#alpaca dance go

[hunnylagoon]

Right Where You Left Me

Pt1: Coming Down With Me

Ellie Williams x reader

I once met a girl with skin like kiwi. Even the butterflies were drawn to her, landing on the top of her nose, the dip in her palm. But the kiwi stung my tongue, scarred my lips and made me bleed. I do not care. Cover me in your kiwi kisses, burn my mouth and scar my flesh. Bleach my eyes and dip my heart in lemon juice. Sing your sickly sweet words until my ears bleed.

Premise: You and Ellie were childhood best friends until you grew up. Funny thing about soulmates is that they tend to find their way back to each other.

Warnings: Angst / reader has religious issues / people are mean lol / best friends to enemies to lovers / roommate! Ellie

Part two here!

Part three here!

Part four here!

I know everything about you,

You know everything about me.

I had always been bound to the earth while Ellie danced with the stars in the night sky among delusion and dreams. Though, more so than anything, we were bound to one another.

Our parents were friends, even before we were born. They met at summer camp when they were teenagers, the same camp that Ellie and I were eventually shipped off to every summer. Of course, I have no recollection of when I was an infant, only stories that my parents shared with me; My dad told me that I learned to crawl backwards before I learned to crawl forwards. Joel kept a photo album of his girl.

I can't remember days of crawling around and babbling incoherently, but I can tell you what I remember.

Five years old- Kindergarten

Despite the air being unbearable hot, it was infused with excitement as Ellie and me set foot in the petting zoo. I had never seen so many animals in one place, my little brain was going nuts. Accompanied by the gentle hum of content animals, the aroma of straw, and the distant melody of joyful chatter, the petting zoo rang true to its rustic charm.

Ellie, with her auburn curls bouncing in the breeze, led the way, her eyes widened at the sight of a fluffy alpaca lazily grazing in the sunshine. I giggled as we approached a pen filled with adorable piglets, their tiny snouts sniffing the pure air far away from the dirty stench of the city.

Our parents, watching with affectionate smiles, guided us to the lamb enclosure where soft, woolly creatures nuzzled against tiny palms. Ellie's fingers gently traced the contours of a lamb's ear, and she couldn't resist a delighted squeal as she felt the velvety nose of a goat.

As the afternoon sun cast a warm glow on the scene, the families strolled through the meandering paths, passing by a pond where ducks quacked merrily. Ellie and I, hand in loveable hand, marvelled at the wonders of the animal kingdom, our hearts brimming with the pure joy of discovery and a blooming friendship.

Seven years old- Grade Two

On this particular day, Ellie and I had been messing around in her backyard; that's all we did on the weekends at that age, you couldn't get us to go inside. We spent the morning entwined in daffodils and hyacinth that Joel has so tenderly nurtured, careful not to crush the dainty flowers beneath our wild flailing bodies. 

We had the brilliant idea to paint rocks so we had been searching her yard for the perfect flat stones we had in mind. Ellie picked up a rock and immediately threw it back down, jumping away with a shriek.

This had piqued my curiosity (As well as Joels who sat on the back porch, watching us), I went over to where she stood petrified and found nothing more than a little snake staring up at her. I dropped the stones I had been carrying and bent over to get a better look at it, it was brown and had a few white vertical stripes cascading up its thin body. 

I slowly moved my hand outwards to touch but was swiftly interrupted by Joel scooping me up "That's enough of that kiddo." 

Nine years old- Grade Four

Joel's house garnered an expansive backyard and just past the old fence that Ellie and I had thrown one too many softballs at was a lush forest. I would always clamour up the wood fence and poke my little head over it to try and gather a glimpse of wildlife, Ellie usually had to give me a little boost. "Hold still!" She hissed with her arms wrapped around my torso to help lift me, my scrawny arms shook as I tried to pull myself up even further.

The wood rot of the ancient fence finally set in and with the both of us pressing our mighty weight against it collapsed with the fence. We heard the splitting of wood, I got the worst end of the stick, toppling over and putting my hands out to protect myself. I could've sworn that I heard my wrist break like a crunch.

While I did what felt like a three-sixty frontflip over the fence just for my small head to come down on the end of it with a solid smack, Ellie had just flopped on top of it, green eyes widening in shock when she saw my once straight arm now had an abnormal bump coming out from my wrist. "What's wrong with your hand?"

"I don't know I'm probably dying!" I screamed as loud as my voice could carry, that was the first time I had felt adrenaline run through my veins. "You killed me!"

"No, I didn't!" She retorted, scrambling off the fence and back up to her feet. She was clad in a Jurassic Park T-shirt that she practically was swimming in and those pink and orange plaid Bermuda shorts that any kid in the 2000s owned. "Dad!" Ellie yelled, calling for Joel.

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and finally, I released the sob that had been building up in my throat. She was almost dumbstruck and just ended up kneeling and wrapping her arms around me in a hug.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." She muttered.

10 years old- Grade Five

Ellie had been practicing guitar the entire time I was at her house, Joel had gifted her his old guitar and she was so set on perfecting every cord, every half-hour she would ask for a song recommendation and then flip through the songbook she got to find it.

I was curled up in her bed reading The Hunger Games over again "Els, are you team Peeta or Gale?" I was always at Ellie's house, mine was too busy all the time; I had three siblings, Naomi and Aaron who were twins and two years younger than me and my brother Elijah who was three years older than me. I loved going to her house on Saturdays so I could sleep in and wriggle my way out of going to church. Even though her house was right across the street from mine and my parents would bang on Joel's door, he always covered for me.

"Uh," She was distracted by something in her songbook "Team Katniss?"

I nod in approval to myself as she isn't paying attention "You know who Gale reminds me of?" I ask and without Ellie giving me a response I answer anyway "Luke, I think I kind of like him."

Those are the words that get her to look at me "Ew, he's so weird."

"He's nice to me."

She wrinkles her nose in distaste then shrugs, returning to her guitar which sits awardly in her scrawny frame.

12 years old- Grade Seven

"Fuck!" I yell, kicking the grimy green dumpster in the graffiti-covered ally out of anger, though I kicked it a little too hard now my foot hurts I refuse to admit it "Fuck I hate them!"

Ellie leans against the brick wall on the opposite side of the alley, our bikes discarded on the ground while I hopelessly rant to my friend about my parents. She doesn't say much, just little nods of agreement. My parents had caught me skipping church and they laid into me, saying that I had no respect for them or god and whether that was true or not didn't matter, I was full of pre-teen angst and needed to call my friend to go for a bike ride around town.

"She fucking tore my room apart, I never see them get mad at Aaron or Naomi!" I drag my hands down my face before I look back at the dumpster and kick it again "Ow, cunt!" I'm now hopping on one foot while my knee bends my other leg and I hold my beaten red Converse, covered in doodles, to soothe the pain of my poor toes. It's moments like this that remind me why I love Ellie, because as stupid as I look hobbling around and cussing, she doesn't laugh at me even though I know she wants to.

After a little bit of me aimlessly yelling I finally wind down. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to remember those breathing exercises that we were taught at school assemblies. "Thanks for listening to me talk shit, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," She shrugs "I've seen you do worse."

This cracks a smile on my face, I turn my head and am met with the Jackson skyline, a beautiful pink sunset on the horizon "Sun's setting," I say.

"Sleepover?" Ellie asks.

"Sleepover," I confirm.

13 years old- Grade Eight

We were thirteen when our parents shoved cash into our hands and dropped us at the mall to go back to school shopping by ourselves for the first time. Every parent's nightmare was a busy mall so when they figured us old enough to venture into the dreaded foodcourt on our own, believed they were taking that opportunity. 

Ellie had bought a couple of T-shirts and hoodies here and there, not too particular about what she was buying, though I was very nit-picky over what I wore so I forced Ellie to judge every single outfit that I wore and rate it, she gave the same answer every single time "It looks fine."

"Cool but I don't wanna look fine, I wanna look pretty," I say in frustration, walking back into the dressing room to try on another outfit. Ellie is sitting in the fitting room on a pink velvet couch, arms crossed and waiting for me to finish. "How's this?" I ask, walking out of the changing stall and giving her a little twirl.

"It looks fine- I mean good, everything looks good on you." She sounds almost exasperated. Ellie's hair was still that vibrant auburn colour that my mother was obsessed with, it had yet to fade out into a duller brown with age.

"Really?" I perk up just the slightest.

"Yeah, you look really pretty." She gives me a little nod of confirmation. I know that she's only saying that because she wants to go to the food court and get a cinnamon bun but I believe her anyway.

14 years old- Grade Nine

We were just nearing the end of the second half of our soccer game. It was the tournament and we were only a point away from placing first in the league, the thought of it had kept me up all week I was running off of Subway sandwiches and Gatorade. 

Riley (the midfielder) swiftly passed the ball to me before she was surrounded by the other team's defence, I looked up to the clock and there were only seconds left in the match. I let my instincts take over, my parents forcing me into soccer since elementary school was not going to wind up useless. My footwork took me up the right wing just before the penalty box. 

I wasn't paying enough attention to notice the tall blonde girl in a slick back ponytail closing in on me. I hear Ellie shout my name and that's all I need to make this last pass, I barely even looked up before power-driving the ball to Ellie who was merely six metres away from me. I slipped onto the muddied field with that kick, watching Ellie waste no time to score our final goal the second her cleat touched the ball. 

The clock deadlocks and I drag myself off the ground running towards my best friend, I jump on her almost taking her down with me though she manages to steady herself. "I fucking love you!" I scream hugging her with all of the force I can muster. She hugs me in return, unable to get any words out between her laughs. The team is quick to swarm us, everyone is shouting about our well-deserved victory but not one person is louder than Joel in the stands.

15 years old- Grade Ten

Snow was falling as I stood in the foyer of the high school, still waiting for my date for the winter formal to arrive. Conner had asked me out weeks ago, we hadn't talked much since though I just figured that was because he was shy. I even left school early to get ready and spent hours meticulously pinning every hair into place and adjusting my navy blue satin dress so it would drape across my body in just the right way.

My sister, Naomi was an aspiring makeup artist so I let her dust my eyelids in silver glitter, I forced Warren to drive me. All of that was just for me to get stood up. Conner hadn't texted me all day, I knew he wasn't coming that didn't stop me from forcing denial on myself. "Hey," I heard a soft voice sound behind me, I wasn't surprised to see Ellie. Even though our parents were no longer friends, we were close as ever.

"Hi," My voice was hushed and feeble.

"The dance started an hour ago," She said, that night she had been wearing a white button-up with a pair of jeans and her hair half up. It was clear the dance wasn't as big a deal to her as it was to me. All she had done was ask Riley to go with her and call it a day. Despite her lack of effort, she looks beautiful as ever "I don't think he's coming," She said bluntly.

That's the exact moment I felt myself crack, tears welled up in my eyes and I lurched forward to hug her, flailing my arms helplessly to search for comfort "Then why did he ask me to go with him?" My sobs were drowned out by the sound of Kesha blasting in the overcrowded gym.

"I don't know, but he's an idiot for standing you up," Ellie holds me close and I never want her to let go "I wouldn't have ever done that to you."

16 years old- Grade Eleven

This is where things begin to fall apart. I found Ellie on the back porch of some random guy's house at a party. "I figured I would find you out here," I say, taking a seat next to her on the wooden steps, I hug my knees close to my chest.

"What's up?" Beside me, Ellie is unnervingly calm, she nurses a joint, taking a long hit and letting the smoke turn to clouds. 

"Conner kissed me," I say cutting to the chase

I can tell she doesn't like the thought, she hated Conner, ever since he stood me up at the winter formal but she bites her tongue "You guys gonna date?"

"I think so."

"Good for you."

"I don't know if I liked it," My eyebrows are furrowed, and I pull my knees in even further, inhaling the crisp autumn air and the smell of Ellie, she smells like cannabis, firewood and bar soap. 

"What do you mean?" Ellie puts out the end of her joint and tucks what remains of it into an empty Altoids container.

"Nothing," I dismiss it, "It doesn't matter, I just wanted to talk to you," Ellie had softened every burden for me since we were girls. "Um, so, my parents are sending me to boarding school next year."

"No, they're not-

"They are."

Ellie doesn't seem so calm anymore, she adjusts her body to face mine and she's so close I swear to god I could've counted every freckle on her face. "Why, what did you do?" The way she looks at me makes me wish that she was a boy.

"Nothing!" I retort "They think I'm straying from god, it's a Christian school." That was my code for 'they think I have a crush on you and I rather not get disowned by my super religious parents!'

"come stay with me and Joel-

"Ellie, please," I place a hand on her thigh "I don't think I can get away from this one."

That was at the end of September, it only got worse from there. I partially wished that I didn't tell Ellie that I had to leave, every time we hung out it just felt like words were hanging between us like birds on a wire and neither of us could say what we wanted. I forced myself to distance myself from her, I didn't know how else to handle my feelings. 

She would blow up my phone and come by my house even visit my work but I just told her that I was busy. I could tell that she didn't believe my excuses for a second, she had English with my new boyfriend, Conner and would get him to relay messages and notes to me.

It didn't get easier to ignore her, my family prying about where she had been. I never told my parents that Ellie was gay, though I know they had always had a suspicion and that's why they could never love her all the way completely, the way Joel loved me and looked out for me. My mom and dad liked that I swapped out Ellie for Conner, by February, my dad even started to call him son. 

In March Ellie and I had stopped talking completely, she gave up on texting me and coming by my house just for my siblings to lie about my whereabouts. It hurt to see the resentment gleam in her eye every time she passed me in the hallway. 

She didn't speak a word to me until the start of the summer bonfire which was custom in our town. If I had known she would be there I never even would have thought about going. I rather not rehash this awful night, not right now just know that it ended with some alcohol, a bit of blood in the sand and me telling Ellie 'I would pick him over you every single time.' Yikes, that's not a good look for me. I spent the rest of my summer burying her in the back of my mind until boarding school finally came upon me and I graduated with friends I didn't like in a place that didn't feel like home. 

I was sixteen then now I'm nineteen, no longer a girl but not yet a woman. Those were some key moments of our friendship. I'm not so sure why I felt so mature at the age of sixteen. I had taken a gap year and loved every minute of it, I backpacked in Australia, worked as a camp counsellor in the summer then left to work at a turtle conservatory in Bali, I was making pennies but the experience was worth it. 

I arrived at my new home sunkissed with Ellie far in the back of my mind. I didn't know much about who I would be rooming with, I had only spoken to Dina over a Zoom call who was a friendly girl with warm eyes and ink-black hair spilling over her shoulders. I just prayed that none of them were Craigslist killers.

It took me entirely too long to find parking, when I finally did, I grabbed two of my suitcases, unable to hold anything else, the rest of the boxes jammed into my car would have to wait. I read over the text that Dina sent me what seemed to be a million times to make sure I had the right address. It was a small-ish one-story flat with brown walls that had white accents along corners and the doorway with a wood-panelled gable roof. As far as college housing went, I was happy. It looked like something I would've made in the Sims when I was a teenager. 

I walk to the front door, the entrance is framed by intricately carved moulding, its details telling a story of craftsmanship and tradition. The wood, polished to a warm, inviting glow, exudes a sense of richness and history. I knocked on the door and heard a voice shouting that she would get it.

The door swings open and I'm met face to face with Dina "Hey!" She smiled "It's nice to meet you, I think you'll like it here," She held the door wide open, motioning for me to go in, and I obliged. "Let me give you a tour." Dina is clad in sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt and her hair has been pulled back into a messy ponytail.

The layout of the house seemed somewhat odd to me, there was a corridor straight ahead when you walked in, the first room was the laundry room and contained the washer and dryer with some hampers and shelves of detergent and laundry freshener. "This is the laundry room, we have a wash schedule along with a chore schedule so we will put you on that tonight," Dina told me, I just nodded politely in response feeling a little too awkward and out of place to say anything. 

"Alright so this is the kitchen, there's a half bathroom beside it," She says, swinging her arms wide open for exaggeration I can see the chore chart hanging on the walls, it's written in chalk, and it is the laundry schedule. There are little laminated tags with each person's name on them, though I can't quite make out the names from where I am standing. The fridge is covered in postcards, magazine cutouts, polaroids, and bright magnets of papayas and flowers, I automatically assumed this was Dina despite not knowing the other roommates. The kitchen is open with no walls to hide it, the oven and dishwasher are built into counters against the walls as well as the sink which i spotless at the moment, there isn't a dining table but a kitchen island with stools. Past the island you can see the living room, there are two grey couches with decorative pillows and fuzzy throw blankets, a coffee table that looked handcrafted with care and of course a TV. 

Have I mentioned there are plants everywhere? Like everywhere. "Okay, so," Dina keeps on moving and I trail behind with my suitcases, over there is my room and Cat's and Abby's," She points to the left of the living room where there is a short hallway with three doors, one on each wall of it. "There's Cat now," She waves at her roommate.

Cat is relatively tall, she has black hair that's tied into a bun, and she's wearing plaid pyjama pants and a black tank top, I can see her abundance of tattoos. She has one sleeve of laurel cascading up her arm and the other is patchwork done right, each separate piece blends almost seamlessly into the next. "I like your tattoos," I say, not wanting to sit in any more silence.

She grins at me "Thanks, love," I nod in response to her, Cat looks down at the suitcases that I'm lugging around "Dina, take this poor girl to her room already."

"I was just getting there," Dina teases and motions for me to follow her "So over here is the bathroom and of course your room, I left your copy of the house key on your mattress," She opens it up. The bedroom is completely blank aside from the boxed bedframe, shelf, vanity and mattress that I had to send over prior. There's a built-in closet in the wall. 

I put my suitcases on the ground "I'm gonna grab the rest of my stuff from my car," I offer up a tight-lipped smile.

"Wait a second," She takes my hand and then knocks on the bedroom door parallel to mine. "I'm coming in!" Dina announces pushing the door open, there's a brunette girl hunched over her desk. My breath hitches in my throat when she turns around "This is Ellie."

I can see the panic that momentarily takes over Ellie when she spots me before it's replaced by a false coolness, "Hey," She says before turning back to her laptop and putting her headphones back on. It felt like my heart had shut down, why the fuck did I sign the lease?

"Sorry," Dina shuts Ellie's door "She's not the friendliest of the bunch but she'll warm up to you eventually," Dina walks to the front door with you Abby should be around here somewhere."

I had gotten so frustrated trying to set up my bed frame that I sheepishly left my room and asked for help, god bless Abby. She was putting everything together so easily, I watched her in awe as she finished adding the final screw to my bedframe. "Want help setting up the mattress?"

"Yes, please," I say, I grab one end of the mattress while Abby gets the other, she tells me to lift on three and I listen, she carries the majority of the weight but it still feels like an accomplishment on my part. "So does everyone here go to Northridge?"

"Yeah, except for Cat, she's a tattoo apprentice."

"Cool, cool," I search for words, "What are you majoring in?"

"Kinesiology," It makes sense, I could've called that by looking at the fit gym rat who was now sitting on my bed. "You?"

"Wildlife biology,"

"So you like animals and conservation and stuff?"

"Mhm," I nod "It's honestly kind of hard to not have any animals in my life." I was missing all my pets back home, when I wasn't with them I was working at a conservatory or at a summer camp where I took care of all of the horses, and Ellie's dog, Achilles.

"You'll get used to it, living with Dina is the same thing as living with an animal," She smiles and for the first time, I feel comfortable. Abby watching me with her blue eyes as I begin to unpack my abundance of boxes, I kind of just dump everything onto the ground because I can't remember which box has what, the first thing I search for are my coat hangers. I dump out a box with a bible, wall cross, and rosery and golden cross necklace from a box of random knickknacks. "You religious?"

"Kind of?" I question it myself "Not really, it's just my family, I packed that stuff to make my mom happy."

Abby nods "I get it."

"You do?"

She backtracks "No, but I can try to."

I shake my head, "I wouldn't try if I were you, I spent nineteen years trying to get away from it." I was sure other Christian homes were healthy but mine wasn't one of them, the way my parents obsessed over Jesus was honestly frightening.

"Hey, do you wanna come watch a movie when your done unpacking?" Abby asked, "Get to know your new roommates a little better."

I don't entirely want to, I wasn't ready to talk to Ellie. I still hadn't wrapped my head around the fact that I was living with her and that she was pretending she didn't know me, despite this, my words betrayed me "For sure."

I sat on one of the couches beside Abby, I made myself as small as I could, thinking that maybe I could make myself disappear. Cat and Ellie crammed themselves on the other while Dina took the plush armchair. I felt so out of place everyone here had relationships, I had one with Ellie before I severed it 'Grown Ups' was playing on the flatscreen though it seemed I was the only one paying attention.

The four girls all laughed and talked their way through the movie, Abby, Cat, and Dina would ask me a question here and there but I didn't know them well enough to pitch in. I kept telling myself that I needed to push through, if Spiderman could do it, so could I.

I didn't even finish the movie, halfway through I excused myself saying I was tired which wasn't necessarily a lie. It was difficult to fathom how well Ellie was playing it off, acting like she never met me. I walk into the bathroom, clean towel in hand, ready to scrub off the stress of today. Beside the mirror, I see a cardstock poster decorated with bright markers and doodles.

HOUSE RULES

#1 No underwear left in the bathroom

#2 Wash your dishes

#3 Break it? Tell Abby

#4 No smoking inside

#5 Privates are private!

#6 Pls don't drink and drive (We have a couch)

#7 Give your beloved roommates a heads up before having someone over

#8 This is a residence of women so the seat goes down!!!

#9 Respect the bedrooms

#10 Having sex? Keep it quiet

#11 NO DRAMA!!!!!!!!

#12 Follow chore and wash chart

#13 Don't eat what's not yours! (Without asking)

I finish reading the last bit and mutter to myself  "Wasn't planning on it." I run the water so hot that it feels cold and I'm quick to not use all of the hot water and have my roommates hate me on my first night here. Everyone has their little drawers in the bathroom, mine is empty aside from some floss and cotton pads that the girl before me left behind. I make a mental note to make use of my bathroom drawer tomorrow and fill it with makeup remover or conditioner, or something like that.

Brushing my teeth and wrapping myself in a strawberry towel that I had purchased at a craft fair, I open the bathroom door, I can see the light of the TV and the sound of chatter from the living room. However, I ignore it and make a B-line to my bedroom. Even though I had spent hours unpacking and pinning up posters it still didn't seem homey.

I slip into shorts and a t-shirt, leaving my hair as is and throw myself onto my bed. My towel is discarded onto my bathroom floor. When I turn on my phone I am bombarded my messages from my parents, my mother has probably sent me twelve Google pins to the closest churches, I answer her with a thumb-up emoji and settle into my bed to scroll through social media and see how much fun all of my friends are having. 

Fucking Ellie. She's plaguing my thoughts, I think of what I said to her and it makes me cringe, I want to smother myself with my satin pillow. I don't even have food to eat, grocery shopping wasn't something that I put on my priority list and right about now I was but Ellie, god, why was I such a dick? Because I didn't know what else to do- whatever, I was a scared teenager. What would you have done? Probably kiss her you lesbo.

Lord, it makes me sick to think about what could've been.

15 years old- Grade Ten

Ellie and I were sitting at a fire pit at her uncle Tommy's lake house. It was a Fourth of July party except we were the only teenagers there; everyone else was friends of Tommy and Maria or some distant relatives of Ellie's or children of said people.

After five years of practicing day and night, Ellie had just about mastered the acoustic guitar, she played and I sang, wrapped up in her flannel, I was tucked close next to her. 

She struck every cord perfectly and I began to sing absentmindedly, the song that had been carved into my brain. Ellie looked so insanely beautiful illuminated only by fire and the stars that hung in the sky, if it hadn't been a sin I would've kissed her.

Talking to her felt as holy as praying to god but I knew it was as sinful as worshipping the devil. 

If it was so wrong why was I born in God's image?

Her gentle hand strummed on the chords of the guitar, the same calloused hand that had once turned water into wine. Her laughter was the sound of a church choir 

I wish I told her how much I liked her but what would've happened if I did? What would my parents think, they would kill me. 

Part of me didn't care how my parents would react, if I spoke up, I could say goodbye to my inheritance and having college paid for. Maybe that was an unfair assumption to make on my part. Ugh. FUCK, I don't know, let's get to the next part of the story.

I couldn't sleep that night, I thought maybe a glass of water would soothe me, well I didn't really think that but I was hungry and thirsty and water was the only thing in that house I had the right to ingest. I figured that I could fill myself with water and zip to Denny's in the morning then grab some groceries.

Poking my head out of my door, I checked to see if anyone was still awake before gingerly taking hushed steps towards the kitchen, I was trying to be as light as Thumbelina. I hadn't noticed Ellie bumming on the couch, scrolling through her phone. 

"You cooking all of that non-existent food you brought?" She jeered. Oh, now she wanted to talk to me.

"I was gonna have some warm water soup for dinner and chew on pistachio shells from the cup holder in my car for dessert," I answer "I'm treating myself tonight." She didn't think it was funny at all, a few years ago she would've been cackling at my subpar joke, but now she just seemed unamused. "Sheesh, tough crowd."

She stays silent.

"You used to think I was funny," I say.

"I also used to think the tooth fairy was real."

"Harsh," I mutter. Turning the tap on and sticking a finger underneath it to test the temperature. I put my hummingbird mug underneath it and let it fill. "Hey, Ellie," She doesn't answer "Have you told them any bad things about me?"

She nearly scoffs "No, believe it or not, I don't talk about you, I don't even think about you," There's venom in her voice "You haven't crossed my mind since you walked through that door."

"Why are you pretending you don't know me-

"Because I don't fucking like you," She says it like it's so obvious and it honestly is in this moment "Just because you're pretty and you act like a sweet little Christain girl, that doesn't mean shit."

"I'm not trying to act like anything-

"Yeah, well it seems pretty insincere to me," Ellie seethed and I could feel a sting in my heart, I would do some pretty horrendous things for a time machine right about now.  I can tell that there won't be any salvaging for this, she hates me to death and rightfully so. 

This is where I give up "Okay, sorry," I grab my hummingbird mug and retreat to my room.

I endured four months of that.

Ellie was pushed to the back of my mind while I ran through classes and got a job as a waitress at a stake house. I did everything in my power to keep myself busy, to keep her out of my head but she was always there, she hung around like a song I can't shake, like I'm haunted by the melody. 

Some nights when the city decides to quiet down I can hear her play guitar, and I'll quietly hum along to it. Songs she used to sing for me, she now sings for another woman, another soul. I knew that she had girls over, but I never got to meet them as Ellie did everything in her power to pretend I didn't exist.

The only communication I got with her was in the roommate's group chat, and it was always brief.

Ellie: Having a friend over tomorrow night

D-manz: Friend? With benefits??????????

Kit-Cat: Nah they're hardly even friends, just benefits

Abs: Don't get her pregnant

Me: 👍

As long as I was with the girls, Ellie was not. She avoided me like the plague, it was like she despised my existence. If we go clubbing, she takes a separate taxi, petty if you ask me. The girls knew something happened between us but they couldn't pinpoint what it was. It was Dina's conspiracy that Ellie used to date one of my friends and broke her heart. While I bonded with Cat, Dina, and Abby, Ellie would pretend to like me. She would occasionally laugh at my jokes or ask how my shift was when Dina was in the room. 

Trust me when I say I would rather forget than dwell on it but it was impossible. I know that I'm nothing more than an obstacle to her, a stain on her bedsheets, a sore in her mouth, but she was still my diamond in the rough. I will willingly ignore all of her cutthroat words and her jagged edges. 

Because I know everything about us.

[erebus-6]

Daniel the uber p.2

Fic name ideas: Uber Speed with Daniel or Ricciardo’s Ride-iculous Adventures (pls help)

_______________________________________________________

The sun isn’t up yet, but Monaco is glowing anyway — blurry lights smeared across windows, the leftover energy of yacht music echoing through empty streets, and one very hungover Lando Norris slumped against a marble wall.

He’s wearing one shoe. The other is in his hand. There’s glitter on his neck that definitely isn’t his.

He squints at his phone.

Uber Daniel R. (Tesla Model ) – arriving now.

The car glides up. The window rolls down.

“Hey, party prince,” the driver calls out cheerfully. “Need a ride or just out here searching for your other shoe’s soulmate?”

Lando blinks.

“What— no. Wait. Are you the Uber?”

“Technically, yes. Spiritually, I am but a vibe curator with excellent GPS.”

Lando opens the door and climbs in. “You’re too loud.”

“Volume’s at a legal limit. You’re just fragile.”

Inside, the car smells like eucalyptus and gum. The music is ‘Brand New’ by Seventy Times 7. There’s a container of snacks in the cupholder labeled “emergency” The dashboard has a tiny plastic alpaca wearing a race helmet.

Lando stares at it for a full five seconds.

“That’s emotional support Carl,” the driver says. “He doesn’t talk much. We’re working on it.”

Lando slouches back. “You’re weird.”

“Thank you.”

They drive in silence for a bit, winding up toward the hills where Lando’s apartment is tucked away. The roads are quiet, just early joggers.The sky is turning a sleepy lavender.

Lando looks over, finally eyeing the driver properly. Big hair. Mustache. Smiling like life’s just a prank and he’s in on it.

“You like, run this car like a spaceship,” Lando mumbles, impressed despite himself.

“Well,” the man says, tapping the wheel gently, “I like to think of it as an extension of my soul. A mechanical unicorn. A vessel of emotional healing.”

Lando frowns. “I just wanted a ride, man.”

Daniel laughs.

“You got that too. But listen, you seemed like you were having a bad night-slash-morning, and I am contractually obligated to be the least stressful part of it.”

Lando exhales and mutters, “I lost a bet.”

“Oof. What kind of bet?”

“I said I could shotgun a Red Bull faster than George. It didn’t end well. Then I tried to dance to Pitbull.”

Daniel nods solemnly. “That’s how most great tragedies begin.”

They reach his building. Lando blinks out the window. He forgot how short Monaco is — even in its longest nights.

He hesitates.

“Hey, uh… what’s your name?”

“Daniel.”

“Like… just Daniel?”

“Or Danny. Or Uncle D. Or Your Vibe Captain. Depends on the phase of the moon.”

Lando grins. “You’re insane.”

“And you’re glittery. Go hydrate.”

Lando climbs out and closes the door. The Tesla hums softly. He doesn’t look back until it’s turning the corner — just enough to catch one last glimpse of Daniel waving like he’s known Lando forever.

He doesn’t know why, but Lando’s sure of one thing as he stumbles up to his apartment:

He’s definitely calling that Uber again.

Maybe just to see what Carl the Alpaca wears next time.

(I think ill write it as a fic, would love to know which driver you want with Daniel :> ) -> write in the comments

@onboardsorasora

@idontwantanameforthis

[simping-on-the-daily]

Some Kind of Angry Beaver

Summary: The Wolverine’s massacre has made you lose everything. Your friends are dead, you’ve left home, and the world’s hatred for mutants grows worse. You promise to yourself you’d have a few words to him if you meet again, and you do, at one of the shady bars where you both grieve your losses.

Notes: Reader is a mutant and was with Wolverine for a brief time, very very brief implications of sub!Logan. Not romantic anymore, and yes the title is from ERB deal with it. Worstie is a lot more sad and pathetic since this is early post!slaughter, gender neutral reader, not beta read we die like this universe’s X-Men, I wrote this in a day and it’s absolutely gonna show

Warnings: Logan killed some of Reader’s friends in his rampage, story is based on grief and death, mutant racism, Logan tries to kill himself but he comes back dw, and a whole lotta swearing

Before you met him, you had no clue what a wolverine was.

You’d barely heard of it, having skipped over it in some animal documentary to focus on more interesting animals, like sharks and alpacas. When you passed by a bar with a few cage fights, you heard the name Wolverine for the first time. When looking at the man’s body, admittedly luscious hair with canines and claws, you had assumed a wolverine was some type of dog or cat, before nailing it down to a wolf. Wolverine, wolf, they just added some more syllables to make a difference.

“It’s a weasel.” The man who you now knew was called Logan answered curtly upon your question, looking away from the bed which smelled of steamy intimacy from last night, and thus, turning away from you, who was on the other side, putting your clothes back on.

“That doesn’t seem very threatening,” You quipped back, putting your shirt on. “The fuck’s a weasel gonna do to the lucky guy?”

Logan gave a quick grunt. “They should be more worried about what I’d do to them.”

“If you can avoid their little collars, that is. Fucking bastards and their dampeners.” You said with a sarcastic sigh. The Senate was trying to make them more commonplace, and though the clapback was fierce, you were still a bit wary.

He gave a quick hmph, and that was that.

You stayed together for a few months. It was unforgettable, to say the least. Watching that man squirm under your touch was an accomplishment for the ages, and the moment you made tears come out of his eyes you did a little victory dance in your brain. You bought him dogtags and things you thought he might’ve liked, while he defended your honor in your ring, beating the shit out of anyone who dared to shittalk you.

“You shouldn’t have, sweetie,” You jokingly answered, upon noticing that his knuckles were still dripping red after passing by a beaten guy carried by his friends, making small comments about how dumb he was. You noticed some scars subtly close in, and turned away, pretending you saw nothing. “His ego can’t take another hit.”

“Can yours?” He answered, and your only response was a pinch of his cheek.

Of course, it didn’t last. Nothing bad happened, you simply just went in other directions. Logan kept hopping between different clubs with cage fights, and you settled in a small town and made a life there. You never forgot how it felt to touch him, but you’d seen him in action. Dude could do just fine.

You got a job, and got your own group of people. Majority of them were human, but like hell if that mattered. You shared good drinks of booze together and you cared for them. Brittney gave birth to a child, and god that kid was the cutest, fattest little fucker you’d ever seen. A few years had passed since you’d met Logan, and by then you were content. Your abilities were accepted, you’d gotten your own little found family, and you comfortably nested yourself in the community.

Brittney and her new fiancé, Ken were going to NYC for a vacation, and trusted the rest of you with their child. For the best, you know now.

“The X-Men are dead. You should be staying here.” Charlie said, crossing his arms to the couple. He wasn’t exaggerating, the X-Men were dead. Their mansion was ransacked and their bodies were fucked. You remember holding in the urge to puke, as the censoring on the news was done horrible, all the guts and gore visible. Jayden didn’t, you remember, running to the toilet and letting out a combination of a vomit and sob.

“We can’t just cancel. I promise, we’ll be safe.” Ken said, though it was obvious he was nervous. “That money can’t just go down the drain, and we’ve shortened it to just two days.”

“The fuck’s the point on going a vacation, then?” You spoke up, eyebrows raised. Brittney looked at me, before back to her now crying baby, probably from all the arguments.

“I have a gun for a reason.” Ken shrugged, and you and Charlie died down. You knew you weren’t gonna win.

“Just….keep Hope safe, alright?” Brittney’s query ended the conversation, as you nodded before giving her a hug. Charlie left the premises, and later you’d see him in the casino, trying to drown out the worry you felt.

You should’ve pushed more. You should’ve tied them to a fucking chair, drugged them with some sleeping pills or whatever. Anything to prevent what happened. But you can’t turn back time, that wasn’t your mutant ability, and now your friends are dead.

So many people were dead.

You spent three days in lockdown. All from some….monster, indiscriminately slaughtering everyone in a path that couldn’t be determined. New York was fucked, Brittney and Ken were fucked. You saw their names on a list of casualties. Jayden wailed for the loss, and you let out a few tears yourself. This shouldn’t have happened, this shouldn’t ever have happened.

The three days ended, but it felt a lot more like an eternity of Hell. Your town wasn’t touched, but you still saw so much blood as you left your home. Nothing changed and yet it all changed. This didn’t feel like home, not anymore.

When the news told you the culprit of this massacre, you couldn’t resist the urge this time. You puked in your toilet, tears running down your face. Your friends were dead to someone who you knew, who’s cheeks you gently pecked. The hands that you once held were used to slaughter Brittney and Ken and so many innocent people. Logan had killed your friends, had killed you in a way.

The bodies were returned, and you cremated the couple at their funeral. You still had some tears to cry, face blank as you stared at their urns. That was your second last day in that town. Everyone hated you now, your mutant powers were despised once more after Logan fucked everything up. No-one looked at you normally anymore. Their gazes were full of hatred and prejudice and pity and god you fucking despised it. With the knowledge that Charlie adopted Hope and Jayden had absolutely run out of tears, you left, wiping your face as the downpour consumed you.

You passed by, traveling across without a goal. You became closely acquainted with the train and bus, and you once more learned to hide your powers, something that you never thought you’d have to do again. Any progress people might’ve been working on towards total acceptance went down the drain, organizations quickly scrambling to make speeches about how ‘one mutant shouldn’t define an entire race’. You would’ve agreed, but the carnage was massive and you still saw dried blood on some walls from the Wolverine’s rampage is you looked closely enough.

After it rained again, you sought refuge in one of the nearby bars. It smelled of shit of booze, and you took a seat near the front.

“Whatcha want?” The bartender asked, gruff in his voice noticeable, and you thought for a second, looking at all the glasses behind him.

“Second heaviest thing you got.” He nodded, and quickly poured some beer in a glass. You had him a note before drinking.

You comfortably fell in the routine, sitting in silence, all the other conversations providing ambiance to your casual misery. Then, like a lightning strike to a tree, it just had to end.

The door opened again. You didn’t care, but when all the conversation stopped, you looked up. You retched upon seeing the fucker’s face, and moved farther away from the door until you were on the opposite end of the counter.

Logan either didn’t notice or didn’t care, sitting at the counter. “Fuck off,” The bartender almost snarled. “We don’t want ya kind here.”

Logan pulled out a few coins. “Not a paying customer?” He spoke, as if he was ignorant to all the shit he pulled just a few weeks ago.

The bartender grunted, pouring him a glass of wine that was obviously cheap and old. The mutant accepted it anyway, taking a long sip. He shouldn’t be enjoying himself, you thought with disdain, he should’ve been rotting in Hell without a drop of drink and no flames to light up a cigar.

The ambiance stopped, no-one wanting to talk while the beast was around. For some fucking reason, you didn’t move from your seat, and so you were just a few meters away from the ex who took so much from you.

After five drinks, you had enough. You got up from your seat and left some change behind as a tip. A more conscious you wouldn’t have tipped someone who was likely a mutant racist, but you weren’t really thinking. You wanted out, you wanted away from the monster, you wanted away from that bloody wolf.

You walked a few steps away from the building when Logan came approaching you. You paused in place, perhaps by the audacity of his actions.

“I’m sorry.”

Your eyes widened, but you gave a small growl, turning them narrowed again. “For what?”

“I wronged you.” You always did need observational skills to become a good tracker.

“Their names,” You shot back with a snarl, “Were Brittney and Ken, and they were heading to New York. They did nothing to you. And you still killed them.”

“I did. I’m sorry.” He repeated, as if that would make it any better.

“I don’t care if you’re sorry!” You yelled out, pointing a finger towards the other mutant as you took a step forward. “You slaughtered my friends you fucking bastard! You lost your family, big whoop, what right does that give you to make mine too, you bloody prick?!”

You had thought about this type of scenario before. You wouldn’t give him a verbal beatdown, no, you were too classy for that. You’d say one sentence that would crush his resolve and leave him astounded as you walked away, knowing that your friends were at peace. But you were drunk and angry and your family was fucked over because of this one man, and so you went on, like a lion going overkill when it finally encountered their prey.

“I wish I never fucking met you! It’d be sooooo easier if you were just some psycho rando, but I fucked you! We slept in the same bed and I kissed you and god I fucking knew you. You were one of the X-Men, you were supposed to save the world, but all you do is make things worse!” You sobbed, dropping your hand to your side as they shook.

“And it’s god’s greatest wish that you die alone and scared, just like your fucking victims, but it’s also god’s little gift that you can’t die! And you just had to in-fucking-flict it upon all of us! All you do is make things worse for everyone, you ruined everyone’s life, you ruined my life, god fucking damnit!” You put your face into your hands and sobbed. You must’ve looked so pathetic, having this breakdown on the road in front of your murderous ex.

“I should’ve tried harder.” You murmured weakly to no-one in particular. “I should’ve stopped them. Shouldn't have relented when Charlie did. Should've done more……” Tears and hands muffled your voice. “But I didn't and now they're fucking dead.”

You finally looked up, and just like you, Logan's face was covered in tears. Good, you thought. Let him suffer.

“Should've been there for them.” You didn't expect him to talk. “Should've gotten off my ass and done something. And now they're ten feet under cuz’ I didn't.”

A stray sob escaped your throat again, looking at him, covered by rain and tears and now the moon was out. “Guess we both fucked up, huh?” You tried to smile, head tilted, with it only just looking broken and fake.

“They'd all be disappointed.” Logan confirmed somberly, as he thought back to Colossus and Professor X and Scott, all too aware of their hypothetical reactions if they knew of his actions.

“The X-Men were supposed to be heroes, weren't they?” You looked up at the stars, and held a hand up like you were trying to catch them. “But you were always the best at what you did, and what you did was never heroic. You told me yourself.” Answering your own question, your hand flopped to the side again. The stars didn't feel so luminescent, not right now.

Logan gave a small grunt, trying to wipe away his tears. “I know. I'll carry it for the rest of my life. It's what I deserve.”

“It's what you deserve.”

You spoke at the same time, before you gave a fake small chuckle. “God, you're fucking horrible.” You paused for a second, letting out another pretend giggle. “Thanks for telling me what a wolverine was, Logan. Cuz’ I know that you’re the fucking worst one.”

You lunged forwards and punched him in the cheek. It hurt like hell, and Logan didn't flinch, but fuck did it feel good.

“Fuck you, Logan. I hope you rot in Hell, you bitchin’ bastard.”

He only nodded, tears still cascading down his face as you stormed away and walked away, just like you did to your home.

You found yourself sitting on a bench, still raining and still wet from your encounter. Your ass was fucking freezing. Maybe you deserved it for being such a bad friend. You wouldn't be here if you had been there for Brittney and Ken. You had a lot of tears in your body, you realized, as you sobbed once more, grieving the loss of everything you once had. God, you hated beavers.

Logan hated himself too. That should’ve made you feel better, but it didn’t. You were still just as empty and sad as you were this morning, just this time you were drenched and drunk. You looked up at the stars again, and though they were still just as dull as they were when you encountered Logan, you still gazed anyway. They were all you had left.

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

Logan rushed into the dump he called a home, a retch stuck in his throat as he frantically searched. Your words were repeating once more, becoming one with the fucked up chorus that was his mind, mocking him for even considering that you’d want him back. It was a passing thought that he immediately disregarded, but the voices milked it, acting as though he’d been pining over you for years.

He’d never forgotten you, you were important to him. But you moved on, and so did he, and he tried to shoot his shot with Jean. But Jean’s dead, and you weren’t, and you hated him. As you should, he didn’t blame you, he hated himself. And yet it somehow stung.

The cacophony roared with laughter at his turmoil, and he clutched his head, praying they’d get out. He couldn’t handle your voice, he couldn’t handle Jean’s voice he couldn’t handle Colossus’ voice he couldn’t handle Scott’s voice he couldn’t-

Finally, he found it. He snatched the gun that was hidden in the sofa, a desperate last resort who times like these, when they wouldn’t stop. His finger stroked the trigger almost tenderly before putting it to his head.

“You know this isn’t gonna work, right?”

“Bro forgot he has a healing factor. Did all that killing make him braindead or what?”

“You don’t deserve to die. You deserve to live with this for the rest of your life.”

He knew that. He deserved all this pain, but Logan was never the paragon of morality. He was a selfish prick, who ruined everything he touched and yet he was the last one standing. But he wanted the voices to go, he wanted them to stop, and he wanted to stop crying because God it’s just been a dam breaking on his face since you yelled at him.

He was alone, and he was scared. Just like you wanted him to be. He embraced the trigger, and felt tranquil as the surge of bullets went through his brain.

It was only serene for a few minutes, but for Logan, the worst Wolverine who killed so many innocents, who ruined any chances of the world accepting mutants, who drunk so much it got his family killed and still drunk? Even a second of that serenity was a touch of heaven that Logan didn’t deserve.

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Homepage Lines - Citron's Birthday (2025)

graphics and proofreading by myuntachis! text version under the cut!

Spring Troupe

Sakuya: I found a picture book I think you’ll like, Citron-san! I’ll read it to you.

Masumi: I made a costume for Citron Junior. Why an alpaca? … It just kinda looks like him.

Tsuzuru: Happy b-day, Citron-san. I came up with a manzai routine themed around “birthdays” for today.

Itaru: Happy bappy, Citron~ I am always grateful for you. … This is lowkey taking me back to a certain April Fool’s.

Citron: I am very happy right now. I will sushi that with everyone as well. I’m starting the hug festival!♪

Chikage: This year’s wish is a dance, huh. I’m not sure it’ll live up to Citron’s expectations, but I’ll give it a try.

Summer Troupe

Tenma: I’d like to do a manzai themed play with Citron one day. I guess we’ll need Tsuzuru-san for it too?

Yuki: Citron, let me know when you need a new costume for your manzai. I’ll give you an even better one than what you have now.

Muku: Now, may I have this dance? One, two, three… Dancing the waltz with you is a lot of fun, Citron-sama.

Misumi: I’ll give Citron a triangle dance! I’m starting now, so keep your eyes peeled~

Kazunari: I’ve stocked up on RonRon’s fave sushi candy! I made sure there’s sweet shrimp too☆

Kumon: They’ll be making a movie adaptation of Yankee Star! Let’s go see it together, Citron-san!

Autumn Troupe

Banri: All your wishes sound like stuff high schoolers would ask for. Hahaha, well, it’s cool if that makes ya happy.

Juza: Citron-san told me he wants to do calligraphy with me. Seems he likes my handwriting.

Taichi: I’ve got a karaoke tambourine for you! I got us matching ones, so let’s use ‘em together!

Omi: You want me to record your manzai routine? Of course I don’t mind. You’re getting better and better, you know.

Sakyo: Happy birthday, Citron. You want a trip as your present? That’s fine… You’re goin’ now!? You’re rushin’ way too much.

Azami: Citron-san’s wish is written in this weird code again! It’s always a damn pain to decipher.

Winter Troupe

Tsumugi: Citron-kun, the bulbs you gave me sprouted today. Do you want to come look at them with me?

Tasuku: You wanna go for karaoke? … Citron, you’re better off asking someone who’s not me.

Hisoka: I tried dipping marshmallows in jasmine tea since it’s Citron’s birthday. … Looks yummy.

Homare: The plan for this year is for Citron-kun’s poetry to come together in harmony with my dancing. I shall dance ever so beautifully!

Azuma: I prepared this because I’d like to wear a hakama with you again, Prince. I hope you like it.

Guy: Happy birthday, Citronia. I’m late? … That is because I was waiting for the celebrations to end.

NOTES:

(1) not very obvious in the english translation, but itaru is imitating citron's speech!

[a-twistedheartslonging]

Cawcaw cawcaw, Harpy anon is back. And I have thoughts.

I know I was the one who previously came up with Harpy Pomefiore, but I've been thinking and making Rook into an Aplca has caused me to go down a rabbit hole. I can't help but imagine him with his bangs all froofy and curly. And his stupid lil hat that has ear holes so he doesn't squish his pointy ears. He's no longer a predator animal, but honestly I think it fits more with the Rook we meet in the actual game than we as the Fandom perceive him. But it does mean less exciting nights without Owl Rook.

Also, Harpy Chicken Deuce. It needed to be said. He's just a dumb lil bird and he's adorable. Aside from that I came up with Fennec Fox Ace, Red Panda Cater, Brown Bear Trey, and Mouse Riddle. I don't know if any of these have been proposed to you already but I've been having brain rot about it for a while now.

Imagine Riddle trying to stop a fight between the screaming chicken and the scheming fox. The mousy boy has zero chance of getting anything done. It isn't until Trey wakes up from one of his naps to scold them.

Speaking of Trey, Imagine what winters like with brown bear Trey. Expect to be cuddled to death and back. And also be prepared to be hand fed a lot because to him you're just a sweet lil human who needs him to help feed you and keep you warm. No amount of convincing and can tell him otherwise.

Also Red Panda Cater is just so cute. Funfact, red pandas will put their arms up in the air when threatened to make themselves seem bigger than they actually are. Imagine jumpscaring him and the first thing he does is just put his hands up in the air like he's been caught with something.

Just thoughts I wanted to share!

💓💓💓

Even as a cute floof, no one is safe from Rook.

For real though, I love alpaca.

That's me meeting Rook.

And the babies look long and silly.

Riddle would make such a cute mousey mouse. I would want to feed him and give him smooches.

With the history between foxes and chickens, you just know Ace is gonna make jokes about eating Deuce. Dude needs to be careful though since angry roosters are no joke.

Trey would make such a good bear; I would love for his fur to match his hair so he's just a big old green bear. Catch him curled up for a nap and you might mistake him for a bush.

I would kill to see him do the back scratch dance they do.

He would give the absolute beast bear hugs and the naps/cuddles would be amazing. Oh, and getting to touch his big old paw claw hands. I bet he would love to compare the size of your hands to his.

Ah, and we know how bears are all about food, you will indeed be well-fed.

That thing about red pandas is so cute, he would probably have to deal with the others scaring him on purpose because of it, similar to why the other guys like to scare their human. The reactions are just so cute.

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #1: The Constants of Adventure

Prompt: steer || Master Post || On AO3

A/N: Mild spoilers for Dawntrail up to the beginning of zone four.

---

There were three constants no matter the adventure Dancing Heron and her sisters went on: Alakhai would enable any ridiculousness with a straight face, Rereha would find at least four individuals of whatever genders to “rock her world,” and Synnove would make friends with any and all creatures of a particular tonnage and/or threatening mien. Heron said as much to Erenville.

“We’ve been in Shaaloani for only a few bells,” Erenville sighed, with all the weariness of an Ul’dahn chaperone, “and I believe they’re about to set a record for all of those.”

Heron fought down a laugh, amusement warming her bones better than the bright sun above. “And how do you know they didn’t pull that off upon arriving in Tuliyollal?”

“Despite the fact that every other word that leaves her mouth is an innuendo, Rereha actually does possess a sense of propriety,” Erenville said. “Only when it would reflect on someone else, of course. And Synnove was not introduced to the alpacas properly until…what was it, your second day in the city?”

“Third,” Heron said with a grin.

“And here we are,” Erenville said, his voice approaching the flat tone that Heron was beginning to recognize as his version of exasperated fondness (that he would deny), “Rereha has already wandered off to seduce Chief Kemakka, and Synnove has discovered rroneek.”

While the waystation at the trailhead to Tuliyollal had been empty of the rroneek trained for riding, the paddock in Hhusatahwi was currently host to a handful of the town’s rroneek, mostly used for hauling heavy loads of goods between the Shaaloani settlements. Synnove had drifted over, perching on the paddock fence to watch the creatures with the wide-eyed wonder of a little girl and directing polite questions to the handlers when they weren’t busy. Then one of the younger rroneek had noticed the newcomer and wandered over to investigate, and.

Well.

Now Synnove had the whole small herd clustered around her, the rroneek all lowing happily as Heron’s sister did her best to divide her attention amongst them and give them equal pets, to the awed bafflement of the handlers. Even the herd matriarch—“The toughest, orneriest cow south o’ Yyasulani.”—had deigned to leave the sole shaded spot in the paddock, shove the youngsters out of her way, and bask in the affection. Heron, leaning against the fence of the nearby nopales garden, couldn’t even see her sister anymore past the bulk of the rroneek, though her cooing was clearly audible.

“Awww, such a sweet thing you are, yes! Ooooh, that’s an itchy spot for you, yes it is.”

The herd matriarch was visibly leaning into the presumed scratching—somewhere on her head or face, most likely—with her tail swishing happily.

“They’re not any worse than La Noscean buffalo,” Heron said.

Erenville sighed heavily and leaned against the fence next to her. “We’ll need to keep her away from western Yawtanane.”

Heron glanced at him, eyebrow raised, and raised a hand to make a go on motion.

“That area is home to a number of species of scalekin. Including the lunyucaua’pya—creatures very similar in appearance and behavior to the Isle of Val’s tyrannosaurs.” Erenville gave Heron a flat, pointed look.

The story of their adventure on the displaced island home of the Students of Baldesion had been shared over the course of a few nights’ camping in Kozama’uka during the Rite of Reeds, told with relish and only a little embellishment by Rereha, with input about relevant details from Krile. Lamaty’i had been enthralled with the whole tale, but Erenville had been most interested in hearing how the wildlife had adapted, with those questions fielded by Synnove and Krile. Even with that relatively fresh in her memory, it took Heron a few moments to recall tyrannosaurs from the myriad kinds of feral beasts that inhabited the Isle of Val.

She cringed when she did.

“About the same size, just as aggressive, and with just as many teeth,” Erenville drawled.

“That’s not going to stop her if one decides to make friends,” Heron muttered. In all of her years of knowing Synnove, no creature her little sister charmed had ever hurt her or anyone else nearby, but that didn’t mean that instinct would never overcome Synnove’s empathetic thrall.

They weren’t necessarily any less dangerous just because their teeth weren’t sharp, but Heron much preferred creatures like the rroneek.

The air, ever so subtly, shifted.

“Good thing I bought some extra meaty provisions,” Alakhai said. “They’ll make good snacks for the beasties.”

Erenville went completely rigid, a growl pooling low in his throat, and he jerked his head around to glare at Alakhai. The Xaela was perched on the balls of her feet on the fence between him and Heron, radiating smug satisfaction. Heron rolled her eyes and said a prayer to any gods listening that her sister hadn’t reached out to condescendingly pat Erenville on the head as she occasionally did to people on whom she successfully snuck up. Erenville would likely have bitten her.

“I did need to set a record for enabling ridiculousness,” Alakhai said, straight-faced save for the mischief in her eyes.

Heron couldn’t help the snorting laugh that escaped her, even as Erenville’s glare intensified.

[normallosers]

Gloves i'd like Plave members to wear on a cold day ❄️

1. Noah

Since he's elegant, I wanted to keep it simple, I preferred to avoid black (overused for elegant concepts) cause to me he's always bright and since he's power/ effect is to be sparkling (depending de era), the vibe is mostly whites and light tones, I choose this soft and fluffed pair cause he'd look super cute, kinda like an alpaca.

2. Yejun

For this cutie, I went for some beach/ sea vibes, two blue tones, and a green cause I couldn't find a brown/ ocher. The vibes for him are based on his environment, to put it someway, like the view from his bedroom's window. I decided to go just with stripes to mantein a serious kinda style, even though it's not, just cause he's our loved leader lol

3. Bamby

For my beloved Bongby, I picked this pair of gloves, cactus crochet gloves. They're extremely adorable, probably handmade, and since he loves plants, I think it goes perfectly with his vibe, he is sometimes chaotic and loud, but he is the description of cuteness and discipline (the last one for dancing and taking care of plants lol)

4. Eunho

I want to be honest with you, recently I've been watching so much content of Eunho, that I kinda fell deeply for him, so I undoubtedly think he is the cutest, too adorable, too funny, too lovable, he's a puppy, and I love puppies 😔. So I decided that he has to wear this puppy/ snoopy clone thing gloves, cause they're cute and the colors are the same as in his hair lol

5. Hamin

He will probably hate me for this fashion crime lol. So for Hamin, we got this pair with a lot of kitten heads, they're kinda weird cause the background it's like a gradient with a lot of colors, but i's fun, i guess. I wanted to show his playful personality, his catlike traits, and ofc his cuteness as Plave's giant baby. Sorry Hamin, we know you are very fashionable! But what's life if you can't laugh at yourself?? 😉

I feel like this was an iceberg, and the more you went down the weirder was the pick and description, but as always, I said what to me is interesting and funny so I'm enjoying myself hehe at first I wanted to take it seriously but i couldn't 😮‍💨

[fandomtrumpshate]

By the Numbers! With Bonus Fan Labor info -

Signups close later this evening … shall we see where things stand with just hours to go?

At present, there are 686 creators signed up with 928 auctions in 295 fandoms, PLUS 116 creators willing to work in ANY fandom.

Guys. GUYS. That's more than 100 offers more than last year!

Offers break down as follows: 598 Written fanwork (fic, fan poetry, etc) 136 Fan art 105 Fan labor (beta services, translation, Brit-picking, typesetting, etc) 60 Podfic 18 Other Digital Fanwork 7 Video

A bit of info on our fan labor offers —

Among our fan laborers are folks offering assistance with cultures in: various US states South Asia Russia Mexico England Germany France Canada Italy as well as with: Catholicism Judaism

Additionally, there are offers for specialist knowledge or sensitivity reading for: Disability LGBTQIA Sports Autism non-combat PTSD Emergency Services Blindness Accounting and taxes Medical equipment Engineering Sex work Law and court procedure Medicine (trauma and general surgery) Scientific knowledge Teaching Tea and Coffee History Art history (generally European) Asexuality Libraries BDSM Leather/kink Forensics Funerary services Shibari Type 1 Diabetes Choir and theater Musical instruments Chronic pain/illness Knitting Dance Hiking Immigration/Xenophobia Familial abuse Sexual abuse Bookstores Alpaca and sheep management Smallholding

AND we have various translation offers for: Catalan Chinese Filipino French German Italian Portugese Russian Spanish Vietmanese

In our supported orgs, most creators are opting to leave the choice to their bidders. Those who are specifying orgs are most often selecting MECA, Sherlock's Homes, In Our Own Voice, and Never Again Action. Orgs that could use more love are Together Bay Area, Deploy/US, Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, Bellingcat, and Pollinator Partnership.

Stay tuned for a last look at both listed and unlisted fandom rankings in the last hours before signups close … which is SOON!

But for now — signups are OPEN!

[boombambaby]

@bigspinachpuff asked: “We’re married.” (It will be great XD) ( Send “We’re married.” ) - accepting!

Consciousness returns to him slowly as the sunlight streams in through the window, and it takes his sluggish mind, foggy with the haze of a deep sleep to recognize it as the warmth at the back of his eyelids. His eyes are already closed but he squints them even harder, a futile attempt to keep the sun at bay for as long as he can, but it's no use; he's already awake by now.

His jaw practically unhinges itself as he yawns, stretching languidly against the comfortable sheets and his alpaca fur filled mattress, and that's when he feels it; the weight of an arm resting across his stomach. Later, Kuzco will blame his morning grogginess for not noticing it sooner; but once he realizes what it means, he finally lets his eyes open to figure out what's going on.

Kronk's sleeping face greets him from inches away, and he stares, momentarily stunned and wondering if it's some kind of strange dream. He looks incredibly peaceful, his hair disheveled and that stupid hat helmet thing he wears discarded somewhere else. They were celebrating, but the memories are hazy, all he knows is that they were drinking something . . . wine, most likely, and dancing; then, nothing.

Kuzco continues to stare at him until he realizes what he's doing, and his eyes widen as he considers what else this potentially means. His cheeks flush, and he bites his lip, slowly reaching for the shared covers and pulling them up to check if . . . . yep.

It's exactly as bad as he thought it was, and he takes in a deep breath to hold in the confused scream he feels like letting out.

[lightcreatureyt]

First Day in Cusco 🇵🇪 | Markets, Lomo Saltado & Full Peruvian Makeover!

Mikey and Olive kick off their adventure in Cusco, Peru with a day packed full of flavor, color, and culture! 🌄💛

They start in the heart of a local market, exploring handmade goods, fresh ingredients, and street eats. Olive tries her first-ever lomo saltado (and loves it!), They wash it all down with their first Cusqueña beer 🍻.

The fun really begins when they go on a mission to dress like locals. . They both grab ponchos and hit the streets dancing like true Cusqueños.

Later, they head to the main plaza for Olive’s first pisco sour, but the day isn’t over yet. On their way back, they meet two girls with a baby alpaca 🦙, and Olive gets to hold it for the cutest photo op of the day!

Groceries in hand, memories made, and hearts full — this was the perfect welcome to Cusco

#IncaStyle #CowboyInCusco #PonchoVibes #BabyAlpaca #PeruTravel #TravelCoupleGoals #SavageInPeru #ColorsOfCusco

[amaiguri]

The WIP Questionaire

Thanks so so much from @verba-writing for the tag! I had such a fun time reading your answers too and I'm very excited for paranormal romance 😍

I feel like I wanna flag that a lot of my answers are very anime/gaming-sphere oriented and I hope I'm not totally alienating my mutuals by revealing just HOW MUCH I'm not a book person lololol But this is with what we're working:

The Questions are:

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

The very first thing I made was the high premise: It was synthesized from the Overly Sarcastic Productions question "What if all the Kings Under the Mountain came back...?" and then I added the context "...in a Nuclear Crisis to discuss piece?" And in my head, it was this HBO-style modern fantasy Game of Thrones meets West Wing type deal. But then... I didn't want to write the modern piece. (The modern piece should be written by people in countries from all over Europe about what it means to be a hero in various cultures.)

So I set it in 1800s fantasy world instead!

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

The first arc would be Dance in the Game by Zaq

The second arc would be Lacrimosa by Kalafina

The Gods' Arc would be Paper Boquet by Mili

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

Is it to cliché to be like "my current self-insert protagonist is my favorite character I've ever made"? Her and my antagonist are just THE BEST and I love them.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

Mmm, I think Untitled Yssaia Game's story would appeal to queer Game of Thrones fans who could FEEL the straightness in GoT, especially if they also like anime. I would hope I could get general anime fans as well as Arcane and Genshin Impact fans, but I feel like those are too mainstream and Yssaia is not. Realistically, I think I'm gonna get the Wadanohara people and the Ib people and, if I get really lucky, the To the Moon people.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Marketing lol -- explaining what it is to people in a way that they realize they want it.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Fuafua 🥺🥺🥺

Look at her! She is a six-legged, six-eyed slug cat called a Maret. Marets fill the same role as ocelots in Yssaia, except they're more semi-aquatic like otters and their skin has a stressball-like texture.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

They walk or ride Rumateurs (which are alpaca-like beings with ossicones) or take ships or airships or trains. I don't like writing about travel that much though so it is a background element.

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

I am pre-editing the first arc for my alpha readers and the third arc has another 50k to 100k words to draft. We're at like 250k words total right now and it is so unwieldy 😭😭😭

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

Oh, I have a convenient graphic for this. Hang on...

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I was just diatribing about this earlier but the DREAM is to turn it into an RPGmaker adventure game and have it go viral and make a million bucks off it. I'd love to be the next Undertale but it'll never happen because I am not positioned to be the next Undertale, you know?

So yeah, that's what's what! Thanks again for the ask! This was so fun! I'm gonna pass this to @maiemorrae, @moonfeatherblue, @zebee-nyx, @winterandwords, @modernwritercraft, @words-after-midnight, @spideronthesun, @theprissythumbelina, @thepanplate, @thetruearchmagos, @maskedemerald, @moondust-bard, @pluttskutt and @emelkae 😍😍😍 I actually internalized Verba's WIP so well from this tag and I wanna make sure I'm updated on what all you cool people are working on! Open tag to any of my other moots too! 🥳

IMPORTANTTTTT⚠️

I will edit this to have a blank easily copy-and-pasteable question section when I get back to my computer. If I forget, @ me!

[awellboiledicicle]

In dwarf fortress news, the fort Glowinggate is going well.

Breached the caverns and set up farming. Need to let the fungus spread after clearing a space but should be able to pasture things down there if needed. Found out flux is not labeled that and is actually many kinds of thing and I could have been making steel this whole time. Will be upgrading once the initial iron equipment worl orders get done so I have a carry over while forging.

Also discovered magma like 20 feet from my cavern fishing spot and airlock. My best scientists are on figuring out how to get it where I want it for forging.

A monster slayer moved in, killed three troglodytes and then walked half a day back to the fort with his throat torn open. But I have 5 doctors so it was fine.

I finally have dedicated hunters so they have started venturing into the caves for things. One has exclusively been after giant cave sparrows. I do not know why.

Other visitors include a goblin bard with 1 single daughter at age 700+ and very intimidating social skills, an elderly necromancer with a mane of wild curly grey hair that comes to drink bc it's the only time her 15 kids arent bothering her. An undead monster hunter that is v scary with a crossbow but literally has just sat in the tavern feeling nothing and dancing. The necromancer grabbed five cups from the chest before the barkeep served her. I can only assume she was preparing to get drunk as hell and wanted my barkeep to know that asap.

I now have a population of 39, where my initial civ had a pop of 25 grand total. Last I saw the liaison he said they were expecting a shortage of prepared meals. I now have 1000+ meals stored up just in case. He has not been seen for 2 years.

I might expand my above ground holdings just to crank up sheep bc my alpacas are breeding slow due to a big field to balance out them eating the grass down to sand.

The war dogs are breeding tho so yay. And no attacks thus far. I'm hoping if the necromancer likes us enough she makes her kids either move in or teaches my scholars necromancy for Science Purposes.

Cats have not bred at all, but they were all adopted in about a month so hopefully this bodes well.

I think if the training goes well I'll designate an away squad specifically for clearing dungeons so I can decorate my library and temples with artifacts.

I'm still holding out hope for some elven traders so I can maybe get a lion squad. Just to have.

I also need to figure out if I can catch and domesticate cave spiders for webs. Bc that seems like a great way to get ahold of endless thread and cloth.

Also figure out the pipeline for paper bc my scholars yearn for the scribbling.

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

Is This the Last Dance Before the Lights Go Out?

I hate to say it, because it’s not very solarpunk, but it feels a bit fin de siècle here right now. Like we’re in the last days of normality before we fall off the cliff. Every time we have a nice moment—in the late spring splendor of the garden, for instance, or even just when walking the dog through the fields—we stop, Spouse and I, and tell one another to enjoy it. Because feels like that in the midst of the cataclysms that are about to strike us, we’re going to look back at these little things and wonder how we could have taken them for granted.

And it’s not just us who’s feeling this way. Lately, when we have dinner with friends or chat with our neighbors, at some point, the group converges suddenly upon such thoughts. Be grateful for these moments, we murmur to each other, where we can relax together on our backyard patio, drinking cold white wine, and watch the sunset. Understand that they’re a luxury. Such days are numbered and once they’re gone, not all of us, and maybe not even any of us, will see their likes again.

Who can blame us for seeping in this bittersweet gloom? A perfect storm doesn’t just seem to be looming, it feels like it’s adding elements to itself all the time.

At first it was just the global warming we are still failing to address. But now it’s clear that this global warming is not just bringing deadly heatwaves, droughts, bigger and more frequent storms, sea level rise, and flooding, it’s also threatening to collapse patterns of ocean circulation within the next decade or two such that northern European temperatures will drop to resemble those in Anchorage, Alaska, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and Kamchatka, Russia. On top of all the other disastrous effects this would have—including sudden massive heating of lower latitude areas along the Atlantic—just imagine what would happen if farming were no longer possible in such heavily populated places like Britain, Ireland, northern Germany (where I live now!), Poland, and all of Scandinavia. Food prices soaring all over the world, anyone? Plus widespread famine (and not just in Europe) and the collapse of major economies? If we were young enough to start over again and had the money to move, I’d say we decamp back to my home state of California before climate change turns us into actual refugees. I’m sure I’ll kick myself in five, ten, or fifteen years when saying our garden full of potatoes and the neighbor’s Muscovy ducks and alpacas will be what gets us through the winter here without starving is not just a matter of gallows humor.

Meanwhile, we’re balking at getting the renewable energy revolution going fast enough soon enough to avoid environmental disaster. And why are we balking? Because it’s “too expensive” or because we just don’t want to change anything about the way we live, although these arguments are ridiculous because the cost of doing nothing is astronomically higher and the changes are coming anyway.

We’re also refusing to reverse the widening wealth gap that’s ultimately what’s driving people into voting for the far right, neo–Nazis, and other politicians with authoritarian urges and the desire to destroy democracy… even though these people and political parties will only add fuel to the fires that need to be put out.

Then there is all that misinformation and all the conspiracy theories that seem so perfectly constructed to stop us from working sensibly together to tackle the existential environmental, economic, and social problems that are making it increasingly harder for us to thrive, or often, even to survive.

On top of all that, here in Europe, we have the added issue of the political failures of the post–Cold War period that have had us sleepwalking into a dangerous situation with a resurgently imperialistically hungry Russia. After the Wall came down and the Iron Curtain opened, European politicians thought we could just be friends and trading partners with Russia. Because Russia’s interest in selling us natural gas and crude oil would weave them into our economic world and make them value our markets enough for them never to want to wage war on us ever again. Thus would we lull them into peaceful capitalist prosperity and democracy.

Cozy in that lazy thinking, Europe dropped its guard, domesticating itself rather than its enemy. Its armies grew thin and its stocks of weapons and military machinery thinner. Today, countries like Germany would need the greater part of a decade to build up enough weapons, equipment, and trained manpower to wage even a strictly defensive war. It’s not much different for any other country in Europe. Which is not the position you want to be in when one of your neighbors starts dreaming of their glorious imperialistic past.

To hear politicians and analysts tell it, unless some political miracle convinces Putin to remove crush western democracy from his bucket list, we have three to five years to prepare for war. Such a miracle might be as simple as a heart attack. More likely it involves a sudden splurge in funding to beef up European defenses ASAP plus upcoming elections handing power over neither to the far right in Europe nor to the raging danger that is Donald Trump nor to the Republicans party that has been taken over by people who’ve lost their tether to common sense, compassion, and reality. In other words, yes, we really are talking about a miracle.

I’m no professional, but from my little perch here in Northern Germany, having as long as three to five years feels optimistic. Ukraine is all that is standing between Putin and the massive expansion of his war. If Trump and the Republicans roll into the White House, that’s got to bump up the war is coming to us timeline to... sometime next year or the one thereafter. Seems to me, anyway, because Trump & Co will pull US support out from under Ukraine faster than you can say God damn the electoral college and then she will fall.

Won’t that be the start of the wider war, for the next stops will be Baltic states, like Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Sweden, and Poland, plus neighboring countries like Moldova? Or maybe it won’t even wait that long. Knowing this danger for Estonia, Estonia’s current leader has already more or less said that, in order to save Estonia, they’ll give everything the country has, in terms of funding and military support, to stop Russia from taking Ukraine. And since Estonia is a member of NATO, as soon as they do more than send funding and equipment, doesn’t that drag a huge chunk of Europe straight into the war, even before Ukraine falls entirely to Russian aggression?

Again, I’m no professional on this front, I just live here. But likewise, it’s also hard to see how it will be as long as three to five years before we’re all at war, given how zealously Russia is working to undermine peace, prosperity, and political stability in the West and how feebly we’re counteracting this. Russia takes a mile for every inch we give them, spreading misinformation, causing destabilizing political problems, and committing not even terribly covert acts of sabotage. This sowing of dissent aims to weaken western countries and coalitions ahead of the overt war Russia plans to wage on us. We totally know this! But our politicians are too frightened to retaliate against this hybrid war against us , lest it trigger a real war between us. You can all but hear Putin laughing into our timid faces. Real war is coming anyway!

All of that (plus a bunch of other equally dismal stuff that I haven’t had room to mention) is why living in Europe right now feels like the last dance before the lights go out.

Is it any wonder my thoughts have also recently frequently turned to how such a war would unfold?

Will tanks speed down the little lane we live on? (Honestly, actually, I’ve seen that already, because I think back in summer of 2022, they were training Ukrainian soldiers to drive Marder armored vehicles around here. There was a week when every time I looked out the window, one was zipping by… and let me tell you, it’s amazing how fast these things can race by.)

Will bombs flatten our house?

What can I do to prepare for what is coming? I live in Germany, a couple of hours from the Polish border. So, there is somewhat of a buffer there, but not a huge one. It isn’t inconceivable that there might be fighting here, or that we’d be the target of drones.

I don’t mean to be self–centered about this. There’s a whole lot of destruction and carnage that has to happen to other people and other countries before battles happen here. But it’s not right to just shrug this looming war off by thinking oh, well, it won’t happen here.

I feel like, at my age, I’d make a terrible solider. Never mind that I’ve never been great at blindly following orders, I’m small, middle aged, out of shape, and full of asthma and allergies and chronic injuries, the battle scars from too much fun and soccer playing in my twenties, too much swilling of diet soda, and too much stress in my career. Yet, wouldn’t it make more sense for me to go and fight than it would for someone in their late teens or twenties (or even thirties), who has so much more of life in front of them? Spouse says, well, it would be our jobs to do all the jobs that wouldn’t be getting done if a good chunk of the young men were off fighting. We’d be farming, or helping out in hospitals, or riding around in garbage trucks. I don’t know if that would really feel like doing enough. Part of me thinks he’d be among the first to sign up if Germany gets invaded, even the current work that he’s doing would be critical to maintaining Germany’s renewable energy infrastructure.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about how we live about 100 miles from the nearest city that would likely be hit by nuclear weapons, should things get that bad. I think that means we’d be the ones to die of radiation sickness, unless we could stay in a fallout shelter for the couple of weeks it takes the most acutely dangerous radionuclides to decay away. But, of course, like everyone else here, we haven’t got one in our backyard. We don’t even have a cellar. And I don’t want to die in an old abandoned local potato cellar or in one of the dank cubbyholes that passes for a cellar under some of the neighboring houses.

So, I haven’t just started thinking, whelp, even though I finally let us work down the supplies of toilet paper and canned goods I began hoarding in February 2020, it’s time to build up the collection again. I’ve started wondering how I could maybe turn our downstairs guest bedroom into a fallout shelter. It’s already got brick walls and a concrete ceiling. They’re not thick enough, but it’s a good start. What if I bricked up the window and then lined all the walls with another layer of bricks? Would that do, so long as I solved the issue of the flimsy wooden door? Also, could we rejig our solar panels to use them as an island, isolated from the grid, so that we’d have lights and could run a pump a few hours a day to bring air in through a Hepa filter? We could pee into buckets and poop into ziploc baggies, but how would we deal with the dog? With paper, pens, pencils, and maybe even our laptops, and maybe even something as decadent as an exercise bike, at least we wouldn’t die of boredom. Oh… a radio! And batteries. I’d better add that to my mental list.

Then, the dilemma. We have our anniversary coming up. Should I buy him a Geiger counter? Or would it be better to wait until Christmas? Or his birthday early next year? Or can I put it off even longer than that? I don’t want to buy one if I don’t need to buy one, but I don’t want to wait until it’s too late and be unable to get one and then die because we left the fallout shelter too soon, or didn’t realize we had a leak that was letting in dusty radioactive fallout.

But, honestly, argh! I have never in my life been afraid of the future. I even made it through the entire 1980s without having more than the occasional flicker of anxiety about dying in a nuclear war. But now thoughts like these are tying my stomach in knots and keeping me awake deep into the night.

As much as I love solarpunk, and as much as I believe in solarpunk’s vision of a great future that doesn’t require that we go through an apocalypse first, it’s hard to be optimistic about that right now. I cannot shake this feeling that our systems have been so broken and the changes we need to make to the way we do everything are so great that the only way forward is for it all to fall apart. It is hard to shake the feeling that we truly are about to go over that cliff.

That doesn’t mean I won’t stop fighting for the changes we need to make to avoid catastrophe on our way to a sustainable future. But I’m still stuck with the melancholy of these very possibly being the last nice days I will see for either a while or the entire rest of my life.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 4.3

Holidays

Althoea Asteroid Day

American Circus Day

American Creed Day

American Immigration Lawyers Association Day of Action

Armenian Appreciation Day

Cellular Phone Call Anniversary Day

Corrupt Society Day

Day of the Bride (Argentina)

Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day

A Drop of Water is a Grain of Gold [also 1st Sunday]

Fan Dance Day

Ghost Machine Day

Global Meetings Industry Day

Good Deeds Day

Independent Artist Day

International Day Against Victim Blaming

International Lingerie Day

Jane Goodall Day (Los Angeles)

Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus; Japan)

Love A Muslim Day (UK)

Marshall Plan

National Chalk Day

National Film Score Day

National Grey Day

National Inspiring Joy Day

National Ken Block Day

National Pac-Man Day

National Shoot Your Shot Day

Overcome a Handicap Day

Peace Day (Angola)

Pony Express Day

Second Republic Day (Guinea)

TV Guide Day

Tweed Day

Weed Out Hate: Sow the Seeds of Greatness Day

World Cloud Security Day

World Party Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day

Fish Fingers and Custard Day

National Chocolate Mousse Day

Nature Celebrations

Beech Tree Day (French Republic)

Daffodil (Respect & Pride; Korean Birth Flowers)

Find A Rainbow Day

World Aquatic Animal Day

Independence, Flag & Related Days

Albay Province Day (Philippines)

Declaration of the Second Republic (Guinea)

Malinovia (Declared 2018) [unrecognized]

1st Thursday in April

Glarus Festival (Näfelser Fahrtfest; Switzerland) [1st Thursday] 

International Road Maintenance Day [1st Thursday]

Kid Lit Art Postcard Day [1st Thursday]

National Alcohol Screening Day [Thursday of 1st Full Week]

National Burrito Day [1st Thursday]

National Colleague Day (Netherlands) [1st Thursday]

National GOOS Paper Day (Canada) [1st Thursday]

RAINN Day [1st Thursday]

Tell a Lie Day [1st Thursday]

Thankful Thursday [1st Thursday of Each Month]

Therapy Thursday [1st Thursday of Each Month]

Thirsty Thursday [Every Thursday]

Three for Thursday [Every Thursday]

Thrift Store Thursday [Every Thursday]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning April 3 (1st Week of April)

Mule Days (Columbia, Tennessee) [thru 3.6]

Festivals On or Beginning April 3, 2025

Artifact Small Format Film Festival (Calgary, Canada) [thru 4.5]

Art Paris Art Fair (Paris, France) [thru 4.6]

Clay County Agricultural Fair (Green Cove Springs, Florida) [thru 4.13]

Eastern Alpaca Jamboree (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) [thru 4.6]

Grand National (Liverpool, England) [thru 4.5]

New Vintage Days (Chisago City, Minnesota) [thru 4.5]

Oklahoma City Farm Show (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) [thru 4.5]

Romics (Rome, Italy) [thru 4.6]

Warsaw Beer Festival (Warsaw, Poland) [thru 4.5]

Feast Days

Agape, Chionia, and Irene (Christian; Martyrs & Virgins)

Aristæus (Positivist; Saint)

Burgundofara (Christian; Saint & Virgin)

Captain Cabbage (Muppetism)

Create a Mandala Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Cutios (Time of the Winds; Celtic Book of Days)

Day of Sheela-Na-Gig (Pagan)

Doris Day (Pastafarian)

Goof Friday (Church of the SubGenius)

Luigi Scrosoppi (Christian; Saint)

Nicetias (Christian; Saint)

Pancras of Taormina (Christian; Martyr)

Persephone’s Return from the Underworld (Ancient Rome)

Plato (Christian; Saint)

Proserpina’s Rise from the Underworld Day (Ancient Greece)

Richard of Chichester (Christian; Saint)

Seize a Sausage Day (Pastafarian)

Sixtus I, pope (Christian; Saint)

The Shower Dance (Shamanism)

Ulpin of Tyre (Christian; Saint)

Xystus (Christian; Martyr)

Lunar Calendar Holidays

Chinese: Month 3 (Geng-Chen), Day 6 (Ren-Yin)

Day Pillar: Water Tiger

12-Day Officers/12 Gods: Close Day (閉 Bi) [Inauspicious]

Holidays: Tomb Sweeping Day Holiday (Taiwan)

Secular Saints Days

Alec Baldwin (Entertainment)

Sandra Boynton (Art)

Marlon Brando (Entertainment)

Doris Day (Entertainment)

Henry Dinnerstein (Art)

Bud Fisher (Art)

Jane Goodall (Science)

Virgil Grissom (Science)

Leslie Howard (Entertainment)

Washington Irving (Literature)

Fred Kida (Art)

Marsha Mason (Entertainment)

Eddie Murphy (Entertainment)

Bernie Parent (Sports)

Sally Rand (Entertainment)

Adam Scott (Entertainment)

Cobie Smulders (Entertainment)

Richard Thompson (Music)

Mitch Woods (Music)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sizdar-Bedah (Unlucky to stay indoors; Iran)

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Unlucky Monday (when God condemned the towns of Beram, Lipandas, Madama, Sodom and Gomorrah; Philippines) [1st Monday] (2 of 4)

Premieres

Adventureland (Film; 2009)

Alice’s Egg Plant (Disney Cartoon; 1925)

Are You Lonesome Tonight, recorded by Elvis Presley (Song; 1960)

Beethoven (Film; 1992)

The Boy and the Dog (Aesop’s Film Fable Cartoon; 1922)

A Brief History of the Future (Documentary Series; 2024)

Bull-ero (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

Circumstantial Evidence (Paramount Magazine Cartoon; 1921)

Clerow Wilson’s Great Escape (DePatie-Freleng Animated TV Special; 1974)

Col. Heeza Liar and the Torpedo (Pathe News Cartoon; 1915)

Dead Babies, by Martin Amis (Novel; 1975)

The Doddlebops (Children’s TV Series; 2004)

The Druid of Shannara, by Terry Brooks (Novel; 1991)

The Eternal Triangle (Aesop’s Film Fable Cartoon; 1922)

Fast & Furious (Film; 2009) [F&F #4]

Felix the Cat in Germ Mania (Felix the Cat Cartoon; 1927)

Flip’s Lunch Room (Flip the Frog MGM Cartoon; 1933)

Frenchy Discovers America (Goldwyn-Bray Pictographs Cartoon; 1920)

Fuels Rush In or The Star-Spangled Boner (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 37; 1960)

Fun on Furlough (Herman & Katnip Cartoon; 1959)

Furious 7 (Film; 2015) [F&F #7]

Georgie and the Dragon (Columbia Favorites Cartoon; 1958)

I-Ski Love-Ski You-Ski (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1936)

I Taw a Putty Tat (WB MM Cartoon; 1948)

It Happened at the World’s Fair (Film; 1963)

It’s Now or Never, recorded by Elvis Presley (Song; 1960)

Kiss of the Spider Woman, by Manuel Puig (Novel; 1976)

Krazy Kat at the Switchboard (Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial Cartoon; 1916)

The Long, Hot Summer (Film; 1958)

Lost in Space (Film; 1998)

Louisiana Hayride (Radio Music Series; 1948)

Love Hangover, by Diana Ross (Song; 1976)

The Man on the Flying Trapeze (UPA Cartoon; 1954)

The Medicine Man (Aesop’s Film Fable Cartoon; 1927)

Mercury Rising (Film; 1998)

My Hero Academia (Anime TV Series; 2016)

Oh, Gentle Spring (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

Old Mother Hubbard (Ub Iwerks ComicColor Cartoon; 1935)

The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregor (Novel; 2008)

Philharmaniacs (Fleischer/Famous Kartune Cartoon; 1953)

Piano Concerto in A Minor, by Edvard Grieg (Concerto; 1869)

Planet of the Apes (Film; 1968)

Planning for Good Eating (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

Porky’s Romance (WB LT Cartoon; 1937)

The Pottsylvania Permanent or I’ve Grown Accustomed to the Place (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S1, Ep. 38; 1960)

The Raven (Fleischer Cartoon; 1940)

Rock-A-Doodle (Animated Film; 1992)

Rumple of the Bailey (UK TV Series; 1978)

A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K. Dick (Novel; 1977)

The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London (Novel; 1904)

Sing Your Thanks (Sing and Be Happy/Cartoon Melodies Cartoon; 1950)

Son of Hashimoto (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1961)

Straight Talk (Film; 1992)

Super-Rabbit (WB MM Cartoon; 1943)

The Swimming Hour, by Andrew Bird with Bowl of Fire (Album; 2001)

TV Guide (Weekly Magazine; 1953)

2001: A Space Odyssey (Film; 1968)

The Western Trail, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Wooly Bully, by San the Sham and the Pharaohs (Song; 1965)

Yogi the Easter Bear (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1994)

Today’s Name Days

Richard, Sixtus (Austria)

Radojko, Ratko, Rikard, Siksto (Croatia)

Richard (Czech Republic)

Nicæas (Denmark)

Uko, Uku (Estonia)

Sampo, Veeti (Finland)

Richard (France)

Irene, Lisa, Richard (Germany)

Illyria’s (Greece)

Buda, Richárd (Hungary)

Riccardo, Sisto (Italy)

Daira, Dairis, Ferdinands (Latvia)

Kristijonas, Ričardas, Rimtautė, Vytenis (Lithuania)

Gunnvald, Gunvor (Norway)

Antoni, Cieszygor, Jakub, Pankracy, Ryszard (Poland)

Nichita (Romania)

Richard (Slovakia)

Ricardo (Spain)

Ferdinand, Nanna (Sweden)

Dick, Dickson, Dix, Dixie, Dixon, Doris, Ricarda, Ricardo, Rich, Richard, Richelle, Richman, Rick, Rickey, Ricky, Rosamond, Rosamund, Ryan (USA)

Today’s National Name Days

National Alec Day

National Sally Day

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 93 of 2025; 272 days remaining in the year

ISO Week: Day 4 of Week 14 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar: Fearn (Alder) [Day 17 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Geng-Chen), Day 6 (Ren-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Snake 4723 (until February 17, 2026) [Ding-Chou]

Coptic: 25 Baramhat 1741

Druid Tree Calendar: Rowan (April 1-10) [Day 3 of 10]

Hebrew: 5 Nisan 5785

Islamic: 4 Shawwal 1446

Julian: 21 March 2025

Moon: 34%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 9 Archimedes (4th Month) [Aristaeus]

Runic Half Month: Ehwaz (Horse) [Day 5 of 15] (thru 4.9)

Season: Spring (Day 14 of 92)

SUn Calendar: 4 Cyan; Foursday [4 of 30]

Week: 1st Week of April

Zodiac:

Tropical (Typical) Zodiac: Aries (Day 14 of 30)

Sidereal Zodiac: Pisces (Day 20 of 30)

Schmidt Zodiac: Pisces (Day 14 of 26)

IAU Boundaries (Current) Zodiac: Pisces (Day 23 of 38)

IAU Boundaries (1977) Zodiac: Pisces (Day 23 of 38)

[charlottedabookworm]

Dawntrail Day 1

spoilers up to: first lvl91 quest, after the msq split paths merge back together

original draft date: 28/6/24

scheduled release for: 26/7/24

early access time! planning on unlocking picto and then i'm leaping headfirst into the msq

*

okay the quest accept music

interesting

i like it

*

“You had me at ‘magicked painting’” lolllllll

*

….excuse me i didn’t agree to a job interview

i hate job interviews get back here you bloody moogle i-

*

“I’m uh- between jobs at the moment”

“My stick figure drawings are second to none…?”

pffft best job interview i’ve ever been on

*

furry little shites

*

okay i really do like the quest music

*

picto hotbars step up but subject to change

now msq time

*

Ali, love, that’s called jinxing it

*

shades triangle! we’ve heard about that before :)))

*

lolll poor wuk lamat gets seasick

*

oooo erenville lore

shetona from xak tural, doesn’t know his father and hey-

stupid crash i want to hear the erenville lore!

*

kay that shit is pretty af

*

i love erenville and wuk lamat you really feel the childhood friends who fuck with each other energy every time they interact its fucking great

“she’s technically royalty”

“just ‘technically’ ignoring me, then…”

*

Tuliyollal is huge and it feels so much fuller than previous cities

*

pffft

*

aight so Bakool ja ja is a twat and i don’t even care who wins as long as it isn’t him

his brother seems alright tho. less of a twat or maybe just a quieter twat

*

nevermind the mystic is just as much of a twat as the mighty is

the mighty is just louder about it

*

even all these expansions later it still sends a thrill of fear through me

*

ESTI!

ESTI IS DOING THE SPARRING SCENE WITH GULOOL JA HA FROM THE TRAILER

yessssss

love how we’re just smiling in the background

*

Esti is bigging us up!

love you esti!

*

elene’sh

erenviles name is elene’sh?!?! ir it is it a term of endearment like what gulool ja ja calls wuk lamat

*

erenville: this is the last chance for me to help you back out

us: flashback to raha

fucking hell i love that set would 100% be thinking of his husband in a time like this

*

genuinely appreciate that they gave krile the echo vision instead of us for once

sorry krile but i’m a little bored of it always being us that sees shit

*

holy shit the inn room

fuck it i’m moving to tuliyollal i live in this cabin now it’s mine sorry raha you’ll have to move out here

*

reached the quest split

experience tells me that one of these will be extremely traumatic and the other will be less so but maybe it’ll be a little less here? maybe? hopefully

please pelupelu don’t fuck me over this is my summer holiday adventure

*

so esti is gonna get utterly fleeced by the pelupelu huh

*

love that our first challenge is to approach a terrified alpaca

love rhat for us

poor wuk lamat

*

camping! Chilling out at the fire with all of erenvilles tent and stuff while waiting for wuk lamat!

*

i’m cackling-

*

oh fuck off and get some character development

This guy isn’t at fandanny or zenos level of ‘i hate you on sight’ but i really don’t like him

*

“There’s much less debate when I’m traveling alone” erenville i love you

*

“He lives and works in the House of Waters High, at the top of that large tree nearby”

turns camera

ah yes that tree the tree i climbed five minutes ago in search of a sightseeing spot found nothing and then leapt off to go back and do msq instead

that tree

Cool

*

“We have a two headed problem. Yes please hurry”

Erenville you are legit one of my fav characters i love you dude

*

i’m starting to really really hate bakool ja ja

like he was annoying before but the hatred is growing

i would seriously rather the warmonger first promise take the throne i am legit not lying rn

*

you fucking tell him (? Them? They use borh plural and singular when talking about the two headed mamool ja) ali

*

look i’m not a particularly enthusiastic person but we really should be doing something instead of just walking there

like dance a little alright? bop to the beat? something other than just strolling seriously along while all the hanu dance around us

*

annnd i'mma call it there for today got picto unlocked and to 81, msq is starting the 91 quests, and i've unlocked all the aether currents i can reach in the zones so far

[minusgangtime]

(While you have enough time to vote in the poll, here are the ultimate edition shards! :v)

(Info below-)

Sodastream - Similar to the main, normal world, but everything's based on different kinds of sodas!

Espresso - A world where everything is based on all kinds of coffee! Want to check out their own personal cafe?

Dreamcatcher - A world where is basically the definition of "dreams do come true"! All these guys need to do is catch your good dreams!~

17 Bucks - A big world with funky and catchy songs! DUH!~

Alpaca Remix - In a small, futuristic kingdom, a polycule goes on lots of missions that will turn their lives from average to... not so average-

Flip-Sides - On the other side, there's a world with lots of different remixes and songs! (Note: This is its own AU now than some kind of side story, I guess :P)

Friday Night Vibin' - Similar to the main, normal world, but everything and every song is so angelic!~

Big Engine Brawl - Hop on the island of Sodor where five railway workers go around to share their love for music!

Tap Funkin' - Another world that is similar to the main world, but instead of singing, it's... tap dancing? 👀

(Other shards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)