#( . prerecorded | queue . )

[mute-call]

" Fritz is dressing as a pirate captain for Purim this year. I'm his... 'quartermaster,' I think? Did you know that's what the second in command is called? Because I didn't. "

[mute-call]

That makes sense. It would probably be safer, too; despite Michael's expertise, he's still living. Human. Vulnerable. Better that the children take out any lingering anger on Steven than on the new guard. It's not like they can kill Bell a second time. ...right?

Confusion settles thickly in the air, along with a prickle of something bordering on alarm. Steven could never have anticipated a response like this.

William Afton. Steven recognizes the name, of course. Who wouldn't? In addition to being a core piece of the Fazbear company, Afton had been suspected by many in the community when the disappearances had occurred. But there had never been enough evidence to actually tie him to anything, and now it's obvious why. The bodies had been here all along, hidden in plain sight, and the kidnapper--the killer--had simply been too good and too smart to get caught.

Except by his own son.

Part of Steven recoils in disgust at the realization that Michael has kept quiet about this for so long, but most of him understands. Would Bell have been brave enough to confront a madman like that? Especially if that person were his own father? Probably not. Michael's a victim too, in his own way, and he's doing everything he can now to make things right.

Steven's eyes, bulging and glassy, get somehow dimmer as what's left of him leaves his corpse and sets a gentle, chilled hand on Mike's shoulder. For a split second, he appears as a static, humanoid haze before the hallucination flickers and fades; instead of the speaker crackling out a few words, a layered whisper sounds out (more in Mike's mind than in the air around them).

"I'm... not entirely sure. Maybe you'd be able to speak with those kids more directly than I can? Or..." ...No, he shouldn't say that Steven could keep him company during his final shifts. That's too selfish to ask of him.

Who is he? Mike takes in a too shallow breath. He has to say it, he knew he would have to. He had been bracing for it.

His disguise blinks for a moment as he thumbs the disc in his hand idly. He's no more alive than Steven is. But that's not what he needs to explain right now.

"My... my father—he's... he's the one who did this to them. The owner..." He hugs himself so tightly his fingernails almost dig into his sides, stare intense as he looks cautiously from side to side, as if someone else will hear.

"...William Afton." His weak breath shudders. "That's how I know. He started coming home... off. Too happy after he was angry for so long. I wanted to know why, so I poked my nose in too far and found out. He told me to stay quiet. I thought I owed it to him for..." He trails off, gaze distant again. There's a long pause.

"...I'm not a good person, either, Mr. Bell. It's my job to make things right. Do you understand?" He says this like he believes he's no better than the man he's talking about. But is this the truth?

[mute-call]

N.SFW !! like legitimately n.sfw bc i. want to write a sinday post for once in my life ,

//

sorry in advance but like. PG is a PRIME candidate for the classic “let’s put that mouth of yours to better use” line. shut him up when he starts rambling in bed. tbh i think he’d really like giving oral. leave him breathless / shove his head down & choke him on it?? guaranteed to fluster & excite him

in general i think he’s kind of passive / happy to go with the flow. he appreciates being told what to do & what his partner wants from him, but isn’t fantastic at communicating his own wants. really likes praise. considers himself capable of being a switch when it comes to dom/sub vibes but in reality he’s just not very good at being dominant.

also in terms of scenarios. dirty talk etc over the phone but that almost goes without saying /lh

[team-enigma-official]

[A VIDEO IS UPLOADED DATED 7/27/23 TITLED- "GOTCHA!"

Security Camera footage appears to be playing of a Team Enigma raid of a warehouse somewhere in Hoenn. It is dark, and the flickering of the low quality security Camera feed makes it hard to make out the darkly clad Enigma Grunts as they move through the brush.

They seem to be wary as they approach the door, almost uncertain, looking around nervously.

Without warning the camera feed starts to flicker before all of a sudden....

CLICK!

A figure rushes back into the shadows of the building- disappearing as suddenly as the projector turned on.

It takes a moment for a video to load, but when it does... it's all dark, at first. Or... is it? Light from, presumably, a computer screen lights up the outline of a figure in a hoodie, sunglasses, and a mask. None of their features are shown.* None *of them. And the figure begins to speak.]*

"Hey, so, welcome to the abandoned warehouse."

*[Their voice is... HEAVILY warped via a baby voice changer. It would be hilarious, if it weren't so unsettling at this time of night.

CRASH!

Shutters made of metal close around the doors and windows, trapping the grunts inside.]*

"I know why you're here. You wanted the Clip, yeah? Sorry, but... you're not getting that. And before you can protest... this is a prerecorded message, you're not getting *any* answers either."

*[They turn their head to drink from a water bottle. It's... a VERY long sip. The voice changer warps the sound of the sip too. It would be funny, if the grunts weren't trapped.]*

"I'm off the premises by now, so don't bother following me. I've also taken the liberty of remotely downloading this file and uploading it to your Rotumblr queue. And also changing your passwords. So have fun with that. And, Oh yeah..."

*[The sound of the well-known jigglypuff song comes on in the background, drowning out the sound of the building alarms outside.]*

"Good night."

END OF VIDEO FEED]

[chameleon3]

there is a queue but I could probably sneak it in lol (I do occasionally put fleetwood mac in my hours)

I’m procrastinating on prerecording my show rn

haha okk since it's a classic hits channel i'm thinking into the mystic by van morrison or closer to fine by the indigo girls?

go go go prerecord now!!!!! trust it will be so much easier now

i have to log off anyway so i can't chat anymore :(

[mute-call]

Steven lets out a wordless, startled noise, jumping to his feet to try to help Will before the reality of the situation catches up to him. It's one of the other children, and he's probably not hurting Willow-- not that anyone really could, at this point.

"Uh," Bell manages, unsure whether he should try to follow the pair or keep his distance. He's made progress with the younger of the two spirits, but this is someone new entirely. ...someone who doesn't sound all too pleased, at the moment.

"We were just, um, drawing!" he calls, taking a half-step forward.

"Everything's fine, Will's fine! He was just showing me how good he is at, y'know, um. Moving things around, and all. ...is that Derek, back there? Did you come to check on your brother? I promise, we were just talking, that's all. ...are you alright, Will?"

Will seemed to smile -- as always, hard to tell with him. "Thank. Um. Thank you." He wrung two crayons in his hands at once before resuming his hard work and pushing up his hat to see better.

He did not, however, see his older sibling jump out of the wall to tackle him from behind with cat-like precision. They both landed on the opposite side of the other wall.

"What are you doing?" he snapped, staying out of sight.

Being hard to communicate with apparently ran in the family, because it was a little tricky to tell at whom the question was aimed. Judging by Will's almost completely lack of a reaction, though, probably not at him.

[vcpphones2]

Features of a Phone System for Businesses

A business phone system shows customers that you’re a legitimate business and not just an independent contractor or freelancer. There are a number of options for phone systems for businesses, with varying monthly costs and features.

Features to look for include: visual voicemail, auto-attendant, call recording, and more. Keep reading to learn more about the different types of phone systems for businesses.

Call Routing & Forwarding

Call routing is a business phone system for businesses feature that automatically directs calls to the right person or department based on a set of rules. This includes queuing calls for priority, time-of-day routing, skill-based routing, and more. With this, businesses can connect with customers around-the-clock while ensuring that no customer queries go unanswered even outside of standard business hours.

When a caller dials your business number, the automated queue process recognizes their input in response to an interactive voice response or auto-attendant menu of preset choices and routes them accordingly. This eliminates long wait times and ensures that the call is handled by a knowledgeable agent or department to meet the needs of the customer.

In addition to priority queuing, MightyCall also provides smart routing options like round-robin distribution and shift-based scheduling. These ensure that all team members get the opportunity to receive incoming calls, reducing missed opportunities and increasing agent productivity. This, in turn, boosts the quality of customer service.

Auto-Attendant

Auto-attendant is a telephone call management system that automatically answers and transfers incoming calls without the need for an operator. It is a convenient solution for businesses to manage their calls efficiently and impress their customers with a professional first impression.

When a customer calls, the Auto-Attendant greets them with a pre-recorded message and a set of options such as "Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for Support" which then directs the call to the correct department or employee based on their selection. The auto attendant can also provide on-hold messages or company information that enhances the customer experience while they wait to speak to someone.

A well-implemented auto-attendant system reduces caller frustration that can be caused by reaching a busy signal and extended waiting times. It can also improve business productivity and customer service by enabling businesses to streamline their call-routing processes without the need for full-time operators. For larger companies, a multi-level auto-attendant allows for complex call flows that can include multiple departments and employees.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

IVR is a type of business phone system software that automatically routes callers to the correct department or agent based on their responses to a prerecorded menu. This enables businesses to provide support outside of regular business hours, reduce first contact resolution times and decrease operational costs without hiring extra agents.

Often, the IVR menu is navigated through keypad inputs called dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) tones or by using voice commands. IVR solutions with advanced technology, like speech recognition and natural language processing, can identify callers’ questions and determine their needs more accurately than simple keypad inputs.

In addition to reducing wait times, IVR software can provide self-service options for common issues and allow customers to leave a message for a callback during normal business hours. This is especially important as surveys indicate that more than half of consumers feel that one minute of hold time is too long. Offering a queue callback option ensures that the customer’s problem is handled quickly and professionally.

Call Recording

A call recording system captures digital audio from a business phone or voice over IP telephony application and packages it so that conversations can be analyzed. These analyses help with training, service optimization and customer satisfaction. It also helps businesses meet compliance requirements for regulated industries like banks, trading floors, and public services.

Integrated call recording tools unify communications, reducing the need to switch between applications and systems. Some features include virtual receptionists, IVR menus, AI-powered transcription and video chat. This reduces the amount of time employees spend toggling between programs, which studies show creates inefficiencies.

As a result, it’s important for companies to choose a tool that easily integrates with other communication and CRM systems, such as Salesforce. Dan Khasis, founder of Route4Me, says he prioritized flexibility and integration when choosing a business phone system for his law firm. He explains that the solution had to be compatible with other platforms for client case management, document storage, and marketing automation.

[otsuka-takeo-fanpage]

Kyoulog Radio Episode 24

今日ログラジオ第24回 (26 July 2024)

I will roughly summarise what happened during the episode. Forgive me if there’s any mistakes. I won’t be uploading the photos here. You can check their official twitter account which I have added the link above.

Kyoulog radio was suppose to be a nama(live) radio when it first started and it wasn’t release frequently. Just this year during the February Fanmeeting 2024, they have decided to continue the radio (which was on semi hiatus) by prerecording the radio instead of doing it live. Before this they were active by doing fanmeeting events like twice in a year or so but rarely do nama radio due to schedule conflict I guess.

This radio is mainly on topics about games.

They all played beyblade before the radio recording. Sumiya brought the beyblades and the stadium. They were wondering why the maximum beyblade that can compete in the “stadium” at once is 3 instead of 4 beyblades.

They asked anyone plays any games recently. Ishii san is the only one actively playing games. Sumiya mention he plays the new Idolm@ster gakumas.

Ishii san asked, “Can I not touch on this topic of this script?” www

Taketi: “Well, I got married.” Everyone laughed because Ishii san initially didn’t want to mention it (jokingly)

Everyone wishes him congratulations. This is the first time on this Kyoulog radio Taketi officially announced his marriage. It’s already the 2nd month since the marriage announcement but they didn’t manage to include it in maybe because of the niconico website having trouble so they didn’t had any radio for a few weeks. So currently they are uploading the latest radio episode on youtube.

They were all planning to do a celebration party/outing for Taketi. They said they’ll update us again once they did it.

An email sender mention they started playing Honkai Star Rail because of Taketi (Otsuka Takeo’s nickname in this radio) character, Sunday. Taketi and Kikuchi tried playing HSR and were amaze by the game quality on phone

Ishii san queued up for the Nintendo Controller Gacha before the radio recording. He had to queue up 2 times because 1 person can only pull twice. So he has to queue another time so he can get 4 Controller Gacha for the Kyoulog members.

Taketi says the Controller Gacha is like a stress relief toy.

[void-botanist]

Avis & Sorian OTP questions 1/6

I'm finishing out Cady & Declan's version soon but the Sorian and Avis version grabbed me like a vise and the answers basically wrote themselves so I'm gonna queue those up. Here's the first installment.

From this question list.

There are 60 questions, so I’m doing this in 10-question chunks. #soravis otp will give you all of the parts.

Enjoys these two dumbasses pining when they literally don't have to taglist: @vacantgodling Who would end a heated argument by defending their actions with ‘because I love you!’ ? The real question is who has been pressed further in this argument. Sorian is thinking it but he doesn't want to say it because it sounds like a weak retort, so he's saving it as a last resort. Avis is not thinking it but it's true, so with sufficient frustration or a complete lack of other responses, it'll slip out.

What would they do if the other woke in a manic state after a nightmare? Avis's entire strategy for this regardless of who had the nightmare is just to hold Sorian until it passes. Which means that unless he wants something else, this is Sorian's strategy too.

Do they wear the other’s clothes? (sweatshirt, bandana, necklace, etc.) Sorian's too tall for Avis's clothes, so he never borrows them, but he does occasionally start to put something on and then realize that it's not his. Avis tried on his damn sweatpants one time and decided that she wanted a pair and no she doesn't want to talk about it.

Which one is more protective? Who needs to be ‘protected’? Avis is by far the more offensively protective one. Once she decides that Sorian needs her protection (and she definitely used to, mostly re: Sid's nosy-ass mom), it's over for him. He will be protected. He's not complaining. But he is also protective, with the caveat that he tries to step in only when he can be useful.

Describe their cozy night in. Avis puts on her damn sweatpants and pours them a drink and they sit around half-snuggled up talking about nothing. Or possibly she yells at game shows and he pokes fun at her about it and when she gets annoyed about it she switches the channel to the Rade version of HGTV and throws the remote across the room while she lounges in his lap. He either has a great time or now he's talking back to the prerecorded carpentry experts who are killing that poor house and Avis is getting another drink and being slightly disappointed when Sorian retrieves the remote and turns off the TV.

Who would beg the other not to leave? Who has to leave to protect the other? Sorian would have the impulse to beg, but he'd hold it back and let her leave. Avis wouldn't beg exactly, but she'd get close enough. But only Avis would actually succeed at leaving for protective reasons because if Sorian tried to do that she would just doggedly go with him.

Would they build a pillow fort together just because? Absolutely not, Avis would say from inside her pillow fort. Pillow forts are only for a purpose and that purpose is I wanted one. And Sorian would appear with an iced drink that has a little umbrella in it. Is the middle of the day on a Tuesday? Yeah. Is that a cocktail? That's for Avis to know and everyone else to discover based on how much sappier she gets (it's an iced tea lol).

What happens if one of them gets sick? Avis acts like Sorian shouldn't ask too much of her, and then cares for him excellently, significantly by making him do absolutely nothing so he can recover faster. She knows that without her there, he would get back to work too soon, and she's right. (But if you want a little comedy she's totally searching "how to care for sick man" when Sorian isn't looking.) Sorian, meanwhile, doesn't make a fuss about it. He just quietly restructures his whole schedule to make sure she's taken care of and also doesn't get back to work or being obsessed about nonsense before she's actually had time to recover.

What are their thoughts on having children? Avis has always been in the No Absolutely Not category. She got a hysterectomy almost as soon as she could. She doesn't have a parental bone in her body and she knows it. (Don't talk to her about that time she helped a twentysomething abscond across the galaxy. That was different.) Sorian wanted to want kids but feels so awkward around them. He feels like he should be the kind of guy who always gets handed the baby and is good at playing with kids but the only thing he could ever seem to manage with friends' kids was just not letting them do anything bad. So the conversation around "do you want kids" was over pretty much as soon as it started.

Describe their first date. They'd been friends for a while, because Avis's walls are high and impenetrable and she wasn't going to bring up dating first, and he said something about the theatre. So she got them tickets to a play she wanted to see partly to find out if he had anything of merit to say afterward. And he did. He had things to say about themes and narrative foils that she hadn't even thought of yet. And that was when she started to fall for him and retroactively considered that their first date. Before they could have an actual first date, he had to pass her second test, which was demonstrating that he was actually interested in her by asking her on a date. Which he did, and made the opposing move of taking her to see one of his favorite movies without mentioning that it was one of his favorites. She laughed in all the right places and understood what was cool about it, and he was pretty much sold at that point.

[mute-call]

Oh, did that strike a nerve? Desperate glee makes Steven half-smile even as he gets the wind knocked out of him. Finally, he's discovered something that can cut through William's infuriating, awful smugness. Any guilt he feels at using a dead child as a prop is easily pushed aside; Evan might not deserve this, but William certainly does.

He half-expects Afton to keep slamming him into that wall until he sees stars, but instead, William backs off and goes for Foxy. He's... actually going to open the thing up. That's what Steven wanted, but now all he can feel is fear.

What if it's true?

What if Fritz is in there?

What if he's injured, scared, dead, rotting--

Steven doesn't breathe as he straightens up, stumbling forward to see.

He's always loved Foxy, but now the animatronic's mischievous look appears sinister and twisted, more like the wolf in the story of Red Riding Hood than the playful fox that used to entertain both Bells with silly stories of the high seas.

Steven can't delude himself into thinking Fritz is just asleep when the body comes tumbling out of Foxy's stomach. It gets half-caught in the animatronic's internal mechanisms, one hand just barely brushing the floor.

Steven's by its side in an instant, carefully extracting his son from the robot's insides so he can cradle the corpse, rocking it in time with his own sudden, shuddering sobs. Fritz is freezing to the touch, the process of decay already begun. He's a body, not a person, and no amount of emotional numbing can save Steven from having his entire world ripped out from under him.

He doesn't even look back at William; the entirety of his focus has narrowed to the stiff, unmoving form in his arms.

          William's face fell upon hearing Steven's words. He grabbed his shirt collar, slamming him into the wall.           〝 Don't - don't you fucking dare mention Evan, 〞He hissed, glaring down at him. Nothing but anger showed in his eyes and he wanted nothing more but to hurt and kill Steven, let him rot with Fritz in hell.

          Eventually, he let the man drop, staring at him with hatred for another few moments before moving to open Foxy.

          After feeling the heartbreak of his youngest son, his baby boy, he mentioned he would absolutely delight in hearing Steven's cries. He deserved this. He couldn't save Evan, he couldn't save his son.

[mute-call]

Your aesthetic word is…

supernova

a supernova is a large explosion that takes place at the end of a star's life cycle. it's big, bright and beautiful, although quite sad. if you got this result, i wanna tell you that even if trauma still haunts you- even if you have scars, either on your skin or on your soul, you're still wonderful. you still shine, you're the most incredible work of art in the entire universe. give yourself more credit for all the stuff you've gone through, okay? i'm gonna speak for everyone and thank you for letting us be part of your life

tagged by: @52playhouselane (tysm!!)

tagging: @happylabs / @feralreason / @jackokinnies / @dagdasgodslayer / @behindslaughter / @babydxhl / @red-hemlock / @shaepschift / @avemaria / @entitytcken / @greatrspnsibility / @mechanicaldance / and you!

[frxgments-of-frxgments]

❤ Dating Sim Tropes ❤

REPOST AND FILL IN WITH DETAILS ABOUT YOUR MUSE AS IF THEY WERE A CHARACTER IN A DATING SIM.

this is for jay as the district attorney!!! different verses generally follow these same rules, but with small changes

NAME:  █ █ █ █ “Jay” Doe THEIR PROFESSION: District Attorney WHERE THEY CAN BE FOUND: During work hours, either in their office, court, or in the Mayor’s office. Outside of work hours, they’re a homebody, but can be caught out in town or visiting their close friends. FAVOURITE FOOD TYPE: Whatever takes the least amount of time to prep and keeps them going. They hate to stop their work for silly things like “eating” or “sleeping”. FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK: They’re not picky, but if they’re able to choose, they’ll take a simple beer for comfort. FAVOURITE TRAIT: Sincerity. Jay is not someone who will tolerate being jerked around or lied to. They need to know that you like them, and you’re serious about them. If they suspect you’re stringing them along or you’re not true about your intentions? You’ll get stonewalled. Hard. But if you’re genuine with them? They’ll fall hard and fast. WHERE THEY WOULD GO ON A DATE: Somewhere small and low key, where they can focus on who they’re with. Truthfully, they’re happy to be at home doing nothing at all, so long as it’s with who they love, but they’ll also like doing things you enjoy to see you having fun.  IDEAL GIFT: Something low key, but personal. Overly expensive and extravagant gifts are not only insincere to them, but they make them feel painfully aware of their own lesser social status and income. After being quite poor for most of their life, it’s stuck with them. A gift can be as simple as a note written to them, or a flower plucked from a sidewalk bush. The more it shows that you think of them beyond when they’re around, and you pay attention to their likes and dislikes, the more they’ll quietly adore it and keep it forever. WHEN WILL THEY DRINK ALCOHOL: Socially, or after a work day to relax. Back in University, it was very much a vehicle to escape their social isolation and constant anxiety and worry, as bringing booze to a party was a surefire way to be at least tolerated, despite their outcast status. Nowadays, though, they do it to loosen up and help enjoy themselves more, and they’re firm on not drinking if they’re at work or doing important things. TAGGED BY: oh my god, so many people...... this has taken me a while to get to jhdfjh nsfw text under cut for one last (optional) question

HOW MANY DATES UNTIL THEY GO TO BED: It depends. If it’s a fling, or a one night stand, they’ll go right away, but they only do that with people they never intend to speak to again. If it’s a serious relationship? Ages. Like, forever. They’re incredibly dysphoric and self conscious about their body and it effecting how people see them, so finding the confidence and trust to be vulnerable and open with someone for sex is a slow process for them. Things like blowjobs or handjobs or less exposed and intimate forms of sex are easier, but don’t expect them to be stripping naked and baring it all for a long while.

[thevalicemultiverse]

Do you ever wonder if half the people on this show are just workers for the studio who call in and play characters? I means the odds that they manage to get enough weirdos to fill the run time is suspicious.

Alice: It’s not outside the realm of possibility, but trust me, Los Angeles has a LOT of weirdos. And I can confirm at the very least that Gomez is real. And kind of an idiot.

[mute-call]

"Yeah, the things they can do with, uh, a few wires these days-- it's incredible! We don't do any actual work on the characters, but I can see about getting the technicians to let you shadow them sometimes, if that's what you're here for."

Faz. Ent. gets pretty particular about who works on their tech, but what the higher ups don't know won't hurt them, right? What's the harm in letting her poke around a little and satisfy her curiosity?

Bell waits patiently for her to meet the cast, giving her an encouraging smile and thumbs-up when she tries for a wave.

"Great! You'll warm up to them the more you get to know them, too."

What's next? There's the entire tour left, but if she wants to see more of the mechanics of this place, maybe she'd be interested in swinging by the back room first?

"Does it bother you to see animatronics without their, uh, skins on? Heh. We've got a bunch of spare suits and parts in the back you can check out if you'd like, but I know that sort of thing puts some people off." They had an awful incident a while ago where a child snuck past the day guard and saw her favorite characters in pieces. It had practically traumatized the poor kid.

Of course, it's not really about the children's entertainment side of things. She's purely interested in the technical side, and even if she doesn't get to actually work with that part, the job's responsibilities can still be stretched to make her college applications look better, right? But either way, nothing wrong with at least showing more of the interest in that side of things, trying to get a foot in the door for that part.

"I'm mostly interested in the mechanics of it," she admits, "the technology is really something else, here." And it's not what she would do with technology like that, but it was impressive, at least. And maybe, somehow she could learn at least a little, but either way, having the business name on applications would look good.

Normal introductions aren't exactly Addy's strong suit, finding them painfully forced. So being told to say hello to something that's...literally just machines, feels even more unfortunate. More forced and more awkward. Still, she doesn't want to make a bad impression with Mr. Bell, so, after a small beat, she manages a small, awkward wave at the band.

[cactuscomicsco]

so I really didn't mean to just make 4 episodes and dip for like 3 months. I legit have 2 scripts written and a half dozen comics / graphic novels in the queue. it was going to happen. but then I got a little overloaded with work and decided to take a 2-3 week break to prerecord some episodes.

during that break, something ridiculous happened.

I accidentally purchased the entire contents of a comic book store???

I'm going to discuss this in more detail on the podcast itself (because it deserves a whole ass or multiple whole ass episodes), but here are the basics...

my friendly local comic book store went out of business VERY suddenly. I'm talking it was open and operating as per usual and then one day they were like "we're closing down, everything needs to be gone immediately. big sales starting tomorrow."

which, you know, sucks.

I had just gotten back into comics and had been going to this store for a few months.

every week. every wednesday. for months.

I was becoming a part of the local community. learning about comics. spending too much money on them. the usual.

it was awesome.

so to have this happen so abruptly was jarring. I spoke with the owner and main employee who I'd gotten to know, and there is a bigger story here (which we're saving for the pod, sorry folks), but essentially they announced it Tuesday evening and needed to be out by end of day Friday.

at first I was just like "aw man, what a bummer." but then my traitorous brain had an idea.

~ you are a vendor at a store. yoooou could buy some comics. yooooooou could sell them. youuuuuuu. ~

me.

I had some cash in my savings. not enough, I thought, to buy them out. but I could get some cheap inventory. woo deals! and whatever.

so on Wednesday I go talk to the owner in person.

yes, he will sell me some comics for cheap. yes he will also sell me some of the custom built shelves for said comics. but it needed to be done IMMEDIATELY.

ok I can get some movers I say. they will get the shelves for me.

they need to do it tomorrow he says. "we'll see if the doors are even open tomorrow or if the pm changes the locks." he shrugs. I am concerned. but I move forward anyway.

movers come and get the shelves (thank fuck the locks weren't changed? and thank fuck for last minute movers omg). they are brought to my house and put in my garage. I go back to the flcs after work and pack up boxes of comics. customers continue to shuffle in and buy comics too. yay deals and whatever.

customers are sad about the closing. I am sad. we do not understand. (dear reader, I later understood, but in that moment none of us knew what the fuck was happening.)

I have the shelves. I have some books (not a lot though, and those shelves are BIG). I am now concerned about two things. number 1, will the other local stores come and swipe all the inventory out from under my nose leaving me with very large shelves and not enough inventory? and number two, how much is this going to cost me?

you see in all of the hubbub we had not agreed on a price for the comics. I paid for the shelves and for a few initial comics. I had not paid for the rest. we weren't sure how much would be left over. it's hard determine price ahead of time. so many comics, you see, and how do we count them all? (answer: we don't.)

and there were many, reader. many.

now I had known for a while that the owner wanted to sell the store. he had a very high asking price. very very very high. I could not afford the whole fucking store at his price. or even half of his price. or even a quarter of his price. or even an eighth of his price. maaaaaaaybe I could do 1/10th?

so how in the fuck was I going to afford the rest of the inventory? well I assumed I wouldn't and I wasn't.

and you know what they say about assuming.

...something about becoming donkeys? I digress.

so Wednesday I bought some comics. Thursday I got the shelves and some more comics. here comes Friday. there are still many many comics. the other stores did come buy stuff, but there was still so much left over.

HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST ME DAMMIT.

...

...

turns out, not a whole lot.

the owner was like "fuck it" and sold me everything for very cheap. he kept saying "I was just going to donate it anyway" – which maybe you shouldn't say to the person you want to pay you for the stuff? but ok?

not only did I get comics, I got 4 cardboard cutouts of superheroes, a small handful of toys, some framed artwork, folding tables, a spinny old school rack, paper bags, a price gun, a sandwich board, and other random shit.

because it needed to be OUT.

ASAmotherfuckingP.

it was exhausting. I moved so many heavy boxes filled with books. I brought them to my house. I didn't know what to do. I was expecting a handful of comics.

I got the whole damn store.

at first, you know, like an idiot, I estimated that I got 3 (maybe 4?) thousand comics. and 3k comics is no joke.

after going through them and preparing them for my store, we reevaluated. we think there are actually about 10,000 comics and a couple hundred books.

I didn't even pay 1/10th of the store's asking price.

this post is long, and there is more to the story. like how we dealt with the inventory (yes we, I got some help thank fuck), the random stuff we found in the comics, what all actually happened with the closing, etc. but I'll leave you with this.

you are me. you just spent a significant but not devastating amount of money on 10k comics and some VERY large shelves. it is all in your garage. it got there in a matter of 40-60 hours. you can no longer park your car in your garage. all of the comics need to be priced, and most need new bags and boards. due to the speed in which we had to move, the comics were not boxed up in order. they are not organized anymore. this is a massive undertaking. the project of all projects.

you stand in the garage wondering what just happened. what did you do. why did you do this. how is this your life now. there are so many boxes. this is so much work. but you're way to deep in it now. there is no return.

reader. dearest reader. in this situation, if you are me, what would you have done?

genuinely I am curious. plz let me know.

and thanks for reading.

(this is actually real and not a short story. I have thousands of comic books that I didn't originally intend to buy. I accidentally bought a comic book store. what have I done. the floor is comics.)

[the-sufferer]

Stick around, I'm full of bad ideas.

Rogue | 24 | He/They/It | Half shark, half bitch. | Bad media connoisseur. | Slasher bait. | Already dead. | Dirtfag | MINORS DNI.

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