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ri-ahhh · 3 years

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Hi, Riah! I was wondering if we could maybe get another part of MJ and Gray? I love them sm! Whatever you’re feeling up to writing is cool☺️

This has been in that pages document for forever just sitting there so why not post it haha I was trying to do everything slower and in a more sequential order but whatever

MJ was minding her own business in the kitchen of their new home one morning, standing in front of the Nespresso machine with a blank stare as her decaf blend streamed into her favorite mug. She’s now 25 weeks pregnant, and even though her second trimester is drastically better than her first, one symptom that continues to linger is the 24/7 exhaustion that makes her head pound and her body weak. She goes through this routine every morning of hoping that the smell and taste of her beloved coffee will trick her mind into thinking it’s caffeinated even a little bit, but to no avail.

Not to mention: her tits are heavy and sore; the baby is big enough to cause more back pain than ever; and, well, she just feels…gross.

That’s not to say she feels like this all the time. In fact, she quite enjoys being pregnant on most days. Despite the frequent tiredness, she’s definitely one of those glowing pregnant women, and she adores the fact that she’s lucky enough to be able to do something so miraculous as grow and carry a full on baby inside of her.

But mornings are usually the worst time for MJ, and it doesn't help any when her husband comes to join her, looking like sex on legs with his mussed hair, puffy lips and cheeks, and his bulky muscles lean from the early hour.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” he mumbles, coming up behind her to nuzzle kisses into her neck, his morning scruff scratching her skin deliciously. He smells like sleep and toothpaste, and MJ happily tilts her neck back so his mouth can meet with hers. “Sleep okay?”

MJ shrugs and opens the carton of oat milk. “As good as I have been. Which is to say, not that great,” she answers honestly, pouring the creamy liquid into her steaming mug before stepping away from him to put the carton back in the fridge. She doesn’t like to complain, sometimes feeling guilty about doing so, but if she does have anything regarding her pregnancy that she needs to vent about, it’s always to Grayson considering it’s his baby causing all her problems. That, and he knows better than anyone that she wouldn't trade it for anything. “Your child has taken a liking to kicking me in the spleen at random hours throughout the night, apparently.”

Grayson frowns sympathetically for a moment, but that quickly morphs into a soft smile as he drops to his knees in front of his wife. He truly hates the painful aspects she has to go through with this pregnancy, but nothing makes him happier than the sight he had walked in on just now — MJ in those yoga pants that hugged her ass even better than usual with the bit of weight she’s put on. A chunk of her skin exposed between the waistband and the hem of her pre-pregnancy camisole that’s stretched to capacity over the cute bump she subconsciously caresses while standing at the coffee maker. Hair piled in a messy bun. Eyes tired behind her oversized glasses but skin radiant. Swaying side to side and humming to herself as she waits for the brew to finish.

He lifts her shirt more so his lips can graze her taut skin, and places his hands on either side of her belly. “Baby girl,” he coos to the bump with a grin when he feels movement against his palms, “you gotta be good and let your mama get some rest. She’s working hard to grow you in there, she needs to sleep.”

MJ takes a sip of her latte and melts as she always does when he talks to their little bean. It’s like his voice is a magnet as she feels the familiar flutters of the baby moving inside her to find her daddy.

“She already loves you,” she murmurs when Grayson places a lingering kiss on her belly before standing again. “She goes crazy every time you speak.”

Grayson flushes happily and captures MJ’s lips sweetly, his tongue slipping into her mouth to taste coffee and her. He backs her up against the counter and never breaks the seal of their mouths as he takes her mug and sits it blindly on the granite behind her. Her arms wrap loosely around his neck and his hands run up and down her back until he reaches under her thighs to hoist her on the counter next to her mostly-full cup of coffee. He’s succeeded in awakening her more than it could, anyway.

They finally break apart, and Grayson’s hands move to her bump once again. MJ covers them with her own and smiles ruefully, resting the back of her head against the upper cabinets to look at him more fully, all kiss-swollen and glowing arguably as much as he always claims she is.

“Won’t be very long before I’m too huge for you to do that,” she jokes, laughing when he looks at her like she’s crazy.

“Not to brag, but have you seen me?” he questions rhetorically with a quirked brow, a hint of a smirk on the corner of his mouth. He flexes his arms, his biceps twitching beneath her slim fingers.

MJ shakes her head and bites her lip as her hands map the bulges of his broad shoulders and thick arms that would always get her panties wet on any given day, but have her halfway to jumping him now that she’s hormonal and horny all the time. He barely got in the door from the gym shirtless and sweaty the other day before she was blowing him in their foyer.

“Of course, Bear. Doesn't change that I’m barely over halfway through and already feel like I’m 1,000 pounds most of the time,” she says, scrunching her nose and locking her hands around his neck.

Grayson stares at her darkly, and she can actually feel the moisture collect in her underwear, just from that hazel smolder. “MJ, I know it has to be tough, growing a whole-ass person inside you. I hope you don't ever think I’m belittling that fact, but you’re so fucking sexy right now,” he assures, moving his hands to cup her jaw to make sure she was listening. “Know why?”

She finds that a little hard to believe, mentally noting the extra roundness in her face, and the faint but present stretch marks starting to paint the skin of her stomach, and the painful way her breasts have swelled. “Why?”

Gray drags his teeth along his lower lip and looks her up and down slowly until lustful, loving hazel meets intrigued green. “Because that’s my baby. Every time I look at you I think, ‘I did that. I put that in her.’” He lets out a little growl and kisses her again, apparently so caught up in his own words that he can’t resist her anymore. He pulls back with a hum as he continues. “And any time we go in public, it’s in the faces of everyone — mine. My wife, my baby, mine mine mine.”

He punctuates each ‘mine’ with a peck to her lips. MJ is a bit taken aback by his sincerity, but after a moment she smiles and holds up her left hand, where her three carat emerald cut diamond glitters in the sunlight streaming through the windows. “Was this hunk of rock not enough to stake your claim, caveman?” she asks with a giggle.

“Nope,” Grayson says, grabbing her hand and kissing the ring as he grins. “Had to prove my virility on top of marking my territory.”

She rolls her eyes playfully and wraps her legs around his trim waist. “Well, if you’re going to be like that, be a good Neanderthal and hunt down the food to make me a green smoothie.”

Grayson throws back his head and laughs, kissing her nose affectionately before extracting himself from her grip and doing as she asked. “Anything for my woman.”

#blurb #g blurb #grayson mj

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finiffy · 4 years

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I really like thinking about the scp doctors doing normal morning routines

Iceberg waking up in the mornings with his fluffy'n soft blankets half on half off him, absolutely refusing to leave his warm bed until his 3rd alarm is yelling at him to get up. Trudging to take a shower then putting on his multiple layers of clothing and finally wrapping his scarf around himself. He never makes breakfast for himself so he has to go to the site early so that he can grab something in the breakroom before anyone else does (sometimes Rights saves him a muffin or something if he is running late). He sometimes gets to his office to see someone has dumped their paperwork onto his desk, he immediately burns them and drops it outside with a note, "Dump your work on my desk again and I will burn you down".

Clef starts his day by rolling off his bed to try and get away from his blaring alarm then immediately falling onto the floor until he finally feels like getting up. He gets up to stretch and hisses as his old wounds act up. Barely brushing his teeth but making sure nothing is stuck between them or his breath smelling weird, he heads to the kitchen and pops some frozen waffles into the toaster or whatever he has around to eat, and if he doesn't have anything at home would just go and steal someone's food from the breakroom. He goes about picking out the worst looking outfit he's got, hawaiian shirt and all then putting on some cheap looking flip flops, definitely violating Foundation dresscode but at this point no one is really going to bug him about it.

Gears probably with the most schedule routine, wakes up at 8:00, eats breakfast at 8:30 which usual consists of eggs, coffee, and some toast, 9:00 go for a light walk then head back and by 10:00 arrive at work. At home this man wears a robe with an old tshirt (which most likely has a really bad science pun that he keeps getting from the junior staff), sweats and slippers. He usually plays some music in the background when he gets ready and uses every song to count how much time has pass. He is never late for work and always arrives somewhat early to get a head start on his day. He greets everyone with a nod when they say hello to him as he makes two cups of coffee and brings them to his office and places one on Iceberg's desk and his.

Bright is a very heavy sleeper and has his alarm blasting every 5 minutes. When he does get up he goes to shower to wake himself up while at the same time brushes his teeth. He always keeps the lights off in his bathroom so he doesn't get whiplash from his new reflection each time he looks in the mirror and sometimes debates whether or not to just remove the thing. He is the kind of person to skip breakfast since it makes him nauseous in the mornings but depending on his body it is always a hit or miss situation so he pretty much settles for something light. Before he leaves his home he does a pat down on himself. Keys. ID card. Wallet. Pants (don't ask).Stupid amulet that he must wear at all times because of some stupid rule. Phone.

Glass is not a morning person at all and is usually very clumsy and grumpy. Morning Glass and afternoon Glass are two different people. He usual makes tea instead of coffee since he doesn't like having caffeine early in the mornings. Once his drowsiness wears off he goes and puts on his contacts but if he is late or just annoyed with trying to put them on he just wears his glasses to work. Sometimes when he stress bakes at home, he would bring the baked goods with him when he gets to work and passes them around to people he knows doesn't get breakfast or sometimes forgets to eat. He usually makes muffins or cookies as they are the most easy thing to pass around and would put extras in the breakroom for others to take. In his office he makes sure to water the plants he has laying around that he may or may not have given them names before settling down for work.

Crow's home was modified so that it is easier on him and with different machinery that he made that helps him with his daily things. He makes sure to groom himself every morning because of how much he sheds and not wanting to get complaints around fur all over the facility and brushes his teeth with the really gross dog brand toothpaste. He is not the type to take a shower in the morning because of how long it takes him to dry off and not risking getting wet dog smell comments from his coworkers. He has always refused that he actually eats dog food cause 'I'm a human being I'm not eating damn kibble' (which brought into a long argument and discussion with his colleagues that everyone in their life has tried to eat dog/cat food just to see if it's good). In reality he actually eats dog food. At home at least especially for breakfast. It's easy for him since he can't cook, and it doesn't need any preparations. He misses the taste and smell of having coffee every morning though.

Kondraki wakes up barely opening his eyes because of not sleeping at a reasonable time or if he actually got any sleep at all. He washes his face to get rid of any drowsiness or fatigue before setting up to shave his beard to look more presentable. Before he does anything for the day in the facility, he heads straight for 408's containment to feed them for the morning, feeding them is a reminder for himself to also eat so he would on most days join them for breakfast. When Draven still lived with him, he always made breakfast for the both of them and ate together but when Draven moved out, he began to forget to eat but 408 started to help him. After doing morning checkups with 408, he heads for his office to start the coffee machine that he stole from the staff room and downing the whole pot before noon.

#long post #made this instead of sleeping #scp foundation #headcanon

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brandstifter-sys · 4 years

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Kopi luwak

Word Count: 1115 (Ao3)

Pairing: Dukexiety

Characters: Remus, Virgil, Roman

Rating: T

Warnings: Food mention, violence mention, swearing, remus-grossness

Dukexiety Week: Day 4 - Coffee (shop) Virgil is a tired barista, but sometimes interesting people come in. Like the wily snack who came in with a regular and friend, Roman.

@dukexietyweek

---

Virgil was used to strange requests at work. The occasional mocha latte without the espresso drove him up a wall—that's just chocolate milk! Of course nine times out of ten it was just a parent trying to appease their kid, which was something he could understand. There were people who wanted ungodly amounts of espresso in their drinks. There was one time an old man wanted 'just coffee' which would be fine except there were some simple options he could have been a little nicer about—"dark roast or medium roast?—dark roast tastes stronger, that's all—do you want regular, half, or decaf?—Sir, I would rather be sure that I don't give you anything that could cause heart problems—it's a precaution I take with most everyone—Would you like milk?—no sir, if you want I can offer you a pitcher so you can add what you want."

Difficult people loved the cafe during his shift and he had no idea why. It was quiet for the first time in forever, and he was busy wiping down the equipment when two people came in. One was a regular, and a pain in the ass, Roman, but at least he was patient. The other person looked like him, but with a mustache and a less preppy style. He wasn't half bad.

"Virgil, my darling storm cloud!" Roman sang as he approached the counter. Virgil forced a smile at the dramatic dork in his stupid Hawaiian shirt and loafers. At least the other guy cringed for the both of them.

"Hey, Princey, the usual?" Virgil asked hopefully. Roman shook his head, nearly sending Virgil into cardiac arrest. A medium coffee, ⅔ regular, ⅙ half, and two shots of espresso with almond milk and three strong pumps–not two, not four–of caramel, topped with whip, chocolate syrup and caramel sauce. If that specific wasn't what he wanted, it was usually worse!

"I would like it on ice this time. No need to fret," Roman said apologetically. He knew he was needy.

"Will that be all?"

"Do you have any cat poop coffee?" the other guy asked loudly. Roman cringed and inched aside. The other guy, who was in a studded vest, neon green Tripp pants, and a spiked collar, moseyed up to the counter and leaned on it, showing off the tentacle tattoo on his arm and his studded bracelet. He was really cute.

"Does this hole in the wall cafe look like it could afford to sell kopi luwak to you?" Virgil asked far too sweetly.

"No, not really, but they've gotta have some funds to hire a snack like you!"

"Remus!" Roman yelped, "No flirting with my exhausted friends! Virgil doesn't need your brand of indecency!"

"So that's what this version is called," Virgil grumbled, letting his smile fall.

"Yup! I'm the sexy version of this loser!"

"I'm the version Mom loves."

"Ouch," Virgil winced.

"She sure does! Who doesn't like having a dog instead of a kid!?"

"She certainly prefers having a kid to an edgy little bitch!" Roman retorted. Remus flipped him off and turned his attention to Virgil.

"Since you don't have any kopi luwak, and I doubt you're on the menu, what would you recommend for a trash disaster who needs low caffeine?" he purred and fluttered his lashes.

"Some kind of herbal tea, iced and sweetened."

"Sweetened? But you're the kind of eye candy that could rot my teeth! You can have them if you want."

"Just what I need for my collection," Virgil droned sarcastically, completely dropping his customer service schtick. Roman winced, well aware that the customer service voice was the only thing keeping them safe.

"You have a collection?! You should definitely show me before dinner!"

"Are you asking me out?"

"Yeah! Glad you caught on!" Remus beamed. Roman's face fell. Remus was pushing it and he knew that if his idiot brother kept this up, Virgil would spit in their drinks or worse, mess them up.

"I'm working, try ordering something instead," Virgil responded with a teasing lilt to his voice that was so slight Roman missed it.

"Okay, a medium iced tea—your favorite!"

"So one iced caramel staircase and a medium iced Scary Berry tea with lemonade, sweetened. Anything else?"

"Your number."

"Not on the menu."

"That will be all, Virgil," Roman said hurriedly and paid with a card. Virgil shrugged and motioned to the end of the counter.

"When you said you wanted coffee, you never told me there'd be a snack behind the counter!" Remus giggled while they waited.

"I swear if you pissed him off with that stunt and he messed up my coffee because of it, I will kill you."

"You don't want to go to jail for murder," Remus cooed and batted his lashes. Roman growled and grabbed him by the vest.

"If you get me kicked out of the only coffee shop in town that manages to get my order right every time, you'll wish it were a simple murder."

"Iced staircase for the murderous princey," Virgil said and slid him his drink. Roman cautiously took a sip and relaxed. Remus didn't ruin him.

"And an iced Scary Berry for the skunk," Virgil said and slid Remus his drink. It was blood red and bubbling slightly. Remus took it with a bright grin and took a sip. Okay now that was good!

"Ooh now I know I have to come back! Thanks Scare Bear!" Remus cheered. Virgil leaned over the counter on his forearms and stared at Roman, waiting for something.

"Oh, right! Thank you Virgil! How could I forget to say that! No matter, farewell!" Roman rambled and dragged his brother out of the shop. Remus could have sworn Virgil winked at him as they left.

"Mom doesn't want us home before dusk. I was thinking about maybe visiting that one store—"

"Where to next?" Remus asked between long sips. Roman shrugged and walked along the main street without much thought.

"With the lingerie and the—?"

"Yes, that store. Patton has a birthday coming up and I thought it would be a good place to find a gift for my sweet kitten."

"Gross!" Remus laughed and shoved him lightly. He held up his cup and stumbled when Roman shoved him back.

"Holy shit!" Remus shrieked, causing Roman to spin in a panic. He didn't push him that hard! But Remus wasn't hurt, far from it. He was cradling his cup with glee.

"What is it?"

"I got his number! And he drew a scary bear on it!" Remus squealed, "He actually gave me his number!"

"There's a first time for everything," Roman shrugged, secretly thrilled for his trashy little brother.

#dukexietyweek2020 #sanders sides #dukexiety #remus sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #food mention tw #swearing tw #sandyscribed

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artificialqueens · 5 years

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Aloe You Vera Much (Branjie) - Mac

AN: This is a sequel to You Make My Daisy, my Branjie flower shop and bakery AU. It isn’t essential that you read YMMD to understand this, but it sure would help at a few points. Anyway…thanks a million to my darlings’ grapefruit and Dane for beta-ing and being the absolute sweetest angels, as well as ripping me to shreds and making me write better than I think I ever have. Ya’ll the best.

Summary: Vanessa and Brooke navigate their new relationship and gross out all their friends with how adorable they are.

The months that follow their initial coupling are filled with long nights spent walking up and down the street/sidewalk/road, talking about nothing and everything, and early mornings trading lazy kisses for so long that they are both almost late.

The days are filled with longing for their lunch break to hurry the fuck up so they can see each other. It’s stupid and silly but it makes Brooke’s insides fill with butterflies, nonetheless.

On days that Brooke goes on break before Vanessa, she waits patiently at one of the few tables inside the bakery, stealing glances at Vanessa’s face while she pounds some dough, sets up some display, or stares back at her. Vanessa’s hair was always falling into her face in a way that Brooke thought couldn’t possibly be up to code with proper food handling practices, but she would never complain as the vision of a sweaty and exhausted Vanessa was one of her truly favorite sights.

The younger girl would smile up at her from under her long curls and Brooke would swear she gets more beautiful as the days pass.

They would walk hand in hand to the local cafe, Shuga would smile knowingly and make a comment about them being attached at the hip. Brooke would roll her eyes and pull Vanessa another inch closer. Shuga would smile wider and hand them their orders, knowing them by heart by now.

Vanessa would thank her sweetly and wave to the other employees. Brooke would feel bad for not knowing their names, but she would reason with herself that Vanessa usually came by to grab Brooke and herself a drink before they closed up, so she had more time to get to know them.

After getting yelled at the past few times for eating on the roof of the movie theatre, they had tried to switch up their lunch location. The small bookshop near the end of the street/sidewalk/road was often too quiet for both their tastes, but the small food court was too loud. They often settled for the fire escape on the side of the abandoned record store. They would trade lovesick smiles and bites of their sandwiches. Brooke would eat the pickles off Vanessa’s sandwich and ask her why she even got pickles if she didn’t like them. Vanessa would smile sweetly and say that Brooke liked them.

Brooke would try to kiss her, but Vanessa would squeal that she tasted like pickles.

Vanessa would kiss her anyway.

It went on this way for months. Five months to be exact.

Brooke was waiting for the inevitable crash. The Punk’d crew to come out and tell her it had all been an elaborate joke. She was waiting for her self-destructive nature to get the better of her. Or her perfectionist tendencies to drive Vanessa away. It is incredible to Brooke how all her flaws are taken in stride. Vanessa sees them as a part of Brooke. And she adores every part of Brooke.

Brooke doesn’t know how she got so lucky.

Vanessa doesn’t either.

The day starts like any other. With Vanessa’s eyes being the first thing Brooke sees upon waking. Brooke swears she could never see anything else for the rest of her life and she would be happy.

Vanessa kisses her sweetly; morning breath be damned. And Brooke never minds. Vanessa always tastes like Vanessa - and home.

The younger girl smiles at her, eyes still unfocused without her contacts, looking to all the world like a woman in love. Brooke dares to hope she is. Dares to hope she isn’t the only one falling completely hopelessly in love.

She won’t say it yet. Even after five months, it feels too soon.

Vanessa brushes the hair out of her face and places a quick kiss to Brooke’s forehead before throwing off the blankets. She moves around the apartment with a kind of confidence that makes Brooke’s heart soar. Vanessa looks like she belongs there.

She does. They both know she does.

The younger girl pulls on a shirt - not hers - and walks to the kitchen. Brooke lays in bed, content to listen to Vanessa hum to herself and look around for anything to eat. Vanessa scolds Brooke from the room over about not having anything to eat in the damn house other than coffee, which is probably not nutritious enough to eat raw. Brooke chuckles lightly and rouses enough strength to get up and follow her girlfriend’s complaints.

Thirty minutes later they are both caffeinated and ready to leave. They part ways in the middle of the sidewalk/street/road with a quick peck and a longing glance.

Brooke laments how her heart sinks when Vanessa’s curls disappear from view. She reminds herself that they will literally be reunited in mere hours.

It doesn’t placate her.

The day passes in a haze. With Valentine’s Day coming up, Brooke is swamped with orders. Her business is really blossoming. Brooke’s newest collection of flowers is selling like crazy. It’s stupid, she knows it is, but she named the boquet Vanessa. It’s cheesy and stupid, but it also makes her incredibly happy to have so many people ask for her girlfriend’s name - even if they just want flowers.

Three o’clock comes faster than usual. Brooke looks up to the chime of the door to see the subject of her affections looking at the newest display. She suddenly feels nervous. What if it’s too much? What if Vanessa finds it creepy? What if-

All Brooke’s fears are gone the moment Vanessa finishes reading the card on the table. She flashes Brooke a dazzling smile, as a few tears prick the edges of her eyes.

“I love them.” Vanessa says against her lips.

I love you. Brooke wants to say.“I’m glad.” She says instead.

Vanessa holds her extra close on their way to the cafe.

Shuga gives her a look. “She saw the flowers?”

Brooke nods.

Shuga had been the first one to notice them in the window of the shop. She had held Brooke’s hands in hers when Brooke confessed her fears and told her not to worry so much.

Shuga rolls her eyes fondly. “Girl, you two are sweeter’n sugar.”

“Hate us cause you aint us.” Vanessa jokes back.

Shuga rolls her eyes again as she slides their food across the counter. “Okay, lovebirds. Make yourselves scarce ‘fore you scare any of my customers with your canoodling.”

Brooke winks at her and grabs Vanessa’s ass on the way out.

The fire escape is particularly precarious today and the chill in the air doesn’t help with the stability.

It probably isn’t the best idea to be eating outside in this weather, but a rountines a routine. Vanessa is bundled up and Brooke thinks she looks like an adorable marshmallow. She tells her as much.

Vanessa rolls her eyes. “You say that cause you wanna eat me.”

“Well I know for a fact that you taste better than this sandwich.” Brooke winks at her and bites into her sandwich making a show of her aggressiveness.

Vanessa laughs out loud. Her head thrown back and mouth full of food. Brooke thinks she has never looked more beautiful. She tells her as much. Vanessa leans in to kiss her for what must be the hundredth time that day, when a clattering startles the both of them.

It seems to be coming from inside the abandoned record store.

Vanessa gets up, food forgotten as she looks over the railing. Brooke follows suit, hands coming to rest around Vanessa’s waist, knowing her girlfriend to be the clumsiest person alive, when she sees a flash of what looks like fur. Vanessa shoots her a glance and they share a confused look.

Vanessa, ever the adventurer starts to climb down the fire escape, after firmly securing her sandwich in her mouth. Brooke calls after her. “Baby, what are you doing?”

“I wanna know what that was.” Her voice is muffled by the food.

“What if it was a ghost, ‘Nessa? And you’re about to get your ass haunted for the rest of your life?”

“Well then you wouldn’t be the only one haunting my ass.”

Brooke bites back a chuckle and follows behind her girlfriend.

They hear more rustling as they near the bottom of the ladder. Vanessa pulls at the door on the side of the shop. It doesn’t budge. She pulls harder. Brooke dismisses her with a flick of her hand and pulls it open on the first try.

“I loosened it up for you.”

“Sure you did, baby.”

Vanessa mumbles something under her breath in Spanish and Brooke laughs lightly, trying to ease her nerves.

The door creaks on its hinges and the layer of dust on the floor confirms that it really had been abandoned up until this point.

Vanessa goes in first, careful not to disturb anything. The shop looks as if everything had been left exactly the way it was. Merchandise is abundant and priced accordingly. The only sign that time has passed is the thin layer of dust coating everything.

A sudden movement in the back corner causes both their heads to turn.

Vanessa approaches the area with slow steps.

Brooke stays where she is, cautious of her surroundings, but calls out to Vanessa, worry eating at her and slipping into her voice. “It’s probably just some animal ‘Nessa.”

Vanessa doesn’t turn around to answer. “Just…give me a second.”

Vanessa gets closer and closer. This time, they both get a good look at the beast in question when it suddenly sprints across the store to jump on top of the cassette display.

It was a small - clearly underfed - grey cat.

It hisses as Vanessa approaches once more.

Brooke was now incredibly worried, and didn’t try to stop the concern from infiltrating her voice. “‘Nessa be careful! It could be feral.”

“He’s not.” Vanessa says calmly.

“You don’t know that.”

“I grew up on a farm, Brooke. I’ve seen plenty of feral cats.”

Brooke’s worry vanishes for a second, surprise taking over. “You grew up on a farm?”

Vanessa casts her eyes down a second before responding. “Yup. Cows, chickens, and sheep. The full nine yards.”

Brooke’s voice softens, as it becomes clear that there is still much to learn about her girlfriend. “You never told me that.”

Vanessa shrugs. “It’s not something I’m proud of.” She looks at her feet, not meeting Brooke’s eyes.

The cat hisses again.

Brooke takes a step back and reaches for Vanessa’s hand to pull her away. “We’ll come back to that topic, but for now, you need to back up.”

“I’m fine, B. Really.”

Vanessa approaches once more. The cat’s back is arched and just as it looks like it is about to pounce, Vanessa speaks in a soft voice. “Hey there little guy.” The cat softens a bit. “Qué está pasando? What’s goin on?”

The cat doesn’t respond but he does sink down a little, letting a bit more of the tension dissipate.

Brooke smiles lightly at her girlfriend’s words. As they had gotten to know each other better, Vanessa would slip into Spanish every now and then. She hardly ever realized she was doing it. A confused look on Brooke’s face often was her only cue.

Brooke smiles lightly now letting a bit of the tension in her own shoulders dissipate. Vanessa slipping into Spanish means she is comfortable.

Vanessa takes her sandwich and in slow sure movements, careful not to spook the cat more, places it lightly on top of the cassettes. The cat looks at her judgingly for a second before sniffing the sandwich.

“Adelante.”

Without warning, he sticks his head in and gobbles up the meat in three seconds flat. He looks at Vanessa again, still unsure and then suddenly, a noise rings out in the quiet shop. It takes a minute for Brooke to realize it is coming from the small animal. It sounds almost as if it is calling out.

Another cat appears from between the bookshelves, making his way to the other one by weaving through Brooke’s legs.

This cat is dark brown with little streaks of lighter brown interspersed throughout his fur, but the dust makes him look almost black.

The brown cat hops up beside his companion and noses at the pickles for a moment before gobbling one down.

Vanessa bumps Brooke’s shoulder with her own. “Look, that one’s you. He likes pickles.”

Brooke looks at Vanessa like she is crazy. God she loves her so much.

“C’mon, let’s get closer.”

Brooke wants to protest. Wants to tell her that they should be getting back, but she never could say no to Vanessa.

The cats tense as they get closer, but when Vanessa puts out her hand, slow but sure, they sniff her curiously. The grey one takes an interest in her and begins to nuzzle up to Vanessa’s hand, even headbutting it at one point.

Vanessa smiles at him. “That one’s me. He’s got a little fire in him. That Puerto Rican sass.”

Brooke laughs lightly, still cautious of spooking the animals.

Vanessa turns to Brooke and grabs her hand, holding it out to the two strays in her own. The cats sniff again but quickly get over their hesticance and start licking at Brooke’s hand. Their sandpaper tongues make tingles crawl up her back.

Brooke opens her mouth again, worry etched on her face. Vanessa cuts her off before she even gets a word out. “You gotta relax, baby. Everything’s fine. I wouldn’t put you in danger, you know that.”

Brooke nods her head. Vanessa’s promise rings in her ears.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, Brooke.”

And fuck Brooke believed her.

Still does. After so many instances where they could have blown up at each other, torn the whole relationship to shreds, they didn’t. Vanessa, for being called a hot-head, never blew up at Brooke. If she was mad she would take time to herself, collect her thoughts, then come back. Brooke tried to do the same. Tried to let things go. Tried to not let the crippling fear of not being good enough for Vanessa not eat at her everyday. Vanessa, bless her, would hold her hand and tell her that she was enough. She was always enough and she always would be enough.

The cats make it through the first sandwich and Brooke hands over hers as well. The cats lick her hand more fervently this time.

“I think they like you.” Vanessa says stepping back, a smile in her voice.

Brooke looks back at the younger girl who has her phone out and is snapping a picture.

“They aren’t the only ones.” Vanessa says, winking at her over her phone. Brooke smiles and rolls her eyes.

“You are ridiculous.”

“You love it.”

“I do.” The fondness in Brooke’s voice is palpable.

They trade silly smiles.

The grey cat hops down from the shelf to nuzzle against Brooke’s feet. The older girl picks him up cautiously, and he immediately softens into her arms. Brooke smiles at him, and looks up to see Vanessa looking at Brooke like she is her world.

“I love you.”

Vanessa’s voice is fond and her eyes are wide. She looks shocked that she said it, but not so shocked that she wants to take it back.

Brooke is speechless.

“C’mon, Mary. Don’t leave me hangin.” Vanessa’s words are joking but her tone is nervous.

Brooke walks slowly up to her, careful not to jarr the cat in her arms. Vanessa places her soft hands on Brooke’s cheeks. “I know you’re scared. You don’t gotta worry so much. You ain’t the only one in this.”

Brooke smiles softly. She has no idea why she was worried. Vanessa always makes her feel safe, even when doing something that feels so dangerous.

“I love you too.”

Vanessa’s face breaks into a smile that looks like it belongs there. “See, that wasn’t so hard was it?”

Brooke shakes her head. Her own smile feeling permanently etched on her face.

Vanessa pulls back to pet at the brown cat. “Now, which one of us is takin these little guys home?”

Brooke’s smile falters. “‘Nessa, we can’t.” She tries to sound firm, tries to leave no question in her voice.

“Why not?” Vanessa looks up at her from under her eyelashes with her quintessential puppy dog eyes.

Brooke doesn’t have an answer. They are both financially stable enough. They have the time to care for them, and- aww look the brown one is licking at Vanessa’s face…

…They both get back to work almost thirty minutes late. Nina, the primary owner of the bakery, shakes her head at Vanessa, and barely bites back a smile. If it were anyone but Vanessa, they would be fired on the spot. But it’s Vanessa. And Nina has a soft spot for romance, and seeing Brooke happy.

Over the past few months, Nina had come in to Brooke’s shop every now and again. She used the excuse that she was ‘picking up flowers for the missus,’ but Brooke knows it’s really to check up on her and Vanessa.

Nina is nosey but she does it out of love. She and Brooke had hit it off the second they met and it seemed clear then to be the start of a long friendship.

Nina waves at Brooke who is watching anxiously from outside. Brooke blushes and waves back timidly, arms full from carrying both cats.

As the blonde turns away to open up her shop, Nina whispers to Monet, “We were like that once.” The younger woman is sitting on the counter, even though she knows it drives Nina crazy.

She rolls her eyes at her wife. “We were never thatsappy.”

Nina looks at her with a raised eyebrow. “Must I remind you of the time you waited outside my house with-”

Monet cuts her off. “No. No. Ok. I get it. We were disgusting.”

Nina flashes her a triumphant smile and turns to watch as Brooke closes the door to her shop behind her.

***

Brooke lets the cats roam about her shop, only having to stop them from eating the hydrangeas twice. She looks up every now and then from her orders to see them running about and playing with each other. There is no use fighting the fond smile that begs to adorn her face, so Brooke doesn’t try.

At one point, the grey one hops up on the counter where Brooke is working on an order and starts meowing until Brooke picks him up. She continues her work, cat held securely in her arms.

The day passes quickly and before she knows it, she is flipping off the open sign. Brooke luers the cats to the front door with a click of her tongue. She throws on her backpack, picks the cats up, and closes the door with her foot, arms full.

Brooke sees Vanessa through the window, the younger girl waving to Nina and Monet. They wave to Vanessa and smirk at her lovesick expression when she can’t see them.

Vanessa walks slowly up to Brooke and the cats, smiling at the grey one who is licking at Brooke’s face.

“So, you thought of names yet?” Vanessa asks.

“I figured you had that covered.”

Vanessa smiles. She does.

“Henry and Apollo.”

“I like that.”

“Me too.”

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #branjie #fluff #worldbuilding #lesbian au #you make my daisy #ymmd #aloe you vera much #bakery au #flower shop au #nina west #monet x change #shuga cain #mac #s11

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officerjennie · 5 years

Note

💘 Tobirama x Izuna

Ask meme here

Stuffs below the cut cause super long. Also! My headcanons change wildly between stories and junk, so this is just one take on them :D

(also also: *nervous laughter* I’m, ahhh, getting around to the asks. I promise.)

(copy paste ftw)

Where they first met and how?Either on the battlefield in canon, or through their overbearing and obnoxious older brothers. OR. Maybe they’re the ones who met at the river in an alternate to canon, ooooooo me like.

How long their ‘flirting’ phase was before feelings got involvedI mean. They’re forever in flirting phase. Even after feelings get involved, they’re too busy being snarky at each other to notice.

Who fell for who first (if applicable)?Izuna fell first, and fell hard. Tobirama took a lot more time, especially considering he was convinced Izuna still hated him.Where their first date was and what it was like?Date who? They don’t go on dates. They go angry spar and end up disappearing into the woods for a while, and come out looking like they’ve been wrestling in the bushes.

Who asks who out and how (with a sign? Spelled out on a cake? Just a simple ‘will you go out with me’?)Izuna just shows up at Tobirama’s door step with his stuff one day and says he’s moving in. That’s the first and only ‘asking out’ either of them do.

Who proposes first?Hashirama. Hashirama proposes they both get married. That’s the only way they’re making it official.

If they keep/kept their relationship secret or let everyone know right away?I feel like anyone related to Hashirama would default to keeping it secret at least for a few months from him. He’s just too much of a headache to handle.

Where the proposal happens and how (kiss cam at a baseball game? on a Hillside surrounded by ducks? At a Disney park?)It happens at Hashirama’s house. Because he dragged them both there, along with Madara. And sobs about wanting it to be official.

If they adopt any pets togetherTobirama keeps weird pets in tanks, and Izuna has a cat or two.

Who’s more dominantThey’re still fighting that one out…

Where their first kiss was and what it was likeAngry. Probs right after knocking each other around during a spar.

If they have any matching couples stuff (Mugs? Sweaters? Pillowcases?)I could see Izuna getting them something gross like that, if only to watch Tobirama’s eye twitch at it.

How into PDA they areTobirama hates it. Izuna’s alright with it.

Who holds the umbrella when it rainsIzuna - if only because Tobirama doesn’t like using them.

Where their usual ‘date spot’ is (if applicable)Training field.

Who’s more protective?Outwardly? Neither of them, unless the situation threatens physical violence. In the shadows? Izuna.

How long it is before they sleep together (can be as in ‘had sex’ or as in ‘shared a bed’)?Shared a bed wise, it’s a while. They both have a lot of stuff to figure out between them, especially in a more canon universe. They were raised to kill each other, and fought one another over and over - literally hated each other at some point.

If they argue about anythingYes. All the time, even when it’s not serious. It’s practically foreplay to them.

Who leaves more marks (lipstick, hickeys, scratchmarks etc.)?Izuna, somewhat cause (after the fact) it annoys Tobirama.

Who steals whose clothes and how oftenNeither of them, really.

How they cuddle (spooning? facing each other?)Izuna likes to flop on top of his Senju.

What their favourite nonsexual activity isEither random debates just for the hell of it, or training.

How long they stay mad at each otherHow long they appear mad at each other: quite a while. How long they’re actually mad at each other: not very long tbh.

What their usual coffee/tea orders areIzuna gave up caffeine after seeing what it does to Tobirama, who practically injects it into his veins to keep working. Tobirama’s taste buds call out for anything with the blessed wake juice, no matter how the precious liquid is flavored.

If they ever have any children togetherNah

If they have any special pet names for each otherIzuna loves making up random shit to call Tobirama, and laughs at the faces it earns him.

If they ever split up and/or get back togetherOnce an Uchiha’s in love, they tend to stick with it. So no.

What their shared living space is like (Messy? Clean? What kind of decor?)Izuna’s messy, and Tobirama’s too busy with work or being exhausted to clean up a lot. It’s a bit passed lived in, but no where near a pigsty

What their first Christmas/Hanukkah/etc as a couple was likeThey’re dragged out for the holidays by enthusiastic relatives. It’s just like any other before they got together, but with more mocking batted eyelashes on Izuna’s part and face palming on Tobi’s.

What their names are in each other’s phonesDifferent variations on the term ‘asshole’

If they have any ‘couple traditions’ (buying a new mug for their collection every year? Baking every Friday evening?)They probably make sure to spend time together more than once a week, but beyond that nothing scheduled.

Who falls asleep first and who wakes up firstIzuna falls asleep first because he likes his beauty sleep. Tobirama crawls in several hours later and crawls right back out before dawn, heading to the depths of his lab.

Who’s the big spoon/little spoonSpoons? They’re not spoons, they’re kunai.

Who hogs the bathroomIzuna.

Who kills the spiders/takes them outsideNeither of them are bothered by the creepy crawlies, though Izuna’s more likely to actually do something if there’s one in the house. Tobirama’s unbothered if it’s a normal house spider, but removes the dangerous ones in some fashion.

#anon love #asks #replies #TobiIzu #head canon #ask meme

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a-bear-at-hogwarts · 5 years

Note

answer everything on the talk about the muse asks uwu

LEE I HOPE YOU KNOW I WOULD DIE FOR YOU thank you so much oh my g o d Literally every ask; all about Dahlia Goldman!! :>!!

🍯 for a food headcanon

Dahlia is allergic to a substance called theobromine!! Usually the biggest trouble it causes her is chocolate, as anything much stronger than a white to very milky usually has enough to cause her trouble, but it would take an astounding amount to actually kill her - same story with caffeine!! It’s linked to how her biology is affected by the Sítheach curse, giving her physical traits usually associated with bears

🥛for a drink headcanon

Dahlia cannot stand pumpkin juice - it’s not the taste or anything, but it just feels so slimy and pulpy and gross and she absolutely loathes it

🐢 for a mental health headcanon

Dahlia’s environment growing up instilled in her the belief that she can’t fully trust anyone - not her friends, not her family, nobody. Her heart is open and she grows to care for people almost too fast, but she just can’t shake the voice in the back of her mind that’s a constant reminder she doesn’t know for certain that she’s safe around these people. In large part this is due to her mother - from childhood she enforced that people hid things, and that could be highly dangerous. In addition, her father was killed by a man he had thought was his friend - in actuality he’d been a sleeper agent for the Death Eaters.

Knowing everything she does, it takes her a long time to relinquish anything that can’t be reversed.

🦄 for a physical health headcanon

Okay. The Goldman’s?? Buff as hell.

From the fact that martial combat is something Sítheach legacies are raised into so that they can defend themselves, to the specific Goldman wariness that encourages the family to maintain their physical condition, to the fact that the curse increases their mass both muscular and otherwise in order to make the transition from human to beast less straining on the body, its a rare Goldman that doesn’t look like an extra from a Viking documentary. In addition, there aren’t many who don’t have a story-map of scars across their skin from various misadventures.

⌛for a sleep headcanon

Up until year three, Dahlia was trying her very hardest to just not sleep. There were too many people around for her to risk transformation, and she just plain didn’t want to. Why should she sleep and risk all the negative that came with it?

But then Talbott appeared, and gave her an option - and she became an animagus.

It was such a huge risk, considering Sítheach legacies were completely outlawed from becoming animagi centuries ago. There would have been no trial for her if she had been found out. But for the chance to rest peacefully, to sleep through the night without the gnawing fear that she would have hurt people or destroyed the life she’d built in the magical world, for the way it muffled the Call to the quietest whisper at the edge of her consciousness - it was more than worth it to her. And she gained a confident along the way :>!!

💕 for a love headcanon

Oh What a disaster she is. On one hand, Dahlia is a master of under-the-table flirting that leaves you breathless and asking questions. If she’s interested romantically, she lets you know in actions rather than words - singing a specific song in your general area, dressing slightly differently around you, making special note and adjusting accordingly. But the second you actually do something overt in response?? An absolute mess

All of a sudden words aren’t working and she can’t look anywhere without flutters - she has no idea what to do with her hands, and often seems almost scared to touch whoever she’s interacting with even if she was holding their hand or dancing with them only a moment ago

(remind me to talk about my ideas for how she and Merula first begin to realise their feelings because it’s a thing I wanna expand on :>!!!)

💣 for a stress headcanon

Unfortunately Dahlia’s approach to stress is pretty similar to her approach to most emotions she doesn’t want - repression. Just ignore it and it’ll go away eventually!

When she can’t deal with a buzzing mind, too full of thoughts and worries, she does something until she’s exhausted - fistfights the dummies in the duelling room, runs until she can’t anymore, anything really. Just so long as it drives her out of her head.

😵 for a sickness headcanon

Oh Dahlia is almost always in the hospital wing - before she learnt episkey, she was a regular due to her constantly getting scrapes and bruises she just paid no attention to at all until the teachers forced her to get them looked at. She doesn’t get viruses or bacterial illnesses very often, but when she does it’s denial city - what do you mean I can’t go to class it’s just a runny nose and a cough I’m fine

🤲 for a religious headcanon

The Goldman’s aren’t religious per se, but there are some folk-superstitions that stick. There’s a horseshoe over their door, and lavender in the pillows - and not one of them will ever set foot in a faerie circle.

🏡 for a home headcanon

When they first bought their property, the family house was in shambles. Dahlia’s mother and father worked on it together, her mother doing the physical placing of new beams and other physical elements while her father handled the magical parts. It became sort of a patchwork tower, adding bits as they needed them - it doesn’t make sense per se, but it’s still home. And at the end of the day, it was the only place Dahlia felt secure for the longest time.

🍬 for a family headcanon

Mama Goldman is a 7′2 absolute beast of a lady who can and will kick your ass if you give her reason to. She’s known as one of the most dangerous members of the Sítheach legacy, constantly alert and never unarmed.

She’s also the dork who looked at a florists son, a big nerd who would Not Stop Rambling to the pretty and ripped lady who agreed to go get coffee with him about how muggle understanding of plant families could influence potion making and thought “Oh I can’t not marry him”

Dahlia is very much a mamma’s girl in a lot of ways

💼 for a work headcanon

In the future, Dahlia finds employment as an instructor for an elective course available to aurors in training! Hand to hand, escapism and muggle interactions are all handled in her classroom ^-^

⛈️ for a sadness headcanon

Okay so

At the beginning of the canon storyline, it’s been two years since Jacob has vanished. The likelihood of missing persons returning to their families decreases by the hour - something the Goldman’s would definitely know.

Dahlia believes Jacob is dead all the way up until he appears again. They all do. They buried an empty grave for him, they mourned, and as the years passed they moved on.

It utterly destroys Dahlia to know Jacob is alive, for two reasons; the first is that she stopped looking for him, they all did - during her investigation of the vaults all she was searching for was a body to bury. The second is that he reappears right as there’s strife amongst the family that he knows nothing about. Hell the summer before he’s found she buries her uncle.All she knows is that she couldn’t handle mourning him again.

😡 for an anger headcanon

Anger isn’t something Dahlia feels like she’s allowed. It’s too dangerous, too much of a risk for her to hold on to something like that because anger leads to adrenaline, and adrenaline leads to the change, and the change leads to bloodshed-

but oh, sometimes she just can’t help it. There’s so much anger that simmers below her constraints, bitterness at how she’s treated by ministry and adults and frustration at herself for her fear and closed-off nature. Sometimes she just can’t bottle it, and when that happens she usually takes it out of a training dummy. Better than taking it out on a person.

💩 for a ridiculous headcanon

The real reason Dahlia never actually met her DADA teacher before Rakepick was because it always took place during the time of the day she was most tired, so she would just sleep through it every time.

What? She’s got teachers permission and already knew basically everything being taught. It was fiiiiiiiiiine

🌼 for a happiness headcanon

In quiet moments alone in her room, Dahlia enjoys playing the guitar. She can play half a dozen love ballads, a handful of old folk songs, a couple popular pop songs. It’s what she does when she feels safe to lose herself.

After a couple of years of friendship with Talbott, he’s the first person she feels like she can play in front of while he’s visiting over the summer. He’s quiet as she does so, usually absorbed in whatever else it is that he’s got in his hands, most often a piece of writing. It’s a part of their mutual understanding that they don’t interrupt each other, but that they’re simply content in the company.It’s nice, after spending so long afraid of contact, to just share one of the tiniest parts of yourself that never ordinarily sees the light of day

#Asks!!#long post tw #jkbhjv . he c k thank you so much for enabling me this was so fun ;A;!!!

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do-your-socks-have-holes-in-them · 5 years

Text

Til the End of the Night / Ch4: In which Virgil and large crowds of people do not get along

Previous / Masterpost / Next

Summary: Patton and Virgil explore the town of Deercross. It goes mostly as planned, until it doesn't.

Warnings: sensory overload, panic kinda, allusion to deceit, and Sword Threats

A/N: is that a sleep cameo? yes. yes it is

Read on AO3

Patton pulled Virgil outside and into a bright, sunny morning. They had to take a minute to adjust after the low lighting of the inn. Well, Virgil did, at least- Patton just bounced on his toes and looked around, eyes constantly darting from one thing to another as he waited for Virgil to stop shading his eyes with his free hand and glaring through it in the general direction of the sun. Patton wanted to see everything, so he didn’t particularly mind starting with the café that Virgil, as soon as he could see again, announced that they were going into right now, because he was going to murder someone if he didn’t get some caffeine in his system. That statement did not help with the weird looks he felt like he was getting, but hey, if people were scared of him they at least might not question his appearance out loud.

Virgil wanted to grab them a table and let Patton handle the talking alone, but they were both at the counter before he could actually say so. He settled for definitely-not-hiding behind his more outgoing friend and letting him order first. If only he would make a freakin’ decision.

“Virgil Virgil Virgil look!”

“I’m looking. It’s basically just the Starbucks menu, are you gonna pick something or not?”

“No no, look here!” He pointed to a section at the bottom that Virgil hadn’t previously noticed. “They have magic drinks! Should I get one? I’m gonna get one.”

“If you want. They look kinda gross, but I won’t stop you.” Virgil thought it was too early in the morning for this much enthusiasm, or any, actually, but he did live with both Patton and Roman on a day-to-day basis, so it was at least a familiar sort of headache. And, he would admit, a somewhat endearing one.

“Okay, okay, so-” Patton stood on his toes and leaned his hands on the counter as if the extra inch of height would let him read the signs on the wall better. “I want that one, y’know, the sparkly thing with all the colors?”

“Gotcha,” the barista responded, not bothering to correct him on what it was called. Life was too short to care about the names of imaginary coffees. “That’s a very popular one. We get the ingredients from the Fae Forest, you know,” he said conversationally as he made the drink. It was, indeed, very colorful and sparkly. It was also glowing.

“Really? What’s that?”

The barista looked surprised, which Patton should have considered an accomplishment. “Are you serious? The road out of town runs right by the edge of the forest, how have you not seen it?”

Patton shrugged. “We came from the other direction.”

“Oh.” He knew there was no road in the other direction, but again, life was too short to care. “Well, if you really don’t know, it’s a huge forest full of magical creatures. I’ve heard about a lot of weird stuff happening in there, especially at night. Seen some of it, too.” He slid Patton’s magical coffee across the counter to him. “Nothing too dangerous, but if you decide to give it a look I’d recommend staying on the path. Now, what do you want, or are you just gonna stand there looking shady?”

Virgil was caught off-guard too severely to register that he should be offended. “Oh, uh- just a black coffee.” He couldn’t stand the taste of black coffee, which was exactly why he drank it to wake up.

“Boring.”

Virgil made a face. “Your mom is boring.”

“Virgil,” Patton chided. The barista waited until he was distracted by the menu again to turn and stick his tongue out in response.

Something here seemed weird to Virgil, but then again, something always seemed weird to Virgil. He brushed it off and dug out a handful of coins. “Tell me which of these to give you, ‘cause somebody explained it yesterday and yet I still have no idea.”

“...Um.” The barista gave the coins a “yikes” sort of look and awkwardly touched his face in a way reminiscent of what Logan did when he forgot he didn’t have his glasses on. “You know what, on the house this time,” he said quickly, pushing Virgil’s hand away.

“Oh, thank you so much!” Patton scooped up his drink with a bright smile. Virgil was going to ask some more questions, like do you actually know how this money works any more than I do and why does a modern coffeeshop even exist in this fantasy world, but they were out the door again before he could do more than shoot the guy a suspicious look.

“Patton, for- how am I supposed to drink this if you won’t let me stand still for two seconds?”

“Oh! Sorry.” Patton slowed, and Virgil took a long sip of his terrible gross drink, trying not to make a face. “Forgot yours doesn’t have a straw. Honestly, I know you don’t even like that, do you want some of mine?”

Virgil eyed it suspiciously and shook his head. “It looks radioactive, I’m not putting that in my body. I’m just gonna…” He downed as much of his coffee as he could at once, grimaced, and threw the rest away. “Yeah, I think I’m awake now. Where are we going?”

Where they were going, evidently, was into every shop on the street. They ended up with pastries for breakfast, a few cute little trinkets each on Patton’s insistence, and some extra supplies they might eventually need on Virgil’s. And of course, Patton had to talk to everyone. It was admittedly helpful- they knew now that they would, as they’d suspected, need to go through the mysterious forest to get to Roman- but jeez, all the talking, Virgil was about ready to hide in a dark room for the rest of his life. One person wouldn’t let him in because he looked suspicious or whatever, which, honestly, he was surprised it only happened once. Between all that and the fact that he couldn’t seem to avoid constantly bumping into people on the busier streets even though Patton was doing just fine, and they seemed to think he was doing it on purpose, he was getting close to his limit.

But then they went around a corner and found the market. It was an entire double-wide street lined with vendor’s carts of all kinds- bustling with people, of course. Patton’s eyes lit up immediately, while Virgil’s instinct was to cringe.

“Okay so I know you’re tired, so if you don’t wanna do this that’s okay, you can wait here and I’ll just go by myself and--”

“Nope.” Virgil pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. There was no possible future where he watched Patton disappear into that mess and didn’t panic. “I’ll come, just- this has to be the last thing we do, okay?” He was pretty sure he could make it through one last crowded area as long as he knew they were going back for a nap immediately afterward.

“Okay!” Patton grinned, clearly glad he’d decided to go along, and tugged him into the chaos of the market.

Virgil quickly realized he’d made a mistake. Several mistakes, actually. He should not have gotten Patton a coffee earlier, because his best friend was not a man who needed any more energy than he already had. He should not have gotten himself a coffee earlier, because the caffeine only ever made him more jittery and nervous and he knew this and yet he always ended up drinking it anyway. And he absolutely should not have agreed to come and check out the market.

He had never- no, nobody on earth had ever had this bad of a headache before, probably. There were so many people yelling so many different things over each other, and basically every kind of loud noise in existence, and the sun was really bright still, and if he thought the regular streets were hard to navigate, well, he probably should have taken that as a sign not to go into an even busier one. With all the widely varied food vendors, even his sense of smell was being assaulted. If one more person brushed up against him he was gonna snap. Yeah, no, he needed to get out of here right now, it was stupid that he’d ever assumed he would be good for it.

Patton took the first tug on his hand as just Virgil having trouble navigating the crowd again, and slowed down a little to make it easier for him to keep up. Normally he would look back to check on him, but if he did that now he’d run right into somebody for sure! The next one, though, was hard enough to make him stop and turn around, letting the flow of people part on either side of him. Virgil wasn’t quite looking at him so much as just to the left of his head. He seemed really tense. The hand that wasn’t in Patton’s was clenched in his pocket, the hood of his jacket was up, and his jaw was tight.

“Virgil? You, uh, you okay, kiddo?”

Virgil shook his head and jerked his hand away so he could cross his arms, tapping his fingers on his elbow in agitation. “This is- too much,” he managed. Patton strained to hear him over the noise of the market. “Just- loud and bright and- people,” he explained with a slightly disgusted tone.

“If you don’t wanna be here anymore we can leave,” Patton assured him. He went to squeeze Virgil’s shoulder before remembering that would probably just make things worse right now. “Just keep close behind me if you can’t deal with my hand, okay? Wouldn’t want either of us getting lost!”

Virgil nodded impatiently, taking a small step toward him so as to demonstrate that he would stay close. Patton made another aborted move to touch him and grabbed his own wrist to make himself stop doing that. Personal space hadn’t really been in his vocabulary before he started spending more time with Virgil, okay, this was actually progress. He offered a sympathetic look instead, then turned and started forging a path through the chaos in the direction of the nearest side street, keeping up a constant stream of “sorry!” and “excuse me!” under his breath.

People were annoyed with Patton for pushing through against the flow of traffic, but he was at least apologizing, and anyway, he had the kind of face that made everyone who saw him think he was probably fundamentally incapable of ill intent. Virgil, following in his wake and knocking people even further off balance, had none of that going for him. He was just trying to make it to a quieter street without shutting down entirely, he did not have the mental energy to make sure no one was upset with him for briefly inconveniencing them. If he was lucky, no one would care enough to make a scene. Unfortunately for everyone involved, luck was not on his side.

Just as he was wondering if people were going to get mad at him, and debating the pros and cons of trying to get actual human words to come out of his mouth to keep that from happening, he knocked shoulders fairly hard with some guy trying to buy tomatoes. The guy dropped everything he was holding and swore, turning to glare at the inconsiderate moron who jolted him. Virgil didn’t look remorseful enough to keep him from getting pissed, apparently. “Watch it, jerkface,” tomato guy snapped, and gave him a shove in retaliation before starting to gather his fallen produce.

Virgil wasn’t caught off guard exactly, but he didn’t have much room to move, so the push sent him stumbling to the side and almost knocking over a few more people. “Sorry,” he forced out, even though that time was not his fault. He wasn’t sure anyone heard him either way. He got his footing back and looked around wildly. “Patton? Where’d you-? Patton, PATTON!”

Oh, no, no, no. Not the demonic voice thing, not now. Everyone was staring at him. The only silver lining was that one, people were at least giving him some space now, and two, Patton definitely heard that if he hadn’t very recently gone deaf. He slapped a hand over his mouth- voluntarily, for once- hoping to mitigate the damage. Everyone around was still watching him, just watching, and further back in the crowd there were whispers he couldn’t make out, but knew were about him. He didn’t dare speak again, even to defend himself. He was frozen in place by the thought that any move he made could be taken as a threat and get him killed. He could have cried from relief when he heard a familiar voice and caught a glimpse of blue moving his way.

“Excuse me, coming through, sorry, it’s- look I really am sorry for pushing okay but this is a little more important! Virgil! Virge, I’m so sorry I lost you, are you--” Patton shouldered past the circle of onlookers and gasped.

His soft, but stressed shadowling was covered in actual shadows. Scraps of darkness were flitting frantically around Virgil, concentrated at his feet and around his hands and arms. He didn’t seem to notice them. A few darted briefly in Patton’s direction before returning to the swarm, and he tried not to flinch. He took a cautious step forward, and saw people at the edge of his vision looking at him like he’d lost his mind.

“Virge, sweetie, I need you to stay calm…” He caught a panicked version of that twist Virgil’s mouth did when he was amused. “Oh, you know what I mean. Just, focus on me, okay, ignore everything else, that’s it…” Slowly, he advanced another step, holding his hands up in front of him like he was trying to calm a spooked horse. It even seemed to be working. Virgil’s posture was starting to open up ever so slightly. He felt good about the odds of no one getting hurt here, as long as nothing else went…

“Oi! You, in the black, don’t move! Don’t you know dark magic is forbidden in Deercross?!”

...wrong. Both their heads snapped toward the sound of town guards approaching with swords drawn and a lot of bluster. Patton couldn’t help feeling a pang of empathy for them- they must not get much trouble around here, they were probably scared and trying to hide it. He was much more worried, though, about Virgil, who was desperately looking for an escape route, shadows swirling faster than ever. There were no gaps in the crowd, though, not even for someone his size, he was trapped, and they were drawing closer as the desire to watch what happened next overpowered their fear. The jerky movements and darting eyes that should have clearly showed he was as scared as they were, if not more so, only fueled the people’s mutters, now loud enough for Patton to make out.

Dark magic.

Some sort of villain, no doubt.

Shouldn’t let his kind into town.

Evil.

Patton ran to try and intercept the three guards- this didn’t have to turn bad, he could still salvage the situation. “Wait, please!” he shouted over the noise. The guards didn’t seem to hear him, so he raised his voice a little more. “Let me explain, he wasn’t trying to hurt anybody, he would never, this is all a, a big misunderstanding--” They didn’t even acknowledge him, not even when he was right next to them. He grabbed one’s arm only to be shaken off. Desperately, he ducked under it and stood between them and Virgil, arms spread. “Would you just listen!” he screamed, tears pricking his eyes. “He’s not a villain, he’s my friend!”

“Stand aside,” one of the guards said to him, not unkindly. “I don’t know how this wizard managed to gain your trust, but I can tell you he is not truly your friend. Now, please, step aside, we don’t need innocents getting hurt.”

“No! I won’t--”

“Do it, Patton,” Virgil ground out. He couldn’t let Patton get hurt trying to protect him, that would be a whole new level of sucking at his job. Patton had no intention of obeying, yet found himself doing so anyway. That voice was scary, alright? Wait, no, he wasn’t scared of Virgil, that was ridiculous. Compelling, that was the word. His brain didn’t catch up with his body until he was standing at the edge of the circle.

He spun around and let out an involuntary sharp cry. Virgil was hunched in on himself, practically at the center of a dark vortex, his eyes wild and a hand pressed to his mouth. The guards were advancing on him cautiously, they still had swords out, they were going to hurt him oh god-

Several things happened at once.

Patton yelled incoherently and threw himself, yet again, at the nearest guard. The furthest guard from him made a grab for Virgil. Last and most importantly, there was a loud crackle of electricity. Everyone standing nearby was thrown forcefully back as a sphere six feet in diameter, made of something resembling black lightning, expanded out from Virgil in a fraction of a second.

Patton narrowly avoided cracking his head on the ground when he fell. “Oh, shoot,” he said with feeling. He pushed himself to his feet and ran up to the sphere, ignoring everything else. “Virgil!” He tried to bang on the forcefield with his palm, but it shocked him and he pulled back with a yelp. “Are you- can you hear me in there, kiddo? Virge?” An edge of panic was creeping into his voice. “What- what did you do? What is this?”

“Funny,” said a voice behind him, “I was going to ask you that question.” He turned around. Only one guard was standing, the other two having not yet recovered from the blast. That one, though, was plenty to worry about, because he had his sword pointed shakily at Patton’s chest.

Patton backed up until a warning static-like tingle told him he was about to bump into the sphere. “Okay, this, uh, this isn’t as bad as it might look,” he insisted, holding his hands up placatingly. “I- I can explain!”

The guard got his nerves under control and brought the sword up until the tip was no more than a few inches from Patton’s throat, holding it steady. “I certainly hope you can.”

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #patton sanders #virgil sanders #logan sanders #my post #my writing #til the end of the night

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jupitermelichios · 6 years

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Narratively Convenient Coffee

I got a question on my Tokyo Ghoul x DC crossover fic about the dietary restrictions of Ghouls in the TG universe. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but this is the first time I’ve actually written down any of my thoughts on the subject.

In pure TG cannon, humans and ghouls are the only species to product RC cells, and Ghouls eat humans in order to absorb the human’s RC cells, which Ghouls need to produce their Kagune. They can also eat other Ghouls, but mostly don’t because it’s considered to taste gross. There is no explanation for why they can also drink coffee, or why other kinds of food and drink makes them sick.

I don’t like that explanation. It’s handwavey even by manga standards, and it leaves way to many questions unanswered, so here’s my attempt at a slightly more believable explanation.

1. Ghouls have RC cells, but humans don’t. These cells are unique to Ghouls and as well as being used in producing their Kagune, they are used in a Ghoul’s body for repairing and protecting the organs. They allow Ghoul bodies to self repair, in the way that some amphibians can. No one has ever done a study on the similarities between Ghouls and Axolotls, but it’s probably only a matter of time.

2. Ghouls are exclusively carnivorous. In the same what as you can force-feed a dog or cat a vegan diet, they can eat plant-based foods, but they get no nutrition from them. This is combined with their finding the smell of most plant based foods disgusting (in the same way as humans find the smell of rotting food disgusting to discourage us from eating it) so that eating plant-based foods will generally make a ghoul feel very ill.

3. Ghouls are allergic to Vitamin C. Even quite small amounts can be toxic too them. Humans are unusual because they don’t synthesize Vitamin C, instead getting it from their food. Ghouls could theoretically eat any non-Vitamin C producing animal (a list which includes almost all higher primates and guinea pigs) but when you live among humans, human meat is easier to get than guinea pig or chimp, so they have evolved specifically to hunt humans. (This is also another factor in why they can’t eat plant-based foods, because most fruit and vegetables contain Vitamin C).

4. Ghouls require high levels of myoglobin to produce RC cells. Myoglobin is a protein found in muscle, and humans have a relatively high level of it compared to most livestock animals (I am now certainly on several FBI watch lists after a lot of Googling about the taste and chemical composition of human meat). So another point in the ‘humans are the most convenient food source’ box.

5. Ghoul healing works differently to humans, being far more focussed on healing wounds than surviving poisoning (the difference between a hunter and a gatherer biology at work). They are therefore much more sensitive to many kinds of poisons that humans enjoy recreationally such as Tobacco and Alcohol, severely limiting what drinks they can enjoy. They’re also not physiologically designed to process much sugar, which rules out pretty much every human drink except water.

6. In the same way that Caffeine stimulates energy production in humans, it stimulates RC cell production in Ghouls (since the Ghoul’s default biological response to energy is to use it to product RC cells). Increased RC production essentially means they are more able to fight off poisoning, making them able to process other chemicals in coffee which their body would not normal be able to cope with. Because of this they can also drink sugar-free energy drinks. They can drink tea (which contains relatively high levels of caffeine, although not as much as coffee) but they’re all tannin sensitive, so it tastes gross to them.

7. Eating other Ghouls works reasonably well, except that it carries a risk of developing a TSE (transmittable spongiform encephalitis) similar to the human disease Kuru, where proteins in the brain begin to fold wrong, leading to mental degeneration. Kuru was also know as the laughing disease, since it caused bouts of uncontrollable psychotic laughter. Now who does that sound like in the DC universe... A couple of people have already guessed this about my universe, but yes, Ghoul Joker is a cannibal. However since Ghoul meat is actually very nutritious, it enables cannibal Ghouls to produce RC cells at a very high rate compared to others, meaning that they can fight off some of the effects of the degeneration. There is still a risk of death, but it is much lower than for Kuru, which is always fatal. Cannibalism is therefore not widely practiced, but not as Taboo as it is among humans. There is some theorizing that the disease could be avoided complete by refraining from eating the brains of other ghouls, but it’s not the sort of thing you can easily conduct a study on, so no one is sure.

#tokyo ghoul #gotham ghoul #tokyo ghoul meta #meta #my fics #jaytim

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philosophyofmugs · 6 years

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The Worst Cup of Tea I’ve Ever Had

My set-up for the writing of Lily Evans and the Stroke of Midnight.

Let me tell you about the worst cup of tea I’ve ever had.

This cup of tea was like lukewarm tap water had at one point thought it would be a good idea to hook up with a nice green tea bag, but at the last second had decided that things were moving way too fast and they should go their separate ways.

This cup of tea tasted like a complete unattachment from common sense, like nonchalance and poor customer service, like a complete disrespect of everything ever.

This cup of tea tasted just plain gross and weird and I drank it anyway. Why?

Let me rewind a bit.

I met the ladies of Apple Juice Productions several years ago, and have since had the great privilege of collaborating with them on a Lily Evans webseries (our grown-up, feminist Harry Potter). Last September, I flew out to Salt Lake City for the shooting of Lily Evans and the Stroke of Midnight, the second installment in the series. It was a weekend full of sleepless nights and early mornings, furniture hauling and coffee runs, stress, anxiety, and (most-notably) creativity and magic. It was wonderful.

The process of hearing my words spoken by real actors is still new to me. It’s a weird sensation to hear something that I’ve sat with and internalized so completely be all of a sudden “not mine” anymore -- a work now living and breathing in someone else. Was I nervous walking into that Production Weekend? 100%. But what I soon found was that I was surrounded by a group of artists that not only were skilled at their craft, but were also excited by this little script that my writing partner Amanda and I had created.

I’ll always remember the look that Darby (our actress who played Marlene) gave to me the moment she met me. It was one so full of gratitude and joy and I knew that our AJP Producers had found the perfect Marlene. Darby thanked me many times over the course of those couple days for including her in our production, and her joy for the entire process was contagious.

I held on to that contagious joy as much as humanly possible over the next couple days, but the stress and break-neck pace of Production is also hard to ignore. By the end of the final day of shooting, I excused myself to go take a rest away from set and found myself in one of the worst moods I can remember from recent years.

The whole weekend had been a roller coaster. From the highs of moments like the ones with Darby, to the elation of hearing that the actors and our director Sarah had hit a moment exactly how I envisioned it, to the terrifying news that our location was no longer ours, to conversations where I had stuck my foot in my mouth and made a total fool of myself, and to countless other frustrations...I was emotionally spent. I didn’t know if I had anything else to give and felt like, in that moment, calling an Uber and getting on a plane back to LA. I felt worthless and useless and nothing more than a body taking up space. I wanted a cup of tea and for none of us to be stuck in this hurricane of stress anymore.

Well we got those final shots. We cleaned an entire restaurant. We moved a living room’s worth of furniture back to it’s home up 3 flights of stairs.

And then we went to Red Robin.

I ordered a cup of tea and got tap water and a moist teabag.

Final nail in the coffin? Point of no return? Table-flipping, meme-worthy outburst? No.

Pure and unrestrained laugher.

I looked around at the table of a dozen of our cast and crew still standing after our marathon. We had gone through so much and given so much that it was hard to imagine that we would all go back to our day jobs tomorrow like nothing happened. I explained the sad excuse for caffeine sitting in front of me and they joined in my laughter, letting every stress and frustration of the past 72 hours fly out of our mouths and into the Red Robin-ether.

If you’ve read any of my other entires about the Napa Valley Jazz Getaway and the very particular stresses and emotions that go along with that event, you might be beginning to see a pattern for me:

Sometimes...I really like to be stressed out.

It’s a weird thing to realize, but the ups and downs of Production and event-running and general adulthood are very grounding to me. I live for that moment when I’m drinking bathwater-tea with a group of hardworking artists at the end of a long day. That moment when we’re debriefing in wine country after completely changing the venue of a concert during a lightning storm. The moment when I can watching something I’ve worked on and say, “Hey look. We did it.”

And that stress goes all the way back to giving up my words to someone else to say. It’s a bit frightening to look at myself as someone who is “chasing a high” in any way, shape, or form, but that high is also driving me forward, feeding my passion, and reminding me of the situations in life where I’m working with some of the most talented people I’ve ever met. I’m approaching 3 years at my current job, and that combined with this gaggle of inspiring individuals that I’ve somehow managed to surround myself with has caused me to want to continue to learn and grow and reach higher and higher.

When we put ourselves out there for the world to see, balls of anxiety and stress and all of it, the risk is so incredibly high...but it can also be so incredibly rewarding. There’s a reason why I still go to wine country every summer, a reason why the ladies of AJP will remain close to my heart, a reason why I’ve valued my current job so much: I’m finding my people.

And I will do my damnedest to never let them go.

~ Katie

#mugs #mugshot #writing #lily evans #lesom #lily evans and the stroke of midnight #jily #marauders #maraudersera #maraudersmap

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themockingcrows · 7 years

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Tapping With Blue Eyes: Ch. 2 - Unseen Gaze

Shoutout to @stribird for poking me into motion and asking me to get this world expanded back during JohnDave week (and for making such cute art of the existing chapter at the same time). I’m sorry it took so long. <3

This chapter is SFW AO3 Mirror- [X]

Adjusting to being a tap wasn’t that hard. Really, the bonuses were pretty sweet. Great food, great sex, new boyfriend eager to make sure Dave felt spoiled rotten in exchange for sharing his blood solely with John. Few months in, however, Dave really wishes he’d spent less time making goo-goo eyes and more time brushing up on how many tangled webs the vampire was involved in, both family and otherwise.

This wasn’t what he envisioned at all.

It was hard to think that just a few months ago, Dave had thought vampires were just in video games and creepy movie castles, or boxes of cereal that tasted like early diabetes mixed with Saturday morning cartoon marathons. They were all fictional, the hiss and scare, the flying bats, the unholy combination of Hot Topic and Party City's Halloween section. He'd always associated them with silly things, or with overly sweet candy corn.

Now he associated them with fantastic food, warm hands holding him, loud club music and mind blowing sex among other things.

Like being prone to fainting, for instance. That was definitely a new thing Dave associated with vampires, and he wondered why he never considered it before.

“Dave, I told you we should have waited longer, now look at you!” John fussed, cold soda bottle bleeding perspiration into the collar of Dave's shirt from where he had it pressed against the back of his neck. It took effort not to drop his gaze lower to where the faintest edge of a fresh bruise was resting against his boyfriend's nape, and even more effort not to press his lips right where they'd been earlier that morning. Which was the literal cause of all this. “We should have waited till afternoon, or just. Waited till it was time to visit Dad and then gone, given you some more time.”

After the first few weeks of sorting out their own balance and rhythm, Dave was an enthusiastic tap sorting out the schedule and figuring out how much he could comfortably give at any time, and John was accepting the burden that came with finally having a constant supply of blood on hand. It made him powerful, made him alert, made him more protective.. and it all had to be managed like he was just learning his powers for the first time as a child. His father had been right about never really stopping the learning, and about his newly appreciated appetite being a strain on him in unimaginable ways. The benefits outweighed the negatives but.. still.

The biggest issue they were facing so far was that protective instinct. John had to work hard at it to keep from slipping and becoming overbearing, smothering his tap, and angering his boyfriend. It felt right, it felt good but it wasn't the right thing to do. Dave needed as much freedom and space as anyone else did, and together they were finding ways to cope with it. Part of the reason for John taking Dave to meet his father today was to also see about getting some more direct advice on what to do. Part of him was wondering if this was really as normal as he hoped, or if something in Dave was just incredibly potent. John was fairly sure he was able to lift fridges with one hand like his father without breaking a sweat now, and hoped to get some tips on how to keep that force strictly to the fridges and not at all towards accidentally hurting Dave.

Why taps didn't get their own power up, he'd never know. ..Maybe they just got more delicious after becoming bonded with someone, and had the benefits of protection and food? Still felt unfair, but as far as humans went, it was probably well enough. Didn't need humans getting too deeply in the center of those unseen.

“I'm fine, John, really,” Dave said with a grunt, eyes closing as he adjusted to the cold feeling on his skin. How fucking embarrassing. One moment they'd been walking along and heading down a few steps to the street, and the next his legs turned to jelly and the ground had rushed up to meet him. He could mentally trace each droplet of condensation as it traced beneath his shirt and out of view, as well as imagining the spreading cloud of water on the fabric. It was the most solid thing he could focus on while waiting for the ground to stop swaying beneath him. “I got dizzy. No big. I didn't crack my head open or anything, right?”

John eyed him, not sure if he was honestly questioning or if he was making a joke.

“..You didn't. But you did go down like a quarter ton of bricks,” he said. “We shouldn't have come out so early, last night was intense. Maybe we should have just stayed home. Do you want to go home?” John worried, keeping the bottle in place. Dave was subtly swaying, and it was keeping him on edge, ready to dip down and pick him up if it kept up.

“Ease up, really, it's fine,” Dave repeated. He snorted softly when the anxious fussing didn't stop immediately, and reached up to grasp at the cold drink, wanting to pry it from John's hand so he would have to reset his focus and listen clearly. “Did too much too fast, I'll go slower now. Just like last time, right? I was fine last time too. Just did a bit too much too fast.”

“You need to rest..”

“I just did rest in fast forward. On the ground,” Dave said, lips curling into a teasing smirk. “No, but seriously, I feel a ton better already and if I go slow I'll be fine,” he promised, satisfied that the ground no longer was moving even with his eyes shut tight.

John didn't look convinced. He busied his empty hands with pushing Dave's hair gently back out of his eyes and hooking it behind his ears and the stems of his shades, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. When Dave glanced up he could see the tip of a fang pressing a little too hard against the thin flesh, drawing up a bead of bright blood the longer it stayed there.

He was trying. He was trying so hard it made Dave's chest ache. A few weeks ago, John would have just picked him up and toted him off towards home, or towards a hospital, ignored protests in the midst of his worry. That instinct to ensure Dave was alright, that Dave was well, that he hadn't damaged his boyfriend at all, was overwhelming. John's eyes were bright but visibly straining to sit still, muscles in his arms trying to twitch with the urge to do more.

The grab and run didn't happen. Somehow, the vampire was keeping the instinct at bay. They'd feel proud about it later.

“..Alright. Would you feel better if you helped make sure I'm fine?” Dave guessed, relaxing when he saw John nod enthusiastically, blue eyes wide and eager as a puppy. “Let's go get something to eat, then. That helps. The soda won't be much more than a crutch,” he said, remembering what he'd learned since his first few faints. Sugar and caffeine helped him, but never for long when he crashed from a feeding. Dave was fairly sure he'd need to give some serious thought to John's comment about keeping snacks and supplements on hand in the future, but at least for now he was piecing together what worked best on his own.

“What do you feel like? Something solid, light? Snacks? Want some coffee? I could just take us back to your place and make something if we got ingredients, it'd be no proble-” John rambled till a finger pressed to his lips, shooshing his rambling. John blinked briefly, then sighed. “..I was doing it again, huh.”

“A bit, yeah. C'mon, let's just go get something quick and light, we've got the whole morning left to burn. Maybe a sandwich or something from the convenience store, even.”

“Not the hot dogs, or the burritos, or anything else on a roller though,” John said as he bent a bit further to scoop Dave upright and dust him off once he caught his weight on his own two feet. Dave curled his fingers into fists and fought hard to avoid wavering afterward, honest to god dizzy and not wanting a repeat of worry sounds filling his ears. There wasn't much budging him on the junk food stance, not when moments like these happened, but it was hardly an iron will to work against.

“Aw, but John, how else will I get to experience the fiery burn of food poisoning when my hearty appetite takes me straight out of a flavor explosion as my godly immune system falters,” Dave crooned. “No, seriously, it'd be fine, I've eaten worse. You've seen this with your own two eyes.”

“Yes and I really don't understand it still,” John sighed. “You basically have your own chef at your beck and call, and yet you keep veering to that stuff every chance you get. I'm not even sure it's really food.”

Dave tugged at John's arm to get him to start moving, satisfied the sick feeling was already leaving his head the longer he moved. He cracked the soda open, dodged a spurt of foam that slipped over the edge of the plastic cap he slammed back into place a second too late, and slurped the sugary liquid from the side as it ran down over his fingertips. He let John take the lead this time, glad when the vampire only steered enough so they could dodge the street that would take them near a 7-11 and the greasy wonderland within. Instead, they wandered along to a cleaner, smaller family owned mart that promised fresh varieties of juices and light foods. It was a little more expensive, but it seemed like a the increase in quality was worth it.

John was just glad they didn't sell gas out front, the petrol fumes usually indicating not-that-fresh food and nothing he'd want to taste personally later on if given the choice. Less fresh food made for some fairly gross tasting blood, and Dave himself wasn't some amazing alchemical property that made garbage taste any less like garbage coated in candy.

“Ooh, they got a live juicer in here, it's not just all pre-bottled,” Dave said, sounding a bit impressed. He looked even more enthusiastic the second he noticed mango and pineapple among the stacked fruit options, and veered a hard right towards the counter when at least three varieties of ripe apples came into view.

Hell yes.

Hell to the fuck yes.

“Hey, pick one for me too? I'm gonna check what else is here,” John said, heading back to check out the coolers and shelves.

Aside from the usual snack foods, there seemed to be different options for local brands. Among the candy bars were some chunkier treats with labels from downtown, and chip bags bore marks from all around the state. The fresher foods were most appealing to him however, and he stared at the cooler to find something simple. ..A sandwich. That'd work, right? By the time he'd picked something out and made his way back to Dave, the blonde was juggling two tall, cold glasses of fresh juice and clutching a sticky bottle of soda beneath his armpit.

“What'd you grab for me?” Dave asked, pausing his slurping to eyeing the wrapped package.

“Nothing wild. Roast beef, cheese, veggies,” John shrugged. “What about you?”

“Strawberry, mango, banana,” Dave said. “Not red so much as, like. Murky weird orange brown yellow-ish? But it should taste good. They didn't have cherries or I'd have tried making it even brighter.”

“You're never gonna drop that red association with me, huh,” John said, rolling his eyes. A good choice, but he could now confirm that between Dave's color preferences and the vampire gags, red would be outweighing blue in his vicinity forevermore. John eyed Dave's hips as he wandered ahead to the cashier to set the cups down for now, following the curve of his ass till he had to look upward.

Right. Subtle. Good going, John.

“Nope, not at all,” Dave snorted, reaching into his pocket to fish out his wallet, paying for the juices. John paid for the sandwich and slipped it into Dave's hands as he snagged the sticky soda and his own juice, setting the former into a small bag to avoid touching it very much after getting his change.

They made their way outside and around another block before finding a bench to settle on, John leaning back and slouching, while Dave crossed a leg over his opposite knee and unwrapped the sandwich, grinning at the contents.

“Whoa, nice one. Maybe we'll have to go back there sometime, they seemed to have a lot of stuff,” Dave said. “Not too far out either. Could be a thing when we want a walk?”

“Or when we're coming back from the bar, if they're open that late.”

“I didn't see any gas pumps, I doubt it,” Dave said as he ripped into the bread in a large bite, chewing quietly for a moment before holding it up to John in offer with a coy grin. “Won't taste nearly as good as me, but here: want a bite?”

Though John smirked at him, he got a bit of headway back by grasping the skinny wrist he loved to tease with his fangs, pulling his arm forward to bring the sandwich in range of his mouth to take a large bite as well. He hummed, surprised at the flavor, only to have Dave nod to the side and start to mention something about what he thinks might be some kind of secret sauce or dressing on this thing. John heard the first half of the chatter, but slowly stopped listening as he felt the first clench in his stomach.

No.. No, not his stomach. His chest. Right over John's heart was the distinct sensation of something squeezing, stealing his breath away, pouring icy water down his spine till his skin twitched uncomfortably.

Panic.

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong and he couldn't place it. Where had he ever felt this before? John racked his brain, trying to think of something specific, and was coming up blank. He wasn't old enough or strong enough yet to sense things well as his dad, but fuck why was this bothering him so badly? There was a reason to be upset, a reason for this panic, and he couldn't imagine what it could be for certain. Lifting his head, John began to look around while Dave continued to talk, pausing once in a while when the need to breathe caught up to him or the allure of taking another bite grew too distracting.

..Nothing.

He couldn't see a single thing out of place, and if only for that, everything became suspicious. Old woman jogging? Suspicious. Group of teenagers? They're teens, of course they're suspicious for one reason or another. Man with a baby carriage? Double suspicious, what if it was the baby that was feeling like a threat? John lowered his hand and grasped at Dave's shoulders, pulling him gently closer to hug tight.

“So anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to hit up the movies after all. There's some good shit pla- John? ..Dude. John. You alright? Look like you saw a ghost,” Dave said, letting himself be tugged close. He blinked a few times, then peered up over his shades, curiosity glinting. “...DID you? That a thing too? I mean, I didn't think you were real, is there other shit that's real? Is the tooth fairy gonna shank me with a toothbrush sharpened into a punji stick for not flossin' enough? Werewolves gonna come and treat me like a fire hydrant? Bigfoot actually a thing? Do we need to guard the snacks better from his hairy ass outdoors?”

“Dave.”

“What?”

“Dave.”

“What.”

“I need you.. to be.. very quiet. Just for a second. Okay?” John said, still on high alert as the feeling intensified. Which direction? Where was it coming from? The longer he couldn't locate the source, the more he was alarmed at just how open the space they were sitting was, how exposed, and couldn't bother fighting his instincts any longer. Dropping his juice he stood up and dragged Dave with him, ignoring the sudden loud complaints about the splash of red juice getting all over (RUINING, JOHN, RUINING!) his shoes.

Needed to run. Needed to run, find somewhere with a nice solid door, and needed to get ready to fight. ..Fuck, no, couldn't fight with his tap right there, too high a risk. Nor could he risk leading whatever was leering at them out of sight to either of their homes. Dave was starting to squirm and struggle in his arms, complaints growing louder as the remnants of the sandwich and Dave's juice fell and splashed all over his shirt this time, traces trailing down to John's arms like frigid ice. He'd deal with it later. Needed to run.

Car. They could go to the car, and go to his dad's place early, they'd be safe there. It was fine if dangerous things knew where his father lived, they wouldn't cross a vampire as well established as his father, whatever it was. Fledglings and young, newly bonded vampires like himself were easy prey in the eyes of some beasts, but with backup they wouldn't be sitting ducks.

His time so far with Dave had been like a daydream, everything sunny.. this wasn't how John wanted to introduce the risks he'd warned Dave about in the flesh.

“John will you put me the fuck DOWN?! I'm drenched, this is gross as fuck, I'm gonna get ants on my dick at this rate. You want that? Insects suddenly having front door open access invited to my tasty dick? Because I sure as fuck don't want that,” Dave said, continuing to struggle, and continuing to be locked in place by an iron grip that he himself had managed to make even stronger over the last few weeks by feeding his boyfriend. The speed was increasing as well, whatever had John spooked was doing a fabulous job at making him push the limits of just how fast he could flee an area. Dave couldn't even make out the faces of the people they were sprinting past, and wondered vaguely if they looked like a blur to them.

Fuck.

“Man, seriously, put me the fuck DOWN, John, I will elbow your ass and you fuckin' know it. Wanna try me?” Dave warned, preparing to pull his arm back as a threat. “Come on, you've been doing great, just. Slow the fuck down and tell me what's happenin' at least!”

“Watched. Bad. Can't go home, going to Dad,” John said hurriedly, zipping around another street corner. Dave could see sweat beading on John's brow, and could finally see the terror in his eyes. Was it real? Was this a false alarm? ..There was no real way to verify that himself, far as Dave knew, but it was worth questioning. He grunted when the running suddenly stopped as if John had reached a dime, considered its shiny surface, and brought every cell in his body to a screeching halt directly on top of FDR's smug looking head.

They'd reached the car, and apparently it was indeed enough of an emergency in John's eyes that he didn't so much as put something down for Dave to sit on, instead choosing to deposit his sticky, juice soaked body directly onto his nice fabric seats. John waited till Dave's legs were in place before slamming the door shut and going to his own side, not even waiting for seat belts to get on before he was cranking the engine and hurriedly backing up, turning enough to veer out of the lot.

While John was so busy looking forward, Dave was busy looking back. He wasn't sure what he was really looking for, but it seemed important to at least try. It would also be good to stop focusing on how close they were to a four car pileup or a roll over by not looking at just how close John was cutting everything with his erratic movements. What was suspicious or not to a vampire? Based on the foods John could eat safely, he figured there were no rogue threats of garlic bread or Italian food trucks in their future.

It was only when John was done jockeying around to get to the ramp that would lead to the desired highway that Dave was fairly sure he'd caught sight of something as out of place as they were being on their own. Two figures on foot, fairly tall, one with dark hair and one with light were standing in the middle of the road a few cars back, faces turned towards the back of their car. A truck driver laid on his horn briefly, trying to force them to get out of the way, and right before Dave's eyes, they vanished.

The figures did not step aside, or run, or jump. One moment they were there, green and orange eyes too bright in their faces, and the next they were not, blinking out of position and for all Dave knew, out of existence entirely. Had he been seeing things...? No. No, the horn had honked, someone else saw the people too.

..Were they even people, though?

��Dave, buckle up. I'm sorry I didn't give you time before, but we should be fine on the highway, so might as well avoid even more chances for tickets,” John said. His voice was still tense, but there was an air of apology in his tone, of the usual playful fussing trying to come back. He plugged the metal clip into the buckle of his own seat belt and adjusted how the band rested on his chest and shoulder instead of letting it lurk up by his throat uncomfortably, then reached his sticky hand into his pocket to pull out his phone. Now that the coast was clear enough to be considered 'safe' again, John was left to deal with the side effects of his earlier panic, his bursts of using his still-being-adjusted-to power. His hand shook badly enough that if he were drinking something, Dave would have been reaching for a towel to mop up the wildly flying liquids, yet he was keeping an iron grip on the steering wheel and staying well within the speed limit.

“Oh. ..Uh. Yeah. Yeah, you're right,” Dave said, breaking his eyes away to look down, plugging his own seat belt into place. The fabric of the seat was already turning a rainbow of colors beneath and beside him, and he could feel his toes squishing in his shoes. He hoped there was spare clothes at John's father's place, and that he wouldn't mind the first important meeting being cut awkwardly short so he could run off and shower. A quick hello sir, goodbye sir, may I get naked upstairs and have some of your clothes sir, no big deal.

Awkward.

“..Dad? Hey! I'm sorry it's pretty early compared to what we were planning for, but uh. Something.. something kind of came up, and I'm bringing Dave to the house. Will you be home, or do I need to just use the key?” John asked, trying to sound calm, cool and collected. Apparently it failed, because John winced a moment later. “No, we're fine. Promise, I just felt something was really off and kind of made a big mess while leaving. ..No. I don't know what, or who. Why? Someone in town I should know about?”

Dave held his breath as he listened in, trying to make out words that were leaking out of the speaker and around the edge of John's ear. He'd heard the voice of James before, and had spoken loosely once or twice when John had the phone on speaker, so he knew the deep, steady tones to listen for. ..Wasn't clear enough though, and Dave sighed as he slouched further, debating putting his sticky shoes up on the dashboard. Why not, everything was already gross, why not just go whole hog while he was at it?

John paled and went very quiet, mouth shut, lips thin with stress. He nodded, though obviously his father had no way of knowing it, and eventually seemed to remember that himself when he began to make soft 'uh huh' noises to show he was listening.

“It's. ..You're sure it might be?” he asked, letting out a soft laugh. “You're not messing with me, right? Not a prank? Because if this is a prank, you're definitely ahead of me agai- Oh.”

Not a prank, then.

“..Right. I'll lock up once we get there,” John said, placing his phone so he could press it up with his shoulder as he changed lanes and adjusted his speed a bit. “No, I don't want to order in, not if they're potentially in town. Last thing I need to have happen it anyone creeping on your house. ..Nnn... I don't know, Dad, there's schedules to keep up and I'm pretty sure we both have shifts tomorrow.”

“Day after,” Dave supplied, brows lifted at all the unanswered questions that, judging from the look on John's face, he wasn't that interested in discussing right now.

“Okay, so, SOON-ish we have shifts, we can't go staying a long time, creeps in town or not. I'm pretty sure just coming to your house at all might make them back off. ..Dave? No, no, don't worry, Dave will be fine, you already know that,” John said, sounding self assured. It melted away and he sounded every bit as young as he looked when, in the next breath, he whined out a loud “Daaaaaaaad, really, I know! I'm already bringing Dave along, and we're both safe, that's a good first step. I did a good thing,” he insisted. “..Alright, alright, we'll talk later. You're right.”

With a quiet, barely there 'love you, Dad', John hung up and dropped his phone into the empty cup holder. He sighed and slouched as well, eyes on the road but mind obviously miles away. It took a good five miles worth of silence before he jerked straighter and looked to Dave.

“Ah! Fuck, do you want the radio on? I can put the radio on. What're you in the mood for? I don't have channels saved, but I thi-”

“Oh, hey, was wondering when you'd notice me! My name is Mud, Mud Strider, pleased to meet you,” Dave said in a singsong voice, annoyed. Talking like he wasn't there, talking like he was a fucking child, talking over his fucking head: all things he couldn't stand and wouldn't take sitting down. The way John wilted again showed his frustration had hit home well enough. Putting the metaphorical claws away, Dave sighed. “..Alright, so. Mind telling me what the fuck literally all of this is about? Who's in town? Why'd you freak and murder my outfit back there, I don't know if I can save this, that shit stains.”

“Look, I'm sorry, but you wouldn't understa-”

“Don't fuckin' pull that YA fiction bullshit on me and act shocked when it doesn't work, John Egbert, I'm not a kid. Spill. All of it. I'm involved in this enough to apparently be at risk of whatever the fuck got you worked into a rich creamy lather back there, so you might as well give me the deets and get me on the same page as you.”

“..Right,” John sighed. He'd looked close to arguing, stubborn to a fault, but Dave had a big point. Instinct needed to settle down, and he needed to use his head. Dave might be his tap, but he wasn't just food. Wasn't a resource with no sense of his own place in his surroundings. “There's a lot going on, potentially. Or at least a lot to explain. ..Can I ask for some patience till later, though? I can avoid getting arrested for driving like an idiot, you can shower and change, we can both have something to eat and then talk with my dad. He might be able to explain even better than me.”

Dave blinked, and narrowed his eyes a bit, lips turning down.

“Hey, no, I'm not stalling Dave,” John said, guessing the look. “I'm not trying to be vague. Dad was a bit vague too, I think because he knew I was driving and talking, but that just means he'll be more thorough when we're all settled down in one place. Bonus: it's safe there! So I'll be plenty relaxed too. ..Think you can handle that? Just a little longer? I've got questions for him too, but I want to know for sure what he already knows instead of just.. y'know. Guessing.”

“You're totally stalling. Who are 'they',” Dave said. “The people who might be in town that you mentioned.”

“I don't know if it's them or no-”

“'Them'. I don't care if you know they're in town or not, man, just. Who is 'they' and 'them'. Gimme some adjectives, man, something to chew on till I can weasel stuff outta your dad. GOOD adjectives,” Dave clarified. “Gimme somethin' to run with!”

“A bunch of assholes, potentially, that work?” John said, rolling his eyes.

“Assholes. What, like. They human at least, orrrr....?”

“No. No, they're not. I don't think they keep humans around for sure.”

“...Are they like you?” Dave asked.

“I wish. ..At least one of them is like me, if it's the one I think might be around. But not like me at all, because as I said: they're assholes,” John insisted.

“Any of 'them' got a name? How many we talkin' here.”

“Several different people. I'm not giving any names till I know for sure,” John insisted. “Last thing I need is to talk about Jake and have him sudden- ugh,” he said, stalling as he realized what he'd let slip. “Just. Alright look, there's a name, don't go saying it much. Treat it like bad luck.”

Jake, huh. Alright.

“..What kinda species, then, if only one or so are like you, potentially?”

“Were,” John said, nose wrinkling. “Most were are fine, they keep to themselves or just carry on, but. ..Some are just. ..Eugh. Older people get, or longer the family lines are, the more frustrating they are to deal with.”

“So. Vampires, were..wolves?” Dave guessed to himself. “Anything else? This is a Halloween grab bag double feature at this point, John.”

John nodded, then shook his head right afterwards.

“Yep. And that's it, that's the end of the line, I'm not spilling any more beans till we can find out if I'm even spilling the right ones! I could be spilling pineapples for all I know!” he insisted.

“Fine, fine, damn. How would your Dad know more than you about a few random people being in town? Especially if you freaked out this far away from him?” Dave finally asked. There was at least a few things to focus on and turn over in his mind now, but the loose strings were bugging him more than ever. He knew when he agreed to be John's tap, agreed to date him, that he'd wind up in some crazy shit potentially. Suddenly arriving dick deep in said crazy shit was going to take some definite effort to coast along with.

“The entire city is chock full of other beings, Dave, remember? All kinds of species, doing their own thing and living life. When something disruptive happens, people notice and talk about it. Dad's a lot more ear to the ground than me about things, he's older, has more contacts. I only recently bonded with you, there's a lot of catching up to do. ..And if it is English, then he'd probably have tried to creep on Dad at least once or twice since rolling into town. He doesn't alert me every time someone passes through, but generally there's not a ton of trouble being caused either. Not much need to mention anything. ..Er. Well. I mean NOW there is, with you around, but since this is the first time I've had one, he pro-”

“Creepin' on your old man? Why the fuck would anyone do that?” Dave asked. “Isn't he like. Desk job, 9-5, nose to the grindstone of paperwork boring office work dude?”

“It's apparently rude to not at least try to visit your relations,” John sighed. “Even if your relations want nothing to do with you and have been trying to get you off their collective backs for decades. ..If he's in town, he definitely would have been in range enough for Dad to pick up on personally if not just causing some kind of trouble to be obnoxious.” He glanced over, then leaned forward to switch the radio on. A few flips of the dial and he'd found a station playing things from the 90's and 2000's, and turned it down low to fill in the monotonous sound of wheels on highway. “And if that's what was creeping on us, it'd make sense why I couldn't spot him. Especially if his creepy friend's with him.”

Dave gave John a dry look, then stared out the window instead. Great, MORE questions. None of this was making any god damned sense, did he need to take notes? Was there going to be a test on this? "So You Fucked A Vampire: Here's His Tangled Backstory And Side Quests!".

“Y'know, I know I asked for the details, and I understand why you're not explaining more, but goddamn that's kind of annoying. How long till we get there? And how long till your dad turns up, too?”

“Another twenty minutes till we get there, and probably a few hours till Dad. ..I'll try to explain more when we're there while we wait, try to make more sense,” John promised. “When I'm not driving anymore, when I don't have to worry about needing to run suddenly with you again. You're right. This is all things you need to know, if you're going to continue being my tap. I need to be more clear, but right now I'm just really, really rattled.”

Dave wanted to be frustrated still, wanted to be annoyed. A lot of things had just happened at once, none of which he got any say in, but John sounded really sincere right now. After weighing his options, Dave finally nodded.

“Alright. Sounds good.”

Relieved, John grinned the brightest he had since they woke up coiled together that morning and nodded, already trying to run over what to say in his mind. There was so much to unpack there.. How do you even begin to compress hundreds of years of familial history into something bite sized for someone completely unfamiliar with everyone and almost everything involved?

He stole a sideways glance Dave's direction, took in the stained shirt and the calmer, albeit tired looking features he could make out while the blonde's face was turned half away, and let his grin relax into something softer.

..He'd find a way.

#Homestuck #JohnDave #John Egbert #Dave Strider #my fic

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aqentromanoff · 7 years

Text

Clintasha drabble

Sunny Side Up 1,401 words Requested by anonymous Prompt: “Pretty grossed out.” Clintasha one shot please

Can be read as a prequel to this

The bell dinged as Natasha and Clint walked into the diner, causing everyone to turn in their direction. It was fairly packed for a Sunday night, and Natasha instantly wished he had dragged her somewhere that was a little less busy.

If he was going to insist on her eating grease for dinner, he could at least give her the option of doing so in private.

But one thing she’d quickly learnt about Clint Barton was that he had all the subtlety of a hand grenade.

One of the waitresses glanced up as they walked in and instantly smiled when she saw Clint. “Pick any table you want, honey. I’ll be over in a minute.”

Clint, ever his charming self, shot her a grin and winked. “Thanks Dorothy.”

“You keep that up and I won’t to be able to keep my food down. If you even call this food.” Natasha spoke the words softly so as not to draw more attention but the bite was still there.

“Stop whining, Romanoff. A bet’s a bet. And since you lost you’ll just have to suffer the consequences.”

Natasha rolled her eyes as she followed him to a booth near the back, eyes moving around the place.

It was clear that it hadn’t been redecorated since the mid-fifties, but maybe that was part of its charm. The checkered tile on the floor barely stood out against the turquoise and pink on the walls; still visibly bright even though they probably needed a new paint job ten years ago. The stools and booth cushions were also turquoise, with bright, tacky pictures and logos decorating the walls. She was starting to regret leaving her sunglasses in the car.

“Finished your inspection?” Clint’s words startled her, though she didn’t show it as she slid into the booth. “Does it pass your high Russian standards?”

“I don’t have high standards. I just have good taste.”

He was smiling at her again, apparently finding her funny. Americans were so strange.

“Does that include good taste in partners?”

“Need I remind you, Barton, that Shield picked you and not me? I had no say in the matter.”

“I think you’re just in denial.”

She glared at him over the menu, and if the waitress—Dorothy, apparently—hadn’t come over she probably would’ve hit him.

Clint seemed to know it, too.

“Your timing, as always, is impeccable, Dorothy.” He was leaning against the back of the booth, one hand on the table and the other resting on the top of the cushion. Clearly at ease.

She really should’ve hit him.

“Nice to finally see you with some company.” Dorothy’s eyes slid over to Natasha, a warm smile on her face. “Especially female company.”

Clint was about to respond—with an innuendo, no doubt—but Natasha beat him to it.

“His boyfriend couldn’t make it so I thought I’d take pity on him.”

To her delight, Dorothy did not seem surprised at her words, and even Clint had the good sense not to react. Not yet, at least. “Well isn’t that nice” was all the waitress said as she slid out a notebook and pen from her apron. “Now, what I can get you two for drinks?”

“Coffee, please.” Natasha was in desperate need of caffeine if she was going to last the night, though the situation had definitely improved over the last few seconds.

Dorothy nodded before turning back to Clint. “Let me guess, milkshake for you?”

“You’re the best.”

“Oh I know.” She winked at him before leaving, and Clint instantly dropped his smile to glare at Natasha.

“Not funny, Romanoff.”

“I found it extremely funny, actually.”

“I’ll get you for that later.”

Natasha grabbed the menu again and scanned the listed items. “I think the best part was that she wasn’t even surprised.”

“She was just trying to be polite.” She could feel Clint still watching her, clearly not needing to look at a menu. Natasha couldn’t help but wonder exactly how many times he had been there.

“—besides…” he was saying, “what makes you think you’re the first girl I’ve brought in here?”

“Oh I think Dorothy already established that I am.”

He said something else but she didn’t catch it as she looked over the food. Or what they called ‘food’ here. Every kind of burger you could think of (and probably didn’t want to think of), topped with items she wouldn’t want to eat at all, let alone off a patty. An all-day breakfast with lots of meat and grease, at no extra charge. All coming with a choice of fries or onion rings, of course. And for only $.99 you could get both.

Charming.

“How are you feeling over there, Romanoff?”

“Pretty grossed out.”

She still wasn’t looking at him but she heard him chuckle.

“Allow me.” He eased the menu out of her grip and laid it flat on the table, so that they could both see it. He started pointing to the different items as he spoke. Maybe he’d forgiven her for earlier. Or, more likely, he was just biding his time until he could retaliate. “The all-day breakfast is popular, but don’t get the pancakes. They usually come out soggy, and honestly I can make them way better. The burgers and sandwiches are all delicious—they make their own bread here—but they always go overboard on the fries so you probably won’t be able to finish them all. And speaking of that, you should probably save room for dessert, cause their pies are basically heaven on a plate.”

She didn’t know at which point she stopped looking at the menu and instead watched Clint as he spoke, but Natasha found that she was smiling as he described each thing. He glanced up before she could look away and raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. You’re just actually making this food sound appetizing.”

He laughed at that, deep and rumbling, and she thought, not for the first time, that he looked younger when he laughed. Less troubled by all the shit they both dealt with on a regular basis.

So maybe, just maybe, she could lay off him for a little bit.

“What are you getting?” she asked, still indecisive.

“My usual.”

“Which is?”

“The food I usually get.”

“Barton.”

“Romanoff.”

“That’s all you’re giving me?”

“Should I explain it to you again?”

He was enjoying this, she could tell. And she was trying really hard not to look amused.

“You’re not going to cut me any slack, are you?”

“Just taking a page out of the Romanoff handbook.”

Natasha snorted. “Like you could keep up.”

A few seconds later Dorothy returned with a large cup of coffee (bless her) and an even bigger milkshake. When she offered cream for the coffee Natasha shook her head.

“She prefers it black.” Clint commented. “Like her soul.”

“Well you’ve certainly got your hands full with this one.” The older women said to Natasha, but there was fondness in her voice as she regarded Clint. “But something tells me you can keep up just fine.”

“Nothing I can’t handle.” Natasha said, warming her hands around the mug. “Besides, children learn their place eventually.”

“Okay, now you’re just being mean.” Though he sounded wounded it was clearly forced. “Dorothy, I’m going to need some food to deal with these criticisms.”

“The usual, then?” Dorothy wasn’t even bothering to write anything down.

“Yes ma’am.”

“And for yourself, dear? Looks like you could use a little more meat on those bones.”

Clint kept silent but she could see him grinning into his milkshake.

“I’ll have the…uh…” Her eyes scanned the list and tried find something that popped out. Even with Clint’s added commentary she was still lost; American food really made no sense at all.

“She’ll have the number 6.”

It took her a second to realize that Clint had spoken, and that he had spoken for her. Dorothy simply nodded and took both their menus before Natasha could check what, exactly, he had just ordered for her.

“You know, I tend to hate it when men speak for me. Especially when it comes to food.”

Clint leaned forward, hunched over the table as he played with the straw in his milkshake. “Well I guess you’ll just have to trust me. Partner.” He emphasized the last word before taking another gulp of his drink.

#clintasha drabble #clintasha #natasha romanoff #clint barton #avengers drabble #my writing #clintasha fanfiction #clintasha ff

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n0feelingsxx-blog · 7 years

Text

do you like getting hickeys? only on my nek.

oral, do you like oral? i love receiving it, giving isn’t too bad either, but only do it for the right peron.

if you could see any musician live, front row, who would you choose? Eminem

plan on getting drunk or high tonight? i’ve gotten drunk the past two nights, so not tonight tomorrow i will be tho

do you have any best friends that you only know online? i know ppl just online, they’re not bffs tho

is it okay for people to cheat if it’s only online? its not okay to cheat in any snse

are you interested in anime? DBZ, KIND OF. if that counts?

do you have a favorite youtuber or do you not watch much youtube? i have few favs, but i still dont watch it too much

have you ever given a tattoo before and would you like to? i have given one actually

have you ever made out in a hot tub? dont think i’ve ever been in a hot tub

ever peed in your pants after the age of 10? when i was pregnant lmao

what was the name of the last video game you played? COD

what is your favorite elvis song? i dont listen to music that far back. don’t have anything against elvis tho lmao

what is the last tattoo you got? my sons feet on my back

what would you say is your guiltiest pleasure? food.

do you let your pets on your furniture? would if i had a pet and my own furniture as long as they didn’t shed a lot

do you enjoy your job? if unemployed, are you content being so? I’m pretty content with being unemployed, i hate working and i love being a stay at home mom

what is something you have given a lot of thought to lately? how bad i need to get this tax money, get the fuck outta this county, and get over some feelings.

what is your favorite christmas movie? A Christmas Story.

what do you think of your best friend’s ex? uhm, i didn’t really know him.

are you biracial? noo.

be honest, does the person you like actually deserve you? or are they actually not worthy of your affections? this is a hard question to answer for my situation

would you ever wear black lipstick? do you know anyone who does? hell nah.

if you wear eye shadow, do you put on a dark color or a light? and if you wear mascara, what color is it? no mascara. light collored eye shadow, brings out my green eyes.

what was the last alcoholic beverage you consumed? Skittles

are you any good with kids? i got a one so yah.

have you seen the last person you kissed without a shirt on? Yup

do you like watching jerry springer? Not anymore

have you ever fallen for your ex’s best friend? Nooooo

have you ever unbuttoned your ex’s pants? well yah

have you ever deleted your facebook, then brought it back? mhm

have you ever kissed someone who smokes weed? yes

what’s your favorite brand of peanut butter? Is there brands other than jiffy?

do you have a thing for shy/awkward hot guys? well yeah, im not picky tho. just be nice and sweet and not a fuckboy

what’s your favorite lunchables meal? double cheese pizza

have you ever eaten at golden corral? fav buffet

do you ever decide to just dance crazy to a favorite song? sometimes when i’m really happy

have you ever watched fireworks with someone you loved? mhm

are you good at memorizing phone numbers? i am.

do you like men who have a sensitive side? yeah

have you ever used glitter as one of your makeup items? only makeup i mostly use is eyeliner

do you keep a memo book/agenda? I need to

is there a song in a different language that you can sing? None.

what was the most expensive thing someone bought you? probably north face jacket and uggs.

how do you feel about bands that use pyrotechnics in live concerts? It’s cool.

is there anyone on your facebook friends list that you dislike? why do you dislike them? some are annoying, but i dont dislike anyone

have you ever tasted baby food? how about pet food? both. they’re nasty

have you ever thought about what you might call your children? or, if you already have children, what are their names? alexander.

where is the person you would most like to see, or most like to be with? fuck guys

find 5 people on your facebook friends list, whose name begins with K. who are these people, and how did you meet them?

Kristin: my cousin

Kim:my half sister

Krysta:my main bitch

Kaitlyn: grade school/cheerleading

Kathy: my ex husbands friends wife.

is there a person that you can go to in sweats, and still feel comfy? Plenty.

do you think the last person you kissed is nice? fuck him.

how many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust? trust no mf..

how far away is the last person you kissed? about 20 ft.

have you ever had a teacher that was like a second mom to you? nope

have you ever been in a school talent show? what for? nope.

was the last book you read for fun, or was it for some type of assignment? som mystery novel ider.

would you prefer to go out on a fancy date or just chill in his house? It depends on my mood. I like doing both.

do you enjoy long car rides? Sometimes.

do you ever wish you could live on a farm? Nope.

do you know how to play poker? hell yeah used to kick ass

have you ever had an ear infection? Not that i remember of

what color is your favorite bra? #nobralife

what was the name of your first boyfriend? nathan.

have you ever dated someone more than three years older than you? Not yet.

have you ever dated someone a year younger than you? i think so.

have you ever dated someone of another race? nope

do you enjoy eating veggies? ewh

are you attracted to the last person you exchanged numbers with? i dont have a number to exchange

what do you think of country music? some of its good.

do you think pigs are cute or ugly? Grown pigs aren’t the cutest animal out there… but as babies, they’re cute.

did any of your friends lose their virginity before they were 16? if so, did you feel pressured to do the same? lol. i think all my friends has sex at 16 or younger. and i lost mine at 14 so

what kind of home would you like? idc as long as i owned it

did you ever build furniture forts as a child? yassss

what kind of dog is your favorite? teacup yorkies

have you ever considered dropping acid? thought bout it

describe your music style: rap/hiphop/alternative

are you close to any of your aunts/uncles? I write my uncle in jail every week. another uncle comes visits me and my grandma a couple times a week, so. bout it.

have you ever had a seizure? No.

do you plan on losing weight any time soon? hopefully gain.

what was your gpa in high school? 3.5

if you have a favorite television show, who’s your favorite character? shameless. uhhh, i love all the gallaghers

what is your favorite book series, if you have one? I don’t have one.

have you ever had a parasite before? Nope.

do you enjoy listening to older music? Sure.

have you been to disney world before? i will someday

have you ever met someone who was really racist before? Unfortunately, yes.

if you could be a disney character for a day, who would you be? i dont like the disney characters

would you ever want to swim with sharks? i cant swim so i’d either die instantly from being eaten or drown

what was the last thing that made you laugh? I have no idea.

ever used a bow and arrow? Yes.

occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? astronomer, veternarian…

tea or coffee? Coffee.

opinions on sex before marriage? do it. fuck arriage

who was the hottest teacher you ever had? freshman year there was this math teacher who was super hot and i think he transferred cause i kept flirting lmao

have you ever walked on a beach at night? nah.

when was the last time you baked something? did it turn out good? chicken pot pie homemade, it was amazing. couple weeks ago

do you think some of the stuff we’re taught in school is useless? almost all of it

why do we put the clocks one hour forward or one hour back? daylight savings time.

what song really gets to your heart and inspires you? I’m not sure.

do you have fireflies around where you live, or do you wish you did? I think there are fireflies around here…

what commercial do you wish they kept playing? hate commericals.

what current commercial is your favorite? I don’t watch enough TV to know of any good, current commercials.

if you could have played in any movie, what movie would it be? Magic mike 2, would’ve ayed the girl who got the lapdance at the end.

did you used to do easter egg hunts when you were a child? Yes! i loved them

what would you rather live by: highway, train tracks or airport? ive lived by train tracks before, so them.

do you believe that ‘hate’ really is a strong word? I guess. Maybe not anymore

if you have facebook, are you guilty of fanning countless things? mhmm

as a kid, did you love playing on neopets? Not really. i was too poor for that shit

do you often get bitten by mosquitoes, or rarely ever? hardly ever anymore

what’s your opinion on plastic surgery? ever thought about getting it? i’m getting a boob job one day, i’ve said it since i was in grade school..

do you own any feathers? tf kinda question is this lmao no.

do you have a skype? nope

the last person you had a thing with comes up to you and says “i’m sorry”? he said sorry earlier but it dont mean shit so i just continuted crying.

where was the last place you had a romantic dinner? ive never really had a romantic dinner

do you get mad when your current bf/gf talks about an ex? when my ex did that i did. but im singleee now

do you know anybody who was abused? me, a couple ppl i know.

do you start feeling really gross if you don’t shower after one day? sometimes

do you pee a lot more after you’ve drank a caffeinated beverage? i pee about 2-3 times a day. only pee more when i start drinking alcohol

waiting for something? my life to get itself together.

who is your last received call from? grandma.

how do you pronounce the name Sean when you come across it in text… “shawn” “sheen” or “shane”? ”Shawn.”

wouldn’t it be EXTREMELY weird if someone fell in love with you after reading your answers to this survey? kinda.

who is the next person you’ll hold hands with? nofuckingbody.

have you ever pole danced before? id like to.

what is something you used to be afraid of, but aren’t anymore? i dunno.

do you believe your dreams have any real meaning? sometimes. i took a nap earlier and i dreamed of snake and bugs and i looked it up and it said that something in my life was bothering me, which is true so..

what do you think of guys who ask girls out over via text message or internet? pathetic.

do you drink more apple or orange juice? apple

do you recall the first time that you learned the truth about sex? i reaked out. then got curious

do you find extreme body builders’ bodies to be attractive? ewh no

does it bug you when people go ‘mhm’ all the time when you’re talking? kinda

are your parents religious? they were yeah. not super holy rollers but they believed in god yeah.

what is your favorite hostess/little debbie snack? swiss rolls, honey buns

do you find it rude when you offer someone something and they decline? Nah

do you think benedict cumberbatch is hot? who

favorite disney princess? none

does your sibling have a significant other? dont have a sibiling

do you have any american girl dolls in your house? fuck dolls

have you ever gotten in trouble at school for wearing revealing clothes? yup

are you borrowing books from anybody at the moment? Nope.

have your parents ever questioned your virginity? i told my mom after it happened, she cried but after that didn’t care, my dad never asked

roleplaying is super lame, agreed? It’s not my thing, but people can do what they want.

how’re you feeling right now? I’m done crying and i just feel empty, and kinda mad and just wanna get my money and go.

does/did either of your parents serve in the military? No

is there anybody you’re not ashamed to tell anything to? Yes.

are you prone to illness? used to be

are you on birth control? bout to change it but yeah

how bad are heartbreaks? unbearable sometimes

has a song ever given you an orgasm? uhm no.

have you ever made out in your room? last time? i dont have a room.

if the last person that you kissed said they wanted to marry you, what would you say? lolololol. we already are.

do you like your eyes? I do.

are you attracted to the last person that you fell in love with? Yah

do you have a big butt? Not anymore

would you be a good salesperson? helll no

do you like hot sauce? if yes, what do you usually put it on? nope .

can you do the ‘emo hair flip’? used to be able to

do you know anyone that has dimples? alex.

would you ever make out in front of your best friend? i think i have

anything physically wrong right now? nope.

ever had sex under water? No.

the last person you kissed on the lips said that you were the only one they wanted, would you believe them? no

you’re having twins. what’s your first reaction? freak the fuck out

did your first love love you back? why hell no

do you have scars on your wrists? mhm

do you like fedoras? Lmao, no.

have you ever wanted to get drunk and get your mind off everything? what ive been doing the last couple ights but hasnt helped

is there a band you like with amazing music but a bad vocalist? idts

is there a band/artist who has strange lyrics but you love them anyway? probably

does your optimism sometimes hurt you? yah

have you ever painted a piece of furniture? mhm

do you believe the fortunes in fortune cookies? Nah

what do you prefer more: waffles or pancakes? Waffles!

did you love playing hide and seek as a kid? Yes my fav

got plans after you finish this? sleep

did you ever dream that you had a baby? Yes.

have you ever been in a beauty pageant? Not pretty enough for that shit

did you sleep alone? I slept alone in my bed last night, but Mahima and Adrika were sleeping in the same room.

does your best friend approve of the last person you kissed? probably dont care

where is the last person you kissed at this moment? In his bed.

describe your dream girl/guy? fuck guys

been arrested? for what? I’ve never been arrested.

tell us the story of your first kiss? it kinda just happened in the middle of class,

do you sleep with stuffed animals? I have one stuffed animal that I keep in my bed with me.

how many stuffed animals do you think you have? used to have a lot but one now

favorite character from finding nemo? dory

how long does it typically take you to get over people? depends

are you stressed out? always

so tell me one interesting thing about yourself. im an emotional wreck

do you own a trenchcoat? Nope.

have you ever owned a tire swing? no

do you have a nervous twitch? Nope

are you currently listening to music? no

is it easy to get a job where you live? im in cc rn, and its not. but in indy it is. .

is your signature legible? it is, and pretty too .

was the last time you cried because you were angry? inbetween angry, sad, empty, not feeling good enough. .

is there an animal that scares you? snakes, spiders, anything big enough to hurt and eat me

are you any good at video games? helll yahh.

has a jehovah’s witness ever showed up on your doorstep? mhm

do you have a step parent? I dont even have parents anymore..

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trendyelle · 6 years

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What To Eat For Clear Skin& What Foods Will Wreak Havoc On Your Face

If youre anything like me, someone who is a mature adult considers their body like a trashcan, then you distinguish the daily strive that is doing whatever the fuck off miss while at the same time wanting to have a great person and enormous skin. Lifes hard whether it wishes to get fucked up at Ministers Ball but also seem 100 years old in your Instagram story. Not that I would know. I did not go to Gov Ball, though I did invest the weekend going through mimosas like water and ingesting sufficient food to get me my own TLC reality show. That being said, I want to change. I want to be a brand-new me. A better me. A me who applies actual vitamins and minerals into her structure so her surface doesnt resemble the entire slice of pizza she chewed last darknes. So heres a roll of meat you should eschew like an ex-boyfriend slipping into your DMs and foods you should embrace because theyll sterilize your fucking heads. Damn, Ive went bars. DONT: Ingest Canned Food/ Meats Gross. As if. Like, who even gobbles canned fleshes anymore? Other than my ex from college who had this weird infatuation with eating vienna sausages( which, in hindsight, should have been a blood-red fucking pennant that this kid was a sociopath. That and his Belk credit card that he was always bragging about ). Canned and/ or highly processed foods have a shit ton of sodium in them and generates your body to hold on to sea, which is why your face is always puffy or you have bags under your eyes that can be seen from cavity, and your acne is at World War III proportions. DO: Eat Salmon Aside from giving you a reason to pretend to be a foodie and also be obnoxious on Instagram, dining salmon is a sure practice to get better searching scalp. Salmon is rich with omega-3 fatty battery-acids and healthy fattens. These fattens reinforce cadre membranes and nourish the surface to prevent you examining fresh AF. DONT: Drink Green Juice Lol just because you often say shit like #FitLife and #CleanEating on your IG does not mean you know wtf is good for you, because SURPRISE all those juices youre boozing to purge your form are actually truly fucking bad for you. Juices are sugary as hell, specially the light-green juices which can have up to 50 grams of carbohydrate in them, which is actual destruction when it comes to having clear scalp. ^ I guess every fitstagrammer when the find out they’ve been gushing liquid sugar into their temples bodies DO: Drink A Protein Smoothie Aside from having something to talk about with the red-hot tutor at your gym, protein smoothies can actually be beneficial for your surface. The more you know. Abide away from the juicer smoothies and opt for one with some protein in it. These different kinds of smoothies are high in healthy flabs and wont leave your scalp gazing more ratchet than your Snap story last weekend. DONT: Eat Ice Cream Okay, this one I investigated coming. Good-for-nothing that tastes this good can be anything but sabotage on your organization. And since Im not on my date rn in control of my torso I suspect Im open to suggestions here. Ice cream is chock-full of sugar which can species this fun circumstance called advanced glycation end products which fucks up the protein in your mas. Why is that important you may ask? Because the proteins it fucks with the most are the ones that keep your skin plump and springy ogling. So mostly chewing ice cream is aging you.* paces into oncoming congestion* DO: Eat Dark Chocolate Dark chocolate aka the DUD of chocolates has a fuck ton of antioxidants in it, which is v good for your scalp. So even though it preferences health and the whole time youll be pleasing you two are eating real chocolate with real flavor at the least your scalp will gaze good AF and be protected by wrinkles and other bad shit. DONT: Drink Coffee HA HA HA HA this has to be some sort of sick joke. You want me to give up my will to live caffeine? Do you likewise want me to commit homicide the next time someone responds everyone to ministries and departments email series? DO YOU? This one is tough for me to wrap my mentality around because coffee is literally one of the only rationales I get out of bed in the morning, and hence, the same reasons you get to experience this sparkling temperament. That tell me anything, coffee is a diuretic( imitation word Im sure !) which causes your organization to lose liquid and your skin to get v dehydrated. Stay away from this shit if you require glowy AF skin. DO: Drink Hot Lemon Water This replacement sounds about as good as the Republican plan for health care but thats neither here nor there. Even though the prospect of drinking red-hot lemon ocean sounds about as enticing as sleeping with Jonathan The Tickle Monster, its actually super are you all right. Its hydrating, full of antioxidants, and presents some very much support to your liver. Apparently, the liver is the main organ that detoxifies their own bodies and if youre full of toxins boozing on daytimes that intent in Y, youre more likely to break out. Sighs. And this is why we cant have nice things. DONT: Eat Bagels Okay, Im starting to feel personally victimized by this list. Like, is person looking at my bank affirmation and be careful to ensure that I spend a great amount of my down time in coffee shop and/ or bagel browses? Because Im feeling actually criticized rn. Apparently, bagels are the worst for your skin and can lead to a cascade of hormones aka acne breakouts for dates.* prays this is phony report* DO: Eat Non-Processed Carbs or Oats Tbh Id rather deprived than eat something that resembles animal feed but I guess thats the toll we pay to look like the “after” girl in an acne commercial. Oats are the right kind of carbs probs because it ogles miserable to eat and likewise because its high in antioxidants which weve established will not only give you clear/ glowy scalp but likewise fightings against anti-aging. DONT: Drink Soda To absolutely no ones surprise except my own because I refuse to read descriptions written by health professionals people who are out to destroy my merriment, soda is bad for you. And just because you drink diet soda doesnt mean youre safe. Because diet soda specially interrupts the necessary and healthy bacteria found in your bowel. Too boozing various kinds of soda can really fuck with your skin. Like, reason rosacea, eczema, and acne fuck with your skin. K. Just fuck me up rn then. Also, wtf am I supposed to order at the bar to go along with my vodka then? I cant precisely drink vodka straight-from-the-shoulder. I want to have clearer surface , not succumb. DO: Drink Kombucha Finally something that looks good on my Instagram story and isnt going to fuck up my scalp. About damn experience. Basically Kombucha is good for you because its fermented, and therefore full of probiotics, which will solve all your life difficulties. Im paraphrasing, but still. If you require clear skin by the time this weekend’s brunch rosters around then chug some of this and simulate like its booze something you experience drinking. So, in conclusion, anything that brings you rapture is perhaps fucking up your surface and you are able to cut it from your diet ASAP. I am feeling #blessed rn that alcohol did not build the inventory, but thats largely because I refused to do any actual study that would substantiate otherwise. Who says you cant induce your own destiny? Listen, if all else fails and you have no self verify dont want to relinquish your joy theres always Facetune. Read more: www.betches.com http://selfhelpantiagingtips.com/what-to-eat-for-clear-skin-what-foods-will-wreak-havoc-on-your-face-46/

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iprofoundcollectorflowerwor-blog · 7 years

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The results Of Feeding Your Canine With A Raw Dog food

The consequences Of Feeding Your Canine With A Uncooked Dog food

Select the flavors below, bake and cool the layers then, fill them with what I used, and enjoy! Here I'll fill you in on a terrific food plan to help with your IBS or abdominal discomfort. Recent produce of every kind, together with potatoes, is much cheaper right here and I have also found it to be very contemporary at our store. Q. Can I resell ALDI merchandise in my store? Nonetheless, this pure feeding cannot guarantee safe and better feeding because for one, uncooked foods comprise plenty of bacteria which can be a motive of some infections and sickness in your canine. Honey is a natural sweetener out there in lots of kinds -- from translucent liquid to thicker, creamy honey or as honeycomb, dripping with additional honey. I do know that when your kids or grandchildren make one thing for you it is extra particular too and also you cherish it as well! It is tough to consider that promoting gadgets for a greenback or less could make you cash.

@Misamejima 40 yr old rich white ppl at trader joes trying to buy organic fair trade food are probably the worst to fight w/ because lawyers

— Ambrose (@monstracious) February 16, 2015

In order for you a straightforward means so as to add essential fiber wealthy foods to your eating regimen, then learn extra about FOS, fructooligosaccharides, and discover methods to make these essential nutrients a part of your healthy routine. Expect to see more about the way to feed a family for pennies and still guarantee nutrition. Do not you see how much using coupons can provide help to save a bunch of cash every time you go procuring? Spices- nice for spice painting, making pumpkin bubbles or pretend play cooking utilizing actual elements. Those self same components are still driving funding 30 years on. Trailer outdoors tents are lots simpler to set up and take apart in comparison with a typical tent. Can you are taking a vitamin pill and be wholesome with out eating any fruits or vegetables? This implies you may take again any product, get your money refunded, and get a alternative product with no problem.

This can be probably the friendliest shark on earth. Discount stores and dollar shops usually have bags of berries, or stems with a lot of berries that may be removed. Dollar stuff, good stock, I come right here for coffee supplies, and cleaning supplies. Surplus and salvage distributors may be good sources for low-cost dollar retailer objects as effectively. The recession created loads of latest prospects for greenback shops to cater to. He went out on the deliveries with the drivers, and met prospects. Listed below are some suggestions you could observe when you consider decorating your house and that forestall you from emptying out your pockets. Exceeding this stage may cause caffeinism, whose signs include headaches, irritability, restlessness, excessive blood pressure and the "crash" feeling when it wears off. this page In the event you develop the signs like increased urination, fatigue, weight reduction, extreme thirst then would be the sufferer of diabetes. If in case you have odors you can't eliminate, or usually transport your pets, try a carpet powder that works with the vacuum to depart the inside of the vehicle smelling like new. Debt Administration Program will deliver you handiest methods to get rid to your debt and Debt Administration Advice may be given to debtor. You'll automatically eat much less with out even noticing.

If you do not pay off the creditor in full, the interest fees for these small purchases will have you ever spending more than their value. Wicked Challenging Pole Saw features the similar Wicked Sharp Impulse” hardened higher carbon steel blade as that on the hand noticed, besides this blade has a much more curved form. Having stated that, manual pole saws can be challenging to make use of, which is why the GreenWorks G-MAX Cordless Polesaw makes it simple to keep a tree and reduce the pressure on the again attributable to its electric capabilities. This helps keep the food down. In Japan, a meal is served based mostly on three things; the presentation, the type of serving plate and the food taste. However they’re vitally necessary for legacy retailers at a time of unparalleled competitors. This allows you ample time to react if someone approaches you.

Every time we are debilitated or have some disease course of occurring we need to recuperate and relaxation. You'll need to change your purse, youngster, or whatever you could have with you from your first cart to the cart that your groceries at the moment are going in. For some, this may occasionally sound like lots however most of those have smaller families. No. Eat something healthy like a bowl of low-sugar, fibre-rich cereal, some wholemeal toast or a banana to set your time off on the fitting footing. At occasions, the entire Foods choice slips from the pseudoscientific into the quasi-religious. It appears their system typically acts in a manner equivalent to to have the same chemicals as what may be in morphine. Australia and Switzerland in the public and non-public water techniques use the same sort of system. Glenn Meeks, director of gross sales and advertising and marketing with Bettaway Transportation Logistics and Pallet Techniques. It’s straightforward to give in and run back to your little one when you hear how he cries seeing you live or when the babysitter tells you that your beloved kid is begging for you to come back again. Give me a pie! Debit playing cards are accepted.

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greggsdiabetes-blog · 7 years

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The Secret Foods Elite Athletes Eat

New Post has been published on http://www.greggsdiabetes.com/the-secret-foods-elite-athletes-eat/

The Secret Foods Elite Athletes Eat

Clare Gallagher, who won the 2016 Leadville Trail 100, began her ultrarunning career while undergoing a teaching fellowship in a rural corner of Thailand. There wasn’t a single sport-specific gel packet or PowerBar within a hundred-mile radius of her town. Gallagher, now 25, improvised, sucking down Coca-Cola, Thai milk coffee, pure sugarcane, and lots and lots of packets of sweet sticky rice.

Not only did Gallagher feel fine eating this unorthodox combo, but she also started kicking ass, winning her very first ultra. Now, when Gallagher looks at the prices of sports nutrition products, she rolls her eyes: “Westerners are so self-righteous with our extravagant nutrition strategies that cost more than a month of student loan payments—for one race,” she says.

Plus, gels, bars, and powdered sports drinks are not exactly fine dining—especially in large quantities, when it feels like your taste buds are being assaulted by pure sugar. This is why more endurance athletes these days are eating real food while training and racing. “It gives me something to look forward to,” says ultrarunner Dylan Bowman of his favorite salted fudge brownies.

We caught up with six athletes to hear about their favorite unorthodox fuels, and then asked Cara Anselmo, a New York–based registered dietitian to weigh in on what, if any, benefits these foods might convey. (A necessary disclaimer: Not every workout requires this kind of fueling. If you’re going out for under two hours, we suggest you stick with water and maybe a gel.)

Clare Gallagher, Ultrarunner

Favorite Race Food: Frosting and Sour Patch Kids

The Backstory: “When packing my fuel for Leadville, I was completely disenchanted at the thought of buying 20-plus gels, and I am a sucker for frosting anyway. It occurred to me that I’d actually like the frosting better than gels,” Gallagher says. “Same with Sour Patch Kids. I could buy endurance-specific gummies, or I could buy 1.9 pounds of Sour Patch Kids and have plenty to share with my crew for the rest of the weekend. I hate to think my genius frosting idea was born out of me being cheap, but it really was just that.”

The Result: Gallagher’s Leadville win, which was the second-fastest female time ever, speaks for itself. Still, though, observers gawk. “People say my diet is appalling and unhealthy. To them, I say, ‘I think I’m doing just fine, thank you very much.’ I can’t eat gluten. I eat very little meat. I avoid dairy because I also have Hashimoto’s disease. If someone has evidence that eating frosting and Sour Patch Kids instead of some $300 baby-food vomit formula repurposed into Premium Fuel for Endurance Athletes is going to kill me, then I’m all ears.” Plus, Gallagher is now officially sponsored by Frost’d, a coconut oil–based frosting company founded by fellow ultrarunner Jessica Hamel.

Anselmo’s Take: Frosting has simple carbs for quick energy and no fiber to wreak havoc on the GI tract, and it’s easy to eat. No chewing required.

Dylan Bowman, Ultrarunner

Favorite Race Food: Salted fudge brownies

The Backstory: “In 2013, my girlfriend, Harmony, and I had to do about six months of long-distance dating. One weekend, we met in Malibu, where I was running a 50-mile race. We hadn’t seen each other in more than a month, so she surprised me at the airport with a fresh batch of my favorite brownies. Up to that point, the brownies were a special indulgence, but in the context of the race that weekend, it dawned on me that they’d be a good addition to my nutrition arsenal. I didn’t bring enough gels to get me through the whole race, so I had Harmony give me a Red Bull and brownie bag at an aid station about halfway through the race.”

The Result: “There were probably seven brownies in the bag, and I ate them all over the course of about 20 miles. I ended up winning the race, which seemed to validate this new and unfamiliar nutrition strategy. I’ve had her make them before important races ever since.”

Anselmo’s Take: “These have quick simple carbs, plus chocolate gives a bit of caffeine, which, in moderation, can enhance energy and athletic performance. They are also likely have some sodium and potassium for electrolyte repletion.”

Amelia Boone, Obstacle Course Racer

Favorite Prerace Snack: Cinnamon Roll Pop-Tarts

The Backstory: “I ate one before the Spartan Race World Championships in 2013 and won the race. So now it may be semi-superstition-related, but I actually find they sit really well in my stomach.”

Also on the Menu: “My diet sounds like the standard American diet for kids. During races, I’ll eat gummy bears, baby-food squeeze pouches, and peanut M&M’s. After races, I house pints of ice cream; it’s the only thing I can eat for about 12 hours. My stomach tends to be in knots an unable to take solid foods after really long races—I mean, go figure, given what I eat during.”

Anselmo’s Take: “Pop-Tarts are my prerace fuel, too. They’re perfect for quick simple carbs, and there’s no fiber to cause gas, bloating, or diarrhea. Also, they’re a total childhood comfort food, which might help calm nerves prerace. I’ve brought them with me when traveling for races because they travel well and never go bad, which is kind of gross but kind of great.”

Phil Gaimon, Retired Pro Cyclist

Favorite Midrace Fuel: Chocolate croissants

The Backstory: During long stage races in Europe, Gaimon and his teammates would often grab extra pastries from the hotel’s breakfast buffet and save them for later in the day. “There wasn’t a moment in the race when I wasn’t counting down to unwrapping those things,” he says. “I remember a moment where I went nuts for ten minutes to pull back the breakaway on a climb at the Tour of Provence. So I started to eat the pain au chocolat, but I was out of breath, and then the descent was insane, but I wasn’t going to spit it out and waste it, so I did a 20-minute technical downhill just holding it in my mouth.”

Also in His Pockets: Gaimon is a certified cookie monster, and his fans know it. Sometimes, before races, people would hand him wrapped cookies.

Anselmo’s Take: “A chocolate croissant has carbs as well as some fat, which you’d need during multiday events. Also, the sheer deliciousness factor makes it appealing. It’s not cloyingly sweet like some other treats, so it’s good for someone who likes less-sugary things.”

Sean Burch, Mountaineer

Favorite Expedition Food: Peanut butter

The Backstory: “I’ve always loved peanut butter, ever since I was a kid. I started letting myself eat a little more of it, and I thought I’d gain weight, but I didn’t. Pretty soon I was eating more and more. Now I eat a pound a day. On expeditions, I make sure we bring peanut butter because I don’t trust that I’ll be able to get it there. And I crave it. I look forward to eating it every single day.”

The Result: It has become an obsession for Burch. “If there’s a sale on all-natural peanut butter, I buy the store out of it—the cashiers at my local store know me,” he says. “I wish I had a sponsor for peanut butter. I spend a fortune on it. But I’m willing to spend the money because it’s an investment in myself and my health.”

Anselmo’s Take: “It’s a great, no-chew food that’s full of protein.” Plus, Burch says he only buys the all-natural variety, so it has no added sugars or hydrogenated oils.

Aaron Gwin, Red Bull Mountain Bike Racer

Favorite Between-Ride Snack: Pancakes

The Backstory: “I make a batch of pancakes at home in the morning, and then bag up two to six of them, depending on how much riding I’m doing that day. I make them pretty healthy, adding protein powder to the batter so I get all the nutrition I need. I keep experimenting and adding new things. They’ve gotten a little out of control the more that I keep adding ingredients—things like sweet potatoes, bananas, peanut butter powder, and oats—but I dig them. Pancakes give me a good base of carbs and protein for training days to keep me going without having to stop for long periods of time to eat, plus they’re easy to pack and digest, and I like the taste of them plain.”

Anselmo’s Take: “Pancakes have carbs galore, plus the little extra protein is probably good for muscle recovery after an intense and long workout.”

Original Article

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