#and that's w/ me condensing it and stacking things

[roseband]

argh.... now that my winter heptagon albums are on their shelf since im home.... i think im literally out of kpop space, this is a problem

[writingsbychlo]

let me down slow (02)

word count; 9652

summary; stiles once again ditches you, and mitch ditches his own plans to cheer you up.

notes; y’all had such amazing reactions to the first part, you picked up one every tiny little detail about their relationship that I put in, so I really hope you enjoy this part, and all the little things that make them up, too!

warnings; smut, thigh-riding, dry humping, slight spit play, that’s about it. 

In a bid to make up for the failed movie night last Friday, Stiles had absolutely promised to be there for this week’s. In a bid to ensure you believed him, he’d offered to buy the pizza himself this time, and was even letting you choose what it was that you both had. He’d loaded up movies and set up drinks and even dragged down the spare blankets and cushions from the upstairs cupboard to make the couch look more like a pit of pure comfort than a couch. 

It was impressive, actually, and he had sent you a series of pictures as he constructed it, promising that he was here to stay with you, his pyjama pants already on, and a raggy old shirt that he wouldn't dare go out in, and so you were making your way up the front-drive eagerly once again, the door flying open before you’d even had to knock. 

He was beaming at you, flannel flapping around him as he reached out to pull you into him, arms around your shoulders to squeeze you into his body and crush the air right out of your lungs in a breathless laugh as you hugged him back. Your arms circled his waist, hugging him just as tightly, before poking lightly at his sides in the spots that you knew he was ticklish in, making him yelp and try and jerk away from you, glaring falsely as you finally released him. Kicking the door shut behind yourself, you hung up the light coat you’d wrapped yourself in up in on the hooks fastened to the wall, kicking off your shoes and following him through into the rest of the house. 

He was practically bouncing with each step, spilling over with information about the movies he'd chosen, and speaking even faster than usual as he guided you through to the kitchen to hand you his phone, the pizza ordering app already pulled up on the screen, and Mitch was lurking around behind the counter, the fridge door open as he shuffled through the contents, leaning around the door and offering you a smile as he saw you. Stepping out and bringing the butter with him, he dropped it down onto the counter beside whatever it was he was going to make, pulling his phone from his back pocket and bringing up a recipe. 

The room looked even better in person, the lights had all been flicked off to give the large flatscreen a cinema-style appearance, drinking glasses and bottles of pop sitting out in preparation, condensation forming on the bottles from the coolness within, and a stack of movies beside the TV that the pair of you had spent all week choosing for this event.

The boy at your side was talking your ear off, and you slowly constructed an online shopping basket full of food that you could share between the two of you; stuffing yourselves full of the greasy fast food while hanging out with your best friend was exactly how everyone should spend their Friday nights, in your opinion.

You had even worn your comfiest clothes, an old pair of black legging and the biggest jumper you had, your face clear of makeup and a scrunchie on your wrist in case you decided to tie it up later, most likely when the food arrived. You handed the device back to Stiles so that he could make his own food choices, the boy following you through to the living room as you poured yourself a drink, his fingers tapping against his thigh and his teeth biting at his lower lip, and you watched him with a raised brow, but he was either ignoring your stare or he didn’t notice it, because he purposefully avoided your gaze.

“Why are you so jittery, Sti? Did you take your Adderall today?”

“Yes, I took my Adderall today, thank you very much.” He stuck his tongue out at you playfully, the scowl on his face having no heat to it as he moved past you to make his own drink, and he was twitching so much he could barely hold the bottle still. “I’m just excited.”

“For movie night?”

“Yes, for movie night.” He confirmed, but avoided your eye, and you let out a sigh, glancing up through the open doorway to try and catch Mitch’s eye, but he was also ensuring he wasn’t looking at you, busing himself with cutting overly precise cubes of butter and dropping them into the pan over the hob.

“No, you’re never this weird about movie night. You’re all anxious, I can practically smell it.” You took a seat beside him, his body facing the TV as yours faced him, and he glanced at you out of the corner of his eye, lips flicking up in a small smile. “Just tell me what’s up, we can figure it out together.”

“Nothing! I promise nothing is up. Nothing that needs figuring out, or anything like that. Y’know, just got a call before but it’s totally fine now, nothing bad! I can turn my phone off and we can watch movies and we will have an awesome night! Promise!” His words spilt out from his mouth so quickly that you didn’t even have a chance to properly process them, but you caught a few keywords, enough to make your heart sink in your chest as you leaned back into the cushions, and the roles were reversed. 

Now, you were avoiding his eye, and he was trying his best to reassure you that it was okay, but everything about his twitchy behaviour and erratically strung together sentences let you know that it was not okay. “Who called, Stiles?”

“Nobody important.”

“Who?”

He sighed, and you finally met his gaze, a slightly saddened look on his face as he shrugged a little. “Lyds.”

You felt your heart clench a little in your chest, but offered him a little smile instead, shrugging your shoulders. “What did she need?”

“She had an argument with Jackson, and wanted some company and someone to talk to, but I told her I was busy tonight, and that I’d call her back later, or tomorrow morning, so don’t even worry about it, w-”

“You should go.” With a sigh, you cut him off, placing your hand over the top of his and squeezing in comfort, both for him and yourself.

“Really?”

“Yeah, she needs you more than I do. We’ll do a movie night another night, or whatever.” You waved your hand, dismissing it like it wasn’t crushing you to say the words to him, and like it didn’t break you a little more at the way his face lit up like he’d felt trapped being here with you, like he was gaining freedom. “You should totally go, it’s fine.”

He jumped up to his feet, a wide smile on his face as he looked at you, mumbling his ‘thank-yous�� under his breath as he wiped sweaty palms on his pyjama bottoms, before looking down at himself and racing away upstairs to get changed. Your body slumped down into the couch, and the shuffling behind you caught your attention, your head turning so that you could look at the man who was leaning against the post in the doorway, a look on his face that you couldn't decipher. 

“Why did you do that?” He nodded his head towards the stairs his brother had disappeared up only seconds prior, the familiar crashes and thumps of his presence sounding out as you shrugged.

“I want him to want to be here with me. You should have seen how much happier he looked when I told him he could go. I didn’t want him to have to stay when he’d rather be somewhere else.” You stood up yourself, wrapping your arms a little tighter around yourself as he came back down the stairs. He had a more presentable outfit on, the usual khakis and flannel shirt buttoned up, running a hand through his hair as the other jingled his car keys.

“You’re the best, thank you so much.” He pressed a kiss to your cheek, before making his way to the front door in a dizzying flurry of movement. “We will have a movie night, I promise!”

With that, the door was slamming shut, the jeep starting up only seconds later, and you gaped at the spot he’d been in, leaving you in a tense silence with Mitch, who shuffled from one foot to the other, before his eyes finally met yours. You gave him a watery smile, feeling the tears well up in your eyes, and his whole body seemed to deflate, before he was crossing the room and pulling you into his arms before the first cry had even left your mouth, muffling it as he let you press your face into his shoulder.

One of his hands came up to cup the back of your head, fingers slipping into your hair to rub the pads over your scalp soothingly, his cheek pressing to the top of your head as the other arm wrapped securely around your waist, holding you to him as tightly as he possibly could with your hands crushed between your bodies, your fingers gripping at the cotton of his shirt and your eyes squeezing shut, your body shaking with each wracking sob you tried to suppress. He shushed you quietly, rubbing his hand up and down you back carefully and playing with your hair, distracting you enough for you to calm the shaking of your body and the racing of your heart. 

“He didn’t even offer me a ride home!”

“I know, kitten.” He pressed a kiss to your temple, shifting you when your knees buckled a little, letting you lean on him further, his hand slipping down to grip at your hips and take the weight of your body to keep you standing.

“He didn’t care! He was gone so fast, he didn’t even ask me what I was going to do! He didn’t even try and fight it, or insist he should stay! He just.. just left!” It only made you cry harder, pressing into him further and shifting to press your face into his neck, that patch of his shirt damp from your tears, but you smoothed out your fingers until your hands were sitting flat on his chest, using the steady thump of his own heart under your hand to calm yourself. 

“I know, I know.” He mumbled, shushing you lowly on a hum, and holding you without question until you detached yourself from him. 

Your cheeks were stinging and sore, eyes red and throat raw, but he just cupped your face, smoothing his thumbs over the irritated and splotchy patches. You felt weak, your body felt like it was sagging in on itself, and so you stepped away, wiping at your eyes and sitting back down on the couch, laying out along the length of it and letting out a long and slow sigh. He moved across the room, inspecting the DVD stack you’d built with your friend. 

“You know, I for one have never seen-” He picked up the one on the top, his face scrunching up a little as he looked at it, before giving you a deadpan look with a hint of amusement, and dropping it back into the stack. “I have seen Star Wars, it would be impossible not to, being related to Stiles.”

He shuffled through them, grinning up at you when he heard you let out a soft laugh at his words, winking in your direction. “I think Batman is in there, too, and one of the Avenges movies.”

“Well, I’ve seen all of those, but I will happily rewatch them with you.” He came to stand beside you, and you propped yourself up on your hands, hopefulness once again flooding your veins as he spoke. “Or we can just go on Netflix, and find something neither of us has ever seen before.”

“Are you asking me if I want to Netflix and chill with you, Mitch?”

He smirked at your words, leaning in close enough for you to press your foreheads together, a darker chuckle sounding from him. “We can get to that later, kitten.” His lips brushed the tip of your nose as he pulled back. “You were promised a movie night, and you’re gonna’ get one. I made some popcorn, and we can eat all the snacks Stiles bought as revenge. Sound good?”

“Sounds really good, actually.” You watched him for a second, searching his eyes and his face for a sign that he was going to leave you too, like he was going to ditch you just as Stiles had, but he held his hands out to you to pull you back up to your feet. “You don’t have anything else to do on a Friday night?”

“I was going to facetime some friends from college later, but nothing important, no. Besides, a movie night would be fun, it’s been a while since I had time to binge-watch anything, and I have a few series’ in mind that we could try.” He inched the pair of you to the kitchen, nodding his head in the direction of the pan on the stove. “Why don’t you get our popcorn sorted and load up whatever you want to watch, and I’ll go put something more comfortable than jeans on, and we can watch?”

“Cool.”

He shook his head, a fond laugh forming on his lips as he watched you back away from him, before you were spinning on your heel, and listening to him set off up the stairs, searching the cupboards for a bowl big enough to put it all in. Locating the blue patterned one at the very back, you produced it with a proud huff and removed the cover from the pan, salty and buttery steam filling up into the air as you tipped the heated kernels into the dish.

Taking it with you, you set off into the living room, bringing a spare glass for Mitch to use and swapping it with the still full and fizzing drink Stiles had made for himself, rolling your eyes at the waste as it was tipped down the sink and left abandoned in the kitchen. You had barely finished it all up before the man was padding back into the room, heat crawling at your cheeks as you looked at him, scoffing a little under your breath.

“You don’t have a shirt on.”

“Is that a problem?” He was offering you a smirk like he already knew the answer to your question, and so you didn’t bother replying. Mitch collapsed back on the couch, stretched out along the entire length as you grabbed the remotes, turning on the TV, and perching yourself on the edge of the cushion mound that Stiles had built for the night as you waited for the device to power up so you could log into the app. “Are you going to sit down there all night? ‘Cause you’re blocking half the screen.” 

He had the bowl of popcorn tucked under his arm when you turned to glare at him, and he was half laying down, half sitting up, but smirking widely and pushing a handful of the salty treat into his mouth, and you made your way over to him, settling comfortably into his warmth, and sitting up with your legs crossed, sorting through the accounts to select Mitch’s, and he hummed happily as you did, chewing his food and wrapping an arm around your waist. 

You were adjusted, pulled back into his body as he moved the bowl to sit in front of you, and you scrolled through the things he had added to his list as he moved behind you, pouring himself a drink and moving both yours and his to within reaching distance of your position, pulling the snacks over too and setting them up around you bodies until it was a clear little space that the two of you were inhabiting, everything within arms reach.

“You want to watch That 70’s Show?”

“Yeah, thought it looked pretty funny but Katrina didn’t want to, so we watched some British thing instead.” You hummed clicking it open and snuggling down a little, getting yourself comfortable and reaching for the popcorn. 

“It's fucking hilarious, you’re going to love it.”

It took you two whole episodes for you to finish your snacks, and a third for you to actually start feeling better. Cuddling wasn’t exactly something you were used to. Sure, you had very tactile friends, but cuddling was new to you. Mitch seemed entirely settled with it, he hadn't shifted once, his arm slung over your waist and his chin sitting on your shoulder as he watched the screen, and yet he only ever smirked at your mumbled apologies each time you shifted, or needed to change positions, and he happily obliged, lifting his arm for you to move before settling down.

The popcorn bowl was empty, and so were all the snack wrappers, and the bottles of pop were on their way out too, and by the end of the fourth little episode, you were beginning to feel better. There was just something about Michael Kelso’s innate and adorable stupidity that lifted your mood no matter what.

You were actually comfortable now, and feeling more settled, your back pressed up to his chest and the warmth of his body washing over you, his fingers resting on your stomach, drawing patterns absentmindedly, and you were certain that if you were allowed to cuddle with your fuck buddy, then you could hold his hand. Settling your hand over the top of his, his motions paused for a second, before he was lifting his hand out from under your own and you panicked for a moment, stiffening only slightly, before his hand closed over the top of yours and laced your fingers together, thumb rubbing at your hand as he snorted at yet another joke on-screen.

“Have you ever got high?”

He twisted to look at you, letting you roll onto your back to peer up at him, your connected hands now sitting up above you as your fingers played together, and his brows raised a little, your attention on the screen gone as you focused on one another instead, leaving the gang to smoke in Eric Foreman's basement. “Yeah.”

“Really?”

His neutral expression pulled up into a sly grin, his teeth flashed to you as he nodded, licking over his lips. “Yeah, kind of like a college rite of passage, I guess. I’m not really a fan, I don’t like how it makes me feel afterwards.”

“What’s it like?”

He shrugged, moving to lean over you a little, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times as he tried to work out how to answer you. “It’s different for everyone, I think, but for me I didn’t really feel all that different when I smoked, just more relaxed, I guess? But when I came down, I always really hit rock bottom. Just got depressed, and started overthinking and feeling shitty, so I’d throw myself into my studies and workout for a couple of hours to try and make that feeling go away, which meant I had a headache and I was all sore in the morning, and tired as fuck, and I still felt like shit.”

“That sounds like it fucking sucks.”

“Eh, everyone is different.” He lay down a little more, taking his hand from your own when you rolled over to face him, and he settled it back over your waist, his hand sitting on your lower back now. “I think it would work for some people, like Stiles, for example. He'd probably do great from it, but there’s no way anyone around here is going to sell weed to the Sheriff’s kid, so he would have to wait to get to college.”

You snorted, thinking about your best friend being stoned out of his head, and still being the same clumsy mess he was now.

“What makes you ask?”

“Nothing really, I was just thinking about it because it was on the screen.” You glanced back to the screen, watching for a second as a few of the characters moved around, and you tried to pick back up on the plot you’d missed, your lips flicking up at the sides with one of the jokes, but you inevitably felt your gaze going back to Mitch. His eyes were glued on the screen once again, the reflections in the dark making the honey brown colour look as though it was speckled with red, blues, and greens, all the colours that came up.

He was similar in his looks to his brother, the moles and the cute nose and the eyes, but he was also entirely different in a way that made them seem like opposites. Mitch had longer hair, in a style that you knew would look wrong on Stiles but just looked so right on him, and he had a jaw covered in dark smatterings of stubble that were fully formed, not patchy and childlike but thick and grown, and his features were sharper.

The stress of being the eldest son of the sheriff, and watching his mother die, and trying to care for a hyperactive nuisance like Stiles during his teenage years had taken a toll on him, but he was only twenty and already seemed like he’d seen and experienced everything there was in the world, and he wore that knowledge and wisdom like a crown.

“Stop staring at me, you weirdo.”

You scoffed out a little laugh under your breath, and he glanced down at you as you rested a hand on his cheek, pulling his attention away from the screen and down to you as his mouth slotted against your own with perfect accuracy. His fingers tightened on your waist as he sighed into your mouth, pressing his lips to yours in slow movements that were just as relaxed as you were finally feeling.

There was no rush, or tension, and you certainly didn’t feel the need to speed anything along. Stiles would be out for hours yet with Lydia, and the sheriff was on yet another night shift, and so you didn’t have to feel anything but pure bliss as Mitch rolled you both onto your sides, pulling one of your legs up onto his hips as you settled one hand on his shoulder and the other into his hair, nails scraping at his scalp the same soothing way he’d done for you only a couple of hours prior.

You could feel the press of his stubble into your skin, and the slight roughness of his lips against your smooth ones, and the way your skin tingled each time he tipped his head and moved his mouth in a different direction, the drag of his lips against yours in an entirely new way sending sparks along your body. Wrapping a foot around his leg, you pulled your body in a little closer to him, the arm that had been sitting on your waist was slipping down further and further, until he was taking a handful of your ass and squeezing so roughly you let out a sound between a squeak and a moan into his mouth.

You felt the way he reacted to the sound, the way he pushed in a little closer to you, and took the chance at the parting of your lips to deepen the kisses, your tongues tangling as innocent kisses became a needy makeout, your fingers tightening into fistfuls of his hair instead of soothing through the locks, your hips rolling in time or meet his as you ground down onto his thigh when he lifted it to press better between your legs.

Your calm heart rate had shot through the roof, each time you pulled back from desperate breaths before you were diving back into one another's mouths, tongues tangling visibly between your mouths as he growled a little every time you pressed further into him, and you whimpered each time he tilted his leg a little, sending a burst of energy and pleasure along your nerves, until you could feel it all the way in the tips of your fingers and toes.

When the burn for oxygen between gasping breaths became too much, you pulled back, biting on your slightly swollen lower lip as you rocked your body down against his leg, the tent in his pants pressing into your hips each time he moved, and you felt like the heat in the room was getting way too high to be allowed, choosing instead to push him back until he was laying on his back, his eyes wide as he watched you move, peeling your jumper up over your head and throwing it away to the side, taking a seat across his lap instead of thigh. Pressing your core down against his, the layers of fabric did nothing to dull the pleasure either of you felt from the pressure, sounds of bliss let out in unison, harmonising in the air.

“Fuck, kitten.”

You grinned, thriving on the fact that you could make the man below you feel so good, and you reached behind yourself to unclip the loose bra you’d put on, tossing that away too. You felt yourself shake, a tremor running along your spine from the look he gave you as your breasts fell free before his eyes, and the thought flashed across your mind that this was the first time he’d ever actually seen your tits, without a shirt or bra in the way.

Propping himself up on his hands, he dipped his head to take one of your nipples between his lips, holding himself firm as you rocked your bodies together, grinding yourself down onto his cock as he grew to be solid beneath you. Your own hands were on his shoulders, one coming up to cup the back of his head as you sobbed out at the way his mouth felt as he lapped at your tits, sucking darkening marks into the plump flesh and teasing the taut buds with his tongue and teeth.

The electricity coursing through your body was delectable, and when he was satisfied that he’d left your chest in enough of a state, for now, he tipped his head up to find your lips once again.

“Jesus, sweetheart, you’re going to be the death of me.”

Letting his body collapse back onto the couch, you followed after him, propping yourself up above him with hands on the cushions either side of his head, his legs coming up to bend behind you to give him the ability to raise his hips up to meet you with each thrust, and you whimpered as his covered cock collided with your clit perfectly each time. “Oh, fucking hell, Mitch!”

He grinned, his hands coming up to find your waist and guide you in rotating your hips each time he pushed up into you, the drag of material over you sodden core making a cry leave you as you shot over into a climax just from the stimulation, and he continued to ride you through it, until you were spent and trembling above him, and his legs dropped down as he allowed you to fall into his lap, hands bunched up in the blankets beside his body as you came down from your high.

“You know, it occurs to me, you’re too old to be dry humping on a couch like a highschooler. I can get away with it for another few weeks, at least until graduation.”

You were breathless and your voice was unsteady, but he caught your words and let out a laugh upon processing them, his eyes sparkling as you looked up to him, and he shook his head fondly, leaning up to press a kiss to your lips. You returned it, pressing a few pecks to his lips, before pushing yourself up on shaky arms, and letting out a yelp when you accidentally dragged you overstimulated clit across his still prominent erection, which earned you a cheeky smirk from the man below you as he folded his arms under his head, making his arms and chest flex as a by-product.

Your mouth went dry at the sight, and you ran your fingers lightly over the prominent veins in his forearms, all the way up to where they disappeared at his biceps, before you were travelling along to his chest, digging your nails in a little, and he hissed at the contact, biting down on his lip, the honey colour switching to a darker whiskey shade, pupils widening, and the background noise around you both faded away leaving just the two of you there, in your own little world. “I want to try something.”

“Oh, you do?” He teased, and you rolled your eyes a little, his hands smoothing along your arms to sit on your wrist, wrapping around them gently as he urged you on. “What might that be?”

“I want to suck your cock.”

The breath was forced from his lungs as he stared up at you, wide eyes and parted lips, before he was letting out a string of curses under his breath. “You’ve never done that before?”

“My experiences before you are limited to pretty much how our first time went.”

“Sloppy, drunk sex that was pretty subpar, all things considered?” You nodded in response, and he hummed under his breath. He seemed to be thinking about it for a minute, his brows furrowing, before he was bringing up a hand to cup your jaw and running his thumb over your lips, slipping it into your mouth carefully and letting you suck on the digit as he mulled it over. “I got off the other night just thinking about fucking your pretty little mouth, you know.”

“You did?”

Your words were muffled around the finger in your mouth, and he pressed the pad of his thumb into you tongue a little, you lips sealing around the digits once again, sucking it lightly and swirling the wet article to soak his skin, lapping and teasing as his eyes glossed over and went half-lidded. “Yeah, I did. You want me to tell you about it?”

You nodded around the digit, and he grinned up at you lazily, pulling out his thumb, and replacing it with two long fingers instead, letting out a deep sound of satisfaction when you took them both without complaint.

“I was thinking about your lips, and your eyes. You have this cute little innocent look in your eyes but I get to know that you have a dirty mouth. I thought about you licking at my cock, before taking it all.” You squeezed your legs a little around him on an instinctual wish to clamp your thighs together, and his other hand came to sit on your thigh, squeezing it roughly as he acknowledged the effect his words had on you. “Thought about letting you choke on my cock, until there were tears in your eyes, and you were swallowing everything I gave you, like the good girl I know you can be. You’d be good for me, wouldn't you, kitten?”

He pulled out wet fingers from your mouth, and you took a raspy breath, strings of saliva snapping as he pulled the digits away from your mouth, and you nodded at him, leaning down closer to him, pressing kisses to his lips and cheeks, along his jaw until you were sucking at the base of his neck, and he was stretching his head back for you. “I’d be so good for you, I promise.”

“I know you would.” He stretched the skin out a little further, and you licked at the patch you’d been working on, the salty taste of his skin much like that of the popcorn taste that had lingered in his mouth during your kisses, and you sealed your lips around that particular spot, teasing it with your lips and teeth. “You can leave a mark, I don’t mind. Mark me as yours, kitten, that’s okay.”

You let out a muffled sound against his skin as he gave you permission for the action you’d been so wanting to complete, and he let out a shaky breath as you worked until the skin was flourishing with angry red and splotching with hints of a darker colour already.

“Gonna’ suck my cock, sweetheart?”

“Yeah.. yeah I am.” You whispered, pressing wet kisses along his skin as you lower yourself down along his body, the same way he had done when he’d gone down on you a few days before, and he shuffled his hips up when you tapped at his hips, the pants already sitting low were tugged down to his thighs swiftly, taking his boxers too, and his cock sprang up before your face, dribbling precum in shiny trails along his throbbing flesh, a breathy noise leaving him as he was freed from the confines of his underwear.

One hand came down to lace into your hair, quickly followed by the second as he pulled the strands up and into a makeshift ponytail, trying to let you take it at your own pace, despite the way his thighs and fingers were twitching to take control. You pulled back, just enough to reach your wrist to try and find your scrunchie, but found both arms bare, and the feel of fabric weaving into your hair, Mitch navigating the bundle easily into the elastic, and you gaped at his dark smirk, never even having known when he’d taken the item from you.

“Damn, Mitch..”

“I’m smooth like that.” He replied on a mumble, voice shaking just a little, before his eyes were fluttering shut, his head resting back in the pillows of the couch behind him. Leaning in, you dragged your tongue along his length, lapping at the head and clearing the arousal that had already gathered at the tip, and he gripped at the bundle of hair he had created, letting out a deep and throaty sound that vaguely resembled your name as you sealed your lips around his tip.

His thighs clenched, body shaking a little as you shifted, giving yourself a moment to grow accustomed to the heavy weight of his cock sitting on your tongue, before you were once again moving. He was holding himself back surprisingly well, fingers pulling at your hair as he began to guide your head in gentle bobs, praises falling from his lips under his breath, confirming you in your movements and giving you confidence in what you were doing.

Hollowing your cheeks a little, he released one hand from your head, throwing it up to grip the cushion beside his face with a cry, his entire body shaking as you sunk as far down as you could, before you were gagging, pulling back a little bit, not missing the high-pitched noise he made. Glancing up at him through your lashes, you found his head tipped back into the pillows, a thin layer of sweat covering his skin. He looked incredible, red and swollen lips parted as he panted for breath, letting you take him apart with your mouth - even if you didn’t know what you were doing all that well - and his hips bucking occasionally to chase you when you pulled back to focus on his tip in a way that made his core clench so tight you could see the firmness of the rigid muscles underneath.

Pulling away from his cock, you use the slick mixture of spit and precum that was covering his skin to pump him quickly, and he fucked up into your hand, grunting each time you swiped your thumb under or across the head, finding all the sensitive patches that drove him wild. You were pressing kisses to him, sucking another hickie into the skin of his hip when he pulled you up, uncaring of the wet marks left on his skin as he used his tight grip on a handful of your hair to navigate you up until he could press his mouth to your own in a frenzied kiss.

It was a clash of tongues and teeth, and you were gasping into his mouth for air every time, it felt like every hot kiss he gave you was sucking the air straight from your lungs, you head spinning with the urgency of it as you pressed back into him, kissing him with everything you had until the two of you were forced apart, panting and pressing your foreheads together.

“What’s wrong? No good?”

“No, you were fucking incredible, sweetheart. If you didn’t stop, I definitely would have cum, and I would very much like to be inside of you when I cum tonight.” He nudged the tip of his nose against your own, smiling happily when you let out a sweet whisper of his name, before you were nodding, and pecking his lips a couple of times quickly. “You want that?”

“Yeah, I do. I really do.”

“Mm, me too.” He pushed you up a little, the cool air sweeping in between you as your bodies separated momentarily like a refreshing wake up, your mind clearing a little, and you caught sight of yourself in the reflection of the TV that had turned itself off due to inactivity a while ago, and you looked as thoroughly fucked up as he did, your lips twisting in a subtle grin at the sight of you both. “Condom. We need a condom.”

“Shit, right, want me to get it?”

“You remember where they are?” You nodded, hopping up from the couch as he grinned, placing a loud slap to your ass as you went, and you glowered over your shoulder.

“Stop slapping my ass every time I walk away from you!”

“Fine, I’ll start slapping your ass when you’re here.” He retorted, and you stuck your tongue out at him, rubbing lightly at the stinging patch as you made your way up the stairs, his laugh fading into the background. Reaching his room, you noted the way it was still clean and tidy, the same way it had been, the covers a little messy where he’d been sitting on them earlier, but still entirely neater and more coordinated than Stiles’. Opening the drawer, you tipped one out, swiping up the blue foil packet, before making you way back down to the man waiting for you.

He was pumping his cock slowly when you reached the room, pants discarded to leave him entirely naked. His head was tilted back to lay along the back of the couch, and he smirked at you, eyes locked with yours as he picked up the pace of his hand moving along his shaft, dragging his gaze along your body as you moved towards him, before fixing his sights on the way your tits bounced with each step.

“God, you’re so fucking beautiful.”

“Shut up, you sweet talker.” He simply flashed white teeth at you in a smile, reaching out for the packet in your hand and tearing the top off with his teeth, rolling the condom onto his length in a way that should not have been as attractive as it was, but maybe it wasn’t the action, but simply the man that had done it. Each time he moved his fist up or down his cock, his fingers would flex, his wrist moving and the veins in his arm standing out as his muscles flexed with the simple moves, and yet it had your mouth dry and mind empty just watching him.

“On your knees, hands on the back of the couch. You better hold on, kitten, because I want to hear you screaming my name, tonight.”

“Do you even hear yourself sometimes? Do you know how fucking hot you are, or does that just happen?” You muttered, shaking your head at him despite his smile, and you wiggled your leggings and panties down your legs, dropping them to the floor before passing him by to climb onto the couch.

“It just happens when I’m around pretty girls who are ready to fuck.” You didn’t bother responding, but leaned over a little more, shaking your ass at him in order to tempt him forwards after you’d parted your knees, and he ran two fingers through your folds teasingly, letting out a satisfied and aroused noise as he felt the wetness that had accumulated there. “Fuck, you’re dripping for me.”

“Yeah, well, it just happens when I’m around hot guys who are ready to fuck.”

Your retort was met with a loud slap to your ass, the skin flaming up with a delicious burn, a large hand soothing the mark as he dragged his teeth over your shoulder in a light bite, his hair tickling your cheek as you turned to look back at him. “I like it when you get a little bit sassy with me, kitten. Makes it so much more fun.”

“It would be even more fun if you were fucking me. Like, now.” You pleaded, being met with an equal spank on the other side, and you pushed back into the touch happily as the slight pain fuelled on your pleasure, feeling the head of his cock swirl through your wetness, gathering it up before he could line up at your core.

Taking your ponytail back in his hand, he pulled your head back, setting his other hand on your hip and slamming into you without hesitation, your eyes rolling to the back of your head as you cried out his name, shuddering all over at the feeling of suddenly being so full and stretched out once again.

“Fucking you was one of the best decisions I ever made, I swear to God..” You were barely even aware of the ramblings you were letting out as he laughed into your ear, beginning to set a steady and quick pace, each thrust seeming to hit deeper than the last. Within only minutes, you were reduced to a sobbing mess of curse words and his name, your entire body flushed with heat and your eyes flashing with colour as you tried to stay even somewhat sentient with the way he was sending you into the clouds.

His hips were colliding with you each time, your thighs up to your ass burning with each powerful collision, the sound of skin slapping again skin filling the room, and you parted your legs even further, allowing him to sink even deeper within you, making both of you shake and falter at the way it felt to entirely wrapped up in each other, everything else becoming irrelevant. Slipping his hands around to your front, he took your tits in each of a large palm, the rub of calloused hands against your nipples making every sound you made become illegible, a mess of mumbles and begs for only him to hear as he took you to places you never thought you’d get to experience.

You were squeezing him each time, clenching around his cock and drawing him back in, and despite the rubber between you, you could feel every throb he made within your walls, and every time he twitched when you rolled certain muscles focusing on the movements you could make that made his pace falter or a pornographic noise fall from him that drove you wild. You were pushing back to meet his thrusts, tears welling up in your eyes as he pushed against your g-spot with every movement, pressing the patch solidly, the head of his cock sliding over it on repeat each time and the stimulation was building up to be more than you could handle, but you were in far too deep to be able to back up, you didn’t want to, you just wanted to lose yourself in the way it felt to be with him.

“Can feel you, so tight and wet ‘round me. You’re perfect, fucking incredible. I need you to cum for me, okay? Need to feel you cum.”

You nodded, your voice to unreliable to even speak, but he pulled you up until your back was to his chest, the angle changing as you became even tighter around him and he hissed under his breath, hot breaths washing over your cheek with every pant he made, and you gripped at the hand that slipped up to sit around your neck, needing the support as the other went down to flick at the button between your legs in rough strokes that made your entire body jump and quiver at the stimulation, the screams he had wanted tearing from your lips as you crashed into a mindblowing orgasm, eyes lining with tears and voice cracking.

He followed behind you by only seconds, his body going rigid as he came, before he was collapsing over your back, trying to hold himself up with hands on the edge of the couch, before he was pulling out of you and letting the both of you collapse into a heap of sweaty and spent bodies on the couch. “Christ, that was fucking incredible.”

You threw a tired arm up over your face and hummed your agreement on a silent voice, wiping at the wetness that had come onto your cheeks once again, a tired smile on your face as you sniffed a little wiped your face clean, and you heard him shuffling around, pulling off the condom and wrapping it in a pile of tissues from the box, before he was leaning over you, nimble fingers pulling your hand for your eyes.

“Are you crying?”

“Guess you’re just that good.” You joked, and he used his own fingers to wipe away the tears, but you could see the pride that was filling him at the claim, his chest puffing up and his wide smirk widening, eyes sparkling with cheek.

“Well, I would definitely rather have you crying over my dick than over being ditched, so I think tonight was a huge success.”

You slapped an idle hand at his chest, leaving it laying there, too tired to move it as you rolled over and pressed yourself into his side, and he placed his hand on top of yours, letting you cuddle into the side of him and lifting his head so you could tuck your face into his neck. “Thanks for hanging out with me tonight.”

“I mean, it was really pretty great for us both, so no thanks neede-”

“No, I meant movie night. Thanks for hanging out with me. I knew it was going to end in sex anyway, but thanks for hanging out with me before that, it made me feel better. A little less lonely, y’know?” He squeezed you in silent acknowledgement, but never said anything in reply, and you weren’t sure whether your walls were down because you’d just had your brains fucked out, or whether it was simply how safe and assured you felt when with him, but you were opening your mouth and letting the words pour out before you even had a chance to stop them; “I feel lonely a lot, lately. It’s hard when all of your friends know about your feelings towards one of the others, and they know it’s never going to work out. I know it’s never going to work out, but it doesn’t stop it hurting, and I try not to hang out with Stiles and Lydia together a lot, but I can’t make them choose between me or them, that’s ridiculous, so I don’t see them as much anymore.”

He twisted to look at you, raising a hand to tuck some loose hair that had fallen from your ponytail away behind your ear, before nodding his head and swallowing thickly. “I came home from college because all my friends became friends with Katrina, and her friends, and it became too painful to see all of them when all they did was remind me of her, but now I feel alone.”

“I’ve never told anyone that before.” You confessed, and he smiled a little, his eyes sliding closed as he nodded, like the secret was kept between just the two of you, and you knew that was where it would stay.

“Neither have I.”

The moment was a little too heavy for you to handle without becoming overwhelmed, so you instead pressed yourself back into him, not having to look at the caring look in his eyes, instead just feeling the tentative way his hands smoothed up and down your body comfortingly, the heat in the room dissipating until you were beginning to feel the chill, despite the furnace of a human being pressed up along the length of you. You were just about to move and grab your clothes again when he spoke again;

“Do you want to go get something to eat?”

“What?” He shrugged as you sat up, stretching yourself out and searching around for your bra, finding it and pulling it on, clipping it behind your back and adjusting it on your chest as you stared at him inquisitively.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I figured I’d drive you home, but we could go to In-N-Out or something on the way.”

“You know what? I would love that.” Your stomach rumbled at the offering of food, and you flushed with embarrassment at the loud sound, but Mitch only laughed, rolling to his feet and swiping up the tissue bundle and condom to take to the kitchen while you continued to dress yourself. You had located his boxers and sweats, and offered them to him when he returned, to which he pulled on both quickly, before making his way upstairs to grab a shirt. He was pulling on shoes as he came down the stairs in awkward footsteps, before lacing them up when he reached the bottom, and grabbing a hoodie for himself from on the coat hooks by the door, shrugging it on over his head.

“Ready?”

“We need to put the blankets away first.”

He shook his head as he looked around, holding his hand out towards the door instead, and swiping up his keys as he went. “Nah, I cleaned up everything that would give away what we did, but Stiles can clean up the rest. That’s what he gets for ditching you, he doesn’t get movie night, but he still gets clean up duty. It’s only fair.”

You gave it one final glance, before deciding you absolutely fucking agreed, and offered him your brightest smile as you headed out towards the older brother’s car, the sleek black calling to you as it reflected the streetlamps dotted along the sidewalk. “Can we put the heated seats on again?”

“If you want to, sure.”

You nodded eagerly, hopping up into the car once it was unlocked and settling yourself into the seat, flicking the button yourself this time once Mitch had started up the vehicle and set off onto the roads, a chuckle on his lips as he watched you play with the large console of buttons, turning on the regular heating and the radio, too.

Instead of the widely broadcasted channels, however, the music system began to blast out the last song that Mitch has been listening too, and you jumped at the sudden and loud bass, the car swerving a little as clearly Mitch was caught off guard too, but you were soon gasping in realisation of the beat that was playing, turning the volume down a little but tapping your fingers in time with the tune.

“I love this song!”

“You do?” You nodded, opening the box on the dashboard and looking for the CD album, but he only offered his phone to you, giving you a pointed look as he tapped the bluetooth symbol showing up on the screen. “Not used to modern-day technology, driving around in that old jeep all the time, huh?”

“That jeep has history!”

“You sound like Stiles.” He muttered, rolling his eyes but grinning at you anyway, and you scrolled through his music selection, the conversation between you both flowing easily as you bonded over your music choices, and your favourite songs, which had quickly devolved into favourite movies and your preference on sports teams, and toppings on pizza.

You had flown through the drive-thru, almost empty in the late hour, and he had insisted on paying, calling it his treat, and telling you that you could pay next time.

Being in Mitch’s company was easy. It wasn’t burdened with the worry of rejection or the loss of friendship, it wasn’t weighed down with unrequited love and the fear of not being accepted. With Mitch, you didn’t have previous commitments and complicated friendships and worries about college. He was fun, and warm, and he made everything that plagued your mind go away when you were with him, even if it was just for a little while.

The ride was filled with jokes and laughter, the two of you driving around the empty roads aimlessly until you were pulled up in front of your house, giggling as you finished your milkshakes, used wrappers and cartons stuffed into the bags you’d been given the food in, sitting long discarded by your feet as you peeled the top off of your plastic cup and tried to use the straw to scrape at the whipped cream that had fallen to the bottom.

You managed to scoop some up, humming happily as the sweet goodness filled your mouth and covered your senses, before you were dropping it back down to add to the rubbish in the bag, and licking at your lips to clear it away.

“You know we’ve been driving around for, like, three hours?”

He glanced down at the clock, the time flashing up, despite the engine being turned off as you sat parked up outside of your house. “Oh, shit. I thought we’d been out for an hour, or so.”

“Time flies when you’re having fun.” You teased, and he finished up his drink, putting the empty plastic into the cupholder, his gaze finding yours, and he watched as you lifted a hand up to the side of his mouth, wiping above his lip at the froth caught in his stubble, before smearing it away on a napkin, your head tipping to sit on the headrest as you faced him. The music was playing quietly throughout the car, and you covered your yawn, but his eyes crinkled at the sides as he looked at you, catching the sight of tiredness on your features.

“Tired, kitten?” You mumbled your acknowledgement, your eyes sliding closed a little, and you felt his hand coming up to hold yours, lacing your fingers together and sitting them on the console between you both, and you could feel his stare lingering on you. “I did have fun, you know.”

“Me too, it was a really awesome night. Probably better than any other movie night would have been, actually.” You opened your eyes to look at him now, and he nodded, a bashful look covering his features as he pulled you in a little closer to him, and you happily leaned over towards his space.

“I want to kiss you.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time, but I appreciate the chivalry.” You joked, and he barely let out a laugh this time, his hand coming up to cup your cheek and he let out a content sound when you nuzzled a little further into his palm.

“No, those were different. Those were kisses leading up to sex, and that’s what we’ve been doing, what we are doing.” You studied him carefully now, brows furrowed as you watched him try to get his words out. “There’s no sex after this, nothing else. I just want to kiss you goodnight.”

You stared at him for a moment, before bringing a hand of your own to sit on his other cheek, pulling his face in towards yours, brushing your noses together, before connecting your lips softly.

He tasted like the salt of french fries and the whipped cream on top of his chocolate shake. He pressed into you firmly, his fingers digging in under your jaw, just enough to make sure you wouldn't pull back too soon, so that he could prolong the connection, and the drag of your lips against his.

When he did finally pull back, his lips were still puckered or a moment, brushing your lips together before he was letting out a soft sigh, and pressing a kiss to your nose and your forehead. You let him do so, before you repeated the action on him, earning yourself a shy and intimate smile as you kissed at his forehead and he tipped his head down to let you do so, your lips lingering on his skin before you pulled back, giggling so quietly you weren’t sure if he had even heard it, but it didn’t matter.

“I'll text you, okay?

“I hope so. Don’t want it to be days before I talk to you again.” You mumbled, before grabbing your things and hopping out of the car, walking around to the side of the car, and he rolled his window down, brows raised as he looked at you lingering outside his car. The lights in your house were still on, and you glanced back at the windows, before leaning in through his and pressing your lips to his in a final short kiss, a smile gracing his lips as you spoke your next words; “Thank you for making this night so much better than I thought it would be.”

“Goodnight, kitten.”

“Goodnight, Mitch.”

[darkfinch]

okay i'm back to talk about ace quinn & parker. if this is too rambly ignore me i just don't how to stop talking. this idea came to me after some of the posts about quinn reading/writing romance novellas. at first i thought maybe it's just a fun interest that's very different from Homicide. but you know that post "one of the reasons quinn and parker get along is because all their hobbies have to do w crime" ? that was bugging me. why would quinn, murder kitten, think about romance books so much

so i created this hc of quinn gets into romance novellas because he's ace and there're parts of human relationships he didn't relate to. which, cool, perfect, not a problem. but one day he's bored on a stakeout or something and decides he wants to know more. it started as research, like people watching, and then just. is fun for him so he keeps doing it.

hardison makes flow charts for parker for navigating human interaction and eliot talks thru different dynamics of relationships with quinn. because hardison and eliot both imprint and will do anything for their people.

and then when parker finds out about the romance novellas (or i guess the smut aspect of them? idk?) she's like "i don't get this" and quinn is like "no same"

!!!!!!!! more ace quinn and parker what a gift what a delight.....

i DO know that post [x] (i think) and i love this reasoning!! maybe it starts as vague curiosity, and then partway through the book he's like. wait this is hilarious. this is so funny, obviously no one actually thinks like th—oh. oh wait. oh wait do people....Think. Like This, and suddenly it's a weird little research project and he has a stack of secondhand books in every safehouse with notes in the margins

like, he can't ask a human person because then he'd have to talk to a human person, but he CAN read a romance novella like a textbook and dissect it for useful information to find The Appeal

[readmore bc this got kinda long]

for me, when i was first thinking abt quinn reading Bad Romance Novellas [x] i was thinking bodice rippers/particularly romance novellas of. A Certain Quality/Time/Type, because a lot of them tend to be,,,,,surprisingly dark and kind of distressing with their content, and i think that the idea that these frequently awful people/people who have horrific things happen to them Back To Back To Back can, in the end, have that cheesy picturesque happy ending with 2.5 kids and a golden retriever or whatever you're supposed to want....would be VERY COMPELLING to him for reasons he refuses to explore :3

(and then also like...dramatic romance is absolutely a spectator sport when you don't participate. as an aroace who enjoys shitty dating shows because Why Are These People Acting Like That, the absurdity of the whole thing absolutely backflips directly into comedy when you're watching with an outside perspective, and while i think he would find that kind of show deeply irritating, i think the like...condensed nonsense + internal monologue for Explanation Of The Thought Process provided by that kind of book would be very fun for him?)

There's also the fact that the plots tend to be romance-arc-centric and so (like hallmark movies, which i also think he likes; unlike real socialization, which he does not) follow a very predictable formula where you can enjoy your absurd romantic escapism with the assurance that you won't get the rug pulled out from under you. You know what you're getting into and you can watch this headstrong lady be swept off her feet by this questionable garbage pirate with good hair, stress-free, unrealistically, and it's great :3

it's Work Research, but it's also getting to briefly live in a version of the world where people are more predictable, this thing he doesn't get is broken down into an unintimidating formula, and the worst people who've experienced the worst things still have someone look at them and go, "hey, wait, stick around". escapism!!

also i LOVE the idea of a very determined eliot sitting quinn (and occasionally parker, who has had this talk before and likes to help field questions) down for a fun seminar on relationship dynamics. hardison made a powerpoint (eliot hates the powerpoint). there's snacks. this is the only way he can absorb information here we go have a colour-coded polycule diagram—

[tuttifuckinfruttifriday]

Matchups are open?..

May I intrude with a Horror/Slasher request?

Here is me but condensed into bullet points!

Brown short hair with blue tips

Brown eyes, and glasses/con

I endorse Poly, and open relationships and am open to practice both!

I’m a social anxiety riddled rat

Goblin-core

I have non-lobe ear piercings and plan on stacking up some more

Mental health is ...well

Sudden bouts of depression

Can’t focus, brain empty

Grumpy but sometimes it’s “IM BABY!”

Sitting on random spots on the floor is a trademark of mine

I draw the human body (mostly women)

Built on caffeine and dehydration

Smiling TOO much, I can’t stop it!

A FELLOW ASEXUAL , HELLO!

I will send a daily cat photo and an aggressive amount of hearts in texts.

Heck yes you can!❤️

Sorry it took some time!

Don’t hesitate to tell me if I missed some things or made grammar mistakes—

I match you with:

Billy Lenz!

Other possibilities: poly!Ghostface, ChromeSkull, Ash Williams, Charles Lee Ray/Chucky, Bubba Sawyer, Thomas Hewitt, Jason Voorheese

Brown hair? Like him!

He finds your blue tips so cute tho-

Like, he’ll always play with the em of your hair, his eyes sparkling like the ones of a little kid on Christmas.

At least you have a body, he’s good with that.

But if you talk about what he really likes physically, except “you know what”, it’s seriously your eyes.

He just finds them so beautiful, especially when you wear glasses.

The way they frame your eyes is just, w o w. It makes him giggle like a schoolgirl

Sharing you? Him??? Never!😤

He’s too much of a possessive rat to share you with anybody, even if they’re your family.

Social anxiety? He’s got it too-

He’s more into I’m-staying-in-the-atticcore, but I think he’s definitely goblincore too.

...piercings? What’s that?

He’s going to be so fascinated with what you have in your ears that he might steal them while you sleep-

His mental health is no better 😔

He’s got those moments too, so it’s going to be okay... you’ve got each other❤️

He’s always fixated/focused on anything he finds pretty, especially you. Don’t worry about focusing<3

He’s got random outbursts and his mood changes pretty quickly, so hope you don’t mind^^... but if he’s grumpy, he won’t stay grumpy for long

He’ll annoy the hell out of you... so you might stay grumpy for a while 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you want, he’ll sit with you on the floor, wherever you are

He’s thirsting over your drawings, won’t hesitate to steal them.

If you’re asking him where they are and he doesn’t respond, you might want to look in the attic, they’ll be everywhere

Caffeine??!! Please, don’t give him some!

You won’t ever rest-

He smiles a lot too, so it’s a perfect match :) you won’t ever smile too much

Hello ace friend!

He’ll aww and giggle over anything you send him, and will send you things too, but you might not find them cute, if you know what I mean👀

He loves when you send/show him affection! He’ll send even more❤️❤️

[a-cai-jpg]

this is how the story ends.

Sometimes, she can barely remember the way he looked.

She can still hear his voice—breath curling around her name and low baritones tickling her ears. Sometimes, if she closes her eyes and tries hard enough, she can trace his features with the tips of her memories—grasping at his eyes, the curve of his lips, the slopes of his cheeks—only for them to slip away like smoke. 

He returns to her only as she drifts aimlessly between wake and sleep, teetering dangerously along the border as her eyes focus hazily on his smile. He fades in and out of her mind, and she thinks she can still feel the warmth his fingertips left around her wrist, on the curve of her waist, against the tips of her ears as he softly brushed back her hair.

As life shuttles her from one end of the hemisphere to the other, she wonders whether he had really existed. Whether they had really existed. But, even time and an aging mind can’t erase the scalding fingertips he had haphazardly left on her life. 

.

.

[m a d r i d,  s p a i n]

On the Amtrak from San Francisco to Los Angeles, she finds herself in Madrid, summer. He is next to her, an ice cream cone held loosely in one hand as he points with the other. They are laughing, her head thrown back as she lets the warm, slightly humid wind caress her cheeks. He pauses in the middle of suggesting Let’s sit at a café—the heat’s killing me to take in the way her eyes crescent and shine, like the blinking fairy lights drawing waves along their bedroom wall back home. She averts her attention from the scene around them—a street performer jubilantly strumming the strings of her guitar, a six or seven year old shrieking with laughter as his parents chase after him—and looks at him, head cocked to the side. He smiles and leans in.

.

.

[t o k y o,  j a p a n]

She drags her suitcase through her apartment door in Los Angeles and ends up at the top of the Tokyo Tower, nighttime. The sweet scent of cherry blossoms wafts even to the height of over three hundred meters. The night chill is a sliver harsher up here than the central streets of Shibuya. She’s anxious, sweat pooling at her palms as she looks down at the twinkling city lights below. Her fingers inadvertently twist themselves into the hem of his loose, white t-shirt. He glances at her and wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her close. I won’t let you fall, he whispers against her ear as he lightly brushes her hair with his lips. She smiles and huddles closer to him, feeling the warmth of his chest radiating against her side. 

The scene is picturesque—the hum of the city dimmed as the two of them lean against the floor-length glass separating them from the hurtling descent back to the winding streets of Tokyo. They watch the lights slowly blink off one by one as the city settles into its pseudo-slumber. Staticky music plays in the background. Her eyes drink in the miniature metropolis, and she feels “acrophobia” become just another foreign word she can’t understand in this foreign country. 

She wonders if this is what forever feels like. She wonders if this can last into eternity—her steadfastly leaning into him, stealing his presence and the scent of his Calvin Klein cologne, watching time pass them by. 

What are you thinking about? He asks, nudging her slightly. She cranes her head back to tell him, eyes crinkling as a chuckle bubbles in her throat, and falls. 

.

.

[l o s  a n g e l e s,  u s a]

She lands in a building on the edge of the LA financial district. She brushes through the office, balancing a thick stack of papers and a Starbucks coffee. Recently, her sweet tooth has abandoned her, and she finds the words an iced Americano, no cream or sugar please tumbling from her tongue. 

She reaches her cubicle and drops the papers onto her desk. Absently, she drags a finger across the thin layer of dust that has gathered at corners of her unusually neat, organized working area. It looks exactly like how she left it, one Thursday afternoon after mechanically organizing and re-organizing the objects on her desk. The uncanny feeling that someone has broken into the office and replaced every single one of her items with an exact duplicate settles uneasily in her gut.

It feels foreign. The sticky notes lining the plastic divider, the handful of her favorite pens gathered in a metallic mug, the photo frame placed face down, the PC monitor with the light blinking orange. It’s as if she is here to replace the girl who had previously occupied this space, a shadow of who she had once been.

She turns around, and he is behind her, grinning as he offers her a cup of coffee from the office Keurig. He’s wearing a light blue button down, the first two buttons undone because she always claimed, You look too stuffy with it buttoned to the top. His sleeves are rolled to his elbows because he never liked the way it interfered when he typed. She can smell the rich warmth of the coffee tempting her to reach out and grab it from him.

His eyes twinkle as he edges even closer, the coffee mug the only thing separating them. Her heart races, and she swears the vibrations are transmitted through the cup and into his fingers and up his arms until they are in sync with his own heart beat. Three creams and one sugar on Mondays, right? There’s a bit of a giggle in his voice, connotations of an inside joke, warm and familiar, lightly dusting his words. She doesn’t reply and stands on her tiptoes and kisses him.

“How was the business trip?”

The question registers too loudly, too jarring to her ears—like the lights of a surgery room switching on and glaring down at her. She reflexively lifts the corners of her lips, but the smile reaches her eyes a half-second too late. She watches her co-worker’s eyebrows furrow, her mouth pursing like it’s about to open and say something, so she beats her to it.

“It went smoothly,” she says. “A bit tiring, but fine.”

She tries for a small grin.

It must be lopsided, because her co-worker stretches out a hand and places it on her arm. She tries her best not to flinch and widens her smile despite the strain in her cheeks. One last sympathetic pat, and the hand is gone. There’s the sound of a chair wheeling away, the delayed “click-clack” of a keyboard, and she finally sinks into her own chair.

She feels strange. Like she has unzipped her skin, stepped out of it, and donned a replica that is slowly shrinking and suffocating her—figuratively-literally squeezing the life out of her.

Her computer shudders to life, the bright blue Windows screen doing nothing to startle her from her reverie. Her arms unconsciously wrap themselves around her torso, and she digs her nails into her side as if about to rip off this flesh-colored cloak she has sewn on.

The sight of her wallpaper forcibly drags her out of her mind. She scrambles for the mouse, fingers slipping—right click, personalize, change wallpaper, default. Her cursor hovers above save, entertaining a brief, wrenching moment of hesitation before she presses down on her mouse. The resulting click is dull with weariness.

The steadfast pain pounding away in the hollow area in her chest intensifies. 

She ignores it. 

They have lunch in a café a couple of blocks down from the office building. A chicken salad for me and a breakfast panini for the lady please. He orders without looking at the menu. He knows too well her idiosyncratic love for breakfast foods, no matter the time of the day. Why? He had asked once, as he amusedly watched her wolf down a McDonald’s hash brown at dinner. Because, she had replied with a cheeky wink, I don’t like endings. He hadn’t asked further—maybe he understood, maybe he didn’t—but he never forgot. Good thing this café serves breakfast 24/7. For weirdos just like you. He stresses the last word, eyebrows raised and lips parted in the faint beginnings of a laugh, and leans back in his chair. She looks at the way he lounges comfortably in the wicker-woven chair, the midday sunshine dancing across the dark crown of his hair and highlighting the warm browns and reds, and thinks she might be in love.

She reaches across the table to take his hand, but the scene fades to black and white, and her fingers close over thin wisps of smoke ghosting across her palm.

.

.

[n e w  y o r k,  u s a]

Her fingers ache as she presses them against her iced smoothie. The sun is partially hidden behind the clouds, its rays fighting futilely against the stubborn, autumnal, and distinctly New York-ian chill. She’s sitting on a park bench, staring straight ahead with contemplative eyes, as if she is trying very hard to recall a memory long buried in the abyss of her mind. She mindlessly rubs at the condensation dripping on her plastic to-go cup before placing it down on the bench, next to the sandwich wrap she’d nibbled around. 

The white noise of the New York office rumbles at a higher decibel than the LA one, humming a constant reminder that the day is fading. She had arrived early this morning to a nearly empty floor, but the space quickly filled up with the sound of office workers going about their routine—sharp peaks of laughter, chairs screeching as they drag against the linoleum, heels echoing as their wearers rush from one end of the building to the other. The sounds crescendoed as they bounced off the walls of her mind, and suddenly, the world was thrown into a sharper contrast and everything was a little more saturated than before. She took a deep breath she couldn’t let out, and then someone made eye contact and was walking towards her and speeding up and opening their mouth and she turned and walked down eight flights of stairs to the front door.

She takes another sip of her smoothie and feels someone settle their weight next to her. Why did you leave LA? he asks, reaching for the sandwich sitting in between them. He pauses, seems to think better of it, and rests his hand back onto his lap. He looks at her expectantly, but she continues to squint at the skyline.

He waits patiently and counts the number of bikers and joggers he can see. The wind crinkles the edges of the sandwich wrap, and he shivers. 

An eternity or two passes them. Time expands and crashes, the momentum shocking the core of the Earth and rolling off in waves of tremors imperceptible to everyone but her. She blinks rapidly. 

“So I can stop seeing you.”

She gets up, tosses the sandwich and smoothie away, and makes her way back to the office.

.

.

[I N T E R L U D E]

She sits at her makeshift desk, bedroom lit only by the singular lamp standing in the corner. Her hand is sore from gripping the pen and pressing the nib heavily into the ream of paper in front of her. Ink splashes lightly from the tip, and she drags it angrily across the sheet.

   I thought                   You promised                         

                           We were supposed to go to Taiwan this year     

       Your mom called the other day       

                                                             I can’t go anywhere without   

                                 I think I’m cracking from the inside out      

          Why         

                                                   You lied.    

                                                                                                   YOU LIED.    

YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LIED YOU LEFT YOU LEFT YOU LEFT YOU LEFT YOU LEFT YOU LEFT WHY DID YOU LEAVE WHY DID YOU LEAVE WHY DID YOU LIE WHY DID YOU DIE

The sun had long set. She remembers watching the sky bleed splashes of fiery orange and navy from the living room floor, arms wrapped around her bent knees. She had sat with her head against the window for an immeasurable period of time, listening to the hushed echoes of off-tune carols and the sounds of her neighbor’s children welcoming their father home. The digital clock on her nightstand is blinking, red numbers flashing warningly.

She takes a deep breath and loosens her fingers. Her knuckles creak as she stretches them. She wipes at her cheeks and starts over.

It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow. 

Your mom called the other day to wish me a Merry Christmas and ask if I was going to return home for the holidays. She said she wanted to make me dinner. She said I should visit home often, and visit her, and visit you.

I think she’s lonely.

On March 21st, I cancelled our plane tickets to Taiwan. They wouldn’t refund the ticket price because it was too close to the departure date. 

You know, I think I was waiting. I think I thought you would come back, and in April, we would be driving from Taipei to Kaohsiung. You always said you wanted to visit the motherland. December’s almost over.

It’s really cold in New York. I don’t think you would like it. The snow isn’t the soft, fluffy kind you see in Michigan. Do you remember when we went to visit Jackelyn? It was the first time I had seen snowfall. I ran outside at 8PM and you had to chase after me with a jacket and a scarf. It didn’t matter though, because you ended up stuffing a snowball down my sweater.

The snow in New York is grey. It turns into wet, slippery slush as soon as it touches the pavement, and by the time it accumulates into a pile, it becomes dirty ice. 

The other day, I slipped on a patch right in front of my apartment and cut my palm against the jagged pavement when I tried to break my fall. When I got home, I realized I didn’t have any Band-aids, so I had to go back outside to buy some. You were always the one with the first aid kits and disaster kits. If an apocalypse hit now, I don’t think I would last very long.

Like right now, the world is ending. The world is falling apart, crashing down around me, and I’m sitting at this desk. I’m writing these words on this sheet of paper, and when I’m done, I’ll stick it in an envelope and scrawl your name on the front, and then I’ll drop it in the mailbox and pray that God will take pity on me and it will get to you. But I know it goes nowhere. It goes in the shredder, and then the trash can, and then the landfill, and then maybe it’ll become one with the earth, and I guess in one way or another it reaches you. The paper, I mean. I don’t know if the words do.

I hope—

I’ve been having a recurring dream. I’m in our apartment in LA again. It’s morning, maybe a Sunday because the sun is already filtering through our blinds. I feel it warm my cheek. I can hear the sound of the water boiler in the kitchen. I roll over to feel your side of the bed, but it’s cold. Something in me jolts, like my body is trying to remind me of something I have forgotten. I panic, but then I remember. You’re probably buying breakfast.

I like eating ham, egg, and cheese bagels for Sunday morning breakfast.

The doorbell rings, and I get out of bed blearily, grumbling under my breath about how you forgot to bring the keys with you. A small voice in my head asks how you got into the building in the first place, but my brain is still sleepy and slow so the thought filters away. The doorbell sounds insistently, and it feels like I’m dragging myself through sludge. When I finally yank the door open, the shrill ringing doesn’t cease. You’re not there.

Instead, it’s me. I’m pressing the doorbell again and again. There’s a desperate look on my face as I increase the frequency of the rings. Finally, it’s just one long, sustained pitch.

Then, it hits me.

I realize it’s always going to be me ringing the doorbell. It’s always going to be me opening the door.

Suddenly, the me outside the door stops the noise. She places her cold palms against my cheeks and says something I can’t hear.

This is usually when I wake up, sometime between late night and early morning.

It’s during these hours that I miss you the most.

Lately, I’ve been seeing you less and less.

When I see your face, it’s blurry, smudged around the edges. When I hear your voice, it’s a wavering pitch, like it’s trying to find the key of a melody it hasn’t sung in a very long time. When I feel your touch, it’s the ghost of a breeze the wind leaves behind.

She stops writing and takes a shuddering breath. Her hand is trembling.

I’m afraid I’m going to forget you.

The pen falls from her grasp. The clatter interrupts the dark silence but is quickly swallowed by the night. Ink smears where her tears splatter across the page.

.

.

k a o h s i u n g,  t a i w a n

The camera clicks, and she pulls it away to inspect the photo. There’s a streak of blue across the bottom, and then it’s the green of Cijin island and the striking white of the Cihou Lighthouse. She looks back up at the structure on the other side of the water and sees a movie play on the television.

She’s in LA, sprawled across the couch with her legs over his lap. He grabs the bag of popcorn she’s hugging in her arms and stuffs a handful in his mouth. We should do that some time, he says. Don’t speak with your mouth full, she admonishes, kicking her heels lightly against his thigh. Do what? He gestures at the screen. Drive around Japan and explore every lighthouse. 

She takes the popcorn back. You do realize she’s just finding the lighthouses in the Setouchi region, right? Not all of Japan? He shrugs. Well, we can do all of Japan. Or find a list of the coolest lighthouses in Japan and go to all of them. She laughs. But the coolest lighthouses are probably the hidden ones that aren’t on any tourist itineraries.

He ponders that for a moment, watching the screen intently as the female protagonist smokes a cigarette. They sit in silence for a moment, letting the sounds of the movie filter into the space between them. Then, he wraps his arms over her legs and pulls them close to his chest.

You’re right. I guess we have to find them on our own then. It’ll take a while, wouldn’t it? We can take a week off every year and just drive up and down the coasts of Japan. I feel like by the time we’re 80, we would’ve covered all of them.

Okay. 

Really?

Yeah. But, why?

Because lighthouses are great. She learns the contours of his history through the landscape of the lighthouses. Even in a coma, he is helping her unravel the pain and fear and confusion, guiding her forward with each unexplored lighthouse on the map. 

The horn of the ferry sounds. She hands her ticket to the attendant and boards the boat. She leans against the railing of the top deck, watching as the lighthouse looms closer. The spring, April air smells sweet and young. Soft sunlight glistens off the crests of the rocking waves and throws patches of brilliant blue and green into sharp relief.

As the ferry draws her nearer to Cijin island and the lighthouse, the wind caresses the side of her face and whispers a question in her ear. 

Are you still afraid?

She smiles and closes her eyes. Her reply is lost in the sounds of waves lapping against the edge of the boat.

author’s note

[burlybanner]

Merge (ScienceBrosWeek2019)

Summary: Some secrets are better left unsaid - and some are better cracked wide open Disclaimer: This is different from my usual style and I’m not sure where this story is going. So I’m not sure when I’ll continue. But keep me honest; it’ll happen eventually.

Disclaimer deux: I struggled with getting chapter the way I wanted, and the theme fought me tooth and nail. But it is what it is, and I don’t want to get too far behind. So - read at your own risk!

Unbeta’d.

Reference: Dust(1), Drip(2), Bitter(3)

**

Bruce woke, remembering precisely why he didn’t like drinking with Tony. He vowed this time (why was there always a “this time”) to leave the whisky on its designated shelf where it belonged. He squinted and rubbed his thumb and forefinger beneath his eyes, still feeling the heaviness of his mind and limbs with Tony’s body draped around him.

“You awake?”

Bruce grunted. “Yeah. I guess.”

“What do you want?”

“Aspirin, coffee, and donuts.” Not that he expected the donuts. But still. He’d seen them yesterday and couldn’t get them out of his mind. 

“Side table. Check the drawers.” Tony yawned and rolled off of Bruce like a cat. Bruce glanced over, watching Tony tap his wrist twice, then his jaw. “Hey. Who’s on the donut run today?” Pause.  “Really?” Another pause. Two gestures on his wrist. “Can you grab a dozen sorted for me and bring ‘em down?” Pause. “But if you don’t w--” Long, long pause. “Okay, okay. See you.”

Jaw tap.

Bruce stared at him, hand hovering between the table and the bed. “What was that?”

Tony smirked, tapped his wrist and middle knuckle. “SIberNet. Spelled SI, for Stark Industries. The evolution of telecom patented by yours truly.”

He continued staring. “You fucking scare me.”

“I’ve always scared you. But then, we have a mutual scare pact.”

Bruce pursed his lips and conceded Tony’s point. He found Ibuprofen and bottled water in the side table, then palmed two tablets and scowled at Tony before quaffing half the water. “I bet they’re all connected to SINet, or whatever you’re calling it.”

“SIberNet. Everyone’s connected, but not everyone has access to all functions. Just the higher ups.”

Bruce finished his water and shook his head. “But of course you have access to everything.”

“More or less.”

“Emphasis on the more?”

Tony smiled.

Bruce sighed heavily and felt a stronger ache in his bones. “I’m gonna go take a piss,” he muttered. His head hurt, partly from the hangover. “Grab some coffee. Maybe take a shower.”

“Make it fast, donuts’ll be here in less than ten.”

To his credit he barely tripped from the bed. Even now, in the light of day (was there sun? How did they survive without the sun) the puzzle seemed unsolvable. Too many pieces were missing and until he felt warm, clean, and headache-free Bruce didn’t expect many answers from Tony, or his own sluggish psyche.

But donuts would definitely help.

Tony gestured to Bruce’s clothes. “Wanna put something on?”

“What for?” Was his body that repulsive, that Tony couldn’t bear the sight of him sober--? “You’ve seen me naked. I’ll grab a towel after I shower.”

Tony’s face softened, revealing too much vulnerability. But Bruce’s hangover was having nothing to do with introspection. Not this early in the day. 

“Birthday suit yourself, Brucie.”

Bruce rolled his eyes and shuffled from the room.

His mind calmed after leaving Tony’s bedroom. It wasn’t horrible sleeping with him but Bruce wanted more, so it heightened his anxiety. Luckily he didn’t need to feel anything in the front room and his mind could blunt its sharp edges. 

Bruce shuffled to Tony’s window and its great view; also luckily, Tony hadn’t bothered shutting the curtain the night before. He felt like Alice in Wonderland - like he was still dreaming. But Bruce’s mind was not savvy enough to conjure waterfalls, slick mossy crags, and winding jungle vines. His mind wasn’t nearly quiet enough to recreate this joy. 

Bruce placed a hand on the glass and briefly shut his eyes. The hum of the cave filled him but so did the urgent need to piss. His physical body forced him to leave Eden behind, to relieve himself. 

While pissing his mind roved over Tony’s opulent bathroom, top of the line of course. He glared at Tony’s walk-in shower with the perfect, pristine jets and high level stonework. He knew he said he’d shower but he needed to ground himself more, and...no. Peace first. The shower simply reminded him of the future and he needed more of now’s peace.

He left the bathroom with the sole intent of making coffee and staring into perfection. Tony would either join him, or wait, it wouldn’t matter. He just...needed this. Right now.

“Tell me when, I’ll show you around.”

Bruce squawked, visibly jumping after hearing a not-Tony voice in the corner. How long had he been there, sitting, not staring at Bruce at all? Quiet, proud, and waiting. Calmly staring into the abyss. Lost in his own mind’s prison.

“Hey, Bruce.”

“Jesus - you motherfucker - you...” Bruce closed his eyes, put a shaky hand to his chest. “You know better than that. You know.”

“Yeah, well. Guess I figured you’d notice.” James Rhodes chuckled, folded his hands over the handle of his cane. Bruce’s eyes drew to the ornate pattern of the platinum handle, a twisty network of vines and fauna drawn down into an obsidian shaft. He thought if Rhodes were a Disney villain, that this would be the cane for him. But he shot the image from his mind. No Disney villain would be as classy.

“Maybe I would’ve, if I weren’t so hungover.” A chill reminded him of how very under-dressed he was, and he finally understood Tony’s vague question, regarding his clothes. 

He hated how nervous he felt.

“It’s been a while, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Rhodey used his cane to push up from his chair, slowly limping his way to join him. Bruce frowned, eyes instinctively shifting to the rhythm of Rhodey’s shuffle. Rhodey’d either just finished his morning exercises or his other leg had been overcompensating, due to the prosthetic. Bruce wondered, absently, when the last time Rhodey had seen an orthopedist. 

“Kinda makes sense Tony has the best view.”

Bruce took a second to drink Rhodey in before sharing the pristine outskirts with him. A dark chuckle died in Bruce’s throat. “It wouldn’t be Tony otherwise.”

“Heh. True.”

His fingers slowly stroked the glass but he didn’t have the strength to stare at Rhodey directly. Instead Bruce watched the other man’s reflection, as Rhodey’s reflection watched him. “I’m sorry,” Bruce said, unable to find anything better to say.

Rhodey nodded. He shifted his stance as his left hand massaged his cane’s handle. “Nothing to be sorry about, really. It happened. We happened. Other things happened to us. It’s life, man.”

“Still.” Softly, tentatively. He reached out and gently placed his hand on Rhodey’s. Bruce felt tendons jump, then relax. The ground they shared was uneven at best but not broken; Bruce felt some relief in that. 

“It wasn’t fair. I...I ignored you. Didn’t know how to talk to you. Twenty years of friendship, and I--”

“Thirty.”

“Pardon?”

Rhodey’s expression turned wistful and he stared at the carpet. “You...always forget to include your fugitive years, Bruce. You’ve known me and Tones for over thirty, not twenty. But I get it. Happens to POWs a lot.”

Bruce’s face fell and he blinked once, twice, rapidly. He felt his mind shift but he forced his expression to remain neutral. “Oh. You’re right. Of course.”

Then Rhodey reached for him, and Bruce couldn’t tell if it were from pity or love but both equally soured his stomach. “You wanna sit?”

“Sure.”

Bruce sat at the place he’d been the night before, feeling painfully naked and cold. 

“Here.” A cup of coffee was pressed into his hands and an apple fritter suddenly appeared within easy reach. 

“Thanks.” Bruce took a sip of the coffee and a large bite of the donut. A small smile curled his lips. “You remembered.”

“How could I forget? Six sugars, a tablespoon of cream, and a bunch of donuts. Every Saturday for years. It was your go-to breakfast.”

“Go-to hangover breakfast.”

Rhodey snorted. “Well. We didn’t do Friday nights halfway.”

“No,” Bruce sighed. He slouched deeper in the chair, letting his toes curl into the carpet. “We didn’t.” The silence lingered but Bruce didn’t feel pressured to fill it. Rhodey grabbed his own cup of coffee and filled their silent space with little posh sips, while they enjoyed watching the cave’s waterfall. 

“Did Tony tell you about the clouds?”

“What? Out there?” Rhodey nodded. “You’re joking.”

“Nah, I’m serious.” Rhodey smiled and drained his coffee cup. “More like condensation, though. The atmosphere builds up and makes its own clouds. Gets so humid, it feels like a misty rain. Pretty incredible.”

Bruce shook his head, enjoying their easy conversation. He didn’t...he honestly didn’t believe they could return to this. They’d barely spoken for five years. Really ten, since when he got back he’d been too mentally unstable and...well. 

Things.

“I tried.”

Bruce finished his fritter and found the donut box. He poked his finger around the stacks until he found a jelly filled one. “Tried what?”

“Finding you.”

He’d just bit into the thing when Rhodey dropped him into the painful present. The jelly soured in his mouth but he finished chewing it. Swallowing felt like swallowing marbles of sand. “It...ah. You couldn’t. It wasn’t. It--” Bruce tried again. “There weren’t any drones, like we have now. Facial recognition software was shit back then. And I was really good at hiding.”

“But I found Tony. I should’ve found you. I’m...sorry I couldn’t.”

Bruce shook his head like an animal shaking off a collar. “No, don’t. It’s not--”

“No. Remember it wasn’t just you and Tony, and me and Tony. It was me and you, too.”

He couldn’t say anything to counter because it’d just make it worse. Sadness threatened to overwhelm Bruce but he hid it by taking another bite of donut. He had to spin it, though.  “Can’t really change the past,” he said, mouth full of jelly. “We both got hit hard, y’know? It changed all of us. Everything did. We changed.”

Rhodey nodded. “We did. If we hadn’t, you would’ve known about this place when I did. You would’ve been a part of it.”

Sighing heavily, he ran a hand over his rough skin. He needed a shave, badly. “I don’t know, Rhodey. I don’t...this is too much. All of it. I don’t know what it is, but now I’m culpable. What--what’s the end goal really? What’s the purpose? What’s my purpose?”

“Well,” Rhodey sighed. He cocked his head, peering at Bruce. “It’s always been the three of us, you know that. If one of us doesn’t make it, it doesn’t work. It would’ve never worked without you. Tony’s mind would’ve been worried. I would’ve worried. We had to have a consensus.”

“Merging of the minds?”

Rhodey shrugged. “If it makes you feel better.”

“I haven’t said yes.”

“Haven’t said no either.”

Bruce finished his donut, allowing it to settle the fear building in his stomach. “But if I do? If I walk away?”

“Nothing will happen. But I imagine we’d get shut down in a few years or we’d move up our time table. Either scenario’d probably hurt us.”

“I...shit. Rhodey, I need to know. I can’t make any decisions without knowing the big picture.”

“You willing to hear it all out, Bruce? From start to finish, without bolting?”

“What choice do I have?”

“Fair.”

“I mean...” Bruce grabbed another donut. A cruller. “Tony wouldn’t’ve dragged me out here on the guise of a two week business trip without good reason. I’d like to hear out this fucking grand plan. Besides I’m guessin’ it’s already in place. It’s just...hovering. Waiting on me to--what? Agree?”

“Probably.”

“And that’s what I’m afraid of.” He peered at Rhodey and swallowed uncomfortably. “So level with me, then. Are...are we the heroes? Or...the villains?”

Rhodey shrugged. “To be determined, I guess. You know as well as I that history’s written by the survivors.”

“ ‘You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.’ “

But Rhodey didn’t respond and Bruce followed his gaze back to the cave. They’d lobbed that phrase at each other for years, laughed at it, used it as a barb whenever one of them messed up in a major way. But it never seemed more apt, than now.

Bruce sighed. “I’m going to take that shower now.”

“Mm.”

The rest of the day would probably break him, but he was used to being broken.

[soysaucevictim]

Y’all know the drill.

-

May 7

I had been up since about 7:40 AM. Today was busy and pretty exhausting.

I went to the facility, and one of the first things I did while there was the DD. 2′ leg extensions with EC (I call them donkey kicks, pffft.) A bit more awkward using that MP3 player as a timer for this one- but doable and enjoyable! I also counted 106 reps done by the end.

Then attended Seeking Safety (and received a job recommendation that I’ve been leaning toward accepting), worked more on that drawing (getting close to finished with the line art), and socialized (got some new stuff for my music library from Jo).

Got home, poked that idle game, and went with the family to my grandparents’ place for my bro’s BDay dinner. I helped a bit with making food (sauted some zucchini, partly to keep some distance from grandpa). The meal was nice (thankfully no real interpersonal moments of tension, this time). And grandma made him a peanut butter and chocolate cake from scratch. I’m just going to copy over some tweets.

And my gawd, that frosting was rich/heavy. 1-2-3 punch of pb, cream cheese, and condensed milk.

On top of PB's mouth-sticking power made it a challenge to scarf down. orz

For real... there was a moment where it stuck around in back of mouth that I made myself gag. :S

It was a good cake... I just asked for FAR too much. Stomach and pancreas probably hates me (for overeating & all the sugar.)

Got home, played more of the game and watched YouTube before taking a nap (had to wait till that cake went down some more... but I was so damn tired at that point). After the nap, and kind of really late, I did the rest of my exercise (I’m determined to stay on schedule).

First, Day 10 of the YCal. Today’s video was “Yoga For Change & Drain“. I rather liked this whole sequence (the foot pattering thing was a lot of fun)! Even the surprise elbow plank work, after a lot of more gentle moves. I think the meditation she prompted was very relevant, “How do you react to change and drain? How do you react to challenges or things that you may not want to do?“

Second, Day 10 of the PWC. 5′ march steps. I counted 450 reps, by the end. Pretty simple and fun to get through.

Last, Day 10 of the 1′MC.

-

May 8

Been up since a bit before noon.

Did the usual, but I did get in my exercise early today.

First, today’s DD. 20 jumping lunges with EC. Pretty winding and not a big fave, but done. Whew. :U

Second, Day 11 of the YCal. Today’s video was, “Yoga For Focus & Productivity“. This was another fun yoga workout from YwA, quick too. But oof, my quads were getting pretty tired from them chair & warrior poses stacked on that DD. Was a good force to grounding and I felt worth a revisit down the line! (Esp since my concentration ability... hasn’t been great.)

Third, Day 11 of the PWC. 2′ march steps. I counted 187 reps, by the end.

Last, Day 11 of the 1′MC. I did feel a bit more fidgety, because I have a lot of things I need to do today.

I then did some dishes and worked on some therapy HW (it was pretty difficult to get through), before going to bed.

-

May 9

I had been up since a bit after 7AM. Early enough to scramble some eggs for breakfast.

Got to pick up my meds and went to the facility. The first thing I did there was the DD. 30 ninja lunges with EC. Did wake me up a little!

Then I finished up the HW (I kind of wanted to draw, but this was higher priority), attended WRAP Group, socialized, and went to my therapy appointment (it was pretty cathartic).

Got home, poked that game, watched some YouTube, and made the family dinner. Was too tired after that to go without a nap for a couple hours.

I then got to the rest of my exercise a bit late.

First, Day 12 of the YCal. Today’s video was “Intro to Yin - Yin Yoga“. And my gawd. This was a delightfully cozy practice. I loved every minute of it! Wrapping my feet like that was so comfy and yeah. Super nice, definitely going to be among my top faves from YwA thus far! =w=

Second, Day 12 of the PWC. 5′30″ march steps. I counted 513 steps, this time. At this pace and in trying to maintain height, it did get the calves and quads a bit tired!

Last, Day 12 of the 1′MC. Pretty simple breather.

With that... I probably should go wind down proper soon. :P

[elvenvishnu]

Mech room smell in new build - GC running out of ideas for testing

Cross-posting this between r/plumbing and r/hvacadvice because I'm at my wits end!

The tl;dr:

Intermittent bad smell builds up in mech room of a brand new build on slope, tight home/ICF, ERV, no basement but has below-grade mech room, no gas heat (electric coil on blower only), heat pump. Septic system in front / downslope, with effluence pumped up to narrow back yard.

Our GC, plumbing/heating, and septic guys are all stumped.

(edit, added image)

....

House detail:

My GC is helping me troubleshoot this 1yr old build, where last summer I had detected a hint of a sewer or sulphur like smell in the mech room. It went away after the summer, and then came back this spring/summer. Mostly smells of waste, or farts, general organic rot, or sometimes rotten eggs.

The house is a small 2500sq + 500sq suite, separated & enveloped by 14-inch ICF. Mech room comes off the garage, below the suite. HVAC and all plumbing terminate there, and there's a floor drain. Suite has its own mini-split system, but the the main side uses a furnace/blower and regular HVAC that is in the mech room.

Air blower (w/backup coil) is connected to an out door heat pump / AC. No gas runs to the property. The mech room is underground on 3 sides, like a mini basement connecting to the garage. ERV in mech room has a condensate line joining to the furnace condensate line, and then run to the floor drain. Which, I was told was fine for electric heat systems condensate.

​

https://preview.redd.it/ed2uk6myzyj71.png?width=1410&format=png&auto=webp&s=5360c2e3bc7b02850bc064f1a014d631b34a4a1c

The problem:

When the air blower is on (AC or heat), there's an obvious negative pressure situation in the mech room. After a time, the mech room builds up a mystery smell - sucking air from some unknown location. The rest of the house is fine, but if concentration gets high enough it starts to make its way into the large air return and then into the rest of the house; which can take days. But the mech room smell itself sometimes takes hours or even minutes.

I live in the small suite above the garage, and operate the larger side ("main house") as an AirBnB - where guest's occupancy seems to coincide with when the smell gets bad.

The smell is first detected coming in between joists in the corner of the mech room, from behind one of the walls. Behind that wall is just insulation, then concrete, then ground. No plumbing. Running a combustible gas detector near that area does indeed tick faster (but actual concentration unknown). The closest drains to that location is the guest bathroom directly above that wall - with tub, toilet, and sink. A whole chase/stack for the rest of the house is on the same wall, above, but at the opposite end (where the smell doesn't start).

The smell seems to only occur in the summer months, and only when the AC/blower is on. During busy/guest season. Off-season, I often can't even reproduce the issue when I try.

Troubleshooting:

Repeated flushing of the mech room floor drain with hot water.

Refilling the condensate p-traps.

Checked all of the ducts, and the air returns.

Checked home exterior/intakes for smell. No blockage of intake.

No smells or issues found in any of those. Doesn't matter if the ERV is on, or off. The only thing that seems to exacerbate the issue is if we have the suite bathroom exhaust fan on, and/or probably the main house bathroom exhaust fans.

When the AC/blower is on full, the negative pressure in the mech room is so great, you can feel air coming in around the door (to the garage) - which is a self-closing 1hr metal fire door, with seal intact. So, we know it's drawing air from elsewhere as well.

Plumbing/HVAC company (same people who did both) said there's an acceptable amount of negative pressure in that room, and suggests we try to find the source of the smell before changing anything related to the HVAC or plumbing.

The septic tank is quite a distance from the mech room, further down toward the road/driveway.

Theories:

The negative pressure in the mech room, combined with the ultra-tight home, is making up air by drawing it from other locations available within or around the mech room. That much is obvious, so the two theories I've got are:

ONE: It's simply backdrafting from the drain pipes within the house (not the septic tank). But that would mean the concentrated smell is coming solely from the drains - which doesn't seem plausible since the only drain pipe exposed to the mech room is the floor drain, and its p-trap is functional (visually verified). Plus, the smell issue doesn't change when I flush the floor drain.

BUT, this theory could explain why the smell evolves/changes so frequently. And, why the smell doesn't match the MAIN drain smell (we tested by removing the cap to the main drain, and did a smell test of the mech room vs. main drain).

TWO: Or, related to the above, maybe it's backdrafting from the septic tank. But this also doesn't make much sense that the smell would come from one corner of the mech room, from behind a wall that contains no plumbing. Just insulation, concrete, and ground level to that spot. And then interior walls above that spot.

Somehow, drainage activity is related (likely indirectly) along with the pressure. I just can't figure out the specific combination of events to create or prevent the smell consistently. If I have guests on the main side, I'll simply leave the mech room door open to the garage. The smell still builds up, but it's at least drawing more air from the garage (rather than the mystery location), PLUS it's diffusing some of the smell into the garage.

Not an ideal solution, but a good temporary workaround. Makes the car and everything eventually start smelling. And, after maybe four days of intense AC usage, the smell does start to build up in other places of the home.

The ONLY other theory (let's call it 2a) the septic pump's effluence, when the pump shuts off, drains back into the septic tank - my longshot theory is that this 40ft of liquid coming back into the tank, in combination with the AC vacuum effect, is pulling air from the septic tank at the same time that its being pushed (from the liquid draining back). But this would only happen once every 2 hours, as is the timer for the effluence pump.

So, I really don't know what to try next. This is complicated, and frustrating! Any out-of-the-box ideas?

submitted by /u/Wiintah [link] [comments]

from Plumbing help offered here, please post pictures. https://ift.tt/3Bp0m9H

[udemytutorialfreedownload]

The Complete Web Developer in 2020: Zero to Mastery

Learn to code and become a Web Developer in 2020 with HTML, CSS, Javascript, React, Node.js, Machine Learning & more!

What you'll learn

Skills that will allow you to apply for jobs like Web Developer, Software Developer, Front End Developer, Javascript Developer, and Full Stack Developer

Learn modern technologies that are ACTUALLY being used behind tech companies in 2020

Build 10+ real-world Web Development projects you can show off

Build a professional Portfolio Website

Learn best practices to write clean, performant, and bug-free code

Master modern Web Development fundamentals as well as advanced topics

Work as a Freelance Web Developer

Master beginner and advanced JavaScript topics

Learn React + Redux to build rich front end applications

Build your own full-stack websites and applications

Build a complex image recognition app using everything we learn in the course

Become a professional Web Developer and get hired

Use NodeJS to write server-side JavaScript

Learn to implement user authentication

Use Express, SQL, and PostgreSQL to create full-stack applications that scale

Master fundamental concepts in Web Development

Requirements

A computer (Windows/Mac/Linux). That's it!

No previous coding experience is needed

All tools and software used in this course will be free

Prepare to learn real-life skills and build real web apps that will get you hired!

Description

Just Updated for 2020! Become a Fullstack Web Developer in 2020 by learning the most in-demand skills! This is one of the fastest-growing courses on Udemy with 10,000+ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️in the last 6 months. Graduates of this course are now working at companies like Google, Tesla, Amazon, Apple, JP Morgan, Facebook + other top tech companies (...seriously). Join a live online community of over 200,000+ developers and a course taught by an industry expert that has actually worked both in Silicon Valley and Toronto as a Senior Developer and Tech Lead. This is the tutorial you've been looking for to become a modern web developer in 2020. It doesn’t just cover a small portion of the industry. This covers everything you need to know to get hired: from absolute zero knowledge to being able to put things on your resume that will allow you to live the life you want.  Sounds too good to be true? Give me 5 minutes of your time to explain why I built this Web Development course and what is different here than thousands of other courses all over the internet:

I update the course every month to make sure you learn the most up to date skills! There is no wasted time here. We won’t be using outdated technologies like PHP, Wordpress, and JQuery. Although still useful, outdated technologies like the above are low paying and demands for them are decreasing. In this course, you will learn the specific technologies that are the most in-demand in the industry right now. These include tools and technologies used by the biggest tech companies like Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc… It’s geared specifically for people that want to learn employable skills in 2020.

After finishing this course, you will be able to apply for developer roles, get a promotion, or upgrade your job title as a developer and earn a higher salary. We won't be taking any shortcuts in this course. You are going to go from absolute zero: where you learn how the internet works. To mastery: where you build an image recognition app using a Machine Learning API (a subset of Artificial Intelligence) and all the other modern technologies that we learn in the course. Most students have commented on how the projects in this course have impressed their interviewers and allowed them to get an offer.

This course is taught by an instructor who has worked in Silicon Valley, and one of the top tech companies in Toronto. I have built large scale applications, and have managed teams of developers. I am not an online marketer or a salesman, but a software developer who has worked directly with these technologies.  I love programming and believe that there needs to be a course out there that actually teaches valuable real-life skills (because most of them are taught by teachers with no work experience).

Your time is valuable and you don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a Bootcamp. You want a course that outlines the best way to become a Web Developer, in simple and well-explained terms, so that you fully understand topics instead of watching somebody on your screen and having no clue what is going on. I have taken the best pieces, tools, and practices that I have found over the years, and condensed everything into this course. 50 hours of videos don't mean much if the instructor isn't engaging or focuses on outdated topics. I made sure that everything covered in this course is efficient and focuses on getting you job-ready as soon as possible!

We have a thriving online chat community so you really feel like you are part of a classroom and not just watching videos by yourself. You will have a chance to communicate with fellow students, work on group projects together, and contribute to open-source projects. Anytime you have a question, you can ask in many locations and get help right away (including from myself). 

The course is designed to give you employable skills so you can get a job. Here is what one student recently wrote after taking the course and being hired right away: "I’m a self-taught dev, who has been out of work for ~6 months. I had some family things that came up that prevented me from seeking permanent employment, so for a while, I was Postmates/Uber delivery driver. After taking this course, I immediately got catapulted back to where I was before, but better equipped and with the knowledge to take on the next job. I had just finished the React section when I went to a recent interview, and it really helped me excel. As of today, I am officially re-employed back in the field, and it is all thanks to this course. I had a blast creating the final project and FINALLY got around to learning SQL statements, and getting to use them in a project. I’m really ecstatic that Andrei went with teaching relational databases over something like MongoDB, which can also be fun but is less practical for use on the job.   So thanks Andrei, I really enjoyed the course and will be making sure to share it with others who find it helpful. I’m also looking forward to the new ES10 content that was recently added, and going through the DB stuff again when I go to build a personal project." - J.C.

Think of this course as a Web Developer Bootcamp. By the end, you will be comfortable using the below skills and you will be able to put them on your resume:

HTML/HTML5

CSS/CSS3

SemanticUI

Responsive Design

Flexbox

CSS Grid

Bootstrap 4

DOM Manipulation

Javascript (including ES6/ES7/ES8/ES9/ES10)

Asynchronous JavaScript

HTTP/JSON/AJAX

React + Redux

Git + Github

Command Line

Node.js

Express.js

NPM

RESTful API Design

PostgresSQL

SQL

Authentication

Authorization

Scalable Infrastructure

Security

Production and Deployment

You will be taken through online videos and exercises where you will be able to do the following things by the end:

Build real complex applications and websites

Build an image recognition app so you can add it to your portfolio

Go into a job interview confident that you understand the fundamental building blocks of web development and the developer trends in 2020

Be able to go off on your own and grow your skills as a developer, having built a solid foundation

Learn how frontend, servers, and databases communicate and how they all fit together in the ecosystem

Build your own startup landing page

Go off and work remotely by being a freelance developer that can bid on projects

This course is the accumulation of all of my years working in the industry, learning, and teaching. There is so much information out there, so many opinions, and so many ways of doing things, that unless you have spent the last few years working with these technologies in a company, you will never fully understand. So this course is the answer to that exact problem for you: How to gain experience when you need experience to get hired? I have gone through thousands of coding books, online tutorials, and boot camps. Throughout the years I have taken notes on what has worked and what hasn't, and I have created this course to narrow down the most efficient way to learn with the most relevant information.  I am 100% confident that you won't find a course like this out there. We're not going to be building simple todo applications and cat image sliders. We are going to learn actual practical skills that will put you into the workforce. Some unique sections that you won't find anywhere else are:

React.js + Redux: You will learn the library that companies like Netflix, Facebook, and Instagram use to build fast, scalable applications. This is one of the highest in-demand skills in the industry.

A day in the life of a developer: What will your day to day look like and what tools will you use? I will take you through a sample day at a tech company.

How does the internet actually work? What is the history of these technologies?: You will actually understand the underlying concepts of the internet, and how the technologies we have now, have come to be where they are.

How do you actually deploy a real-life app so that it is secure, and won't get hacked?: How does a real-life app get out to the public in a safe and secure way?

What is Machine Learning and how you can harness its power: Whether you have heard about it or not, this is something that you will hear more and more in the coming years. Those who understand the high-level concepts and can harness its power will have an advantage. 

What does your developer environment on your computer look like?: We will be setting up our computers with all the tools necessary for a developer so you can use the same setup when you go work in the industry.

Why do we teach the above?

Because in this day and age, just knowing HTML CSS and Javascript is not good enough, and you won't be able to grow in your role and command a higher salary. You will learn these things because these are the things you should know in 2020 so that you are miles ahead of the rest.  Make this the year that you took a risk, you learned highly in-demand skills, you had new experiences, and you received new opportunities. I hope you join me on this journey. This is the proudest work I have ever done in my life and I am confident that you won't find a course better than this. See you inside! Taught by: Andrei is the instructor of the highest rated Web Development course on Udemy as well as one of the fastest-growing. His graduates have moved on to work for some of the biggest tech companies around the world like Apple, Google, Amazon, JP Morgan, IBM, UNIQLO, etc... He has been working as a senior software developer in Silicon Valley and Toronto for many years and is now taking all that he has learned, to teach programming skills and to help you discover the amazing career opportunities that being a developer allows in life. Having been a self-taught programmer, he understands that there is an overwhelming number of online courses, tutorials, and books that are overly verbose and inadequate at teaching proper skills. Most people feel paralyzed and don't know where to start when learning a complex subject matter, or even worse, most people don't have $20,000 to spend on a coding Bootcamp. Programming skills should be affordable and open to all. An education material should teach real-life skills that are current and they should not waste a student's valuable time. Having learned important lessons from working for Fortune 500 companies, tech startups, to even founding his own business, he is now dedicating 100% of his time to teaching others valuable software development skills in order to take control of their life and work in an exciting industry with infinite possibilities. Andrei promises you that there are no other courses out there as comprehensive and as well explained. He believes that in order to learn anything of value, you need to start with the foundation and develop the roots of the tree. Only from there will you be able to learn concepts and specific skills(leaves) that connect to the foundation. Learning becomes exponential when structured in this way. Taking his experience in educational psychology and coding, Andrei's courses will take you on an understanding of complex subjects that you never thought would be possible. See you inside the courses! READ MORE:

Node JS: Advanced Concepts

Learn Flutter & Dart to Build iOS & Android Apps [2020]

The Ultimate MySQL Bootcamp: Go from SQL Beginner to Expert

The Complete Node.js Developer Course (3rd Edition)

Who this course is for:

You want to learn to code and build websites and web apps

You are looking to start a career in Web Development

You know HTML and CSS but want to expand your skills and do more

You want to start your own business or become a freelancer

You want to learn REAL industry skills that are necessary for 2020 to get hired as a web developer and earn a higher salary

You want one course to teach you everything in one place from a senior developer that works in the industry

Created by Andrei Neagoie Last updated 3/2020 English English [Auto-generated] Size: 17.43 GB

DOWNLOAD COURSE

[lakotasafeco-blog]

4 Best Bedside Gun Safes for Quick Access [2019] - Winter Garden, FL

4 Best Bedside Gun Safes for Quick Access

LAKOTA NEWS: Source: PewPewTactical June 23. 2019 Lakota Editor's Pick: VAULTEK SMART SAFES - Altamonte Springs, Florida Want the quickest access gun safe to protect yourself and your family?

Vaultek Opening with Finger Learn the top criteria I used in selecting my personal bedside gun safe so you can apply it to your home situation.  Then followed by recommendations for all budgets. Then see the safes in action with my actual home defense pistol. And now we have a full YouTube video on our favorite safes that we cover in the article: If that helped, please subscribe to our YouTube channel since we’re adding new videos every week!

Safe Selection Criteria

Selecting a gun safe might be actually harder than what you went through selecting your handgun.

Best Handgun Safes There’s so much stuff out there across so many price ranges.  I’ll try to make it easier by going through my top criteria when selecting my actual bedside gun safe. Quick Access: My home defense pistol will be going in this safe and in a defensive situation, I want to be able to access it in around 1-2 seconds. Reliable: I’ll likely be groggy and fumbling around in the dark.  Is the safe 100% reliable and easy to use in that state? Adequate Protection: Expensive and less used guns go into my larger and more secure safe.  This bedside version is just to deter smash & grab burglars or to stop a nosy guest.  I’m not looking for extreme child or fire protection here. Space: Enough of it to hold a full sized handgun like my Glock 17. Mountable: I make sure that the safe is small enough to be mounted high the closet or nightstand drawer so it’s harder to access for small children and won’t just walk away with someone.

Best Bedside Quick Access Gun Safes

1. Fort Knox FTK-PB Through all my research and asking around, I ended up with the Fort Knox FTK-PB Simplex Handgun Safe after a less than optimal buy or two.

Fort Knox Pistol Safe It met and exceeded all the criteria I had set out for myself.  I do not regret my decision and I tell all my new gun owner friends to get their own. And each and every one loves it after install. Quick Access “Simplex” means that instead of electronic keys, a rotary dial, or biometrics, it uses mechanical buttons that provide good feedback and allow me to open the safe in around 1.5 seconds. *2018 Update*: 2 years worth of usage and going strong for my simplex safe. All I do is put in my 2-stage code and turn the knob clockwise.  An example of a 2-stage code would be pressing the 1st and 3rd button simultaneously, followed by pressing the 5th button. I also like that I can previously input the code and turn the knob clockwise but not actually open the top.  This means you can have super fast access to it at night if you open it before you go to bed.

Fort Knox FTK-PB Simplex Open Reliable I wanted something that, like my self-defense gun, would “always go bang.”  The Simplex lock is American made (as is the entire safe) and does not need batteries, like so many of the popular safes out there, need for electronic keys or biometrics.  Also, no beeps and reading errors that could get you killed.  There’s a lifetime warranty too. 2 years in of nearly weekly use…it’s still going strong with no messups.  Plus the foam is still good even after some oil dripped out from my gun. Adequate Protection The safe is really heavy (~20 lbs) since it has 3/16″ steel doors and 10 gauge steel bodies.  I feel confident if it ever fell off a truck, or got attacked by a crowbar, it would put up a good fight.  I also like that the corners and sides are folded in to make prying much harder.

Fort Knox FTK-PB Corner

Fort Knox FTK-PB Inner Corner Space Plenty of space for my full-size Glock 17 and extra mag.

Inside Fort Knox FTK-PB Handgun Safe There’s also two layers of foam underneath my gun and I feel confident that you could put at least one more full sized pistol in there if you wanted.

Fort Knox FTK-PB Double Foam Mountable 4 pre-drilled holes on the bottom for easy mounting.

Fort Knox FTK-PB Fastened Cons It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close.  The first few things I don’t like are nit-picky but the last one can be a deal breaker for you. First is that it’s susceptible to water damage.  My wife left a cold cup of something in the top left which formed condensation and left a pattern.  I’m just glad it’s kind of cool looking.

Fort Knox FTK-PB Simplex Handgun Safe The foam around the hinge gets in the way of closing but is easily addressed by just cutting it off.  Here’s the finished product.

FTK-PB Hinge Foam Cut And the potential deal breaker is that it only has 1081 combinations that any smart child could try in a relatively short amount of time.  However, if you don’t have kids yet, or plan on concealing the safe, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. GunVault SpeedVault & GunVault 1000S What I recommend to people who want pretty good quality but at a lower price point.  The GunVault SpeedVault and the GunVault 1000S are top sellers with great reviews for electronic locking safes. View and purchase by clicking: GunVault SpeedVault GunVault 1000s Quick Access: Quick access in the 2-second range.  Video later shows slight speed reduction in taking out a handgun for the side opening models such as the 1000S. Reliable: Not as reliable in my opinion as mechanical Simplex locks, but tons of people swear by them.  I’d be comfortable using them if I were to unlock them before going to sleep.  Can turn off the key entry sounds for “stealth” mode. Adequate Protection: Tight fittings and thick steel meet my requirements for protection against burglars and nosy guests.  12 million combinations so the possibility of someone brute force trying all of them are much less likely.  However, it still has a key override so keep it hidden. Space: If it can fit a full-size 1911 style handgun, it will fit my Glock 17.  Other GunVault models are available for smaller or bigger storage needs. Mountable: Easy to mount and the SpeedVault defines what it means to be a bedside or desk side safe with its ingenious opening mechanism.

GunVault SpeedVault Under Desk 3. Stack-On PDS-500 What I first chose as my gun safe due to its immense popularity on Amazon and its great reviews. The Stack-On PDS-500 is a great budget safe but just be aware of its shortcomings. BEST BUDGET SAFE Stack-On PDS-500   Quick Access: Pretty quick access in the 2-3 second mark depending on your code.  However, I found the top opening door is smaller than the base, you can have occasional hangups of your gun.

Stack-On PDS-500 Open Reliable: Not super reliable in my opinion.  I tested myself with late-night wake-up drills to try and open the safe and I found myself forgetting to hit the “*” key after my code.  The knob also sometimes does not work if you immediately turn clockwise…I found I had to turn counter-clockwise until it reset and then turn it clockwise for 100% reliability.  I’d only be comfortable unlocking it before I slept. Adequate Protection: Decently heavy (~10 lbs) and seems pry-resistant.  Includes backup key access when you pry off the “Stack-On” nameplate on top to keep it hidden.  Older models seem to be easily picked with just a paper clip.  You can protect against this by getting a new lock or just super-gluing the plate. Space: Fits my full-size Glock easily with extra space for a mag or two. Mountable: Has bottom mounts. 4. Vaultek V20i & V10i Want a reliable fingerprint and Bluetooth accessible safe that looks sweet?  Check out the Vaultek VT20i and VT10i. HIGH-TECH OPTION View and Purchase here Vaultek VT20i  Quick Access: 4 easy ways to access your firearm: key, number code, fingerprint, or Bluetooth app. Reliable: Fingerprint scanner was a little iffy when our fingers were wet.  But the other options were 100%.  If using this for your bedside gun safe…I’d stick with the number code. Adequate Protection: Very robust feeling that resists drops and hits.  Plus pry-resistant.

Vaultek Abuse, Greenlight Shooting Space: The smaller VT10i will hold most handguns with a mag or two to spare while the larger VT20i will accommodate 4″ revolvers and full-sized handguns with 3+ mags.

VT10i with Glock 19

VT20i with S&W 686+ 4-inch Mountable: Comes with two pre-drilled holes and screws.  Plus cable attachment.

Vaultek Cable Attachment We’ve also reviewed their newest and biggest version…the MXi Handgun Safe. View and purchase Vaultek Safes: Vaultek VT10i Vaultek VT20i Vaultek MXi PEWPEW MXi Review Want more fingerprint-activated gun safes?  We have our roundup of the Best Biometric Gun Safes. Conclusion Hopefully, I helped you out a little in choosing the right bedside gun safe for your purpose. Here’s a video that compares the Fort Knox FTK-PB against the GunVault 1000S.  It was the final research that steered me towards the Fort Knox. Lakota Safe Company Trading Post recommends the Vaultek line of Smart Safes. Vaultek HQ is a located in Altamonte Springs, FL.   We stock all makes and models of Vaultek portable gun safes, stationary safes, and the new SMART Rifle Safe.  *We have them in stock now at the retail store and also available through our Online Store - Shop.LakotaSafeCompany.com Mateo - Editor In Chief Read the full article

[nashifics-blog]

The Chunin Exam Stage Two: The Forest of Death!

The second exam arc is going to be a lot shorter than it was in the anime. I’m probably going to condense it into one chapter like I did with the first one.

Nanashi slumped to the ground the second she made it to the meeting place for the exam. She laid down and closed her eyes, ready for sleep to claim her, but she soon felt a presence looming over her. She cracked one eye open, grinning, “Hey, Sassy! Join me!”

All of the rookies - plus Lee, Neji, and Tenten - had gathered around where she collapsed. Sasuke sat in the grass beside her. Reiko and Emiko followed suit, though Emiko already looked dead on her feet to begin with. Sasuke looked over at the teal-haired girl. “You’re not a morning person, are you?” Emiko just blinked sleepily in response. Sasuke turned back to Nanashi, “So, what’s the deal with you and all these people I never knew you knew?”

Nanashi cocked her head as she tried to register what he was asking. “Oh! Well, I met Gaara, Kuro, and Mari on that mission to Suna I told you about. I know Lee, Tenten, and the Hyuga jerk through Uncle Guy - Guy and Lee are helping me with Taijutsu. Ibiki and Anko I know because of Dad.” She sat up, stretching her arms out in front of her. “And as for Kabuto, he’s really just an acquaintance. I met him a few years back, but we barely know each other.” She glanced over to where the silver-haired ninja stood with his team, lowering her voice, “To be honest, he kinda freaks me out. Something seems a little off...”

Before they could continue their conversation, Anko arrived. Sasuke stood up, the twins following suit. He held his hand out to Nanashi, hauling her up onto her feet when she took hold of it.

Sakura clasped her hands together in front of her chest, her eyes wide with fear as she took in the sight of the place they would be holding their exam. “This whole place just completely creeps me out!”

Anko smirked, “It should! They call it the Forest of Death, and soon enough you’re gonna find out why.”

Naruto huffed, putting his hands on his hips. His voice took on a mocking tone as he did a weird dance, “They call it the Forest of Death and soon enough you’re gonna find out why! Do your worst, you’re not gonna scare me away! I can handle anything!”

Anko’s smirk turned into a fake smile as she tilted her head, “So… looks like we’ve got ourselves a tough guy.” Suddenly, she threw a kunai at him, catching his cheek and drawing blood. She disappeared, reappearing directly behind him. “You tough enough to handle this? You’re not afraid, are you?” Nanashi watched the exchange in amusement as Anko turned Naruto’s head, “Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest.” Just as she wiped some off of his cheek with her finger, she whipped around, pulling out another kunai. Nanashi couldn’t repress the shudder that wracked her body as a long tongue extended toward the Jonin, holding the kunai she had just thrown.

A Grass ninja stood right behind her. “I was… just returning your knife.”

“Why thank you, Grass ninja,” Anko replied in a falsely sweet voice. “Y’know… I really only recommend you stand this close behind me… If you wish to reach a premature end.” She took the knife back and the woman’s tongue retracted back into her mouth.

“My pardon. With the sight of blood, and your blade slicing through my hair, I’m afraid that I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm.”

‘Jeez, this one is creepy…’

Anko watched as the Grass ninja walked away, “Likewise…” As Naruto attempted to stretch his own tongue out behind her, Anko smirked, addressing Nanashi, “Seems like everyone here today is quick-tempered. There must be something in the air. This is gonna be fun!”

Nanashi grinned, nodding. “We gonna get this party started or what?”

“Good idea!” Anko turned and walked toward the fence. “Now, before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all.” As she spoke, Nanashi wandered off toward the Sand Siblings. Kankuro waved in greeting, but stayed silent as he listened to the proctor. She was holding up a stack of papers. “Just a standard consent form. Before the test, all of you are going to have to read over this form, and then sign it.”

“What for?” Naruto asked.

“Some of you may not come back from this test! And I have to get your consent to that risk. Otherwise, it would be my responsibility!”

Nanashi held out one hand, motioning for Anko to give her one, “Give it here, I got nothin’ to lose.”

“Now, I’ll explain what you’ll be doing on this test. Here,” She held the stack out to Naruto, who took it from her. “Pass these out. The first thing you need to know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills. First,” She held up a scroll, unraveling it, “I’ll give you all a description of the terrain on the practice field. The forty-fourth battle training zone has forty-four locked entrances gates.” As Anko continued to talk, Nanashi signalled for Kankuro to turn around. Once he did, she pressed her waiver into his shoulder, using him as a surface to write on. “There are rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a locked tower, located ten kilometers from each gate. It’s in this confined area that you’ll undergo the survival test. The test consists of...” She pocketed the scroll again, “An anything goes battle! To get your hands on these scrolls.” She held up two more scrolls, both sealed. One was white with the kanji for ‘heaven’, the other was black with the kanji for ‘earth’.

“Both of them?” Sasuke asked.

“Yes. You’ll be fighting to get both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Altogether, twenty-six teams will be taking part in this, so half of those teams will be going after the heaven scroll, and the other half will be trying to get the earth scroll. I’ll hand over one kind of scroll to each team, and that’s what you’ll be vying for.”

“Okay…” Sasuke said, “So how do we pass the test?”

“Your entire squad must bring both a heaven and earth scroll to the tower.”

Sakura spoke up, “That means, at the very best, half of us will fail! More if not every team is able to get both the scrolls.”

“No one ever said it would be easy. Oh, and one more thing. The test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days.”

“Five days out there?!” Ino whined.

“What are we supposed to do for food?!” Choji exclaimed.

“Just look around! The forest is full of things to eat. There’s plenty to feed all of you.”

“Yeah, but…” Kabuto interjected, “That’s not all the forest has plenty of. There are man-eating beasts and poisonous plants in there.”

“Oh maaaaan!” Choji complained.

“Quiet down!” Ino nagged her teammate, “This is why they call it survival, you know?”

“That means,” Neji added, “With these circumstances, there’s no way half the teams will pass the test.”

Lee continued for him, “With the days getting longer, the nights are getting shorter, so we will have less time to sleep and less time to recover. It is a challenge, indeed!”

Sasuke and Nanashi shared a glance, determination written on their faces, “Completely surrounded by enemies. There won’t be time to rest, we’ll have to keep a constant watch.”

“Right!” Anko confirmed, “This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines! This is designed to be a grueling test, and I’m sure some of you won’t be up to the challenge!”

Shikamaru raised his hand, “So, um, let’s say mid-exam. Can we quit?”

Anko glared at him, “Of course not! In the middle of a battle, you can’t say ‘Sorry, I quit’! Well, I guess you could, but it’s probably gonna get you killed.”

“Oh, just great… This is gonna be a drag...”

“There are also some ways you can get disqualified. The first is simple. If all three members of the team can’t make it to the tower with both scrolls after five days. Number Two. If a team loses a member, or if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important, none of you - absolutely none of you - may look at the contents of the scrolls until you’ve reached the tower!”

“W-What if it just happens to flap open and you read it?” Naruto asked nervously.

“Let me put it to you this way, young man. You. Don’t. Want. To. Know.” Naruto just groaned in exasperation. “There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents. The scroll rule is to test your integrity. Okay, we’re done. Each team, take your consent forms and exchange them over there for your scrolls. After that, each team pick a gate, and you’ll be let inside.” Anko sighed, “Oh, and I have one more word of advice. Just don’t die!”

“Great pep talk…” Nanashi muttered under her breath, earning chuckles from Temari and Kankuro.

Kankuro patted her on the head, “You ready for this, Shortstack? Think you can handle it?”

Nanashi tried to glare at him, but she couldn’t keep the smile off of her face, “Can you?”

Before he could counter, he was interrupted by Sakura and Ino screaming at each other nearby. Nanashi sighed in frustration, shaking her head. Kankuro raised an eyebrow, casting a glance in the direction of the two girls. “Do they ever shut up?”

“I’ll let you know when I find out…” She looked around, spotting Hinata standing by a tree. Then she noticed Naruto walking toward to the shy girl. “...’Scuse me, I gotta see this firsthand… Good luck out there! Stay safe, okay?” She gave him a tight hug, before doing the same to Temari. “You too, Mari. I better see you at that tower!”

Temari smiled fondly at the younger girl, “You know you will, dear.”

Nanashi turned to her third companion. She paused for a moment before breaking into a wide smile and extending her hand to him. “Good luck to you, too, Gaara. Though, I doubt you’ll really need it!” Gaara studied her suspiciously, before letting his gaze drift to her outstretched hand. He shook her hand briefly, nodding his head once.

She released his hand, walking over to where Hinata was. As she left, she heard Kankuro muttering to Temari, “So, does that mean she thinks we will? Rude.”

Nanashi stopped next to Hinata, beaming as the other girl noticed her. “‘Sup?”

Before Hinata could even answer, Naruto had finally looked up from the paper in his hand. “Huh? What are you guys doing all the way out here?!” He called, causing Hinata to turn around, blushing.

“Oh! N-Naruto!” Hinata responded quietly, before turning her gaze away and blushing even harder. Nanashi couldn’t fight the grin permanently etched onto her face as she watched her two friends. “I, um, I just… Nothing!” Naruto’s expression turned to one of confusion. “I…” She gasped as she noticed the cut on the blond’s cheek. “Oh, you’re cut!”

As Hinata searched her pockets for something quickly, Nanashi acknowledged Naruto. “Hey, Mr. Whiskers! Don’t die out there, you got that? My advice, avoid the giant snakes.”

Naruto laughed loudly, putting his hands on his hips. “You have nothin’ to worry about with me! I’ll ace this test!”

“Here, I have…” Just as Hinata found what she was looking for, Naruto started walking off. “This!”

“Well, anyway, see ya later!” He raised his hand, never looking back.

Hinata hung her head as Nanashi winced, “Ouch…” She patted Hinata on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, Hinata. You’ll get plenty of chances to give it to him later.”

“Yeah…”

“Alright, everyone!” One of the Chunin had poked his head out from behind the curtain hiding the scroll table, “We’re gonna start handing out scrolls!”

Nanashi met the twins at the table, where they exchanged their papers for a heaven scroll before making their way over to a nearby gate. Reiko looked around discreetly, before nodding her head in the direction of another group. Emiko nodded in understanding, and they walked off, leaving Nanashi standing alone and confused.

While she waited for her teammates to return, Sasuke approached her. “Hey. You alright?”

Nanashi beamed, “Yeah! Rei and Emi just ditched me, though.” Her expression turned serious. “Be careful out there, Sasuke.”

Sasuke nodded, “You too.”

As the twins rejoined them, Nanashi and Sasuke fist-bumped, speaking in unison. “Good luck.”

Sasuke left to find his own teammates, and the gates opened soon after.

“So…” Nanashi began, interrupting the silence. “Where’d you two go off to?”

Reiko shrugged, a falsely innocent look on her face, “Oh, just to chat with a few Waterfall ninja.”

On Nanashi’s other side, Emiko was casually twirling an earth scroll between her fingers.

[of-another-broken-heart]

today was... long. 

once I finally got to sleep, I managed to stay that way until like... 3 pm? I think? 

I got woken up because the kids’ father put on some DVD that was just a bunch of loud music videos or something. It was a song that reminded me of lil sis, though, so my first assumption was that she was blasting music because she was home “alone.” I thought mom was at work, bro was at a friend’s place, and the kids’ father was out of the house. The only part of that I got right was mom being at work. 

I ate the last of the leftover stew for lunch. I was scared it had spoiled, but it seemed to be fine after I reheated it. 

I made myself a cup of coffee, which went wrong in pretty much every way possible. Tried to measure out the coffee grinds - almost put a whole extra spoonful in. Poured water into the reservoir and pressed “ON” - then realized the coffee filter basket was sitting on the counter. The maker gurgled its way through “brewing” which I had to help by unclogging the drip hole - which kept getting blocked up by grinds that were directly in the drip area instead of suspended a little bit above in the filter basket. I had to carefully wait for the whole thing to drain, remove my cup, unplug it, disassemble the top lid, rinse it all off/out, replace the filter, use a second cup, pour the coffee through the filter, rinse my cup, transfer my coffee back into my cup, and then re-rinse the filter basket and other cup. THEN I went to add some creamer, only to find the bottle hadn’t been opened yet and the foil seal was fucking SUPERGLUED down. I literally had to use a pair of needle-nose pliers to unpeel the damn thing. Like a sardine can, y’know? I grabbed the “pull tab” and then rotated backwards 

I barely drank any of the coffee all day. The cup is still down here, still half full. 

I used some compressed air to clean out some of the dust in my pc tower. Then I slapped it back together (it’s very easy access actually - one screw, and the side panel is free to unclip and slide off) and got to settling my desk again. I decided to plug my speakers back in. I also decided I didn’t want my USB hub on my desk any more, so it’s being stealthy behind one of my monitors, chilling on top of my tower. I went ahead and plugged in my webcam again. Didn’t really have plans to use it, but figured “why the hell not?” 

Then I tried to test it out. 

That went poorly. 

Trying to use the Logitech software to Quick Capture with it gave me a BSOD. 

Twice. 

(I wanted to make sure it was the same thing causing it, and not, y’know, my hard drive actually failing)

Took to google, and it seems to be a combination of Logitech’s software and drivers being buggy as hell and at odds with some sound settings/drivers I have set to have precedence over the Logitech ones. I think, specifically, it’s because I keep my condenser mic plugged in, and set as my default sound input device. Logitech webcam w/ built-in mic doesn’t like that. 

Freaked me the hell out and I was super stressed and shit, but an hour or two of research had me simply resolved not to try to use my webcam any time soon. At least, not while my mic’s plugged in. Probably. 

I tried to clean a bunch down here, too. I made... some? progress? I guess. I put all my dirty laundry in a basket, vacuumed a little, put some trash into recycle piles, reorganized my pantry and snack stashes, played with my violin a bit (I really need to save a bit of money to take it to the music shop in town and get it tuned and/or restrung... I’m still missing the D string I broke the last time I tried to tune it myself) and started trying to put some more clothes away. 

Then I found out why the bottom drawer of this one dresser squeaks so horribly when I try to use it. 

The entire back of the bottom came unstapled and was chilling on the ground. And it didn’t like the idea of getting shoved back up to fit through the drawer hole. 

If you build a dresser, and each drawer can’t handle being full of folded jeans, it’s a BAD DRESSER and that shit needs to be fixed. I am so damn tired of this particular feature in dressers. Like, sure - the sixty-buck particle board one I got from Walmart? I get it. Understandable. I got what I paid for. This particular dresser, however, is fucking solid wood and hand-made and it’s supposed to be the good shit but it’s just being shit. UGH. 

I pulled the whole drawer out, emptied it, flipped it over, and stacked all my jeans on it to try to un-warp it. My jeans weren’t heavy enough. FUCK KNOWS WHY - they were heavy enough to bust it DOWN in the first place, but not enough to bring it back???? FUCK. So I stacked my “end table” basket on it, too. (the basket is mostly sleep aids, pain killers, and hand lotion - shit that would be on/in a side table if I had a ~complete bedroom~ or whatever). That brought it most the way down. 

I was going to make my bed again, and do some tote shuffling. I bought this giant tote about a year ago, designed for holding an artificial christmas tree and decorations. It’s got wheels and snaps together really well - so I figured it’d be great so mom could stop using the beat-to-shit boxes she has to juggle up and down from the attic. But, she said this tote is too big, and never used it, soooo I was gonna use it. First I had planned to put some MH stuff in it. But, I don’t want to unpack anything from the boxes I carefully Tetris’d already. So I figured I’d put all my blankets and sheets in it! Because the tote I have for that is currently cracked open because it has wimpy clasping power. And also I own more bedding that I need. Like... 4-5 complete sets?? Two of them I’ve had since middle school. Anyway, they don’t fucking fit in that tote, and I’ve actually had a small pile (from my giant laundry fiasco) that never got put away at all. So, big tote seems a fine candidate for all that. 

Except I didn’t get that far. 

I ended up bringing my bro over to one of his friend’s houses a little after 6. I spent three bucks on myself at McD’s. Got a burger and fries. Ate in the parking lot, in my car. 

Tonight was also the memorial/fundraiser. Mom checked in with me to see if I wanted to go before she left, but I was still in the middle of tidying some things up, hadn’t brushed my hair or changed out of my pajamas... and I really couldn’t afford the $20 entry thing, and probably would have felt really out of place and/or depressed as fuck there. So I declined. Didn’t go. 

I guess I kinda zoned out off and on today, too. I’m not sure. Maybe not? I kept busy for the most part... 

Mom got back home around 11. She ended up winning some of the fundraiser items - a starbucks basket, and an “Italian” one (some wine, some pasta, some sauce) - so that was neat. I went to pick up bro at that point. I’d been on standby since 10, waiting for a message or something because I’d asked how long he planned to be over, and he’d said probably until 10. I didn’t know if he was allowed to stay later, or if I was being an asshole adult by leaving him there an hour past the time he was welcome... but I figured better late than never, and it’s not a school night, so if they were having a good time, and the adults involved were cool, and extra hour was fine. 

Turned out his friend’s brother(? - I think) was going to give bro a ride home, but I got there before they left. Oh well. 

Here I am 3 hours later and I feel like I just auto-piloted to this moment, and have been slowly going through my rechargeable batteries and getting them all juiced back up. 

But I’m going to try to sleep now. Soon. 

The women’s march today was... a thing. I cried at some of the news. In joy, mostly. Also in guilt. Regret. Shame. Inadequacy. Feeling a lot of ways all at once. More than usual, I mean. 

[littleblackdomicile]

Can We Live With Smaller Appliances?

Continuing the reveal of our new kitchen, today we share our decision to use smaller, euro sized appliances.  For us, using smaller appliances has been more pro than con!

A Smaller, 24″ Wide Refrigerator and Freezer

Yes, that is correct.  Our new method of keeping things cold, or frosty, is a Liebherr Bio Fresh refrigerator and freezer.  The immediate pro for us, as mentioned in the previous post, is the added space in the traffic area and countertop.  I admit to being a little nervous about our departure from a full size 36″ wide model, while we waited for the trip across the sea for the unit to arrive.  After a week of stocking this little gem, we are converted.  The difference in food freshness is noticeable.  Having refrigerator items higher is a plus.  Now the cons, which we have easily overcome.  If you are a huge in the door condiment user, the limited door space could be a problem.  A pizza box is not going to fit either.  We have always used smaller, glass containers for food storage and found truffle ketchup in a jar at Trader Joe’s that looks charming on the shelf instead of in the door.  We reserve the door for beverages.  A gal has to always have that perfect bottle of wine for her best buds!

The ice maker in the freezer, in the reduced width unit, made me gasp.  Mr. LBD seldom uses ice.  I use it most waking hours and at first thought…oh, no I have made a huge mistake.  The first week, I bagged ice and kept it on hand in the 2nd top drawer.  We’ve never used the extra ice, even when we had 9 people over for a proper social distancing quick dinner.  The two lower drawers are deep and hold everything we need easily.   For the cons, if you are a cook way ahead and freeze lots of things person, you may have to explore containers that accomodate the space.  If you have a slew of bourbon on the rocks guests, you may have to tell them you will supply the booze if they bring the ice!

What’s Better Than One Dishwasher….?

TWO!  In previous homes, we have had the Fisher& Paykel drawer dishwasher units.  Even when we had a house full of kids, these drawers worked well for us.  The drawers can run at the same time, for loads equal to any standard one cavity dishwasher, or independently.  Generally, we use the top drawer daily.  There is less bending to load/unload, and on the eco cycle, this is very efficient.  The racks move to accommodate multi-size dish needs.  Our unit has a deeper section on top for taller items…like those wine glasses from the bottle chilled in the refrigerator!   Besides now never having dirty dishes for more than a day, we also have the cabinets set up so that putting dishes away requires almost no steps.  Perhaps a post on that coming up!?  For the con about using dishwasher drawers, it will take some a mindset change and a few trials on how to load that best suits your needs.  Note: We chose to have cabinet panels on our unit so no messy stainless to haunt us!

Our Beloved Induction Cooktop Returns!

Readers, and friends alike, accept that I am going to push for them to become members in the induction cooking cult.  Going over a year with a standard electric cooking surface only made our desire to go back to induction stronger.  The dilemna…to get the workspace inches we wanted to gain, we needed to reduce the existing 36″ width of the cooktop by at least 6″.   With tape measure in hand, we researched and found that many smaller cooktops simply placed the controls on the front (vs the side) and the cooking surface was nearly the same on the units.  Fisher & Paykel’s 24″ unit’s cooking space was exactly the same as the Kitchenaid cooktop we had.  With 4 individual burners, that bridge to two larger, this compact cooktop meets all our needs.  Instead of gaining 6″, we gained 12″ and in a small 8′ x 11′ footprint this is game-changing!  Cons?  ZIP-ZERO-NONE!  Told you it’s a cult.

Before we move on, let’s talk about the range hood exhaust.  Because we are in a condo, this hood has to be ventless.  The old one, an impressive-look alike for professional chefs, was crap.  The light was like a Christmas bulb and it very nosily blew grease up onto the ceiling.   We chose a Zephyr Tornado Mini and our cabinet company had a box made out of laminate. (yes, laminate that mimics the concrete quartz on the island entirely by accident) Perhaps you can tell by the name how powerful this little puppy is.  The unit is perfectly sized for all the steam coming off the induction cooktop, runs rather quietly, and has two lights with several dim powers.  All for $279.  Is it possible to love a range hood?  For the cons, no different than any other more expensive hood, operator has to remember to turn it on!

Wait…Where Is The Microwave?

Remember that big old microwave in the wall stack of the old kitchen?  We don’t miss it at all.  Again, Mr. LBD and I earnestly discussed how we use each appliance when designing the kitchen.  The microwave is probably the least used in our daily routine and cooking.  Instead of having it on the counter, we chose to have a space reserved in the right, tall cabinet for a small, $99 unit from William’s Sonoma.   98% of the time this set up is working just fine for us.  Once I forgot to leave the door open and baked a pair of potatoes for 11 min.  The heat from the microwave condensed the interior of the cabinets and made a puddle on the floor!  Additionally, the veggie steamer we owned was too large for the smaller unit.  Amazon to the rescue.  For the cons of this microwave set up, this may be inconvenient for high power and mega use.

A Full-Size Oven

Oh we went back and forth on the oven size.  Could we move to a 24″ oven?  Remembering how many 1970 wall ovens we have removed in renovations, I kept saying no.  However, after looking at newer 24″ ovens, we were impressed with the cavity size.   Like the induction cooktop, there really was very little a smaller oven would not accomodate.  Because I am not a baker, I was ready to convert to the 24″ wide under-counter oven.  Again we looked at Fisher & Paykel. In the end, our design allowed for the standard 30″ unit.  The only con to this amazing oven is I have started baking and eating the goodies.

Time To Wash Up

With my aversion to stainless maintenance, our choice of sink was a given.  We’ve used the Blanco Silgrant sinks in several homes.  Maintenance joys with all the cooking we do.  However, to gain the space we wanted for a trash can to the right of the sink, we needed a smaller sink.  Again, 26″ vs 36″ really has not been a problem with the single bowl design.   Next, for the first time, we used the most powerful disposal available on the market.  The con…it’s huge and in a smaller sink base like ours (30″w) it’s a little tight under the sink.  The weight for the faucet sprayer keeps getting caught up and we are working on a solution.  Again, an operator training session needed!  Didn’t our contractor do a nice job with all the connections and electric needs?  There is even a water cop in case we get too wild!

How To Use E-Design While Kitchen Planning

Choosing appliances is an important part of kitchen design.  We always suggest our clients do some research early on to determine what appliances will meet their needs and be within the budget.  Our virtual, E-Design services can help navigate the many appliance choices.  Contact us to learn more!

The Pros & Cons Of Smaller Appliances Can We Live With Smaller Appliances? Continuing the reveal of our new kitchen, today we share our decision to use smaller, euro sized appliances.  

[amityfoxx]



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Lesson 9) Eclipses and Alignment

Professor Cattercorn can be seen flitting around in a redecorating phase. Her wand is rarely pointed in one direction for long. Posters take themselves down from the walls and fold themselves neatly while students sit and study for their final, or chat with each other to procrastinate and relieve stress. Amongst the chaos, a large stack of books sits on the professor’s desk, stacked high. Among them you see titles on palmistry and something called “Zohar.” As the clock strikes eleven, the last of the posters puts itself away, and the professor moves to stand near her desk with a satisfied nod. .

Welcome for the final time this year, students! Yes, I know, I was a bit preemptive with my redecorating, but I thought it best not to leave too many star charts up during the final! Today, we have a few smaller topics to wrap up before we review for your final. I can’t believe it’s already time. Though, I suppose time flies when you are enjoying yourself, and I have certainly enjoyed sharing the wonders of natural divination with such apt students as yourselves.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

As mentioned offhandedly last week, it is not just planets that have divinatory importance in astrology. Nearly everything you can think of plays into the future: the Sun, the Moon, comets, the angle of each planet’s rotation and more! Don’t even get me started on collisions between celestial objects! But, thankfully, we are not going into that much detail. As I explained at the end of our study of runes, my goal is to make you moderately proficient in a large number of fields so that you can find where your strengths and passions lie. We are going to talk about just a few examples today, though.

Comets

After last week’s lesson on the planets, it may not come as a surprise that each comet has a different meaning associated with it. Because they come around so infrequently, the meanings of comets are much less well-known. One of the more frequent ones, Halley’s comet, comes around between every 74 to 79 years and it’s noted to be a predictor of advancement of some kind -- how fortunate that it comes frequently! Comet Hale-Bopp, on the other hand, is very tenuously linked to stagnation and complacence after its first sighting. However, since it only nears Earth every 2,400 years, we will have to do a fair bit of waiting to discover a pattern.

          

Meteor Showers

Fortunately, we have it a little bit easier with meteor showers. Their presence is generally believed to be universal, no matter which cluster is active. The arrival of meteors, whether the Leonids or Draconids usually indicates good fortune -- which is the real reason behind Muggles’ fascination with making wishes on them. It is important to note that meteor showers are more closely linked to smaller, day-to-day things than the more powerful, world-changing events ascribed to planets and more prominent celestial bodies.

Eclipses

Now, it is high time we discussed some celestial events and their importances. Last class, I alluded to the fact that different events and interactions between various celestial bodies played just as large a role in astrology as the meanings of the bodies themselves. Eclipses are one such event that has an important role.

Firstly, it may be useful to have a quick refresher as to what exactly an eclipse is, in case you have forgotten since Second Year Astronomy. An eclipse is when one celestial body moves in between another celestial body and a light source, though the specifics depend on what kind of eclipse is occurring. In a lunar eclipse, the Earth passes in between the Sun and the Moon, therefore casting a shadow onto the Moon and causing it to disappear. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, effectively blocking out the light from the sun momentarily.

Both of these events have different, though linked, divinatory significances. When a solar eclipse occurs, this signifies an ending matched with a beginning -- a rebirth of sorts. When Pluto is nearby during such an event, you had better bet that big things are happening! A lunar eclipse, by the same token -- or at least a similar one -- is just an ending. There is a finality coming when a lunar eclipse is seen. However, unlike its solar counterpart, there is nothing new to replace it. Endings are not inherently bad, though, and these events can simply indicate a stage of completion. Finally, it is important to note, though perhaps obvious, that total eclipses mean a more drastic, important, or sudden event, whereas partial eclipses are less so.

Syzygies And Conjunctions

Finally, we come to our last new topic for the year: alignment. We will briefly go over the definition, though if you want to freshen up on your Astronomy, whether for this or eclipses, you can review this lecture. A syzygy -- the more complicated of the two concepts -- is when three or more astronomical bodies align. This can be include, the Sun, the Moon, Earth, and all other planets. We most frequently see this with the Sun, Moon, and Earth as with eclipses, but this is not the only way, obviously! Conjunctions are very similar, but with one fewer astronomical body. Just two are required to be aligned for a conjunction. One thing to note is that the Earth and the Moon are always in a conjunction together, just as the Sun and the Earth are. It is for this reason that the Sun and the Moon by themselves are not seen to have any divinatory significance (though potentially they do and we simply do not realize it). These bodies have a constant presence in our sky and while they affect levels of magical energy, their presence has not been seen to be extremely significant in divination unless combined with other planets.

In terms of divination, there is an array of implications from these events. Firstly, during either a syzygy or a conjunction, all planets involved not only combine their meanings, but the events the foretell are all the more pronounced, important, or sudden. However, sometimes the alignment of bodies is not just planets. In the case of a conjunction or syzygy involving the Sun, the Sun’s normal meaning of rebirth, ends, and beginnings applies alongside the meanings of the planets. It is the same with the Moon, in that the indication of finality is applied to the other meanings.

I know that is quite a lot to wrap your mind around -- the solar system is a big place -- but to get started, just try to condense it down to the meanings of each body and if they are lining up or not. That simplification will serve you just fine! Also, fortunately, as these are not exactly every day events, you will not have to worry about them overmuch. I only bring them up here due to their large role in astrological predictions.

Review of Concepts

With that, we close the topic of natural divination. As least, until you come to me with questions, check out a library book, gaze into the night sky and notice Venus is particularly bright, or cast some runes. Before I leave you to your finals, let us briefly review the two forms of divination from this year in their totality.

Firstly, we have runecasting. The Germanic tribes ancient times were very natural people, and their divination is no different. There is a large emphasis not only between the runes and nature -- all parts of the runes must be natural, including what they’re stored in -- but also between you and the runes. For the best results, it is recommended that you make your runes and allow them to naturally absorb your magic and attune to your magical signature. They function very similarly to the tarot, acting as foci for your Inner Eye to work through and interpret more easily. They even have spreads that are similar to the tarot. The main differences lie in how you obtain your set and that as a divinatory tool and focus, they are more loyal.

Secondly, we have astrology. There are two schools of thought: there are those that prefer to rely on astrology to predict the minute details of everyday life for individuals, whereas others prefer to look at the big picture, which though large, will affect our everyday lives, just in different ways. Currently, the latter is more popular, though we studied a bit of both. The zodiac is a common thing in magical life, and most witches and wizards know their Sun and Moon signs. These signs complement each other not only to tell us about ourselves, but also about how things might go in the future. In terms of the second kind of astrology, planets and large, celestial bodies and their meanings predict what trends may be coming our way. These bodies can have significance on their own, or in conjunction with others.

Endings and Beginnings

You don’t need the planets to align to do well on your tests, though. You have been with me from beginning to end and I know you’ll do fine… Well, most of you, anyway. You know what they say, it’s a gift and a curse. Regardless, it has been a joy to educate you in the ways of natural divination this year and I hope you enjoy your summer break before school reconvenes in the fall.

Original lesson written by Professor Venita Wessex

Image credits here, here, and here

 

Unlock the secrets of your Inner Eye in Year Three of Divination. This year focuses on the more natural forms for divination, such as runecasting and astrology. A glimpse into the future awaits...Enroll 

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Y3 Final I: Theory

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Y3 Final II: Readings

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[2sevenkristens]

The thoughts of a highly famous gal or chap - writing deeply of the raw longing for what we call a normal life- withdrawn from the spot light- not just a couple lines stitched together but a bleeding cry- a 69 flip of the slippery (unstable curiously). An Alcoholic mudhole<that kind> the writing of the stuck(or maybe not)- just show me the wiggling wonder of an unknown existence. What is it like to run on the only thing you know neatly? The Keen Kernaled Firecap. The flame in those lilacs descend as a stranger in my chair - In my pile of change on the floor in my Samaritan stainshed. At random we gallop- in our grape soda "Ballerina Sometimes". Our Lulu respirators. Yanked and slanted- All the Hank scorpions of a Razoring Reprinting- remalping spun chimes into our razzling neighbors boomstamps. The exchange of pudding and soupsounds-their recipe books- balking-in the house of our breakthrough we chant. Champion sonnets for our vigorous debate. We race in fort Brag (shut your damn cloudgrip) *oh grant me A Serenity* And We stick forks in the graves of the animal house- (Stack your monkey for the local farmers) Stack your monkey. Stamp your cunt with stickers of Disney characters- (don't tell me what to do) But treat me as I am. Bury yourself alive in Bettys Humble Cave. The sketch is vital. The sketch. Figure out your mean Mister . - Water this mold -shiver in your panicroom- for I love it there- invade the bug there. Slave to the snare. "I went through a Bad break up - and became a belly dancer for six weeks"- -Something Devin said on the R5 train- we were sitting on the side the sun met directly -me at the window-head against the glass. Casted and sailing and listening to Some Silly Crusher- her old adorable band in the garage- puffer lodge. Sparkled duck in the disco scrab. She wore a hat with animal ears- cute Caligula on exit mode. Songs about sex- acid rocked teenager playing fanboy line1. Ha! Fuzz. Here were two little girls in matching Japanese pancakes bopping at what we did -what we said - how we were pranksters- pins-pins- Alone. I smile when I think of our cared marshmallow horizon. Clicking our red shoes to the rhythm of the Louie Roses. More fuzz. -and some things make me laugh, Mrs Stiff and Squalid lashes. Got it? Its these small pickles of time condensed and skewed by our barnacle language. I dig MY OWN fingers into it- stroke the letters and BAKE them into my o- Into my own- Skulled cards. Read them Mrs. Muzzle. Flip your stupid grilled cheese sandwiches and look at the world's fat pink backhand- Put on this jacket of smacked lessons- so that your grasslands will grow and grow and graze over everything that is complete and sacked with carcass garbage. I got off the stuff. Needles in the trash. LISTEN UP. I did it okay and can laugh laugh laugh all I want to!☆ Take a plunge my Lady Locked. Look at me unchain myself. Look- see that it's real. Run into your own shiver. Shake the jukebox like your riding the best cock of your life. Like your riding the best. Hard knock. Knox Ride Woman. Crack those knuckles. -Women. Hopellessly devoted to the tightening up- to the unbuckling. Udon - seringe- violet snake. I am Needless- only for his rushing - rushing medical attention. Lumbered. Mastered. Mouth. Mumbled. Sedated. Sucked. Sore. Sorry. Im a Silly little brat. Still wining. Still looking at Your Hunt - Still looking at Your Ghost And the I heart huckabees cornucopia collie- Unstable in the bakery. Unstable in this bakery. Back with you at my high school job. My skirt is falling down as the phone ring rings - ringing past 3. Swung to all four of This Rooms Corners. My hands have dough dusted along the crev. Life lines filled up with the white. Oh Man. Youre pulling it down. Boss is gone. Doomed (in the corner i am) Spread like Marie's fine drapes- Then drug out by your invader. Caked. Situated in a drowning for your Pynchon diagram. The Last laugh- the last cry- so what ones going to be better? Both tennis balls being slacked by your racket- spanked by your partners. Shooting saliva -smock samples all over the floor. Beat by the sun- stomped by those gum souls. Chest breaking. We are Dead in the middle- Ha ha- you mangled- silly mango. Such a meaty texture. Suching. Seven sighs. ×Parking lots in the evening× "I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the work you are not doing" -again- I am laughing- Carter skips jokes in the air like rocks on the water. Slump. Yeah I complain about more than- [sink lower]- more things than just the W E A T H E R

Extreme in its soaked bag of a cloak-father. The Immediate dose- of hot thick suds in the veins. Spap me up. Soap your fingers up inside of me. We are drowning.  Defend yourself. Make yourself think u can control me- can you? Send me off with your spoons. Gonna hit up my friend now- Jump in the van Time for sad piano. And we all drive in this rain And all the emerald leaves  make out like French girls  (palms around the cone- tounge gliding the cream) She is cut out to be teaching Him too- and probably me- let's all spin ourselves so fast around on the playground together. Let's make ourselves sick and forget our big big uncharitable dreams. Because we lust so bad for living- so let me brush up against these things I want so badly- almost lose them- throw them in the backseat of the car- clean up- vacume the car- find the things- thumb tack them to my boards- my chest- drag the tacks down. Carve out. I will show you me doing that.  Again- can you? *watch*- can ya watch now- Sweaty doll- ripple me soft. Rip the rug from under me. I sware to God- M83 Godzilla- You will meet her absolutely. Haron Ontario Michigan Eerie Superior. Swung from the branches of all their rock hard-packed veins stemming to the ether- always racing out there away from our sunny land -magazine. Oh Ethan Tramadol - put us to sleep in the Lakes Lundragon. Snap our necks on the sandstone pie crust around it's ex- Next lover. Pierce our genitals. Pound our vox to the Yeasayer. Hit so hard it's black now but hey Hit so hard i am back now But hey Five seconds of the look on your face when I charge a fireballed- eye core. When I say goodbye and you fall out. When you go down my (Fuq- you know what you do) Some people listen - touch themselves over that five seconds - Five seconds stretched - looped and pulled- tugged- bulldogged delerious. It was those five long seconds of how she responded- how she didn't know yet- the way it made her grind against the wheel. Wilming around all hot and boilng - a bug in the pot. Unfixed under the hot wax of your cranked rhyme. Interupt this. Make yourself available- then dont- again back and forth we turn this glock. Licking limbs for a converged - silver death. Bubbling Moth. Mulp. SLing cuff. (It's discing) Straight through me shooting paper airplanes through the tinsel tolls- quiver in the stables. A Sorting spudged light driphouse- clipping in a couples pop. Jamming butterscotch oxygen - Smudgeing these suffering thighs on torched - testy freight trains. This skull(rather). Skum ray. The Scallion rape in stages game . Batter on the field sinner stays pillow tape- It's here- drooling. Pink bows on the stains. okay My Leading Knightfall- you jet velvet connotation-I know you see my PALLETS.  Look the other way- fill up your boots with gauges. Cage yourself. Bail your hurt for Melody to write about- masterbate then write about you're misbehavings on Rye. B side companions This Company car Like when Benny got off the stuff and betty got a job as a waitress - ( Bukowski knows it like I do)- scissors resting over our friends over ourselves. There is no Benny - bettys Mandy- Mandys your sister and everyone's your hiding place. We Write your faggy clasping fantasy all over your calves - i drain your statutory release so you don't murder 45 people even though you need to. I need to too. Take care of it in the slits of our creations- my creature. My slame. And Mom and dad were fighting again. Mom shoved dad into the book case - every single book fell off the shelf except for a book about - ((inhales)) ((Shakes head- shakes the weight off)) ((exhales)) ((nods head))- The one with all pictures- all those places that dad went. A book of slides. He showed us all of them on the wall. Every color cut it's life into the plaster.  Plugged into his traveling tremendous. I was barely aged. I was Unaware of this life but was injected with the purity of it and it's journey towards the same thing that sat between my ribs and my fingertips at 6 six years old- 5 years -4-3-2-1- - -  there. Slap me up into it Lover- take me to the wall- to the pixels- Mix it up with your cum on the bed sheet- Punish me in the night so I can cry for the places I miss and yearn for. You want the same. I don't give a shit what it looks like- tell me what you need to get there. How bad do you want to go there. Show me how you need me to be. Shove me- Bend me to your whistled fireplace. Time is shit here. Keep undressing me. Look deep into my pools. They've been raped - rung out by a uncontrollable spasm. That cool? It was The first book that made me realize I was broken. Dangling in the midst of a message threading itself back into my bones where it came from- birthed by the lips of my sick- lumpy fate. Dad met me here. The washroom of Our Home

[kimberderekhe77]

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