#I mean I still have a couple winter shirts from primary school

[fictional-worlds-are-exquisite]

i will say shit like man i feel like my clothes don't last as long as they used to. like all my shirts feel so thin now. and my mum will find one of my shirts to point at and go you have worn this since you were 12.

like okay maybe it's been a decade but I'm still not ready to buy numerous new clothes

[seven-oomen]

Happy Halloween, Ben!  I hope you are continuing to feel better!  Do you expect any trick-or-treaters tonight?  (Is that a thing in the Netherlands?)  I hope you find lots of good candy at the grocery store!  I myself have two bags of dark chocolate Kit Kats to hand out to all the kids I foresee coming by (*wink wink*)  Your pumpkin is adorable, by the way.  I wanted to do some cool faces with mine, but my friends that normally host a Halloween party decided to just hold their Costume and Pumpkin Decorating Contests online, and the theme was “2020”.  I thought “well, I’ll just get two pumpkins, and use one for the contest and one for whatever."  Then one of them started molding, which seemed very on brand for this year, so I just went with it, and ended up with meme pumpkins.  I included a color pic, so you can see just how gross the one got.  Fun fact: the top of it is held on by being skewered with a dowel rod and set in place along the rim.  In case you were curious (you probably weren’t, but oh well), trying to scoop out a moldy pumpkin is indeed deeply gross.  Imagine a physical manifestation of the sensation most people seem to feel when you say the word "moist”.  Just…so gross and squishy…  *shudders in remembrance*

My costume attempt turned out okay given that I managed to pull it together entirely out of things I already had.  In case you don’t recognize the symbol, I was one of the more recent comic versions of Black Canary (this one at least had proper shorts).  Let me tell you, trying to free hand draw that goddamn bird outline with no printer or projector was an adventure.  I had to do it backwards, essentially, too, because I realized that pencil marks are extremely difficult to erase off of craft foam.

And I just wanted to show off that I’m the kind of classy bitch who drinks wine out of a can (also, it’s an awesome can.)  To be fair, it was actually surprisingly decent (I say, as though I know shit about wine).  I sent a picture to a friend, and she started teasing me, and I said “it’s a rainbow can, how was I supposed to pass it up?”, and she was like “you know what, fair, I would have done the same thing."  I also got some kind of sparkling red wine to drink tonight for proper spooky effect.  The cashier commented on it being good as I was checking out, so here’s hoping.

I know what you mean about endless plot ideas, too.  I started a couple of smaller pieces to work on when my longer WIP gets overwhelming, got on a roll, and have almost finished one.  I got super excited when I finally got to a few of the lines that were among the first I thought of for it months ago, then realized "fuck, now I have to write the smut, don’t I?"  So, hopefully the wine will offer some inspiration there, too. XD

By the way, I totally wasn’t kidding about the Chris Evans/Henry Cavill rom com idea.  I totally went and found it in my FB messages and screen-shot it so that I can now inflict share it.  Buckle up, here we go:  So, Chris’s character’s great-aunt (played by Angela Landsbury) talks him into coming to stay with her along the English coast after his divorce, and help her run her mystery book shop.  Only, less than a week in, she runs off to go on vacation with her boy toy (Christopher Walken).  By this point, he’s already ended up in an unexpected rivalry with the co-owner of the comic shop next door (Henry), who’s been trying to get the great-aunt to sell him part of the bookstore’s storage space to build a table-top gaming area.  The woman (Natalie Dormer) who runs the little bakery/tea shop attached to the other side of the bookstore has a running bet with the other co-owner of the comic shop (John Boyega) on how long it will take for the two men to realize just what type of tension there actually is between them.  Chris could wear hipster glasses, and skinny jeans, and cozy sweaters/cardigans, that he could remove at strategic moments to reveal the ridiculousness that is his arms and chest.  Henry could wear tight jeans and fitted nerdy t-shirts and SET THE CURLS FREE GODDAMMIT.  And of course at least one encounter would have to happen at a dog park, because both their RL dogs are absolutely adorable and deserve a moment in the spotlight.  Please, Netflix, I’m begging you.  Make it happen.  (If you curious, this particular moment of inspiration struck during a discussion over "if Evans is America’s Ass, is Cavill Britain’s?"  My friends are also classy like me.  XD ) 

Well, on that note, I’m gonna shut up for a while, and go wash the color out of my hair, because I think it’s been on at least half an hour longer than it should be, technically.  Enjoy your sugary findings, and I hope they and your coffee give plenty of energy for writing your various projects! :D  I hope you continue to feel better, and that things keep looking up!  Take care!  *Properly socially distanced and seasonally spoopy hugs to you both!*

Okay 1: omg I need that gay wine. (Rainbow wine, whatever.) That is amazing, I love it. And I totally get why you needed that. I don’t have any wine for myself tonight. But I have some Budweiser (Or well “Bud” as it is called here), cans of coke and Jack Daniels, so I should be good.

 And I think your jacket turned out pretty well! Looks awesome. (Though I get what you mean about craftfoam. It is a bitch to work with when you only have pencils and no stencils.)

Halloween isn’t much of a thing here I’m afraid, aside from some witches who celebrate samhain and the uprising of general pop culture there aren’t many people who really celebrate Halloween like in the US. So no, I don’t expect any trick or treaters tonight (also because COVID has us on a 8 pm curfew). 

I think the Netherlands celebrates Saint Martin far more which Wikipedia explains pretty well as: Saint Martin's day, also known as the Funeral of Saint Martin, Martinstag or Martinmas, as well as Old Halloween and Old Hallowmas Eve is the Funeral day of Saint Martin of Tours (else Martin le Miséricordieux) and is celebrated on 11 November each year.

The day is celebrated on the evening of 11 November (the day Saint Martin was buried) in the Netherlands, where he is known as Sint-Maarten. As soon it gets dark, children up to the age of 11 or 12 (primary school age) go door to door with hand-crafted lanterns made of hollowed-out sugar beet or, more recently, paper, singing songs such as "Sinte Sinte Maarten", to receive candy or fruit in return. In the past, poor people would visit farms on the 11th of November to get food for the winter. In the 1600s, the city of Amsterdam held boat races on the lake IJ. 400 to 500 light craft, both rowing boats and sailboats, took part with a vast crowd on the banks.

But other than that we don’t really have a holiday where children go door to door to ask for candy.

It’s getting more popular now in recent years to do so on Halloween, as well as Halloween parties, but it’s not very widespread.

I know what you mean about endless plot ideas, too.  I started a couple of smaller pieces to work on when my longer WIP gets overwhelming, got on a roll, and have almost finished one.  I got super excited when I finally got to a few of the lines that were among the first I thought of for it months ago, then realized "fuck, now I have to write the smut, don’t I?"  So, hopefully the wine will offer some inspiration there, too. XD

Yeah I was really excited to write some fanfic for Love and Monsters and then today I started doubting that. And now I’m leaning towards writing more Petopher fic where Chris gets turned?

I blame @for-the-love-of-wolves​ for that one because I read their fic and now I’m like: that’s a good idea. I want to write that too. And now I can’t shake it.

I should really finish things but urgh... part of me just wants to write more teen wolf fanfic.

I’m really curious about your wip though, I hope that when you’re ready to share it, I get to read it too. ^^

Honestly, Netflix needs to make this idea happen. I insists. I wonder if my friend who works their customer service can pitch ideas but I don’t have much hope for that. Would be pretty awesome though to see this come alive because it’s GOOD! Holy moly I want that to happen now XD. Brittain’s ass is it, UK Vs US ass fight!

Wait is that too gay?

Ah who cares XD

I’m still snivelling with a cold but it’s only stuff coming out of my nose, for the most part, I’m doing pretty good and can focus somewhat on things again. And no real pain aside from the general ones.

So I’m gonna wish you Happy Halloween, have a good night and lots of socially distanced hugs from me and Mo.

[lovemesomesurveys]

Is your nose stuffed up at the moment? Nope.

Do you like apples? Not especially. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I had one.

Do you ever read the newspaper? No. I read my news online for the most part and catch some on TV.

Is anyone in your house sick? No.

Someday do you ever want to go and see the Egyptian pyramids? Damn, it’s almost a 16 hour flight to Egypt from California.

Have you ever seen the Statue of Liberty? No. I’ve never even been to New York.

When’s the last time you got your hair cut? Back in February.

When’s the last time you rode a bike? Never.

Spring or summer? Spring out of the two, but meh. It means summer is next and that I don’t like.

Do you like to go sledding in the winter? I’ve never done it.

Do any of your friends’ boyfriend/girlfriends annoy you? I don’t have friends.

What time is it? 5:24AM.

Will you be calling someone tomorrow? No.

Have you smiled today? Yeah.

Do you wish you could start over with anyone? Sometimes.

Do you like Kid Cudi? I liked Day ‘n’ Nite. Whatever happened to him?

Or, who is your favorite rapper? Some that I listen to are Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj,  Drake, Post Malone, Travis Scott, DaBaby, Roddy Ricch, Bryson Tiller, Tory Lanez...

Have you ever created a survey? Once, a longggg time ago. Like, during the Xanga days sometime. 

Where were you today? I’m at home and that’s where I’ll stay. 

When was the last time you had to give bad news? I’m usually the one receiving the bad news.

Were you sad today? Sad is one of my personality traits.

Do you take any foreign language classes? I’m not in school anymore, but I did in high school and one semester in college.

When’s the last time you received bad news? My doctor wanting me to do ridiculous xrays that aren’t necessary and then throwing in the possibility of doing a spinal cord stimulator and I’m like yeah, absolutely not.

Are your parents together or divorced? They’re still together.

Is there one person you look at and automatically smile? My doggo.

Who are you texting? No one.

What are you doing later on? My Bible study.

Do you wish anyone in particular was still in your life? Yeah, a few people.

Who was the last person you were on the phone with? My mom.

What makes you happy? My doggo, trips to the beach, Disneyland, binging a show with my mom, that first sip of coffee, when it rains, fall, the holidays.

Ever liked someone older than you? Only by a couple years.

Which did you discover first, myspace or Facebook? Myspace. I’m old.

Have you kissed a: A, B, C, D, E, G, K, U, Q, V, T ? D and G. 

What was the last thing you ate and why? Ramen. I like having my nightly bowl of ramen, it’s my thing.

What was the last thing you drank and why? Starbucks Doubleshot energy drink cause I like ‘em.

How many tabs do you have open and what are they? 10: 2 are Tumblr related (1 is my dash and the other is my likes), YouTube, Pinterest, 2 LiveJournal survey blogs, Facebook, a Christian radio website page relating to something my church is doing, a website with different prayers and scriptures related to them, and Spotify. 

What browser do you prefer to use? I only use Chrome.

What’re five random things on your desk besides any computer-related items? I don’t have a desk.

What room are you in right now? Mine.

What color are the walls and floor in that room? White walls, tan carpet.

What’re the items closest to you that’re red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, gray, brown, black, silver and gold? Red: Red and black plaid throw pillow. Orange: Orange highlighter.  Yellow: Yellow highlighter. Green: Baby Yoda plushie. Blue: Mist fan. Purple: There’s some purple on one of my pillows. Pink: Bottle of Pepto Bismol. White: There’s white on my Starbucks Doubleshot energy drink can. Grey: My remote.  Brown: My Baby Yoda plushie is wearing brown. Black: Laptop keyboard. Silver: My laptop. Gold: A gold garland strand across my dresser from last Christmas. :X

Out of all the things you listed above, which is your favorite? Baby Yoda plushie! 

What kind of chair are you sitting in? I’m sitting on my bed.

Where would you prefer to be right now? I want to be right here.

Do you have any plans this weekend? No.

Are you excited for anything this month? This month is just about over, so I’m hoping it starts to cool down soon.

What’s the date today? It’s September 28th.

Is there anything special about today? No.

How’re you physically feeling right now? Tired and my stomach is messing with me.

How’re you emotionally feeling right now? Blah.

Have you ever traveled outside of your home country? I’ve been to Mexico once.

Can you speak, read and/or write in another language besides English? Some Spanish.

What language course did you take in school, if any? Four years of Spanish in high school and one semester in college.

What language would you most like to learn? I’d like to be fluent in Spanish.

What grade are you in right now? I’m done with school.

What would you like to get a degree in? I have my BA in psych.

What was you dream job when you were a little kid? I wanted to be a teacher.

What happened to that dream? I decided it wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore when I got older. I didn’t feel cut out to teach.

Speaking of dreams, when was the last time you had a sleeping dream and what was it about? I always have the most random, weirdest dreams.

Do you have more nightmares or good dreams? Mostly just random and weird.

Do you wake up a lot in the middle of the night? I’m always up all night, so no.

Can you sleep comfortably in another bed besides your own? I can sleep fine in hotel beds. Those are the only other beds I sleep in.

What book are you reading, what genre is it and do you like it so far? “Say You Love Me” by Willow Rose. It’s a murder-mystery and thriller. It’s the 4th book in a series and I’ve really enjoyed them all so far. They’ve all had a really crazy twist I didn’t see coming.

Are you a shorts wearing kind of person? Nope. I never wear shorts.

Is your grandparents’ house obsessively tidy? Yeah.

About how much can you bench press? I can’t at all.

Do you get embarrassed easily? Yes.

Is dinner done yet? It’s 7 in the morning.

Have you ever had your phone die on you in the middle of a conversation? I’m sure it’s happened before.

Is anybody in your family a carpenter? No.

Are you avoiding someone? You could say that.

How social are you? I don’t have a social life at all anymore. 

What’s your favorite primary color? Yellow. 

What were you for Halloween? I stopped dressing up a few years ago.

Do you like hot chocolate? Yeah.

What do you have pierced? Just my earlobes.

What’s your favorite type of tea? Mint or chamomile. 

Do you have any clothes from Walmart? I have a couple shirts.

Are you hungry? Kind of, but my stomach is feeling a little meh.

When did you get a Facebook? Back in 2008.

What color are your eyes? Brown.

How’re you feeling? Tired and blah.

What motivates you? I haven’t felt motivated in a long time...

Can you walk in heels? No.

When was the last time someone asked you your age? I get asked often in surveys.

Why are you taking this survey? I want to.

Do you ever sing in the shower? Yeah.

Do you keep a journal? This is my journal. I share a lot in these surveys.

When is your favorite time of day? When I have my first cup of coffee and the late and early hours when I do my usual routine of surveys and ASMR videos.

How often do you get headaches? Often. 

Have you ever tried a weird flavor of vodka? I had caramel vodka before. I don’t think that’s weird, though.

Do you wear a ring on your finger? Nope.

What are you doing? Besides the obvious, I’m listening to an ASMR video.

What’s the last kind of soup you ate? Ramen.

Do you currently have a sunburn? No. I wasn’t able to have my beach trips this year, which is the only time I spend a significant amount of time outdoors. I’ve hardly been out of the house at all since March.

Could you eat nothing but grilled cheese for a week straight? No.

Have you ever thought about getting your nose pierced? Nah.

Who did you last text? My mom.

Who’d you last call? About what? My mom to ask her something.

Are you currently frustrated with someone? No one but myself.

Have you graduated from high school? Yeah, back in 2008...

Did you receive a good morning text today? I don’t receive those.

Will you be having sex tonight? No.

Do you drink hard liquor? No, I don’t drink anymore.

Have you met anyone new yet today? No. I highly doubt I will.

Do you drink water or soda more often? Water.

Do you straighten your hair? No.

When did you last talk to your brother or sister? Last night.

If you have younger siblings, how old were you when your siblings were born? I was 9 when my brother was born.

Do you watch the Big Bang Theory? No, I never could get into it.

Would you ever pick up gum from the ground and eat it? What in the actual.... NO. Ew, who the hell would do that???

Have you ever gotten stitches? Yeah, several times.

Do you pluck your eyebrows? Yeah.

Think back to the last thing you drank. Did you drink it using a straw? Yeah, I always use a straw.

Do you ever listen to country music? Sometimes.

This time last year were you happier then or now? Neither then or now.

Does your bathroom have a theme to it? No.

From inside of your house, how many doors lead outside? Two.

Do you sometimes use your music player to help you fall asleep? No.

What’s your favorite music video at the moment? I don’t watch music videos anymore. I miss the TRL days, I always looked forward to the top countdown and new video releases.

Can you play the violin? No. I took violin in 4th grade, but I just didn’t enjoy it. Me and the violin didn’t vibe like the piano and I did. I stuck it out for the year and then I was done.

Is the sun shining? Yeah.

Where did you go today? Nowhere.

Have you ever taken a survey while under the influence of drugs or alcohol? Yeah.

Where will you be in an hour? Right here in bed.

Is anyone irritating you? No.

Did you wake up in the middle of the night last night? I haven’t gone to bed, yet. 

The last time you burned your tongue or mouth, what were you eating? Probably ramen.

Have your parents ever threatened to throw your things away because your room was messy? No.

Is there any one food you constantly find yourself craving? Boneless wings from Wingstop.

What’s the longest time you’ve ever spent in front of the computer doing surveys? Well, my nightly routine consists of doing surveys. It’s usually between the hours of like 3AM to 7AM. Some of that time is also spent scrolling through my dash, but for the most part it’s doing surveys.

Name someone with big eyes. *shrug*

Do you like the humidity? Nooo.

Who will you hang out with next? My family.

Is your shirt pink? No.

What’s something fuzzy near you? Giraffe stuffed animal.

Are you going to do more surveys? Maybe. I should be going to bed, though...

Who is the most complicated person in your life right now? Me.

Are there a lot of trees in your yard? No, just one.

Did the last type of shoes you wore have laces? Yeah. 

How much money do you have on you right now? Some.

Are you CPR certified? No.

What genre is your favorite movie? I have several favorite movies that fall under the horror, psychological thriller, drama, romantic comedy, comedy, fantasy, and sci-fi genres. 

Are you texting anybody right now? No.

Who was the last person you were in a car with? My mom.

Do you like the picture on your license/I.D. card? No.

What’s your favorite thing to snack on while watching a movie? If I go to the theater then I gotta have popcorn.

When was the last time somebody hit on you? It’s been years.

Was the last person you met a male or female? Female.

Which one of your friends do you feel most comfortable around?

Do you own a map of the world? No.

What brand is your underwear? They’re from JCP.

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food? Mashed potatoes and gravy and the stuffing.

Is the light on in the room you’re in? Nope.

Who did you last spoon with? I haven’t spooned with anyone.

Are you currently watching TV? It’s on, but I’m not watching it at the moment cause I’m watching/listening to an ASMR video.

Have you ever had surgery ? I’ve had several.

Do you own any clothing that has animal print? No.

Does your family eat dinner together? Sometimes.

Where do you work? I don’t.

Are you in high school? No. I’ve been out of high school for well over a decade now.

Do you have a TV in your room? Yep.

Are any of your electronics charging right now? My phone, laptop, and Nintendo Switch.

What was the last video game you played? Animal Crossings: New Horizons.

[aliofvalhalla]

Lights in Your Eyes

Including the prompt, "Look at the sky." 

You never expected to be spending New Year's Eve freezing cold, on the side of a mountain, in Norway with none other than Jesse McCree. Back in the Blackwatch days, you and Jesse would be laughing and joking about how ridiculous this situation was, but not tonight. Tonight, you were mad at him. So mad.

The two of you had been sent to scout out some suspicious omnic activity in Norway. You hadn't been sent alone; Mei, Angela, Pharah and Reinhardt were with you. The operative word being 'WERE'. It'd turned out that Winston's research coupled with Soldier:76's intelligence on the area had been right; a new wave of omnics was planning to lend a hand to the 'new omnic crisis'. Your team had unexpectedly gotten caught up in a fire fight and you and Jesse were separated from the rest of your companions. The omnic group here was in its infancy, meaning there weren't too many of them to contend with. It'd been going well...until Jesse got hit.

Jesse McCree never let his guard down in the field, and against forces as small as this, he would never have been hit...if it wasn't for you. You made a simple error in judgement, which left you out in the open and vulnerable to attack. A blast to your right had thrown you to the ground on your back with your gun about a foot out of your reach. You scrambled to get it, but as you did so another blast sent it flying into the goddamn ether. That's when you heard the unmistakable metallic footfalls of an approaching omnic.

Still on the ground, struggling to find balance every time you attempted to stand, your head was spinning. You must've hit it in the first explosion. You turned to face the source of the sound, only to be met with the sight of an omnic. It looked almost identical to the 'Eradicators' you'd encountered during the first omnic crisis, except instead of a canon, this one had guns. Big guns. Big guns pointed directly at you. It began to shoot them at your feet and you began to scramble as fast as you could towards any kind of cover...but your head. Your head hurt. The dizziness was relentless. Your vision blurred as you focused so hard on getting up and escaping.

Suddenly, the ground left you and you were floating. Not floating, no...you were being carried. The eyes you hadn't realised were closed, opened to stare blankly up at your saviour. The first thing your eyes focused on was that ridiculous cowboy hat. What was he doing here? After you'd taken the wrong turn and ended up with an omnic blockade between you, you'd told Jesse to run. To get out of there quickly. You thought he had.

He was running with you tight to his chest, his heart pounding loudly in your ear. He entered a cleared building and set you down behind cover. "Stay there, darlin'" he'd said before racing back out of the building, running on adrenaline. As you watched him go, you noticed the seeping red substance beginning to show through the oddly civilian shirt he insisted on wearing, just under his chest armour on his left side.

Was that his blood?

The stinging pain in your head was fading, but the throbbing didn't seem to want to stop. You pushed yourself up with a grimace, almost missing the distinct sound of a six shooter doing work right outside. Before you were fully on your feet, his arms were at your waist, steadying you.

"I thought...I told you...to stay put." He said between gasps for breath.

"You're hurt." You stated looking down at the offending stain.

He followed your eyes to spare a glance at the blood on his shirt before returning his gaze to your face, "Aw, it ain't nothin'. Don't you worry, doll. Let's get outta here, yeah?"

You gave a single nod and instantly regretted it as your head swam and you heard your own blood whirring in your ears.

After confirming over comms that the rest of the team had made it back to the temporary base in the mountains, the two of you helped each other clamber out of the small town towards the safe, rocky confines of the base. If you could just get each other back there, Angela would be able to patch you both up. However, the weather had other ideas.

The higher you climbed, the worse the storm seemed to get. You could see that Jesse was struggling with his injury and your head still felt like it would spontaneously explode any second. The blistering winds and snow didn't do much to make you feel better either. You had to stop. You spotted a small cave in the face of the grey stone just up ahead, just big enough for the two of you to enter side by side.

"Jesse, stop. We're going to have to rest here...at least until the storm dies down. See what we can do with our first aid kits...just for now."

Your words fell out among gasps and gulps as the wind caught your breath every time your mouth opened. His eyes followed the line of your extended arm to the crevice you were gesturing to.

He hesitated for a moment. His eyes flicking between the cave, the road ahead and your face, obscured by waves of side-sweeping snowflakes, "Alright...alright, let's get inside."

You both got as comfortable as two injured, armour-clad individuals could inside a small hole in the wall. Jesse had made two makeshift bandages from his serape. He used the little remaining supplies from his first aid kit to provisionally treat his wound...and yours. You hadn't realised, but the blow to your head had caused a bloody and bruised crack to appear at the base of your skull, hidden by hair. He'd wrapped one of the serape bandages around your head as best he could and laughed when he took a step back to admire his work. You narrowed your eyes at him and watched as he wrapped the second piece of material around his middle to conceal the bullet wound.

Before long, small talk turned into an argument.

Which brings us back to now.

"Darlin', I think that hit on your head gave you a concussion...or just knocked you stupid."

He was responding to your comment that what he did was reckless and that he shouldn't have come for you. Telling him he should have ran like you told him to.

It wasn't that you weren't grateful that he saved your life, it was that he did it by risking his own. You didn't think your life for Jesse's was a fair trade. It hurt you to think he could have died.

You scoffed, "You must have a concussion if you think almost dying for me was smart."

He scoffed right back, "Well, colour me concussed. I stand by my choice."

"You know what, Jesse? You're so fucking stubborn. You could have died. Do you realise that?"

He narrowed his eyes, any signs of playfulness long gone as he pierced your own irises with his intent stare, "So could you. In fact, that tin can very nearly put a bullet in ya head. Do you realise that?" There was silence for a beat, both still staring fixedly at each other. "I wasn't going to 'run' and let you die. No way was I. There gotta be something wrong with ya if you think I would."

At a loss for what to say, you stood up, finally tearing your gaze from his. His eyes, however, stayed firmly on you; watching as you strode towards the entrance of the little cave.

"Where are you going?" He almost growled.

"The storm's passed. We can go now." You replied flatly, wanting to just get to the others as soon as possible.

You were done with arguing, or even discussing, the events that transpired in that modest town. Jesse, on the other hand, had a lot more to say. He joined you at the opening of your temporary rock haven where you were looking out across the sprawling, emerald and russet woodland over the steep edge a few feet away. The colours were darkening with the coming of night, but it was no less beautiful than it had been soaking in bright, winter sun. Standing just behind you, his eyes were admiring the same forest, he spoke.

"What's so bad about being saved? It turned out alright, didn't it? We're both alive."

"Barely." You retorted.

"You got a death wish or somethin'?"

You rolled your eyes and turned to him then; leaving the striking, vast landscape behind you in favour of a view arguably just as appealing. Jesse was looking at you too.

"What are you talking about? You put yourself in danger...unnecessarily so. I could have gotten out...there was no need for us both to get hurt. You never could resist playing the fairy tale hero, could you? You never think about..." Your ranting went on for a while, but then you noticed Jesse had stopped listening and his eyes were planted on the space above you. You gave him a look of confusion, "Jesse?"

"Look at the sky," he replied, not taking his eyes off whatever had him captivated.

Instead of the usual fireworks of New Years past, you turned to be met by a much more enchanting scene. Above the trees you'd earlier admired, glistened a plethora of glowing, swirling colours. Green and purple mostly, with intermittent flickers of white, pink and blue; all dancing around the dark expanse. The aurora borealis. A spectacle you'd wanted to see since you were a child.

You were awe-struck. The display was breath-taking...it literally took your breath from you. You couldn't speak, couldn't tear away your eyes. Then you remembered something your primary school geography teacher had told you. When you found our voice again, you repeated his words, even if only just a whisper.

"Some say it's the most beautiful sight on the planet."

It may have been quiet, but in the still of the night, Jesse heard. He heard...and it made that ever-present voice in his mind jump loudly to the forefront and spill out of his lips before he could stop it.

"Not quite the most beautiful."

You felt his gaze on you then, not sure when it had moved from the northern lights, to your face. Your head snapped away from the beauty painting itself over the dark canvas and your eyes landed on his, all the colours of the manifestation reflected there. Your mouth was slightly agape with disbelief at what he was implying. Dumbfounded, you stayed like that. Silent. Watching the rare, vibrant phenomenon through eyes just as striking.

He moved in closer to you, never once dropping his love-struck stare.

Your heart was thudding so loud, you were sure he could hear it. You'd forgotten how silly you must've looked with a torn piece of serape wrapped around your head and a goldfish-like gape to your mouth. You wouldn't have cared anyway. Jesse didn't.

You realised in the moment just before his lips met yours, the reason you'd been so angry...you couldn't bear the thought of him being gone.

As he kissed you, sparks of electricity buzzed through your body and created a warmth so comfortably contrasting the shrill air of the mountain. Pulling away to rest your foreheads against one another's, you shared the same giant grin. He laid a soft, gentle peck on your nose as he rested his hands on your hips.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and chuckled, "You're definitely concussed."

He laughed and pulled you as close as he could, the sparkling backdrop creating the picture-perfect moment. It would have probably been more romantic if it hadn't been for the pained grunt he let out as he was unpleasantly reminded of the hole in his side. You grimaced for him as his eyes clenched shut.

"We should get you to Angela, huh?"

"Mhmm." Was all he managed.

You stifled a giggle and you laced your fingers through his and cuddled close to his arm, leading him towards the base. It didn't take you long to realise it was over a mossy ridge not a few metres away. You could've avoided all of it. Could've been back ages ago. The cave wasn't even necessary. It was right there all along!

But if you'd recognised that crest of stone before you'd found the cave, you would never have been able to appreciate the splendour of the woodland. You would never have seen those astonishing, natural lights. You would never have kissed Jesse.

You were so glad you decided to stop.

As you helped him up the last stretch, something occurred to you. You briefly glanced at the watch display attached to the wrist of your specially designed uniform. 00:10. You smiled in Jesse's direction to find he was already watching you.

"Happy New Year, cowboy."

[matteredloyaltyaa]

really LONG CHARACTER SURVEY. RULES.

repost , don’t reblog ! tag 10 ! good luck !

TAGGED. I stole it. TAGGING. Go for it. lol

FULL NAME : Arthur M/organ NICKNAME : A handful. English, Cowboy/Cowpoke, Black Lung, etc. Common aliases are Tacitus Kilgore and Arthur Callahan. AGE : 36. BIRTHDAY : January 25th, 1836. ETHNIC GROUP : Caucasian. NATIONALITY : American. LANGUAGE / S : English, primarily. Knew a handful of Welsh thanks to his father, but it’s faded with disuse.  SEXUAL ORIENTATION : Bisexual, somewhat closeted.  ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : Biromantic, somewhat closeted. RELATIONSHIP STATUS : Verse dependent, single-ship with @notanoutlaw in most. CLASS : Lower/working HOME TOWN / AREA : Arthur just mentions he was born “up north”, I headcanon around the Oregon area, possibly California due to his mother’s favorite flower, but it’s uncertain. Though, the place he laments the most about is New Austin, or “out west”.   CURRENT HOME : Transitory, he moves with the gang.  PROFESSION : Outlaw, occasional bounty hunter.

PHYSICAL. HAIR : Light brown, dark blonde in some lights. EYES : Unique eye colour, blue-grey-sorta hazel.  NOSE : Average, dimpled. Scarred from fighting and getting it broken a couple times.  FACE : Somewhat sharp features in the brow and cheekbones, square jaw.  LIPS : Full, can be dry/chapped.  COMPLEXION : Somewhat clear? Hard to tell. Dry, dirt spattered sometimes.  BLEMISHES : Uncertain. SCARS : A handful. Most notable are the one he has on his chin that is most visible with shorter facial hair, one across his nose, and the one left on his shoulder by the O’Driscolls in chapter 3.  TATTOOS : N/A HEIGHT : 6′0, possibly 6′1 WEIGHT : Uncertain, fluctuates.  BUILD : Stocky, broad shouldered and he can be fairly intimidating, especially when his weight is about average or above.  FEATURES : Look above? ALLERGIES : N/A USUAL HAIR STYLE : Right parted, about 3-5 in length. Though, for people who don’t know the system--fairly short, tufts out around his ears and may reach the back of his neck before he cuts it again. USUAL FACE LOOK : Expression wise, his kind of got a resting irritated face, sometimes bored. Rarely clean shaven unless he has to be, usually keeps a fair amount of stubble.  USUAL CLOTHING : I change him too much to say. Tends to keep his heavy navy blue winter jacket, jeans/ranch pants, some sort of button up shirt, and sometimes his tan leather jacket. Tends to keep his hat, however, unless he needs to go without. 

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : Arthur has a mild one of change. He’s adaptable but he’s very sentimental and nostalgic, he will miss “old ways” and previous places. There’s also losing his usefulness, disappointing those who depend on him (much as he will get defensive when it happens). Post-Guarma, he does develop a fear of drowning. It won’t keep him from swimming, but getting swept or held underwater may cause some panic. Post-game au, he does fear about getting sick again and actively avoids doctors.  ASPIRATION / S : Uncertain, just wants to get out of the mess he’s in and eventually just wants a calm existence somewhere. However, once he’s diagnosed with TB, his main goal is getting those who want/will listen to him out of the gang as it starts to fall down. POSITIVE TRAITS : Caring, compassionate (to people he knows, might not be clear on first impression), intelligent (much as he may say the opposite and isn’t exactly book smart), observational, brave, humorous (in certain situations and may be a cover sometimes), friendly (somewhat, changes as he ages), artistic, creative, loyal, etc. NEGATIVE TRAITS : Violent, murderer (doesn’t do it without reason but he knows he’s killed more than he certainly should), defensive, (passive) aggressive, sarcastic, depressive, self-deprecating, selfish, rude (sometimes intentional, sometimes not), conflicted, stubborn, reckless (sometimes, has mellowed out with age but it’s still there), self destructive (sometimes), money-driven (not always a flaw but he’s easily swayed by money). MBTI : ISFJ-T - Turbulent Defender  ZODIAC : Aquarius  TEMPERAMENT : Phlegmatic-Melancholic ANIMALS : I’m not going to take the quiz because the game is very heavy handed with the whitetail buck motif for high honor Arthur. lol VICE HABIT / S : Smoking, drinking, etc. FAITH : Non-religious. GHOSTS ? : Generally, the existence of ghosts isn’t something he completely writes off after he’s witnessed the few in the game, but he’s also hard pressed to admit to believing in them outright. AFTERLIFE ? : Not in any sort of defined sense. He’ll often say he doesn’t believe in one or it won’t be a nice one for him if there is, but he finds himself nervous about the subject once he gets sick.  REINCARNATION ? : He doesn’t know enough about it. ALIENS ? : Not really? Doesn’t really know he’s looking at a UFO when he sees it. POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : Don’t start. ECONOMIC PREFERENCE : Uncertain. SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION : Uncertain. EDUCATION LEVEL : Does not have a formal education on even the basic levels (primary, high school, etc), however Hosea and Dutch have taught him to read and write and he’s learned a handful of things when it comes to survival and his lifestyle. However, he’s not exactly book smart or the “book learnin’ type”. 

FAMILY. FATHER : Lyle M/organ, deceased. MOTHER : Beatrice M/organ, deceased. SIBLINGS : No blood related, but considers John as one along with a couple other members of camp. EXTENDED FAMILY : He has a few uncles, aunts, and cousins, but he’s not in touch. Issac, his son, and his mother, Eliza, who are both deceased. Mary L/inton/Gillis, ex-fiance. (Cain Kennedy, lover - @notanoutlaw) NAME MEANING / S : Arthur - English, “noble, courageous”, Morgan - (and I’m going against what’s been said in fandom) - Celtic/Welsh surname, comes from Old Welsh name Morcant - “mor” as “sea” and “cant” as “circle”.    HISTORICAL CONNECTION ? : Uncertain in the game, but it’s been pointed out about King Arthur and also Morgan le Fay, which highlights his struggle with good vs evil themes in his character. 

FAVOURITES. BOOK : Uncertain, mostly non-fiction. MOVIE : -- 5 SONGS : -- DEITY : Doesn’t know enough to give a favorite. HOLIDAY : Christmas, in a way. Not quite for the religious context, but he enjoys the hunting and cooking the gang does to celebrate, singing and talking over fires. He remembers it vividly when he was younger, so it’s stuck with him. MONTH : April-May. SEASON : late spring, early summer. PLACE : He likes most places in wilderness, give him something with a view and he’s good. WEATHER : Sunny, average weather. Not too hot, not too cold. SOUND : Rain, birds, etc. SCENT / S : Again, rain, campfires, etc. TASTE / S : Prefers savory over sweet.   FEEL / S : Weightlessness in his limbs once he’s able to sit/lay down after a long day, fingers in his hair, etc. ANIMAL / S : Horses, dogs, cats, animals. NUMBER : He hasn’t given it much thought. COLOUR : Blues, greens, deeper colours.

EXTRA. TALENTS : Sharpshooting, Arthur’s got impeccable aim and speed when using guns, there’s also his drawing, he’s getting fairly good at tracking, etc. BAD AT : Admitting to mistakes, expressing himself emotionally, adhering to rules, anything overly scientific, etc. TURN ONS : Sense of humor, confidence or self-assurance, kindness and/or compassion, dark hair, etc. TURN OFFS : Hypocrisy (much as he suffers from that himself), cockiness (has a limit before confidence becomes a turn off), excessive or needless cruelty, etc. HOBBIES : Drawing, writing in his journal, hunting, wandering around/sight seeing, etc. TROPES : Anti-Hero/Anti-Villain,The Atoner, The Big Guy, Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Obfuscating Stupidity, etc. AESTHETIC TAGS : Horses, old west, deserts, nature, gun slinging, writing, drawing, photography, etc. 

FC INFO. MAIN FC / S : R/oger Clark, mainly in game icons so I haven’t found a need for one. ALT FC / S : -- OLDER FC / S : -- YOUNGER FC / S : -- VOICE CLAIM / S : R/oger Clark GENDERBENT FC / S :

MUN QUESTIONS. Q1 : if you could write your character your way in their own movie , what would it be called , what style would it be filmed in , and what would it be about ? A1 : I actually REALLY enjoy the game’s story line, much as I feel the redemption through death is overplayed and not as deep as people make it out to be. I’d find a way to subvert that or some alternative, but idk. I like the game’s story. lol

Q2 : what would their soundtrack / score sound like ? A2 : Western-y. IDK? The game’s soundtrack is actually really good too so.  Q3 : why did you start writing this character ? A3 : I love his development and progression as a character, and even with the trailers where he seemed no more than an angry outlaw there was a part of me that was still “hmm” about writing him. Ultimately, he’s grown to mean a lot to me and I really enjoy writing for him on this blog.  Q4 : what first attracted you to this character ? A4: As mentioned above, Arthur probably has one of the best character progressions I’ve seen in a while imo. Even in the beginning, I went in under the impression that I’d be playing as this outlaw so the violence and gruffness wasn’t too much of a surprise, much as I wasn’t too attached until later chapters in the game because of this. However, as I spent more time playing as him and reading his journal, seeing how he interacts with strangers and people he loves, he has some depth to him and some deep rooted flaws and insecurities that are played very well in the game. He’s probably one of the few character deaths I’ve cried over. lol Q5 : describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5 : I have to be truthful, Arthur’s an asshole. lol I didn’t like and still don’t like him from Colter into Horseshoe in behavior and personality, much as it’s lessened from my first play of the game because I know what happens to him and how he grows. However, while he’s not blind to himself and how he acts, he doesn’t think for himself really. Even if he hates debt collecting, he does it for the gang and even tells Strauss he does it for pleasure at a point (sarcastic or not, considering they are talking about Thomas, a man trying to raise money for charity while suffering poverty himself on top of having TB), he does whatever Dutch tells him, among many other things. It’s not until later in the game that the theme of grasping redemption comes into play, and he starts to act and think for himself a little more once things start to spiral. As much as I love him with all my heart, Arthur’s got some deep flaws that are hard to ignore.   Q6 : what do you have in common with your muse ? A6 : HHHhh. I’d say we suffer from similar self-esteem issues, not just in body image but morality of character (much as his are way more complicated than mine jaksfha), we also have a similar sense of humor...Yeah, idk. I’m attached to him as a character and I can relate to him in certain ways, but it’s hard to pinpoint.  Q7 : how does your muse feel about you ? A7 : Idk, he’s pixels? Though, for the sake of a fun answer, I genuinely don’t know? We can be fairly similar in mannerisms and thought process (at points), but I have no idea if we’d actually get along if by some universe rip we were able to meet.  Q8 : what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ? A8: I don’t want to get specific, I interact with a lot of interesting characters. Anybody who’s put me out of a comfort zone or forced me to look at Arthur in the different way has definitely stood out. Q9 : what gives you inspiration to write your muse ? A9 : The game itself is a good source, I enjoy putting up lets plays of it in the background sometimes if I’m struggling or just need something that isn’t music. I get more muse putting together blog playlists than playing them, but there’s that, too. Also generally plotting or talking about him can pull some to the forefront. Q10 : how long did this take you to complete ? A10 : An hour or so, I think?

[philcreateddan]

Still I call it magic

title: Still I call it magic

words: 2k

warnings: none

chapter: 1/?

Years ago, you promised your firstborn to a witch. Since then, despite your best efforts, you can’t seem to get laid. The witch is starting to get pretty pissed. (x)

2009

Dan is living his fucking nightmare with every step he takes. Long, skeletal trees shadowing the path. The moon, barely visible between branches being the only thing illuminating his direction. Said direction being at least a hundred steps from his grandma’s house heading towards the small pond he used to play in when he was a kid.

Or so he hopes otherwise he is lost and doomed to die by poor orientation skills.

At least it’s not winter, neither summer, or he would be perishing by any extreme of the otherwise boring London weather. The fallen leaves crunch under heavy step of his tall frame and he swears to himself because he should have brought his earphones at least. Kanye’s voice would make this whole experience less frightening to be honest, but in his rush he has left behind many things on the house behind him except for the red lighter he bought last week and never leaves his pocket.

Kanye’s voice may also be good to stop his tears, he thinks, using his sweater paw to clean the moisture falling from his eyes. The pond is visible now, right in front of him. Illuminated by the moon, obscuring everything else around it so blue is the only color left on the scene. It somehow makes him cry more.

He is being dramatic and he knows it but, fuck it, Erin and her three years of loving and closeness had just left him less than half an hour ago without a way of reconciliation, his grandma isn’t home, his parents don’t give a shit and his friends are already packing to leave for college and he is going to die alone. Alone and alone and miserable and forgotten.

“Fuck.”

He sits, legs pressed to his torso. Lets the misery swallow him and inflate his chest. Because this is what frightens him more. Slenderman can wait, the darkness hunting behind him with secrets can wait. His shattering feeling of being alone can win them on a duel in a second as it is. In a world full of wonders and magic and normality he is one and by himself. And Dan hates it. He hates how easily everyone is leaving to study and have a life or simply walking away to more important things and he is staying behind.

No one is staying with him because he has always known, he is disposable. Never one person’s favorite. Perhaps for Erin for a while but she is leaving now and he is not willing to fight because he loves her but not enough to follow. It makes him cry harder then, the idea of not finding anyone to follow to begin with. He had thought she was going to be the one he will always fight for but she had asked and not a single particle of him had agreed. He doesn’t blame her for leaving so upset. He is upset at himself too. Afraid of his lack of will.

And that fear, that deep, endless pit of a future where he never finds someone to share his life with is what makes him stand up.

“I want to make a deal.” He croaks to the moon. Clears his throat and repeats it with a clearer voice “I want to make a deal.”

“Heard you the first time.” The voice from behind him startles the soul out of his body and he yelps turning to meet whoever spoke.

“Jesus on a fucking shit!”

He is greeted by a boy, not that older than him he guesses. Skin as white as the moon itself. Eyes wide and shiny, reflecting the glimmering of the water near them, and a little amused smirk he was not even trying to hide. The hair though. Pretty much the same as his only cooler and black and Dan is immediately envious of the shape of it in comparison of his own. The boy speaks again.

“Wow. Blasphemy at it best.” He walks closer and Dan starts thinking it might be a bad idea as his first summoning has gone too easily. Either that or he is being pranked because the outfit and manners of this boy (an inch taller than him it seems now that he is closer) are far from what he expected.

Witches, curses and many folklore things are common since the Halloween incident of 1957 when they had officially come out to the world (or, out of the hat as they called) after living in the shadows for so long. It had taken humanity a while to accept them, as in every different group ever, but ultimately reached an agreement of being and let it be. Cautiousness still prevailed in smaller towns but with laws and rights implemented it was becoming more and more normal to have neighbors who prepare potions instead for hobbies.

Dan had experienced a few encounters with magic and its branches himself; with gnomes for example, annoying destructive creatures that enjoyed pranking his dog, and that one teacher who turned out to be a witch in primary school. Literally and metaphorically. After being cursed with pig noses along the rest of his classroom for making too much noise (for which she obviously lost her job and refused to undo the curse for three months), Dan had developed a somewhat fear of magic. Not exactly something he looked for as many of his classmates had in order to find remedies for acne or love potions. Many things Dan is skeptical about to this day.

But the guy in front of him looked nothing like his teacher, or many of the other witches streaming on the media. Long coats and tall pointy hats. This guy was wearing jeans and a shirt too tight and colorful to be a wizard. Apart from pointing out how his hair is nothing like what he expected. And he seems to have cold in fact, if his rubbing his arms is anything to go by.

“So. Are you going to tell me what you want or…?” he says making Dan realize he has been quiet for too long now.

His cheeks start blushing then.

If an old lady with huge nose and perhaps an apple had been the one to appear instead. This guy could easily be one of his friends from school for God’s sake.

“R-right. I want to make a deal with you.”

“Yeah, I got that. So what do you want?”

Dan notes then the strong northern accent. As far as anything else he could have expected and he sniffs, both from cold and from his crying of before.

“Sorry.”  The magical boy with northern accent and emo fringe is blushing too. Flexes his hands as if not sure of what to do with them. His eyes widen more which makes him look like a deer about to get hit by a car.

“Huh?”

“You took me by surprise and I was being rude. You are clearly upset by something and, er, called for help. Let me help you.”

Dan’s brain, suffocated by emotions by now after a long afternoon followed by the most exercise he has done in months, is taken back by the sincerity of the emo fringe witch, who didn’t have to apologize because he had not been rude at all but maybe Dan looks as fragile as he feels right now and fuck, that’s embarrassing. He is crying before he can stop himself again. Covers his face with his hands to prevent the ugly sobbing from being too visible.

“Shit! Sorry, I didn’t mean to… come here.” He wants to talk and say he will be okay. Or maybe run and forget he just cried in front of a magical person out of nowhere. But gentle hands are guiding him somewhere and out of curiosity and fear he opens his eyes to see. “Alright, uhm. See that water lotus over that is near us?”

He clears his eyes to look at it. “The one that’s dying?”

“Right. Now don’t move.” The boy lifts a hand to his face and Dan flinches back in response to which the boy stops. His eyes are pleading and this time Dan holds still while a finger recollects some of the moisture his tears left behind on his cheek. “Look.”

Dan follows while the boy whispers something to his finger before softly caressing the dying flower with the remaining of his tears. He half expects a light or even some dramatic wind to fulfill the moment but nothing happens. And nothing is needed because before his eyes the perishing flower recovers its life. The petals spring back pointing up and beautiful and its subtle but yet real.

“Wow.”

“Ace right?”

Dan looks to his left where this by all means normal looking guy has just brought back something to life and bursts out laughing.

“Ace? Oh my God.”

The witch seems confused for a moment but as Dan keeps on laughing he laughs along. “Shut up.”

“Alright, alright. That was ace man.”

“Thank you. Better now?” the magic boy rolls his eyes but seems amused still.

“Yeah.”

“Kind of?”

“Kind of.”

Dan takes a deep breath. This, this is what he enjoys. Laughing has not the same meaning if it doesn’t make someone else laugh along. This world is filled with magic and beauty in ways he has yet to discover and this particular night is proving him that. But he doesn’t have anyone to tell this short yet magical story to when he comes back home. No one to share how this northern guy has just made him laugh with a simple word. And that, that breaks his heart.

“I want to find my soul mate.” He says staring directly into the other’s eyes. “I want to find the love of my life and have a happy life with her.” He doubts for a second. “Or him.”

The boy blinks a couple of times. “You don’t really need magic to do that, you know?”

He knows that. But statistics resonate in his brain, and by calculations and given how his life has developed so far he is more likely to be lucked out and the idea is frightening enough to constrict his throat. It has been eating his brain for too long now to be ignored.

“I just… I don’t want be alone.” He whispers.

Dan doesn’t look up. He doesn’t need the look of sympathy or boredom he might be receiving. He hears a sigh instead.

“Alright but I have to warn you it might take a while. You won’t find the person tomorrow necessarily, it could take years. How old are you anyway?”

“Seventeen.”

The boy whistles “That’s very young mate.”

“Yeah.”

“Like, really young. You’re still a fetus.”

Dan looks at the guy again and frowns. “As if you’re an old man.”

The witch shrugs and smiles. A smile Dan recognizes as he has given it to his younger brother a couple of times himself. “At my twenties. But look, uhm, what’s your name?”  

“Dan.”

“I’m Phil. Look, Dan. A lot of people fear they won’t ever find their soulmates but you are young man. Not sore for the eyes exactly so I’m sure it will be easy for you to find someone, just wait mate.”

“I’m not an idiot. I have conditions.”

“Conditions?” Phil lifts an eyebrow.

“I want to meet them before my thirties. Not any teen book drama bullshit like we meet the second before our imminent death or anything either.”

Witch Phil laughs, his hands resting on his pockets now in a weird position Dan is sure shouldn’t be comfortable at all. “Help you find the person and prevent you from dying. Got it. But what if they don’t reciprocate? By rule we can’t alter human emotions.”

That is an option he knows and fears. Dan thinks for a moment before answering “I want to find them. To know they exists. A person for me. I will take care of the rest.”

Phil stares for a second too long, his face unreadable for Dan. “Anything else?”

“I want to know. When I meet them. Somehow I want to know.”

“You will.”

“Okay then.”

“The second you turn thirty the contract is over and I, no longer will have the power to reclaim the payment if you have not yet met them.”

Dan swallows then. This is it. He has heard of it before but none other than from warnings and stories meant to prevent humans to do this kind of pacts with witches. “And, what is it? The payment.”

Phil doubts for a moment. If he weren’t so pale Dan would swear he is blushing and he wonders if the myths are correct. What could this young witch possibly want with a human life anyway? For a second Dan thinks, hopes, Phil is going to ask for money. No matter the amount he would get it. Anything but…

“Your firstborn.”

He can’t help it then. Curiosity takes the best of him. “Why?”

“None of your business.”

He takes a step back, for the first time honestly frightened by the witch Phil. The corners of his lips falling, jaw tensing “You… you don’t eat them right?”

“What?” Phil’s face crumbles with a disgusted grimace “Of course not! That’s macabre!”

“Then why…”

“Nothing perverse! Jeez Dan what kind of twisted mind do you have?”

“Alright, alright. I had to ask right?”

“I’m going to have nightmares now.”

Dan rolls his eyes. Swallows a commentary about that because this person in front of him has magic in his veins, no matter how normal he looks, and upsetting him could mean a humiliation or death itself.

“If you still want to make the deal then someday, I will tell you why. But that’s what it takes.”

It’s getting late and, night owl and all, Dan is starting to feel it in his bones. This person, this awkward witch he just met, with his emo fringe and delicate fingers and big shinning eyes could never hurt a baby. Of that he is certain. Certain as endless possibilities launch on his mind that this is as magical as his life will get. His thirtieth birthday will arrive and he will remember this day and laugh back because witch Phil will fail or forget and move on. Dispose him too.

“Deal.” He extends his hand. Tired and sad and mostly prepared now to face the oncoming days when his family will ask about Erin and look away in pity for the girl he had abandoned as numerous things in his life.

Phil looks surprised, Dan doesn’t want to keep explaining himself or his reasons so he keeps his hand there, waiting between them.

When Phil finally grasps it, it feels electric. Goosebumps on his whole body makes him shiver and Dan gasps.

“Deal.”

Only then he realizes, witch Phil has blue eyes. The water has not been reflecting on his eyes, if he were to be asked he would say it was the opposite. Again the color blue swallows every color around them and Dan has to blink hard because he is hallucinating. Eyes can’t have more than one color can they?

Then it’s warm. Warm all over his body and his eyes are fighting to stay alert. But Dan smiles, cocky and skeptic not of magic but of himself.

“Alright Phil. Help me find my soulmate.”

I realize it may not make sense so far but I promise I have a whole plot developed. And in case you read the link I have above then yeah that’s basically what’s going to happen. I haven’t rated it because as much as I’ll keep it as a slowburn I can’t promise there will or won’t be any smut. However if anything woo-hoo’ish happens it won’t be for a long time still. Soz.

This is my first au so let me know if you like it so far it really means a lot. Even if no one likes it I will probably keep writing just because I like this story and how it has gone in my mind so far and I want to write it even if for my own enjoyment lol

[workingontravel]

“Why do you travel so much?”

(You can read a Swedish translation of this text here.) A couple of years ago, I realised that one of the people waiting for the same plane from Paris to Stockholm was a colleague, choreographer Dinis Machado. As we started talking about our lives, he told me of the hardships in a year of constant touring. There was something about the way he told it that is emblematic of a life that has been mine and still is for many of my friends. I began thinking about what it means for us to have this collective yet potentially lonely experience of intense travel for work. So the encounter with Dinis at an airport in Paris was somehow the starting point for this interview project. Because of this, he was the first person I wanted to interview. I asked him how he experiences his relationship to travelling; the history and future of that relationship. His answers gave me many stories. Here are a few of them.

Dinis Machado: My identity is based on processes of moving. With this I mean that my entire private life is adapted to migration as such, rather than to just touring for work. 

I moved from my hometown Porto, the second biggest city in Portugal, in 2005, when I was eighteen. My passage through Lisbon was very formative in how I make art, but I always felt like a tourist there. Moving to the capital from the second biggest city, I was viewed a bit like a wannabe. The social networks I started building in Lisbon were, of course, much more fragile than for someone who had lived there all their life. At the same time, this anonymity had an amazing side. I moved to Lisbon at around the same time I came out as a gay person. I don’t know if it was a tactic really – I moved there because of art, but discovering my sexuality while being away from everything that was me before meant something to my possibilities of experimentation. New relationships happened in synchronicity with a new identity. We are in a time when sexuality is changing a lot. There are these apps that everyone uses. People have a very non-monogamic life in that sense. But I don’t think they always claim it politically. They do it on the side, in the dark, in the back corridor. I think because I don’t have a family pattern holding me in place, I allow myself to claim it. And my art is also more and more about that. This said, I am very interested in alternative ways of thinking about relationships, not only as a result of all my travelling, but also from the very beginning of my life. From the moment you stop believing that a relationship is only one thing, you also start to see the multiplicity of social structures. You can see what a relationship actually contains, with or without sex, cinema, talking about personal problems… Different structures and different qualities of intimacy interest me. The economic crisis in Portugal escalated when I was living in Lisbon. Even my mother, who is a primary school teacher working for the government, had her salary reduced. The salaries no longer adapted to inflation, and new taxes were added, so people were actually receiving less money. While I was establishing myself as an artist, it was more and more difficult to live on it. There was very little state funding for the arts. Institutions that used to have it lost it, and went for the project grants. Starting artists like me could not enter anymore. I always got money from a private foundation, but never from the government. The first year I applied, I was number three on the list of people closest to getting it, and when I left Portugal in 2012, when the crisis peaked, I was thirty places down.

This was a consequence of the right-wing politics inspired by the debt repayment requests from the IMF. But the loans that caused Portugal’s debt were used in a way that didn’t give anything of what the richer countries in Europe have. Repaying them just made things worse. At times, unemployment was around 40% for people below the age of 35. People were losing their houses to the banks, and foreigners bought a lot of the real estate. The percentage of apartments turned into Airbnbs in Portugal is just insane. 

Nowadays, they consider the country to have recovered, because there are less unemployed people. But the jobs are stuff like baking, making beds or handing out keys for Airbnbs. There is low unemployment, but everyone has a 600€ job (which is the minimum wage in Portugal). All the big profits are leaving the country or going to the few who are already wealthy. Portugal’s situation is, in a way, approaching that of countries like Brazil, where the gap between rich and poor is widening.

For these reasons, it became more and more absurd for me to try to make a living from art. I was fed up, but I didn’t want to drop all my efforts and work in a café somewhere. So, I was moving more and more, within Portugal and sometimes abroad. No one really knew where I lived. I spent as little money as I could on accommodation, renting only when it was absolutely necessary for work. In the end, the only funding I could get in Portugal was a grant to work abroad. When I decided to leave Portugal, I had come to the conclusion that I shouldn’t start new relationships there. I suspended any attachment. Doing another art education was a shortcut to a context where I could continue to produce my work, while taking it easier for a while. I had been struggling so much. That is how I ended up in Sweden. But as a foreigner, you can’t get Swedish funding for studies. And the cost of living in Sweden is three times higher than in Portugal. Together with my mother, I managed to convince a bank to lend me 500€ per month for two years to study. I knew that it was practically impossible to live on that, but I just made a leap into the dark. This loan had a ticking clock built into it. Every month, I received less because they deducted the interest for the money I had already borrowed. So even though I started out with 500€/month, it was about 350€ towards the end of the two years. By that time, I was living on a boat with a nice community of students and artists. It was fucking cold in the winter, but in a way I loved it. But towards the second year, my situation got complicated, because my loan had shrunk a lot. I couldn’t get funding for my work in Sweden since I was a student. So I got jobs: as a bike messenger, as a nude model… But I still didn’t want to quit art or my studies to make a living. In the end, I asked to get the money from the loan faster. I took out the last 3000€ at once and bought a caravan. I parked it close to a public swimming pool in Stockholm where I had a gym membership. I lived there and used the showers at the swimming pool. Both the boat and the caravan were tough and lonely experiences in a way. But they were also extremely liberating. I allow myself to take risks now, because I know I can get by on very little. It will still be ok – or not ok, because it’s a very precarious way of living. But I resisted a certain minimum bourgeois life style by crossing these lines, and it made me conscious of how all of Europe is divided through them. Everyone in the EU supposedly has the same rights, but we know that this is’nt true. The southern countries do all the manual labour that the northern countries don’t want to do. Then, my life changed again. The Cullberg Ballet/Life Long Burning was offering this one-off grant for young choreographers and I got it. It allowed me to work, get new funding and do a production that was invited to the ImPulsTanz festival. That, in turn, led to a lot of touring. I’m still very much a touring artist. I tour to small venues, institutional festivals, places in South America… a bit outside the central European circuit. Maybe the fact that they don’t book me as much there has to do with that DIY aesthetics that they might lack some understanding for, because their material base is so different from mine. I do almost everything myself. My stage sets all fit in to a travelling bag, and they are small, foldable or inflatable. My friend says I will be a tent engineer when I stop being a dancer. Everything travels with me, and nothing is disposable. All this tent-ness of my work is practical for touring, but it’s also connected to the precariousness of my life. I very rarely stay in hotels. I tour with so little money. If a friend doesn’t host me, I usually book Airbnbs, despite what I have seen this business model doing to Portugal. Apart from my sets, I travel very lightly: my computer, one or two pairs of trousers and jumpers, seven t-shirts, seven pairs of socks, seven pairs of underwear. I “drag” normality in a way. As a performer, people have so many opinions about every step you take. I don’t feel I have the space to make statements. Even here in Stockholm, I use the same amount of clothes. I got used to it when touring. I own more extrovert and less masculine garments that I really like, but I use them mostly in performances, where it’s easier for me to embrace non-binary gender.

I had a different period in Sweden, for three years when I had a boyfriend and we were living together. Then we separated. When we split up, I lost so many parts of my life, not just the relationship but also my home and a lot of friends. Before entering the relationship, I had more of an alternative community around me that was very unwelcomed by my partner. At the time of the breakup, I was already distanced from some of the people who could have helped me. That year, I just travelled so much. Because I didn’t have an apartment, I just booked as much travel for work abroad as I could. At the same time, this was the first occasion in Sweden that I had a proper budget for a project. So I was attached to the country in that way, in a functional relationship with funding bodies. But I was physically exhausted from moving between countries, more than from touring. Touring is not a restructuring of life, but moving is. Touring became home. Travelling was a constant. I love trains. I love planes. I can travel for ten hours. It makes me feel safe. Phones are off, and there is this set time frame that I can use to focus on one thing at a time. Being on stage was a way for me to “turn off” during that period. Stages are one structure; you know how to operate there. In the midst of administration, travelling, arriving and setting up, that one hour of performing was actually peaceful. I think it’s because dancing is the only thing I have in my life that actually comes from a very early age. I started dancing professionally when I was six. It made me feel like I had a history. That is in contrast to always being surrounded by producers or others whom I had only met in the last three days. Or even friends in Stockholm – or in places where I toured – friends who had known me for less than three years. These people had no idea who I used to be, who I was in my early twenties. Almost the only thing that had been long-term in my life was that everything was short-term. All the things that were part of my personal life before the migration period were kind of erased. It was traumatic. At a certain point, there was only administration of all my travels, caravan problems, boat problems, money problems. All my narratives were about that. And then I made a piece about it. It’s called Cyborg Sunday.

The fact that I can work in English is what allowed me to survive in Sweden until now. My Portuguese is more or less gone. Nowadays, I think in English. When I speak English with someone here, we meet on common ground, since it’s foreign for both of us. When I try to get around with Swedish, the situation is very unequal. The other is speaking their native tongue, and I am speaking a language that I started learning “yesterday”. Maybe it’s about pride for me. I want to be able to express complex thoughts. I mean, I read philosophy. I’m not in a rush to speak baby language.

Until very recently, my life was an emergency of getting money to live. Because of that, I only speak coffee Swedish. I hear people saying it’s a game-changer to speak Swedish, but I think that’s a lie. Although I love how Sweden allows me to produce work, I doubt that I will ever be viewed as a Swedish person. It’s a very white context, super segregated. This is contradictory, since Sweden has a long history of hosting exiled communities and cultures. But there is a discomfort with the other. “Foreigner” comes before anything. Sometimes it can be like a tender otherness, but you will never pass.

A while ago, I started to use “we” when speaking about things going on in Sweden. “Because we here in Sweden do this and that…” People would get confused. I also applied for Swedish citizenship last September, to be able to vote and to make that symbolic gesture of belonging here. They told me I need five years in Sweden – I’ve been here for six – but I am only allowed to have travelled eight weeks abroad per year, because that’s what they consider a standard vacation. All absence from the country above those eight weeks is deducted from the amount of time I have lived in Sweden. So I’m not even close.

Now that my life is a bit calmer – I have an apartment, I manage to live ok on what I earn and so on – suddenly all these questions of who I am came back. For a while I was depressed. I was wondering where “I” am in all this administration of life. But I concluded that there could be no separation between work and self. Throughout my twenties, this is what became peculiar with my identity. I don’t care about traditional family values. My life just has another structure. My friendships are on and off and intense. I see friends in Chile or Brazil once a year, once every two years. We are like family, but we don’t talk so much when I’m not there. I hate digital communication, texting, and e-mails. We use the time when we are together. I arrive and it’s like it was yesterday. We just hang out 24/7. With my friends in Sweden it’s the same, in a way. I get in touch when I’m back from travelling, and I schedule seeing them. One thing that I do differently now is that I actually try to plan my work travel in a way that allows more space for these relationships. For example, I’m going to Brazil to perform for three days, but then I’m actually staying an extra week to be there with my friend and join her in her daily life and check out the art scene. I also have certain rules for myself now. I try not to travel more than two weeks per month. I prefer staying some weeks in one place, making several shows or teaching or something. I also prefer to engage local people when I need dramaturge or a stage assistant, rather than bringing a team with me. This is both for economic, social and political reasons; these cannot be separated.

You asked me what would happen if I couldn’t fly anymore. I try to imagine touring being organised so that you go from city to city by train on a consecutive route instead of flying all over. It’s not like me to say this, but I think that is very close to impossible today. I am already pushing the production structures so much to be able to just work. It’s extremely difficult to negotiate. You negotiate for years and when a date comes you just need to take it. Often, these are dates for festivals or specific empty slots in a programme and you just take it or leave it. There is rarely space to discuss this month or the other. I’m pretty concerned with environmental questions, but sometimes I feel people misplace the responsibility on the individual dancer travelling for work. It’s still far more environmentally friendly that a performer travels to present their work to a whole audience than the audience travelling to see the performance in a different place. To change the travelling patterns of contemporary dance would be possible, but not something artists can do alone, and I am not sure venues are so concerned that they would be open to restructuring the way they programme to make a difference. It seems easy to turn to a dancer and say, “Why do you travel so much?” But it’s extremely difficult to work around it within the established structures of production and touring.

[mauridianhallow]

A L L O F T H E Q U E S T I O N S

Good shit good shit this took me ages holy hell enjoy you meme loving fucks Q's for you to A Do you have a favourite sweater? I actually do, it's that kinda folded over stretchy grey one I always wear, y'know? I wore it to The 1975 and, from what I hear, it was awesome. (Although I can't remember bc I was Gin Drunk) What’s your middle name? Lawrence...no judgement...Do you still talk to the first person you kissed? I don't, I wonder how's she's doing. Heard she was studying History from her friend I met in a bar one time. Glad to hear, she was nice. Do you get on with your grandparents? I did! Sadly it's been a few years since they passed but I very much did. What was your favourite cartoon as a kid? Hmm, it's a tough one, between the 90's X-Men TV show they played on repeat on Fox Kids or Ben 10 when it wasn't absolute shit like the remake. Yeah I'm bitter. What’s your favourite cartoon now? Archer lol Do you read the news paper? Yeah pretty much every day...I swear I'm not an old man. Who was the last text you sent to? My friend Laura, asking if they'll still be at the park when I finish work. What does the last text you sent say? "Y'all still gonna be there when I get away?" If you could have any hair colour what would it be? Idk I like the one I have. Do you like nature documentaries? Not really my cup of tea to be perfectly honest. What is your aesthetic? Climbing a mountain at a 90° angle in Skyrim on a horse. When did you last pet a dog? ''Twas yesterday. Whose friend’s parents do you like the most? The twins'! They employ me! I literally get paid to hang out with friends some days that's the good shit! Have you ever been on a road trip? I've been on a couple, longest was a drive to Southern Spain from Scotland! Was awesome! Tell me about someone you know called Emma? Went to school with her, cool gal, she saw HP in London and I'm jealous, shoutout to @weewildelassAre you reading a book in english class, what is it? Oh god I'm old. I haven't had or attended an English class in over 2 years. Do you have a favourite Aunt? Well considering she also employs me...hell yeah, shoutout to my Aunt K you legend! Baths or showers? Baths for comfort and treating yo self, or sharing...😏...Showers for quickness and weird snapchats at 3am...😂 Skiing or sun bathing? Sun bathing my dude. Do you kill spiders? Sometimes, sometimes not. Have you ever made an ice pop? I have not. Are you wearing shoes right now? I'm not wearing anything rn. Tell me about you favourite primary school/elementary school teacher? Let me tell you about Mrs. Mary "The Bonecrusher" Highland, and how she was such an iconic, legendary, influential and inspiring woman that she was the person you sent into the bad fucked up schools in movies and have them all pass with straight A's, she ran a tough ship and was slow to praise but when she did, she went all out, and made you feel like what you had achieved was truly a feat. Oh and she encouraged children to learn and think for themselves, genuinely encouraged you when you said you were interested in something even when it went above and beyond the curriculum. She was charitable, friendly, and spoke to you like you were an equal, and a worthy one at that. Mrs. Highland was literally so influential in so many people in my class being successful, free minded, hard working adults that she deserves a goddamn award. And let me tell you another thing, at the end of my First Year in College, I went back to my old Primary School for a teaching assistant internship because I knew the school was becoming a bit run-down and out of control and I wanted to help the way that Mrs. Highland had, and who had they just asked to come out of retirement, come back for TWO WEEKS, sort shit out and then walk away into the sunset like some goddamn Old Lady Teaching Avenger who appears when needs were greatest? MARY FUCKING HIGHLAND, I GOT TO HELP ONE OF MY CHILDHOOD HEROES BE AN ABSOLUTE TEACHING LEGEND AND REALLY INFLUENCE SOME GOOD IN A KIDS LIFE, THAT IS THE SHIT! Seriously though, she truly is one of the good ones, they don't make em like Her anymore. Who was the last person you hugged? I think that would be my mother actually hahah. Do you wear glasses? Occasionally. Do you have a cat? I sadly do not. Do you have a favourite pair of underwear? Not a favourite pair exactly more like a favourite kind?? Next All-Black, that's the good shit, makes my ass look great among other things. What was your last tweet? "How the fuck do you work twitter" about 5 years ago and I haven't used it since. Do you still use Facebook? I do, rarely. Do you like birds? Aye pal birds, blokes, the lot. Who was the last person you called cute? That genuinely would be my niece, or you lol Who was the last person that called you cute? This is a strange answer but a regular in my work. Long story. How did you meet your best friend? I literally turned a corner and ran into a group of emo's in like Fourth Year at High School and I haven't looked back since. Escalators or elevators? Nah m8, trick question, I'd rather take the stairs. Does wonders for the thighs. Are you named after anyone, who? Ahaha yeah my dad, both my granddads, and Saint. Christoper (Catholic mum yo) What was your first url? I have no idea. Autumn or Winter? Winter I can't lie. Do you win at scrabble? I do not lol Put your ipod on shuffle , who is the first song that comes up by? "American Idiot", Green Day. Classic. Have you ever drunk from a mason jar? I have not. Can you draw? Barely even write m8 let alone draw. What was your first profile picture? I think it was Kenny from South Park. Favourite t-shirt? God I have no idea. Best tumblr friend? Shoutout to @bepizzazzed and @double-dorks-beanie and @hesitant-butthole When did you last run? Tonight when as a joke my friends took my jacket and tried to get it on top of a climbing frame? lol I had it back in seconds and decided to get some payback ahah Do you like to paint your nails? Not particularly fussed, not a look I could pull off. Did you ever do something as a kid that got you into loads of trouble? I did more things to get me into trouble as a kid that anyone should ever do. And I still did it. Who is your favourite dog that isn’t yours? Trick question, all of them. Have you ever been drunk? Literally so many times. So many. Have you ever done something you regret while drunk? Some-thing? Some-one? Getting into a slutty dance off with a professional dancer? Stealing a mannequin? The exact words "I can easily make this jump..."? The exact words "Watch this lads"? The exact words "Shots won't do me any harm"? The exact words "Another Venom? Aye no bother!" The exact words "You can crash at mine if you like...?" You get the picture...I do messed up shit I'm drunk, and yet, I continue to do so. Do you want to kiss anyone right now? Ronald McDonald ngl for the sweet sweet invention of double cheeseburgers. Do/did you like you math teacher? I had a crush on both of my maths teachers, Mr. Kelly and Mrs. Hendry, both of which contributed to me turning up to class, but also contributed to me failing said classes bc I was too busy looking at them and being a hormone ridden, horny 16 year old boy, than I was doing maths. Do you often ride the bus? I do, everyday I'm in College. Do you have a fireplace in your house? We do actually it's getting renovated right now. Are you violent when you’re angry? God no! Do you cry when you’re angry? No, I rarely get angry and when I do it can only be described as dry anger. Favourite Harry Potter book? It has to be OotP, fight me. Can you remember your last dream? I can, and let me just say, Chris Pratt, thank you. Do you go to bed early or late? "Do I go to bed?" would be a better question. Do you speak a second language? I speak various levels of different languages. Some if you dropped me in their respective countries I could find my way about, albeit difficultly, and others I can ask for the bar and the bill and that's about it. Who was your first ever best friend? A boy called Dean. Have you ever had an operation? I've had a couple yeah. Tell me about your favourite cousin? His name is Reece and he's a meme loving shit and I love him the whacky bastard. Do you have a piece of clothing that doesn’t even fit you anymore but you can’t bare to throw away? During what can only be described as the Greatest Summer of My Teenage Years; the Legendary Summer of 2014, I wore on my feet almost EVERY DAY a pair of Classic Chuck's, they cost my poor wee mum like £60 the Christmas before but they were too big and when it finally hit summer they fit perfectly. I wore them every time. If you've ever read the book Me Before You or watched the film you'll know what I mean when I say they were my bumblebee tights. Have you ever been in a musical? I played the Cowardly Lion in my school play as a kid. Do you have a porch? I do not. How many times have you watched your favourite movie? At least 100 no joke it has to be. Empire Strikes Back. What do you order at McDonalds? Plain double cheese , small fries, Oasis Summer Fruits and maybe a coffee. Do you get on with old people? Worryingly well. Science Fiction or Romance? Sci-Fi m8. Do you take naps? Anytime I can. How many classes do you/did you take in High School? In my final year I took 3 classes. At its height I think I was doing 9 classes. When did it last snow where you live? A few months back. Does it ever snow where you live? It's Scotland...hahah it very much does. How many months until your birthday? 12 m8. How much charge does your computer have right now? 42%What is your favourite Disney Channel Original Movie? I don't actually think I had one. Sorry. the City or the Sea Side? Jokes on you fool, you can have both. What is your least favourite colour? Beige. Who tf likes being beige. Do you have homework to do? Nah. Are you still friends with your first best friend? I am not. Do you have/are you the gay cousin? I have an asexual cousin, bug more often than not I'm the gay cousin. Do you own dungarees? They can look cute on peeps. Do you like to play sport? I do, not to the extent I used to but yeah. What was your favourite ever Christmas present? My baby nephew. How old are you? Ugh I'm 20. Do you ever use Internet Explorer? Not for s long time. Have you ever had blonde hair? I haven't no. I wanted to but sadly I was a kid. When did you last see the person you have a crush on? Well considering I fall deeply in love with strangers who are nice to me on the train, that question is crazy. Who did you last talk to on the phone? Laura. Pants or Dresses? This question is a lot funnier in the UK and even funnier in Scotland where a man can wear one, but to do so, he's not supposed to wear the other 😉 Do you read fan fiction? Not anymore y'know. What is you’re favourite blog? @mauridianhallow is a pretty cool blog you should check that shit out Do you write poetry? I HAVE written poetry before. Drama or Comedy? How dare you insult The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt by suggesting you can't be both. Have you ever had a hickey? Perhaps...perhaps I have. Perhaps I cannot remember how I got some of them. Perhaps I should stop buying the ENTIRE bar a round of shots knowing all too well that almost every one of these people will offer to buy me drinks all night and then I won't pay shit for another drink until the night is over. Perhaps I should...I won't but I fucking should. And perhaps this has on certain occasions resulted in hickeys I don't know.

[dustin-parrish-blog]

Discoveries | Dustin & Quinn

Date: Saturday, 7th January 2017

Dustin didn’t exactly have friends over all the time. In fact, he couldn’t really remember the last time anyone from school had come to hang out at his house. He was pretty sure the last time had been for a group project, although they would generally rather meet up at the library and not his house. Now, the first order of things was to make his room people-friendly. Or rather, friendly for those not knowing about the supernatural. While he didn’t keep any magical herbs in his room – his mother had made sure of that, but she didn’t know about the ones stored in the back of his wardrobe – there were some pretty harmless books on healing magic and simple spells in his bookshelf that needed to be hidden before Quinn would come over. As well as the newly printed out pages about lore involving shadows and shadow creatures. Dustin shoved everything into one drawer of his desk. He was wondering about whether or not it was appropriate to keep the dream catcher in the open when suddenly, the doorbell rang. “I’ve got it!” he yelled as he made his way down the stairs, only to be beat by his 14-year-old sister who had managed to get to the front door before him. “Hey,” Lea said unimpressed after opening the door.

Quinn didn't really know the rules for hanging out at people's houses. He'd only done it a few times, and never at his own place. Most of his interactions were online with people, even if he had hung out with Dustin before Christmas. Still, he was pretty nervous for some reason. Quinn shouldered his backpack and bit his lower lip as he looked at the door in front of him. Easy enough, just knock or ring the bell. Shifting again, Quinn heard bottles clink in his bag and frowned. He had brought some beer, in case they wanted to drink, but he didn't know if Dustin really did that. So he didn't want him to know he had brought it if he didn't want to drink. Maybe he was thinking far too much about this. Quinn rang the doorbell, finally, and waited until the door was opened by a girl. "Ugh... I'm here to see Dustin," he said, looking past her and smiling when he spotted him.

Dustin returned Quinn’s smile and took a step forward when he heard his sister chuckle and turn around to face him. “What demon did you summon to get a Senior to hang out with you?” Apparently Lea knew much more about the population of their high school as Dustin would never have been able to tell someone’s Year just from looking at them. Dustin rolled his eyes. “Apollyon, and now fuck off, Lea.” He motioned for Quinn to come inside, praying that Lea would leave them alone. He didn’t annoy her when she had her friends over either. “I see you made it without getting lost,” he grinned, now ignoring his sister. “That’s good. Wanna take off your shoes?”

Quinn quirked an eyebrow at the demon summoning. It wasn't like he was popular at all. Not like the other seniors or anything. "Apollyon?" he asked with a small smile. "I didn't know you were so into demons," he teased, scratching at the back of his neck. Quinn walked in and smiled at Dustin. "Yeah, I'm pretty good at not getting lost if I know where something is in relation to something else. Plus I dropped you off before," he said, slipping his shoes off and grinning. "So... ugh... thanks for having me over," he said with a smile.

Dustin shook his head. “I’m not, not really. I just remembered a few names, that’s all.” It didn’t help that after seeing that weird shadow thing the other day, pretty much all he had done since then was research, and that research also heavily featured demons. He needed to know what that thing had been and what it had done to him. “Uhh, no problem,” he replied, smiling back at the other boy. “How about we leave the children here,” he glared at his sister for a second. “And go up to my room?” He didn’t exactly fancy running into his parents. Both his dad and mum could be weird and embarrassing in their own ways.

Quinn shrugged. "I was just teasing," he said with a laugh. He tended to remember a bunch of useless facts as well. Quinn grinned at Dustin and then his sister with a nod. "Yeah, sure," Quinn laughed with a smile as he moved a little closer to Dustin. "I'm down for whatever. I'm pretty easy," he wasn't though, and was actually pretty picky with what he liked doing. But Dustin and he seemed to have a lot in common.

"Well, you wouldn't be the first person to think it's a little strange," Dustin replied. He was glad that Quinn hadn't stood him up or came up with an excuse why he couldn't come over after all. He really hadn't had much else planned for the weekend and as much as he told himself that he was fine doing stuff on his own, it was sort of exciting to hang out with someone who shared a lot of his interests. "Well, the rest of the house is pretty boring, but I can always give you a tour at some point," he offered as he moved a little closer to the stairs. "Wait, do you want anything to drink or something?" he asked. God, he was so bad at this. Why did he never have people over?

"I'm a little strange," he teased with a soft laugh. If Dustin only knew about everything he did as Q. Quinn moved towards the stairs and nodded. "Yeah, I mean, it's whatever you want to do," Quinn said with a nod. A tour wasn't really all that necessary as it? Was that something that people usually did? "Ugh, no I'm fine thanks," Quinn said with a smile. "I had tea before I came over," he said with a smile. "So we can just, go do whatever?" Quinn suggested. Why was he so bad at this? Why was he nervous about this?

"We're all a bit strange," Dustin shot back and chuckled. If only Quinn knew how strange he really was. If only he knew about the herbs and books hidden in his room. If only he knew about the contents of his mother's locked study. When the other boy told him he wasn't thirsty he started making his way up the stairs. "Just, tell me if you change your mind," he told him and moved towards the door of his room, pushing it open. "Yeah. I mean, no. I've got a very tight schedule planned for us. Got every little activity worked out, including bathroom breaks," he teased him.

"That sounds like something I'd see on a T-shirt or something," Quinn teased with a laugh. "Yeah, I'll let you know if I need or want or just generally desire something," he rambled a bit, laughing as he did so. "Do you?" Quinn asked, amused. "Well I hope it's all good stuff. No knitting lessons or anything schedule in there right?" he asked. "And as long as I get to pee every hour on the hour I'm fine,"

Dustin laughed. "Kind of a lame t-shirt, I think," he replied. Thank god Quinn would actually let him know if he needed something because Dustin had no idea how to be a good host or how to think read off a guest's wishes from their mind. "Actually, I've told my mum to teach us," he joked as he stepped inside his room. Biting his lip, he wondered what Quinn would think. If he thought it was too cheesy or nerdy with the framed picture of the IC 1848 nebula over his bed and the dream catcher hanging in the window that his sister had made for him when she had been in primary school. He walked over to his desk to lean against it. "Sorry, we've only got time for that every four hours or so. We don't have infinite time so I had to prioritise more important activities," he teased.

"There are a lot of very lame t-shirts," he said with a small shrug. "Like, most t-shirts with sayings on them actually," Quinn added with a soft chuckle. Quinn looked around Dustin's room, curiously but trying not to seem like he was inspecting it. He liked his room. "You've got a nice room," he said with a smile. "Damn, every four hours?" he asked, standing in the room, unsure of what to do with himself now that he was here in his room. "It better be lots of games and stuff then. And can I at least get a bottle?"

"Yeah, maybe. Some of the stuff on them is pretty lame. I don't really wear any shirts like that," Dustin replied, glancing at Quinn out of the corner of his eye as he looked at his room. "Thanks," he said softly when the other boy complimented his room. "It's not much. I mean, I've got my own computer in here and my own TV and PS4 so it's not like I should complain." He chuckled. "Oh yes, lots of games. You wanted to play games, right? But we can do other stuff, too. Anything you want." He knew that Quinn was sort of a giant nerd as well but he didn't want him to think of this as lame and boring. "Sure, we can get a couple bottles," he joked and laughed.

"Yeah I'm... not good with fashion," Quinn admitted. He was usually just a solid colored t-shirt kind of guy. Maybe some sweaters in the winter. That was about it. "Yeah you've got a slightly better gaming set up for friends than I do," Quinn said, looking at the TV and ps4. "I mean I've got a great computer, but no console," he said, pulling his bag off and setting it gently on the ground. "Yeah, games sound great to me. But I'm down for whatever," he said, shuffling idly. "Games or movies or anything,"

"Well, but you look good wearing what you're wearing, so I don't think you really need that kinda fashion stuff," Dustin replied in a casual tone, hoping it was an okay thing to say. "Maybe I do, so it's good you're here and I finally get to try out some multiplayer stuff." Trust him to have a great console and games but no friends to actually play with. Dustin moved from where he was perched against the desk and walked over to his bookshelf. Which was only half books since the other half was games and DVDs. "Uh, I got Netflix but also some DVDs here if you wanna watch a movie," he said. God, how would they decide what to do? He didn't want to say anything because he really did not mind and also he was afraid Quinn would hate his suggestions but go along with them to be polite.

Quinn felt his face heat up slightly at the compliment and looked away. "Ugh, thanks," he mumbled with a small smile. Quinn finally moved from the doorway over to where Dustin was standing in front of the doorway. He looked over Dustin's shoulder at the stuff he had on the shelf. "I don't mind either way," he said. But it seemed like both of them had been saying that. So Quinn was going to make an executive decision and hope that Dustin wouldn't mind. "Let's do a game then," he said with a definitive nod.

"You're welcome," Dustin said quietly, running a hand through his hair. It didn't lie as flat as it sometimes did. As he hadn't yet gone outside today, he hadn't felt the need to wear a beanie today. "A game it is," Dustin said and glanced back at him. "I mean, we can always watch a movie later when we feel lazy." He grabbed a couple of games he knew they'd be able to play together - Black Ops 3, Diablo 3, FIFA 16 - and presented them to the other boy. "What do you think?" he asked. "Diablo's not too bad, is it?"

Quinn nodded and smiled. "Yeah video games and then movie. Sounds perfect," he laughed. Quinn looked over the selection of games. He wasn't a big sports game fan, so that was a pass. And Black Ops 3 was alright. "I definitely vote Diablo 3," he said with a nod. It was more his speed. Quinn moved back towards there the television was, plopping down in front of it with a grin. "Ugh... is sitting here good?" he asked, unsure.

"Great." Dustin was glad that they had found a game they would both enjoy playing. Unless Quinn had only said that because Dustin liked it, but he honestly didn't think so. Moving towards the TV, he put in the disk of Diablo 3 and got out the two controlers. He looked back at Quinn, laughing. "Oh no, you can't sit on my floor," he replied, shaking his head. "Who do you think you are? You have to stand the entire time, of course."

Quinn flushed slightly when Dustin teased him. "Yeah well I dunno if there was somewhere you wanted to sit or anything," he mumbled, flushing slightly as he reached out to take a controller from Dustin. He hoped that he wasn't making a fool of himself right now. Quinn pulled his feet under him and waited for Dustin to get everything ready and sit down. "I haven't played Diablo in ages. It's a great game,"

Dustin plopped down next to him on the floor. "You're so easy to tease," he mumbled, chuckling to himself as the game started. To be fair, you could still see the TV screen well from his bed so they could have sat on his bed, but he wasn't sure if that was weird or anything. He didn't really know the rules for when hanging out with other guys. "Really is. And same for me. Can't actually remember the last time. What are you playing at the moment? I mean not right now, but like, at home."

"Yeah well...," Quinn rolled his eyes. He wasn't the best at social interactions. Quinn was glad that Dustin sat down next to him, and turned to smile at him. "Yeah I had a really good Wizard character. He was totally overpowered late game though," Quinn laughed. "So I definitely wanna do something different this time," he said with a nod. "Um, I'm still doing a lot of the Witcher 3. There's a lot in that game to do. So that's sort of it for now,"

Dustin smiled. "Oh, I've played as a wizard before. But I remember sticking with my Demon Hunter for some time, too. Do you like wizards?" he asked, raising one eyebrow at him. God, if only Quinn knew. Knew that maybe video games and real life weren't as separate as people suspected. "What are you thinking for this time then?" he asked. "Oh yeah, that's cool. I love games that last a long time. I know they make games sometimes that are supposed to last you like three hours, and to be honest I think that would really be a waste of money for me."

Quinn laughed. "Who doesn't like wizards and magic? I'm pretty sure everyone wanted to use magic at some point, or imagined it and pretended," he said with a smile. He wondered if those were real too. "Demon hunters were fun, but the magic part was too cool. Plus wizards do ridiculous damage," Quinn mused. "I'm thinking a witch doctor. That'll be fun you know?" Quinn just nodded. "The longer the better. Usually. I mean, some short games are great, but if it's that short then I'm gonna wait until it's on sale on Steam or something," he said with a nod, picking out his character and smiling. "Okay, I'm ready when you are,"

"Yeah..." Dustin smiled to himself. Sometimes, he thought that he was really, really lucky. But also, casting magic was never as easy as it appeared in games. Or as exciting. Closing small cuts over and over again and healing tiny bruises could get boring sometimes. "I think I'll go with a wizard then," Dustin replied and grinned. "So I can be overpowered." He also selected his character and glanced at Quinn. "I remember playing Life is Strange and being really disappointed when it was over so soon," he told the other boy. "I was born ready."

Quinn nodded. "Good, that'll be a little balance since mine is more CC," he said with a nod. Though early on in the game it didn't really matter. Well, it didn't matter at all in diablo really. You could have any combination. "I never played that game," he said with a shrug. "I never could get into those pure plot ones, like the TellTale games or anything," Quinn mumbled, scratching the back of his head slightly as he started up playing.

"Birthday present from my sister," Dustin mumbled, staring at the screen as the game began. "Wasn't too convinced at first but let me tell you, I got really emotionally invested in it," he admitted, biting his lower lip as they played. It certainly felt different to be playing with someone else beside him on his PS4 instead of alone. It was good though. Very good. He'd nearly forgotten how much fun it was to comment on everything out loud instead of inside his head.

"My sister usually gives me computer stuff too," Quinn said with a nod. It was the easiest thing to get him. Usually it was in the form of a Steam gift card though. Which was fantastic for him. It was nice to play with someone else that wasn't on another computer though. It was easier to talk to Dustin as well, since he wasn't just a stranger. He hadn't even realized that several hours had passed.

The last thing Dustin was thinking about playing video games, especially if he was having fun, was time. Not having realised just how many hours had passed since they had started playing, he was taken aback by the sudden knock on the door that was followed by a woman sticking her head inside the room. Or rather, his mother was sticking her head inside. Even though her hair was coloured a dyed red instead of the natural dark blonde of Dustin's and Lea's hair, no one could say that she didn't resemble her children. "Darling, I'm going to leave for my late shift in a couple of minutes," she announced. Then, her gaze left her son and swept over to the boy next to him. "You must be Quinn?"

Quinn didn't notice the woman at first when she stuck her head into the room. He was too absorbed in the game to notice her until she spoke. He looked up, pausing the game and flushed. He had forgotten that he'd probably meet Dustin's parents today. "Oh, um, yeah," he said with a small smile. "I'm Quinn," he said, not sure whether he should stand up or stay seated. He ended up shifting forward a bit but staying down on the ground. "It's nice to meet you," he said pleasantly.

"Very nice to meet you, Quinn. I'm Laura," his mother replied with a smile. Dustin sighed, trying to silently communicate with his mother that he'd like to be left alone. She didn't seem to understand him though. Or she simply ignored it. "Don't forget to eat, boys, there's plently of options down in the kitchen. Now, I won't be back until very late in the morning. You got your spray right here, right? And if it's getting bad again go bother your dad or call me on my cell." Dustin internally groaned. He was /fine/. Just because he'd had an asthma attack from running from this monster - which she didn't know about - didn't mean he'd get another one playing video games with Quinn. "Anyway, night, munchkin." When she walked up to them and bent down to ruffle his hair and press a small kiss to his head Dustin tried to move away, flushing a bright red.

Quinn listened as Laura spoke. Most of which was focused on Dustin exclusively. But he smiled, watching as she moved into the room and biting back a laugh as Dustin flushed away from his mom. "It was nice meeting you," he said quickly, putting a hand in front of his mouth so she didn't see him smirking. "Munchkin?" he asked with a grin when she finally left.

The door shut behind her and Dustin desperately wished for different parents. For anyone but her to be his mother. At first, he didn't dare look at Quinn. But when he did, he found the other boy with a grin on his face. "Oh shut up," he shot back at his comment and shoved at his shoulder, careful to not put too much force behind the movement. He just wanted to make a statement, not hurt the other boy. "As if you've never been called any bad nicknames."

"I think I'm gonna call you Munchkin now," Quinn said with another laugh, letting himself get shoved and grinning. It made no sense, of course, since Dustin was quite a bit taller than he was. But he laughed again, nudging his shoulder against Dustin's and turning back to look at the game. "I haven't had any bad nicknames," he said, thinking to himself if he had any. "Your mom seems nice though," he said with a small laugh.

"Don't you dare." Dustin shot him a glare, but it didn't turn out as threatening as intended when he had to grin in the middle of it, feeling Quinn nudge his shoulder. "Well, then it's time you get some. Don't you agree, pumpkin?" he asked and laughed. "Nah, she only has to be nice because you're a guest. You should see her when she's disappointed or angry. Practically turns into an evil witch, I tell you." He had to chuckle at his own joke. If only Quinn knew. "Soo..." he looked back at the game. "Do you wanna continue or do something else?"

Quinn laughed at Dustin's attempt at a threat, before pouting at the nickname. "If you do that we'll sound like a couple," he replied, feeling his cheeks blush again slightly. "Well I think most parents are pretty bad when they're angry or disappointed," he pointed out, scratching the back of his head again. He looked at the game and shrugged. "We could do a movie or something?" he suggested, glancing over to his bag. "I brought, ugh, beer if you want?" he asked tentatively, trying to make it seem like it was no big deal. "I dunno if you drink or anything,"

Dustin quickly glanced away, embarrassed. He hadn't meant it like /that/. "I'm pretty sure no couple would seriously use those nicknames," he retorted. "And it's not like I would have called you that at, like, school." He wasn't sure if Quinn was gay, but reading his blog a while ago he sort of had a feeling that he was. So it would probably be a very bad idea to joke about stuff like that where others could hear, especially if they thought Quinn was gay, too. "Movie sounds good," he mumbled. His thoughts were quickly pulled away from the other boy's sexuality when he mentioned the beer. "Oh my god, my parents would kill me," he exclaimed, glancing towards the bag. He shot Quinn a grin. "Hell yeah I want."

"I dunno...," Quinn said, feeling a little less shy. "I guess they are pretty bad," he laughed. Quinn just shrugged. He had no clue about Dustin's sexuality, other than a passing mention on his blog if he remembered from a while ago. It wasn't like he cared though. Definitely not. Quinn looked at Dustin again, unsure about whether or not it had been a good idea to mention the beer. But then Dustin wanted it and he grinned. "Okay cool," he said with a smile, pushing himself up and walking over to his bag. He pulled two out and handed one to Dustin. "They aren't exactly cold anymore," he mumbled with a frown. He hadn't thought about that bit. Regardless, he uncapped the bottle, they were twist off, and smiled.

"Like, I don't get nicknames at all, unless they are really personal. Or unless that person has a really, really horrible first name," Dustin told him. Other than his parents' nicknames, no one had ever called him by anything other than his name. It wasn't exactly easy to turn Dustin into a nickname without calling him fine particles of matter. Smiling, he took a beer from Quinn, unsure how to open it without a bottle opener but then Quinn twisted the cap off just like that and he followed his example. Taking a sip, he tried not to grimace at the foreign taste. He couldn't exactly tell Quinn he'd never had beer before, could he? "Yeah, but it's not like we can just go downstairs and pop them into the fridge for a small bit." He laughed.

"Yeah, that's a good point," Quinn said, sipping on the beer with a hum. He hated warm beer. It wasn't like he drank beer all the time, but it was nice to have a fake and be able to get it for times like this, as rare as they were. "It's hard to make one for my name anyway," he said with a shrug. Other than Q, and he didn't let people associate him with that. "Yeah, that's true. Parents suck sometimes," he mumbled, biting his lower lip and humming. "So, movie? What do you like to watch? Cause I'm pretty open to whatever,"

Dustin took another sip of his beer. He wondered what it would taste like if it wasn't so warm. "Are you sure about that, Quinnie?" he teased and quickly pulled a face, vowing to never call him that again. Setting the beer down onto his carpet, he got up and wandered over to his bookshelf again. "I've got a couple movies here, or Netflix," he suggested. "But if you're into chick flicks I'm going to have to disappoint you, unless you wanna borrow a movie from Lea."

"Ew gross. Quinnie? That's horrible?" he wrinkled his nose. By the look on Dustin's face he didn't like it either. Quinn watched as Dustin went over to his bookshelf again, and he followed, looking over the movies with a shrug. "You pick. It's your house," he said with a nod. "But I'm totally not into chick flicks, so I think we can at least agree on not that,"

"I know, right? I didn't realise how bad it was going to be until the words left my mouth," Dustin admitted. "Okay, no chick flicks. Since I don't actually own any that doesn't narrow down my list at all. Especially since I can't remember talking with you about movies before." He let his finger drift over the titles. "I've got some classics, like Blade Runner and 12 Monkeys. Or newer stuff like The Martian." He glanced at Quinn. "Or something scary? I think I got a couple horror movies somewhere in my wardrobe." Away from the eyes of his parents.

Quinn hummed softly with a nod. "Yeah it's shitty," he said with a laugh. Quinn frowned though, and hummed. "Sorry, not very helpful," he laughed, looking over the titles quickly. He wasn't really into anything older, so he looked past those movies quickly, and he'd already seen The Martian. I'm down for something scary," he said with a grin. "Those are always pretty fun,"

Dustin nodded and moved towards his wardrobe. He tried to ignore the mess inside - he had the habit of cleaning his room by simply throwing lots of stuff from the floor inside - and felt around until he reached his secret DVD hiding place. A couple of DVDs in hand, he closed the doors again before Quinn would come over and help him look. He also hid other things in his wardrobe as well and he didn't want to explain that the herbs in there were not, in fact, weed. "So, I got The Witch, Conjuring, [Rec], Let Me In... but we could also look for movies on Netflix if you want," Dustin offered.

Quinn had made to move over to where Dustin was looking into his closet, but paused. It was one thing looking at his bookshelf, another to look through his closet. So he waited for Dustin to call out a few names. "Ugh... how about the Conjuring? I don't think I've seen that and I heard it's good," Quinn suggested, sipping on his beer. "I know Netflix usually just has shitty movies now though, so I dobut we'll find something there,"

Dustin nodded. "The Conjuring it is then." He nodded, throwing the back of his DVDs back into the closet before closing the doors. He really should think of a better hiding place for his stuff. His closet was basically overspilling with clothes and anything he didn't want in the open in his room. He made his way over to TV and popped the DVD into the DVD player. "Prepare to be scared. Uh... do you want anything to eat from downstairs?"

"Is it actually scary?" Quinn asked. He'd heard it was, but that didn't mean it actually was. He shook his head at the question, moving over and sitting on the floor in front of the bed, leaning against the bed. "Nah, I'm pretty good," he said with a smile. "I had a pretty big lunch," he added, smiling as he watched the movie start up on the television. "You're not gonna be too scared are you?"

"Uh, I hope so? I haven't actually gotten around to watching it yet," Dustin admitted. "I mean, it's a horror movie. Also there's kids, apparently. Kids are always scary." He'd been wondering where they were going to sit. He didn't have a couch in his room so normally he would hang out on his bed when watching a movie, but that was too awkward for two guys hanging out, right? Luckily Quinn sat down in front of the bed then so he simply plopped down next to him, reaching for his lukewarm beer. "Me? Scared? I don't get scared."

Quinn laughed. "Well that's good then. I'm glad I picked that one," he said, watching as Dustin sat down. "Oh! I'm gonna hit the lights," he said, darting up and shutting off the light switch and then moving back to sit down. As he sat, Quinn felt his arm brush against Dustin's, flushing slightly, he pulled away a bit. "Yeah, well. I'm pretty sure most things on TV won't scare me anymore," Quinn said with a small smile.

"Yeah, but it's not like I'd mind watching the same movie twice," Dustin replied. Actually, maybe it would have been better if Quinn had picked a movie he'd already seen. That way, he would be prepared for all scary scenes and jumpscares. He watched the other boy hit the lights and then sit back down, their arms brushing for a second before Quinn pulled away. Dustin glanced at him. What was an acceptable distance for sitting next to one another? "Well, I guess we'll find out now if you're telling the truth," he teased him.

"Yeah, but scary movies aren't as good the second time," Quinn pointed out. They just weren't scary anymore. "I guess I will," he said, turning his attention to the movie as things started up. It actually was scary, far more than he thought it would be. Quinn jumped a few times in the first few minutes. He glanced over to Dustin when he finished his own beer. "Want another?" he asked, reaching into his bag and pulling out two more beers with a smile.

Every time Quinn jumped beside him, Dustin glanced over to him. Truth be told, the premise of this movie did look terrifying. Hopefully it wouldn't get much worse than this. He really didn't want to noticeably jump from any of the scary moments. "Yeah, sure," he replied, finishing the last sip of his first beer. "I can't decide if you wanna get me drunk or make me piss my pants from this movie." He chuckled.

Quinn just laughed, eyes focusing from Dustin to the movie. He twisted off the cap of his beer and took a long sip. He was fine, totally fine. The alcohol was dulling things anyway. He wasn't really used to drinking, so one beer was starting to hit him a little. "Maybe both?" he laughed, before wrinkling his nose. "Okay, maybe not both. Or either. Are you actually not feeling it?"

Dustin accepted his second beer from Quinn and took off the cap. "Yeah, please not both," he replied and grinned. He took a sip from his beer. The taste wasn't too bad, actually. At least, it was getting better. He shrugged, looking at Quinn instead of the movie. "I don't know. Am I drunk? I really don't think I am. I mean, I feel a little strange, but-" he was about to ask if that was what it felt like to be drunk but then he remembered that Quinn actually had no clue he'd never been drunk before. "I guess I can definitely handle another beer though."

Quinn smiled softly, turning to the movie. He quirked an eyebrow at him, jumping slightly at a jump scare, before focusing back on Dustin. "I dunno. Are you?" he teased. He had a feeling that Dustin hadn't been drunk before. "Well good," he said with a wry grin. "Because I brought a bunch more and wouldn't want to have to drink them all by myself,"

Dustin chuckled when he felt Quinn jump next to him. "Oh my god, you scare easily," he teased him. "You need to chill." He knocked his shoulder against Quinn's. "Oh, shut up," he mumbled. "But yeah, I'll help you, if that's the case. Because I'm such an awesome friend." He didn't even think about what would happen if his parents caught them drinking. His dad wasn't likely to bother them and his mum would only get back from work at around 5am.

"I've just had a not so great couple of weeks okay," Quinn mumbled, letting the words slip out before he actually thought about them. He opened his mouth to try and say something to take that back, but couldn't think of anything. So instead he just closed his mouth and looked at the TV, taking a long sip of his beer. "Well I'm glad my awesome friend is helping me drink the beer that I brought," he teased.

Dustin was taking a big gulp of beer when he heard the words leave Quinn's mouth. His mouth started forming a frown. He didn't want to force the other boy to watch anything he didn't like watching. "I can put something else on if you'd like," he suggested in a quiet voice. "Or... if you wanna talk about it?" He took another sip of beer. "Like, I'm also awesome at listening, not just at drinking beer."

Quinn flushed slightly, looking at Dustin before shrugging. "You... ugh... wouldn't believe me," he said, taking a rather large sip and watching the movie for another moment. "Have you ever wondered if shit like in this movie actually happened?" Quinn asked after a moment? "You know, ghosts, supernatural, all that shit?" he asked, feeling stupid for even asking that.

"Try me," Dustin simply replied. Holding the bottle of beer in one hand, he nearly spilled it over his carpet when he heard the next words coming out of Quinn's mouth. He couldn't... or maybe he could. Had Quinn seen the smoke monster, too? "All my life I have," Dustin said quietly, turning to face him. "Why, have you found any proof that they exist?" he asked, his tone serious.

Quinn blinked, looking at Dustin curiously. Did he actually believe him? Or know about all these things. He opened his mouth, about ready to spill about the absolute proof he had, of his sister, despite the fact that she thought she was just a superhero, before closing it. He promised he wouldn't tell anyone about her. "I saw... I dunno what it was. I got attacked by it. It was like a giant bird and had a human head," he winced at how weird that sounded. "And then another creature too, big, creepy, but it turned back into a human," he said, careful not to let on that it was Neven.

Opening his mouth in shock, Dustin stared at the other boy. Despite having grown up with magic inside his house, despite knowing that vampires were real, despite being touched by the scariest creature he'd ever seen, Quinn's words still felt so unbelievable to him. This was real. Actually real. "Where did you see them?" he asked Quinn. "And... they didn't hurt you, did they?"

Quinn looked like he did believe him, which gave Quinn a bit of hope. "Ugh, yeah. I mean, no, not really," he said with a small shrug. "I got away from the bird thing, and the other thing scratched me but turned back before anything else happened so," he shrugged, biting his lower lip. "I'm okay though. Do you believe me? That this stuff exists?"

"I'm glad you got away from the things, even if that one thing scratched you," Dustin replied, hoping that the scratch was just a scratch and nothing serious. "Where did it get scratch you?" he asked. He kept looking at him before giving him a small nod. Should he tell him the truth? The whole truth? Tell him that he was a warlock and that this wasn't very new to him? But his mother kept saying that no one else should know and besides, he was getting along really well with Quinn. He didn't want him to suddenly treat him different because of it. Didn't want him to talk to him like he wasn't normal. Or just talk about his magic from now on. "Yeah, I believe you," he told him in a low voice. "Of course I do. You don't look like you're kidding and besides, it would be strange if I didn't. Yesterday, I sort of got chased by this strange creature? It looked like it was made out of nothing but black smoke, but it had those eyes. Really creepy, white eyes."

Quinn smiled, holding onto his left shoulder. "Ugh, yeah, it scratched me here," he said pointing to where it did, but he didn't pull up his sleeve or anything. Quinn paused, wondering and hoping that Dustin actually did believe him. He wanted someone to talk to besides his sister. It was weird, learning about this and not knowing anything really. He wanted someone who actually knew about this stuff. "Really?" he asked, eyes going wide and turning slightly to face Dustin, sipping his drink again with a small smile. "Oh shit," he face dropped, eyes growing wider. "That sounds actually horrifying," he shuddered. "I haven't seen anything like that though,"

Glancing at Quinn's shoulder, Dustin took another sip of beer. "Does it still hurt? Or did it heal alright?" he wanted to know, not sure why he was asking. He didn't want to reveal his secret and also, Quinn seemed fine. Besides, it was difficult treating injuries that hadn't happened recently. Dustin smiled when it seemed like Quinn actually believed him. "Yeah, it was really scary. It just touched me and then left? I'm glad you haven't seen it. But yeah, I've been trying to just... ignore that happened because I don't want to think about why it was there or what it might have done." He took a big gulp of beer. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make this all about me. I just- I need you to know that I believe you. Like, one hundred percent believe you."

"Um, yeah it's healed pretty well," Quinn said with a shrug. "I think there's a little scar but that's about it," he said with a nod. They'd gone to the hospital afterwards and gotten it patched up. He hadn't told Karen or Jared. Quinn nodded, biting his lower lip as he looked at Dustin as he spoke. That actually did sound terrifying, and he hoped that he wouldn't find anything like that. "Thanks," he said slowly, finishing off the beer he had and pulling out another. "You didn't, just, thanks for believing me,"

"Oh, that's good." Dustin nodded, then smiled. "It's actually kind of badass, you know? Having a small scar from fighting some big, creepy creature and a giant bird. That's practically a dragon," he told him. He watched Quinn take out a third beer. Shit, he really should keep up. He didn't want the other boy to think that he couldn't, so he quickly gulped down the rest of his second beer, grimacing at the taste of the warm liquid. "No problem. I mean, not too long ago I tried to get into a vampire bar. But the bouncer wouldn't believe I was 23..."

"I don't really know about badass," Quinn said with a small flush, but he grinned anyway. Did Dustin think he was badass? He tried to stop smiling stupidly. Quinn sipped on the beer thoughtfully, nearly choking when he heard about Dustin trying to get into a vampire bar. "You what?" he asked, sputtering slightly. "They have those things?" he asked, eyes narrowed. "But... I mean, you don't exactly look 23. Do you even have a fake?"

"Well, I think it was," Dustin argued. "So if anyone asks you got that scar from fighting a dragon. I think that is badass." He held out his hand and smiled at him, silently asking for another beer. "Apparently they do. But I didn't know it was a vampire bar when I tried to get in," he explained. "Um, I definitely look like 23, what are you talking about?" He laughed. "You mean fake ID? Uh, no, I haven't. I tried telling the bouncer that I'm doing my own laundry, though."

Quinn smiled again, feeling his cheeks darken again, glad they were still sitting in the dark. He grabbed another beer and passed it over to Dustin. "That's weird. I mean, that they have those things here. I'm gonna have to stay away from there then," he added. "Yeah, totally," Quinn laughed, feeling far better than he did before. "Ah, yes, the old laundry test. The best way to determine if someone is over 21," Quinn said, leaning back against the bed and grinning. They'd missed a bit of the movie, but that didn't really matter all that much.

"Thank you." Dustin tried to uncap the beer in the dark, which wasn't that easy since the only source of light was coming from the movie, which got quite dark at times. "Um, the laundry test is foolproof. Like, I'm sixteen and I couldn't do laundry if I tried. I'd ruin everything," he admitted with a chuckle, glancing at Quinn. "It really sucks that I didn't get to see a vampire though. I really want to see one." He frowned. "You're- you're human, right?"

"Definitely," Quinn laughed, shaking his head and sipping his beer. He was starting to feel it a little bit more. It had been a while since they started drinking, and they hadn't really taken any breaks. "I tried once, and it was a mess. Karen won't let me do it anymore," he grinned. "I dunno, vampires sound pretty scary if they're real. And, like, what bits of them are real? Like is it Twilight vampires or Dracula vampires?" he asked. "Yeah, of course I'm human," he laughed, before pausing. "You're human right?"

"Wish I could have seen you try." Dustin laughed. He was feeling really good and relaxed, better than he had been in a long time. Besides, Quinn was really nice and funny. "Oh, I hope it's the Twilight vampires. They're kind of cool," he admitted. "Oh, a little bit disappointing that you're human." He looked right at Quinn, trying to keep a straight face as he answered his question. "Nope. I'm secretly half-mermaid."

"It was not particularly fun. And seeing Karen get angry like that wasn't great," he shrugged. Well, more disappointed and frustrated than angry. "Nah, those are so lame!" he laughed. He'd never seen the movies, but Quail had and loved talking about them when they were younger. "But scary ones would suck too. I think I've seen enough scary creatures...," Quinn's eyes went wide for a moment. "Wait really? You are?" then he paused, realizing that Dustin was teasing him. "Oh, fuck you," he pouted, but laughed. "Where's your tail then?"

Dustin continued sipping on his beer. If it made him feel good, why not continue? "Parents always get angry. If I had a dollar for every time my mum got angry with me, I'd be rich enough to move out," he told him. "They're not lame!" he argued. "They've all got very interesting backstories and personalities! And they're more than just monsters." He had to snort when Quinn actually seemed to believe that he was a mermaid. At least for a second. And then he was laughing. "Oh my god, I can't believe you just bought that!" he exclaimed, then raised one eyebrow, chuckling. "You don't wanna know."

“My parents don't get terribly angry," Quinn said, letting the word slip out. It was sometimes easier to just refer to them like that. Plus he was drunk. Anything that made things easier. "Okay, yeah but most people have interesting backstories," he pointed out. "Even if they are vampires," he laughed softly. "Yeah well, I'm sorry I'm thinking about all this stuff and maybe thinking it's possible you are," he huffed. "I don't know anything about this,"

Dustin nodded. "Then you got really lucky," he mumbled. "Mine are really strict sometimes," he told him. "Or maybe I just mess up too often." He shrugged. "Well, yes. So you shouldn't diss Twilight. The books are actually really well-written," Dustin told him, drunk enough not to feel ashamed to point it out. "Okay, fine. I could have been a half-mermaid. But I'm not. I'm human. Promise." He looked at Quinn. This wasn't even a lie. He was human. Warlocks were still human.

"I guess I did," Quinn said with a small smile, leaning back against the bed. His adoptive parents were great. "I'm sure you're fine," he said with a laugh. "And your mom seems nice," he smiled, sipping his drink again. "I heard the books were shit," Quinn. "Wait, did you read them," he teased, reaching out and poking Dustin's side. "Well that's good to know," he said with a nod, laughing. He wasn't really paying much attention to the movie now though.

"Uh, no, who you just met was oh-we-have-guests-let's-​be-nice mum. You should see Dustin-why-is-your-room-​such-a-mess or did-you-get-an-F-in-Fren​ch mum," Dustin told him and shook his head. He opened his mouth in offense as Quinn complained about the books before realising that yup, he had just gave away the fact he'd read them. "Maybeee," he admitted and looked away, letting out an indignant sound at the other boy poking his side. He was ticklish as hell. "There's nothing wrong with reading Twilight!" He reached out with his hand to poke Quinn right back.

"Well that sounds like you're just not doing what you should," Quinn said with a laugh, not that he should talk. "Maybe you're just a secret bad boy," he teased, before bursting into laughter. Quinn didn't know Dustin that well, but he could tell he wasn't the bad boy type. "They're pretty shitty from what I hear," Quinn laughed, poking Dustin again, before grinning. "I guess there could be worse stuff. Like 50 Shades of Grey or something,"

Dustin chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "Well, of course I am, clearly," he replied, pointing at the bottle of beer in his hand before taking a long sip. "But you can talk. You're the bad influence." He stuck his tongue out at Quinn as the other boy laughed. "She wouldn't have been so nice to you had she known what you were hiding in your backpack." He rolled his eyes. "Maybe you should read them." He gave him a poke back in the stomach. "But no, I'm not into 50 shades. I don't think 12-year-old me would have liked the, uh, the sex." He giggled at the word.

"I'm not a bad influence!" Quinn gasped in mock shock. "I'm a perfect angel," he teased. He shrugged at his backpack. "Yeah, but you're glad I did bring it right? And I would have been able to hide it. My parents never find it when I bring stuff home," not that it was often. "Well that's good," he grinned, laughing as well. "Apparently it's based off of Twilight fanfiction or something," he wrinkled his nose.

Dustin snorted. "Yeah right. Perfect angel, yup. Exactly how I'd describe you. A perfect angel sent from heaven bringing beer into the houses of 16-year-old boys who don't even own fake IDs," he replied, grinning at him. "Of course I'm glad you brought it. But the fact you're good at hiding beer from your parents just means that you're the bad boy and the bad influence, not me." He shook his head. "Ugh, but I don't think those two have much in common."

Quinn just laughed at the image. "You make me sound like a pedophile like that," he laughed shaking his head and sipping on the beer. "Yeah but...," Quinn countered. "You don't clean your room," he said, before bursting out into laughter. "I dunno. Apparently it's all about sex, and isn't there sex in Twilight or whatever? Bed breaking sex or some shit?"

"I mean, you are older than me," Dustin pointed out and laughed. He pouted, glancing at his room. "It's not that bad!" he protested. Thank god Quinn hadn't seen the inside of his closet yet. "I think there was bed breaking sex in the fourth book, yes," he replied slowly, grabbing his beer and taking a sip. His head felt so fuzzy. But good fuzzy. "But that's okay. It didn't break from kinky stuff, just supernatural strength. I think."

"Only by a year," he pointed out. At least, from what he knew. And he was turning eighteen in a few months. Quinn just shook his head, leaning against the bed and feeling Dustin's arm against his. "Okay, that sounds pretty fucking kinky if you ask me," he giggled, enjoying the alcohol now. "So I think it was probably both," he replied, making a judgement on nothing more than that.

"Yeah, but that's, like, 12 months," Dustin argued, eyes flicking towards Quinn when he felt their arms brush against each other. He could faintly make out the generic horror sounds from the TV, but he hadn't paid attention to the movie in a while. "What, are you saying that you think supernatural stuff is a kink?" he wondered out loud.

"That's not all that long is it?" Quinn asked, flushing slightly. He didn't really see much of a difference in age really. Quinn's eyes were watching the movie, but he was acutely aware of the warmth coming from Dustin's arm against his. "No," he said with a laugh. "Everything I've seen has been pretty dangerous," he said, wrinkling his nose. "I don't like that," he mumbled. "Do you think super strength is?"

"Maybe not that much," Dustin mumbled, relaxing and leaning back a little against the foot of his bed, his arm still pressed against Quinn's as he swallowed the rest of his third beer he was holding with the hand attached to his other arm. "So, no giant bird kink?" Dustin asked and chuckled. "The only thing I've seen is that smoke monster and it didn't exactly make me horny." He had to giggle, then thought about the last question. "Maybe it's a little hot," he mumbled, flushing slightly.

"See?" Quinn said with a grin. "Totally not a pedophile or creep," and he just laughed, shaking his head. It's not like he talked to enough people to even qualify as creepy, right? That was totally a thing. You had to talk to people to be creepy. Quinn shuddered, immediately thinking of sister. "No, definitely no bird kink. Gross," he wanted to get that image out of his head. "That sounds more scary than anything," he mumbled, finishing off the beer. "Super strength would kind of be hot," he smiled.

Dustin shook his head. "You're definitely not creepy. How can a 'perfect angel' be creepy?" he teased him, using Quinn's words from earlier. He set down his empty beer bottle and looked at Quinn. "Scary can be hot, though," he said. "But not like /that/. I like how we're on the same page about super strength."

“I guess that's true. I mean, perfect angels are definitely the best thing ever. Everyone should like them," he laughed. "Can it?" Quinn asked, frowning. "Maybe I should be scary then," he grinned playfully, before feeling his cheeks heat up as he realized what he had implied. "Yeah, good to know. Just gotta find a guy that's super strong now," he laughed.

"Yeah, no. Perfect angels are boring," Dustin argued. At the next words leaving Quinn's mouth, he was a little stunned. Had Quinn just...? He couldn't be sure. His thinking seemed to not function very well at the moment. Something was numbing his neurons, probably. He quickly looked away, only to be surprised by his next words. Quinn wanted to find a guy. So he was gay, like he suspected from his blog posts. Unless this was part of the joke...? "Uh, can I ask you something?" he wanted to know, not quite looking at him.

"Really? That's so lame. Do you think I'm lame then?" he pouted playfully. Quinn didn't think anything of the words he had said. He wasn't used to hiding that aspect of himself. It was hard enough hiding Quinn, it wouldn't do well to have too many secrets of his own. His sister's didn't count. Quinn glanced over at Dustin, curious and nodded. "Yeah, of course,"

Dustin shook his head. "I thought we'd already established that you are most definitely not a perfect angel, so you're, like, not lame at all," he muttered and shrugged. Now that he had permission from Quinn to ask a question, he wasn't sure how to say it. He opened his mouth. Would Quinn think it was weird he was asking? Maybe, if it hadn't been for the three beer, he wouldn't have asked at all. "Uh... just... are you gay? 'cause you just said... and then the grindr thing," he mumbled.

"Augh, fine. At least I'm not lame. That's the important bit," he laughed. Quinn blinked at the question, feeling his cheeks flush a little bit again. Why was that happening so often? "Oh, yeah, I am," he said, looking away, before glancing back at Dustin. "Is that, ugh, a problem?" he asked, but made no effort or motion to move away from where he was sitting. He hoped it wasn't.

It's didn't come as a big surprise to Dustin that Quinn was gay, he'd already suspected as much from what he'd read on his blog. He finally moved back his head to look at him. What was a surprise was the way he just... admitted it. Like it was nothing. Suddenly, Dustin realised that he hadn't answered the question. "Oh, no," he quickly told him, shaking his head. "Not a problem. Like, not at all. It's cool." Was Quinn thinking he was just saying that to not make things awkward? Hopefully not.

Quinn looked at Dustin curiously, waiting for his answer. He hoped it was a good one. Quinn liked hanging out with Dustin. A lot. He didn't want to lose that at all. Biting his lower lip, he smiled slightly, drunk enough to fully believe Dustin without any worry. "Okay, cool," he said with a grin.

Dustin looked back at him and returned the smile. "Yeah, cool," he said, hoping that he suddenly hadn't made things awkward. But that question had been on his mind a couple of times in the last hours, and now he finally knew. "Sooo..." he said, his drunk mind letting him ask more questions instead of keeping him silent. "Do you have a boyfriend? Or do you really meet guys from grindr?" he asked him.

Quinn shifted slightly, his arm brushing against Dustin's again but he didn't move away. "So?" he asked with a laugh. "Oh, ugh, no. I don't," he said shaking his head and biting his lip. "And, yeah, no I don't actually have grindr. I was just...," he mumbled, realizing how foolish he had been acting when he was trying to... He didn't even know what he was trying to do with Ricky then. "Yeah, I've never used it or anything,"

Dustin's eyes flicked to where their arms were brushing against each other and then back at Quinn, but he didn't pull away. He didn't mind at all, Quinn's arm felt nice and warm. "Yeah?" he asked, chuckling slightly as the other boy tried to explain. Maybe it was like when he had told people who didn't know him well that he'd had many girlfriends before or lied about having had his first kiss. Sometimes, you didn't exactly tell the truth about how pathetic your love life really was. "Can I... can I ask you how you know? That you're gay, I mean, not that you've never used grindr before."

"Yeah," Quinn replied with a small shrug. "I kind of figured you didn't mean grindr," he laughed, reaching into his bag and offering Dustin another beer before opening one for himself. "Ugh... I just did. Like, I didn't ever like girls so...," Quinn just gave him a sheepish smile. "The internet helped a lot too. In a lot of ways," he felt that familiar blush creep up his cheeks again. "I haven't done anything with a guy or anything," Quinn was rambling now, "But I just know I don't like girls,"

Smiling, Dustin took the beer from him and twisted off his cap. His head already felt funny, but it wouldn't get any worse if he drank more, right? He took a big sip, but snorted when he heard Quinn's words, spilling a bit of beer on his jeans. "Tell me, please, in exactly which ways did the internet 'help' you?" he teased him and grinned. "So you... haven't done anything with anyone? Ever?"

Quinn groaned, realizing he probably should have just stopped talking at some point. "Shut up. That's not what I meant," he whined. Well, maybe a little bit, but Dustin didn't need to know that. "Ugh, no I haven't," he said, flushing again. Was he really that inexperienced compared to other people. "Have you?" he asked, turning to look at Dustin.

"I will never shut up!" Dustin laughed when he heard Quinn groan. "I bet it's exactly what you meant," he told him and grinned. There was no way Quinn didn't go on the internet for 'help'. No way. Dustin smiled when he heard the other boy admit that he hadn't done anything before. It felt good, not to be the only person who was inexperienced because from the way people at school talked, it seemed like almost everyone was dating or had already dated or kissed many people. "I haven't, no," he admitted quietly, the alcohol helping him be more honest. "Not anything."

Quinn just groaned again, shaking his head and hoping that Dustin would drop it. He really didn't want to talk about that right now. "Oh," he said with a small smile, when Dustin admitted to not having any experience either. "Okay cool," he said, feeling a little better and smiling. True, Dustin was a little younger than him, but it was still good to know. "Are you, ugh, you know. Into guys too or just girls or...," Quinn trailed off.

Dustin smiled and rested his head against the back of his bed. Him and Quinn seemed to have more and more in common, and it felt really good to be hanging out with someone who was really similar to yourself in some ways. He gave him a small, tired, drunken smile, except suddenly Quinn asked a question that made him fall out of his relaxed state and nearly drop his bottle of beer. "Uh," he started, staring at Quinn. He didn't know how to answer this. He literally didn't know how to answer it. And the other boy expected an answer, clearly. He opened his mouth to say that no, he liked girls, he liked girls very much, when he closed it again. The thought of lying to Quinn about this made him feel almost sick. "I think I'm going to piss my pants if I don't get up now," was what came out of his mouth instead of the lie. Putting his beer down, he pulled himself to a standing - or rather, swaying - position.

Quinn blinked as he saw Dustin react to his answer. He was drunk, definitely, but even still he could tell his question had made the other feel awkward. Shit. That wasn't what he had wanted. He didn't even know why he had asked that. "Oh," he said, blinking, watching as Dustin stood up. "Yeah, you should go and do that then. Don't want that," he gave an awkward laugh, glancing down at his bottle and drinking again.

Dustin basically fled from his room, slowed down by his legs which seemed to not work as well as they usually did and the fact that it was completely dark. Only the fact he'd navigated his room before in the dark helped him avoid crashing into anything as he pushed the door open. It was far too bright in the hallway as he stumbled towards the bathroom, too drunk to even be worrying about his father or sister seeing him. Seeing as he had in fact drunk three beers, he did use the toilet and then started making his way back, pausing in front of his door. This was awkward. Why couldn't he just tell Quinn the truth? But maybe the truth would make things even more awkward, and he didn't want that. Slowly, he pushed the door open again and stepped into his dark room.

Quinn felt stupid, very stupid. He shouldn't have asked that question. He was drunk and curious and maybe Dustin just looked kind of cute and he liked the way their arms had been brushing a little too much. He groaned, pulling his legs up a bit and resting his head on his knees. Quinn was stupid. And he had no clue how Dustin was even feeling. All he knew was that he had run off to the bathroom without another word. Grabbing the beer, he took another long swig, turning his eyes to focus on the movie.

Dustin leaned against the wall next to the door for a second, watching Quinn who was lit up only by the faint light of the television screen. He looked sort of adorable with his head resting on his knees. Sort of really cute. But now he'd made things awkward. And he didn't want things to be awkward. Pushing himself off the wall, Dustin stumbled closer only to plop himself down next to him, reaching for his shoulders when he nearly lost his balance. "Hey."

Quinn didn't notice when Dustin came in until he started walking over to him. Looking up, he watched as Dustin moved back to sit next to him. At least he wasn't freaking out or anything. "Hey," he said with a small laugh as he watched Dustin stumble over to him. "Sorry, I was stupid, I shouldn't have...," he trailed off, sipping his beer again.

Dustin shook his head, frowning. He didn't want Quinn to think that he was stupid, or that he shouldn't have asked the question. It was his own fault, Dustin's fault, that things got awkward. "You weren't stupid," he replied. "And you can ask me anything, I just..." He didn't finish the sentence. He wasn't sure what he'd even meant to say. "You're not stupid," he said again, for good measure.

Dustin didn't seem angry, which was something. "Yeah I am," Quinn mumbled, looking up at the movie for a moment. "Should I go? I should probably go," he mumbled, his words slurring a little bit. The last beer was starting to hit him again. "It's getting late right?" Quinn asked, not even sure what time it really was. "I've been here long enough. Don't want to be a bother or a pain,"

"No, you're not," Dustin argued. "You're not," he repeated. He didn't like the thought of Quinn leaving, it made him a little sad. Especially because Quinn probably wanted to leave because Dustin had made everything awkward. He put a hand on his arm as if he could prevent him from going that way. "You're not a bother or a pain." He shook his head again. "I like you here," he added quietly.

Quinn paused when he felt the hand on his arm. He looked down at is and shifted so he was sitting again. "Okay, if you're sure," he mumbled, glancing over at Dustin and smiling. "I kind of like being here too," he mumbled, leaning back against the bed. "Maybe when this is over drunk video games? They're the best," he said with a grin.

"I'm sure." Dustin had to smile back at him when he saw the other boy smile, happy that he wasn't leaving and that he liked hanging out with him. He was a little bit confused by his next words. When what was over? "Ooh, you mean the movie," he replied and laughed. "I kind of forgot we were watching that," he mumbled, then nodded. "I like to try drunk video games, please."

[dydturktek]

Nem Kurutma | Nem Alma | Rutubet Kurutma | DYD 444 0 719

Warrior, Healer, Love associated with Life 'Words held in the mouth

Warrior, Healer, Love associated with Life ‘Words held in the mouth

My spouse and i miss,

I just miss,

My spouse and i miss.

Hesitant my phrases will overflow

I mouthful my lips.

My eyes ache.

Fearful the cry in my eyes

will become nostalgia together with spill,

carefully,

I think about the sky.

  Empty sky. ‘

– Very own grandmother’s poems

As long as I’m able to remember, my favorite grandmother (Halmuni in Korean, the true solution I handle her) has loved existence. Life, within the various manifestations: flowers, trees, weeds, wildlife, dogs. I became born in to a family having one pet. But sometime, or for many things throughout my well being, new dogs kept acting in Halmuni’s house, and by the time As i moved to help Thailand at age nine, I had been living in a lot of things with 9 dogs. Just one dog for one year. Halmuni would go walking her bit countryside neighborhood whenever your lover had moment, admiring the actual sweeping via golden almond paddies rustled by the wind turbine. She has at all times walked using a little manipulate in your ex back, browsing the ground she walks regarding; she isn’t going to want to pass up a single possiblity to spot, identify, and enjoy little areas of wild flowers. Sometimes, My spouse and i walked with her too, reversing her actions. When we observed paw designs left while in the concrete of your road previously it had place, we asked yourself together precisely what animal it may possibly have been. My opinion was a doggie. Hers, the tiger. At 60, your woman had the wilder creative thinking than a 90 years year old. From some time during the stroll, a stray dog seems. It looked up at Halmuni and observed. Just used, without a footprint of doubtfulness of who else she was or wherever she was initially going. Halmuni kept strolling, walking, followed straight back home, and if your new puppy was still at this time there, it achieved it00 there to sleep in. The fourth time this taken place, I researched at the girl like a little one in amaze because I used to be. Maybe it’s not so much that she adores life, still that it loves her. Everyday living reaches near her because if she had been light. Animals follow your ex and fatten under the girl care; indoor plants flourish, even when they are heading back from simply being half dead. Halmuni will save you and heals, saves in addition to heals.

As much as she is any healer, nancy a warrior. When my very own aunt, our mom’s elderly sister, within high school, your lover got addicted to reading comic book heroes. She copied them through the comic book store together with shared them with her good friends, flipping with them voraciously. The only problem was, this girl read these folks at classes. Not throughout classes, but during noiseless study time from 7-11 PM.

‘She was innovative, your mother, ‘ claims Halmuni. ‘She set the girl textbook upright vacuum, then put the comic book within her publication so that in the front, the actual teacher notion she was studying. The best way smart. Why didn’t I do think of that at school? ‘

In due course, my sister got caught. She was initially treated just as one organized criminal leader rebelling against the sacred silent analyze period. Any time my halmuni caught statement of this, the woman didn’t discipline my cousin. Instead, the girl marched on the school, herb printed shirt and colorful drawstring trousers flying outside behind the girl, and taken care of my aunt.

‘What is really so wrong by girls enjoyable themselves through comic books? It’s not like they may about intercourse! They’re just simply innocent absolutely love stories! Really 11PM the actual! Silent study is basically sparetime, for God’s sake, what amount of of the child’s everyday life do you want to deal with? ‘

In that case, she met with all the moms of the young ladies involved in the circumstance and billed them plan the belief that of course , she has been right. Halmuni was famous after that. When my mom followed around for the same institution seven years later, then my grand uncle, two years after that, all the college knew which they were dealing with a warrior.

That is definitely what Halmuni always has been for me, as well. Her weapon of choice was thoughts, usually spoken (sometimes yelled), but when I had been growing up, the girl also wielded a write. Halmuni was a prolific poet warrior and even her challenge was to possess her tone heard as the woman. Nonetheless last summer time, I went back home that will Korea to that the girl wasn’t generally a soldier. She termed me towards bedroom someday when I was basically looking by way of her quality recipes with the grandfather to choose what to currently have for dinner. Actually entered the area, she has been sitting on the ground as the lady usually is certainly, looking at pictures from a frayed looking field. I had never spotted this common box before.

My spouse and i sat cross punch legged in front of her and asked, ‘What’s this? ‘

‘This is actually my family, ‘ she answered, not finding out about. She turned a photograph near in my track. I saw not one but two little girls together with two aged boys, mother and father, and a nanna. Halmuni pointed out the elderly girl to me. ‘That’s all of us, ‘ this lady said, ‘And that’s this little sis, my inlaws, my parents, and my mom. ‘

‘But you don’t have any kind of sisters. You have one elderly brother, ‘

‘I used to have a little sibling, and a further brother, very, ‘ Halmuni touches typically the tiny white or black photograph while she says the. The image is seeped in age, curling round the edges. Their finger sweeps the short hair of her brothers, stopages on the common Korean clothing that what she grandmother is wearing. Halmuni delicately begins a story about your ex family, ahead of this family group. A family My partner and i forgot your woman must have acquired, because the lady was generally so primarily the matriarch of acquire.

We were born equally Korea was basically liberated through Japan. Previous to I could perhaps comprehend i was Korean, another warfare broke available. There were zero enemies, though, non-e i always could find out: everyone during this war was Korean. There seemed to be no Japoneses armor just about anywhere, but individuals were dying alright. I was 6 in 1950. I lived with our grandma, mother and father, my couple of older friends, one twenty and one eight, and a bit sister, who has been a baby. My parents were always out carrying out things and so i was catered for by my grandma. I realize now that these were socialists, very prominent while in the political world. But in that political ballpark where there was only communists and democrats, there was fewer room for socialists. I recall my elder brother going back home someday looking paranoid, and he smiled and told me that he was going to save all of our parents. We learned in the future that he traveled to jail on my mom and even dad for their political hobbies, but… that will didn’t mean my parents were being safe. My partner and i never noticed any of them for a second time. My earliest brother, my friend, or my dad.

We had for you to. The Soviet army was basically coming Southern. My aunt was a baby. My grandmother wrapped your girlfriend in a umbrella at home. All of us couldn’t take her. Very own grandma, I believe, knew your baby wouldn’t pull through the alpage, anyway. It was cold. I just shined typically the shoes for blonde-haired troopers for sweet and periodontal disease. I mastered my primary English statement then. Chocolates.

By the time we got to a relative’s house more South, it absolutely was just my cousin and us.

We gape at my grandmother who have now looks like she basically jumped away from a history guide. More pictures come out of which box, considered one of her mother and father, another resumewriter one for her most well-known brother, is actually every one, she seems deeper and out of the park away from people, floating to impress her back in some sort of lake associated with memories. Still I feel more close to her, overly, in more techniques than I possess known prior to my grandma is not just our grandmother. Previously that, this lady was a little girl, an orphan, a girlfriend, a woman. She is healer, warrior, significant other of the light and existence, full of energy source and ambiance. I think about where everything life hails from. I question whether I would have the ability to pour a great deal of love within the world basically came from any of a new loss. My spouse and i wonder what she aspirations at night, I wonder what exactly her hands and fingers think if they hold excavation, my epidermis taut along with soft without having made it three winter seasons with no equipment, unlike my favorite grandmother’s, who also only received her own grandmother’s hands to place hers through the cold.

Halmuni is healer, warrior, significant other of the gentle and everyday living. And the woman with a survivor.

‘Life is although

one long exclamation place! ‘

https://www.nemkurutma.com/warrior-healer-love-associated-with-life-words-17/

NEM KURUTMA HİZMETLERİ

[gethealthy18-blog]

How My Kids’ Capsule Wardrobe Simplified My Life (& Laundry)

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/how-my-kids-capsule-wardrobe-simplified-my-life-laundry/

How My Kids’ Capsule Wardrobe Simplified My Life (& Laundry)

I must admit… when the capsule wardrobe trend took over Pinterest, I was mostly uninterested. As a mom, I based my wardrobe much more on function and flexibility. Times like pregnancy and nursing required certain types of clothes and limited my options. Then, I discovered the concept of a kids’ capsule wardrobe. Freedom from endless laundry, shopping, and the great seasonal switch-out? Yes please!

I can honestly say, this is one “mommy hack” that changed my life.

The Great Laundry Monster

I used to joke that based on the amount of laundry I was doing, there must be people living in my house that I hadn’t even met.

Then I figured out the real problem:

Kids’ clothing apparently has the ability to reproduce. That was the only answer that made sense. I’d buy a couple pairs of jeans and a few dresses for the girls and suddenly the clothing monster was peeking out of every closet and drawer.

Of course, their clothes weren’t actually reproducing, but the kids were constantly getting t-shirts from community activities and hand-me-downs from friends and I’d keep everything “in case they could use it one day.”

Does This Bring Me Joy?

I’ll also admit that I rolled my eyes more than once while reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It’s a great book, but the idea of talking to clothing seemed a little unusual. I also realized that the great majority of things that are necessary to my daily life don’t bring me joy (laundry, kids’ toys, etc). I figured the KonMari system must not work for moms.

It wasn’t until I was helping my kids deep clean their rooms at the change of seasons that I realized the value of her system. Their clothes may not bring me joy, but they loved certain items and were only wearing those items the majority of the time anyway.

I was sorting through piles of clothing from all seasons. It all fit in the drawers so I left it there in case they needed it (because where we live, you really can have all the seasons in one week!). But they were choosing the same 5 outfits most of the time and they were stressed out with all the clothes.

And I was stressed out with all the laundry. Something needed to change.

Switching to a Kids’ Capsule Wardrobe

I realized that all of the things that made a capsule wardrobe difficult for a pregnant/nursing mom made it perfect for kids!

They changed sizes and needed new clothes at least once a year anyway.

They choose the same outfits over and over.

Having too many clothes was completely overwhelming them.

How We Switched

I decided to do a combination of the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge and Project 333 to pare down all of the kids’ clothes. Rather than going through stuff and seeing which items to get rid of (always tougher), I took everything out of all their rooms (very KonMari of me) and only allowed the things in that we were keeping.

Step 1: Make a List and Check It Twice

Instead of just looking through clothes and deciding if they liked an item or not as a criteria for keeping it, I made a list of what each wardrobe would contain. If something didn’t fit into that list, it didn’t stay. In other words, they kept two pairs of jeans for the spring and summer wardrobe. I let them pick their two favorite pairs of jeans and the rest were donated.

This list will certainly vary based on your own lifestyle, kids’ ages, school (uniform or not), etc., but this is what worked best for our family…

The Capsule Wardrobe Master List for each child included:

10-12 shirts

2 pairs of jeans

4-6 pairs of shorts

2-3 swimsuits

2 pajamas

2-3 dresses for the girls

6 pairs of socks (more on my sock system soon)

sneakers

dress shoes

sandals

slip on shoes

10 pairs underwear

1 light jacket or sweatshirt

Full disclosure: I also kept a handful of other items that they can still fit into for a fall/winter wardrobe. I also kept a few items that aren’t worn regularly: a suit for the boys, wetsuits, snow suits, camo gear, jujutsu gi, and two pairs of much older clothes for camping.

Step 2: Choose a Color Palette

My kids typically chose to wear their 2-3 favorite colors 90% of the time. I focused their wardrobes on these colors. The boys both chose blue and red so I built around these and added neutrals like gray and white.

The girls all chose pink and aqua so I built around this with neutrals like gray and white. They also had a few dresses that matched the color palette. These could be worn alone or with leggings and a cardigan for cold weather.

Step 3: Get Rid of the Extra

If clothes didn’t fit into the master list, they were gone. This was the toughest part. Especially because it meant donating a lot of clothes before I’d filled in the gaps. But as soon as the extra clothes were gone, it was like the weight of the world (or at least the laundry) had been lifted off my shoulders and theirs.

I did this at the changing of the seasons last year (this is round two of seasonal wardrobes for us) and it was magical. I sorted the clothes into piles:

Keep pile – Smallest pile

Donate pile – This was by far the biggest pile. I only donated the clothing that was nice enough that I’d still want my kids to wear it.

Reuse pile – Second smallest pile. I still have trouble throwing things away and wasting. We reused the clothing that wasn’t nice enough to donate or wear. We cut it into cleaning cloths, paint rags, and other household items.

Sentimental pile – This was actually a small bin in our attic where I kept the few items that were sentimental to me. These included the baby outfits all the kids wore (that weren’t good enough to donate anyway), clothes I wore as a kid that they wore too (3 items total), and a few other small clothing items. This bin will stay in our attic and I’ll probably eventually turn these items into a quilt when my kids get older.

Step 4: Fill in the Gaps

This part was the most fun! Looking at the master list for each child, I made a list of all the items I still needed for each of them. I checked a local consignment store first and then turned to online shopping for the remaining items. The list kept me from buying extra clothes we didn’t need and made it easy to find the clothes we did.

Step 5: Kid-Friendly Folding

There is heated debate about if kids clothing should be hung up or folded. Obviously, this is based on personal preference. My kids prefer folding to hanging clothes up, so that is what we did.

These kids’ capsule wardrobes fit into a single drawer easily. I taught the kids the “KonMari” method of folding… or at least my interpretation of it based on her description. It basically means folding clothes and stacking them horizontally in a drawer instead of in piles. This lets the kids see every item so clothes don’t get lost at the bottom of the drawer. It also seems to be easier for them to put clothes away with this system.

Shopping Tips

I found secondhand and consignment clothes locally for many items. I also used three main online sources that for filling in gaps in the capsule wardrobes. They are:

Primary: Hands down my favorite online resource for kids. They carry only high quality staples in solid colors and most are gender neutral. They have pretty good prices and were perfect for solid color shirts, shorts, leggings, etc. TIP: Use the code “AFF20PCT” to get 20% off and free shipping on a first order.

Hanna Andersson: More expensive than Primary but I love that they have organic clothes for many items. Their leggings last forever and my girls love their jeggings over regular jeans. I get underwear, undershirts, and PJs for all of the kids here since this reduces their exposure to non-organic clothing by at least half. Their clothes also last a long time. I’ve had friends have their items last over a decade and for multiple children.

Thred Up: An online secondhand store that is searchable. I’ve found great deals on some name brands on this website. This link will give you a $10 discount on your first order.

Benefits of a Kids’ Capsule Wardrobe

My only regret is that I didn’t start doing this sooner. Having these capsule wardrobes for kids have greatly simplified our life and laundry routine. This type of minimalist wardrobe is perfect for kids because:

It Tames the Laundry and Bedroom Messes

I’m not sure how the kid clothes managed to multiply and take over their rooms and the laundry, but they did. Since switching, this hasn’t been a problem at all. I’m washing much less laundry and the kids aren’t overwhelmed when putting clothes away.

More on my laundry routine soon, but I also found that keeping one laundry basket in each of the kids rooms simplified laundry. Now, the girls bring their clothes down, I wash it in one load and they take it back up and put away. Same with the boys. Their wardrobes don’t contain any white clothing (this was intentional) except underwear and undershirts. Because of this, I can wash all girls’ clothes together and all boys’ clothes together. There is no need for color sorting and it saves a lot of time!

I fact, it took me more time to photograph and write this capsule wardrobe post than it does to do my laundry now!

It Makes the Seasonal Clothing Changes Much Easier

I used to dread switching clothes with the seasons. I had to pull everything out of the attic, sort it, fold it, and it took hours. Now, I just evaluate which clothes will still work in the next season and add the items we need. Usually jeans, undershirts, underwear, and short-sleeved shirts can move into the next season if they still fit. With kids, we have to change out clothing every season anyway (or as they out grow it) but I actually look forward to it now.

It Simplifies Picking Outfits

My kids used to somehow always pick clothes that didn’t really go together. They’d end up with a red shirt and orange shorts or patters that didn’t mix. Now, everything coordinates and picking outfits is so much easier. The only rule they have to know is to pick one solid color and one pattern for each outfit or two solid colors. Jeans go with everything. (Secret bonus: I like all of the items in their wardrobes too so I don’t cringe like I did when they always seemed to pick the one shirt that I didn’t like and wear it constantly.)

We Have So Much More Space!

The kids’ favorite part about the new system? They can put their clothes away in under ten minutes and they have so much more space. Our girls’ room has a big closet that was always full of clothes. They always wanted to turn it into a playhouse and play in there but it always ended up a mess with clothes falling off hangers. Now, the closet is a playhouse and their capsule toys (more on that soon) are in there. They happily play in their new-found play space for hours.

Kids’ Capsule Wardrobe: The Bottom Line

I absolutely love this system and found the method that works perfectly for us. The specifics of our system won’t work for everyone, but the basic idea will:

Choose clothes intentionally and of high quality.

Absolutely use hand-me-downs and secondhand items when possible but pass on the ones you don’t need.

Fill in any gaps with high quality items that you and your child both love and that can last and be passed down to other children.

Check out the details of our kids’ spring and summer wardrobes here:

Final Tips for Kids’ Capsule Wardrobes

I learned these tips the hard way and they won’t work for everyone, but I’d personally recommend:

Not including white in kids’ wardrobes except for dress clothes. Totally personal preference but it simplified my laundry with my tribe of tree-climbers and fort-makers.

Spending a little more on high quality items that last. I used to keep all hand-me-downs and buy everything secondhand to save money. Except my stress level was through the roof and nothing matched. Now, I find we spend the same or less on staple clothing items that last longer and that the kids love.

Use online discounts and sales to save money. I wait for sales from our favorite shops and combine with discount codes to get most clothing at 20% or more off retail (sometimes as much as 50%!). Our favorite shops are Primary (use this affiliate link to get 20% off as a new customer), Hanna Andersson, and Thred Up (use this link to get $10 off a first order).

Also, I’m the first to admit that I’m not a fashion designer or anywhere close. I don’t claim to have made perfectly fashionable wardrobes for my kids. These are just their capsule wardrobes that they like and feel comfortable in. I’m not giving fashion advice, just sharing what worked for me!

Whew – your turn! How do you handle kids’ clothing? Share your best tips for others in the comments!

Source: https://wellnessmama.com/195162/kids-capsule-wardrobe/

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How To Dress Well | Office Style & Work Wear | 5 Outfits

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15 Easy Ways to Score More Style Options From Your Work Dresses

You are gazing at the work dresses in your storage room, and you don't have anything to wear. The dresses hanging there appear to be so stale and tired that in the event that you came to in to peruse the tag of the dress, it would state "Stale and Tired." The prospect of putting on one of these pieces of clothing and head into work influences you to need to counterfeit a hack and phone in wiped out to work. You have been honing your via telephone wiped out voice in anticipation of your forthcoming strep throat/trek to Palm Springs. 

In the event that you should add some Bailey's to your espresso early in the day to give you the fluid strength to put on a similar old work dresses once more, you can at any rate shift the styling alternatives to deceive yourself and your associates into suspecting that your work closet is really greater than it truly is. Here are 15 style alternatives to breath some life once more into your old closet. Belt - Cinch the midriff of any dress with a belt. It can totally change the outline of the dress and is an extraordinary method to include some identity by utilizing a fly of shading or creature print. Cardigan - An extraordinary method to add some shading or surface to any of your work dresses. You can likewise consolidate it with a belt and duplicate the varieties for the dress with the belt and cardigan varieties. Jacket - Do you need to wear a similar overcoat that accompanied the dress? Blend and match overcoat choices to make new looks. Scarf - An astonishing method to look artificial European with your numerous scarves and all the diverse approaches to tie them. Get your scarf amusement on point and individuals will never know you are wearing a similar dress. Fasten shirt - Go full on private academy and wear a secure long-sleeve pullover underneath your dress. This may not work for each dress style, but rather try it out. Cowhide moto coat - This is an as well cool-for-school choice to wear with a significant number of your work dresses. You figured you could just wear that coat on the end of the week, however have a go at conveying it to the workplace. Designed tights - Wearing tights with unobtrusive examples on them are all out work fitting and will bring new life and a slight edge to your work dresses. Pin - A clasp can make a work dress seem more magnificent and exquisite. This style choice can be joined with a cardigan so the pin is on the upper bosom some portion of the cardigan. Differentiating tank top - Does your dress have a V-neck area? Would you be able to include a tank top underneath ? In the event that you have a dark dress, what about a white ribbon trimmed tank top underneath? Or then again include a fly of shading with a brilliant blue tank top. Lower leg boots - Adding lower leg boots to any dress look will influence the outfit to look more youthful and trendier. It is a remarkable method to modernize and dress. Denim coat - Sometimes, you simply require a little jean treatment. Including a denim coat makes the outfit cool and easygoing and not all that stuffy. While a denim coat may not be suitable at all workplaces, try it out to change your work looks. Thick sweater - Adding a stout sweater over the highest point of you dress makes a totally unique look since it presently seems as though you are wearing isolates. Be watchful that the outfit does not influence you to look excessively massive to finish everything. Knee-high boots - Are you continually wearing your dresses with foot rear areas or pads? Swap in a couple of boots to inhale new life into your work dresses. This is an awesome method to keep warm and still wear your dresses in the fall and winter. Open vest - Yes, you can wear an open, unfastened vest over your work dresses. This is extremely in vogue, exceptionally young, and extremely unforeseen, and nobody at the workplace will wear indistinguishable outfit from you. Proclamation jewelry - An expansive explanation neckband that takes after the neck area of your dress will totally redesign it. Likewise, search for face cloth style pieces of jewelry.

How to Successfully Implement and Enforce a Work Dress Code

Is there an issue with how your representatives dress for work? Outfits that are too short, too tight, excessively scruffy or excessively uncovering will watch amateurish and convey the wrong message about the association to guests or clients. Moreover, it could cause HR issues if your representatives' garments is winning them undesirable consideration or if what they're wearing annoys their associates. 

These issues should be checked from the beginning and a standout amongst the best approaches to do this is by presenting an organization clothing standard. While it might be disliked for a few, it could be the correct choice for whatever is left of your workforce and for the business. 

Here's a 10 stage plan for effectively executing and upholding another work clothing regulation. 

1. Your first employment ought to be to have a reasonable thought as a primary concern of what you need, what you esteem satisfactory and what you believe is inadmissible. Ensure your explanation behind executing the new clothing standard is sound and sensible; generally the response could be extremely hard to manage. It doesn't should be formal corporate attire with a specific end goal to look proficient. 

2. One of the greatest difficulties of executing a clothing standard is that there might be space for understanding, which could make it hard to police when individuals undermine your arrangement. Along these lines, it might be worth considering presenting a work uniform, whereby the organization puts resources into workwear -, for example, weaved polo shirts - to guarantee consistency over the business. Everybody wears the same, so there's no space for translation or issues. 

3. Whatever you choose to do, it's in every case best to keep your workers educated. Tell them that you mean to present a clothing standard, however do as such in a way that it doesn't feel like you're setting out the law. A large portion of your group will presumably be living up to your desires at any rate, so it should just truly affect on the individuals who look amateurish. On the off chance that there is opposition or a mayhem, let everybody realize that it's become obvious that a few representatives may not be dressing as you would expect in an expert situation. 

4. When you have your strategy characterized, ensure you set it in motion and incorporate illustrations. That way, there'll be no space for confusion and your workers will know precisely what's expected of them. 

5. Ensure the approach is put away with the other organization arrangements and that any new representatives that join the organization are made away of the clothing standard. Making it obvious from the very first moment should help maintain a strategic distance from issues sometime later. 

6. Once your clothing standard is set up, ensure it is clung to all through the organization; straight up to executive level. Whatever else will liken to bad faith, prompting dissention among the group. This could cause huge issues, not in particular the negative effect it may have on profitability and confidence. 

7. It's imperative to recognize that any change could confront an uneven street. In those first couple of weeks you may should be more merciful with how it's policed. In the event that you are concerned, a snappy email update about the new clothing regulation coming into power ought to work. 

8. Past that, if an issue does emerge and there is a worker who comes to work dressed improperly, you have to handle the issue rapidly by conversing with the person. Disclose to them that you feel what they're wearing doesn't fits inside the approach and ask them whether they concur. Most will recognize your point and guarantee it won't occur once more; others may require you to additionally clear up the approach and offer more illustrations. 

9. Nonetheless, if your inviting guidance and discourse goes unnoticed, it will be an ideal opportunity to address the issue all the more immovably. A formal cautioning could be stage one, trailed by a second cautioning and potentially expulsion. Be that as it may, ensure any disciplinary techniques are in accordance with your lawful obligations as a business and the worker's rights. 

10. In outrageous cases, where an individual from staff is dressed completely improperly for work, it might be sensible to send them home subsequent to clarifying your purposes behind doing as such plainly heretofore. On the off chance that you feel your new clothing regulation strategy is being disregarded by a few representatives, one game-plan possibly to issue a notice to the whole staff that except if the clothing regulation is regarded, you might be compelled to present a uniform of your picking.

What Not to Wear to Work 

When you start working in another condition, it's imperative to recognize what not to wear to work. This is vital in light of the fact that the manner in which you dress at work influences how you are seen by your associates. In the event that your clothing and outward presentation is messy, your boss may imagine that your work will likewise be below average. You need to ensure that you are dressing to awe. Take after these tips underneath and you ought to have the capacity to maintain a strategic distance from clothing regulation infringement. 

Begin by checking out your office to perceive what not to wear to work. Is it a business or business easygoing environment? Do customers or clients drop by frequently wearing formal matching suits? Do the larger part of workers wear overcoats or cardigans? Are the ladies wearing naked leggings or hued tights? Are high-heels the standard or loafers and ballet performer pads? Do representatives dress moderately in blues, dark and grays or are there bits of individual style entwined all through the workforce? 

It is vital for you to know the responses to these inquiries so you'll comprehend what not to wear to work. 

Generally speaking, you ought to keep away from pants, shirts and skirts that demonstrate a great deal of skin, shorts, flip-flops, realistic shirts, tennis shoes, unnatural hair hues, and facial piercings and tattoos. Articulation adornments pieces are proper as long as they don't overwhelm your expert picture. Notwithstanding, avoid hostile or toon motivated gems and garments things. Keep your appearance perfect by prepping your hair and nails. Select straightforward hairdos that won't require a great deal of upkeep amid the day. 

Additionally, hold your nails to a sensible length and pick unbiased or dim tones for nail clean. Try not to wear neon-hued nail clean to work. Your garments should fit legitimately. You ought to never wear anything to work that uncovered your clothing. Night wear, sweats, and shoes don't have a place in the workplace. Remember that you don't need individuals to see your garments more than your aptitudes and work item. Take after these basic standards and you'll fit in to your new work condition.

Fashion Tips For Working Adults

Clothing standards of organizations are a continuous fight in the realm of work. The issues in connection to work clothing regulation incorporate representatives misunderstanding the impression in connection to the clothing standard or they essentially don't submit to it. There are organizations that have a work clothing regulation set up; notwithstanding, they don't implement it. What's more, there are organizations that don't have a built up clothing standard yet representatives are criticized for wearing certain clothing. At that point there is consistent complaint from particular ventures which questions for what reason is there a need to spruce up and look decent for work, when people don't bargain straightforwardly with clients. 

For instance, in the event that you are utilized as a business agent who needs to meet with customers once a day, it prudent to dress professionally. Be that as it may, for the person who composes professionally and sits in his or her desk area throughout the day and barely ever observes the sun, substantially less another individual, would it be a good idea for it to extremely matter what he or she is wearing? Here is a decent design tip, if the individual might want to be advanced, it does. 

An ongoing review demonstrates that 41 for every penny of bosses show that people who dress all the more professionally have an inclination of being advanced significantly more much of the time than other individuals inside their association. 

Where Wardrobes Really Matter? 

As shown by the beforehand said study, dressing professionally is significantly more basic in a few businesses than keeping a work clothing regulation is in others. 

One such industry is the budgetary administrations, where accentuation is put on proficient work clothing. 55 percent of workers inside the money related administrations division are of the view that representatives who are dressed well are considerably more liable to get an advancement than other people who dress less professionally. 

Moreover, 51 percent of offers operators are of a similar supposition concerning the probability of getting advancements in the business. 

In any case, on the opposite end of the scale, just around thirty-seven percent of IT businesses and thirty-three percent of assembling bosses are of the assessment that expert clothing has an effect on whether a worker gets advanced or not. 

Business Restrictions On Work Dress Code 

Like never before, amid the hotter times of the year, individuals from staff exploit work clothing standards that are more loose. In any case, polished skill at the work place ought not fall on the grounds that the temperatures rise.

Great Maternity Dresses for Work

For eager working moms, having an expert maternity closet is vital. One needs attire that is agreeable and useful while keeping up an extraordinary feeling of style and work propriety. Maternity dresses are a breathtaking choice for the workplace, as they are anything but difficult to wear, in vogue, and expert. With a few awesome maternity originators, there are numerous excellent work dresses accessible for the eager mother. 

Japanese Weekend is an extraordinarily prevalent maternity mark, known for their contemporary, utilitarian, and agreeable maternity attire. Slick and exemplary, their maternity dresses are extraordinary for office wear. One dress specifically that works wonderfully in an office setting is the Scoop V Maternity/Nursing Dress. Accessible in a rich eggplant shading or exemplary dark, it is ideal for the fall and winter months. Made of a bamboo and spandex blend texture, it is extraordinarily delicate and stretchy, influencing it to ideal for all phases of one's pregnancy and past. Layering at the V-neck is complimenting and the realm abdomen is exceptionally thinning. With its simple nursing access, it has awesome adaptability and can be worn for quite a while. For the workplace, match it with pads or foot sole areas, tights, and a charming cardigan when it gets cooler. In the event that one is taking off after work, it very well may be effortlessly spruced up with crazier foot sole areas and awesome gold gems. Another stylish and practical maternity work dress is their D&A Cross Front Maternity/Nursing Dress. The excellent charcoal shading sets well with exemplary dark pumps or pads. The V-neck is extending however not very uncovering, and the hybrid front gives extraordinary nursing access while likewise making an excellent outline. Include a charming dark cardigan or fitted jacket to finish the look. Contemporary and agreeable, Japanese Weekend's work maternity dresses are a superb decision. 

Form forward fashioner Maternal America is another awesome hotspot for work maternity dresses. They join the most recent patterns with great and agreeable plans, making ravishing searches for the workplace. One hot offering dress this season is the Scoop Neck Front Tie Dress. It comes in two shading blends a dark spandex and herringbone, or a naval force blue and pants mix. With its lycra scoop neck bodice and domain waisted skirt in the differentiating shading, it is unfathomably figure complimenting. The ¾ lengths sleeves are stylish and extremely work fitting. Stretchy and delicate, it will keep one agreeable throughout the day. The customizable front tie scarf includes style and enables the dress to be worn all through one's pregnancy. Match it with dark tights and foot sole areas for the ideal office equip. Maternal America's Knit Cheetah Dress is another jazzy work maternity dress choice. This creature print dress is done in shades of blue, influencing the dynamic cheetah to print work fitting. A V-neck is complimenting, and on the off chance that it feels a bit excessively open for work wear a naval force nightgown underneath. The ¾ length sleeves and knee-length hemline are extremely work fitting, while the cut of this agreeable dress is figure complimenting. Combine it with naval force softened cowhide pads and one's hair maneuvered once more into a low bun for the ideal office look. With their new and chic plans, Maternal America's work maternity dresses are an extraordinary alternative for the workplace. 

Flexible, simple to wear, and trendy, work maternity dresses are an unquestionable requirement amid pregnancy for the working mother. As essential as the dress is its styling, and there are a few things to remember. Ensure that the dress isn't too short. Keeping it close knee-length is work proper. In the event that one feels somewhat uncovered, wear a dark, obscure tight to finish the look. Contingent upon one's office condition, the two pads and foot sole areas are suitable, as long as the rear area isn't too high. A charming cardigan is an extraordinary expansion if the workplace is somewhat cooler, and furthermore finishes the expression on a sleeveless dress amid the fall and winter months. Keep one's gems basic and exemplary, and the ideal office furnish is made. Regardless of one's close to home style, the straightforwardness and solace of work maternity dresses will make them a most loved piece in one's closet.

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Is one of your favorite colors yellow?: i don’t really like the color yellow generally. Are you into astrology?: not really, no.

Was your last text an angry one?: no. i was just going back to discuss something my mom and i talked about this morning. If you have a job, when do you work next?: i don’t have work. i’m a stay at home mom right now.

What color undies are you wearing?: gray.

How old are your siblings?: 23, 22, 16, 6, and 5. Would you rather wash your hands or use Germ-X?: wash my hands. germ-x dries my hands out. Are you a sanitary person?: i think so for the most part.

Do you consider yourself a model citizen?: no. but i’m not horrible though either.

Ever won school awards?: yeah i did.

Have you ever had an eating disorder?: none that was diagnosed.

Do you throw the word ‘love’ around a lot?: i do not. i only say it if i mean it.

How many animals do you have?: i have two dogs. my parents also have a dog, and erin has a cat. When do you usually fall asleep at night?: i’m usually in bed by 10-10:30 with wyatt although i don’t go to sleep until hours later unfortunately.

When did you last babysit?: i helped keep an eye on lilli and rose a little bit yesterday although i wasn’t the primary caretaker of them.

Do you have a problem with odd numbers?: not especially, no.

Ever had a fishtank in your room?: i have not.

Do you wear a lot of plaid?: i do not.

Have any friends with children?: a lot of my “friends” have children... if you want to call them friends.

Do you drink more soda than anything else?: no. more water and milk.

Do you wear hats often?: in winter i do.

Do you know anyone who wears camouflage often?: not super often. but i guess. What color pants are you wearing?: blue jeans. How many jobs have you had?: quite a few. Do you listen to music while getting ready?: not usually. i’m usually in too much of a hurry. Christmas or Halloween?: i absolutely love both . i’m not sure i could pick. Do you hate your last ex?: i don’t really have any kind of emotions towards him. Have you ever been in a choir class?: i was in pretty much all of middle and high school, with the exception of maybe one year. What’s your favorite season?: my absolute favorite is probably fall.

Do you have decent grammar?: i do, even if it doesn’t seem that way on here. Are you ashamed of any of your family members?: the ones who sexually abused me, yes. and the ones who supported them over me. Have you ever been attacked by an animal?: not badly, no. At what age did you learn to read?: i don’t know. i just know that when i did, that was it. it became my passion. How was your hair fixed during your last kiss?: just down and brushed, as usual.

Do you like animals?: i love animals.

Do you think you’re attractive?: i know i’m not.

Do you curse a lot?: sometimes i do. depends on the day and my mood.

Have you ever been in a courtroom?: not that i can think of.

When did you last go to the library?: when i was in college. it’s been a very long time. i need to get a library card. What color car do you drive, if any at all?: if i drive a car, it’s usually jacob’s black cobalt. Do people ask you for favors often?: yeah. all the time. Do you think you’re reliable?: i think i am.

Are most of your friends older than you?: kayla is by a couple weeks. Do you ever wear cardigan sweaters?: occasionally but not often.

Do you dress formally often?: definitely not. no reason to.

Do you still live in your birthtown?: nope. i do not.

Do you eat a lot around Thanksgiving?: on thanksgiving i eat quite a bit.

Have you ever been part of a study group?: not really, no. What is your favorite day of the week?: i guess my favorite is probably saturday.

How often do you dye your hair?: i don’t dye it.

Ever had a pregnancy scare?: yeah. Do you have a busy life?: not especially, no. i like to try to stay busy... but never really have much to do.

Is there a liquor cabinet in your house?: nope. jacob keeps his booze in our bedroom and my mom has a bottle of alcohol in the fridge.

Do you enjoy family dinners?: usually.

Were you a chubby child?: i was average i think.

Favorite childhood movie?: the lion king and tarzan.

When did you last cash a check?: it’s been a few months.

Do you owe anyone any money?: credit card, doctor, etc.

What is your favorite citrus fruit?: probably oranges.

Are you afraid to sing in front of people?: yes and no. it always gives me butterflies, but i’ve also done it quite a bit. Do you enjoy your family?: i do most of the time. we have our problems like all families do occasionally though. When did you last dance with someone?: i danced with wyatt the other day. at the store. lol.

What’s the last sweet thing someone told you?: i don’t remember, to be honest.

If you have a significant other, do you love them?: i do. Are you currently broke?: not quite. Do your eyes change color sometimes?: a little. Do you have any bad habits?: i care too much about other people and go until the point of completely exhausting myself trying to take care of everyone. What are you currently wishing for?: an idea for dinner would be great. my parents and sisters are going to mcdonalds but i really don’t want fast food again. i want to cook. i just don’t know what. maybe jacob will have an idea... if he even stays home today. which he probably won’t since he was stuck at home yesterday due to rain. Something you crave?: yogurt i suppose. cupcakes. lol. i’m holding off on that one though so far! Do you feel awkward watching sex scenes?: depends who i’m around i suppose. Did you ever have senior photos done?: my dad took them and did a good job. :) Do you plan on going to college?: i graduated in 2016. Are your parents protective of you?: they kind of are these days i guess. Have you ever been bullied?: i have.. even though i kept to myself.. Do you ever help decorate during the holidays?: i guess so. i really want to decorate more since we can now. :D Do you enjoy cooking?: i do but rarely get the chance. Do you trust your head or your heart?: i’m not sure. neither seem the most reliable. i guess my heart.. Do you attend church regularly?: i never attend church. Have you ever been to a concert before?: i’ve been to quite a few. What is your favorite television show?: supernatural is definitely my number one, although i am WAY behind because the last episode of season ten absolutely broke my heart. i also enjoy law and order: svu, with elliot. i’m not as into it without him. How many colors are in the shirt you’re wearing?: four. What are your plans for tonight?: no plans besides maybe cooking dinner for jacob, wy, and myself. maybe i’ll be cooking for grandparents, ashley, and erin too.. but i’m not sure.

Do you have carpeted floors?: my grandparents room, the stairs, upstairs hallway, kids’ room, and my room have carpet. everywhere else does not.

Can you count to ten in another language?: in a couple, actually. Why did you last cry?: a song. What color cup did you last drink from?: red plastic cup. Are you currently tired?: a little. my nap wasn’t as long as wyatt’s. lol. What time did you wake up this morning?: about 9 for the day. Do you have to work tomorrow?: i’m a stay at home mom. What color shoes are you wearing?: not wearing shoes. How old are your parents?: my mom is 44 and my dad is 45 until november 14 of  this year.

Do you have any friends who are almost midgets?: no.. and that’s not the acceptable term, i’m pretty sure. Are you wearing any jewelry?: not at the moment, no. Where is your best friend?: jacob is at work for another half hour. and i’m not sure about kayla. we don’t see each other much anymore.

Have you ever been arrested?: i have not. i’ve never done anything “bad” enough to come even close to being arrested. Favorite candy?: reeses.

Do you always lock your door at night?: yes. we do.

Do you get allowance?: i’m a little too old for allowance.

Do you have a Facebook?: i do.

Favorite dessert?: lately i’ve been wanting cupcakes. but usually it’s ice cream.

Are you talented at singing?: people say i am.

Do you enjoy the presence of children?: i have one and one on the way. i better. lol. :) but yes. i love kids. especially my own. :) Kittens or dogs?: i LOVE both, but tend to be more of a dog person i suppose. Have you ever wanted to be a teacher?: very briefly. When did you last straighten your hair?:

it’s been years.

[highlandersrant-blog]

Scotland? - Fook me we did it!

OK, so it’s been a month….an amazing, crazy, mind blowing, awe-inspiring, really shit scary month since we took that “one small step for man, one big step for the Jacobs clan” onto Scottish soil.

It’s actually been 9 months since we first had the crazy thought, on a Sunday afternoon, over a couple of glasses of wine and an ever-challenging scrabble board – to emigrate. That in itself is a story for another day.

Hats off to us, we did it.  This was officially the first time in my 40 years of life that I have EVER, I repeat, EVER boarded an airplane.  I honestly cannot say that I will be a frequent flyer.  The drunk guy to the left and the terrible toddler to the right on our second flight might have put me off, just slightly, for any adventures in the near future.  Now that we are here, I can honestly say (in the most clichéd way ever) it was all worth it.

I absolutely, totally and completely….love this country.  Scotland is freaking amazing!

On that note though, there are a few things that I could warn my fellow Saffers (Nickname for South Africans who immigrate, just in case some of you didn’t know) about. Brace yourselves, it’s scary out there…

1.       It is beautiful.  No, I mean it is really, really beautiful.  All those photos you have been seeing on the Facebook pages you have been following (for me it was Edinburgh Spotlight and Iconic Tours – you guys rock) are not a touch on the absolute beauty this country holds.

2.       ATM’s – this country does not believe in cash on hand. It is pretty amazing, but should you need cash, stop being so bloody lazy and go to a bank!  SA has ATM’s on every street corner, but in Scotland you need to plan your route to get cash at the bank whenever you happened to be in the area.  Apparently (or so I hear from the lovely ladies who I currently find myself sharing an office with) you can ask the cashier at any of the major retail outlets for a cashback on your purchase.  They will then include the amount of cash you want to withdraw to your purchase and hand it over.  If only I had known that in the first 4 weeks were here!!!

3.       On our arrival in our beautiful new home, Kirkcaldy, I needed to catch a cab (taxi) from the train station to the flat. That’s where I had the amazing pleasure of meeting Bob, the cab driver.  Bob was my first actual introduction to the Scottish culture.  I will always remember him and his beautiful description of the folk he loves so much.  “Luv, no matter what….just warn the young ones to not take everything we say to heart. A Scotsman has a way with words, and we don’t hide any!”  Well “Fook me” he wasn’t joking.  The Scots are the most honest and open people I have ever met.  If you peeve him – he will tell you so. If they enjoy your company, expect pretty much the same expletive – just with a totally different meaning.

4.       I can still hear it…….   “It’s so cold there.”  “You are crazy to move to such a cold place.”  “The weather will kill you.”  Well thanks to you bunch of nay sayers I didn’t pack a single piece of summer clothing. I will have you know that the only place it is cold – is outside.  The percentage of time you spend there on a normal day (work and all included) – 2%. Inside the buildings, it is more than toasty.  We have turned the radiators down to a minimum in our house and I still sleep in a pair of hubby’s boxers and a t-shirt.  It sure as hell isn’t cold.  A simple good quality jacket and a lovely home knitted scarf is all you need for the days spent outside.  I know winter is still coming, but I’ve survived a week of snow and I’m still here to tell the tale.

5.       These people drive like me – slowly!  I love driving to work and imagining all you wonderful folk back home who would be swearing in a number of your 11 official languages at the lovely chaps (people) on our roads.  The top speed limit in my area (and that is on the highway) is 80km/h. Yes, you read that right!  The most amazing thing is that we all drive that speed and NOBODY (except maybe the one in a million idiot) pushes the limits here. You get into the wrong lane and cut off a round-a-bout (circle back in sunny SA), well don’t you worry lassie…the traffic will all slow down and give you a gap to get back into your lane.  I mean, what the hell?!

6.       The meat.  Well, honestly, when it comes to SA nobody and I mean NOBODY can compare to the meat.  We might not have your T-bone steaks, boerewors or “oepsies”, but the one thing I can say about Scottish meat – it is thick!  OK, I know that sounds strange, but when I put a chicken in the oven, it comes out the same size (no shrinkage).  When I cook a pre-made chicken hamburger pattie, it is exactly the same size before and after.  Their meat does not shrink.  It is wholesome and has precisely 0% fat.  Yes, I know a lot of you are thinking that’s not a good thing.  But hey, look in the mirror tomorrow and honestly say you wouldn’t want some 100% fat free good tasting meat on your plate for dinner.  (OK, shut up – your meat is good, but I need to convince myself that the healthy way is the best way)

7.       The schools are (excuse my enthusiasm here) astronomically, amazingly, awesomely fantastic!  The primary school does not focus on actual subjects. They believe in developing a child’s social skills and creativity before they hit the big bad world of high school. I will admit that they go to high school much sooner (at the age of 12), but once there – there is no stopping them. The high school has not only had two interviews with my eldest child before placing her, but they have assessed her personality and skills, chosen her year according to where they feel she will fit in academically, chosen a classmate to be her mentor based on her personality and last but not least, they are adjusting their “assessments” (exams) to suit my child who has just immigrated from South Africa.  She will not be writing (or rated on) the comprehension exam as she has not read the books and her understanding of the Scottish poetry will be challenging.  I mean, really, what school does that?!

8.       My post box (slot in the door). This has probably been the most exciting part of moving to Scotland.  Every day when we get home there is a new parcel or letter waiting for us in the passage.  Their postal system REALLY works.  I cannot believe how much they rely on the postal service to communicate.  The girls are so excited when we get home – it’s apparently like getting a Christmas present every day to them.

9.       Oh lest me not forget…..heated towel rails and double glazing.  These are two of my favourite things.  There is not much more to say here, except that “These are a few of my favorite things”

 I could carry on for hours, but overall this country rocks!  There is soooooo much legislation involved in getting here and working here, but in the end, I understand it completely. Everything works!