#sorry the layout of this is horrendous but i want everything to be in one huge megapost lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

solardick · 2 months

Text

Uh. The Vatican has its own country of 500 people.

India 1,4 billion. China 1.4 billion. Canada. 38 million.

So what came first, the chiken or the egg? It’s so odd. Create the image, influences then come to being. … how does that work?… at any rate, the card works. Works as a powerful transmuted christian image. Helpd to pull the carnivorous nature of reptiles, dinosaurs and monsters into a positive momentum. Bearing semblance to magestic creators. Fear in knowing the dangers of its rebuke. If thats not too harsh of a word. Not knowing the still pressence of what should be radiating light. Warm rays of sunshine on a cool departure. Intimidation. Engagement is perplexing.

This card placed ontop of the deck. Centerd between the two 5’s of ten. The pope raising its hand. Two fingers to the sun. Pointing up about to infinity. Save that it can replace the pope card. Breaking out a barrier. balancing the equation between sexes.

Adds definition to strength as harmony. Clashes horrendously with waites magician. Belittling the serpent as a belt to hold up his pants with. Is that its purpose? Well people back then were fucked. Thats the generation that started ww 1 and 2….

It becomes the center card of the deck layout. And the pope card doesnt lose any signicance as it is p’aced above on a spot on high. A throne. Which he is clear’y occupying.

Anyway the two infinity cards from the tarot become the parents to the serpent. Showing the emperor’s holy lineage. Ideally the devil card 15 from tarot modified to the likness of the serpent shows from what the empress is descended from.

Connected to my personalize oO death card numbering 15 connects it again to the sex. Symbolizing that wanting inrush of potency towards the creation of kin. Or to what id expect it to be in reality. Those glowing red cheeks. Mmmnn. Theres nothing more beautiful.

So i was watching some gay porn just the other day and, i felt bad for the bitch. Poor guy. So i went and jerked off to a hot russian getting banged in a sports bar toilet stall.

Well think im just going to start smoking whole cigarettes now and stop ripping them in half, so the girl has less reason to swoon over me. Hate being psychic like that. Since her nature is like that. She locks on to a small detail of something that isnt up to standard or whatever and goes obsessive. Seek and destroy based on her own delusional egotistic set. But. Everything i do is wrong and over agrandized. Its like they all pretend to be my mother. While others do the same. Its on’y a problem if its coming from me. Hows its always been. Time to eeupt. Hurt me some more. Whole other around do worse. Yup. Thats life.

Oh no i no i daid atupid. Time to start freaking the fuck out in bits of over energized destruction! « Hey mom can we” ehat! I said can we…? What?! I said can we? Ehat?! I dont understand you! Blag blah blah. Ok start beating in my face. Sorry i suggested soemthig helpful and posiitve. Oh well, guessnom never talking to you again even ifbit was a life of seath situation. You would listen anyway. Just beat on me some more. While playing to good christian. To all the girls and boys. Fuck off.

Not allowed to escape that reality by the maneuverings of other people. Im here for the sole purpose of being fucked. Laways was. There is no such thing as justice in life. Only punishment. Theres bothign to learn in life except not to try. “Shouldn’t we try to fix this family? Maybe go see a family therapist?” Oh yeah right. No one else cares. You wouldnt even send me to thearapy to save my life. Why did i try?

Your all fucken dead to me. The only differenve i dont go out of my way to fuck your lives. And gere i am 39 years later still being raped by existance. Its all its ever been. Nothing to learn. No wag to grow. Just the same bs from others. The way its alway been. I do t want to be alive anymore. All life does is fuck with me by criminal minds. Unyilnyou lose your sanity and then get fucked some more vause theres actually a good excuse this time. Hahahahahha the world Always sides with evil. There’s noyhing in life for me and theres nothing to do. Dint really have much choice in the matter, being abused into suicide.

While i spend my days serounded by the corrupt, the criminal, the degenerates, the effeminate, the violent and the brains washed gay’s. God forbid if i rather not spend soemtime with members the opposite sex or the proactive masculine.

Now excuse i have to go get high for breakfast and waste the day. Its ok. Im used to it. 25 years and counting. And excuse me if i have flair ups soemtimes. Its alot of pressure. While i wait for yhe first aid training and possibly the organization of health and saftey. After all i may need to save your fucken lives one day. Yay!

A wise serpent without a dove isn’t very gentel now is it?

What?! Sorry i capuld hear you you spoke at the same time as the crows. All i heard was “Caw! Caw! Caw!” Oh, we’re going to be partnering up? Awh…… no. Considering you’re relying on a drug dealer to drive you home everyday. And thats the guy i get paired with. Well either that of the “dipshit” as everyone calls them. Talking about gays and dildos, and sagitarian rape court case and a pimp civic under various trafgic violations whom doesnt take working seriously? Uhm. The gay guy, the criminal, or the combination of the two? Uhm, well, i lose. While i get sexually harassed by a “22” year old whith a similar sounding name as the lygbbq organization that continued suggestion i was a cocksucker after i repeatedly asked her to stop. Durring 2022… ok. Sure why not. What door number is that. The exit door number 22? What is that the fireextinguisher convineently olaced next to the males washroom? Exinguisher number what? 22? What? My ninimum credit payment is what? 22? At the same time as they pulled this shit? Ok.

Am i supposed to learn somethign here? Or is my spyche getting drastically raped by evil? What card is number 22? Nothing by the tarot. Maybe the fool. Maybe the world card. Maybe that magically missing number 22. In the typewritter its thr star card. A naked woman pooring out the spirit. The bestowment of a hope to meet the dream. Passivity to the reception from the collective.

Im not allowed to have a life free from captivity and malicious influences. Why try? I literally don’t know anything else. They’r eproba ly just framing me up to spend the second half of my life in prison.

Om now the small buzz in bottoming and i think my coffe is wearing out. Think i beed to go take a nap.

If one used the wheel. Thinking astrologically. As the twelve seasons. Then thr minor arcana would all occupy a quarter season. The four A-1’s place in the center of the circle facing out. On yhe wheel. One is traveling up. While the current is pulling down faster then one can move. Is consistent the lunar/solar cross sections with that of a serpent. While one swims agaisnt the current, one will only slow the final destination. Until one circles around the circle to the last quarter of fears and dreads, now helplessly trying to swim away from it. Creating this complex based upon repression of lies and delusions as the explanation. To the coming fate. I hate astrology. A fear. And the will to not accept whats (not really) inevitable. Give in to the lie. For when one passes that descendant point the half way. One tries to swim for that balance. Towards the 6th card of the lovers. But, its a lost cause. While one is helplessly being pulled away from it.

… the right side of the circle is comprised of the wands to swords. The left side coins to cups. The angles are A��s and each zodiac house is assigned three cards. The semi-square angle holds a conflict card. The left side of the circle is the individual. Number one. He is surrounded by life affirming cards and accomplishments hard work and discipline. And the bounty of a happy home life is where it ends. One can rise to career or descend to the self and family. Resources ideals, dreams accomplished. On the right side of the chart is all the bad. A relationship to bs. Starts with a desire to leave home. See the world have fun with friends. And where one has to pay the penalty for being alive. It’s pretty depressing. As all things tarot. Which is here shown by the split natures of white and black both cancer and Capricorn share.

Maybe since there’s already an arian plan in opperation all future arians are forced down and oppressed from any divergence. Which isnt set and bound for them to attend. Mostly its just a trophy. Good’lad heres a loolly pop. There’s only death and sorrow if you go any further. Better save it for the militant going on and beyond the capricorn point. To death and war.

So when doing a reading with the minor. Its best to see where in the zodiac it is placed and see what planets are aspecting those degrees. The self then has an added layer of information that isnt neccesarly allocated to “fate”. One then takes the major arcana and plug in the proper card to the appropriete number based on cyclic repetition. Thats what a circle is. The only problem here is that circles are only found in nature in the form of pulses. A ripple in water. The ring of a tree. Its never singular. Beyond that of the sun and the moon. Or a bubble. Circles are never still. Always in motion. Growing outward until it fades. Relying on that drop in its center.

Now the minor arcana is paired to a planet and to a major arcana. Precision grows more clear. Complexity adds reaction. And the star card always fallows the threat, and violence. Which may lead into a world of metal illnesses. As the child tries to distract it’s attention into something else, for the violence goes counter to its well being. Creating a world of delusions and retractions from the world. Adopting a passivity to action. And further reception to something more pleasing. It being a dream. These conditioned dreams based from the collective reception of information, all gets poured into the same cup. There’s no segregation, no separation. One becomes what it is being fed. A desire to do good. And a motivation to be receptive. Like i said. Theres nothign to learn in life. There’s just punishment. Fromoutsode violebce while it being twisted as an echo to be villainized by. Where the origin of the destructive acts take a place of innocence. On and on. From time memorial. Do now the next moon card comes in and the one is screaming at the world. Causing a ruckus. Howling at the moon. To be futher punished by the “good”. Or to praying to god for salvation, or getting shitfaced drunk or using other intoxicants. Which are made abundant and always is easy reach. From time memorial. Cant even be int he seclusion of solitude. Without it. Sorry mom i’m smoking my brothers pot i found hidden behind my poster. In the same room im forces to share with him. Eith this dominant pluto opposition aspect. Fun fun. And well the world as shown me profusly that im just a bitch. Nothigs changed.

What i got an attitude problem needing correction?! No thats ok. Ill a nother beating after they just jumpednon my face. Ok. Sire why not.

Hey! Ho. Stop tellign at your daughter! Your other one detaching from reality right noe becaus eof it. No! I font want to sleep woth you. You have a boyfriend. Fuck off. Stop insisting.

God dames women stop being sexually suggestive! Im trying to socialize jesus! If i wanted to see you naked id just go watch some poor they’re way hotter than you. And if that was the case. I aint no single stand. Cant sleep eoth you even if i wanted to if i don’tt know what im dicking. Kind of hard to enjoy. Maybe the lesson here , Is that i should. Hey stranger. You got a pretty mouth. Wanna fuck? Why you making it sexual for. Now im turned off.

It’s fun to play with power words like this.

God

The son the father and the Holy Ghost.

Draw out the chariot! Move!

Careful what you eat.

-I expect there to be a top qualité Asian movie involving a dove and a dragon coming out. Hopefully it won’t be toO fif.

And thé on l’y appropriate letter to assign to infinity is temperance. Letter R. Not of it directly. But as the minusculed r. Becoming EFr. But this is a new area for me. So I don’ know. The minuscule R serves quite well as temperance’s white dove wings.

DEF as mother, son and father. As the 0-5 card speaks for itself. Def., equals absolute. A definite act. From nothign. O. If one extends on this the holy ghost as the emperors foundation is balances by the empresses dragon/devil card.

As E moves into F. F moves into the equalavent of a capitalized minuscule sembling letter r. Above and beyond that, one finds a straight line. Resembling the capital i as the sun and the minusculed L of the hermit. Or as the number 1 and another journey.

I cleaned her up, coloured her in and her prettier her’d up while, she did the laundry. 14-18

Though it becomes curious when one stops and writes. BRP and again it shows symbolism in motion.

- Doesn't this card just say R. The mirrored angle for the water is neat.

Chicken and the egg and all that. Temperance. On the study of letters.

#tarot #qwerty #tarotblr

0 notes

bambisgirl · 2 years

Note

In your asks again 🏃‍♂️💨 I FORGOT WE'RE EVEN MOOTS 😭😭 Im so Honored STOPPP. And yeah haha not the smartest really but atleast im passing 🤡 still somewhat have a passion for medicine (kinda deteriorating tho, low key regretting my decision) but im really interested in media the most ♡ YOU THO!! Computer science and MATH!? I could never my brain would probably fry—

"You're the y/n in someone's life" I—😳 shut UP IM NOT CRYING 🥲 Thats literally so sweet qkdkasjkq byE. 🤍🤍

IDK IF YOU ACCEPT HARD ASKS BUT JUST IMAGINING TWO HEESEUNG'S 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️ I cant even handle one.

(If you saw me following you again sorry about that i miss clicked the ask button 😔)

YES WE ARE HEHE <333 but im the honored one!!! :D

THATS GOOD YOU'RE PASSING!! tbh same, exams have been absolute shit this semester so 😭😭 i prefer writing & simping over enha instead of studying anyway SOOO...

computer science is horrendous sometimes TT im doing this bc i want to do game development so :')) im working on a video game rn as well!! thats exciting & it keeps me going tbh (apart from enha & this blog <//3)

AND YES I DO ACCEPT HARD ASKS!! tbh im still working on my blog since ive only made it 3 weeks ago LMFAO JDFKHDCH im so bad at tumblr (HAVE U SEEN MY LAYOUT 😭😭) ;; BUT YEAH I ACCEPT EVERYTHING <333 I LOVE TALKING TO U ANYWAY SOOO >3<

#cute moots <3 #ily ily ily #love letters 💌#hee-in 🧸🌷🥐

1 note · View note

xenteaart · 4 years

Text

Diplomacy Failure

Summary: The Master and you have an established friendship, a bromance - you’re basically partners in crime. One day the Master comes up with this grand robbery scheme but it takes him months to plan the whole thing out properly, and by the end of it - he’s getting way too impatient and reckless. That’s where you step in.

Warnings: none, pure fluff again

Pairing: Dhawan!Master x Reader

Note: This was supposed to be a short thing so I decided not to create a whole ass backstory around it. The main reason why I wanted to write this was because I usually see MC being mostly submissive in fics (not that there’s anything wrong with it whatsoever) and I craved some diversity so here it goesss.

Huge thanks and lots of love to my incredible beta @wonders-of-the-multiverse i love you to bits <3

The last few months have been hard to say the least. After years of knowing the Master you’d grown accustomed to his severe mood swings, but this was something else.

Most of the time you never really bothered to get to know all the details of his typically complex and intricate schemes. You simply trusted him with those and did what he asked you to do, not taking any liberty to make your own decisions because he did know better. He was the one spending restless days and nights planning everything out after all, so you never really questioned anything. Until today.

He was getting impatient and it wasn’t a good thing at all.

The Master had an impressive set of skills, the ability to wait and execute slow-burn plans exceptionally well being one of them. However this time, he got way too invested in what he was doing, his near obsession leading you to believe it had something to do with the Doctor in the long run.

As for now, he needed to get his hands on something “very valuable and very important” and he was planning to steal it, of course. It was no common robbery though, the ship you were now finding yourselves on was huge. No, massive, so simply threatening a few creatures with his TCE and acquiring the object wasn’t a viable option. The ship’s obscenely advanced security systems were not working in your favor either.

The two of you were pretending to be a regular married couple, mere visitors to the event and so painfully ordinary in your nature as to not draw any attention. Keeping a low profile was essential.

The Master called from somewhere below the console where corridors led to the wardrobe room, and since you weren’t occupied with anything even remotely important you joined him right away. You were happy to merely see him and talk to him considering he now preferred the company of a thousand papers with all sorts of layouts, schemes, his own scribbles and something else in Gallifreyan that you had no way of understanding.

“What’s that?” you asked, a little taken aback by his excessively fancy suit.

“Your dress is right there, try it on and see if it fits,” he said casually as he looked in the mirror, ignoring your question and waving his hand at the sophisticated purple dress that was laid out on a nearby sofa.

Ah. Matching outfits. He could never resist the drama of it.

You looked at the dress, the decoration on it exquisite and lavish. A quiet sigh escaped your lips as you tried not to laugh too loudly.

“If that’s for tomorrow, we’re not wearing that.” you uttered, not even trying to hide your amused grin at this point.

“What? Why?”

“Because we need to be wearing this,” you pointed at a horrendous blue suit and a dress of the matching color, the shade and design of both so ugly and simplistic that the clothing wouldn’t look good on either of you.

A displeased frown flitted across the Master’s features.

“Come on, we need to look pitiful. Men of wealth love playing charity and chatting with lower class people, helping them out with whatever. It makes them feel better about themselves, boosts their ego.” you elaborated, your words heavily accompanied by expressive hand waving and vocal shifts.

He blinked a couple of times and looked at himself in the mirror again, trying to make peace with the idea of this fashion crime you were both about to commit.

The first step of his plan was relatively easy - he was doing the networking and you were doing the smiling as the two of you were slowly getting closer and closer to higher rank guests that were usually a little too drunk and clueless to not accidentally give away the information you needed most, that being - where the security control room was located. Getting a sample of some rich and wasted guest’s DNA was also part of the job since they all had unlimited access to all parts of this ship. As of now, you were getting a feeling you were never even going to make it to that point.

The Master wasn’t very good at tolerating stupidity, especially when nobody knew and feared who he was. To all of these arrogant and self-absorbed upper class assholes, he was literally a peasant. Little did they know.

You could see his hand playing with the TCE in his pocket as he was seriously considering whether to take it out and end this shitshow here and now. That would probably feel really good for a couple of minutes but then both of you would be captured and very likely executed on the spot because no matter how intimidating and dangerous the Master was - the quantity of creatures on the ship would be an undeniable advantage on their side. Plus, he’d spent so much time on plan A, there wasn’t any room for plan B, you figured.

Granted, dying wasn’t something the Master was ever afraid of. But you were human with no spare lives, so his impatience would mean very bad news for you.

“Don’t you want to take a break from this?” you asked timidly, standing in the doorway and not daring to let yourself into the Master’s working space just yet since knocking on the door did nothing to catch his attention.

He was rapidly glancing all over the papers, his mind being evidently busy with something of more significance than your presence.

“I can get you some coffee if you like? Or... anything at all, really,” you made another attempt at starting a conversation but it was met with silence once again, except this time you noticed hints of irritation in the way he was making notes and moving things around his table, mercilessly digging his pen into his notebook and purposely making a lot more noise while searching for something buried under these piles of paper.

“Yeah, no worries then.” you sighed as you saw yourself out of the room.

You were getting fed up with this.

As you were standing next to him and contemplating your options, you felt the air around you change a little. It was an insignificant shift but you were particularly sensitive to emotional fields people and other creatures tended to create, and right now the atmosphere did not feel friendly.

You looked at the Master and then back at the greenish humanoid looking creature he was talking to. The conflict was clearly starting to develop, filling the space around you with tension and unease.

You were so close to the control room, you couldn’t let that happen. There were only a few more floors you had to pass in order to get to the royalty hall where your main mission would be taking place.

“For Christ’s sake.” you thought to yourself, recognizing the familiar burning anger in the Master’s eyes as he was slowly losing his already weak grasp on his temper and reaching for his pocket, his actions now fuelled with proper intention of making the man pay for his disrespect and bad manners.

The problem with the Master was - no matter how brilliant and clever his ideas were, his emotions and temper would always get in the way. You had to learn it the hard way by nearly getting killed a couple of times because of it in the past. But pissing off a few soldiers and running away was one thing, and acting hostile on a space station sized ship with no quick way out was a completely different story.

“I am so sorry, sir, my husband suffers from this terrible condition,” you spoke as you looked at the Master intensely, doing your best to wordlessly communicate with him and beg him to stay silent, “where he gets unreasonably aggressive when he’s upset.”

The man’s expression was now plagued with confusion but it was a good sign, you thought. He was paying attention.

“He’s just frustrated we can’t yet afford to lead a life like yours, sir. Isn’t that right, darling?” you patted the Master on the back, your voice now so sugary sweet it made you want to vomit, but you were committed to your little act and nothing could stop you.

“Please forgive our jealousy, we simply wish to be more like you but it pains us to realize we’re a long way away from that,” saying this made your skin itch, and you were pretty sure the Master’s eye was twitching a little. You looked at him briefly and noted he was indeed… puzzled.

Your flattery seemed to work wonders on the man’s self esteem, though, his facial expression momentarily switching to pity and its default arrogance mixed with pride.

You tried not to make eye contact with the Master as you were escorting him away, your hand wrapped around his elbow. Your heart was beating a little too fast for your liking, and your main concern for now was peacefully leaving the floor and avoiding any more fuss on the way because, honestly, you were getting angry yourself.

---

“What the hell was that?” was the first thing he asked you as soon as you both entered the TARDIS safely, the two of you still slightly out of breath from your usual cardio on your way back; the desired object sitting securely in the Master’s pocket.

“I was actually going to ask you this exact same question, how convenient.” you snapped, kicking off your heels and making your way to the console barefoot, the cold metal floor having a soothing effect on your aching feet.

The Master gave you a grim look as he took off his ridiculous and evidently uncomfortable jacket, and swiftly marched towards you. His intimidating aura rarely had any impact on you and you didn’t even flinch at his intrusion of your personal space. You knew all too well he would never hurt you deliberately.

“I did not allow you to intervene.”

“You should have seen your face, darling,” you said mockingly, maintaining intense eye contact as if it was a competition on who looks away first.

“You should have heard your voice, such sweetness and flattery I was worried you were gonna kiss his ring at the end of your speech or something,” he spat out his words with grimaced disgust.

The two of you stared at each other in complete silence for about half a minute, and your facade dropped first. You burst into laughter, giggling obnoxiously at the memory of the Master’s pure and sincere confusion. You’d never seen him so baffled and mad, the funniest thing of it all being the fact that he had to comply and play along. It made you a little proud of yourself.

The corner of the Master’s lips twitched, his stubbornness and denial still fighting his urge to crack up, but a couple of moments later he finally joined you. Any trace of annoyance was long gone, and a wide smile took over his person as he laughed out loud with you.

“Idiot.” he commented, still chuckling and grinning while also unbuttoning his lousy shirt. You both wanted to get out of those trashy clothes as soon as possible.

You suddenly went quiet. With no further talking you simply stepped forwards and hugged the Master tightly, burying your nose in the crook of his neck.

“I’ve missed you.”

He hugged you back, resting one of his hands on your head and ruffling your hair, so very aware of how much you hated it.

“Missed you too, fool.”

#doctorwho #doctor who imagine #doctor who fanfic #my fic #dhawan!master x reader #dhawan!master x you #the master x reader #dw imagine #dhawan!master/reader #the master/reader #dhawan!master #doctor who

74 notes · View notes

laurasfox-originals · 3 years

Text

Taming A Jerk - Ch. 1 excerpt (Box Shaped Heart Side Story, Patreon Exclusive)

Author's note: This is the story of Alex's second chance at love and being a decent person :)

Ch. 1 - excerpt

Chapter One - The In-Between

Were dreams supposed to be this vivid? Alex struggled against his heavy eyelids. And why on earth was he dreaming about his mother above all else he could dream of? It wasn’t particularly entertaining. Oh, he was in it, as well. And he had to be around five years old, or six.

“Mom,” dream Alex moaned while dragging his blankie after him.

It was a bad dream if he had to remember such an ugly blanket. The pattern was horrendous. What could have his mother been thinking at that time? Otherwise, the woman had always had perfect taste in everything, down to napkins and toothpicks. Oh, his mother hadn’t picked that. It had been his nana, a woman of uncertain age, called Rose.

“Mo-ther. How many times do I have to tell you, Alex? Address me correctly. We are not some poor people living on welfare. So, repeat after me. Mo-ther,” the woman insisted while making the last retouches to her flawless makeup.

Five or six-year-old Alex could not appreciate his mother’s choice of war paint at the time, but he knew instinctively his mom, no, mo-ther, was displeased with him. So he stopped in the door, unsure if it was safe to take another step into his parents’ bedroom.

“Where is dad?” he asked.

His mother finally stopped from fixing her face to look at him.

“Come to me, Alex,” she opened her arms, making the nightgown she was wearing float like colorful wings around her.

His mother was beautiful. Like an actress. But she wasn’t one. She was a housewife. That was what Rose was saying. A desperate housewife. Why desperate? Alex hadn’t gotten the allusion at the time.

“Your father has decided to go live someplace else, with another family, Alex,” his mother explained. “So it will be just the two of us from now on. Won’t it be fun?”

She distracted him by starting to show him her makeup kit. There were so many colors there, and his mother knew everything about colors, matching them, and using them to make herself even more beautiful than she was.

It hadn’t been just the two of them after that. His mother had remarried twice and had had plenty of affairs. And, in the meantime, they had never been just the two of them.

“Alex? Alex Miller?” someone called for him.

All right. Time to dream was over. His eyes snapped open. A woman between ages, who definitely looked like a dead ringer for Yolanda, his boss at Beauty Ex, was touching his shoulder.

“Alex Ruskin, actually,” he replied while straightening himself up.

“People go by their real names in here, dear,” the woman corrected him, using a maternal, sugary voice.

Alex looked around. It looked like he was in a waiting lobby of sorts. The furniture was minimal, and everything was white. It was a tad too simplistic for his taste. Maybe they hadn’t had the money for a real interior decorator.

The lack of artistic vision in the room layout was not answering his question, nonetheless.

“Could you please tell me where am I?” he asked, looking back at the woman. “Ah, and my real name is Alex Ruskin. I am married,” he added.

He could overlook the mishap, but now he was wondering who had made the appointment in his name. If it was his assistant who had done it, the man was going to find a new place to work soon. Ah, wait, he had just fired the guy.

“That you may think you are, dear,” the woman stopped his train of thought. “But you know you don’t exactly feel married,” she said while shaking her head and pursing her lips in disapproval.

What was that supposed to mean? Setting his chin high, and making sure his voice was as icy as it could possibly be, he hurried to contradict her.

“I am definitely married. See?” he put up his left hand.

And stared in disbelief at his naked ring finger.

“What is this place?” he put his hand down, and this time, he didn’t hide his displeasure when looking at his presumptive host. “My wedding ring has obviously been stolen!”

“Now-now dear,” the woman took him by one arm, bent on making him follow her. ��Nothing’s been stolen. Actually, we are surprised to find you here. But, thinking about the circumstances ...” the woman shook her head, and her voice dropped low as if she was talking to herself, “it all makes sense in a way.”

Alex could feel a cold chill down his back.

“Am I in a mental institution?”

Everything white, people bent on contradicting guests ... That could be.

“No, dear,” the woman shook her head and gestured for him to enter an office that seemed just as white as the waiting lobby. “I will try to explain things to you since your overseer is not available at the moment.”

“Overseer?” Alex mumbled. “Is this some prank? Who uses such a word? Is this some reality show? I don’t remember giving my consent. I strongly advise that you don’t keep me here against my will, or I will sue,” he said in a heartbeat.

He seriously didn’t have time for this. There was at least one photo shoot to attend today, and later he had plans with Simon.

“See? How can you say you’re married while thinking of another man?” the woman scolded him.

Alex could feel his jaw dropping. Also, the chill on his back was getting worse.

“What kind of a TV show is this? How ... Can you read minds?!” he almost yelled.

His voice, when high-pitched, was getting weird. He was usually avoiding doing that. Yet, right now, he couldn’t stop.

“Please, have a seat, Alex,” his host gestured for a white leather chair.

He sat, feeling his blood draining from his upper body.

“Have I ...” he licked his lips, now dry like paper. “Have I lost my mind?”

“Dear, this is not a mental institution. We call it, for the sake of our guests,” the woman said while linking her hands and placing them under her chin, “the In-Between.”

“Interesting name,” Alex frowned. “But,” he raised one finger, “I am signed with Beauty Ex for at least two more years. And I have no intentions to change that. Well, except for the right incentive, of course.”

“Not even for a household name?” the woman smiled at him, and that made his frown grow deeper.

“I feel like I am at the receiving end of some bad joke,” he said sternly.

The woman sighed now.

“We wish it was a joke. The truth is, Alex, you shouldn’t be here. You should be already on the other side of the river.”

Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. No, he wasn’t the one insane. But the woman in front of him was speaking gibberish.

“I believe I took enough of your time,” he stood up. “Don’t worry; I will see myself out.”

There was no point in making a scene. The woman seemed harmless, and the fact that she looked like Yolanda made Alex feel a bit strange to start yelling at her. So he could be civil and walk out.

The waiting lobby seemed to have one door, and he went for it.

“What on earth?” he murmured.

It was locked.

All right, he was getting upset enough to start yelling at his un-obliging host. The theory of a reality show sounded more accurate than ever. So, they wanted to see him lose his cool. Taking off his wedding ring, having him stuck in a white office with some lunatic who somehow knew about Simon.

Wait. Simon. No. No, the guy could not have sold him out like this. Simon was as gullible as a three-year-old. He had not one ounce of evil in his slim body. And what a body he had, Alex mused. Had he not been so keen on never encouraging competition, he would have told the guy to apply for a modeling position. Maybe they could have even shot some ads together.

But no. Simon was way too good-looking, and Alex knew he wasn’t going to be an attractive twink forever. Simon was younger. Well off, so he didn’t need the money. Not the way Alex needed money. Also, if Simon was starting to model, he was bound to steal the show. And that, for no reason at all. It would have just pissed him off.

“Sorry, Simon, only enough room for one name up in lights,” he spoke out loud.

Hmm, he didn’t mean to say that. He pushed away the thought as he noticed a key in a beautiful bowl placed on a small coffee table. Oh, so it was like an escape room sort of situation? They really wanted to see him losing his cool.

Well, he had no intention to give them the satisfaction. Calmly, he picked up the key, held it with two fingers, and looked around. Where could they have hidden the cameras? Maybe they had used some paint to conceal them? It wasn’t impossible.

With a shrug, he decided to try the door with the key he had just found. Straightening up some invisible wrinkles on his t-shirt, he walked toward the door.

Where was the door? He frowned and shook his head. He was pretty confident it was on that wall. Whatever technologies they were using for this prank had to cost a fortune. All for the better. That meant they had enough money to stop him from suing them.

He looked down. A small door was there, but it was apparently impossible for a human being to go through it. Not even a little person could. Nonetheless, he had a key, and he had to try it. Maybe it was going to reveal a piece of the puzzle.

He knelt and began fiddling with the lock. It worked. Great. They were going to say about him that he was not only good looking but smart, too. He could picture the titles.

“We tried to prank Alex Ruskin, but he out-pranked us! Who would have thought the guy has the brains, not just the looks?” he mumbled to himself.

He pushed open the little door.

What ...?! The door was even smaller?! How could that be? And how were they doing it before his very eyes?

Now he was going to have to lie flat on his stomach if he hoped to see something through that door and get the next piece of the puzzle.

Just as he was trying to figure out a way to do that without showing some lousy angle for the cameras that he still didn’t know where they were, the door seemed to shrink a few more inches.

“No, no, no,” he said through his teeth as he almost threw himself to the floor.

The door disappeared, engulfed by the wall, before his eyes. Ah, damn it! He almost wanted to manifest his frustration by punching the floor or a wall. But no, he was who he was because he knew exactly when to smile.

And this was the sort of situation to show the idiots who were trying to prank him that he never ever lost his cool.

What was supposed to be the next step? It looked like he needed to go back to the office, and talk again to the lady host.

He knocked shortly and stepped inside. The desk behind which the woman sat was now covered with files, and the lady was busy searching for something in a drawer.

“Ahem,” he coughed discreetly, to draw her attention.

“Where could that be?” the woman was talking to herself.

“Could you please show me the way out?” Alex spoke out loud.

The woman stopped and looked at him.

“Alex, please, sit down. I should have the protocol for such situations somewhere, but I don’t seem to find it. This place, I swear, is always a mess.”

“What protocol?” Alex could feel getting irritated by the second. “I don’t like throwing empty threats, but I feel like I have to say it. Let me out, or there will be consequences. I have a photo shoot coming up. I am certain my boss is pulling out her hair right now, wondering where I am and ...”

“Yes?” the woman stopped her frantic search to look at him. “What else, Alex? What are you forgetting?”

It was there, on the tip of his tongue. Of course, there was his plan of meeting Simon later, but that was not it.

“Aron asked you to think about going to see his parents this weekend,” the woman said and kept her round, witty eyes trained on him. “But you don’t intend to go,” she continued. “You haven’t seen your in-laws in almost half a year, and, if you were never to visit, that wouldn’t be an issue with you.”

Alex sat on the chair, without protesting anymore.

“How do you know all this?” he murmured, the fear of cameras catching him unawares gone from his mind.

“It is our job,” the woman said. “Now, if only I could find the protocol ... All right, we will have to do without it. Shall we begin?”

“By all means,” Alex sat back in his chair.

The woman sat her hands primly on the desk, took one look down, as if to prepare herself, and then looked Alex straight in the eye.

“You should be dead.”

A cold chill ran down his spine in an instant.

“All right,” he murmured, trying to get a hold of himself. “This is no longer a joke. Please let me out of here. I won’t sue. Just … let me out.”

~ end of excerpt

Author's note: You can read the entire thing - 7-chapters long - on my Patreon.

#box shaped heart #my original fiction #laurasfox #taming a jerk

6 notes · View notes

suckmysupernatural · 4 years

Text

Sunshine - Chapter 2

Series Masterlist

Word Count: 1642

Pairing: Sam x OC Sunny

Series Summary: The Winchesters meet a cheerful hunter named Sunny, who quickly captures Sam’s attention. Little do any of them know what lies in store when Sunny gets invited to join the brothers. Who can say how Sam, Dean, and Sunny will be some training days, a handful of hunts, romantic dates, a kidnapping, and one vengeful demon later.

Chapter Summary: The Winchesters show Sunny the bunker.

Warnings: language

--------------------------------------

Driving back to Lebanon went a lot faster than expected. Sam attributed it to the anticipation he felt at the thought of talking to Sunny again. Looking at her car in the rearview was nice, but not nearly good enough. Every once in awhile, he would catch Dean smirking at him and honestly didn’t blame him. Sam had a total crush on the woman.

The two classic cars pulled into the bunker’s garage, one right next to the other. Sunny was already fascinated with the brother’s home base. The garage had about a dozen different cars, all in mint condition.

She exited the car, pulling out her duffel bag from the back seat. Everything she owned fit inside of it, aside from the weapons that were expertly organized in the trunk. Sunny watched as the brothers grabbed their things and ushered her to the door that leads to the bunker’s interior. Sunny was surprised to see how spacious the place was and was excited to explore it.

“Wow, it’s just the two of you here?” she asked, looking towards the men. It seemed like there could be room for over a dozen people.

“Yeah, well, we like to take in strays, now and then. You’ll probably meet Cas at some point, so don’t be surprised if you find a man in a trench coat wandering around. He sometimes stays here as well,” Dean told her.

“So is that me? One of your strays?” Sunny joked to the older brother.

“Nah. You’re our Yoda,” Dean smirked. The three of them made their way down the staircase and Dean split off from the two, giving his brother a wink before heading to his room. Sam bit back an insult to his brother, instead offering to carry Sunny’s duffel.

“How ‘bout you pick out a room and then I can give you the rest of the tour?” Sam asked, to which Sunny responded with an enthusiastic nod. Sam motioned for her to follow, showing the way to his side of the bunker. Walking down the hallway, Sam stopped in front of a door.

“So, this one is mine right here,” Sam said, giving his bedroom door a small smack. “You can choose any empty room, they are all basically identical so whatever works for you.”

“I’ll take this one,” Sunny said as she opened the door across the hall. She was met with a basic room, bare apart from the furniture. Sam couldn’t help but smile. He had been hoping that she would choose one close to his. The two walked into Sunny’s new room, Sam sitting on the bed as he watched the woman unpack.

It didn’t take her long as most of her belongings were clothes, but she had a few trinkets as well. Near the bottom of the bag were two photos, each in its own frame. She put them on the nightstand and couldn’t help but smile. She turned to Sam, pointing to one of the photos.

“That’s my sister and me. I was 6; she was 3. We went on a family vacation to Disneyland. It’s one of my happiest memories,” she motioned towards the other one, which showed a couple laughing as they held one another, “This one is from my parents’ wedding day.”

“So, where are they now?” Sam asked.

“Gone. Have been for a long time now. It was a djinn. My whole family was at home, eating dinner one night when there was a knock at the door. My dad went to see who it was and when we didn’t hear anything for a few minutes, my mom followed. The djinn got to them both before walking into the house and getting my sister and me before we could even notice. It’s funny, my dream was just finishing dinner.

A hunter who had caught wind of the djinn, ended up killing it right there in my living room. I was the only survivor. I was 22 and my whole family was dead. I had no extended family, no clue what I was going to do. So, I decided to start hunting. The one who saved me, Jason, he taught me the basics before I went off on my own. Last I heard, he had moved to Hawaii.”

“Wow, I’m so sorry,” Sam empathized. He knew loss quite well by now.

“At least I know that they got to live long, happy lives. Even if it was just in their heads,” she said. Her positivity was something Sam was glad to be around. Sure, he wasn’t entirely negative but the shit that he and Dean had gone through made them rough around the edges. Sunny, on the other hand, seemed to seep optimism from her pores. Sam found it refreshing.

Sunny continued to unpack her things, pulling out a few worn-down novels, a lavender candle, and toiletries. She liked to keep a candle with her. It was something to make motel rooms feel the slightest bit like home.

Once the bag was empty, Sunny kicked it under the bed. Sam stood and started the tour. He showed her all the main places in the bunker: the bathroom, the kitchen, infirmary, dungeon, Dean-cave, and library. He also showed off the gun range and mat room where she would be trying to teach the brothers. Once he had shown her just about everything, they ended back up in the hallway that led to their rooms.

“I am gonna go unpack my duffel, let you get settled. Dean and I will be in the library later; you’re more than welcome to join us.” Sam smiled at Sunny before leaving. Sunny simply nodded in response. She decided to take a shower, more than thrilled to be somewhere other than a motel. The water pressure in those places is horrendous.

Walking into the bathroom, she locked the door behind her and scoped the layout. The shower was nicer than she was used to, stepping onto the cool tile and looking over the knobs. She quickly figured out which one was connected to the hot water and turned it up. Soon, the warm water washed over her, all the tension in her muscles quickly dissipating. Sunny took her time, enjoying a quality shower for the first time in what felt like forever. She didn’t want to use up all the hot water in case one of the brothers wanted a shower, so she sadly turned off the water and wrapped a fluffy towel around her.

Her bare feet padded towards her room, finding it with relative ease. She decided to dress for comfort, pulling on a pair of grey sweatpants and a pink crop top. Using the towel, Sunny squeezed most of the water from her hair before heading out to meet the brothers in the library.

Only making one wrong turn, it didn’t take long before she found the two brothers sitting at the center table. Sam and Dean turned at the sound of her entering the room, Sam trying his best not to show a reaction. He was once again baffled by her beauty. Even in sweatpants and wet hair, she was basically irresistible.

“Hey, Sunny,” Dean greeted, motioning for her to sit at the table. She sat, giving the older brother her attention. “Whatcha want for dinner? I was thinking of getting take-out.”

“I eat just about anything,” Sunny said, “I’m not picky.”

“Mexican?” Dean offered.

“Yeah, sure. A burrito sounds fantastic,” she agreed. Dean chuckled, taking Sam’s order before leaving to go grab dinner.

Sunny couldn’t help but stand, fascinated by the number of books in the bunker’s library. Her hands skimmed the spines, her head tilted to read the titles. She was mesmerized by the amount of literature, her eyes sparkling as she cataloged the material.

Sam couldn’t take his eyes off of her, appreciating her wonder. He almost couldn’t bear it. She was just perfect. Standing, he walked over to where she stood. She looked up, smiling when she met his eyes.

“Yes, Sam?” Sunny batted her eyes. It was apparent he wanted to say something.

“I know this might be a little… forward, but I like you, Sunshine,” Sam reached down, taking her hand in his, “I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me?” He was nervous; it had been years since he had asked a girl on a date. He felt like a teenage boy all over again, his heart racing as he looked at the beautiful girl. Her smile grew even bigger, and he could swear her eyes were sparkling.

“I like you too, Sam,” she said, “I would love to go on a date with you.” Sam grinned, a slight blush creeping onto his face. He nodded slightly, trying to contain his giddiness. With his free hand, he brushed her cheek before going back to his seat. He didn’t want to rush anything. Not with her. Sunny was exceptional, and he wanted to make sure that she knew it.

Sunny turned back to the shelves, rocking slightly on the balls of her feet. She was excited to see where things went with Sam. They had been drawn to one another right away. It felt right to pursue something more than just friends.

The two stayed where they were, with Sam nursing a beer and Sunny looking at the titles of books until Dean returned with dinner. Immediately, the older brother could sense that something was different between the two. Glancing at Sam, he saw his younger brother give a small nod to confirm that something had indeed happened when he was gone. Dean was proud of Sam; it wasn’t every day that he was this bold around women. But even Dean knew that Sunny was different.

That she was someone that had the capability to change Sam’s life.

Chapter 3 ->

17 notes · View notes

rhetoricalrogue · 4 years

Text

31 Days of Wayhaven: Day 7

Prompt: Sleep Rating: G Words: 2,061 Characters: Cameron Buchanan, Penelope Fisher Summary: Three times during their partnership where there was only one bed.

For the @31daysofwayhaven event.

June 24, 1999 Classified Agency safehouse, north of Nepal

“There’s only one bed.”

Cameron sighed. “I’d hoped that there would be at least two when the place was assigned to us. Sorry.”

Exhausted, Penelope dropped her hiking pack to the ground and pulled off her thick winter coat. “Rock, Paper, Scissors you for it?”

He shook his head, going over and grabbing one of the spare pillows. “No need, I’ll take the sofa.” It was a short loveseat that he was certain his long legs were going to drape uncomfortably over the side, but he was too tired to complain. While the two of them weren’t exactly a unit unto themselves, they’d been recently partnered up. This whole “mission” was an Agency-mandated exercise to get to know the other better as well as to check up on the lone Yeti that made this part of the Himalayas. There hadn’t been a sighting in some time and the Agency was growing concerned over their well-being.

Penelope moved over to the tiny stove in the middle of the similarly tiny shack on the side of the mountain and started it up. “I’m tempted to just sleep in wolf form to fight the worst of the cold.” She trailed off. “Shit. I’m sorry, Cameron.”

He waved her off. “Don’t be, it’s okay.”

“It was insensitive of me.”

Cameron walked over to the fire and warmed his hands. The loss of his sealskin was still a sensitive topic for him nine years after the fact, but he was trying his best to overcome the pain. His burns had long since healed over, but the cold was making the worst of the scars sting and the muscles underneath stiffen. “It’s okay, I promise. And it was a smart idea; fur would be an advantage right about now.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“No.” He turned his back to give Penelope privacy as she shed her clothing, his ears picking up the sound of material being folded. He smiled as he also heard her curse and teeth chatter before the unfamiliar prickle of magic made the hair at the back of his neck stand on end.

His chest tightened. For the briefest of seconds, he almost remembered how it felt to change from man to seal. “See? Lots more comfortable, I bet.” He eyed the too-short sofa then the bed that in her current form, was far too small for Penelope. “If you’re not using it, you mind if I do?”

Penelope gave a soft huffing noise before curling her body close to the stove. Cameron took that as a sign enough and only taking off his boots and coat, curled into bed. It wasn’t long before the warmth of the stove and the heat radiating off Penelope’s larger frame lulled him to sleep.

November 12, 2009 Las Vegas, Nevada

“There’s only one bed.”

“Did you expect anything less?” Penelope asked, kicking off her heels the second she stepped foot in the hotel room. It was classier than what they had been staying at, and while she could hold her own in more rustic conditions, she did appreciate the nicer accommodations when they were given to them. “We’re supposed to be man and wife for this investigation.”

“Could you say that a little louder?” Nicolo’s voice hissed in their ear. “I don’t think everyone listening heard you.”

Cameron undid the cufflinks at his wrists and loosened his tie. “Please, we’re surrounded by nothing but humans. Our cover is still good.” The sooner they could get out of this situation, the better. There had been a rash of supernatural children being kidnapped and the Agency had narrowed a trafficking ring to the very hotel they were staying at. Some rich humans were selling the children to the highest bidders under the guise of a charity gala. Cam’s blood boiled as he recalled the past hour of putting on a smiling mask and listening as one after another, people were spreading the rumor that a supernatural child’s blood was the key to everlasting youth.

“Calm down,” Penelope told him, coming up to him to undo his tie. “Your hackles are raised.”

“And yours aren’t?”

She sneered. “I was instructed to not shift and murder everyone on sight. If I had to hold my temper while being pawed at by greedy old men, then you can do the same.” She sighed and swayed towards him. “I want this over with.”

He bent his head so he could press his forehead against hers. “I know. Soon.”

“Not soon enough. Those poor kids.” She closed her eyes tightly. “I keep thinking about my nieces and nephews. If any of them had been taken…”

Cam’s arms went around her and hugged her tightly. “We would be doing the same thing.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Children had always been a soft spot in Penelope’s priorities, and just the thought of any of them being used for some horrendous belief that their blood could prolong human life was enough to make her want to rip everyone in the room they had just been in to shreds.

“Come on,” Cam told her, his lips at her brow. “We’ve got a few hours; get some sleep so we can end this with the other agents.”

Nicky’s voice buzzed in their earpieces. “Both of you get some rest. I’m tapped into the security system and the rest of the Agency techies are covering the rest of the hotel. We’ll need you both at your best to take those fuckers down. Anything happens, I’ll let you know.”

“He’s got a point,” Penelope said, breaking away to head to the bathroom. Cam heard the rustle of fabric and she emerged wearing a more practical outfit for combat. He traded places with her and came out wearing pretty much the same.

“Pick a side,” he told her, tidying the room to get rid of some nervous energy. He’d memorized the layout of the hotel long before they had entered the infiltration phase of the operation. He’d met with the other commanding agents from the other units assigned to the case. Alpha and Bravo were in various staging locations, along with Delta and Echo agents.

Their bags were packed before he even realized what he’d been doing, so caught up in going over mission objectives. At least it was one less thing for them to have to do post-operation.

“Come to bed,” Penelope called, and Cameron froze. She’d taken her hair down from the stiff twist it had been in most of the evening and it cascaded down over her shoulders to fall in a silvery puddle at her waist. They’d been partners for a little under ten years and there wasn’t a person alive that he trusted more than her. Silently taking her advice, he climbed into bed and tried to relax.

“Everything will happen as planned,” she told him.

“You think so?”

Her hand slid into his and she laced their fingers together. “I know so.”

He squeezed her fingers, running his thumb along the side of her hand. “Then I believe you.” Closing his eyes, he let the steady sound of her heartbeat send him into a light, yet somehow restful sleep.

April 15, 2015 Portree, Isle of Skye

“There’s only one bed.”

“I know.” Penny put her bag down beside an easy chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “The rates were a lot cheaper for two singles instead of a single and a double.”

His eyebrow quirked and he gave her a halfhearted smirk. “I guess frugality won over concern for my virtue. What will the locals think, lass?”

She rolled her eyes, focusing on the way that his normally lilting accent had grown thicker in the days leading up to their arrival of a scenic little town off the west coast of Scotland. He’d tried to hide it from her and Nicky, but they could both tell that this mission was a difficult one for him. “Talk to me, Cam,” she said softly, watching as he opened the door leading out to the small balcony. He left it open, which she took as a cue that he wanted her to follow.

“I haven’t been in this area in years,” he quietly confessed, eyes sliding shut as the breeze coming off the water pushed his hair back. “Can you hear the waves, Pen? They call to me.” He wrapped his hands around the metal railing and held on tightly until his knuckles turned white. He opened his eyes and there was such a depth of sadness within them that Penelope’s heart ached.

“It’s been so long since I’ve heard this particular call. Like a mother welcoming her son home.”

“Are you all right?”

“No.” He let out a shuddering breath, one of his hands reaching up to touch the back of his neck where the edge of a faint burn scar began. “I’m afraid,” Cameron told her, his voice barely audible above the sound of the sea.

“Of?” She moved so she was closer to him, their arms touching as a way to anchor him to her, to the moment.

“The Agency sent me specifically to come and help this pod of selkies because on some level, they’re my kinsman. But what if they hold this,” he pushed up the sleeve of his sweater over his arm, the discolored splotches on his forearm standing out in harsh contrast to the rest of his skin, “against me and think me unworthy of their notice?”

She frowned. “Then they aren’t worth calling kin. Family is family, no matter if they can shift or not. If they refuse to work with you, then fine. We can send another agency unit in to talk. They were the ones to contact us in the first place.”

He was silent as he stared out to the sea, but he leaned against her, their shoulders touching. “I’m so glad that you’re here with me. Nicky too, even if he’s done nothing but complain about the cold since we got here.”

She gave him a smile and bumped her shoulder companionably against his. “We’ll get through this mission together, then head back home.” She didn’t know if her statement was supposed to comfort him or if it was a warning that his visit so close to the shores and waters he used to call home was going to be a short one.

“You’re right.” Stepping away from the balcony, he made his way back inside. “Jet lag is absolute murder, I’m beat.”

“Then pick a side. I’m going to go check in on Nicky, see how he’s settling in. Do you want any dinner, or do you want to grab something later?”

“Maybe later. I’ll probably crash out until morning. Don’t worry about waking me up when you come in, you know I usually sleep like a rock when we move time zones.”

True to his word, Cam was out like a light when Penny came back to their room, not even stirring when she slid into the king sized bed with him. She hadn’t expressed it, but she worried about him, being so close to home after being away for twenty-five years. While it wasn’t quite near the same area as the little fishing village he’d last called home, it was close enough for concern. Moving to her side, she stared at his sleeping face until eyes not able to stay open any longer, she succumbed to sleep herself.

Unlike Cam, she was an incredibly light sleeper who woke at the barest of movements. She didn’t alert him to her wakefulness when he slid out of bed, and she didn’t turn at the sound of the balcony door gently opening and closing. She did finally turn in time to see Cam, wearing only a pair of sweatpants that hung loosely to his hips, resume his stance out on the balcony, his back to her and his face to the sea.

For the first time in the sixteen years she’d known her partner, she feared that their mission would end and she and Nicky would be the only ones returning to the Agency. Turning around to give him and his thoughts privacy, she reached out, pulling the pillow next to her that still smelled of his shampoo close and hugging it tightly to her chest.

#31daysofwayhaven #my writing #Unit Charlie #cameron buchanan #penelope fisher

16 notes · View notes

tokyotxehyun · 4 years

Text

txt as aesthetics/sensations you feel when you’re together

this was written on mobile so hopefully the layout isn’t horrendous. my first time writing anything like this so hopefully it isn’t too bad haha.

yeonjun:

black ripped jeans, leather jackets, soft white cotton t-shirts, black platform/combat boots

walking along the city streets at night, the air is warm, with a slight chill. his warm fingers are entwined with yours. the light from various neon signs highlights his features in a variety of colours

it has rained so the ground is wet and it smells like rain and wet concrete. yeonjun’s cologne is there too, your nose could pick up on it but it wouldn’t be as strong as if you were physically closer to him.

looking at the reflections that you both cast on the massive glass buildings that you wouldn’t usually see during the day, and the reflections cast in puddles on the ground, the lights reflecting there too

when he sees you looking at him in the reflections he smiles.

“the real me is more handsome then the reflected ones”

“yeah, but i can’t stare at you while walking beside you”

cue him taking both your hands in his and walking in front of you, backwards, grinning

“now you can stare at me all you want”

soobin:

light blue denim jeans, your favourite t-shirt and abandoned converse in favour of sandy bare feet

you’re driving somewhere, it’s summer and it’s a road close to the beach, the windows are down and you’re going along at a steady pace. there’s no one else on the road.

the salty sea air is pleasant, reminding you of the times you’ve visited the beach as a child.

the sun has set - it’s golden hour, and it’s casting a warm glow everywhere. your cheek is resting on your hand, your elbow resting on the open window.

it’s hot, but with the windchill from the moving car, you’re somewhat cooler.

soobin rests his hand on your thigh, a comforting weight, while the other remains on the steering wheel. you look over at him, and smile as you put your hand on his one. he’s smiling softly too.

you turn the stereo on, and music quietly plays through the car speakers. you recognise the song. it’s ‘like our summer’ by... well you should know

you sing along, and soobin loves it. you might not be amazing but you’re not awful either. he sings his lines for you, and you both end up laughing as he pulls over to kiss you.

beomgyu:

oversized hoodies and sweatpants

you’re sitting on the grass, back to a tree. it’s spring, but on the cooler side. it’s mid afternoon. it smells like freshly mown grass. it’s the first time the sun’s been out for some time and the weather is decent.

you’re reading a book or sketching, and he is sitting next to you, quietly plucking the strings of his acoustic guitar. you hear him humming along occasionally.

he has his instax camera with him (with the cute stickers you gave him once), and you take candid photos of each other. you have about 20 polaroids collectively spread out around you, developing.

“you look cute in this one” you pick one up - it’s a polaroid of him that you took just after you’d kissed him. pink cheeks, mouth in a perfect smile, eyes smiling too.

“you can’t take pictures of me looking like that!”

“what, looking like the cutest mess ever?”

“yeah!” you both giggle. he puts his guitar down and you sit next to him, head on his shoulder.

taehyun:

long brown or black wool coats, plain cream or white button up shirts, slim fitting pants.

you’re sitting somewhere, you have absolutely no idea where. you’re away from the city and light pollution, lying on a picnic blanket with taehyun, staring up at the night sky. it’s the transition between autumn and winter, and it’s relatively cold.

you’re also covered in one of those thick mink blankets - it’s soft under your hands and smells like taehyun.

you love space; you know a lot about it - constellations and stars and planets and galaxies and satellites and everything else.

you’re pointing to various planets that shine brighter than most of the stars, and pointing out constellations and getting sidetracked easily - you start rambling about andromeda, sirius, and alpha centauri.

he loves to hear you talk about things you’re passionate about, and he tries to remember everything you say for later conversation.

“oh my god i’m sorry, i’ll shut up now.”

“no, keep talking. i like to hear you talk about space.” he’ll pull you a little closer.

you’ll see a meteor (shooting star) streak through the atmosphere, far above

“what did you wish for?” you ask

“for us to stay like this forever. you?”

“the same thing” you kiss him. it’s soft and sweet, and you couldn’t ask for anything else.

kai:

mismatched socks, vans, colourful t-shirts, denim overalls/dungarees

you’d be with him in an old-school arcade with the likes of pac-man, space invaders, street fighter ii, etc. you used to play a lot of emulators on the computers during school with your classmates.

it’s noisy - various sounds from different games play, a constant stream of noise. the shots of laser beams, punching, and the like. the loudest of all though, was kai

he’d be full of energy and would playfully raise his voice when you won or got a higher score than he did

“hey! i would’ve beat you if you weren’t distracting me!”

after a few more hours you’d leave the noise of the arcade - it was dusk outside. kai would be very quiet; a stark contrast to his loudness in the arcade.

“... kai”

“yeah?”

“who do you think won overall?”

“well... i’d say me but your cuteness was a distraction so i’ll give it to you”

“thanks” you’d tug on his sleeve to make him stop walking and wrap your arms around him in a hug.

#tomorrow x together #tomorrow x together imagines #txt imagines #txt yeonjun #txt soobin #txt beomgyu #txt taehyun #txt huening kai #tomorrow x together imagine #txt scenarios #tomorrow x together scenarios #yeonjun #soobin #beomgyu #taehyun #huening kai

130 notes · View notes

godofplumsandthunder · 4 years

Text

Wicked (3/10) - What Is This Feeling

Summary: Bucky Barnes did many horrendous and evil things. He didn’t felt worthy of love and affection because after all, who could learn to love a monster.

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 1.5K

Masterlist

"Now, all that's left to show you is your apartment and the commons area," Tony Stark commented as you left the lab. "My apartment?" You asked, very confused. "What did you expect? That we'd leave you by yourself? Plus, there's no place safer for you to stay." Tony explains to you as he leads you back into the elevator. "All of the main Avengers all live here at the compound. The only exception to that is Clint. He lives on a farm with his family, only being called out when he is needed. Well, here we are. Your new apartment. I'm going to leave you so you can get settled in, but once again Y/N, welcome to the Avengers." Tony tells you while handing you the keys to your new apartment. Stepping into your new apartment took your breath away. Everything is so big and spacious. It's a simple layout. You have a shared living room, kitchen, and dining room area. You have the master bedroom and bathroom as well as a guest room. You don't know what to do with all this space. Considering that for the last 4 years you were held in a 12' x 9' cell, you feel like you're living in Buckingham Palace. Hell, your closet, which to your surprise is filled with brand new clothes in your size, is bigger than your former living arrangements. You make your way to your new bedroom and collapse onto your new bed. This is the first time in 4 years that you've slept on a mattress, and how you've missed this feeling. You close your eyes and decide on taking a quick nap. You're far too exhausted to socialize or get any work done, so you might as well get a few hours of sleep into you.

A few hours later, a text message wakes you up. Another perk of working with Tony Stark. You get the newest and best Stark phone that's available.

Tony:

Y/N can you come down? The whole team is here, and I'd like to introduce you to them.

The message was sent only a few minutes ago. Guess you're meeting the team a whole lot earlier than you'd wanted to. But you live in the same building as these people, so you figure you might as well get it over with sooner than later. You check your self in the mirror and find your self semi appeasable. You grab your phone and keys and make your way over to the elevator.

"I don't get why I have to go down and meet her, Steve," Bucky, the reformed assassin and centenarian asks. "Because Buck, she is new to the team and you are a part of this team. It's the polite thing to do. Plus, she was rescued from HYDRA. If anyone could understand what she is going through it would be you," Steve reminds his best friend as they make their way down to the common area. You make your way down and see that everyone is here today to meet you, well everyone but Captain America. But Thor made a special visit just to meet you. No pressure right? You just have to impress all of the Avengers, which one just happens to be a god. "Well, if it isn't the belle of the ball. Glad you could finally grace us with your presence," Stark jokingly commented, while handing you a glass of champagne. "Let me help you make the rounds, so you can finally meet everyone." The first person he introduced you to was Dr. Bruce Banner, the man that you'd be working with. You started talking about different fields of neuroscience. You probably talk for a lot longer than Stark wanted to be there for, so he ushers you around through the rest of the Avengers. You learned very quickly who scared you and who didn't. Black Widow, definitely scared you. She kept the conversation to a minimum and eyed you down as if you were some sort of threat. Thor, on the other hand, reminded you of a puppy. While he looked imitating with all those muscles and hammer, he was a soft and fun guy that you could see getting along with whenever he was on earth. You're in the middle of talking with Clint when the elevator dings and you hear a very loud and angry "What the fuck are you doing here?" You turn around and see Captain America with the Soldat. "Shit," you mumble under your breath.

"Answer me! Who let that fucking bitch into the compound?" Bucky yells as he starts heading your way, visibly angry. "Calm down there Manchurian candidate. Y/N is here because she is the newest member of the team," Tony explains very level headed. "Like hell she is. Not after what she did!" Bucky screams while swinging a punch at you. Luckily, your instincts were fast and you were able to dodge his arm. His punch sent the rest of the team into chaos. Natasha and Clint pull you away and take you somewhere safe, while Steve takes Bucky out of the room. Your hearts pounding, your mouth feels dry, and you are absolutely terrified. You didn't know that the Soldat, well Bucky, ended up with the Avengers. All you knew was that he escaped from HYDRA. And you couldn't be mad at him for taking a swing at you, considering all that you put him through.

"What the hell was that Buck?" Steve all but yells at Bucky. He was able to put him in one of the "safe" rooms that were stashed throughout the compound. "You don't understand what she did to me, Steve. You just don't," Bucky tells Steve, with tears in his eyes. "Well, then why don't you start from the beginning. Tell me whatever feels comfortable for you to share. You know I'm here for you Buck."

"She was the one at the chair, Steve. She was the one that would wipe my memories away. I say that like it was nothing. She would cause me to be in so much pain. And the worst part, she didn't show any remorse. It looks like she has no problem over the fact that she just fucked up my brain. Yet I'm the one who is in trouble? I'm the one who crossed the line? What would you do Steve if you were in my position? Wouldn't you do the same thing?" Bucky tells all of this to Steve, with tears streaming down his face. "I-I didn't know Buck. I'm going to talk to Stark about this. And just so you know, I would have done the same thing, pal," Steve says to Bucky, grasping his shoulder for a moment before he left.

"You have some explaining to do. I just finished talking with Bucky and he told me that you were the person that would erase his memories. Is this true, Y/N?" Steve interrogates you. You could see and feel his anger radiating off him. "It is but it isn't. If you could let me just explain what happened," You pleaded with him, desperate to get your story out.

"Not all of you might know this, but I am Dr. Y/N L/N. I have an M.D. and a P.H.d in neuroscience. Four years ago, I was kidnapped by HYDRA. Up until yesterday, I was held captive by HYDRA. They would make me do unspeakable things. Things that I am not proud of and things that I'm trying to make up for. Bucky was right, I was the one that was responsible for erasing his memories. I read about him in HYDRA's file, so I knew who he really was. And I felt bad for him. That he was forced to have his memories and brain messed with for so long. When HYDRA put me in charge of erasing his memory, I resisted them. They wanted me to erase everything, to turn Bucky into a clean slate. But I couldn't do that. I couldn't allow HYDRA to keep ruining his life. So, I did erase his memories, but only the memories of the days he was out of the cyrofreeze. I didn't touch any of the other memories. That is how he was able to remember you, Steve. Remember the killings he did before I came. That's why he remembers who he is. I promise you, Steve, I tried to hurt Bucky as little as I had to." You tell Steve all of this, hoping that he would believe you. "Well, Y/N, I'm sorry for the way I talked to you and I'm also sorry for the way Bucky treated you. He doesn't know any of this. He just sees you like the latest to cause him pain," Steve, who seemed to accept your version of events, says. "And I understand that. But do you think you could help me explain this to him? I'd like to apologize to him, for all the pain that I caused." "I don't know if he is willing to listen, Y/N. But I'll see what I can do," Steve tells you as he stands up to leave.

With Steve gone, you are left alone with your thoughts. They tell you that you really are a monster. Seeing Bucky reminds you of all of the lives you've destroyed, his included. You push these thoughts to the back of your brain, where they will linger for days to come. Haunting your dreams, and keeping you awake for nights on end.

#bucky barnes x reader #Bucky Barnes #marvel #wicked #winter solider #bucky barnes x y/n

47 notes · View notes

ara-macao-cyanopterus · 4 years

Text

Fucking nobody cares about Planet Zoo, but I want notes for myself for how I beat the last two Career levels (in case I want to go back and beat them on Hard Mode for the achievement trophy or something).

The Last Leg.

This one wasn’t particularly difficult, it just took forever and I kind of screwed it up. Some things I wish I had known from the beginning:

1. Space isn’t that much of an issue, don’t freak out too much.

2. That African habitat is going to be fucking awful. Dedicated keeper, dedicated keeper hut, make it as big as possible from the get-go.

3. Grassland species stress effing sucks. Don’t do an overhead walkway (bonus for Africa: eventually, giraffe), put in limited ground-level viewpoints, research one-way glass.

4. Vet research vet research vet research. As soon as you can financially, stick in an army of research centres and high-level vets.

5. Crowd control was a real issue. Plan ahead. Wide paths, put the guests above (for everything except the two grassland habitats) and staff below.

6. That 5-star animal thing effing sucked. Check periodically before gold level just in case (and then send to the trade centre immediately so they don’t die!), then just be prepared to wait it out. I have no insight into what makes a 5-star animal, other than that they tended to be elderly ones that I got earlier in the game (except for that gemsbok, wth). I got some 4-star exhibit species, but no 5, but then again I only had a fully-researched exhibit species for like 6 months out of 12 years, so.

7. Invest in good quality animals early on. Yes, yes, I know, things are expensive blah blah. My springboks kept dying on me (and the market in finicky, you can go years without seeing certain animals for sale), and you really do have to plan ahead for that 5-star thing, given that it seems to be tied at least in part to the length of time the animal’s spent in the zoo.

Bailing Out.

Uggggggggggggh. This level is lucky that it’s so pretty, because otherwise it sucked. IT SUCKED SO MUCH.

1. SELL EVERYTHING. The time I finally won, I sold all exhibits, all sellable shops except for the western cluster, all ATMs, all education facilities, all bits of track, and most of the staff facilities (except the staff rooms). I sold most of the power facilities, though it turns out that untreated water and broken-down toilets make guests sad, so sadly you’re going to need to replace most of them essentially immediately, though do move them around, because their starting placement is very weird.

2. Guests don’t buy hats until the very end. I don’t know why. I should have just shut that shop.

3. Optimise your keepers’ experience. Start with one corner of the zoo and slowly work your way out, putting keeper huts everywhere as needed.

4. Fucking check fence height, self, wth.

5. START SLOW. Start so slow. I literally just had peacocks (with hopes of the vet researching quickly, snicker) until the timber wolves appeared, and then I just had timber wolves and peacocks, for I think the first 5 years. Yes, you’ll have a lot of money. Don’t spend it. You’ll need it. Because of this horrendous layout, it will be a very long time before you make profit, and you want to avoid taking that loan.

6. The order I did things was peacocks, then wolves, then the giant herbivore habitat, and then I used conservation credits to buy the things that I eventually knew would be coming into the SE corner (red panda, Chinese pangolin, Himalayan bear). I know everyone says not to do this, but I needed the income and zoo reputation while still keeping my guests contained, and I knew that if I bought them with CC I could always just swap them out when the time came. The Siberian tiger and Nile monitor came WAY later, because nobody wants to deal with that NE corner.

7. Don’t be afraid to build new habitats. Yes, yes, I know, I know, everyone says not to, but too bad. The terrain here SUCKS, but I put a walk-in tortoise habitat way to the south (putting them with the pangolins probably technically works, but keeping them separate seemed better), the panda where the guide says to put the bear (below the Bengal tiger), and the bear where the guide says to put a second red panda (which I don’t get -- the red panda habitat is plenty big enough for a breeding pair plus a baby?). There’s a bunch of park space to the north where new habitats could totally go, but I used those for creative placement of utilities (floating in the air and elaborately decorated), and I was too lazy to move things around.

8. If you move too many things around, your keepers will do that instead of feeding your animals. Whoops. Sorry, Nile monitors.

9. Nobody used my transit ride until I figured out that it needs to be efficient (delete all pieces of track, then do your best slash use autocomplete). Also, one of my stations kept breaking down no matter how many mechanics I sent, so I eventually deleted it, and that seemed to work.

10. I had to spend a lot of time zooming my caretakers around to clean up litter. This zoo is just too big. Probably work zones would have helped, but eh.

11. Schedule mechanic visits to habitats and utilities as often as you can (once every 1-3 months if the game will let you). Everything breaking down was so super annoying!

12. On one of my failed attempts I tried making liberal use of exhibits, which was a wonderful CC generator, but didn’t bring in the cash I needed. And on the run that finally got me gold, I forgot to add them until a point where I was rolling in CC and money and literally my only problem was managing staff, and exhibits wouldn’t have helped with that. I now have gold in the entirety of career mode (although only on Medium thus far), and I still don’t know how to use exhibits effectively. Other than Titan Beetle mild amusement.

13. Security cameras everywhere. My guest happiness was always so low compared with other zoos, and I have no idea why, but pickpockets seemed to be part of it? (On the other hand, besides a handful of vandalised signs over a decade, I had very little problem with crime in the Goodwin Memorial Park zoo. I don’t get it.)

14. People say not to promote your staff. I don’t get that one. Promote your staff? Maybe not too much at the beginning, other than the vets and maybe your mechanics, but occasionally I would go through and promote everyone with a ‘high’ workload.

#Planet Zoo #note to my future self

5 notes · View notes

twelfthdyke · 7 years

Note

since u cant do the smutty hcs can u do domestic marvin/whizzer hcs

i was This Close to giving in and giving yall the smutty hcs i’ve been asked for so much BUT ALAS. have your fluff, kids!!

whizzer and marvin literally don't agree on any movies whatsoever. they spend so much arguing that by the time they're done they just decide to go to bed. movie nights are only a thing when jason's around and makes the choice.

whizzer likes to relentlessly tease marvin about the most mundane things, like his height or his tone of voice.

he's only a few inches taller but he uses it to his advantage. he holds things just out of marvin's reach above his head. after some struggling marvin will give up. he rolls his eyes and walks away like he's annoyed and whizzer is like "wait wait wait!! don't be mad, i love yoooou". regardless of how much this has happened it still goes down the same way.

whizzer stole a sponge from marvin as he was washing up after dinner.marvin: come on, whizzer! just give it backwhizzer, mocking: give it backmarvin, disgruntled and walking away: FINE. keep itwhizzer: noooo, come back!marvin, waving over his shoulder: if you wanted to do the dishes so bad, you could've just asked.

if you don't think they stick their tongues out at each other like little kids then you're wrong.

their decor is mostly comprised of whizzer's pictures and a furniture that displays their joint love for colour. some of it clashes horrendously but they love it. they redecorated together when marvin moved in. they were in gym clothes. marvin's were garish while whizzer's were plain white--uncharacteristically boring.

whizzer ends up with blue smeared on his face and mouth. he tries his luck and wipes a handful of red paint on marvin's face.whizzer: hey maaaarv, let's make purplemarvin: why have you opened the red paint? we needed that for tomorrow; close it before it goes weird and crusty.whizzer: trina was right. you are a romantic.

marvin isn't actually oblivious, it's just hilarious to see whizzer's reactions when his poor flirting doesn't go down well. he's used to succeeding because, despite his terrible pickup lines, his pretty face always wins.

they later decided to play racquetball together at whizzer's insistence that it would be fun (and that it is totally a couple's thing, god marvin).

whizzer had been playing it for years so he knew that he could definitely beat marvin. marvin obviously catches on but is actually willing to practise instead of getting mad.

whizzer is the worst at night. he takes up so much bed space. at the start of the night they're both lying comfortably together but by morning whizzer's spidery limbs are somehow spread out over marvin and the whole bed. marvin wakes up sweaty and gross because of it yet whizzer is the one who complains.

whizzer also has a tendency to sleeptalk and when he does it's the most nonsensical thing. marvin tried to have a conversation with him once and it was ridiculous. marvin often asks him what he was dreaming about but whizzer claims that he didn't have any dreams that night. he’s convinced that he doesn't actually sleeptalk and that marvin is making it up.

although whizzer is the pesky sleeper, he still claims that marvin is the worst sleep partner because he drools some nights. marvin is offended and they literally get into a competition about who is the better sleeper which leads to charlotte and cordelia telling them to shut up because they're trying to sleep.

whizzer gets infuriated at marvin because he doesn't know how to tidy up after himself. he leaves so many glasses of water on their bedside locker and he never puts the kitchen utensils back where they were.

marvin once left the freezer open and the drawers froze over. whizzer made marvin spend at least an hour chipping the ice away.

you think him not hanging up his coat is the worst? you have no idea.

whizzer: marvin, why is there a pile of trash on the dining table?marvin: that's my clean laundrywhizzer, to the pile: i'm sorrymarvin, laughing and hitting whizzer’s arm: HEY

whizzer and marvin could never agree to the layout of their apartment. eventually, whizzer acquiesced to marvin's requests. however, whizzer was left home alone and decided to change the position of everything slightly. this would've been fine if marvin hadn't returned home only to find himself running into all the furniture.

marvin tried to do the laundry once and ended up turning all the whites pink because he forgot to separate his red shorts. whizzer's racquetball clothes were never the same. the problem was they had racquetball later that day and whizzer didn't have any other suitable clothes. good thing he pulls off pink ridiculously well.

they have competitions about competition shows. when all the contestants enter they each try to predict who will win. they almost never get it right but jason is incredible at it.

whizzer: i bet her meringue is utter shitmarvin: your meringue is utter shitwhizzer: did i ASK

whizzer is the type of person to sing into a hairbrush when he thinks he's alone only to be caught in the middle of his own personal ballad. marvin is more of a shower singer and whizzer always calls him out on it, but does he stop? no.

whizzer and marvin are Not down with the kids. they think they are but they are Wrong.

marvin: this song is OFFjason: it's "goes off"whizzer: no, it's onjason: i want to go home

they are the definition of a Wine Couple. honestly, picture marvin sat with a book in one hand and a glass of wine in the other as whizzer leans against him sipping from his own glass.

whizzer attempted to look like a wine connoisseur and tried to circle the wine in his glass but he just spilt it all over his shirt. marvin side eyed him from his book and just went back to sipping and reading while whizzer frantically tried to grab a wet cloth to stop his shirt being stained.

hope those were ok!!

#falsettos #whizzer brown #falsettos marvin #marvin x whizzer #whizzer x marvin #headcanons #my headcanons #ask #anon #Anonymous

572 notes · View notes

whovian223 · 4 years

Text

We are getting close to the end of this 10-week opus, this look at the Boardgame Geek Top 100 games and which ones I’ve played.

This has actually been my favourite series to write so far in the 3+ years of this blog.

Mainly because it’s given me 9 (soon to be 10) weeks of guaranteed content, as well as some great interactions with my few fans. It’s been very interesting to see other people’s opinions of the games that we play.

And while there hasn’t been controversy, per se, there have been a few “oh, I love this game that you hate!” responses, which I also really like.

Nobody’s got on me for liking a game that they hate, which is a welcome change from most of the BGG forums. And they really haven’t gotten on me for hating a game they like. Just gentle nudges.

Sometimes reading the BGG forums for a game can be like facing off against the teeming hordes of people who disagree with you.

And sometimes you’re the only one on your side.

It can get quite tedious.

Not here, though! People who come here are all very nice.

I love you all.

And with that, let’s begin!

#20 – Wingspan (Stonemaier Games) – 2019

Designer: Elizabeth Hargrave

Artists: Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, Natalia Rojas, Beth Sobel

Wingspan very rightly won a Dice Tower award recently, as it is a wonderful game. I played it for the first time in early 2019 but played it twice at Dice Tower West!

This is a phenomenal game, the tableau-building game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave (nice to see a woman designer with such a successful game!).

This is a game where you are playing birds to your habitats that will then have effects when you take the specific action that coincides with that habitat.

Green habitats will give you extra stuff when you get food. The yellow habitat will do things when you collect eggs, etc.

I love how your actions are affected by the number of birds you already have in that habitat, as well as the diminishing number of actions you get, since each round an action is spent on the “end or round” bonus from the previous round.

After four rounds, you’re going to be totaling up the victory points from your birds, your end-of-round scoring and your bonus cards and whoever has the most is the winner!

This game easily would have made my Top 25 games ever played if I hadn’t played it mere weeks after doing that post.

I love the tableau-building aspect of the game, the artwork is amazing and I just love the game play. It’s easy to get stuck if you don’t plan your plays well, and there is a bit of luck if you don’t draw birds that work with what you’re trying to do.

But overall it’s a greatly enjoyable game that I will own shortly.

And then we’ll see how it plays 2-player, as it’s another COVID purchase.

#19 – Arkham Horror: the Card Game (Fantasy Flight Games) – 2016

Designer: Nate French, Matthew Newman

Artists: Lots!

Yes, this is my new obsession.

I said why on Monday’s “New to Me – June 2020” post but this is a game that I can’t stop following.

This is the card game version of Arkham Horror where the locations you are visiting are cards that are brought out by the scenario you are playing.

Each player has an investigator and as you’re going through the campaign, you will be improving your deck with better cards when you spend experience to get them.

The investigators all have different abilities which makes the game very replayable, even if the secrets of the scenarios themselves are known (in the first scenario, you know which investigator to send to the Attic and which one to the Cellar, for instance).

Who knows? Maybe one of these days I’ll be posting Arkham Horror: LCG strategy articles to this blog.

Nah, who am I kidding. I never know what I’m doing, even when I’ve played a game multiple times.

Still, this is a game that I will continue to revisit and I can’t wait to experience it.

#18 – Brass: Lancashire (Roxley Games) – 2007 (2018 for deluxe edition)

Designer: Martin Wallace

Artists: Lina Cossette, Peter Dennis, David Forest, Eckhard Freytag, Damien Mammoliti

Brass: Lancashire is the recent Roxley re-working of the original Brass designed by Martin Wallace.

I have played both the original (with the horrendous artwork) as well as the new one, and this game is amazing.

And this is from somebody who doesn’t really care for economic games.

I am very bad at this game (which is where the “doesn’t really care for economic games” comes from) but it’s still a lot of fun.

In this case, you are building things like coal mines, iron mines, cotton manufacturing places, etc and trying to get a bunch of victory points from buildings that have been used. Buildings are used when you either ship cotton from them to a port (which also uses the port if its a player’s) or use all of the iron or coal from them.

The two phases are cool because you go through the deck once during the Canal phase, only able to build canal connections between the various cities.

Then, once you’re through the deck, you do the Rail phase where you’re building railroads instead of canals. You have to rebuild all of those connections because canals aren’t a thing anymore.

This is a game where you really have to plan ahead (something I’m not good at, which is why I suck) in order to convert your buildings at the right time and/or use the resources on it.

I like that you can also “develop” technologies, which removes them from play and makes your remaining stuff even more valuable. If you build Level 1 buildings, you will score them at the end of the Canal Phase, but then they will disappear.

However, if you build a Level 2 or above building in the Canal Phase, it will stick around and score points in both phases.

It’s a very intricate game.

As in most Wallace games, loans are quite prominent, but they’re not as punishing as in most other Wallace games.

Yes, your income will go down, but you can build that back up again with no problems. Unlike games like London where they just cost you end-game victory points if you haven’t paid them off.

Because it’s an economic game, it’s not something that I will request. However, it’s a game that I do like playing and will willingly play if it comes out to the table.

#17 – Concordia (Rio Grande Games) – 2013

Designer: Mac Gerdts

Artists: Marina Fahrenbach, Mac Gerdts, Dominik Mayer

Concordia is a game that’s hard to describe. You are trading in the Mediterranean (sorry, Tom) but you are establishing trading posts in various cities around the map (depending on which map you use, it may not be the Mediterranean). You’re moving your traders (either ships or on-foot people) from city to city and paying for the right to put posts there.

Each map is divided into regions and you will be getting points depending on how many regions you are in.

The thing is, points are determined by the cards that you have and have bought. If you spread out among different regions, maybe you want to have a lot of cards that score based on regions.

But maybe you have a lot of cards that are based on how many cities you have that produce something other than bricks? Then you want a lot of cities and it doesn’t matter where they are.

That way, you are actually in control of how you score, but those cards are also your actions so if you limit yourself, you may not be able to do everything you want to do.

It’s quite intricate and I love how that all fits together.

This is another game that I’m not good at, though I did actually manage to win it once.

But all of the mechanisms just come together in a brilliant design that I’m more than happy to play when it comes to the table.

#16 – 7 Wonders Duel (Repos Production) – 2015

Designers: Antoine Bauza, Bruno Cathala

Artist: Miguel Coimbra

This is the 2-player version of the brilliant Cathala design 7 Wonders, where you aren’t drafting cards but instead taking them from the table where they are arranged in a certain pattern (based on which age you’re in).

This is a game that I played my friend’s copy and then I finally got a copy in a math trade and played it three more times.

On your turn, you will be taking a card from the center tableau and either adding it to yours, discarding it for money, or using it to build the Wonder that you have.

Thus, you’ll hopefully have resources that you can then use to build the buildings that you take (like the Apothecary above requires one glass resource).

You go through three ages of this, with varying layouts of more powerful cards in the 2nd and 3rd ages.

Instead of “winning wars” with military and getting points for those like in the original game, this 2-player version has almost a tug-of-war aspect to the military as it goes back and forth on the military track when players build a military building or wonder.

The only points for the military track are at the end, depending on where it ends up.

However, if you neglect military while your opponent goes strong in it, and the military marker ends up all the way on your side of the track, you immediately lose.

So watch out!

There is also a Science victory depending on whether you’ve built or achieved all of the science symbols. That too ends the game immediately.

Most of the time, though, you’re struggling back and forth for points and will get to the end of the 3rd Age so both players tally up their points.

This is a very fun 2-player version of 7 Wonders and, as the ranking indicates, it’s almost better just because it’s more interesting. You’re not having to keep track of 3-5 other players and what they’re doing (not that you can consider what the player 3 spaces away from you is doing when you draft a card, but still).

I’ve played with the Pantheon expansion once and it’s fine. I’d have to play it again to really have an opinion on it.

And supposedly there is another expansion coming soon as well.

I really do like this game and I’m happy I finally took the plunge and got it in the math trade. If it wasn’t left in the office when we all got told to immediately start working from home due to COVID, I’d be playing it with the wife right now!

#15 – Terra Mystica (Capstone Games) – 2012

Designer: Jens Drögemüller, Helge Ostertag

Artist: Dennis Lohausen

And now we come to Terra Mystica. This game is very interesting but also makes my brain hurt.

The game is fairly straightforward, but it also just breaks my head because there is literally no luck (except the order of the end-of-round scoring tiles). You choose your race, you choose your starting point on the map, and then you decide (along with all the other players) on what you’re doing, where you’re expanding, and what types of buildings that you’re going to put out on the board.

I find the energy mechanic really interesting, where if you build a building that’s next to other player’s buildings, they can spend victory points to get energy.

Energy is very important in this game which is why I’m really bad at it. I have trouble using my energy in the right way and getting it when it’s good to get. I find myself spending a lot of victory points to get the energy because I find other ways to get energy very restrictive.

A number of my friends are much better at this game so when I play it, it’s definitely in a “try to get better” mindset because there’s no way I’m going to win.

Then again, I haven’t played it on the table since 2015, so maybe that’s where the problem is?

I’ve played the app a few times, but my two plays of this were really in the early part of my game-playing career. Maybe I would be better at it if I played it again now, with a bit more experience under my belt.

I enjoy this game well enough. I’d like to try again now that I am more of a gamer, but we’ll see if that happens.

I also haven’t played with any of the expansions, so that would be cool as well!

I wouldn’t mind playing this again just to see how I feel about the game now that I have a bit more experience. Admittedly, my two plays were when I was pretty new and I had no idea what I was doing.

I’ve played the app a few times and also on Boardgame Arena, but that doesn’t really count.

#14 – The Castles of Burgundy (Ravensburger) – 2011

Designer: Stefan Feld

Artists: Julien Delval, Harald Lieske

Ah, yes, the Feld classic game. Anybody who knows gaming is aware of this one, even if they don’t like it for some unknown reason (sure, they say why they don’t like it, but it doesn’t make any sense!).

I have a 3-player game of this going on Boiteajeux.net at all times with a couple of friends. We’ve played it 83 times now, plus any plays that I’ve had on the table, and it’s just a go-to game for me.

There’s something about rolling two dice and trying to figure out what to do with them. Do you get tiles off the board? Do you put tiles from your sheet to your player board? Do you sell stuff? Or maybe (if you’re unlucky and haven’t planned well) just use it to get more workers?

It has a nice dice mitigation option with workers, but if you use all of your workers quickly, you find yourself a bit stuck.

Yes, the artwork is bland and it’s an older game so some newer gamers may find it a bit boring to look at.

There’s a new edition out, but to me it looks more garish. I like the simplicity of the artwork in this version.

The mechanics, though, are just so cool. You roll two dice and then do stuff with them. If you have workers, you can adjust those dice, but otherwise you just try to fill your board and fill up full sections of your board. The victory points for full sections are dependent on what round it is as well as how many spaces are in that space.

It’s a Feld classic and it’s well worth that #14 ranking. In fact, I’d almost say it should be higher.

I should get it to the table more often rather than just online, though.

#13 – Spirit Island (Greater Than Games) – 2017

Designer: R. Eric Reuss

Artists: Lots!

What a streak of games that I’ve played! This one I’ve played once, and I wasn’t a huge fan of it, but I’d play it again.

Basically in Spirit Island, players are “gods” of the natives of an island that is being colonized by a malevolent force that is trying to expand and force out the natives.

Yeah, this is definitely an anti-colonialism game.

In the game, each player represents the natives of this particular island trying to resist the colonial forces that are trying to spread their evil influence throughout it. Each player has a unique “god” power that will help you in doing that.

Each turn, you will be trying to eliminate colonists that are already on the island, or maybe strengthen your defenses before the colonists start their own expansion.

I actually enjoyed this game somewhat, but not enough to really try hard to play it again. The anti-colonialism aspect of the game is pretty cool, and the game itself is fine.

However, the app came out on Early Access on Steam and I really had no interest in trying it again.

It’s a fine game, but just not one that grabbed me as much as it has grabbed other people.

#12 – War of the Ring (2nd Edition) – (Ares Games) – 2012

Designers: Roberto Di Meglio, Marco Maggi, Francesco Nepitello

Artists: John Howe, Fabio Maiorana

This is apparently a classic game that I’ve never seen.

Also pretty cool is that the art is by John Howe, who also did the art for the Lord of the Rings game, which is getting a cool new anniversary edition.

While the Reiner Knizia cooperative game is about the ring-bearer and the story from the book series, War of the Ring is about the war that’s shown in brief snippets in the books (and was shown more prominently in the film, because you obviously need lots of action and CGI in movies nowadays…but I digress).

This is the war between the Free Peoples of the land and the evil forces of Sauron (the Shadow Armies).

Let’s blurb this thing, because this post was starting to feel lonely with no blurbs.

“The game can be won by a military victory, if Sauron conquers a certain number of Free People cities and strongholds or vice versa. But the true hope of the Free Peoples lies with the quest of the Ringbearer: while the armies clash across Middle Earth, the Fellowship of the Ring is trying to get secretly to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. Sauron is not aware of the real intention of his enemies but is looking across Middle Earth for the precious Ring, so that the Fellowship is going to face numerous dangers, represented by the rules of The Hunt for the Ring. But the Companions can spur the Free Peoples to the fight against Sauron, so the Free People player must balance the need to protect the Ringbearer from harm, against the attempt to raise a proper defense against the armies of the Shadow, so that they do not overrun Middle Earth before the Ringbearer completes his quest.”

The cool-sounding thing about the game is that it does incorporate the quest to destroy the ring, just a bit more abstractly.

The game also reflects the reluctance of some of the Free Peoples to fight Sauron, with a political track that shows if a nation is ready for war. Of course, if Sauron up and attacks them, they’ll happily defend themselves (though maybe not effectively? I don’t know).

There are dice involved and the dice can effect what actions you can do, which is also pretty neat. Event cards come up that can change the course of the game, or at least what you have to respond to. These events are from the story and represent things that can’t really be done in the game system itself.

The game sounds really intriguing and I’d love to play it once to see what it’s like.

It says 2-4 players, but I’m not really sure how that works.

I’m sure if I watched a review I would see a bit more how it works and get a better idea of how 3-4 players would play (2 is obvious).

But where’s the fun in that?

If this ever comes up as a chance to play, you know I will be jumping on it.

Though the 2.5-3 hour stated play time is a bit intimidating.

#11 – Scythe (Stonemaier Games) – 2016

Designer: Jamey Stegmaier

Artist: Jakub Rozalski

Scythe is the other big hit game that I haven’t actually played. I see it being played all the time at conventions but I just haven’t actually had the opportunity to play it.

It doesn’t come to game days, and most of the time the games I see at conventions are already starting.

Which is too bad, because it does sound like a very good game (with a few oddities, pointed out hilariously by the Shut Up & Sit Down review)

youtube

But it’s a game I want to play, just to see what it’s like for me.

Hey, another game I haven’t played, so another blurb!

“Scythe is an engine-building game set in an alternate-history 1920s period. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor. In Scythe, each player represents a character from one of five factions of Eastern Europe who are attempting to earn their fortune and claim their faction’s stake in the land around the mysterious Factory. Players conquer territory, enlist new recruits, reap resources, gain villagers, build structures, and activate monstrous mechs.

Each player begins the game with different resources (power, coins, combat acumen, and popularity), a different starting location, and a hidden goal. Starting positions are specially calibrated to contribute to each faction’s uniqueness and the asymmetrical nature of the game (each faction always starts in the same place).”

I did get into the Scythe beta when it first came out on Steam, but I couldn’t make heads nor tails of the game through the tutorial.

It’s now out on iOS and Android (at least in Canada), so maybe I’ll buy it there and see if I can muddle through it again?

Because I want to try this game.

I don’t know if I want to like it. We’ll see in time.

But I want to try it.

Since I’ve played everything up through Spirit Island, I haven’t had the chance to say this yet!

You know what I’m thinking. Let’s say it all together now.

“Maybe at a convention!”

So that’s it. Another week gone and only one week left! That’s the Top 10 games on Boardgame Geek. I wonder how many of those I will have played?

This week gives us 8 out of 10, with no digital-only games. That makes for a grand total so far of 47 out of 90.

I blasted through the 40-barrier!!!! Yay me!

It’s also frightening to think that I’ve most likely played at least 50 of the Top 100 games on Boardgame Geek.

Is there something wrong with me?

Let me know in the comments.

Wait, that should have been put after this: What do you think of these games? How many have you played? Anything you really want to play? Or hate with the passion of a fiery sun that would give everybody who forced you to play it with them a massive sunburn?

You know the drill.

Posts in this Series:

#100-91 #90-81 #80-71 #70-61 #60-51 #50-41 #40-31 #30-21 #20-11

Boardgame Geek Top 100 - Played or Play #20-11 #boardgames @jameystegmaier @stonemaiergames @AresGamesSrl @GTGamesLLC @RavensburgerNA @Capstone_Games @ReposProduction @riograndegames @roxleygames @FFGames @elizhargrave We are getting close to the end of this 10-week opus, this look at the Boardgame Geek Top 100 games and which ones I've played.

0 notes

art-0f-studying · 7 years

Photo

Study Tips - Studying with a mental illness

As someone who has depression and anxiety, I found that the tips etc that teachers gave worked for others but not for me. I also found that I learnt a lot differently to everyone else because of my mental illness. So here are some tips I used during Secondary School and mainly college that helped me a lot.

Find out when your deadlines are. It’s sounds simple, but it’s not when you have loads of pieces of work that have to be handed in in a short time. In school we had a homework record where you would write down the homework (What Class, description of the homework, any specific criteria that needs to be met, due date). My anxiety would make me think I missed something. So if I wrote it down as soon as we were told, I would trust my notes. If you aren’t sure, ask if you can. I carried this on to college with my own notebook. This saved me so much panic. I would then work on the one that was due first OR one that I knew would take the longest. I have made a free assignment planner printable that you can copy all your homework down onto when you get home. Just save the image and print

Consider times your mental health would be less good. It could be a certain date, or just one of them days. But be prepared for them. If i felt up to it, I would always do some extra work. I did Graphic Design, the work load was horrendous. But each project was the same layout. So after I completed one section I knew what the next was. We could pretty much sit down and complete the whole project if we wanted to (And had a few months to just sit there) without any tutor telling us what to do. So I would start planning what I would do, start doing title designs, or even just get straight into the work. Anything extra you can do while you’re in a good state of mind, will really help you when you aren’t quite your best.

Talk to your tutor. If you need to have a good relationship with anyone, it’s your tutor. My main tutor saved my arse so many times it’s unreal. Without him, I wouldn’t have got my A-levels. I would have been kicked out in the middle of first year (For something not quite related to this post). If I was feeling low, I would go talk to my tutor, we would work out a plan. At the end of the week when we did our share day (basically sit round a table and show the class your work) if I knew I had a really bad week or so or I was feeling really anxious, I would talk to him before hand so he knew not to pick me and make me feel worse. My class was amazing and I was friends with all of them and we were in the same boat so no one laughed or too the mick. In fact we helped each other, but still I didn’t want to feel like I wasn’t good enough to be there. Your tutor is there to help, they want to help you and will work with you. The amount of times I sat next to him and broke down and he never ever made me feel stupid. They have seen everything before, I promise it’s okay to talk to them.

Look after yourself. Stressful day?? Try a bath, relax. Going home and doing more work will not help you at all. I know I said to get work done when you can. BUT not when you feel low. It will be worse. Trust me, it gets messy. Read a book, meet with friends, play that video game. If you feel able to do some work before bed, brilliant, if not, that is perfectly okay. You are still doing great :)

Know yourself. For example. If I was doing psychology homework, I couldn’t have music on. I had to sit at my desk, head down and work. If it was graphics work, I could sit anywhere, inside or out, headphones in happy as can be. Psychology was better done as soon as I got in, and I needed regular breaks and a drink nearby. Graphics was better done during the evenings and even nights, sometimes I would need breaks sometimes, woops 2 hours have gone by. Know how you work and what works best for each subject. Only you can do this, sorry I can’t help you figure it out. It’s okay to take things slow. Split one piece into smaller parts so it doesn’t feel so much of a task.

Lectures. So I haven’t gone to Uni so I don’t have uni lectures, but I did have long lectures about graphics. During this if I felt good, I would take notes and roll with it. But Psychology was when my mental health started to go because I really struggled with anxiety. First year was brilliant, second year, my anxiety and depression had got so much worse. So I started recording the lessons. If i switched off, it’s okay. I had the recordings. I would also ask my teacher to email me all the presentations she did for the lessons every week. So I could go through them at my own pace. I could not go at the same pace as those in my class that have no mental illnesses. To begin with I really really took it out on myself, saying I was stupid etc. My teacher realised I was so different from my first year and I told her about my mental health. She said to me:

“Don’t beat yourself up, learning isn’t a competition. You cannot compare yourself to others. People learn all different ways and at different speeds. When your brain isn’t quite healthy, it can take more time and energy to learn the at the same speed as everyone else. You cannot compete with classmates who are mentally well, because that will do nothing but bring yourself down. We learn for ourselves so there is no point beating yourself up if you take longer to learn.”

Take advantages of the tools they have. I spoke to my teachers if I thought I couldn’t get the work done on time, even though I tried as much as I could because of my anxiety, I couldn’t always do it. They understood. If I did an assignment early, I handed it in early. That was my own way of balancing things out. Free Periods. I spent in the graphics classroom doing anything I could, even if I just put one post it into my book, it was still something extra. Classmates. Not sure on a due date or just want to check something, people have your back. Missed a lesson, maybe they will copy their notes. It’s worth asking. Library. A quiet area for if you are going to have a panic attack. (life saver), books on your topics, a place to do homework, or just find a book to read and enjoy, it’s worth a trip. Counsellor. struggling a bit?? or just want someone to talk to?? It’s free and confidential. Need more tips to help studying. They probably have a few websites you can visit.

This turned into a post that is a lot longer than I thought it would be. I hope at least one tip will be helpful for you. I have printables etc that can help you and they will always be free so check out my blog. Just remember to try not to be to hard on yourself, you are doing so well. As long as you tried your best, you didn’t fail yourself.

One last thing. If I was extremely bad I would allow myself a mental health day pass. I spoke with my parents who agreed with me. There is so much stress, sometimes all you need is a day. I would tell my parents I wasn’t going in. No questions asked. This was only during college that I started this. In 2 years I only needed one day. I felt so much better afterwards. I spent the day writing up post it notes of plans and ideas and organising them. I would write down thoughts and screw them up if I didn’t think they were worth my time and it really helped to clear my head a bit.

Printables: Weekly Planner Assignment Planner To-Do List Today Planner Books To read

#mental health #studying #studyblr #studyblr community #study blog #study #langblr #school #college #uni #learning

107 notes · View notes

dezzlinned · 3 years

Text

Far Out World

This is my prequel to the main story I’ve been planning. Although this doesn’t tie into the main plot too much, it still gives some good insight on what I have planning and some of how this world works. I kinda hate the way I wrote this so... I’m real sorry if this sucks. Just remember, most of the ideas played with in the story can/will be gone into more detail later. Anyways...yeah.

“But why aren’t we meeting those presidents? They’re the ones who said we needed to be on the planet. Why are they so insistent we meet these other dudes? Why are they so special?” Out of the four people on the ship, Macen had to not only be the one who asked the most questions, but also the one who didn’t realize those questions had already been answered.

“It’s because the presidents aren’t as important as the Dinjarians,” The older female voice came from the other side of the ship’s main room. “They may be presidents, but the Dinjarians have more power, more influence. Meeting presidents may be special, but they aren’t the representatives of Navia.” She looked up towards the driver of the ship. “Do I have that correct, Etto?”

“Precisely, Ms. Rhea,” Etto the android answered. “The Dinjarians are quite the big deal on Navia. Public figures, someone for the common man to look up to.”

“We have people like that on Earth, they’re called celebrities.” As Macen said this, the other two people on the ship, Niyla and Darien, had started making their way down the stairs and onto the main floor.

“You ever heard of a celebrity on our planet being so popular they have more power than a president?” Niyla had sat herself across the table from Macen. He thought for a moment, and shook his head.

“Must be a cultural thing,” Darien said. Though he was the oldest of the four Earths people, he seldom spoke, only bringing himself into conversation when he sensed some disagreement seemed to be bubbling up between the three others. If they were going to be stuck together for three days on a planet they knew nothing about, he’d rather the group be civil with each other.

“Right you are, Mr. Darien. Navian people and Earths people have very distinct cultural aspects, which causes problems if someone were to compare one planet to the other planet's morals. Which reminds me,” Etto had turned his mechanical body around to look at all four of them, “When we land on Navia, don’t be too surprised if there are some people that vary from your presence. They already have a preconceived idea of what Earths people are like, and they may try to intimidate you. Do not be afraid.”

As Etto prepared for their descent onto the planet and Niyla and Darien went back up into their rooms, Macen couldn’t help looking over to Reylie. She kept to her spot near the window, in deep thought. She was like this through the whole voyage. Macen could only wonder what kept her like this.

Wow. That was the only thing brought to their minds when the ship lowered from the clouds. It was bright, colorful, full of life. They could feel the comfort and beckoning of the city. A fly caught in the spider’s web.

“My dear representatives, it is my utmost pleasure to introduce you to Trelithal, the world capital of Navia.”

If there were any differences that Earth and Navia had to one another, their city layouts were not one of them. The designs used in the buildings and advertising were the most similar, bright neon writing with almost the exact graphic layout, although Nylia noted they were all still sporting a futuristic tint. The newest movies, songs, and books were pictures all over the buildings, followed closely by restaurants and software companies. Darien decided that Navia, or at least Trelithal, was very passionate about the arts, and took great pride in displaying it.

Their ship landed on a large airstrip a few miles off from the city. It was a large strip of land with one large entrance building with airship hangers behind it. The crew could see all the workers and crewmen getting their vessels ready for take off or arrival. When they had settled onto a sector, the group gathered all their belongings (the very few they had), and exited the ship.

“Greetings and salutations! Welcome to Navia dear travelers,” exclaimed a lady in a dark blue blazer and skirt, followed by six workers in blue uniforms behind her. “ My name is Abbia, I’m going to be your guide for the duration of your visit.”

Abbia shook hands with each of them. “I hope you are as excited as we are to have you here with us. It is quite an honor.”

Macen furrowed his eyebrows. “Where are those Dinjarians we’re supposed to be meeting?”

“Ah, I thought you would ask that. As much as they would’ve loved to have been the ones to greet you, I’m afraid they’re a bit too busy with...other matters. Besides the point, there are many people out there excited to see you, and having the entire 183 come to meet you, well, you can imagine the amount of people who would show up to see that.”

“Macen understood, but Darien piped up, “Excuse me, but 183?”

“Oh yes! The 183 is what we call them casually. Much less of a mouthful than Dinjarians. And 183 is more specific.”

—

When Abbia told them that people were excited to see them, it was an understatement. People were screaming their names, taking as many pictures as they could, and trying to get their attention to ask them questions. It was quite a lot to take in.

Rhea grimaced. She always had a problem with loud noises and bright lights, and right now a perfect storm was brewing for a horrid sensory overload. Darien stepped in front of her and handed Ryelie his black jacket. Though it wasn’t an easy fix, Reha was grateful.

Unlike Reha, Nylia adored the attention they were receiving. She smiled and waved at everyone around her. Abbia went up and tapped on her shoulder.

“Psst, say Belvdof to them. They love it when people say it.”

Nylia nodded and yelled “Belvdof!” Toward the sea of people. Immediately the crowd roared with cheering and applause.

As they continued through the crowd, Macen couldn’t help but notice the few people that were not as excited as the rest. In fact, they looked very cross.

“You know they could take you out, right?” A voice came from behind Macen.

“I’m sorry?”

“They aren’t gonna take anything you try to change here. They won’t let anyone push ‘em around. Especially you folk,” One of the grumpy looking men was close to him now.

“I don’t understand. What would we be-”

“Excuse me sir, you need to step away from him,” Abbia appeared next to Macen, but her happy persona was gone. She was very serious, and trying to stand the grumpy man down. He mumbled something that wasn’t in English and walked off. Abbia sighed and turned to Macen.

“I’m sorry for that. The android, he told you about how some people act towards foreigners, yes?” Macen nodded. “ I hope that doesn’t discourage you too much. It shouldn’t get any worse than that.”

It did, in fact, get worse. It seemed as if wherever the group traveled to, there was always some person or lot that wanted to show just how much they loathed them. In the underground railways, Darien had heard a rather loud conversation beside him talking about how the 183 was quite generous to let such “second-rate peoples” into their presence. Nylia was subjected to a declaration about the last people that decided to get too familiar with the Dinjarians through an older woman seated next to her on the bus, and she let no gory details go unspoken. It was as if they were trying to scare the group off the planet entirely.

The worst thing about it was, those tactics were working. Rhea, Macen, Nylia, and Darien were no longer curious about these Dinjarians-they were terrified. The idea that they could be subject to the most dangerous group on the planet of Navia was nerve-wracking. Abbia tried to calm them down and assure them everything would be alright, but unfortunately their fears had taken hold on their hearts like weeds in soil.

“My dear representatives were almost at the meeting place,” Abbia announced. She looked towards them, and saw they were still shaken up about what they heard. Earlier Abbia had decided that public transportation was probably not the best option for four Earths people in a big city, and had called in a private taxi to get them to the destination quicker. Despite it, there was still a great amount of tension, and the group could not enjoy the brightness of the city any longer.

At last, they had all found themselves standing outside the entrance to the building. Rhea’s legs felt weak as she and the others followed Abbia inside and through the main lobby.

Macen couldn’t stop thinking about what the Dinjarians actually looked like. Although they were somewhat informed on the 183, no one had thought about showing the group what they actually looked like. Were they going to be some older group with a royal clothing style and a sneer of superiority on their faces? Could they be a horrendous bunch of warriors ready to destroy them as soon as they stepped through the door? He couldn’t decide which idea he hated more, and he was so lost in thought that it took three calls of his name from Abbia to get his attention.

There in front of them, was the door to the board room. Across that threshold, the Dinjarians waited. Abbia wondered if they were actually prepared for meeting the 183 in the first place.

“Are you all okay? Are you ready?”

Macen, Nylia and Darien all turned their heads towards Rhea, awaiting her answer. She took a deep breath, and nodded to Abbia.

“Yes, we’re ready.”

Of all the voices, appearances, and moods they were expecting when they walked through the door, what they weren’t expecting was a 16 year old girl greeting them in the cheeriest disposition they had ever heard.

“We’ve been wondering when you finally would be showing up! Come in, come in, make yourselves comfortable,” the girl turned around to face Abbia. “Oh Abbia, you were the one to bring them to us? You’re far too kind!”

Abbia shook her head, “Just doing my job, Athene. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for me. Anyways, where are your siblings? I thought they would be here with you.”

As fate would have it, Athene’s supposed siblings had walked in through the door, causing everyone to turn to them.

“Great, now we’re all here together! You all come over this way so we can properly greet our guests.”

For Rhea, Darien, Macen and Nylia, this was an incredibly confusing moment. About 16 other children looking to be the same age as Athene had just come into the room. No scary adults, no warriors ready for fighting-just children.

“My dear representatives, allow me to introduce to you the 183,” Abbia declared.

All of the children had given the group a slight bow and nod as a greeting.

“Well anyway, I’ll leave you all to socialize!” Abbia went up to leave. “And remember, give them something to write about!”

Athene checked to see if the coast was clear, and called towards the children in a language group did not understand. Almost all the children had run back out the door they came from- except one.

A girl standing a bit taller than Athene walked up to the group and held out her hand.

“My name is Jenny. How are you all feeling after the trip?”

Rhea shook hands with her. “A lot happened before we got here. Forgive us, we were expecting much more…”

“Intimidating group, for lack of a better term,” Darien finished Rhea’s thought.

“Was it from some randos out and about?” Athene nudged the child next to her to silence her, but Macen and Nylia nodded anyway.

“Oh, those people. They’re somewhat “protective” of us.” Athene put ‘protective’ in air quotes. “They’ve seen what’s happened to the last Dinjarians and they think by scaring you with tales of us that you’ll leave us alone.”

“Not that it's kept us or any past Dinjarians safe. Not like they could do anything to really keep us safe.” The third shortest boy of the 183 murmured.

Athene cleared her throat. “Well, let’s move over to the table. Standing around like strangers won’t lead us any closer to sitting down as friends. Come on now.”

They all went around to the table. A few of the Dinjarian children had taken their seat in between Rhea and her company, and she had to try making it clear to herself that her nerves were unneeded and rude.

As Darien scanned the 183’s members, he looked as if he had just found a much needed piece to a puzzle.

“I remember you,” He pointed towards Jenny. “You were on one of the advertisements in the city. It looked like some kind of movie. Do you act?”

Jenny nodded. “Most of us do. We’ve been doing it for a long time now. Since they brought us here, away from our parents.”

“Wait, you don’t have parents? Where are they?” Macen questioned.

“It’s hard to tell. The workers- they keep saying we don’t need to talk to them. But it doesn’t really make sense. Why wouldn’t we want to?”

Rhea had looked up to Jenny and Athene. “When were you all taken away from your families?”

“We all must’ve been around five, altogether.”

“Why did they take you away?” asked Nylia.

Athene turned to Jenny and started whispering to her in the same tongue she used earlier, and the group could still not make out a word of it.

Nylia leaned over towards Macen. “What does it sound like to you?”

“Like every language from Earth put together. But like, there’s still something in there.”

Finally, Jenny and Athene had stopped whispering and came around towards the group again.

“There is a lot we will have to explain to you in order to give you all the full picture.” Athene’s voice had gone from a bright tune to much lower and serious. “There’s a reason most of the people you’ve come across have kept it from you, but we won’t spare you anything. So are you very sure you want to know?”

The group all looked at each other, trying to sense if any one of them were scared of what was to come. Then they all turned back and nodded.

Athene started. “Our gods were the first who ruled Navia. They took great care in leading and protecting us. But they soon realized their stay on the planet was draining them of their power, and they would need to return to their home. They decided to leave a piece of themselves behind, and those they deemed worthy would have the piece and lead the Navians just as the gods had. The people who had the piece were called Dinjarians, which means ‘a god’s representative’.”

“The powers the Dinjarians had were passed to the next worthy people as the old ones passed. No one truly knew how they were brought up, as Dinjarians' birth parents always seem to disappear. So the Dinjarians were raised by other members of whichever community they were found in. When they would turn 5, they would all be brought together and raised to be perfect leaders of Navia,” continued Jenny.

“As the times changed and Navia grew, the ideal leader stopped being someone to rule a tribe and turned more into someone to lead countries. Dinjarians started growing to be politicians and heads of government. And then that changed from people who could lead countries to people who were well recognized in the arts.”

“So instead of being in government it turned to-” Rhea’s eyes widened. “-actors and musicians.”

Athene nodded.

“And that became the turning point. Suddenly big executive media companies started shilling out the idea that Dinjarians staying with their families would lead them to being bums and unsuccessful. They said that they should be the ones who manage and take care of the Dinjarian children.” Athene looked sad and sighed. “And of course everyone believed them.”

Nylia looked as if she became uneasy. “Nothing...nothing bad happened to the children, right?”

“The companies lied. Now that they had permission from the government, they could do whatever they wanted to Dinjarian kids. And if the children didn’t do what those companies wanted...they could punish those children any way they saw fit. Anyway.”

Although Athene was sad, Jenny looked quite the opposite. She looked livid.

“What were once future leaders were now too scared and hurt to do anything against the companies that owned them. The same companies would get them into horrible situations and lead them to horrible fates.” Jenny then let out a shaky breath and whispered. “It’s still happening today.”

Jenny and Athene took time to explain the rest of their history. The group listened and only interrupted for questions a couple of times. By the end of the discussion, the aura of the room had become very somber. The group couldn’t help but feel awful for the predicament the 183 were put in.

“And no one else knows about this?” Rhea asked with a sad expression.

Athene shook her head. “We’ve only ever told you four. It would be too dangerous to tell anyone else. They wouldn’t expect us to tell you.”

“That’s one of the reasons we wanted to meet you all so badly,” said Jenny. “When we found out there was a chance to meet life from a planet out of this system, we figured at least we could share this with at least someone before...well, before those bosses do whatever they’re gonna do with us.

Before the group could respond, Abbia had come back into the room with the same children Athene had let back outside. “Athene, I thought you were going to let your siblings be in the conversation as well. Seeing them outside was not what I expected. Anyway, although I wish you all could have a longer conversation, you all have already been here for almost two hours. I need to take the representatives to their hotel.

The group got up, thanked Jenny and Athene for the conversation, and followed Abbia out of the building to the car.

“What did you all talk about with them?” asked Abbia.

“Oh, nothing too noteworthy. But, not like it’s not worth reporting, i-it's just some usual...stuff.” Macen tried to figure out how to keep the conversation from getting known by Abbia. They had no idea if Abbia was one of the people Jenny and Athene couldn’t trust. Abbia was sceptical, but didn’t push any further.

After Abbia showed the group to their hotel rooms and was about to leave, Darien stopped her.

“Abbia, do you know when we will be able to see the 183 again? I mean, we did come to hang out with them, yes?”

“I honestly have no idea. I’m sure they’d like to, but they will probably be a bit busy for the next couple of days.”

“But isn’t that the same time we’ll be here?” Darien asked, though Abbia didn’t answer that question.

As Abbia said, it seemed that 183 didn’t have the time to meet with the group as much as they wanted to. They had received many gifts and notes from the 183 for compensation, though Nylia and Macen said the gifts were likely a PR stunt and nothing Jenny and Athene would want to say.

The group had come to the fearful conclusion that some one must’ve heard what they had talked about and now Jenny and Athene were experiencing on of those horrid punishments.

On the last day of the voyage, the group was pleased to find out the 183 had been able to see them off to their ship. They were aware speaking about the incidents would be unwise, as they were surronded by many gaurds, social workers, and agents. They took the time to become somewhat acquainted with Jenny and Athene’s siblings, who were also actors and working in the arts.

At last, they had been brought back to the air field. Jenny and Athene gave them farewell handshakes, btu it was quite obvious that no one truly wanted to let go.

“I hope you will be able to come back to this planet, dear representatives. Perhaps we will have more time to truly learn of each others’ cultures.” Athene sounded very professional as she spoke to the group.

“I hope we will meet again as well.” Jenny concluded.

The 183 bowed as they did when the had first been introduced, and the group was taken through the building once again, back to the ship.

“Do you think,” Macen asked Rhea as they were putting their belongings up, “That we will ever see them again?”

“I surely hope so.” answered Rhea.

It was all wishful thinking, however. Rhea, Macen, Nylia, and Darien would not go back to Navia after the event. They knew not of what happened to the 183 after they left. In fact, it would be many years before they would hear of Navia or Dinjarians in a way that wasn’t related to them. It would then be their job to ready the next representatives of Earth for Navia. It would then be the time they learned of what had come to their friends galaxies away.

But that would be later. Much later. And until then, all they could do was look up into the sky from Earth, and dream of the people from the far out world.

1 note · View note

smashbuddies · 4 years

Text

Do It for Them, Do It Again: Pt. 2

“Hey, you wanna play a game?”

Daniel blinked, then looked over at His Diamond from his position on the arm of their throne. It had only been a couple years since he’d been given to them, but he’d come to learn how restless they were. But this was the first time they’d suggested a game. Thankfully, he knew how to play the important ones. Wartime Strategy, Invasion, Kindergarten Simulator…

“What do you have in mind, My Diamond?”

Instead of opening the holo-screen, like he expected, they shot up with a wide grin. “You’ll see! We just need to go to the Garden first.”

“The… Garden?”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll love it!”

They took off, leaving him to scramble after them. It wasn’t hard to catch up, but he still stuck to their side as much as he could. Just in case.

Suddenly, they stopped in the middle of two intersecting hallways. Eyebrows furrowed, they looked down every direction they could go, even the one the two of them came from, and muttered under their breath, “Which way was it again?”

He straightened himself out and laced his hands together. “Do you need help?”

“No, no, I got it!”

Without further ado, they grabbed his hand and led him along. Left, right, right, straight, left- they took him through countless turns and halls before finally heading through a pair of doors that screeched horrendously as they opened.

“Here it is!” they announced, looking down at him with that same grin. “Are you excited?”

The room was barren, save for a small platform in the middle. And dust. Too much for his liking, but he knew better than to say that. Still, it wasn’t quite what he expected. But perhaps he didn’t quite know as much as he thought he did. The drawback of being undercooked…

“Of course I am,” he finally answered with a polite smile. A little lie wouldn’t hurt. “The Garden is very lovely.”

They snorted, then put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. “This is where the teleporter is, Daniel. It’s gonna take us to the Garden.”

Oh. How embarrassing.

Daniel took a deep bow at the waist while his face burned with shame. “I’m so sorry, My Diamond. I should’ve known.”

That hand trailed down to cup his cheek. “Hey, it’s okay,” His Diamond reassured. “Just a little mistake, nothing to be sorry about. I mean, it’s not like you’ve ever been before, so how could you know?”

“A fair point,” he breathed out as the thrumming in his gem slowed to a stop. There were still too many thoughts running through his head, but at least he hadn’t made them angry. That was the most important thing. “Thank you, My Diamond.”

“No problem.” They gave him a smile that undid all his progress in calming down, then pointed a thumb toward the teleporter. “Think you’re ready?”

“Yes, My Diamond.”

“Cool, let’s go!”

Teleportation was certainly a new experience. Daniel had never been outside of the Citadel, let alone off the planet entirely. But the flashes of color passing by, the momentum of shooting through space faster than light itself, distracted him from any worries he could have had. For a brief couple of seconds, nothing else mattered.

It was very freeing, actually.

One last burst of light, and the two of them arrived in a domed enclosure, filled with Homeworld architecture and…

“Huh,” His Diamond said as they ran a hand through their hair. “I don’t remember it looking like this.”

Daniel frowned as he took it all in. Something incomprehensible hung in the air. It reminded him of Gray Diamond. Was this normal? Where was the color?

Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention. A flower about the size of his hand, outstretched toward him, petals twitching uselessly. Perhaps it had been a more vibrant color at some point, but now it was a sickly sort of brown. Almost yellow in some patches. The sight put a heavy weight in his chest.

Carefully, he knelt down and scooped the flower up. It lolled back and forth, spreading its petals out like it was looking at him. Pleading with what little it had.

“It needs help,” he whispered and ran a thumb along the underside of its petals.

His Diamond squatted down next to him, head cocked and eyebrows furrowed together. “How do you know that?”

“Just look at it, My Diamond.”

“…Uh-huh. What am I looking for?”

He did a double-take. Did they really not get it?

“See how it’s moving?” He ran a finger along the stem, causing the flower to flutter open and shut several times. “It’s asking us for help.”

Their nose scrunched up in obvious distaste. “It’s a plant.”

“I know that, but—”

“Daniel, it can’t even think.”

A jolt went through him. Right. What was he even thinking, trying to argue with a Diamond? He was just a Pearl, a barely functioning one, at that. Gingerly, he placed the flower back on the ground, then stood to his feet, hands laced perfectly in front of himself.

“Yes, My Diamond.”

Following suit, they slapped a heavy hand against his back, making him wince, and said in a completely unbothered tone, “Let’s just go back. And don’t tell Red about this, huh? She’ll totally shatter me if she finds out that I let this place die.”

“…Yes, My Diamond.”

————————————————————————————————————It was only a day after His Diamond had taken him to the Garden that it started to invade his thoughts again. The hours seemed to scrape on by painfully as he was consumed with the most horrible feeling. That flower, he could’ve tried to do something for it. Anything. And he didn’t.

So what? It’s only an organic life-form. They’re supposed to die anyway.

But it didn’t have to die now. Shouldn’t it have the chance to live as much as it could?

That’s not how a proper gem should be thinking. Organic life dies, that’s it. It doesn’t affect the empire at all.

Then tell him, why did that feel so wrong?

“Hello? Homeworld to Daniel! You in there?”

He blinked back into awareness. His Diamond’s hand waved in front of his face, so he turned to look at them. “Yes, My Diamond? Is there anything I can help you with?”

They snorted and gave him a grin, hand pressed against their face as they leaned against the arm of their seat. “Nah, just thought you’d wanna be here when the battle starts. It’s gonna be sick— I heard that the Pyrite they sent is one of the best. He conquered a whole planet by himself, with nothing but his own weapon!”

“That’s... Pretty impressive.”

Thankfully, that was the moment the lights in the arena fell, prompting them to turn their attention away, eyes lit up with excitement.

Two gems walked out onto the battlefield. The Pyrite and a Jade. They made their introductions, but the words slipped through him without sticking at all. He never really cared for these battles in the first place. Something about how His Diamond looked at those gems bothered him. Wasn’t it his job to keep them entertained? That’s what he was made for. Did they think he couldn’t? Was that why they staged these fights?

He didn’t want to think about it.

Instead, he let his mind drift back to the Garden. Maybe there was something he could do for it. And His Diamond. After all, they probably weren’t happy with the state it was in. Especially if the other Diamonds would be upset too. So why not? They were already distracted by their oh-so-exciting arena.

That was enough justification to slip away from their side unnoticed and make his way through the winding halls of the Citadel. His memory wasn’t the best, but he was able to puzzle his way through the maze until he finally reached the teleporter.

Everything flew by so quickly, he almost felt dizzy when he landed. But that didn’t stop him from immediately heading forward at a brisk pace. As he passed by the flower, which almost seemed to follow him with its petals, he called out, “Don’t worry! I’ll fix this!”

First step: find a terminal. There had to be one around somewhere.

It didn’t take long to come across a lead. Up ahead, towering over the entire Garden, was a gazebo, covered in sickly green vines and intricately carved fractals. If he were to set up an important piece of technology somewhere, that would certainly be it.

Of course, he was right. Practically beaming with pride, he approached and opened it up. After it took a little too long to boot up, the holo-screen appeared in a flash of red, giving him a list of pages.

Log of Organic Lifeforms.

Layout of the Garden.

Potential Dangers of the Asteroid Belt.

Working List of Banned Activities.

“Layout of the Garden,” he muttered under his breath. “That seems promising.”

His eyes scanned through the countless paragraphs of information, glazing over after just a couple. This was far too much. How was anyone supposed to glean anything useful?

Wait, there!

Daniel opened up a section on something called the Feeder. A device put into place to shower down a mixture of nutrients on the Garden, restocking itself from the very life it maintained. But that didn’t make sense. If things were already in perfect balance, how did the Garden get like this?

“Only one way to find out…”

According to the terminal, the Feeder was placed inside the dome itself, directly in the center. What it didn’t tell him, though, was that the Feeder was almost impossible to get to from the inside. And he didn’t realize that himself until he was directly underneath it, head craned and eyes squinted as he tried to gauge the distance.

There had to be something he could do. He racked his gem for even the smallest hint. Most gems had some special capabilities: teleportation, shape-shifting, telekinesis, flight. Any of those would be a great help. But Pearls weren’t made to do that. Even if they were, Daniel himself would still be just as useless…

Hot shame surged through him. Lately it seemed like everything in the universe just wanted to bring attention to that. He’d tried his best to ignore all the small signs, but each one added its own weight and he didn’t know how much more he could hold before he shattered.

He reached up and plucked a star— the constant reminder of his imperfections— from his hair. It twinkled, almost taunting him. You’re defective, it said. Undercooked. Useless. You can’t even help Your Diamond with The Garden. If they get in trouble, it’ll be your fault. And then you’ll be s h a t t e r e d.

With a pained cry, he threw it as hard as he could. It was stupid, in hindsight. But he just wanted it gone. And maybe he hoped it would fix him. Then he’d be able to solve this whole Garden mess and finally make His Diamond proud.

As soon as it hit the ground, it bounced back into the air and began to expand. It didn’t stop until it was nearly as tall as him and three times as wide. Then it just floated there. Completely still, with that same glimmer it always had. His own wide eyes bored into him as his mouth fell open in almost horrified awe.

“…What just happened?”

No answer. He pressed his hands close to his chest and stepped backwards. It closed the distance he made without any hesitation.

Throwing a hand forward, he took another step and demanded, “Stop!”

To his surprise, it stayed still. A little glimmer of hope sparked in his gem. Could it really follow his directions? And if so, then could he…?

Several quick little experiments gave him the answer he needed. He could move the star anyway he wanted, lay it flat, shrink it down, blow it back up, even have it float up above his head several feet. But the most important part was that he could do this with all his stars. It took a lot of concentration, but he could even manipulate them all at once if he wanted to. And it gave him a crazy idea.

His hands waved about while he worked. “You go here, and you go there, the rest will fall in line like this and… Done!”

Before him was the beginnings of a makeshift spiral staircase. Not nearly high enough to reach the Feeder— in fact, it didn’t even make it a fourth of the way. A work in progress, to be sure, but he was more than ready to work.

With a deep breath, he grabbed two fistfuls of his skirt and steeled himself.

Three…

Two…

One…!

Go!

He took off. His breath hitched when the first star almost gave way beneath his weight, but he willed it to keep still for the split-second before he was on the next one.

Step by step, faster than he thought he could run, he bounded along his own stars, eyes glued to the next one in line. Before he knew it, the end was in sight. But he didn’t even think about stopping. That would only make this fall apart. He needed to keep moving, to focus, to make this work for the Garden, for His Diamond.

Right as he made to stop onto thin air, his gem thrumming in distress as he stared at the ground below, a star soared up to boost him along. The next star followed suit, and he let out a joyous laugh. It really worked!

And there he was. Perched on a star, directly underneath the Feeder.

Streaks of light nearly blinded him when he tried to get a closer look at it. When he blinked away the spots in his vision, he caught the fleeing image of three comets, all too close to the Garden for his liking. At least there didn’t seem to be any others wanting to interrupt him. He let out a huff and tried again, while still keeping a wary eye on everything on the other side of the glass.

Was it even on? The maintenance panel opened up at the very least, though he did have to jam his fingers in and force it. Ouch! Nothing seemed to be out of place, though Daniel didn’t really know what to look for. But he could easily see the important parts. Wires were plugged in properly, switches were flipped on, there was a tank full of bright green liquid that he could only assume was nutrients for the Garden.

The only odd thing was the power source. Was it askew? One push made it click into place and the Feeder instantly responded with a whirring hum.

He stepped back and watched as mist began to spray out and gently fall over the entirety of the Garden. As it soaked in, the plants below bloomed up in response. Several took longer to regain their color, but they still added to the spontaneous ocean of hues underneath him. Blue, purple, pink, yellow… Too many to count, all he could do was marvel at the beauty of it. This was life. Growth. And he helped it flourish.

This feeling was new. Almost too much to contain.

He wanted more.

“Daniel!?”

For a split-second, he locked eyes with His Diamond and time stood still. Then he felt the tell-tale pull of gravity yank him down and the rush of air as the ground came rocketing toward him. A cry escaped him and he flipped himself around, eyes scanning for the stars that should’ve been there. He found one and threw his hand out, trying to will it to grow, but he didn’t have time.

Before he could even think about what would happen to him once he crashed, he felt the full impact of a body beneath him. Two strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him close, until his nose was right next to His Diamond’s gem. It thrummed, the sound low and pulsing with quick succession. He inched closer, tempted to try and comfort it. But he didn’t know how.

A hand cupped against his face, dragging his attention upwards. They stared down at him with a mixture of horror and relief, chest heaving with deep, ragged breaths.

“You’re okay,” they said, voice barely above a whisper. Their hand found the back of his head and pressed his face into the crook of their neck. “Oh my god, you’re okay! What were you even doing up there!?”

He swallowed thickly and pulled back to look at them. “I was fixing the Feeder, My Diamond. The power source had gotten knocked loose.”

They ran a hand through their hair, pinning him with the most incredulous look he’d ever seen. “What?”

“Now the Garden won’t die,” he clarified with a sweeping hand toward the lively foliage. “See?”

Those piercing eyes never left him. He shrank back under their gaze and found himself unable to meet it after just a few short seconds.

“…Did I do something wrong, My Diamond?”

A sigh escaped them. “Look, Daniel, you can’t just—”

“Incoming call from Red Diamond! Purple Diamond, please report to the Garden terminal!”

Everything went cold. But His Diamond rushed to the terminal with him still in their arms, far before he was ready to face what lied ahead. It immediately reacted to their presence and showed Red Diamond’s impassive face as she sat on her throne.

“Purple,” she greeted politely, one hand poised in front of her face. Her eyes flickered down for a brief second toward him before sliding back up. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“Nope,” they replied through gritted teeth and tightened their hold on him. “What do you want?”

“Always cutting right to the chase,” she said with a smile. “What if I just wanted to catch up with you? It’s been a little while since we’ve last talked. How are you liking your Pearl?”

“He’s great. No complaints, he does everything I want and never gets out of line.”

“Then would you care to explain—” she leaned forward, all traces of humor gone from her face— “why I caught him sneaking off on his own, to a Garden that you let fall into disrepair, and putting himself in danger to try and fix it?”

“Uh, well—”

“Put him down. I’d like to talk with him alone.”

“Hey, wait—”

“Purple.”

They drew in a sharp breath. But did as they were told, leaving him alone under Red Diamond’s scrutinizing gaze. He stood perfectly still, hands laced in front of himself. Be perfect. It’s the only way you’re getting out of this.

“Do you realize how lucky you are, Daniel?”

“No, Red Diamond.”

“I’ll tell you, then.” Her tone grew softer, almost back to what it had been just a minute ago. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but whenever a terminal that hasn’t been active in over a century gets turned on, Gray and I receive a notice about it. A safeguard to keep our old technology from being misused.”

Then that meant…

“Why, if Gray had wanted to deal with it, who knows what would’ve happened,” she continued casually with a wave of her hand. “You’d most likely be shattered by now. He’s not nearly as forgiving toward wayward gems as I am.”

His gem pulsed. “Wayward?”

She almost seemed taken aback, then brushed it off quick a laugh. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t use that word quite yet. But you’re awfully close to the line, Daniel. You’d best be careful not to step over it.”

“…Yes, Red Diamond.”

#snailbitch #do it for them #my diamond au #revamp #fic #mod cantolope

0 notes

jdondo · 7 years

Text

Hey there! It’s been awhile, yet again. So sorry about that. But remember, I am living my life outside this blog. Very much outside, considering I can’t seem to get it together enough to write anything… Actually, that’s not entirely true. I love writing. It’s the cleaning aspect of this whole process that I’m not all that keen on. But, I’m getting there. Sloooowly. And some of you (cough*Jim*) have so graciously let me know that I’m taking a while. So this one’s for you.

Fun stuff today, guys! Finally the kitchen. Holy cow was this one an insane process. We decided right off the bat to take out LITERALLY everything, including several layers of flooring. It was disgusting and ancient and had to go. There was a built-in that I would have liked to keep if the back of it wasn’t made out of the wall that we promptly tore down. They’re doing that all the time in TV shows and I never quite understood the excitement until we got to actually do it. I’m pretty positive that was the first decision my Dad made, conceptually. Besides knowing as much as possible was coming out of the house, he knew he wanted that wall to come down. Best decision ever, in case you’re wondering. Even though we had to get rid of the (terribly dirty) built in, you can bet your bottom dollars I sat there and got the hardware off and the detriment of my fingers. Please, people, don’t just paint over hardware. Not only do I seriously disagree with the look but I have felt the literal pain of stabbing myself with a flathead screwdriver in order to save them. Anyway, I guess I’ll show y’all some before photos to give you a better idea of the horrendous state of the kitchen:

THE built-in I wrote of

The only thing left of this entire kitchen is the hardware from this beast

This is half of the wall that went bye-bye. Also, those curtains belong to the window that is now a door.

So much cabinet space, right?

That doorway leads to the two bedrooms

I lifted that countertop off the cabinets like it was nothing

The wall is gone!

Appalling, right? I can’t believe anybody lived in it like this. And, mind you, multiple people did. So, the space itself was nice. Surprisingly large for the overall size of the house. But that was the singular good thing about this area. (Side note: I feel like I’m plagiarizing so many hosts and designers on HGTV right now) Anyhow, the wall we took out our pent-up aggression on (we’re Morse’s so there was quite a bit) is the one with the single cabinet and the built-in. That opened up the current dining room and kitchen. I’m pretty sure they used the dining room as some weird living area but that’s not important to my tale. So after the wall came down, the cabinets and water-logged dishwasher (barf) came out. Then the window that was to the right of the disappearing wall magically became a door. Ok, not magically, I’m sure there was a lot of work put into it but it was quite the surprise to me.

If you haven’t gathered this about me yet (I’d be shocked if you didn’t), I love to keep ORIGINAL details anywhere possible. I love old things (An Old Passion, get it?) and original to this era is awesome to me. That being said, I’m pretty sure there is literally one thing that is original to the house and that was hard won on several mens’ parts. I am speaking of the beautiful hardwood floors that were under about 8 layers of other crap in the kitchen. For whatever reason, that is the only place there was hardwood. Bummer but I’ll take whatever original flooring I can take. Sam worked so hard to get that floor to show. So did my dad and brother and neighbor but Sam really took to that project. After all the layers were painstakingly peeled up, the floor had to be heavy-duty sanded. Then stained. Then sealed. To be honest, it still needs some more sealant but at least it’s still beautiful and old and original.

As for building the kitchen back up into useful space, that took quite a while. We had to pick cabinets and counters and a floor stain and a layout etc etc etc. Thankfully my Dad and I have very similar tastes (generally) so the cabinets and counters came pretty dang easy from a design standpoint. Also, Lowe’s does the layout for you. Which makes sense because they kinda need to know what to order. So after some back and forth and just a touch of our patented terrible communication, the cabinets were ordered. They were set to arrive with plenty of time to get them in and get everything else set up for us to move on in. Did it happen like that? Of course not. I’m sure I annoyed everyone at my then-job talking about finally seeing the cabinets *that* night for two weeks or so. And then same with the counters…although we did move in without those. Plywood is not preferable, in case you’re ever considering that (please don’t consider that for reals). Anyway, there was a bit of an issue in the area of cabinets vs. drawers. See, I chose (because they specifically asked me, by the way) to have extra drawers rather than cabinets. And after waiting for-flipping-ever for the cabinets did I get those drawers they told me I could have? No. No, I did not. Sure, I know, it’s not the end of the world. Nor is it a giant problem. But to be looking for something specific and then get gypped is not ideal, obviously. And a cabinet is fine…just fine though, Lowe’s. Ok, ok, enough complaining. Onto the fun part, if you can call it that. Here are ‘now’ photos:

General layout

He insists on following me around and being in every photo

The three bulb light was the last major thing to go in

I know you’re (probably not) wondering where the heck my title comes into play here. Well, settle down, I’m about to tell you! The tile. It’s the tile backsplash. You see, I love subway tile. It’s classic, cheap, and good lookin’. I also love to be difficult. Not on purpose, necessarily. But I get a design in my head and my husband and dad are practically forced to go with me on it. So for our first experience tiling you’d think we’d go simple and do the regular pattern, right? Heck no. What fun is that?? So we did herringbone. Because I adore that pattern and they’re good sports. And I couldn’t be happier! So cheers to us! Here’s a closer look:

Totally worth it. And now we know, mostly, what we’re doing when we tackle the bathroom. Anyway, do you understand the layout from the photos? The bar is now where that wall was, almost exactly. The sink is in the same place and the door is where that window I mentioned was. Whether you’re following me or not, it looks a heck of a lot better.

Recognize those stools, by the way? We finally ‘upholstered’ them and they fit quite nicely, if I do say so myself.

Before 1

Before 2

After/Now

Some fun things in the kitchen: My measuring cups are on magnetic hooks on the side of my fridge and I HIGHLY recommend doing that, it’s handy; don’t mind the paint swatches on the outside of the door…; if you need to take sweeping photos of your kitchen, just hide crap! There are dishes in the sink and stuff behind the fridge because I didn’t feel like deep cleaning; and lastly, I am so grateful the only wall there wasn’t shiplap on was the one we wanted down. And those are my random closing thoughts.

As usual, pat on the back for making it this far. I realize these posts seem to get longer and longer but I assure you there is nothing I can do about it.

Thanks everybody. You’re the best.

Jaid

Oh wait, don’t forget to check out my Etsy page! http://www.etsy.com/shop/SawyerHome

Starting Out Difficult Hey there! It's been awhile, yet again. So sorry about that. But remember, I am living my life outside this blog.

#DIY #dog #home #kitchen #renovation #subway tile

0 notes