#2C Coffee Shop

[ghost-proofbaby]

twenty four hours (modern!eddie munson x fem!reader)

"NIGHT TIME RELIGION"

EXTRA CONTENT- "BEYOND THE HOURS"

→ pairings: modern!college!eddie x college!fem!reader → warnings: strong language, upside down does not exist, minors dni → wc: 2.3k+ → a/n: just a simple, sweet glimpse into what our favorite idiots' nighttime routine is like. probably got a little too poetic with it, as always <3

enjoy the main story's masterlist here

“You fell asleep again.” 

It’s not a question, just a mere observation. Eddie doesn’t even put any emphasis on the key word there, that it had happened again, as he glances up on you sprawled out on his couch. 

“Nuh uh,” you childishly rebuke, ironically squeezing your eyes shut tighter as you let your cheek nuzzle deeper into the page of the textbook you’d been taking notes on, “I’m… I’m wide awake.” 

Every word painfully slurs with your next, voice mostly muffled. If he hadn’t been so close to you from where he was sitting on the floor, he probably wouldn’t have been able to make out what you’d just murmured. 

It only makes him laugh softly as he focuses back on whatever piece of equipment he’d brought into the apartment that belongs to his bike, “Sure you are, sweetheart.” 

The coffee table is spread with hand towels and paper towels alike as Eddie fiddles with the hunk of metal. You hadn’t even prodded him about what it was he was fiddling with; you were too busy, knee deep in your studies as you’d made yourself comfortable in his living room. 

It was a normal routine now – something cozy, something domestic. Instead of being holed up in your dorm these days, you found yourself occupying apartment 2C far more frequently than you’d ever admit to anyone else. Half the time, the two of you didn’t even have plans. It wasn’t about elaborate date nights or purposeful hangouts anymore; these days, the two of you simply enjoyed one another’s presence. It was enough to just know he was there with you, in the same room, as the two of you were occupied with your own individual tasks. Sometimes, he would be reading a book as you wrote your essays. Sometimes, he’d steal your laptop to shop for new bike parts and accessories online as you caught up on your favorite TV shows. There had been plenty of phone calls with Nancy in which Eddie had let you simply rest your head in his lap, hands mindlessly carding through the scalp of your hair as he tried to offer assistance to his best friend’s daily troubles and rambles. 

It was nice, and it was normal, and it was something the rest of the world would have to pry from your cold, dead hands. 

The apartment could have easily become something akin to a prison after the bet, but it hadn’t. Instead, somehow and someway, you and Eddie had turned it into a proper sanctuary.

You no longer spent lectures daydreaming about returning to your dorm; your mind much preferred longing to return to Eddie’s room, to picture falling face down in his bed, where the pillow on the right side had begun to smell of your shampoo rather than his cologne. 

“It’s getting late,” he sighs when he hears you go silent again. He’s not annoyed by any means. If he had it his way, he’d probably curl up on the couch with you for the rest of the night, content to fall asleep to the view of your face smoothing out in peaceful rest. But he knows if he leaves you be, you’ll wake up with an aching back and an attitude that makes even Harrington cower. He puts down his project for the night, wiping his hands on a damp paper towel before he reaches blindly behind himself to give you a few taps on your rear, “C’mon, we need to get ready for bed.” 

You swat his hand away, and it only makes him grin, “It’s not that late. Plus, I’m comfy.” 

“It’s half past eleven, baby.” 

And oh, do you shoot straight up at that. 

Your eyes are finally wide open as you look at him wildly, face struck with confusion, “Excuse me?” 

“I said, it’s half past ele-”

“When the Hell did it get so late?” you fumble with yourself as he slowly gets up, making a show out of stretching all his limbs. You don’t even grow distracted when his arms reach well over his head and tug up his shirt, exposing that sliver of stomach that would normally entice you, “I swear to God, it wasn’t even ten like…. Ten minutes ago.” 

“Ten waking minutes ago, maybe,” he teases, holding a hand out for you, “Time flies when you’re napping instead of studying.” 

It’s hard for him to not smile so softly down at you right now, even as he watches the defeat take hold. Your entire outfit is compiled of his clothes, yet another t-shirt you’d snagged from him along with a pair of sweatpants that he can’t even remember the last time he’d worn them. Your hair is messy, falling out of the convenient style you’d fashioned in it hours before when you’d declared you needed to focus. Your shoulders sag, the corners of your mouth inch downward, and all he really cares about right now is getting you in bed so he can wrap himself up around you. 

Your eyes dart between his outstretched hand and your textbook, still open on a page that you’d embarrassingly drooled on, “I know we joked about celebrating when I aced my finals, but can we still get milkshakes when I absolutely flunk them?” 

The way you manage to melt his heart is impeccable. He doesn’t even have it in him to be snarky, or to make another menacing jokes, “Of course we can.”

That seems to make your decision. You finally reach out and take his hand, clearly trying to be dramatic as you pull on him with the entirety of your weight, almost as though your end goal was for him to actually end up beside you on the couch rather than to be standing beside him. 

If your goal is the former, you fail miserably. He doesn’t budge beneath your drag, only leaning forward to grab your other hand and properly haul you off the couch. 

“Oof,” you huff out as you collide with his chest from the force, letting your face smash into him and making no move to pull back, “Can’t you just carry me to bed? Is that an option?” 

He almost says yes. Almost. 

“We won’t even make it down the hall,” he chuckles, taking slow steps back, guiding you right along with him, “I may or may not have also dozed off at some point. Jury’s still out on that one.” 

“Is it?” 

You’re hardly lifting your feet, shuffling your way along, letting him walk you deceiving to the bathroom rather than the bedroom. He has no idea if you’ll be capable of doing your full skincare routine, but at the very least, he has to get you to brush your teeth. If he didn’t, he’d never hear the end of it. 

“It is indeed,” he finally stops walking backwards, deciding it might become more dangerous rather than just dragging you along, “Probably won’t get a ruling until morning, so we might as well brush our teeth now, doll.” 

He’s trying to sweeten the deal. Coaxing you with adoring pet names to keep you in motion. 

“Ugh, effort,” you crunch your nose as you say it, and it’s clearly more for show than anything now. You’re fully conscious, capable of getting yourself to the bathroom sink where both your toothbrushes now sit side-by-side in a glass cup, but you don’t let go of his hand just yet. 

His palm is warm, and right now, all you really wanna do is curl up in that heat. 

Eventually, though, you let go. The two of you stand in the mirror as you go through the motions of wetting your toothbrushes, applying the toothpaste – all the boring, mundane actions that are more habit than conscious choices. But interspersed in the habits you’ve gathered over your years of life are new ones, minimal but vital after the amount of time spent together. Proof of the way this nighttime routine had become something of a religion between the two of you, something to be offered and to be shared rather than simply going through the motions. 

The way Eddie carefully rolls the end of the toothpaste tube before passing it to you, simply so it’s easier for you to get your share of it. The way you leave the water running after you’ve wet your own brush just so Eddie can also do so. All the sneaky glances caught in the mirror as the corners of your mouths foam up. Every ridiculous face, every nimble bump of your hip to his, the way he sticks out his very white tongue at you before he spits out into the basin – new things that have all become the normal, but still settle warmth in your chest.

Things that water a garden of vinery and blooms that no longer only belong within the confine of your bones, but his as well. 

A shared garden of memories and comfort. Growing, flourishing, nurturing one another. 

You lean down to spit right before him, and when you take a second too long, he tugs on a strand of your hair, trying to move you. And even as tired as you are, you find it within yourself to be a little shit as he so lovingly mumbles out around his toothbrush, lingering until he’s bumping you with his hip with purpose. 

Passing the floss back and forth (or more like you shoving the floss into his hands before he can try to argue against it), using the same paper cup to sip mouthwash out of – something so bland that you used to do it alone, now something to enjoy with him. 

You kind of love it. You kind of love him. 

“Should I wash my face?” you question, leaning in closer to the mirror and poking at your cheeks, checking your skin for any blemishes you can find. 

Eddie only moves behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and making the entire ordeal far more difficult as his chin rests on your shoulder, “Not if you don’t feel like it. Besides, it’s gonna make your nose cold, and then you’re gonna press it all over my damn neck and-” 

You cut him off with a joking glare, reaching up to flick at his nose, but he’s quick to pull his face out of your reach. Smiling widely, showing off those fresh and minty pearly whites. 

“If my cold nose bothers you that much, I could just stay on my side of the bed tonight,” you scowl, even though you were already taking his advice and calling it a night, twisting out of his hold to flick the lightswitch and exit the bathroom. 

He’s still stronger as he keeps his arms in place, only twisting himself around to face the door frame right with you, whining in your ear, “No.” 

He drags out the ‘o’, his voice slowly growing more quiet the longer he draws out the vowel. At some point, it’s less than Eddie has ended the protest, and more that he’s just run out of breath. 

His arms only leave your waist for the two of you to get dressed in proper pajamas. Well, what you both consider proper pajamas. 

You, left in only his shirt and underwear, and Eddie simply in his boxers. 

There’s no more sarcastic comments or lazy banter, although you certainly expect it. You’re almost holding your breath for it, right up until Eddie’s lifting his comforter and eagerly motioning for you to climb into bed first. Not one smartass remark about ladies first that could easily backfire on him as you shoved him into the bed before you. 

No, he waits until the two of you are lying on your sides, facing one another, not quite touching when his face breaks into a radiant smile. 

“What?” you ask, narrowing your eyes at him, overly suspicious of his random burst of happiness. 

“You call it your side of the bed.” 

At first, you don’t get it, “What?” 

“You called it your side of the bed,” he repeats with the utmost emphasis, finally throwing his hand out in search of your own, pulling it up to eye-level so he can toy slowly with each of your knuckles. 

“Is it not?” you’re whispering like two children at a sleepover, your feet finally drifting to toe at his calves. If they’re too cold for his liking, you don’t know. He doesn’t flinch or complain, only spreads his legs ever so slightly so there’s a space left for you to fill as you intertwine limbs. 

“It is,” he confirms, nodding a little, finally slotting his fingers between your own, “Just nice to hear you say it out loud.” 

And suddenly, you get it.

It’s your side of the bed. It’s your toothbrush resting beside his. Your textbooks and laptops are still on his couch, you have a sticky note with a reminder for yourself to buy more milk  put up on the fridge, there’s now a space for your shoes at the front door right beside his daily boots – slowly but surely, you’ve whittled out spaces for yourself here, with him. 

Even when you’re not here in this apartment with him, your presence remains. Someone could walk in, and they still see traces of you. You exist here, constantly, right along with Eddie. 

“Yeah,” you whisper back, finally scooching closer. He immediately shifts so that you can cuddle into his side, your head resting against his chest and your ear pressed to listen to his thrumming heartbeat. A perfectly carved out space for you even here, between this sheets, against his skin, “It’s nice to say out loud.” 

Not a routine, but a religion. Something to worship in the quiet hours between the sound of quiet snores and a noisy coffee maker you already have plans to replace as a Christmas gift to Eddie. An apartment turned altar, with offerings from both of you, to all that has and could become. 

You whisper your final prayer, just as you do every night, even when you think Eddie might already be fast asleep, “G’night, Eddie. I love you.” 

He’s not already asleep. 

“I love you, sweetheart.”

eddie's taglist: @capricornrisingsstuff @thisisktrying @hideoutside @vol2eddie @corrcdedcoffin @ches-86 @alovesongtheywrote @its-not-rain @feralchaospixie @cheesypuffkins87 @thebook-hobbit @babez-a-licious @eddies-acousticguitar @aysheashea @kellsck @cosmorant @billyhvrgrove-main @micheledawn1975 @eddiesxangel @siriuslysmoking @witchwolflea @tlclick73 @magicalchocolatecheesecake @mizzfizz @nanaminswhore @mikiepeach @ali-r3n @hawkebuckley @alwaysbeenfamous @darkyuffie-blog @vintagehellfire @lilmisssiren @elvendria @loveryanax @stylexrepp @princessstolas @fangirling-4-ever @eddiesguitarskills @babez-a-licious @josephquinnsfreckles

join my taglist!

[sumire-no-nikki]

A Day Out

I had to do groceries this afternoon so I thought I would treat myself with a day out while I'm at it! The weather has cooled down ever so slightly and by that I mean from 30C down to 28C with a little breeze. Not much, I know. But that 2C is the difference between actively sweating just by breathing, and being able to manage walking outside without wanting to plop on the concrete and throwing a tantrum because I fucking hate summer.

That said, it wasn't helpful that the train was packed. Oh it was awful. Not a single seat open and the corridors were filled with people standing. I would have decided to go back home and just drive to a shop nearby, but I've made it that far already so I thought I might as well stick with it. In the end I'm happy to say it paid off. I had a very lovely day out!

First thing on the agenda was to try new beans but I'm afraid that part of the trip was a bust. I intended to purchase some espresso beans from this Mexican-themed cafe that I always pass by but it seems they've just roasted their beans (and they need to rest for a couple of days before they're ready to brew!) So unfortunately I will have to try them another time.

From there I entered my usual manga and general nerdy stuff store. I found some new manga I'm keen on but I stopped myself from spending. I don't really have the time to get into a new series right now, but I've definitely added a lot of new titles to my "to-read-in-the-far-future" list lol. I did make some really cool discoveries while browsing the store though! There's a manga series adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables! I read a couple of pages of it and it looks so good! And there's also a Junji Ito adaptation of No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai which, as it is by Junji Ito, looks nothing short of spectacular. Oh, can you believe it!! All these new adaptations of modern classics! I hope there will be more! As bewildering as it was to see No Longer Human on "as seen on booktok" tables in bookstores (the very existence of which seems to trigger my fight-or-flight response lol) I'm ultimately just very happy people are reading these great works. These manga adaptations will get so many people into reading the classics, I think. And that can only be for the good.

From there I headed for my usual cafe. I ordered a slice of chocolate cake and a lovely pour over coffee from Kenya. The cup I had today tasted of bright orange with quite a full body. I enjoyed my treats while reading for about an hour or so outside. It was way too hot to stay inside, so as much as I hate inhaling second-hand smoke I chose a seat along the street.

You know, I didn't realise until after ordering that I was in fact speaking with the owner who happens to be a German Barista champion!! I was inspecting the trophies on display by the counter while waiting for my tray. When I sat down I looked up the name and only then did the face register lol. Knowing that the person who owns the place understands brewing and producing coffee directly and ethically (as opposed to being just a businessman who isn't familiar with the coffee industry) does explain the quality of the beans. And it's such a reassurance to know that they are roasted by someone who cares. I swear I've never had a terrible bag of beans from his cafe.

One last errand before the groceries: the record store! I brought the records I no longer want to keep in my collection and had them assessed. The owner of the store is a very jolly Greek man. I browsed the store while waiting for him to come up with an offer. I spotted some of the records I sold to him in the past (and that he is selling them for quite a mark up 👀) but I've also noticed that quite a handful of my old records were no longer there. The romantic in me is beaming at the thought of my records in a new home now, being played and enjoyed by a stranger with a completely different background yet identifying with the same music I once related to. Anyway, I got a surprisingly good offer for the records and I walked out of the store feeling very happy to get that task crossed off the to-do list.

The last thing was to go to the store, of course. I've run out of some staple Japanese ingredients so that was what I mainly bought. I finally found sake for cooking which has proven quite difficult to source so it's a relief to finally have it now. I stocked up on natto as well. I know it's an acquired taste (quite like marmite) but I like it for breakfast, especially with leftover rice.

When I got home I spent the evening putting everything away, and cleaning and prepping the fruits and vegetables I bought. It was a good day, I think. Quite productive. And it's always lovely spending time alone. I get to observe, swim in the lake of my own mind.

I leave you with a photo I took on my way home and a song I've been listening to a lot. The train ride home wasn't as hectic so I spent the entire time looking outside, feasting on how vibrant everything looks in the summer. I know I've overstated my hatred for this season but sunlight, the deep green fields meeting the blue sky on the horizon, the contrast--it's such a boost to one's mental health.

As for the song, this one is from a pretty old album actually, but I always seem to find new meaning to fixate on when I listen to it. This is the song that struck me this time around and I've been ruminating on all week. It's rare to find a song that describes who you are completely that it's rather frightening. This song does that for me:

Alright, that's it for now. I'm off to tidy up real quick--arrange the throw pillows on the couch, pick up all the cat toys and put it back in their toy box (a task I'm sure I will be repeating in the morning, lol), start the dishwasher, and turn off all the lights. I've had a good day but I am exhausted! My weekend has been a busy one so far. Tomorrow I have some long letters to write and emails to respond to. And then it's just about to get even more hectic with the new week, but it helps to know that the weather will continue to cool down in the coming days. Knowing it'll be rainy is such an uplifting thing to know (at least I hope it happens. I have a love-hate relationship with the somewhat-accurate weather app lol). I hope it isn't sweltering wherever you are.

Until next time!

[punchdrunkdoc]

Chapter 3

Summary: After the events of S3, Matt Murdock is trying to once again balance life as a lawyer and a vigilante. But he’s been scarred by loss and betrayal - will a mysterious new neighbour help him heal? Or will her secrets drag him back into the darkness?

Notes: This is a slow burn romance with an original female character, told in 3 parts. There is mystery, intrigue, action and angst - all the good stuff!

Also available on AO3 

Masterlist

——————————————————

CHAPTER 3

Calina hummed along to the tune playing through her earbuds as she entered her apartment building. Of the hundreds of tracks she’d listened to over the past few weeks, she’d found 46 that she’d liked enough to add to her playlist. And of those 46, this one was by far her favourite.

Her favourite.

The concept was still so new and exciting that it made her smile.

That smile dropped when she noticed the resident of 2C shuffling towards the elevator. When the elderly lady had dropped her bag the other day, Calina's first instinct had been to pick it up and help her, but her years of conditioning had blocked the altruistic impulse before she could move a muscle. By the time she'd shaken off her training, another neighbour had already come to the rescue. Calina had been gifted with a sour look from the do-gooder, and she was left with a feeling of shame and guilt every time she encountered the lady from 2C.

Not wanting to share a ride with the source of that shame and guilt, Calina pushed open the door to the stairwell and jogged up the six flights to her floor.

Where she was greeted with another source of shame and guilt - the petite blond woman leaning against her apartment door.

What was she doing here?

The outfit she was wearing was…unexpected. An eclectic mis-mash of colours and fabrics that Calina would never have thought to pair together. Although, to be fair, like her taste in music, her fashion sense was only just starting to evolve. So far she’d struggled to move away from her usual black, but she had developed a fondness for expensive leather and silk and cashmere - sumptuous fabrics that she loved to run her hands over and which felt decadent against her skin. She carried her latest online purchase under her right arm - a satin camisole and a pair of wool wide-leg pants - and she’d been looking forward to trying them on this evening.

But it looked like her plans had changed.

“What are you doing here?” she asked her visitor.

The clothing may have been different, but the cool, assessing eyes that trained on Calina were very familiar. “What? I can’t come visit my favourite sister?”

Calina rolled her eyes. “I’m not your favourite.” She’s wasn’t her sister either. But the two of them were bonded by something far more powerful than blood.

“You’re my favourite today,” was the reply.

Calina raised an eyebrow. “Which means you want something.”

“Busted.”

“What’s going on?” Calina asked.

“Can we talk somewhere more private?”

As if to underscore the lack of privacy, the elevator doors opened and her neighbour stepped out.

Matthew.

The lawyer.

The very attractive lawyer.

And the blind man who could perceive more than he was letting on.

“Let’s go out,” she suggested to her visitor. “There’s a nice coffee shop a block away.”

“What about your apartment?”

“It’s too messy.”

That wasn’t true. There wasn’t enough…stuff…for it to be messy. But it was her space - a little piece of the world she could call her own - and she was slowly filling it with the things she liked. Making it into a home, and planning her future within its wall.

The thought of her past invading it was…unpleasant.

Luckily, Matthew cut off any objection her ‘sister’ might have had. “Hi,” he said in greeting, his voice warmer that she'd ever heard it. “Are you talking about The Hideout on 10th? I like that place too.”

“Yes,” she replied, grabbing her sister’s arm and practically pulling her down the hallway. “Goodbye, Matthew.”

He tilted his head and she could feel the confusion radiating off him. “Goodbye.”

“Rude!” her sister complained as the elevator doors closed, blocking them from her neighbour’s view. “I didn’t get a chance to say hello.”

And I hope you never do, Calina thought.

———

They didn’t speak again until they were inside the coffee shop. Calina had discovered the place her first week in Hell’s Kitchen and had fallen in love with it. She loved the bustle of people coming and going, the comfy arm chairs by the fire in the corner, the oversized mugs, and the aroma of freshly baked brownies.

But what she loved the most was the feeling she got when she took a seat by the window, sipped on her drink and just watched the world go by. It felt so normal.

She felt normal in this place.

Just a stranger among many, wiling away the hours.

She was loathe to introduce her past to this special place - almost as much as her apartment - but she’d panicked a bit upon seeing Matthew. She was struck by the urge to get her sister - and the secrets they shared - as far away from him as possible. There was more to him than met the eye. And until she figured what it was exactly, she needed to keep her distance.

She took a sip of her foam-topped spiced toffee latte, eyeing her companion as she did the same, curious what her reaction would be to the indulgent drink.

“Ugh,” was the verdict. “How can you like that? It's so sweet.”

“I like it because its sweet,” Calina replied. “Because it’s frivolous and unnecessary and not nutritionally valuable.”

“So its a rebellion.”

She shrugged. “I guess so.”

“I get it.”

Judging by her loud and completely indiscrete outfit, Calina figured she did.

A few moments more passed in companionable silence. It was nice to be with someone she didn’t have to pretend with. Someone who knew her, and everything she’d been through. The weight of their past settled over them like a blanket, one woven from trauma and pain; oppressive and painful, but comforting in its familiarity.

But as the minutes passed Calina started to feel anxiety creeping in at the edges. She needed to know what this visit meant - and what help was needed from her. She placed her drink down on the table and leaned back in her chair. “Okay. Spill it. What’s going on?”

Yelena Belova shrugged and offered her a sad smile. “The Widows need you back.”

———

The emergency lights strobed in flashes of red, and the floor lurched underfoot as the Red Room slowly fell from the sky. But Calina had no thoughts of saving herself. She had been given a command - kill the Black Widow.

The traitor, Natasha Romanov.  

Calina spun and kicked at Romanov's legs. The older widow jumped up to avoid the attack, then stumbled forward as Anya landed a punch to her back. The Widows circled her, moving closer. The traitor was outnumbered. She would be dead in moments-

But then...an explosion...a  red mist, stinging her eyes...

Calina woke with a gasp, her heart thundering in her ears. She pawed at the lamp on her bedside table, exhaling in relief when she found the switch and light flooded the room.

Light which proved she was in her own bed.

In her own apartment.

Not there.

She collapsed back on the mattress and scrubbed her face with her hands. The nightmare was always the same, her brain tormenting her with the memory of the worst moment of her life. The moment of awakening. The moment when the fog of mind control lifted and she grasped just how violated she’d been.

Used, and manipulated, and sent out in the world to do horrible things against her will.

Again and again and again.

She sat up and swung her legs to the side of the bed. She wouldn’t be getting any more sleep tonight - she never did after one of those dreams. So she padded to her bathroom, stripped off her slightly damp pyjamas and hopped in the shower.

She tried to kid herself that she was merely washing off the sweat induced by the nightmare. But the truth was, she always felt…dirty…after one of those dreams. Like a layer of grime covered her, particles of shame and revulsion clinging to her pores.

The shower helped a bit. But the fresh air and the night sky helped more.

Once dried and dressed, she stepped into the shoes by her door but left her cardigan where it was - draped over the arm of the couch. She loved wrapping herself in the thick, cosy layer of baby-soft wool but not on a night like tonight, when the scorching heat of the day had barely dissipated and a blanket of humid moisture replaced the air.

Pointedly ignoring the dossier that now sat on her kitchen table, she slipped out of the door and up to the roof.

When the comforting skyline of her new home came into view, when the warm breeze danced around her, when she tipped her head back and saw the tapestry of stars overhead…only then did her breathing truly even out.

After deciding to leave the other Widows and go it alone, she’d had her pick of literally any city on earth to live.  And she’d opted for New York. She’d had a mission here several years ago and had been seduced by the rich vitality of the place. The way it seemed to have a life of its own that transcended its citizens. She loved the anonymity it afforded, the way a person could get swallowed up and lost among the 8 million other inhabitants. And she loved the way the city embodied the American dream - the notion that a person could make anything of themselves here.

So yeah, choosing to live in New York had been an easy call, for many reasons.

But choosing this particular apartment building, had been down to one reason and one reason only - the rooftop access.

She only truly felt free when she was up high under the vast expanse of the sky, no walls in sight, no barriers keeping her contained. The ability to climb one short flight of stairs and step out onto this roof at any time of the day or night was a gift she would never take for granted.

She breathed deeply as she paced along the length and breadth of the space, the repetitive motion banishing the last lingering traces of her nightmare. It wasn’t surprising that the dream had come tonight. There was usually no trigger for it that she could discern, but Yelena’s unexpected visit had brought everything in her past bubbling to the surface.

The dossier that she’d spent an hour studying before falling asleep also hadn’t helped.

Yelena had handed her the file in the coffee shop after asking her to come back. “It’s only for one job,” she’d explained. “I wouldn’t ask if we weren’t desperate. I know you wanted out.” Her words were tinged with contempt.

Calina sighed. Yelena had never understood her decision, had always made Calina feel guilty for wanting to leave her past behind.  “I always said I would help if you needed me. If there was a Widow who needed me.”

“There is. It's Katya.”

“You found her?” Calina leaned forward. Very few of the Widows had been present in the Red Room when it went down. Most had been out on assignment, and Yelena and the others had been tracking them down one by one in order to administer the counter-agent to the mind control serum.

Melina Vostokoff - a former Widow - had created an unlimited supply of the antidote. A way to make amends for her part in creating the mind controlling serum. So now it was just a matter of finding the other women and freeing them. They’d been pretty successful over the past few months, but a few of the Widows were so deep undercover that locating them had proven difficult.

Like Katya.

She had ‘graduated’ the red room in the same class as Yelena and Calina. That hadn’t made them friends by any stretch. They weren’t allowed to form those kinds of bonds - they were too busy being pitched against each other.  But they were bound together by shared trauma, and that fostered a certain respect between them. A feeling of solidarity.

It had nagged at Calina that she had left the Widows before Katya had been found.

She would absolutely help get her back.

“We found her,” Yelena confirmed.

“What do you know?”

“She’s embedded with the Japanese ambassador in South Korea. Dreykov was planning to reignite hostilities between the two countries, to weaken their growing economies. Katya’s playing bodyguard, and apparently feeding misinformation to the diplomat and and stoking his latent resentment.”

“She was always good at that.”

All of the Widows had the same basic training. They’d all mastered the same set of skills that made Widows so formidable - hand-to-hand combat, acrobatics, weapons training, espionage and more. But along the way, each Widow found their ‘speciality’ - an aspect of training that they particularly excelled at. Trainers would then hone those abilities and handlers would tailor their missions around them.

Yelena’s specialty lay in killing. She had a sniper’s precision, and a ruthlessness which made her a formidable assassin.

Katya was adept at manipulation. Finding a target’s weakness and exploiting it. Or nurturing it, depending on the objective.

Anya - another one of their classmates - was a computer genius and master hacker.

Calina was an expert at infiltration. Deep undercover work. Her looks were adaptable to multiple different disguises. She was an uncanny mimic of accents and voices. She spoke multiple languages fluently…and the Red Room had systematically and completely wiped her innate personality, until she was the perfect blank slate. A barren field in which any persona could take root.

“What’s our in?” Calina asked.

“We’ve got to hit the ambassador’s house and corner Katya there. It’s our only option - there are too many variables outside. But the place is a fortress with a private army of guards. We need someone who can get in discretely, and then get out again with minimal disruption. If it turns into a gunfight we risk exposing the Widows.”

They were all flying under the radar of the World’s governments. Romanov had kept their existence a secret after the Red Room fell, and now they were operating independently, trying to keep out of reach of the Sokovia Accords.

Sparking off a diplomatic incident would definitely put them in reach.

“So who do you need me to be?” Calina asked.

“Erin Brownly, personal assistant to the ambassador. You’re a similar height and build and we can use the nano mask to match her face. The trick is the voice. She speaks fluent Japanese and Korean, but with a British accent. There are a few recordings on the thumb drive in here.” Yelena dug out a brown envelope from her satchel and slid it across the table.

Calina glanced inside to find a dossier on Brownly and a USB stick. “It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Yelena huffed out a laugh. “Only you would say that. Its why we needed to bring you in on this. But I'm...I'm sorry. For what its worth.”

Calina was surprised. Maybe she had imagined the contempt from before. Maybe Yelena did understand. Or was at least trying to.

Either way...“Its worth a lot. But you don’t need to apologise. I agreed to help when needed - I want to help-”

“But I know you wanted to go and build a boring life-”

“I never said boring,” Calina objected.

“-in your boring apartment, next to your boring neighbour.”

“He’s not boring!”

Yelena raised an eyebrow, and a slow smile overtook her face, making her look almost impish. It was such a change from the steely, cold Yelena of the past that Calina barely recognised her. It looked like Calina wasn't the only Widow who was uncovering her true nature from beneath the Red Room's conditioning.

And Yelena's true nature appeared to be a troublemaker.

“Oooh, Calina has a crush! Tell me everything.”

And a gossip.

Calina groaned. “I don’t have a crush.”

“Why not? He’s pretty cute, if you like that tall, bland and built look.”

Calina held back her instinctive scoff. He wasn’t cute. Cute was for puppies and boyband members. Matthew was handsome. An old-fashioned term, but it fit. He was classically handsome. With his height and his broad shoulders and his sharp, stubbled jaw and his deep, measured voice…

But it wasn’t his features that made him interesting. Good-looking men could be very boring, Calina knew that first hand. It was the other details that she’d noticed that made him distinctly not-bland. “There’s something about him-”

“I knew it!”

“Would you listen!” Calina laughed, and realised she was enjoying herself. When she'd seen Yelena outside her apartment earlier she'd been braced for another lecture. Another guilt-trip.

She hadn't expected to laugh and joke with her. It was almost like they were true sisters.

Yelena smiled in response. “Sorry, go ahead.”

“There’s something strange about him," Calina explained. "About the way he moves when he doesn’t think anyone’s watching. With a confidence and purpose, as if he can see. And the other day, I kind of…reacted…when he got too close, and he blocked my attack. Grabbed my arm as if he knew where it was - and he was strong. He also gets hurt a lot. Bruises on his face, and he holds himself a certain way when his chest or back is sore…”

Calina tailed off as she noticed Yelena’s frown. “What?” she asked nervously.

“You’ve been watching him a lot, then.”

She had. She could admit that.

The first time she’d really noticed him had been the morning his friend - and business partner - had visited. She’d left her apartment for her daily run and had almost collided with the sandy-haired man in the corridor. He’d introduced himself as ‘Foggy’, one of the strangest nicknames she’d ever heard. Then he had asked her if she had a nickname, and it had thrown her a bit. She must have looked like a clueless idiot as she floundered in the conversation - something her trainers in the Red Room would have beaten her for if it had happened on assignment.

She knew about nicknames of course - it was common practice to in Russia for people to call each other by the diminutive forms of their names. But it was something done between family members. Or friends. Or lovers. It was a gesture of affection, the spoken equivalent of a hug or a pat on the back.

There was no affection in the Red Room.

Growing up, when she was called anything besides ‘girl’ or ‘Wretched Failure’ it was always her full name. And after she graduated and the missions began, she was addressed by her designation - Widow 118.

So, no, she had never had a nickname.

And while explaining this to Foggy, she'd heard the light footsteps of the man in apartment 6A. She'd seen his shadow beneath the crack of the door a split second before it opened, so she was ready for it when he pulled it open.

Or so she'd thought. It had taken all her training to remain calm and poised when the unexpected jolt of attraction had hit her.

For the first time in her life.

To the old Calina, men were simply targets. Names in files. Existing solely to be used, seduced, killed - all on the orders of other men. The men who controlled her life. 

Men had never been objects of beauty that she just wanted to look at. But to the new Calina - the one slowly trying to find out what she liked and what she wanted from this life - Matthew was a man she wanted to look at.

All the time.

So...she did.

She started pacing the end of her morning run to coincide with him leaving for work; she would slow to a jog on the opposite side of the street and watch him as he turned left out of their building and guided himself down the street with his cane. She would wait in The Hideout for him to pass by on his way home, or time her daily mail collection so that she could occasionally ride in the elevator with him.

And during the course of those sort-of encounters she had started to notice things about him. Things that only someone with her training and observational skills would detect.

Like the way he would tighten the muscles of his arm, drawing it to his side as he passed someone on the street, as if he knew they were about to bump into them. The way he would suddenly cock his head, as if picking up something no one else could hear. The way his mouth would open and his tongue would dart out, as if tasting the air...

Slight movements.  

Subtle. Almost innocuous.

Unlike the incident with the boxes. That had not been subtle. And it had been the biggest clue yet that there was something different about Matthew Murdock.  

She’d known he was in the mail area with her - she had timed her arrival home on purpose. But something about the way that he had suddenly stepped close behind her, his arm outstretched, had triggered her instincts. And she’d reacted without thought to the feeling of threat.

And he’d responded in kind.

He’d been quick. Accurate. And strong.

Really strong.  

Not wanting to give him an opening to ask her how or why she had attacked him, she had ignored the evidence of his own training. And in the elevator afterwards she had deflected his questions, not feeling confident enough to keep up the charade of her cover story.

Something else her trainers would have punished her for.

Severely.

“Is that a bad thing?" Calina eventually responded. "Keeping an eye on my neighbour? I need to know who I’m living next to.”

“That’s sensible,” Yelena agreed. “But don’t get too close. I’m worried you could get hurt. You were always more…sensitive than the rest of us.”

Thinking back on the conversation from the safety of the rooftop, Calina was touched that Yelena apparently cared about her - if a little insulted that she was viewed as ‘sensitive’. The way Yelena had said the word sounded like a weakness.

But Calina wasn’t weak. She had survived every bit of the same training as Yelena.

And more.  

Besides, she wasn’t looking to get close to anyone. Not when her life was so uncertain. And definitely not when she was about to undertake a dangerous, diplomatically fraught mission on foreign soil to rescue one of her sisters.

She couldn’t afford to be distracted by a handsome lawyer.

A handsome lawyer…who was standing behind her on the rooftop.

----------

CHAPTER 4

So I hope Calina’s slightly strange actions in the first couple of chapters make more sense now! Did anyone guess her secret? And how do you think Matt will react when he discovers it...?

Taglist: @hollandorks, @yanna-banana​

If you’d like to be added, let me know!

[spreadyourwingsexchange]

Sign-Ups are now open!

Come join our groovy little exchange and have fun!

Detailed rules are below, and are located in the FAQ of the collection 😄

Sign-Ups Rules:

1) You can sign up without having nominated tags! You’ll simply be limited to the existing tag set

2) Include your DNW or do not want list in your sign up in the "DNW and Want Lists" box! Want lists are also encouraged.

2a) Participants who are under 18 are not, under any circumstances, allowed to request or offer explicit material. If you do you will be banned.

2b) Do not use your DNW lists to railroad your creator into making one specific type of story i.e. you can’t say “do not want anything but a coffee shop au”

2c) Please do not ask for contradictory things i.e. you don’t want time travel, ghosts, or alternate universes but you want a pairing where one lives in a vastly different time period than the other.

2d) You cannot force a creator to make explicit content but you can request that a creator not include explicit content in your DNW

2e) DNWs are binding, as a creator you may not include anything on someone's DNW list. Want lists are not binding, they're an optional way to get to know what your recipient likes but you're not required to create within their bounds like you are with a DNW.

3) Remember to add the fandom tag "Star Wars - All Media Types" to your requests and offers (plus any crossover fandoms where applicable)! Matchups are done by algorithm and you MUST have at least one fandom in common to be matched.

4) Remember to indicate if you'd like to create/receive fanart, fanfic, or either in the appropriate field!

[ne0ngenisis]

Let's talk about my BABIES

(in order of acquisition)

---

Number One! ThinkPad T440p! (Not actually named)

This was a bit of an impulse purchase, as all of my laptops have been in the last threeish months. I knew of the trans girl stereotype of ThinkPads and Linux, and I wanted that. Especially because my laptop at the time was a crappy HP Stream (pictured underneath the ThinkPad) that couldn't run Windows without crashing constantly.

So I did some research and found out that this was the last model with socketed processors, and just kinda went for it! It arrived in much better condition than the pics suggested so I imagine the seller picked the wrong laptop out of the pile, but I'm not complaining.

It truly was nothing special when it was new, but I've upgraded it quite a bit since then! A 2C/4T 2.4GHz i3-4000M to a 4c/8t 3.7GHz i7-4800MQ, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD! It took me about five hours to install and configure Arch Linux on here, and that was with the guidance of friends who are a lot nerdier than me and I actually cried like, twice, out of frustration... BUT, it's been a solid performer ever since.

It cost me about $170 after everything I've done to it, but I still need to replace the screen on it with a 1080p IPS model, because the 768p TN panel is now literally the worst laptop screen I own. Apple seriously had better ones 12 years before this.

---

Number two! 12" iBook G3/500, "Baby"

Baby features in my current profile banner, as it's the laptop I carry around with me all the time to write on the go. The battery life is still pretty fantastic for its age, and it's super cute and small (the same depth as my ThinkPad not including the thicc battery, but about 2" narrower due to 4:3 aspect ratio).

I also picked this one up on a whim, because I was taken by an Apple hyperfixation, and also the image of a coffee shop hipster writing on an iBook. This one isn't a clamshell, love it or hate it, but I love it.

It's the very earliest model from 2001, with a 500MHz G3, 64MB of built-in RAM, and a CD-ROM drive. The original 10GB hard drive was missing so I went through the painstaking process of digging down to where it belongs and installing a 40GB IDE laptop drive I LITERALLY found in the trash.

I also spent $17 on a pair of working batteries and ended up with one that lasts for a good 4.5 hours when all you're doing is word processing, which I was and generally still do. Very close to factory battery life. I also spent about $16 on a charger because I didn't have one yet.

At first, I put Mac OS 9.2.2 on here, because it didn't have enough RAM for OS X as far as I could tell. Once I got the RAM upgrade (now 576MB, 64MB built-in + 512MB module), I installed OSX Tiger on here as well.

It's got some old OS9 games like Diablo II, Quake, Warcraft II, and I actually still own a physical copy of Riven on CD, so those all work on there. And I'm also using it to write, of course. However! It could not run Halo: Combat Evolved. Which led me to more purchases, lmao. I have considered doing a logic board swap to a faster CPU but that would be a daunting task...

It ended up costing me about $90, after the laptop, ram upgrade, charger, and working batteries.

---

Number three! 14" iBook G4/1.07, "Ghost"

Ghost is a funny one. Also driven by impulse, in this case, to have an old Mac laptop that could play Halo. I actually received it on the same day as the next one on this list. This is a 2004 1.07GHz 14" iBook G4 with 256MB of built-in RAM and a 256MB module for a total of 512MB, and a combo drive, I believe. This one actually came with a 1GB module in it, and an Airport card, but I swapped some parts around to make my G4 PowerBook more usable.

It was incredibly cursed, including weird freezing and crashes, refusing to install updates and to mount USB devices, and then it just stopped seeing the hard drive all together. I took it apart twice, once to take the hard drive out to discover it was the original 40GB Apple branded hard drive, and another to put it back in once it started booting in my PowerBook G4 (number 4 on the list), and all the cursedness went away somehow!

I still named it Ghost in honor of the cursedness.

I don't have a good battery for it at this time. Right now the only working 14" iBook battery I have (which I paid like $35 for) lasts about an hour, and the 12" battery I have in there now dies at a seemingly random percentage around 60% because the battery isn't reporting its capacity correctly. I did design and order a 3D printed adapter bracket thing so maybe I can stop using fucking masking tape to hold the battery in. It may become more used than my 12" once I get the battery, entirely due to the larger screen and faster processor.

I did have to replace the F12 key, because the original one was missing. This was made a lot easier by having the PowerBook G4 which we'll go over next. Now it's like an accent escape key for a fancy mechanical keyboard, or a gold tooth!

This one actually cost me the least out of all of them, at $69, including the battery I'm not even using, and it came with a second charger, which is good! Though, I guess with the 3D printed battery adapter you can up that price to $80. Or lower it to $44 if the battery doesn't count!

---

Number four! 15" PowerBook G4/1.33G, "Alice"

Alice was purchased just days later than my iBook G4, but showed up on the same day. And boy, she was a basket case. I have named her Alice because of "Al" being the elemental symbol for Aluminum, as she's a 2004 Aluminum PowerBook G4, with a 1.33GHz processor and 1.5GB of RAM. It originally came with 512MB of RAM in two modules, but I put in a 512MB stick I found in the trash, plus the 1GB module and the Airport card from the iBook G4 to make it a more usable laptop in the modern day.

The problems were immediate when I got it plugged in for the first time, as there was seemingly no display, until I noticed the dark screen started to change colors. There was a picture... there was just no backlight. To my surprise, the sketchy looking aftermarket battery actually worked fine still, and it was good for about 3.5 hours of use.

Getting it hooked up to an external display, I started to notice that the trackpad button didn't work either. It's a good thing these parts were cheap.

I actually tried fixing the backlight inverter myself, as the issue was there was a coil that had detached itself from the board. My jank soldering work lasted about 15 minutes before it made a buzzing sound and one of the little wire stubs came detached from the side of the coil. RIP.

A week or so later, the backlight inverter and trackpad cable show up, and me being able to actually use the laptop properly shows even more problems. It won't sleep when it's plugged in. But only when it's plugged in. I can't get into the boot picker. Five of the keys on the keyboard also don't work. As it turns out, all of these problems are keyboard problems, and that fixed all of them.

Basket case-ness is different from cursedness. I knew what parts needed replacing on the PowerBook. The iBook just misbehaved until it suddenly stopped misbehaving.

It cost me about $95, including the laptop itself, the backlight inverter board, trackpad ribbon cable, and a glorious (pure sex to type on) new-old stock keyboard.

---

Number Five! Late 06 15" MacBook Pro, 2.16GHz C2D, "Dolores"

My MacBook Pro. As with the others, it was an impulse purchase, though it's required the most extreme repairs of any of these laptops so far. It's a Late 2006 15" model, with a Core 2 Duo T7400, and pre-upgraded to the maximum of 3GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD. It came with all sorts of goodies, including an 85-watt MagSafe charger, copies of iWork and iLife 2009, the original recovery DVDs for 10.4.8 Tiger, and a hard copy of OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard. What it did not include was a battery.

Initially I tried booting it up from nothing, and it would get stuck on a white or blue screen sometime after the Apple logo disappeared, and the same would happen when I put the Snow Leopard DVD into the drive. When I put the Tiger DVDs in, it would install the OS fine, but the resulting install wouldn't boot either. And then I noticed the artifacting.

I knew that this was a possibility with basically any model of pre-unibody MacBook Pro. All of them have graphics issues, though the '07 and '08 models have it a lot worse than the '06 models. I end up complaining about this on a Discord server, and another queer nerd tells me that the boot failure is probably because of the GPU being marginal, and since it's an ATI Radeon GPU instead of an Nvidia GPU, a reflow might help it.

So... I take it apart for the second time that day, after the first time to repaste the CPU, Northbridge, and GPU, and I bathe the GPU in 350°C air from my rework station for about 6 minutes, letting the board rest for 20 minutes before I reapply thermal paste again and reassemble it. Now it boots into MacOS fine. I installed Snow Leopard and updated to Lion, and it's been fine since, though the 32-bit EFI firmware has caused some issues with attempts to get Linux working on the damn thing, though I'm told the GPU could just be playing nice with MacOS but still not good enough to work in Linux.

I tried getting a battery off of eBay, a cheap replacement battery, but it only half works. It powers the laptop, but it won't show up in the OS to show any percentage or capacity, and it won't charge either. So I bought a single-use battery. I'm trying to message the seller and get my money back right now.

It has cost me about $74 including the cost of the crappy essentially single use battery. I'll probably get an actually good one from OWC eventually, because I want to be able to use this laptop as a daily at some point.

---

Well, that's it! For now. I also have my eyes set on a mid 2009 white MacBook but that will be a later kind of thing. Not right now, while there's still work to be done on my other laptops.

[ao3feed-stingue]

fairy dust

by crimsonxraptor

Collection of 3 sentence AU fics from tumblr prompts! Will add to the summary list and tags as I fill prompts.

Ch.1 - Natsu/Lucy/Erza/Gray | superheroes au Ch.2a - Natsu/Gray | sports au (soccer) Ch.2b - Erza/Jellal | pirates au Ch.2c - Gajeel/Levy | persona au Ch.2d - Gray/Erza | idols au Ch.3a - Lucy/Leo | witches/familars au Ch.3b - Erza/Lucy | coffee shop au Ch.3c - Cobra/Kinana | actors au Ch.3d - Natsu/Lisanna | bar au Ch.4a - Wendy/Sherria | theater au Ch.4b - Sting/Rogue | digimon au Ch.4c - Lucy/Levy | college au

Words: 880, Chapters: 4/?, Language: English

Series: Part 6 of 3 Sentence AU Fics (2023)

Fandoms: Fairy Tail

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Multi, F/M, M/M

Characters: Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia, Happy (Fairy Tail), Erza Scarlet, Jellal Fernandes, Gajeel Redfox, Levy McGarden, Loke (Fairy Tail), Cobra | Erik, Cubellios | Kinana, Natsu Dragneel, Lisanna Strauss, Wendy Marvell, Chelia Blendy, Sting Eucliffe, Rogue Cheney

Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster/Lucy Heartfilia/Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster, Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet, Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox, Gray Fullbuster/Erza Scarlet, Lucy Heartfilia/Loke, Lucy Heartfilia/Erza Scarlet, Cobra | Erik/Cubellios | Kinana, Natsu Dragneel/Lisanna Strauss, Chelia Blendy/Wendy Marvell, Rogue Cheney/Sting Eucliffe, Lucy Heartfilia/Levy McGarden

Additional Tags: Tumblr Prompt, Microfic, microfic collection, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory

Source:https://archiveofourown.org/works/47630998

[fulfillingbineeds]

Misfits OC

Neal Lynch

I wanted to give a go at making a fan character (normally, I don't do this, lol). I have this idea in my head for a story that most likely won't make it to paper, but I still wanted to post some information about Neal so at least she'd be immortalized on the internet, even if I don't go through with the story. (NOT AN RP CHARACTER)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Basic Character Information:

Face Claim: Jessica Heap

Name: Neala "Neal" Lynch

Age/DOB: 20 y/o (May 5th, 1989)

Zodiac: Taurus sun

Gender Identity/Sexuality: Cis Lesbian (Pronouns: She/Her/Hers)

Place of Birth/Currently Residing: Born and raised in Galway, Ireland. Moved to Stratford, London, in 2005 at 16 with her parents and younger brother due to her father getting a teaching job at UCL. At 20, she is currently residing with her aunt and younger brother in Wertham, London.

Power: Tychokinesis (Probability/Luck Manipulation)

While visiting her aunt in Wertham, she happened to get caught up in the nasty mysterious storm that briefly plagued the estate. After being struck by lightning, she started noticing that she was having incredible luck. But just because she was always having a lucky day, others around her started getting inflicted with unimaginable bad luck. Especially towards those she happens to be angry at.

Once realizing that her 'lucky days' were more than just luck, she started researching. (via. her little brother's massive comic book collection, word of mouth, and internet forms.)

She's started attempting to control the probability and get it back to a normal level but still tends to continually struggle with it.

Occupation: Before the storm, Neal was training as an upcoming professional kickboxer. After developing her power, she was winning non-stop and sometimes not even by skill but by random accidents plaguing her opponents outside of and in the ring.

Once Neal realized she was unknowingly affecting the probability of the matches in her favour. She quit on the spot, feeling as if it was unfair to herself and her opponents.

After that and other unseeable circumstances, she and her brother could no longer live in their family home in Stratford. Luckily their aunt welcomed them with open arms. Her brother started attending YR 7 at a local school, and Neal managed to land a job at Wertham Sound, a record shop in the busy shopping area of Wertham.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Basic Physical Appearance:

Height: 170 cm/5'7

Body Build: Athletic but not much muscle definition

Hair: Dark brown mid-back length, heavily layered shag with golden and honey-brown highlights and side-swept fringe. (Similar to this, this, and this.) Naturally dark brown 2c-3a hair. Tends to straighten it currently.

Fashion: Think Bella Swan, late basic 90s grunge and earth-toned whimsy goth.

Tops: Turtlenecks, long-sleeved knit tops, henley tops long/short-sleeved, jumpers, small basic patterns, band tees, and lace tanks (typically worn under other shirts.) Bottoms: Long patterned skirts, flared jeans, dungarees, jean skirts long/mini, coloured tights ranging from blacks, browns, greens and purples. Overwear: Long cardigans, jean jackets, leather jackets, and wool trench coats. Shoes: Combat boots, high-top Converse, and boot heels. Jewellery: Small basic earrings, basic hoops, basic chain necklaces with small designs, four-leaf clover pendant necklace, a couple rings, notably a Claddagh ring. Wears both gold and silver. Makeup: Basic eye makeup, brown shadow, eyeliner, and mascara. Typically, she only wears tinted lipgloss, but when she does wear lipstick, it's popular 90s Revlon colours. (ex. rum raisin)

Piercings: 2 lobe piercings on both and one mid helix on the left ear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interest and likes:

Foods: Sugar cookies, stews and soups, chips (fries), Jelly Babies, protein smoothies (strawberry flavours), coffee, whisky sour, fruit and nut chocolate, pears, almonds and cashews.

Hobbies: Kickboxing, music, playing the drums, cross-stitching, cooking, walking/sightseeing, swimming

Favourite Music Artists: The Cranberries, Concrete Blonde, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, The Runaways, Fiona Apple, Bikini Kill, Sinéad O'Connor, Jeff Buckley, Tracy Chapman, and The Smiths

Favourite TV shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sugar Rush, Charmed, Xena: Warrior Princess, Freaks and Geeks, The L Word, Father Ted, and Doctor Who

(Most likely will update with more information)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Basic Relationships With Canon Characters:

Alisha: Had a run-in with Alisha after catching her when she was slipping going up some stairs. Soon after, Alisha began pressing her, curious on why Neal was able to touch her.

The two later start to bloom a friendship and something more...

Simon: Neal's brother is in the same form class as Simon's sister. She's come over to their residence to work on a couple school projects before. Neal had a brief conversation with Simon when he picked up his sister once late at night.

Simon is also a frequent customer at Wertham Sound.

The two only ever have simple conversations with one another, but once an event happens, causing Neal to meet the rest of the gang in a typical misfits fashion. The two learn they have quite a bit in common and become buddies. (Both Willow Rosenberg stans.)

[cranberrv]

under the mistletoe

-my names vera and im 17

-i’m indian but i was born in canada and i have a faint accent even tho i live in the usa now (california) (ex // bag - baeg, sorry - soory)

-i have strong cheek bones and a defined jaw line, dark tan skin, and long thick black hair that goes to my knees (2c/3a) which i keep in one braid typically

-i’m a leo with a libra rising, scorpio moon, and leo sun

-i’d say im an ambivert, im extroverted around people ik and im comfortable with but i get kinda shy around people i dont know

-i LOVE cats, and i have one named sufna (means dream in punjabi, my native language)

-id describe my style as like ‘rockstar gf’ and i wear a lot of black and red

-im a huge sneakerhead and my favorite shoes are jordan 4’s in military black

-i also love my mary janes and my platform black shoes

-i love listening to music (lana del rey, frank ocean, sza, 21 savage, drake, j cole, kendrick lamar, lauryn hill) are my all time favs

-i collect vinyls and i have good kidd madd city, (kendrick lamar) blond, (frank ocean) and the miseducation of lauryn hill, (lauryn hill)

-tea>coffee but specifically like true indian chai

-gold>silver

-i love my cultural clothes and incorporate it into my everyday style. i love pairing simple jhumkas with everyday outfits

-i love cooking and i specifically cook italian food and indian food

-i also bake but im wayy better at cooking

tysmm 🙏🏾❤️

i ship you with sodapop curtis <3 honestly first clue was the leo and libra, i just love their relationship! and sodapop is a libra :) he finds your style sooo cool (so do i) and is OBSESSED when you cook for him! i think he enjoys indian food, and especially when you make it for him! also likes when you make him chai, he just loves being taken care of. he goes to vinyl shops with you, he definitely has a collection as well, and you two have similar music tastes. and he took a while to warm up to sufna but now him and your cat are best buds! he definitely admired you all the time before you were together and had no choice but to ask you out! how could be help himself when you two are so compatible?

( also you seem literally soooooooooooo cool and you’re so beautiful!!! )

[lordofcbdfr02]

The Continuum Condominium Introduction

Nestled in the prime District 15 in the East, The Continuum is located along Thiam Siew Avenue, engulfed by Tanjong Katong Road and Haig Road. It is a new freehold residential development that spans 269,995 sqft of land. The residence offers 816 condominium units with 1 to 5-bedroom layouts and a wide array of indoor and outdoor amenities.

Thiam Siew Neighbourhood

The Continuum at Thiam Siew Avenue is located in a prime spot to enjoy the nostalgic charm of Katong and the vibrancy of the East Coast. Residents can look forward to exciting happenings in the neighbourhood and a great variety of recreational, retail and dining spaces just minutes’ away from the residence. 

Popular malls such as KINEX, Paya Lebar Quarters, Singpost Centre and I12 Katong are no more than 2 km away from the residence. Even East Coast Park which is packed with a bunch of thematic play areas like Coastal PlayGrove, Xtreme SkatePark and Road Safety Park, is less than 10 minutes’ drive away. For those who love a gastronomic experience, there is no better place to be than this part of the island. Check out the nearby Katong area for a full line-up of international and Peranakan cuisines. Siglap is also packed with trendy cafes and affordable restaurants. 

Explore Joo Chiat too! It is not just walking distance from the residence but also home to many traditional eateries, Common Man Coffee Roasters and Smokey’s BBQ! What’s worth mentioning is the development’s proximity to 3 MRT Stations (Paya Lebar, Dakota and Mountbatten MRT Stations) and major expressways including the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE), Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) and East Coast Park Expressway (ECP). Such connectivity significantly reduces travel time to anywhere on the island and without a doubt, improves residents’ quality of life.

Nearby Transportation Routes

The Continuum balance units is within walking distance from Dakota MRT Station (0.9 km away), Mountbatten MRT Station (1.7 km away) and Paya Lebar Interchange MRT Station (1.9 km away). With such convenient train networks, travelling to Marina Bay is merely 6 stops away, while Dhoby Ghaut is just 7 stops.

 Residents who drive will be thrilled by the development’s close proximity to Pan-Island Expressway (PIE), Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) and East Coast Park Expressway (ECP) because they make travelling to other parts of Singapore a breeze. The main roads like Haig Road, Tanjong Katong Road and Dunman Road around the residence also facilitate efficient connection to nearby expressways, the rest of East Coast and other important main roads in the district such as Sims Ave, Geylang Road and Mountbatten Road.

Nearby Schools

Residents with young children can look forward to many schooling options around residence. Especially those who are preparing for primary one registration, popular primary schools like Kong Hwa, Haig Girls’ and Tanjong Katong Primary Schools are well within the 1 km radius to improve the chance of gaining a vacancy via MOE’s Phase 2C application. 

Here is a list of local and international schools within 5 km radius: 

Primary schools – Kong Hwa, Haig Girls’, Tanjong Katong, Geylang Methodist, Eunos Primary, St Margaret’s, Canossa Catholic, Maha Bodhi, Cedar Primary 

Secondary schools – Broadrick Secondary, Geylang Methodist, MacPherson Secondary, Cedar Secondary, Majusri Secondary, Chung Cheng High (Main), St Patrick’s 

Nearby Shopping and Amenities

The residence is surrounded by a variety of shopping malls and amenities to fulfil everyday needs without having to travel far. Shopping malls including KINEX, Paya Lebar Quarters, Singpost Centre, I12 Katong, Tanjong Katong Complex, City Plaza, Joo Chiat Complex are well within 2 km radius from the development. 

A good number of supermarkets can also be found in the vicinity. NTUC FairPrice supermarkets at Geylang Lorong 38, Joo Chiat Plaza, Aljunied Ave 2, Jalan Tiga, Paya Lebar Quarters and Singpost Centre are just minutes’ drive away , while Giant supermarkets are available at nearby Paya Lebar Square and 291 Joo Chiat Road.

Near by Recreation Areas

Residents just need to take less than 10 minutes’ drive to reach Singapore’s most popular recreational site – The East Coast Park. This is where a variety of theme parks like Coastal PlayGrove, Xtreme SkatePark and Road Safety Park are readily available for families and friends to bond through healthy activities under the sun. Alternatively, nature lovers can also explore nearby parks like Geylang East Park, Geylang Park Connector and Cassia Link Workout Park. Some other interesting recreational sites in the neighbourhood include the Goodman Art Centre which offers a mix of art and cultural activities and the Singapore Sports Hub which integrates sports and a variety of healthy activities in one location.

Near by Business Parks, Office Buildings & Healthcare

The development is located close to many business hubs and office buildings that can provide a generous pool of tenants to investors who purchase The Continuum for the purpose of generating rental income. Paya Lebar Quarters, Paya Lebar Square, Singpost Centre, Tampines Biz-Hub, Ubi Biz-Hub and Oxley Biz-Hub are just some commercial sites that are  within a few kilometers from the development. For healthcare services, general practitioner clinics can be found just minutes’ walk from the residence. In case of emergency, Parkway East Hospital and Parkway East Hospital 24-hour clinic are only 2 km away to provide medical assistance.

Website : https://the-continuum-at-thiam-siew-avenue.com/

Address: 4 Thiam Siew Avenue, Singapore 436842

Email: sale@the-continuum-at-thiam-siew-avenue.com

Telephone number: +65 6100 8585

[chulkovavictoria]

Luxury Norae(Song) Club(Room Salon) Jak jeon dong 905-1 Gyeyang gu, Incheon, Woon Nam Building 인천 계양구 작전동 럭셔리 노래클럽(룸살롱) 운남빌딩

운남주차장 근처에서 찍은 모습 (Picture taken near Woon Nam Parking Place)

무등산 삼겹살집, 투씨커피, 고주망태 술집, 뉴욕 룸클럽, 별노래방과 함께 운남빌딩에 위치한 럭셔리노래클럽 장군보쌈집 반대편 (The Luxury Norae(Song) Club (Room Salon) Located In Woon Nam Building Opposite General Bossam Restaurant Picture taken Together With Moo Deung Mountain Sam Gyub Sal Store, 2C Coffee Shop, Go Ju Mang Tae Tavern, New York Room Club, Star Noraebang

[minaslittleone]

Quiz: Which Sarah Paulson would you get married to

A/N: yes I'm still alive. Please accept this fun little quiz as an apology for my absence. This one works a little differently than most so make sure to remember each answer. As always a massive thank you to my lieblingsmench @stayevildarling I had so much fun making this with you 😘

1. What does your ideal first date look like?

A: Go to the botanic gardens

B: Go to the museum

C: Go to a wine tasting

D: Go to a drive in movie

E: Go to a fancy restaurant

F: Go to a theatre

2. How do you like to be shown affection?

A: someone who buys you fancy gifts

B: someone who makes you smile

C: someone who gives you time and attention

D: someone who takes cares of you

E: someone who loves you unconditionally

F: someone who protects you

3. How do you show affection?

A: give your partner time and attention

B: take care of your partner

C: be patient with your partner

D: show your partner words of affection

E: be there for your partner in every way

F: show your partner your affection with gentle touch

4. What does your ideal sunday look like?

A: quiet morning at home together

B: cook together

C: binge watching your favorite show together

D: sitting on the balcony and have coffee

E: go plant shopping

F: go to bottomless brunch

5. How do you get proposed to?

A: on a balcony of a fancy private booked restaurant with a lot of flowers and decorations

B: with a poem, a very intimate moment between you two

C: no big gestures, just the two of you and the question asked

D: on a weekend away, by the beach

E: dinner at home and you find your ring in dessert

F: all the bells and whistles but it accidentally ends up in the emergency department

6. Their reaction to your first kiss

A: can‘t stop giggling

B: very appreciative 😉

C: can‘t stop blushing

D: very shy

E: gets very clingy afterwards

F: is very surprised

7. How soon do you move in with each other?

A: after a couple of weeks

B: at least six months before it‘s official but you have each others things at your places before

C: she feels like home immediately but you take things nice and slow before moving in

D: after the first weekend you end up staying together, you just never end up going back home

E: it takes a while for the first kiss but pretty much straight after that

F: practically you live with her right from the beginning but good luck getting her to admit that

8. Little things you like about them

A: the way she holds your hand protectively in public

B: the way she listens to you when you speak

C: the way she cares so deeply

D: the way she protects you so fiercly

E: the way she makes you laugh

F: the way she talks about you to others and how she shows you off

Results✨:

Cordelia Goode

Answers:

1A, 2D, 3D, 4E, 5C, 6C, 7C, 8C

Wilhemina Venable:

Answers:

1B, 2C, 3C, 4A, 5B, 6D, 7F, 8B

Ally Mayfair Richards:

Answers:

1C, 2F, 3E, 4B, 5E, 6F, 7D, 8A

Mildred Ratched:

Answers:

1D, 2E, 3B, 4D, 5D, 6E, 7E, 8D

Billie Dean Howard:

Answers:

1E, 2A, 3F, 4F, 5A, 6B, 7B, 8F

Audrey Tindall:

Answers:

1F, 2B, 3A, 4C, 5F, 6A, 7A, 8E

[screennamealreadyused]

Kai’s Birthday Event [1/5- 1/15]

It’s my birthday! And I want to do a thing! Woooo! 

tagging my moots: @pricetagofficial @woahjaybird​ @turning-dreams-into-chaos​ @with-love-anu​ @catxsnow​ @bikoncon​ @lenalxvegood​ @dangerduckjpeg​ @unknowntoanyone @iamwhelmed

Hey there my lovlies!

This here event has 2 parts! 

Part 1 is closer to an ask game and Part 2 is a writing event! You don’t have to do both but I’d appreciate if you did

Part 1:

🌻 excerpt (from a specific work, from a general fandom, or just a random one)

⭐ headcanon (from a character or a ship)

⚡ ask me anything (like literally anything but nothing explicit bc ya girl still a minor)

🎇  cast your mutals as…  (Pretty self-explanatory. I’ll cast my mutuals as characters or archetypes of your choice)

💛  FMK  (3 characters, don’t have to be the same fandom)

Part 2:

Please bear with me for the writing portion because I have no idea how to write x readers :))))))))) these also won’t be very long. likely 100-400 words. and to save my own sanity, each prompt will only be used once so it’s first come, first serve (I’ll mark out the taken prompts don’t worry)

[ how to send these: {character’s name(s)}, {realationship types} with {list letter and number} ]

EX: Dick Grayson and Wally West, romantic with A3 OR Parental Jason Todd with B2

2a: pick character(s)

-batfam -marauders (+ co) -golden trio (+ co) -superfam -flashfam

2b: pick a relationship type

-romantic -platonic

2c: pick a scenario

A  1. only one bed 2. truth serum 3. spider-man kiss 4. crazy airport signs 5. modern au

 B  1. apology hug 2. after a nightmare  3. reunion hug 4. Lazy sunday mornings 5. Fake Dating

C 1. Cisswap 2. Coffee shop au 3. Flower shop/Tattoo parlor 4. Soulmates 5. Red string of Fate

xoxo Kai 💕

[liusaidh-writing]

Call it True - Chapter One

 Claire and Jamie are neighbors - though they’ve never met.  Claire, infatuated with her Scot upstairs, is more than a little certain that it’ll never happen. Is she wrong?  

Prefer to read at AO3? 

Hope you all enjoy this...I really wish I could say I’d update on a regular day weekly, but as of right now I don’t get much time to write. So please be patient!  

**I’d like to thank (profusely) @faithperry46  for being my life-saver/beta reader.  I wouldn’t/couldn’t have done this without your help!**

Here we go...

-----          

Claire chuckled to herself, hearing the vacuum come on downstairs again. Every morning, without fail, the older lady who lived downstairs turned it on...to hoover her back patio. Living on the first floor, she was granted a small back garden - one Claire was envious of. Though she didn't think she'd do much but sweep her patio with a broom.  

Claire pushed open her kitchen window and held her breath, wondering if he'd be here at his window today. Claire figured this was her favorite way to start her days: a small chat with her mysterious, yet lovely -and stupidly handsome,- neighbor, Jamie. 

Claire hid a grin when she spotted his curly auburn hair. 

"Poor woman. Shall we buy her a broom for Christmas?" He joked, greeting Claire with his unassuming smile. He gave her a wink - if it 

could be called that, seeing as he couldn't wink correctly but instead closed both eyes in a humorous attempt.  

Claire smiled properly this time, calling to him as she rested her elbows on the window sill. 

"She's going to break that thing soon enough. I'll get the dustpan if you'll get the broom?" she offered with a laugh. It was only May, but who was Claire to say it was too early to start Christmas shopping? Especially if she could do it with Jamie.

"It's a deal. We can present it to her together." Jamie smiled at her, and Claire as per usual, panicked, swatted her face with her hands while mumbling something about a bug before excusing herself. 

"I've got to run just now, but we can work out the details later. See you soon!" 

She shut her window as she heard him respond with a friendly 'Have a good day, Claire!' 

She didn't truly need to be anywhere for another half hour - her shift at the hospital started an hour from now, but she just couldn't talk to him for long. She'd get all flustered, and was terrified she'd say something completely stupid and ruin what they had. Claire had never met the man in the flesh, but she was completely enamored with him...or his face rather, since that was all she could see from her window.  

She loved his stupid wink, his big smile that nearly met his slanted eyes as he greeted her when they saw one another. She had no idea if he lived alone, but she was certain that someone that handsome had to have a girlfriend at the very least. Or a boyfriend, perhaps. He certainly had no need of anything more from her than a quick morning chat... or else it would've happened already - that's what she told herself six months into their weird connection. Her erratic schedule at the hospital kept her from seeing him every morning and explained why they'd never met in person. 

Their relationship never ventured much further than chatting about their mutual source of amusement: their elderly neighbor with the hoovering obsession. They chatted here and there about happenings in their respective days: 'You got a haircut!' She'd say, noticing his hair was slightly shorter. He'd nod, pretend to preen, and run his hands through his hair with a laugh. 

He had no idea what that did to Claire. She was sure her cheeks went pink whenever he was even slightly flirty. She'd lose the ability to concentrate, to speak, so she'd excuse herself in some clumsy way and go about her day with him swimming around in her imagination. She'd fantasize about knocking on his door, asking him for coffee, laughing over a shared joke that didn't have to do with their neighbor, Jamie kissing her dumb as his hands roamed her back for her bra strap... 

Sometimes she got carried away.

---

Claire got to work, noticing that her favorite co-worker, Lesley, was already there. Claire saw Lesley's toddler's car seat in the back, knowing it hadn't been a fun morning at her house. Lesley had a two-year-old son named Harry who Claire enjoyed, but Lesley's ex-husband Frank wasn't always in a helpful mood. So, this morning -like a lot of mornings,- the two-year-old was brought to the hospital child care center instead of staying home with his father.  

Claire sighed, shaking her head on Lesley’s behalf. Claire remembered when she’d gotten married to Frank and when she’d had her son - Lesley had thought she had it all. "But look," Claire thought, "it all fell apart at her feet shortly after it began." 

"I’m better off by myself. Only me to worry about.” It was her mantra of sorts, and Claire had convinced herself it was true. 

She got to her floor, put her stuff in her locker, and slowly shuffled to her station as she wondered what her day would bring. Lesley was there, as expected, riffling through some files as she smiled at Claire in greeting. Lesley was slightly shorter than Claire, with medium-length blonde hair Claire was sure wasn’t entirely natural. Lesley’s down-to-earth demeanor and penchant for keeping Claire grounded in reality was, unbeknownst to Claire, her saving grace during the work day, and though Lesley had had a rough go of it with Frank, she remained, for the most part upbeat - something Claire struggled with at times. Always there to lend an ear, Lesley was invaluable to Claire, and she was happy to return the favor whenever possible.

“Here you go, Lady.” Lesley said as she handed Claire a bright red folder with a name Claire couldn’t read on the side. “New admittance - a 72-year-old woman had a stroke and is in for observation.” 

Claire worked on the cardiac floor and enjoyed it... for the most part. The majority of her patients were older men and women, and she found them easy to talk to. She knew she could offer them some comfort and help during their stay.  

Grabbing the folder, she headed to her first room and started her day. 

---

Claire’s lunch left much to be desired - leftover Chinese food that had Lesley crinkling her nose. 

“How old is that, Claire?”

“I'm not sure. A few days…” 

“It doesn’t smell right.” 

Claire watched as Lesley’s mouth formed a frown. Lesley had her own lunch - a fresh salad with grilled chicken and cashews. 

“We can’t all be chefs, Lesley,” Claire said as she took a bite of her Kung Pao chicken. She made a face, struggling to swallow. Perhaps she should’ve thrown it out - but it was all she’d had to bring today.

“You live alone, Claire - you can cook all you want! I have to make my lunches once Harry has gone down for the night. After folding all of the laundry and scarfing down what’s left of dinner.” Lesley took a bite of her salad and chewed slowly as Claire shook her head. 

“I don’t know how you do it,” she said quietly, pushing her fried rice around with her fork. “I could cook, I suppose,” she continued, thinking about the ingredients in her refrigerator. Those consisted of a block of parmesan cheese, a bottle of orange juice, and a small pint of milk. “I could make...well, not much at the moment, but…” Claire, wanting to change the subject from her nonexistent domesticity, decided to bring up Jamie.

“I think he must have a girlfriend,” Claire said, deciding to throw her lunch out and buy some peanut butter crackers from the vending machine. As she fished for some coins in her purse, she continued. “I mean, he’s gorgeous...surely he’s taken. You know I have no luck, Lesley.”  

“Well, Claire,” Lesley began, sounding unsure about her next statement. “Do you...try?” 

Grabbing her crackers from the slot at the bottom of the vending machine, Claire whirled around, brows knitted and mouth in a scowl. 

“I do try,” she said, opening the crackers and stuffing one in her mouth. “I just figure he’s not worth my time,” she mumbled, spraying crumbs over her shirt. She brushed them off, shrugging. 

Lesley rolled her eyes, then set them on Claire, giving her a pitying, yet frustrated look. “You don’t know anything, Jon Snow.”

“It’s ‘You know nothing…’” Claire corrected, ignoring her comment. “Look how it worked out with Frank. You’re not exactly a great example of romance gone right.” Claire felt somewhat guilty when she saw Lesley’s face fall for a second, but the conversation was cut short by the clock. Time to get back to work.

“Just give it a go, Claire - the worst that could happen is that he is involved with someone else. You don’t know unless you ask.” Lesley gave her parting advice before they headed out of the lunchroom. 

Claire believed that the idea of knocking on his door and asking him about his relationship status was a little too much to ask of her. She’d talked to him - flirted even, and still...nothing. Nothing good could come of her asking him out, she decided. Only mortal embarrassment, and the unfortunate circumstance of having to live under someone who’d turned her down. No, thank you. 

Claire managed to push down all her thoughts about Jamie and get through her shift, and was relieved to plop down on the bus seat that would take her home.

Getting home, she eyed Jamie’s door, craning her neck in the stairwell to get a glimpse of the bright red door identical to her own, except he lived at 3C, she at 2C. 

"No sign of life," she sighed, hitching her purse and bag higher up her shoulder as she made her way to her flat. Her phone buzzed as she went in, tossing her bags on the entry table and reaching to dig into the depths of her purse for the offending object. She didn’t want to answer it, but she saw it was Lesley, so she swiped up, putting it to her ear with some trepidation.

"Please don’t ask me to babysit. Please, please," she begged silently as she heard Lesley begin to talk. She didn’t not like Harry. He was an adorable child and didn’t cause much trouble when he was here, but she had been looking forward to a much-needed day off work, and babysitting a toddler hadn’t been at the top of her agenda.

"…so anyway, I know it’s your day off,” Lesley said, and Claire groaned inwardly, covering the phone with her left hand. “But I’m just stuck, and I thought...maybe you’d help me out?” 

Claire gave a pained smile, even though Lesley couldn’t see her, rubbing her hand through her hair as she sighed. 

“Sure, Lesley, you know I will. It’s no trouble. Just drop him by in the morning.” 

Claire hung up, trying not to feel irritated by the prospect of watching a two-year-old all day. She had no plans, really, except to vegetate in front of the television, devouring Netflix true crime shows. But it sounded so good. Pizza delivery, maybe pull out her untouched bottle of whisky from some Christmas past...

"Oh well, she thought, I’ll just get through it. I’ll have another day off eventually." She thought. It then registered that she was due to work some night shifts coming up. "Oh... fun," she groaned to her empty apartment.  

Claire glanced at her ceiling when she heard footsteps upstairs. Jamie was home. What was he doing tonight, she wondered. Was his girlfriend over? Did he have a date, or was he, too, looking at an evening of solitary drinking?

Claire nearly jumped out of her skin when her doorbell rang. She shuffled to the door, warily looking through the peephole. She wasn’t in the mood for visitors. 

Puzzled, she saw a young teenager standing there holding a plastic bag, marked with a local restaurant’s logo. He wore a bright red hat, had more zits than craters on the moon, and he bore a scowl. Slowly, Claire opened the door, knowing she hadn’t ordered anything.

“Did you order this, lady?” the kid spat, holding the bag out to her, desperate to unload his delivery and get out of there. 

“Er...no...What’s the address?” 

“I don’t know, It’s smudged. I’m just...working my way around.” The kid shrugged, still holding out the bag.

“Well...I didn’t order it. Sorry. Try upstairs. Above me, perhaps? I know my neighbor just got home.” 

The kid sighed, drawing the bag away from Claire. He didn’t say anything, but slowly turned around and, swinging the bag around in a wide arc, growled as he started to make his way up the stairway. Claire waited at her door, hearing the delivery attempt upstairs. 

Hearing Jamie’s voice, she put her face in her palm, frustrated with herself. She could’ve made that delivery. She could’ve been standing in front of him now, complete with food. They could’ve eaten dinner together, watched a movie, somehow become entangled on his bed… 

Shut up, Beauchamp! 

She grabbed her phone, dialed to order a pizza, and slumped on the couch, resigned to her fate as a spinster, alone in front of Murder by Numbers for yet another evening. She folded her arms, brows knit, imagining Jamie upstairs with the girl he definitely had over. Why couldn’t she be hopelessly in love with someone at work, someone she saw every day? Someone she’d seen the bottom half of? That would make it easier. She always imagined Jamie as being about her height, but she could tell just from what she’d seen of his arms that he worked out. When he wore the sleeveless t-shirts, she always marveled at his biceps and had recurring dreams about them draped around her waist. 

She also knew he was a Scot, a transplant from somewhere north. She wondered if he ever wore a kilt because she figured she’d pay good money to see it. Oh, she was pathetic, she knew, but she didn’t care when she was alone in her thoughts. She wondered if it would do her good to get a cat. Perhaps then she wouldn’t do so much daydreaming. Surely it wasn’t healthy.

[theretirementstory]

Greetings from a cloudy Bar-sur-Aube where the temperature is currently 2c.

I visited my Finnish friend and we went to the champagne producer Soret-Devaux, which featured in the FT “Postcard from Champagne: harvest time in the Cotes de Bar” , Sept 9 2021 (have a read). I wanted to buy some champagne for Xmas, however, it wasn’t just a case of going and asking for six bottles, oh no, I went into the “cave” to see the production, then we sampled three champagnes, Reserve, Tradition Brut and Rose all before purchasing. They are a small producer, of 30,000 bottles per year, but the champagne is delicious. Fortunately I had left my car at my friends home and we went back to eat lunch (pear, Roquefort and walnut tart with salad) it was delicious too. What a wonderful day I had, the visit to the champagne production an unexpected bonus.

I thought I had escaped ladybirds wanting to overwinter in the window frame however I had noticed one walking in the inside of the shutter so opened my bedroom window to find four inside. Disposed of those pretty quickly and then checked the second bedroom, where there were a lot more than four! As I stepped away from the window, I noticed marks on the floor, the radiator was leaking from the thermostat!! I messaged the plumber, put a bowl underneath and waited for him to contact me. Like the blinking builder/roofer I messaged last week, no response whatsoever. The plumber did however see me on Friday and tooted his horn, so I messaged again saying the leak had stopped so maybe come out later. A response this time saying ring me Monday at 8am…….. better set my alarm!

My friend Anie is in a choir and they were performing in a concert at the Conservatoire in town. I had phoned to book my place (yes I am getting better about ringing to book things) and I went up on Tuesday evening. They sang a few songs in English and the remainder in French. Then another group of singers took to the stage and sang all of their songs in English, I sang along until it was ”Over the Rainbow” when I was suddenly overcome with emotion, I was pleased to be wearing my mask as it caught the tears as they fell.

I was so looking forward to the visit to Langres with the refugees, however, I received news that there was a big problem with COVID and the trip was cancelled. As I had been to the office the Friday before and been in contact with a couple of the refugee women, and after much nagging from “The Daddy”, who had himself tested positive this week, I went to the pharmacy to find out how I could get a test. So I had to ring a nurse for them to come to my home and perform the test. I rang on Thursday evening, left all of my details as requested, and had received no response by this morning. I have stayed in my house, missing out on seeing friends, just to keep myself and everyone else safe. Last evening I found details of a nurse just around the corner from my home, rang this morning and left a message, she rang back about an hour later and is coming to test me at 4pm this afternoon.

Marie-Therese visited for coffee and gâteau as usual this week. She is driving to Paris (yes the lady who is 85 years old) to stay with her son for Xmas.

Monique was going for her cataract operation so I messaged to wish her well.

Anie is hoping that I get my test done very soon so that I can know either way. She told me that she had purchased “auto tests “ from the pharmacy and I went to three out of four pharmacies in town only to be told that they were out of stock and unsure when they would receive more. I thought I would be able to get some from the internet but in accordance with a decree of April 11, the sale of self-tests on the internet is prohibited in France. Anyway roll on 4pm when the nurse arrives.

I have had a video call with ”The Daddy” and my gorgeous grandson. I want to say he is just adorable, I want to hug him, and smother him in kisses.

”The Paralegal” is out today Christmas shopping. I do hope he remembers to write his Christmas cards, especially for Denise, (that’s just a reminder, son).

Today I will leave you with the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Christmas Bells” I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

I wish you all a Joyeux Noël.

[icarusthelunarguard]

This Week’s Horrible-Scopes

Aries

Last week we told you about “The Metamath Music Page”; mathematical proofs set to music. We neglected to tell you all the music was in MIDI format. Looks like the easiest way for you to play those tunes is to find a Windows98 machine with a SoundBlaster 16 card in it… and be sure it has USB! Otherwise you’re gunna need a floppy drive.

Taurus

You’ve looked so sad recently that the animals in PetSmart have, collectively, adopted you. The parrots will teach you to flap your wings to fly, the betta fish will teach you how to jump out of any tank to attack dust bunnies on the floor, and the chinchilla will help braid your chest hair now that it’s shampooed.

Gemini

With the summer winding down it’s time to learn a new skill - how to ride a unicycle! It’s not because you like the idea, but because you want to be a rebel! So many places have a “no bicycles” rule, but nothing about a unicycle! Now go out there and try not to look like a smiling Gordie Howe from 1979.

Cancer Moon-Child

Now that your mix tapes are cleaned up, it’s time to find a tape digitizer to put in your computer. A quick eBay search finds the “Plus Deck 2c PC Cassette Deck Tape to MP3 Tape converter” available for $75USD. You’re gunna need a 5 ¼ inch external bay and an analogue serial port to use it. OR, just buy a male-to-male audio cable from the Dollar Store and use your old player instead. Stop making things so complicated in your life.

Leo

Time to plan for Hallowe’en, Leo! This is going to sound like a Beakman’s World throwback, but… You’re gunna need: a toy Star Trek Phaser, a broken PlayStation 3, a 9v battery, a 150 ohm resistor, a soldering iron, a hot glue gun, and a couple screwdrivers. By the time you’re done with this project you’ll be able to pop balloons at 10 meters!

Virgo

This whole thing about bulk purchases of livestock semen HAS been for an informative reason. Did you know… that Greyhound Bus Services allows for shipments of frozen bull semen in specially-constructed containers on their vehicles? So if you’ve ever taken a Greyhound Bus in the U.S., it is possible that the undercarriage was housing some eventual hamburger meat. Remember: Go Greyhound And Leave The Driving To Us!

Libra

Sorry to hear that “Charge ‘n Charge” had to fold up. We’re as shocked as you that anyone still had a Galaxy Note 7 in use anymore. On the bright side the mall isn’t going to hold you liable for the water sprinklers being set off. The storm flooding made that a moot point.

Scorpio

Coffee is meant to be percolated through, not chewed, in the morning. If you’re having a hard time with this, consider training another animal in your dwelling to make it for you like a cat or a white-tail deer. Or just get the mid-1970’s Mister Coffee with the brew timer on it like we keep talking about.

Sagittarius

Hunting season in New York for Canada Goose isn’t over yet, but your friends’ patience with you is. They’re doing it right, dressing up in green and brown cammo with safety orange in it while you’re going all black-out ninja wear. We told you already this is not going to end well.

Capricorn

Your mall food shop “Wrap It Up” was doing fine up until you let Tim start writing the menu descriptions. All you need to say is that it’s a “Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Burrito”. No one needs to know that you’re using powdered milk to bind the extra bacon grease so it doesn’t drip, Tim. And NO! You can’t deep fry yours, Tim!

Aquarius

You’d best get your Zombie Apocalypse plan together this week. You won’t be able to find stores of 9mm bullets in every bodega you loot, safe drinking water is going to be tough to find, and what about food? Plan on holding up in a boat on a river to stay safe. Just remember to bring extra clothes and a solar panel; you’re gunna need them.

Pisces

All those weird sounds outside your house at night aren’t coming from cryptids. It’s a bunch of frogs and toads gettin’ freaky in your yard. They’re getting more action than you are, but that’s not sad. They’re liable to be scooped up by owls and eaten so they have to have babies as quickly as they can. You’ve still got another… what? 20 viable years for baby-making? You’re fi-i-ine!

[eventidespirits]

Name: Laci Lydia Brighton-Lee

Nicknames/Aliases: None.

True Age: 41

Apparent Age: 22

Emotional Age: 6-22 (average of about 13-17)

Concept: Age Sliding Oracle

Species: Vampire (Revenant)

Gender: Cis Girl

Sexuality: Asexual Heteroromantic

Birthday: January 8th 1976

Death Day: October 31st 1998

Residence: Santa Marta, California

Universe: Primarily Original Universe but also Vampire the Masquerade (where she is Clan Malkavian).

Appearance:

Height: 4'7

Build: Petite and quite thin, Laci looks almost frail to most people and can be easily mistaken for a teen or preteen. She has a short torso and long limbs for her height.

Face Shape: Laci has a rounded face with a pointed chin, full cheeks and high cheekbones.

Eye Color/Shape: bright amber/Hazel. Deep-set with heavy, almost droopy eyelids and very thick lashes. Laci usually has a sort of sleepy look to her eyes, accentuated by her permanent dark circles and under eye bags.

Hair Color/Style: About shoulder length with a natural 2B/2C curl pattern. Her hair is naturally black but she has a badly bleached portion in the front that looks bright orange. Has very short, somewhat uneven bangs and her hair is a little shorter in the front than the back. Usually worn up in pigtails or twin buns.

Skin Tone/Texture: Unnaturally smooth and pale with an under-saturated yellow undertone. Doesn't look particularly healthy.

Distinguishing Features: Laci is very short and this is usually the first thing people notice about her -- she also has very large, expressive eyes. She has both eyebrows pierced, a nostril piercing on her left side and snakebites. Both ears have triple lobe piercings and two helix piercings.

Posture: Depends on her current emotional age but as a general rule, Laci's posture is somewhat folded in on herself, somewhat shy and insecure. When she's at an older emotional age, her posture is more confident and open. Laci's body language is dreamy and distant, her steps usually slow and unsure. She walks through the world like she's in an endless dream.

Voice: Somewhat nasal but with a distinct huskiness/vocal fry -- her actual pitch is somewhat higher and definitely comes across as a little bit childish.

Clothing Style: Laci is very much a goth -- she's almost always wearing at least one piece of clothing with mesh or fishnet (she doesn't like lace as much) -- the primary colors in her wardrobe are black, charcoal gray and purple, with occasional hints of neon green. She prefers pants and shorts with tights over skirts and dresses. She tends to prefer lays -- wearing tank tops over mesh shirts under hooded sweat shirts and so on. She has a fondness for collars and very high platform boots. An average outfit for Laci would be a pair of shorts with striped tights and knee-high socks, 4 inch platform boots, a mesh shirt under a tank top and a short sleeved hoodie with several bracelets, fingerless gloves and a collar of some sort.

Notable Mannerisms: Laci is often chewing on her lower lip or playing with her piercings. She often curls her hair around her fingers or plays with the hem of her short. Despite being a vampire and getting no real benefit or harm from it, Laci still smokes clove cigarettes (a habit she had as a human). Laci also has a tendency to sort of bounce in place when she's bored.

Skills:

Physical: Self-Defense, gymnastics, pickpocketing, small firearms

Social: Social Media, Bullshitting, Sweet-talking, Blame-Shifting, Persuasion

Talents: breaking & entering, stealth, being cute, dancing

Knowledges: Santa Marta Underground, Streets & Back Alleys, Hacking, Computers, Social Media manipulation, explosives, Revenant Signs & Grafitti

Hobbies: Pickpocketing assholes at cafes/coffeeshops, preventing the apocalypse, clubbing, coloring books, dancing, photography/instagram

Special: The Sight, precognition, increased speed & strength, darkvision/nightsight, some minor telepathy/empathy, some emotional influence, "immortality"

Psyche

Strengths: Clever, quick-witted, good at lying, adaptive, quick-learner, strong sense of justice, compassionate, sweet, dedicated/tenacious, in touch with her emotions, good with kids, generally empathetic

Weaknesses: overly-emotional, immature, irresponsible, stubborn, impatient, overly curious, has trouble understanding rationality, has difficulty understanding the motives/perspectives of others even if she can understand their feelings, hot-headed, prone to fits of mania and/or depression, way too fucking blunt at times, bad at explaining herself, bad at understanding her own motives at times.

Mental Health Issues: Bipolar Disorder, Age Regression, Hallucinations, Anxiety, Possible ADHD?

Goals: Stop the God-Damned Apocalypse, have fun, make friends, help people

Guiding Philosophies: Do your best to preserve life but know that in the end you'll have to hurt people to stop the apocalypse, try your best to make people laugh and improve their lives, make the world a better place, punish evil whenever you see it, offer help to the helpless and compassion to the weak and downtrodden of society, bash the fash

Sense of Humor: Laci delights in pulling pranks on her friends or making absolutely random, inane comments that leave others confused. She also likes puns and dumb memes.

Overall Personality:Chaotic and trickster-ish. Laci is an enigma to most of the people around her, often including herself. She is bright and spontaneous most of the time but can become somber and serious at the drop of a hat. Her general mood and energy are frantic, high energy and unpredictable. When she comes to care about someone, she's incredibly protective of them to the extent that she can be and will do about anything to make them happy or keep them safe.

Deep down, Laci is frustrated with her inability to remember most of her human life and desperately wishes she could regain it -- however, most of her efforts are currently focused on preventing the Awakening of a being she knows only as The Myriad Eyes, which Laci believes will cause the end of the world if it does wake from it's slumber. Her methods of doing so are...erratic and often nonsensical due to her lack of general knowledge about the thing, seeing only glimpses of it through her precognition and sight.

Little Laci: Mostly the same as Big Laci (described above) but less able to focus on her goals, more dependent on others and more emotional.

-In Love: Laci can't remember being in love. She knows vaguely that she was dating someone who had broken up with her just before she became a vampire but more than that is blurry. When she does crush on someone (which is rare) she's usually very shy around them, having difficulty speaking and becoming very awkward (think moe anime girl)

-Under Stress: Erratic, irritable and far more emotional than usual. Laci becomes inconsolably upset when under stress very quickly -- prone to lashing out in anger and having complete breaks from reality of the stress is severe enough. Stress is also the number one trigger for Laci's age regression, the more intense the stress, the further back she slides.

-Alone: Laci doesn't really get to be alone due to being haunted by her best friend as a human who she accidentally killed after her Change...When it's just Laci and Amy, Laci can be very quiet and withdrawn, just focusing on whatever task is at hand and desperately hoping Amy doesn't decide to cause any problems.

Life

Best Memory: Becoming part of the Revenant Vampire Community under Santa Marta

Worst Memory: Waking up after being Changed and killing her best friend.

Biggest Accomplishment: Hitting 100 cellphones stolen from assholes at Eventide Coffee

Prized Possession: her spiderweb mug

Favorite Color: Black, Purple, Lime Green

Favorite Food:

-Mortal Food: Mocha Frappe, Triple Chocolate Muffins, Cherry Soda, Monster Energy, Tiramisu, Fried Oreos

-Blood: She doesn't care, all the bagged stuff tastes like shit anyway.

Favorite Scents: Cloves, Cotton Candy, Bubblegum, Gunpowder, Fresh Coffee, Freshly Baked Bread, Coconut, Vanilla, Lime, Grapefruit

Favorite Songs: Hunger - Ayria, The Girl Anachronism - Dresden Dolls, I'm So Sick - Flyleaf, Counting Bodies Like Sheep - A Perfect Circle, Looking Glass - The Birthday Massacre, Placebo Effect - Siouxsie and the Banshees, Amnesia - Mind.In.A.Box

Can’t Leave Home Without: Her phone, her cigarette case, a few packets of blood

History

Birthplace: Santa Marta, California

Childhood:: Laci can remember her fifth birthday where she had her first vision of the future and of the party being ended prematurely. She also remembers starting therapy at twelve.

Adolescence: Laci remembers her first day of middle school -- which went rather badly, remembers going to anti-prom and getting kicked out of her parents' house at 18.

Adulthood: What little Laci can remember of her adulthood, she was working as a barista at a local coffee shop while working with a group of friends on a local anarchist zine. She was dating one of the editors on the zine until he cheated on her and broke up with her on October 20th 1998. During a manic episode that followed, she cut her hair and bleached her bangs (with the intent of dyeing them purple). She and her best friend were kidnapped by a vampire outside a local goth club on Halloween.The vampire would turn Laci and leave Amy in the room with her to kill during her first feeding. The trauma of her change (which occurred fully within only three hours) and subsequently murdering her best friend seems to have induced age regression and severe amnesia in Laci. She cannot recall the name or appearance of her Sire or even the majority of her life, outside of small snippets from here and there.

Recent: Laci has been living in Santa Marta in the Revenant Community since they found her in 2002. It's not sure if she's actually part of the Revenant bloodline or not but they don't really care about that. She's got a small apartment in Bram Park, not far from the Sidetracks bar, which contains one of the main entrances to the Underground.

Relationships

Family: Sanity (Adopted Sister, a fellow vampire)

Lovers: None

Friends: Art ??? (a local hacker and vampire), Alex Hyde (Revenant Vampire, clubbing and goth buddy), Louis DeFantome (Siren Vampire, local goth artist), Maggie Rodriguez (Local Witch)

Enemies: Amy (Ghost, haunting), Ella DuChamps (Local cultist), The Myriad Eyes (???)

Acquaintances: ???

Resources

Income: Working Poor

Vehicles: None

Residences: A 1br/1ba apartment in the attic of a Victorian house that's been converted into a triplex in the Bram Park neighborhood.