a knack for cooking, studying, and was weak for the occasional visit to a cute café. Lucy and her friends had known each other since primary school, but it wasn’t like we weren’t looking for new additions to their group. As long as you were friendly, could get along properly with Erza, and learned to handle Juvia’s obsessive behavior, then they had no issues befriending anyone.

She’d go over the school's intercom and shout those exact words if she didn’t think it’d make her look somewhat desperate and kind of a pervert.

Lucy wanted a boyfriend. She really wanted a boyfriend! And she had wished intensely for someone kind-hearted to enter her life before leaving this school. A little part of her wanted to make a statement to those jerks that started this, but Lucy honestly just wanted to learn how to fall in love. Didn’t she deserve that much?

“Lucy!” Levy shouted and shocked her out of her thoughts, almost startling her out of her desk.

“A-Ah! Gomen, I was spacing out,” Lucy laughed awkwardly as she finally noticed her friends crowding around her desk.

“That’s the third time Levy called you,” Erza pointed out, hand resting on her hip. “You’re not sick are you?”

“Not at all, I was just daydreaming.” Lucy sweatdropped, glad to stop Erza’s train of thought before she was covering her with an unnecessary amount of bandages and shoved into an infirmary bed.

“Class ended a couple minutes ago, didn’t Lucy-san notice?” Juvia asked, her hands clutching her bag straps nervously as she anticipated their leave.

“Yeah, let’s hurry up Lucy-chan, can’t you see Juvia wants to go stare down her crush before he leaves?” Cana hummed, the rest giggling as the blue-haired girl flinched and began to sweat slightly.

“I-Is Juvia that obvious…?”

“Painfully,” Lucy laughed as she stood from her seat and grabbed ahold of her own bag. “Let’s hurry before you miss him.”

“Heartfillia, McGarden! Don’t forget that you two have classroom duties!” Macao-sensei shouted in their direction, halting the group as they were almost out the door.

“Aww man, Lucy I have a job interview to get to! At that charming bookstore too…” Levy sobbed, eyes dramatic as she looked back over her shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it, Levy-chan. I can cover for both of us,” Lucy rolled her eyes but grabbed her hands with a broad grin. “You really need to get that job so I can get a discount on a crap ton of books.”

“Ah! You’re the best, Lu-chan! I’m taking you out for lunch once I do get it!” The shorter brunette clapped as she ran out the door, rushing away to quickly get to the said establishment.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help? I’d be glad to stay behind with you.” Erza offered with a small smile.

“I can handle it, besides I think the two of you need to make sure Juvia doesn’t jump that poor kohai,” Lucy insisted as the antsy girl whisked herself down the hall just as soon as Levy did, muttering consistently about her precious ‘Gray-sama’.

An hour or so later, Lucy was soon walking downstairs with a sigh of relief. Cleaning the classroom wasn’t terribly hard work, but it always took twice as long with half the staff. She deserved a nice long bubble bath tonight.

As soon as she flipped open her shoe locker open, Lucy could have sworn that her heart had stopped beating for a moment. It was as if time stood still, her eyes frosting over at the sight of a very pink piece of paper.

Her hands trembled as she removed the folded slip of paper from atop her shoes, her breath shaky as she opened and read what had been written. It wasn’t possible…had she finally received a love letter…?

Well, not as much a love letter but someone asking to meet her behind the school near the old willowed sakura tree. Who would ask a girl to meet them there if not to confess their love?!

“O-Oh Mavis…I’m a bit too excited, a-aren’t I?” Lucy gulped as she gripped the straps of her bag, clenching the paper that requested her appearance as she began walking through the courtyard. The blonde nervously skimmed back over the note, sighing happily even with the short amount of words left for.

‘Lucy, I’ll be waiting by the sakura tree for you after school lets out. I hope to see you there. Signed Anonymous’

“W-Wait, after school?!” Lucy gasped, noticing the sun setting slightly and the orange tint to the sky, depicting just how late it had gotten. “It’s already so late! What if he left…?!” She hurried her steps as she rounded the school building, thankful that no one seemed to be around to see her rushing towards the tree with such a red face. As she approached the area, her heart began to sink as she looked around, failing to see another person. The one day she decided to take her sweet time…

Her lip quivered as she stood in front of the sakura tree, sad to find no one sitting or standing against it on either side, the surrounding benches empty, and the courtyard deserted. Lucy felt tears prick the corner of her eyes as she sat reluctantly on the wooden seat, feeling a heavy disappointment in her heart. It wasn’t like she could expect him to wait...after all, she was an hour late.

“E-Eh?! L-L-Lucy-senpai?!” A voice sounded from before her, Lucy quickly raising her head to see who it was. His eyes were wide and his face was red, matching his odd pink hair, sharp onyx eyes cast over her as she rushed to wipe her tears away.

“Y-You are…?” She presumed him to be the boy she was to meet and quickly stood up, her bag falling over as the contents spilled around their feet. Frantic, she dropped to her knees to haphazardly shove her back into her bag, the unnamed boy crouching to help her as well. Their fingers brushed lightly against each other as they both reached for her pencil case, their eyes meeting and their embarrassment growing with heat present in their cheeks. “T-T-Thank you.”

“You...Lucy-senpai, you were crying...are you okay?” He asked, holding out his hand to help her up.

“O-Oh! Yes, I’m fine…!” She tried to convince him, hoping her mascara hadn’t run or instead didn’t want to admit how she was crying because she thought he had left her behind. That was if he was the one who wanted to meet her.

“I’m glad you came, I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you, I went to get a drink.” He chuckled lightly as he held the bottle of dragon fruit tea up for her to see.

“N-No, I’m sorry I was late, I was doing classroom duties.” She explained, his features lighting up as she said so.

“I’m glad,” He sighed. “I thought you weren’t going to come.”

“What did you need to ask me?” Lucy mumbled quietly as she stared down at her feet, attempting to hide her blush.

“I’m Natsu Dragneel, I’m a first-year...but I still wanted to tell you how much I like you...would you do the honor of becoming my girlfriend?” He bowed, voice thick in the air as his question rang in her ears, her cheeks aflame and her heart hammering in her chest.

The wind rushed past the two of them, scattering the petals of the tree and surrounded them as Lucy lifted her head and met the sight of his still bowed form.

“Yes...I will,”

#nalu #nalu fanfiction #nalu teaser #natsu and lucy #lucy and natsu #natsu x lucy #lucy x natsu #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #nalu highschool au #fairy tail #fairy tail nalu #nalu fanfic

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aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

The Medium Review

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With The Medium, Bloober Team take a clever gameplay concept and uses it to weave a psychological horror story that is one of the most polished titles released by the studio to date but doesn’t quite reach its full potential. Repetitive gameplay elements and issues with pacing bring this game down quite a bit, but espite the game’s needling flaws, it’s still worth playing, particularly for those who have enjoyed the studio’s previous work.

The game is set in ’90s Poland and centers on Marianne, the titular medium who can communicate with lost souls in the “spirit world” by focusing on objects imbued with memories of those who have passed. The spirit world is a parallel version of ours, like a nightmarish reflection, and Marianne has the ability to traverse both realities simultaneously, which allows her to make connections between them in myriad ways. In-game this is conveyed via a split-screen presentation where the player can interact with both worlds at once and solve puzzles by searching for clues in both realities, which are tethered in strange ways.

Unlike Bloober Team’s previous games, which were presented in first-person, The Medium is in third-person, which recalls genre classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The team handles this transition well, and they take full advantage of the split-screen mechanic, which is not persistent and only appears in select moments throughout the story (a tasteful decision on Bloober’s part—too much split-screen would have no doubt been headache-inducing). Overall, the game plays quite smoothly, from using Marianne’s powers to search for supernatural clues in the environments, to the directed camera angles and movements, which are all well thought out and never get in the way of the experience.

The story “starts with a dead girl,” a nightmare or premonition Marianne has of a girl being murdered by a lake. Haunted by this otherworldly vision, Marianne is getting her recently-deceased adoptive father’s house in order when she receives a mysterious phone call from a man who claims to know her innermost secrets, sending her on a grim detective mission of sorts, starting at the sprawling, abandoned Niwa hotel. There, she meets a young girl in the spirit world named Sadness, who helps her uncover the truth behind the man on the other end of that fateful call, as well as some shocking revelations about Marianne’s own past.

Narratively, this is one of Bloober’s strongest efforts. I found the story to be riveting, particularly in the latter half of the game. On paper, the dialogue and plot developments aren’t mind-blowingly good or novel, but the game’s unique presentation elevates the storytelling in a cinematic way. There are several surprising twists throughout the game that propel the story forward in a nice way, but the real strength of the script is its focus. Bloober Team has a knack for zeroing in on the intimately personal elements of its stories and exploring the human psyche in interesting ways both in the content and visuals, and the studio sticks to that philosophy here.

Stories in games sometimes get too mired in plot mechanics and don’t focus enough on the characters and their internal journeys, but Bloober Team never falls into that trap. Marianne’s innermost fears and desires are always the going concern as the story unfolds. Even as other characters get folded into the story (you may even get to take control of them…), Marianne acts as the narrative center of gravity.

The dramatic elements of the story are done very well, with some cutscenes eliciting a physical response from me that I absolutely was not expecting. Without spoiling anything, I’ll say that the story explores some ugly aspects of humanity that haunt us all in one way or another, particularly if you’ve lost someone close to you or have deep-seated familial issues. Bloober Team always aims for poignancy of the dark and devilish variety, and the developers achieve that here.

Release Date: Jan. 28, 2021 Platforms: PC (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S Developer: Bloober Team Publisher: Bloober Team Genre: Horror

Another one of Bloober Team’s strengths is art direction, particularly when it comes to creating detailed, evocative environments that reflect what’s going on in the protagonist’s head in fascinating ways. The environments in The Medium are stunning not just for their visual fidelity, but for their interconnectedness with the mood and themes of the story. The deteriorating innards of the Niwa hotel clearly convey that some truly twisted stuff went down in there, and the surrounding forests are creepy but in a way that’s almost beautiful, with the game’s atmospheric lighting (bolstered by ray-tracing if you’re playing on a sufficiently powerful PC or next-gen console) setting the mood nicely.

And that’s just the real-world environments—the spirit world is a fiery hellscape of rotting flesh and viscera, which happens to be inhabited by a lurching monstrosity called “The Maw” whose sole mission is to consume you in violent fashion. While the two realities look distinctly different (Marianne’s got white hair and a glowing arm in the spirit world, a nice touch), they still feel artistically cohesive.

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Most of the game consists of puzzles, whether it be scouring the environment for clues that reveal bits of the central mystery, or condensed puzzles that force you to switch between the two realities, changing the environment in the spirit world to allow real-world Marianne to proceed and vice versa. The latter, more traditional puzzles are a bit of a letdown. They mostly consist of you walking around the environment waiting for icons to pop up so that you can collect objects and place them in other objects to proceed. The tedium of this is alleviated by the dual-reality mechanic. For instance, if real-world Marianne is impeded by a powered-down elevator, spirit Marianne can break off and manipulate objects in the spirit world to power up the elevator in the real world.

The dual-reality concept is super cool for a while, but it’s only a bandaid for the deeper issue of played-out puzzle design. Most of the puzzles you encounter are, at their core, as rudimentary as can be. There are a few that forced me to actually use my noggin (one involving a keypad comes to mind), but for the most part, one should have little trouble figuring out how to proceed at any given time, which is a letdown.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

I like that the game is more experiential than challenging in the traditional sense, but so much time is spent on these unimaginative puzzles that I found myself getting frustrated, more eager to explore and uncover the story than collect color-coded toy butterflies that I had to arrange in a certain order. The developers try their best to imbue these puzzle sections with storytelling details and dialogue but it does little to mask the monotony of the task at hand.

There are some set pieces later in the game that are exciting and fast-paced and dazzling to look at, but whatever momentum those moments create is stifled by the puzzles. It’s disappointing, because I think if there was a little less focus on the traditional gameplay aspects, the experience would be far smoother and the best parts of the story would shine. I know that many would complain about there not being enough in the way of traditional gameplay if the puzzle sections were reduced, but I think The Medium as an even more narrative-focused experience would be more effective overall.

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zealoptics · 4 years

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Turn Your Car Into the Ultimate Adventure Wagon

By Jamie Normandin & Brian Sewell

As the Stay At Home orders began to be put in place in Colorado, we decided to embark on a new project - a build out in our 4Runner so when the pandemic ends, we are ready to hit the road and get lost in the woods.

We have camped for the last 4 years with a RTT on our 4Runner. It is a Tepui Ayer which is the smallest/lightest RTT that tepui offers. It has been great, but it has been slightly small for us, along with all the other standard RTT complaints; you have to setup/breakdown anytime you want to take the rig anywhere, which isn’t a big deal, until you go to Moab and you are on the move everyday for a couple days in a row. Due to this, we figured this year we would try building a platform inside the vehicle so we don’t have to break down for every adventure.

I started searching online for drawer systems and stumbled upon Solid Wood Worx. Brian at Solid Wood Worx builds drawer systems for all sorts of different vehicles, but he also sells the build plans for every model 4Runner. The gen 5 drawer plan is $40 and although it honestly is a pretty basic set of plans, that $40 saved me a ton of measuring and a ton of headache down the road if something didn’t fit right. It also gave me a guided starting point. For people that have a little bit of builders block and have trouble picking a direction when building something from scratch, I highly recommend it. They also sell the 36” drawer sliders that you need to build the drawers. They sell them for $149 for all 4 of them, and honestly that was a pretty good price for them considering they are rated at a very high weight; 200lbs each, and I didn’t have to worry about trying to find something that would work to save a couple dollars. The cheapest I found for drawer sliders that would work were $36 a piece so that would have only saved me $5. I’d recommend just buying them from Solid Wood Worx.** **

Starting with the drawer plans, I used exactly 1 sheet of ½” birch plywood and 1 sheet of ¾” birch plywood. I layed out all the pieces I needed to cut on a piece of paper so I didn’t have much waste. Everything I needed to cut for the drawer system fit on those 2 pieces of plywood. I cut all the pieces to what the plans told me and figured I would weigh them since I have access to a large crate shipping scale at work. The wood for the drawer system weighed 88lbs. Much lighter than most of the RTT on the market if you are concerned about overall weight.

Next up was assembling the drawers. I deburred and sanded all the corners and edges on every piece before I started to make sure that I didn’t have any splinters or sharp points when I was done. I used screws along with wood glue on everything just to make sure will last a long time and can take the beating we will give it camping as much as we do. When assembling the box and drawers it is CRITICAL you make sure all your measurements are perfect along with everything assembled and lining up perfectly. If it isn’t dead on, your drawer sliders won’t line up and your drawers will bind up and won’t slide. In the plans SWW just had some hand holes in the front to pull on the drawers. I had some sprung recessed handles from another box build that I used that I thought were a lot nicer than just some holes in the front. I also used some butterfly pull latches on the side of the drawers to keep the drawers closed and not opening up when driving or opening the rear hatch on a hill. I built some batwing things that covered the open areas behind the wheel well and created 2 little cubbies to store more items. You can buy templates for these hinged side pieces from SWW that you print out a trace onto wood and use a jigsaw to cut out. They are $5 so again pretty cheap for what they are, but you can totally do it without. I cut some out with their templates and used their left side template but made my own for the right side.

To put this box in the back of the 4Runner, you needed to remove the small carpeted piece between the rear floor and the back seats. This is done by removing the 2 bolts used to mount the D-rings and then pulling up on that piece until it pops out. I then removed the 2 brackets for the D-rings that mount them to the truck frame and screwed them to the bottom of the box so that the box would be hard mounted to the truck, meaning it won’t move around or flip over if both drawers are open at the same time.

This is the butterfly latch on the side of the drawer placed to keep it shut while moving around

Now that the drawers were completed, I needed to build the sleeping platform. Unfortunately with the fact that Jamie and I are both tall people, the 5 ½ feet you get with the rear seats in wasn’t enough. Luckily the rear seat bottoms are attached with just 4 bolts. I took those 4 bolts out and replaced them with studs and put nuts on there to make it easier in the future. Then I built a t handle with a socket on the end so you can quickly loosen those nuts and pull the seats out. They store pretty well in the front seats. Another option is to just take them out before you go camping. Easily taking the rear seat bottoms out got us an extra 9” of room to stretch out with.

We also had a very tough time finding a mattress that was shorter than 72”. Being that the platform hinged off of the drawer box, you only had 27” from the box to the roof of the car. My solution was to build a double hinged platform that hinged the first 27” then hinged another 9” that gave us a total of 75” long by 41” wide to sleep on. That also solved another issue with this platform; Jamie uses this truck for work. She has to transport displays and other work related items, so the double hinge creates a flat surface with the rear seat bottoms in or out. She can easily fold the seats up and fold the platform down to the first hinge point and easily have a flat surface to load things into the truck. Once I had the platform itself working, I had to figure out support legs. I needed something that was quick and easy to set up, but also very supportive as there will be 2 people (and a bernese mountain dog) sleeping on this. My solution was a 1” stainless tube with a threaded end. I then used pronged nuts hammered into the top side of the platform. With the leg threaded into the pronged nut from the bottom side, it would sandwich the plywood and keep the leg extremely stable. To avoid pushing the winged nut out of the wood when screwing in the leg I JB welded the nut to the wood. After testing a handful of different glues and epoxies I found JB weld to work the best at gluing metal to wood. I used 4 legs; 2 long to go down to the rear footwell and 2 short to go down to the seat back.

Now that the drawers, platform, and sides were all built, the final portion of this project started. Sanding any of the painted wood, which if you use new plywood you won’t have to do. The amount of time I took was incredible and I would recommend using new plywood to avoid this and save time.. We then applied Olympic Water Guard wood sealer to every surface. Once that dried, we painted everything with Rustoleum Professional semi gloss spray paint to make everything black and match the interior of the 4Runner. The final touch to the finish of this platform was the carpet. I honestly think this is what changed this whole setup from looking like a homemade box to looking like a professional did it. We glued and stapled black carpet to everything besides the bottom of the box

Now that everything was finished, painted and carpeted it was time to put it back in the truck, assemble with all of the hinges, and test it out.

This is with the sleeping platform folded up

This is with the sleeping platform folded down.

As for a mattress and sleeping setup, we went with an Exped Deepsleep Mat Duo 7.5m. It measures 72”x41”x3” and fits literally perfect with this setup and is extremely comfortable. The sleeping bag is a Sierra Designs Backcountry Bed Duo and for a couple, there isn’t a better or warmer sleeping bag. It is a zipperless sleeping bag with sleeping pad inserts. We used it in our Tepui last year and even used it in the snow. The 700 fill down kept us warm, but for people that run hot, like I do, it has foot vents in the bottom that you can stick your feet out of, so highly recommend it.

Here is the final product

Can’t wait for this quarantine to be over and life to go back to normal so we can put this to use. For now we continue to stay inside and do our part so we can use this sooner rather than later.

Parts List

Exped Mattress with REI discount $145.45

Solid Wood Worx Plans $45

Plywood $111.23

Drawer sliders $149

Wood sealer $13.06

Adhesive $25.96

Hinge $22.76

Pronged Nuts $32.88

Wood filler $10

Carpet $32

Rubber Feet for legs $8.75

Turnbuckles $12

Drawer handles $11

Butterfly latches $6

Misc hardware $15

Carpet waterproofing $22

Total $662.09

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crimsonfantrash-blog · 7 years

Text

Don’t Forget - Sans x Gaster (Human AU)

Chapter Two - First Day on the Job

Monday had rolled around much sooner than anyone had anticipated. Much to Gaster's dismay, the weekend just wasn't long enough. He got to the lab much before his shift was supposed to start, out of lack of anything better to do. A cup of hot coffee on the corner of his desk, a mountain of paperwork and too much free time could drive a person to go to work at six in the morning when they didn't start until eight.

The door opened at seven forty-five, and Gaster turned his head to see his new assistant early for his first day. He frowned slightly. Early on the first day... Hm...

"Uh, hi." Sans said. His voice echoed through the room. "I'm a bit early. I hope there's no problem with that."

"No, not at all. I hadn't expected you to be early, but there isn't any issue with it." The Royal Scientist replied. "Come over here, we're going to talk about the expectations and rules."

Sans closed the door and walked over, standing beside his new boss' desk. "So, what do I do?"

"Your first task is to refill my coffee mug." The other replied. He tapped the mug with his index finger. "There's a coffee pot in the break room."

Sans frowned, but shook the expression. Wouldn't wanna get fired the first day, and fifteen minutes before he was even supposed to start, no less. "Got ya, boss. How do you like your coffee?"

"Three sugar, two cream." Gaster replied, wrapped up in his paperwork still. Sans took the mug by the handle, and like a good little go-for, went into the room labeled 'Break Room'. A few minutes later, Gaster had a cup of coffee on his desk again.

"There ya go." Sans said. Gaster looked up at him, and Sans just stared back.

"Three sugar, two cream?"

"Three sugar, two cream." Sans confirmed. "What do I do now, Doc?"

Gaster cringed internally at the broken English. "We're going to talk about a uniform."

"What the heck is a uniform?" Sans asked. Gaster wanted to hang himself.

"Specific clothes you have to wear for a job. Today, your street clothes are fine. It's the first day, and you are... Apparently misinformed about uniforms." Gaster explained. His assistant made a face of understanding. "The uniform is a straight colour button down shirt, a tie, black or khaki slacks, and dress shoes. Think you can manage to get things like that in your closet by next Monday?"

"What's the female uniform like?"

If ever there was a question that absolutely boggled Gaster's mind, that would be it. "... Several questions. Firstly; do you see anyone here who is female?"

"No. We're the only ones here." Sans replied.

"The janitor is a woman, but that's about it. She doesn't do the same job as us. Second question, why do you care about the female uniform?"

"Was just curious..." Sans muttered. Gaster internally facepalmed. Right... This guy was a piece of work.

"To answer your absolutely confusing question, if a woman were to work here, the uniform would probably be the same. Maybe minus the tie."

"What about a skirt-"

"Save all questions like that for after nine A.M, please, and thank you." He pointed to the desk in the corner of the room. "Please move that desk over here, Mr. Fontz."

"You can just call me Sans. Mr. Fontz is too formal." Sans replied.

"Move the desk, Mr. Fontz." Gaster repeated. Sans moved the desk closer, almost directly next to Gaster's.

"What now?" He asked.

"Sit."

Sans sat. "What now?"

"Keep doing that."

Sans frowned. "Is that all I'm gonna do all day?"

"Probably. That's mostly the job."

He frowned deeply. "Why am I getting paid to sit?"

"Asgore insisted I have someone around here to socialize with. I told him that I wasn't a very social person, but he didn't exactly listen." The scientist leaned back in his chair.

"Well, can we do science stuff?" Sans asked. Gaster was becoming very impatient.

"Later, Mr. Fontz." He answered.

An hour of silence passed before something made contact with the side of Gaster's head and landed on his desk. A paper airplane... He unfolded it. Written in red pen was the words 'i'm bored let's do something'. He glared at his assistant, who shrugged. Gaster crumpled the paper up, throwing it towards the trashcan, it bouncing off the rim and rolling on the floor before Gaster fixed his glasses and went back to his work. "Psssst." He glared at Sans, his hair covering his annoyed expression. He glanced back at his work. "Psssssssst. Gaaaaster."

"Please be quiet so that I can concentrate, Mr. Fontz." Gaster said. Another paper airplane was thrown at him. He glared at his assistant again, making sure that Sans had seen his annoyance. "Please stop that so that I can concentrate."

Sans folded his arms, blowing his hair out of his face. Gaster unfolded the plane. Written in red pen was 'i wanna actually do stuff, dude'. "This isn't a very challenging job."

"You want challenging? Fine, I'll give you challenging. Make sure you don't have dull moment at all today." The scientist stood, and returned a few moments later with... A cube. It had different colours on it. He mixed it up a bit before slamming it onto Sans' desk. "Solve that."

Sans picked the cube up. "The hell is this thing?"

"An intelligence test. Get all of the colours on the same side as the cubes with that colour. Match it."

"So, like, one side all red, one side all green-"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Gaster sat as his desk. Five minutes later, there was a tap on his shoulder. He looked over, eyes widening. "How-"

"Solved it." Sans interrupted. "That was easy. Gimme something challenging."

Gaster muttered under his breath. "I've had just about enough, Mr. Fontz." He said. "I don't think you're cut out for this."

"What? I solved the cube. Isn't that what you wanted?" Sans asked.

"You aren't very mature." Gaster replied. "If I really need to hire someone because of Asgore's insistence that I can't do this alone, despite having done it alone since I was sixteen years old, an assistant that could show a little decorum, and engage in intelligent conversation would be appreciated. You asked me about the female uniform, despite there being no females here, and then proceeded to throw paper airplanes at my head...!"

The Royal Scientist was turning red in the face, and Sans looked a bit hurt. "Alright, I'm sorry..." The smaller male replied. "I'm not used to... Doing nothing, and then getting paid. I've always had to work for it. I'm just kinda... Nervous, and a bit confused."

Gaster relaxed in his seat. Right, first day jitters... "Please, get me more coffee."

Sans stood from his seat and was back with a fresh cup of coffee within minutes. Gaster sipped. His assistant had remembered how he liked his coffee... Which wasn't much, but it showed that he retained memory pretty well. "Um... Could we do science stuff?"

Gaster put the mug down. "Yeah. Sure. Why the hell not? That's what we're getting paid to do."

~~~~~~~~~~

Punch out time, five P.M. The taller male had locked the doors after they'd exited the building, looking to his assistant. "You did... Okay work today. Less airplane crashes from now on, please."

Sans laughed a little. "Sure thing, Doc."

"Please, it's Gaster."

"Well, then, call me Sans."

Gaster paused. "Fine. Sans it is."

Sans grinned. "Could also call me The Legendary Fart Master."

"I am not calling you that." The Royal Scientist protested. "You're lucky I'm even calling you Sans. I don't do first names."

"Yeah, you do. You called the King 'Asgore' earlier. That's his first name." Sans said. Gaster flushed pink in embarrassment.

"I've personally known Asgore for about seven years, before his child was even born. We're on a first name basis. I have known you a few hours. It's different."

Sans pulled his phone out. "We should exchange phone numbers."

"Why on Earth should we do that?" Gaster asked.

"So you can know me for more hours without having a paper airplane thrown at ya."

Gaster stood there for a moment. It seemed his co-worker wanted to be friendly... "Okay. Sure." He pulled his phone out, they exchanged numbers, and then they both shoved their phones in their pockets.

"See ya tomorrow." Sans said.

"See you tomorrow."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Marco!" Sans yelled as he got in.

"Poooolooooo!!" Papyrus yelled back.

"Nerd's home!!" Sans heard Undyne yell. He mentally prepared himself for the hyper pre-teen and teen as they ran down the steps.

"Can we have money?" Papyrus asked. Wow, what a great question to walk in to. Not 'how was work, Sans,' or 'how are you Sans,'. 'Can we have money?'. Undyne knocked him on the head.

"That's not how it's done, Papyrus! He's more likely to give us money if he's in a good mood! Make him smile, then rob him!!"

Sans raised an eyebrow. This sure was interesting to watch. "Oh! Okay, Undyne!" Papyrus said. She facepalmed as he looked back up to Sans. "Brother, I love you lots! Can we have money?"

"What for, and how much?"

"Glow sticks, and twenty G." Papyrus replied. Sans pulled out his wallet.

"You are killing me, smalls. I bought you guys glow sticks last week." He handed Undyne the money as Papyrus hopped up and down.

"I love glow sticks almost as much as I love you, brother."

"We're gonna get 'em tomorrow, after Paps gets out of school." Undyne said. Sans had hung his hoodie up and kicked his slippers off.

"Fine by me." He plopped on the couch, leaning back. It wasn't a very comfortable couch... But it beat standing, or sitting on the floor.

His phone started ringing, and he picked up. "Hello?"

Silence on the other end for a moment. "I have called to confirm that this is the right number."

"Well, who were ya trying to call?" Sans asked.

"The Legendary Fart Master."

Sans blinked, and then smiled. "Yeah, this is him."

"Okay." Gaster said. "See you tomorrow at work, Sans."

"See ya, Gaster."

Click. The Royal Scientist stared at the screen for a few moments. Maybe Sans was the kind of person he could actually be friends with. Lord knows he didn't have many of those to begin with...

#sans #gaster #papyrus #undyne #sanster #gaster x sans #sans x gaster #undertale #undertail #humantale #human au

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