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puppyenergy · 5 years

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@rickenrolled you’re an absolute mad man i love you. here’s all my answers. long ass post beneath the cut

1. Who’s your favourite character from UT?

i love them all but if i had to pick one then chara

2. Who’s your least favourite character from UT?

asgore

3. Your opinion about UT fandon:

very sweet, lots of smart and lovely and creative and gay people. could do without all the transphobes and incest/pedo shippers tho but like, theyre kinda everywhere aren’t they. like flies! smack

4. What’s your favourite quote?

“you never gained LOVE, but you gained love. does that make sense? maybe not.“

5. What’s your favourite soundtrack?

death by glamour

6. Pacifist, neutral or genocide?

pacifist

7. Why did you decide to play UT?

when it came out, my first exposure to it was thru supporting a friend who had recently started a youtube channel and they did a playthru of undertale! i ended up being unable to wait for them to finish it and just went and bought the game myself so i could play it. i was just so invested, i couldn’t wait for them to upload asklghskl

8. Favourite battle?

undyne’s

9. Favourite scene?

GOD I CAN’T CHOOSE JUST ONE SCENE. fuck. you can’t do this to me.

10. Your first letter to Mettaton was:

“legs” probably sldkghsd i don’t remember

11. Your reaction when you saw Omega Flowey for the first time:

VERY SCARED. I LEGIT THOUGHT MY GAME WAS POSSESSED.

12. Your headcanon about Frisk’s gender:

they’re nonbinary but i specifically headcanon them as agender! i also rlly dig genderfluid frisk as well bc same.

13. Which UT character reminds you of yourself?

mostly frisk but also chara and also mettaton

oh and all the dogs

14. Which UT character reminds you of your best friend?

TEMMIE. we are dog and cat solidarity.

15. Would you smooch a ghost?

i already have!

16. Which UT character would be your best friend? Why?

all of them. i will befriend them all.

17. Do you remember your first killed character? Who was that?

toriel ;_; i reset & redid the entire game for her, i felt so bad

18. Did you do sth in game you regret?

killing toriel lmao

19. Which ending was your first?

pacifist!

20. Your favourite land in UT and why: (Snowdin, Waterfall or Hotland)

snowdin is my favorite... it’s just so home-y. i rlly love snow, it brings a lot of happy memories. the christmas aesthetic does as well. and it’s also where you meet sans & papyrus & all the dogs. it’s just such a happy place.

21. Your favourite place in UT and why: (Undyne’s house for example)

i just rlly love snowdin ok. every area in snowdin. i still remember my little gasp!! when i found out that the snow on frisk’s head is always a different shape every time you go thru that slide-y puzzle.

22. Your headcanon about River person’s gender:

“it doesn’t really matter.”

23. Your headcanon about one of the UT characters:

papyrus is nonbinary!

24. Butterscouch or cinnamon pie?

cinnamon!

25. Your opinion/headcanon about six human souls:

i always connect the deltarune characters to the six human souls for some reason. kris is the cyan soul, susie is the purple soul, ralsei is the green soul, lancer is the blue soul, noelle is the yellow soul, and then im not sure who would be the orange soul... ofc only one of them is actually human but that’s always an association i made asdlghsd

26. With who would you go on a date?

none of them tbh sdkglhskdlgha i would go on hangouts with them tho!

27. Marry, fuck, kiss and kill:

marry: napstablook fuck: mettaton kiss: all of them getting kisses from me!!! mwah kill: none :(

28. Do you wanna have a bad time?

no!! i wanna have a fun time. a sillay ol’ time.

29. Your favourite UT au:

there’s this one unfinished comic someone made a while ago i don’t even remember what it was called but it was about two charas or smth??? idek if that counts as an au but tbh that comic is the origin of my love for feral chara

30. Your least favourite UT au:

all of the ones where anyone is misgendered or there’s incest/pedo/abuse in it it just automatically makes it a bad au.

31. Would you want to fall into underground?

i mean, yeah. where’s the hole. i’m on my way.

32. Describe or draw your undersona:

the puppy is specific to dfta

my other undersona is dragon kid. he’s a human & monster fusion with a rough past. he’s also adopted. the cat is his sibling.

33. One reason why you love UT:

toby said Hello LGBT Community

34. One reasom why you hate UT:

frisk’s design is,, u kno

35. If you could choose one type of food from UT, what would it be?

dog salads for days!

36. Your favourite amalgamate:

snowdrake’s mother & endogeny

37. Your headcanon about Gaster: who do you think Gaster is to Sans and Papyrus? (Father, brother, uncle etc)

i like to headcanon him as their dad

38. Your opinion about bad puns:

they’re good, ok.

39. Do you draw fanarts from UT? If yes, then what do you like the most to draw?

yes i do asklghsdkgl i could probably draw chara/frisk/asriel forever and be ok with it

40. Which of human souls fits you the most?

red, baby

41. What would be the first thing you would to show to Sans, Papyrus or the rest of characters in human world? Why?

the stars!!! they’ve been wishing on rocks for too long. time to see the real thing.

42. Which song reminds you of UT or one of the UT characters? Why?

skglhslkhg i make playlists just for this tbh. i have a playlist for mettaton, chara, frisk, asriel, undertale in general, and then one for both chara & frisk. too many songs to talk about rn so here’s the most recent one i added to chara’s playlist:

https://soundcloud.com/serious-url/last-night-on-earth-2

my favorite lyric is “we are horrible but not bad”

43. Your opinion on underloid:

i. i’m not sure what that is askdlghsdk

OH I JUST LOOKED IT UP ITS UNDERTALE VOCALOID??? i’ve never listened to it before but tbh that’s real cool

44. Do you forgive Asgore for what he’s done?

no lol

45. Did you pay for Tem’s college?

I DIDNT, IM SORRY TEM... i just dont have the patience to sell all that residue

46. Have you seen any youtube letsplay of UT?

i swear i’ve seen them all now. i watch them when i need some free serotonin. u_u

47. Do you listen to any fanmade songs? If so, then which are your favourite?

i don’t rlly listen to any but i have a few saved! i rlly love the fucking checker dance & death by glamour mashup

youtube

48. What are your favourite theories?

narra!chara if you can even CALL that a theory man it’s literally canon

i also rlly like the theory that ut sans is actually from deltarune, and also maybe a darkner.

49. Who is your favourite enemy? (Not including boss monsters)

LESSER DOG

50. Do you have any headcanons about Chara’s past? (Why they hate humanity, why did they fell to the underground etc)

i think they had some pretty shitty ppl in their life until they met the dreemurrs, probably.

51. Who is your favourite dog?

DONT DO THIS TO ME,

52. What was your reaction to true lab?

fear and a lot of emotion

53. Your fabourite voice acting:

myself sakldhgklsh

54. At the end of pacifist run did you stay with your friends or did you come back to your family?

i always send frisk to stay with toriel bc as their player guardian i would not feel comfortable with myself if i just left a child stranded on their own. it was the same in oneshot. if i’m ur temporary game dad then i’m leaving u in a safe place before the game ends ok.

55. Who is older - Sans or Papyrus?

sans

56. Your OTP(s):

OK LISTEN. GOATBUN,,

also ALPHYNE

57. Your NOTP(s):

any of the incest/pedo ones. especially with fr4ns & ch4sriel i’m gonna get real stabby.

58. Your BROTP(s):

chara/frisk haa

59. Your favourite puzzle:

i like the shooty spaceship ones!

60. Which battle was the hardest for you?

fingers in his ass.... fingers in his ass.... asgore he likes b

61. Did you still hate Flowey after you discovered his true indentity?

i never hated flowey, ok. and also no.

62. The saddest moment:

“the next day.”

“...”

“the human died.”

63. Which ending is your favourite?

true pacifist, pls

64. How old do you think Frisk is?

9, maybe? i always change my mind on this asdlghsdk. they’re just a baby. age is baby.

65. Any post pacifist run headcanons?

both chara & asriel get revived. always.

66. Your favourite NPC:

the trans woman lionness npc who mettaton gives his dress to

67. Humans or monsters?

both!

68. The funniest situation:

my brain is failing me but i fucking love the idea that frisk is just walking away from undyne during her battle sequence and she’s just CLANK CLANK CLANK in her armor stomping after but ugh has to stop and wait while frisk gets a phonecall and UGH has to check on sans who fell asleep at his post.

AND UNDYNE’S HANGOUT

UGH JUST UNDYNE IN GENERAL I LOVE HER

69. Skeletonfucker, robotfucker, goatfucker or kinkshaming?

listen i KNOW i said i’d fuck mettaton but i’m NOT a robotfucker.

70. When playing for the first time how many candies did you take?

one! i wanted to be a good boy.

but then i just went ham,

71. Did you kill or spare Flowey at the end of the game?

spare and i got emotional with how he reacted

72. If you had to be one of the main characters, which would you choose?

73. If you had to kill one of the main characters which would you choose?

i wouldn’t kill any of them!! i love them all. i refuse.

74. Which character(s) would you like to cosplay?

HMM. i could probably pull off frisk the best.

75. Your favourite Burgerpants’ quote?

#i can't believe i actually answered them all #long post #.txt

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dancingkirby · 5 years

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So I heard that y’all were asking for more Bopal fics

And I decided to write one! This is a missing scene from Part 2 of the epilogue of my fic “Into Open Waters.” Brief recap: Bolin and Opal are in a polyamorous relationship with Eska in which they’re all married to each other, Opal had just given birth from Eska’s PoV, and then Eska had to leave the room briefly because it brought up traumatic memories for her. This is what happened while Eska was out of the room.

WARNING: Mild gore; i.e. normal postpartum stuff.

Bolin, Opal, and Suyin all looked up at the sound of the door closing, and glanced over to see that Eska’s spot on the bed to Opal’s left was now vacated. Suyin’s nostrils flared.

“If she thinks that she can just up and leave without so much as saying anything…” she began.

“Mom. She can,” Opal interjected. “She was here for hours on end, with all the noise and talking, and she obviously needed to go cool down.”

“Should I go check on her?” Bolin asked. “Make sure she’s okay?”

“I’d recommend giving it a while. She needs her quiet time,” Opal answered. Having settled the matter, the two of them turned their attention back to San, whose initial lung-filling wails had quieted down to grumbling as An the midwife loosely wrapped him in a towel.

“He’s beautiful,” Bolin murmured. He knew that he’d already said that, but there wasn’t anything wrong with saying it multiple times, right? “And so are you.”

The front part of his wife’s hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, the back part was sticking out every which way, and her eyes had dark circles under them. Bolin thought that it was possibly the most wonderful thing he had ever seen.

At that moment, An cleared her throat and said, “Well, it’s time to cut the cord. Dad, would you like to do the honors?”

Bolin thought at first that the midwife was talking about her own father, and he looked all over the room for a really, really old guy. It was only when Suyin prompted him by saying his name that he realized: Oh yeah. He was the dad. Of course, he’d known that already since this wasn’t even his first kid, but Kinalik preferred to call him by his given name and he had a tendency to let her. Thus, someone actually addressing him as “Dad” was a bit jarring.

“Uh…sure,” he finally replied. An put the clamps on and showed him where to cut, and he got through the whole thing on his very first try. Everyone applauded politely. Shortly thereafter, An pressed on Opal’s stomach with one hand while pulling on the severed cord with the other, and…

“Did her guts just fall out?” Bolin cried, painfully aware that his voice had gotten higher and higher until it was a nearly inaudible squeak by the end of the sentence.

“That’s the afterbirth, Bolin,” Suyin explained like this should be perfectly obvious to anyone. “It’s supposed to come out. In fact, it’s a very bad thing if it doesn’t.”

“Oh,” Bolin mumbled, looking down at his shoes.

“Mom,” Opal warned again, her voice nearly a growl this time. Even Suyin looked surprised, and was briefly at a loss for words.

“She’s right,” the older woman conceded when she found her voice again. “I shouldn’t have used that tone with you. I’m sorry.”

That was his Opal, all right: normally patient and gentle and introverted, yet terrifying when that patience ran out. Bolin squeezed her hand in gratitude. However, his heart plummeted again when Opal’s teeth started chattering despite the room being well-heated.

“Oh, honey, you’re getting chills. Why didn’t you say that you were cold?” Suyin said quickly. She did not have to tell Bolin what to do next; he had already grabbed a blanket from the stack near the bed. Opal’s mother gave him a nod of thanks, and told him, “Be sure to wrap that nice and snugly…and around San, too.”

Meanwhile, An was examining that big, red, angry…thing… and confirmed that it had all come out in one piece. Then she stepped into the smaller room off the main one that was strictly off-limits to non-employees of this birthing center, and returned bearing several small, pointy instruments. Opal groaned in dismay.

“She doesn’t like needles,” Bolin explained as he and Suyin finished tucking the blanket corners in.

“I’m sorry. She has a tear that needs repairing,” An said briskly. And, to Opal, “You don’t have to worry. It looks to be fairly uncomplicated as far as these things go, and should be able to be fixed in a few minutes. And I will give you a shot that will numb the area. You might not feel anything whatsoever if you’re focused enough on your baby. Just be sure to hold still.”

Opal had to hold on tight to Bolin’s hand, and although she yelped a bit during the shot, the numbing medicine appeared to do the trick. Suyin had moved towards the back of the room to give An some space (was it wrong that he felt a little relieved?), so Bolin decided that he would help distract Opal in the way that he knew best: talking about the first things that came to his mind.

“I want to buy you something,” he said in a rush. “Anything you want. Even if it’s the most expensive necklace at the most expensive jewelry store in Republic City. Or…or…that humongous toy stuffed armadillo bear that you thought looked cute while we were shopping for stuff for San’s room. Or…”

He was cut off by Opal placing a finger against his mouth.

“You don’t have to buy me anything,” she said with a confused look on her face. “Why would you think that?”

It was a good question. Bolin had always had trouble putting his feelings into words, especially when they were all jumbled into a huge knot like this. Thinking very hard, he started, “Well, you went through all that, and I feel bad that I have nothing to give you in return. And I guess…”–he finally had his epiphany mid-sentence– “It doesn’t seem fair that I only did the one part at the beginning, and you had to do all the hard work. And then you were in labor for I don’t know how long, and then you got hurt while doing it, and, and…I just love you so much. Him too, of course.”

He kissed each in turn, before adding, “I think I’m starting to cry again,” as he once again rubbed at his damp eyes with his equally damp sleeve.

“You’re sweet,” Opal replied, looking a bit teary-eyed herself. “But you don’t have to worry about me. I decided to have your baby because I wanted to; I didn’t feel any kind of obligation. And it’s true that the labor was more difficult than I was expecting, but I knew going in that it wasn’t all going to be a walk in the park. Besides, I enjoyed being pregnant overall…and there were perks.” At Bolin’s confused silence, Opal leaned over and clarified in a whisper, “The sex was great, with both you and Eska.”

“Oh,” was all Bolin could come up with in response. Most other times, he would have preened over the praise, but his brain was fried from staying up all night.

“If you still really want to buy me something…I could always use more books. Eska can help you find some if you want. Just…don’t go overboard,” Opal said.

“Is ten going overboard?”

Opal gave a drowsy smile. “Ten would be great.”

She looked like she was on the verge of drifting off, needle and all, so Bolin simply held her in silence until An announced, “Done! See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Now let’s get mom and baby all clean and bundled up, shall we?”

And so An measured, cleaned, and swaddled San, while Suyin helped Opal into her nightgown and bathrobe and redid the blanket. Then, at long last, Bolin got to hold his son. It was exhilarating and nerve-wracking all at the same time. Bolin had never held a newborn infant before, and although San was a sizable baby, he was still so fragile.

“Uh…question. How do I not drop him?” Bolin asked.

Suyin, not looking concerned in the slightest, replied, “Just keep supporting his head and bottom, and everything should be fine.”

And it was. But now what was he supposed to do? He thought about this, and after several seconds recalled from one of Opal’s classes that it was important to talk to babies so they could start building up their language skills for later.

“So…uh…hi. I’m your dad,” he began; it was still weird to say it. “And over there are your mom and grandma. And you’re San, obviously.”

Opal giggled a bit. Bolin looked over, worried that he messed it up, but she assured him, “Keep going. You’re going great.”

“Right. So of course, there’s Eska too. She’s going to be like a second mom to you, and to be honest she’s the only one of us who knows what she’s doing. And Ki’s back at the house. She can’t wait to meet you; it’s pretty much been all she’s talked about for the past two months! And there’s also Baatar Senior and Baatar Junior and Huan and Wing and Wei. You’ll meet Mako and Grandma Yin and all the rest on my side of the family in a couple months when we get back to Republic City.”

San peered up at him somberly; he had completely quieted down by now.

“Oh, and you’ll get to see Korra and Asami too; they have this awesome pool, and Asami saved all her toys from when she was a kid. And you’ll probably be going to Air Temple Island a lot. And, in a couple years, you can come to the pro-bending arena and hear me commentating some games…”

He broke off because San was starting to fuss again.

“Already decided you don’t like pro-bending, huh?” Bolin mused. He looked up and asked, “No, seriously, did I do something wrong?”

“I think it’s more likely that he’s ready to try to nurse,” An replied. “If you would…”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, here you are.” Bolin handed San back to the midwife, who gave him back to Opal in turn. As they started the process of assisting San with latching on, Bolin began to feel like this was a special moment between only Opal and her baby, and didn’t want to intrude.

“Should I see how Eska’s doing?” he asked. “Or did you want me to stay here longer?”

“Go on ahead,” Opal said, wincing slightly as San apparently found his target. Bolin felt a little anxious, and his face must have showed it, since she added, “I’m fine. It just takes a little getting used to.”

“Okay then. I’ll be back soon. Hopefully with Eska.”

Bolin hoped that he wouldn’t have to walk all around the building to retrieve her. To his relief, as he cautiously opened the door a bit to look out, he saw that their wife was sitting only a few doors down the hallway. She looked up at the noise of the hinges, and he was further happy to see no evidence that she had been in crying or otherwise in major distress.

“Hey,” he said to her, “What’s up?”

#fanfic #legend of korra #bopal #bolin #opal

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changji · 5 years

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Wow you really went off the other day but at least it was worth it 😪 I normally look at the scenery when I’m on a road trip, but then I get bored of it and decide to sleep bc there’s nothing else to do. Motion sickness must suck :(( do you take gravol or something to help with it? Coffee literally drains the life out of my funds it hurts me

Yes omg pls make me cookies I love them. Maybe you can even open a bakery with pastries and sell some good /cheap/ coffee. Ilyt my dear baker 🥺 ye I’m not the biggest fan of my bday either but gotta celebrate anyway!! One year closer to death woohoo 🎉🎉 your birthday is the most important day of the year!!! You can’t fight me on this I’m right

Pearls are so good. Like most places I go to don’t add anything to the pearls so it’s just bland squishy balls but the place I frequent adds I think honey to sweeten them. It gives the pearls life istg. It tastes so good 🤤 hollering is a funny word. For some reason I always associate it with yodelling which makes me laugh

Ksks you must be op if you can make a joke in the wall with a door slam. I can’t relate my arms are literally sticks and I have no strength in me. Chrome books are terrible in general. Add my schools terrible wifi and you get one big recipe for disaster. I’d never fight u either (unless it’s for your bday) ily too much for that 🥺🥺🥺

Hahah I think it’s me. I haven’t heard anyone say “go ham” except for the people who go to my school. I find it really funny tho so I try to incorporate it whenever I can LOL easily burnt? Can’t relate but apparently I easily tan. There’s this one diagonal stripe on my shoulder that separates pale me and tan me which ??? How did that happen and what was I wearing for that to happen??

It’s all fun and games until you go outside and see a mountain of snow waiting for you to be shovelled. But there are some good aspects to winter, like skating and skiing and all that fun stuff. Snow is so heavy?? Or maybe I’m just weak but after I finish shovelling I’m beat. Gardening is not my thing. There’s too many bugs involved flying around 🥴

Kind of? I always thought it was short for cappuccino but I could be wrong. They don’t taste like fraps tho, they’re sm better. I was always a frap hoe until I discovered lattes. My old elementary school was close to a Starbucks so whenever frappy hour was happening, my friends and I would go almost every day LOL

I heard that dunkin coffee is really good. Oof there’s so many things that the us have that Canada doesn’t. But apparently you guys don’t have ketchup chips?? How can one live without them? You know that’s what soulmates are, we’re stuck together forever and I don’t mind that. I’d never leave you 😌😌

YES OMG LATTES ARE SO EXPENSIVE. I pay around the same amount and my wallet cries every time. If you ever yeet yourself off a bridge I’d come visit u in hell and bring u iced coffee 💖 we really are soulmates wtf I get almond milk in my lattes as well!! I used to get normal milk and was like “I’m a bad bitch milk can’t hurt me” but that didn’t really work out. Sigh what we do for coffee 😔

Washing dishes is disgusting. I hate doing them but yk someone’s gotta do it and that someone is me 😤 I’m acc lazy when it comes to smoothies, I usually ask my mom to make them LMAO. Pancakes are pretty much made of flour if you think about it so technically when u eat one plain ur eating cooked flour,, how barbaric. Waffles are Built. Like. They have a 20 pack 😪😪

I love angst personally so pls go ham but not too ham I’d like to keep my heart. Honestly at this point my last brain cell has given up on me. But yes I love angst and I love torturing myself with heart wrenching angst that leaves me crying into my pillow at 3am (I’m talking about this one haikyuu fic that I forgot the name of. I was literally dying inside jalsjwo)

Pls do send me peet’s I’ll send you an iced capp in a cooler so it’ll be somewhat melted and probably spilt everywhere 🤪 tumblrs probably gonna block me again, I’m looking at how much I’ve typed rn and it’s a lot lmaoo. Yes I managed to save myself. I redid the whole last with less detail bc I was not Having It but it turned out better?? How is ur drawing now?

I start after labour day in September. But starting in 3 weeks?????? On a Thursday?? I could never wtf. When do you end? I’m so confused with these ap and honours thing, like there’s none offered in my school nor majority of the school district. Are they just advanced classes or something? It is 7 classes a semester or the whole year?

Stan talent i think you meant yourself??? Jsjsksk I am not only ur coffee soulmate I’m not #1 fan as well and I support u bc ily 🥺🥺 the read more tag had me laughing for a hot minute. Like we really could make an essay out of all of our replies. I don’t have any pets (besides fish does that count?) unfortunately bc my moms allergic to fur 🥺 hbu?? (I can’t believe tumblr blocked me again they can fight me)

i didn’t even pay LOL i freeloaded off my cousin 🤧 i like to look @ scenery sometimes but like i can’t bc my head hurts LOL and the scenery is always the same for me, mountains and fields with cows. i try to take dramamine but it makes me so drowsy that i’m just basically dead,,, i live off of my cousins money so i’m okay 🤪

tbh i use nestle toll house pre made cookie dough, like that shit actually slaps. it’s the best it’s so good omg, perfect for lazy hoes 🤧 death here we go ! the order is ur bday, then skz debut date, and then christmas i don’t make the rules sorry sis 😤

pearls are Dangerous, i once drank a smoothie and there were pearls in it and i couldn’t see them bc there were like. only 3 and they were Buried under the smoothie but i choked and almost died but i chewed one of them and it’s like. so weird. HOLLERING AND YODELING IM- i once went to some public yodeling class and left in 2 seconds bc it was a bunch of white boys dressed like the kid from walmart 😪

it’s not even strength i’m actually rly weak,, i always think the doors are closed but they’re not and so i like slam them open and the walls are thin so it’s just. a sad hole. terrible wifi,, my school has pretty good wifi tbh but we have like three connections, one for the chrome books only, one for the teachers & staff, and one for students and guests. like it works rly good but everyone has a VPN bc of stupid social media restrictions 😤 & ilyt 🥺 u would probably win in a fight tho LOL

go ham is so interesting. the first time i heard it i thought it meant go pig and i was so confused but ig,,, i live lathered in sun screen whenever i go somewhere with the sun. ppl are like “i smell sun screen” and im just there like 🙃 it’s me u got a problem u burnt chicken nugget ??? i wish i tanned easily, i have a tan friend and when i showed her when my legs got tan she was so confused. i thought i was tan tho? bc during marching band season my sock tan becomes So Bad i’m basically white. she said she was blinded when she saw me pull my sock down and i laughed so hard LOL & i hate those dumb random tan lines like. where u @ bro? where u come from??

snow is fun for like a day and then i get tired LOL i csn only handle wet socks and a red nose for so long 😔 i tried skiing one time and i did so bad that the instructor had to hold me down and walk with me down the slope. i fell so many times i think he hated me 😳 i’m also rly bad at skating? i went w my friends once and i held both of their hands and still managed to bring both of them down when i fell. a cute guy once helped me when i was struggling to walk so 🥴 not my brightest moment tbh,, trying to walk in skates while on ice. do u enjoy skiing/skating? also gardening is. gross. worms and dirt and the sun i’m not here for it.

u: cappuccinos! me: ...ice bergs,,, now that i think about it fraps kinda suck,,, i used to think i was So Cool for drinking starbucks but now i’m like. wow. i used to think there was coffee in a frap but it’s just. sugar and ice LOL also speaking of tmrw is bogo fraps here,, idk if it’s all over the world but myb u should check it out 😪

dunkins okay it depends on what you get, i once got an iced latte and it was good but my dad got an iced coffee and he like. hated it so we had to switch and it was so bad like. it was coffee crime. it was horrible and not strong it was basically milk 😤 also,, ketchup chip? i just googled what that was and. that’s literally so weird. fun fact i hate ketchup and all other condiments i can only eat bbq sauce and i tolerate steak sauce

UR LITERALLY SO CUTE OKAY UR MINE NOW HHHH

i mentioned this in the other ask but. we going broke bitches club 😪 when u come visit me it’ll be old town road the one w mason ramsey on a loop. nothing will top the og remix but no, i’ll be stuck listening to some 5 year old rap for all of eternity

I USED TO BE SUCH A GOOD KID AND DRINK MILK EVERY MORNING ever since i got to middle school i preferred sleep over waffles and milk and i hardly drink milk but when i do. my stomach does not have it.

my mom made me wash dishes today and she just stared at me when i put ziploc bags on my hands bc we didn’t have gloves but i just painted my nails and i’m not abt to put myself thru chipped nails. not yet 😤 waffles are so good like i love waffles and lattes only 🤧

well i’ll go very ham (am i doing it right LOL) 😤 the angst ending is a lot better than the open ended or happy ones LOL i’m so excited for it 🥺 i’m rly tryna get it out before the end of this month bc the edit says july and it’ll make me Mad if i don’t get it out before the end of this month

i wanna start in september 🤧 and i usually end in the first week of june. also on a wednesday LOL it’s gross. stupid. ap means advanced placement so it’s just. a college level class. lowkey mad bc i’m taking ap euro (as a sophomore 😒) and other schools take it in their senior years? apparently this is normal? and honors are just faster paced classes with more weighting so,, idrk oops 😬 some people take 7 classes in a semester but i took it for the whole year! this year i’m dropping orchestra i’m Not for that spit in the carpet life

the only talent in this house goes by ada and jisung. i don’t make the rules. i’m ur #1 fan 🥺 as soon as u post anything i automatically smash that rb button LOL also put a read more here bc like. we’re really out here writing a whole ass essay. i’ll look @ all our convos bet it’ll be like. a lot. i don’t wanna say smth and be off so i’ll just not. i have a dog! he’s the cutest in the world and i love him sm 🥺 tumblr can fight me first like. what’s this ask limit bull hhhhh

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somaybeimbiased · 6 years

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SHINee 5 | Ghost Hunters AU

I redid this early post and I think I improved it, others also requests a couple things about this AU, so I just redid it bc the other one was messy

With increasing reports of things going ‘bump’ in the night, a team of 5 guys formed, and they travel around South Korea. They film their findings and post them on youtube. They have 20 million subscribers, even if they do talk in Korean. (Subtitles my guys) Viewers think they are all v cute and hilarious but also this is the most realistic ‘ghost’ show out there.

Onew- Research Analyst

He was never one to believe in ghosts.

He didn’t even think it was a possibility.

After his mom died and Taemin started blabbering about how mom was still around and that nonsense, it made him hate the prospect of ghosts.

But when his best friend in high school asked him to help out, he couldn’t say no.

His filming was trash, but it got the job done.

It was all fun and games until ghosts actually started moving stuff

The breaking point in his skepticism came when a door slammed shut behind him and locked him in Jonghyun’s cellar.

Might’ve cried a lil

After that, he went ham researching the paranormal.

His and Taemin’s dad is a cop so he will sometimes ‘borrow’ his dad’s database computer to see if there is any sketchy happening in the history of wherever they are heading.

He was kind of against Key putting the first video on youtube, but it got popular so he forgave it.

Never gets used to the prospect that he has fans who like him the most out of their group. Like he has fangirls

After becoming a hit and getting 10k subscribers with only crappy iPhone videos, so after a while, they decided that they need more people on their team.

Put an ad on craigslist

The only ones who answered were his brother and Minho

Very much against Taemin and his boyfriend? Best friend? Joining the team.

Thought that Taemin would turn it into a joke

But then he watched his little brother get possessed and he freaked tf out.

Got used to it after a while.

Their youtube channel continued through high school graduation and only got more popular.

They would film on the weekends.

He is really into it after a while and he basically becomes a human dictionary for ghosts

Like, ask him any question and he will spit out the answer

Minho will only let him touch and cameras and other $$$$ equipment

“You’re the least likely to get scared or get possessed so-”

Except he runs into stuff all the time so?

Like if you think he is clumsy during the day, you should see him try to get around with a night vision camera.

Sometimes he will just trip or fall and Key s c r e a m s

“ARE YOU OKAY DID A GHOST GET YOU?!?!”

Jinki just kinda laughs it off, bc Key is so jumpy.

But overall he likes being a ghost hunter

Like it’s fun, plus he gets to spend a ton of time with his best pals

Jonghyun- The Leader

Every great story starts with a stupid decision.

Jonghyun’s was letting Key convince him to make and use an Ouija board during a sleepover when they were 13.

He 100% thought it was fake until the planchette started moving by itself even though Key and he were on the other side of the room.

And then him and key just like took the board and put it in the garbage.

But the damage had already been done.

His house was haunted.

Ever since then, he and Key had been trying to prove it to someone that they’d messed up Jonghyun’s house.

They invited Jinki over to try to get evidence on camera

So they made Jinki film using Key’s crappy iPhone and a cereal box voice recorder Key had saved boxtops for.

But then they caught some weird voices and the cellar door shutting on Jinki and they were spooked

Key put the evidence on a youtube channel and people went crazy for it.

They loved the video.

He wanted to make more, so him Key and Jinki tried just them for a year or so before deciding they needed to expand their group.

The ad on craigslist seemed to work bc they got a cameraman and a medium.

How cool are they?!

Once they started getting more and more popular, people would email him about coming to their house, business, etc.

Their youtube views were high too.

He 100% carries around a lil suitcase full of traditional ghost hunting stuff, like an ouija board salt, sage, etc.

Screams in falsetto

Gets scared easily, but is nowhere near as bad as Key

Sometimes Key’s screams startle him more than the spooky ghosts.

He also always gets scratches on his legs?

Like?

He can’t wear shorts anymore.

“No, I don’t own a cat.”

Lowkey thinks Taemin might be lying, but only because Jinki said he thinks it might be a coping mechanism.

But then Taemin sprouted off how a demon was following Jjong and has been attached to him since he was 13 and Jjong hadn’t really told anyone besides Kibum and Jinki what happened when he was younger so like

“Wow, okay, accepted.”

Key- The Comic Relief / Face of the group

This guy is scared of ghosts

Doesn’t know why he thought hunting them was a good choice.

Only in it for the potential views at first when they made Jinki film them in Jjong house.

1000% believes in ghosts though.

Made a youtube account for them.

GhostHunters5_25

He s c r e a m e d when they went viral

“SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE SEEN MY FACE”

Basically became an instant meme.

Pictures of him screaming and crying a lil are all over the internet.

Any fame is good fame.

100% let it go to his head.

Like, fame didn’t change him, he just got cocky with the ghosts.

It got worse when they really blew up after Taem and Mango joined the team.

Made everyone wear makeup for filming.

M: “I’m behind the camera why do I need makeup?”

T: “Also we are in the dark, I don’t-”

“SHHhshhhHSHhHh”

He was crazy for the views and stuff.

A skeptic of Taemin, like legit at the beginning he said they should kick Taem out.

“I can bring my dogs instead. They are just as cute as Taemin and dogs can sense things”

Got possessed once

It was for like 10 seconds

But he didn’t take it suuuper seriously until that happened.

He wanted to quit at first like he walked out of the house they were investigating.

Taemin tried to talk to him about it like

“Bum, I know you’re stressed but like, It happens to me all the time, and I’m fine.”

“No, you’re a freak! That’s why they go to you! If you were normal you would know how I feel!”

Taemin just left, and he ignored Key for 2 weeks straight.

Jjong and Jinki convinced Key to talk to him, bc if they didn’t patch stuff up, they’d lose their cameraman, their medium, and two of their best friends.

Everything was okay after he apologized.

From then on he would bring a doll with him to all investigations

The doll was an old cabbage patch kid

He named her Susan

“The ghost can possess the doll instead of me now”

The doll never actually gets possessed.

But sometimes 2min hide his dolls so he thinks it might’ve worked.

Also the fun cop™

Makes them go to the library before every new place to do research about it led by himself and Jinki.

Takes it suuuper seriously.

“Jonghyun, stop putting paperclips in Taemin’s hair”

“Where did Minho go?”

“Taemin, wake up you’re drooling all over the phonebook from 1987!”

“Minho when did you go get Panda Express?!”

Done with their bullshit

Minho- The Man behind the Camera

Didn’t actually know the others before this.

Like vaguely knew Jinki bc he is Taemin’s brother brother

But he really only knows Taemin, his bestboyfriend

They don’t like labels

One night Taemin showed him a crappy youtube video for three dorks hunting for ghosts.

“Isn’t that your brother filming? I didn’t know anyone could be so bad at filming! Who let that happen?

The film major was not impressed.

Left an angry comment on their video about how they need to get a proper cameraman.

A couple weeks later he was scrolling through craigslist while ignoring his homework and he found an interesting ad.

In search of extra crew to help investigate paranormal

“YO Tae, wanna become ghost hunters?”

Like he was aware Taem had that power, and those three morons needed a good camera guy tbh

Were the only ones serious about answering the ad

Him and Taem got the jobs because they were the only ones to actually answer the ad.

He told them that he was there just to handle equipment and be a cameraman

Quickly given a crash course on the good angles of Kim Kibum

Purposely zooms in on Key when he screams.

He is hella good with the camera work, and he is able to use extra footage sometimes for his film classes.

But he never really gets used to what happens

Especially when he watches his best friend get possessed the first couple times

Did not cry

One time there was a loud crash in an old house they were investigating and they sent him and Taemin to check it out.

Surprise.

It was a skunk.

So now he always checks the site before setting up.

He also now keeps a few jars of tomato juice in his trunk for emergencies.

Taemin- Mr. Medium

He lowkey resented his brother for starting a paranormal investigation team after teasing Taemin a large portion of their children over Taemin making things up.

He and Jinki were never as close as they were before their mom’s death.

Jinki claimed Taemin was making stuff up, but Taemin let it slide because his mom told him that he was the only one who could see.

Like those rumors that younger kids can see past the physical world but as they get told that ghosts aren’t real and whatnot they lose the ability.

Those are true, but Taemin’s mom being a ghost made it so that he never stopped believing

When they asked Taemin what he could contribute to the team he just deadpanned

“I see dead people”

Jonghyun and Key asked him if he needed therapy.

He almost cussed them all out for being close-minded when they were the ones hunting the ghosts

He is a self-acclaimed Clairvoyant and a Clairsentient

He found out at a young age that he wasn’t normal

His and Jinki’s Mother died in an accident when he was 7

When his father got home to tell him the news

“Don’t joke! She’s right behind you!”

Therapy sucks.

It’s a touchy subject for him to this day.

He has fun with this though, he is able to feel and see the ghosts when they don’t hide themselves

This makes him a valuable asset to the team

Glad that the others allowed his bestboyfriend to be the cameraman too, bc Mango hadn’t shut up about Jinki’s shaking filming.

He instantly became a hit on the youtube channel

He got fangirls from this too.

It’s great to have anyone other than Minho alone believing him.

A lot of comments are about how the hot medium is their favorite and how genuine he is.

Like ‘oh hello, how did all these flowers end up at our house Minho?’

Also, if we talk about Key being a huge meme, we can’t forget about him.

He has a hilarious expression at least 50% of the time.

Gets possessed all the time though

OT4 asked him why he was the one to get targeted all the time

“What can I say, I must just be irresistible”

“They like me because I sympathize with them and my emotions are easily manipulated to suit them”

Also bc he is lowkey into Wiccan charms and it’s only to protect the others from harmful spirits.

Got really hurt when Key got possessed bc he was the one that stopped the spirit from being inside Key for too long, and then after the fact Key hurt him.

He also jokes around a lot outside of the site and when around OT4

Pulls lil pranks on them

But once they arrive, he is all business.

Randomly stares off into the distance all the time bc he sees a ghost

Lowkey afraid of ghosts, but only because he has gotten really hurt in the past from them

Prays all the time to try to protect himself more

/AN// I hope you guys enjoyed! I am wrapping up the semester next week so I’m hoping to start writing more! Thank you <3

See More of My Work on my Masterlist

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captainkirkmccoy · 7 years

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In San Francisco, about a mile out from Starfleet there was a hill. It was almost like every other hill in San Francisco, except that this one was particularly twisty and particularly private (which is a certain Starship Captain and Chief Medical Officer bought up once dilapidated Victorian and redid it, before filling it with more kids than the house knew what to do with--and probably what the Captain and Doctor knew what to do with also). On that same twisty hill, there happened to be a Victorian, one that was usually hidden by various plants and trees. (This offered even more privacy, and created, for the much-loved inhabitants, a closed in happy chaos) In that once dilapidated, long suffering Victorian, was a Jim. But not just any Jim but a very important Jim--to his friends and family and the long suffering Doctor in the long suffering Victorian, especially. But on the particular morning that was not quite Summer and no longer Spring, Jim was not the Jim that his husband and six children knew him as. Because something was wrong. Very wrong. "Holy fuck." Maddy said around a yawn, that might have been a quiet scream. "Dad's like, our age."

“Language,” Joanna said, but didn’t really mean it. Leonard McCoy, Bones to his husband, Papa to his kids, Doctor and exasperated spouse, stood between the threshold to his bedroom and the hallway, keeping his six children from seeing their dad-but-no-longer-the-dad-they-knew in nothing but his boxers on, the threadbare Starfleet shirt he stole back from Jo and mismatched socks. He had a headache from whatever he drank last night and a hatred for his past self--who turned down the offer to let the brood stay Scotty and Jaylah (who were roommates, nothing more, he'd assured Davie and Chrissy who kept making googly eyes at the pair). "Is Daddy going to be okay?" Abby said around a thumb--a habit that was usually saved for late night cuddles and the moments after loud noises. "Alrighty, who wants pancakes? Let's go make pancakes!" Jo, firstborn, miracle of miracles, swept Abby up, pulled on Maddy's shirt and nudged Davie's butt with her toes. Chrissy made a face, swinging under Jo's other arm and poked her head through Bones' unprotected side. "Whoaaaa," she said, as George, bleary eyed and stumbling dragged his little sister back. "Who the fuck are you?" Jim spit back. Fuck, it was going to be a long morning. ~*~

Fortunately, but probably unfortunately, this was not the first time the Kirk-McCoys had been at Defcon 1. They had a neat system in place, now, after years of baptism by fire, which led to planning by fire, and afterwards, much tweaking of emergency systems. Reinforcements were called in the form of their Bridge Family (Jo had explained once to her teacher that while she wasn't related to her Aunt Ny in the genetic way, she was a part of a large Bridge Family and so of course Auntie Ny could take her out of school, duh). The Bridge Family was just as disgruntled this morning--having had way to much to drink at their annual Bridge Family Dinner at Spock and Nyota's and Bones still didn't know how they all got home tonight but by the way the hover car is parked, he assumes Jo drove--and yet they still manage to stumble in, graciously accepting mugs of steaming coffee and in the case of Spock, green tea. Gray and Amanda arrive in the kids' War Room--also known as the Tent Room--just as Jim tries to make a break for it. The scuffle is heard throughout the house (Maddy has sequestered herself in the bathroom with a pile of books and her Comms becuase she gets stomach aches when she's nervous) and can hear through the radiators, the whole shouting match. She hasn't heard that many F-Bombs in one sentence since George let them watch an old Terran gang movie. "Just calm down, DAMMNIT." Her Papa screams. She can imagine his red forehead and the vein popping out and probably a million more grey hairs turning stark white, as Papa says they always do when Daddy does something stupid--which, also according to Papa, is all the time. "Fuck you, you fuck face. Where the fuck am I? I will fuck you up." "I'm guessing," she hears George from across the hall in the Tent room (most of the walls haven't been reinforced in the house so you can usually hear everything that doesn't happen in a bedroom, thank the gods). "That this is dad post-Tarsus." "Pre-Tarsus," Jo corrects. "He probably would have just stabbed us all with a a shoelace and left, if it was post." "WHAT?" Davie yells over the yelling downstiars, a cacophony of the voices of their Bridge Family. "Nothing, Davie Dave. Wanna play a game, I think we still have all the twister pieces in tact." George answers. "We can probably escape to my house," Amanda answers and Maddy wishes she weren't stuck in the bathroom so she could join them. "Sounds like a plan," Maddy can almost see her sister getting up and brushing herself off. "Through the window?"

Before she can get up, before she can ignore the way her stomach clenches painfully, she hears the window open. Hears the scuffle of feet over windowpane, the giggling of her younger siblings sneaking out of the house.

A knock. “Abs, you okay?”

Jo. Big sister to the rescue.

A loud bang downstairs reverberates up to the hallway. Maddy winces.

“I’m fine. Go ahead.”

“You’ll come find us when you’re ready?” Jo is talking over a series of raised voices, a cacophony of swear words and adult anxiety.

“Yep,” she gathers her hair up in a bun and settles back, stuck and feeling sorry for herself as Jo makes her way back to the tent room, over the window seat, out and down the trellises to join the rest of the Brood.

~*~

Two hours later, Maddy is staring at her lined ceiling, tracing the Enterprise’s shape with her eyes over and over, when a thump outside her door makes her bolt upright.

Situation one: It’s an intruder. Someone has incapacitated everyone downstairs and is on it’s way to come abduct her.

Situation two: It’s the Bridge Family wrestling her dad-turned-teenager as he makes his escape.

Situation three: Whoever turned Dad into a teenager has turned everyone else into a teenager and is coming to turn her into...an infant?

She has a huge Shakespeare’s collected works her dad found in a bookstore in Portland and a deadly swing that made her the star of her softball team before she quit.

She’s not expected him. But he’s not really expecting her either.

She swings and hits her dad, teenage version, smack in the face with Shakespeare’s tome.

“Holy shit, I’m so sorry.”

“Ah, fuck,” Her dad says, hands cupping his nose. He snorts and it actually sounds like a laugh. “Wow, that was a good hit.”

She’s handing him a scarf from her nightstand and maybe a pajama shirt or a band tee or something for his nose and now he’s laughing. And she’s laughing.

And she’s doubled over because how many times can you meet your dad when he’s your age?

Only in your life, Maddy Kirk-McCoy, only in your life.

When Jim (she can’t really think of him as dad anymore, it’s too weird) assures her it’s not broken, she doesn’t feel much better about hitting him. The way he wriggled his face and prodded at it gently spoke of experience. She’s heard about his reckless childhood, of Grandma’s long trips to the black and a step-dad who forgot that Uncle Sam and Jim existed most days. And that was before Tarsus. Paradigm shift, Dad once said about it.

“How’d you get away?” She thought Pop was going to sit on Jim until they figured out a way to fix this. Her Papa could be scary when she was worried, she thought teenage Jim didn’t have a chance.

“Ah, the Scottish dude? Scotty? Was supposed to be watching me and he’s kind of easy to sneak away from.”

Maddy knew this to be very true.

“Are you okay?” She asked, rubbing her arms.

“I guess. Are you? Did all the other stays abandon you?”

“Strays?”

“This is a home for like misfit kids or something, right? That’s why I’m here? Knew Frank would sell me out eventually.”

“What? No! Wait, no...no one told you?”

Jim’s head tilted to the side the way it did when Davie suggested breaking into their neighbor’s pool to go swimming at midnight or Chrissy announced that she decided to only talk in pig latin for a month. Her dad was in there somewhere, still. That was good.

“Um. Shit.” She expected a rebuke. None came. She remembered all the f-bombs from earlier.

She sighed. She needed to get out of the house. Jim grinned, like he was reading her mind. “Want to escape for a bit? I think I heard someone say the window was a good way out.”

****

End of Part one. Let me know if I should continue. This might get long!

#mckirk #jim/bones fic #kidfic #age regression fic #jim and bones have six kids #star trek fic #boneslegendaryhands #dammitmccoy #ricechex

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years

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Missed Classic 79: A Christmas Adventure (1983)

Written by Joe Pranevich

Merry Christmas! Welcome back to another Christmas at “The Adventure Gamer” where we are looking at our sixth holiday adventure game! Time flies while we are having so much fun and I’m just amazed that we keep finding new holiday adventures to play. This time out will be 1983’s A Christmas Adventure, a “bitCard” (more on that in a bit) by Chartscan Data, Inc. This game has two notable distinctions: First, it is the earliest Christmas game that I have found so far. Merry Christmas from Melbourne House and A Spell of Christmas Ice were both 1984 games, but this one is a full year earlier. This may be the first commercially released Christmas adventure ever, but we’ll keep looking for more. Second, this game was brought to us by you! Last year, we ran a brief GoFundMe to purchase the only available-to-the-public copy of the game from Retrogames. Our community pitched in some funds and we purchased and sent the game off to the Internet Archive. Unfortunately, they were unable to get the game imaged for the holidays and we detoured to Humbug instead. The archivists uploaded our game in January and that gave us plenty of time to review it for this Christmas.

The Christmas Adventure story begins in Montreal, Quebec at the home of Frank Winstan. It was spring or early summer 1983 and he was working on an idea to design and sell personalized software as an electronic holiday or greeting card. You wouldn’t just play an adventure game, you’d play a game that knew your name and would have personalized messages and other features set by your friends or family. Even in the 1980s, the holiday card industry was hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly sales; if they could tap even a tiny portion, the upside would be huge. In part due to a fear that someone else could capitalize on a similar idea first, he set his sights on a Christmas release for his first electronic “bitCard”. Even for the fast development cycles of early games, the timing was incredibly tight and made all the more so due to a lack of marketing or distribution infrastructure. Winstan needed to bootstrap a startup and ship their first product in less than five months. Was that even possible?

The software retailed for approximately $45 in today’s money.

Winstan had been advised by others that his timeline was too tight, but he enlisted the help of a Larry Callahan, a friend from Vanier College, and they set to work. Chartscan Data was born! Winstan was a psychology professor and he did not have experience with adventure games. Nonetheless, he and Callahan established a system where he (and Ron Sperber) wrote the scenario, Callahan built much of the initial Apple II version, and other programmers were brought on board for porting and other work. Callahan wrote the software in a combination of BASIC and 6502 assembly for speed and size. To make an impossible task even harder, Winstan targeted five separate 6502-based systems, each with their own versions of BASIC and other platform dependencies, all needing to ship at the same time.

While Callahan and others built the product, Winstan built the company. Time was against him. Despite marketing copy that said the game would go on sale in October, he only officially incorporated his company that September. Winstan’s role was to ferry code and documentation between the contracted programmers, develop marketing relationships and ship copies of his near-completed game for reviews, as well as write and type-set all of the documentation, and just about everything else. The coding wasn’t entirely going according to plan either and with only a month to go, he was still placing “help wanted” ads in the McGill University newspaper looking for experienced 6502 programmers. He reports that he frequently slept only two hours per night to keep all of the gears turning. Christmas was, in a very real sense, coming!

Judging by the date on this review, you would be correct to surmise that they made it! Chartscan Data released their first product on time, but not quite everything had fallen into place. Given the schedule, there was insufficient time to produce or distribute a boxed version of the game or to develop relationships for the same. Instead, all sales were to be via mail order. Winstan had managed to get seven or eight (by his report) reviews published, but these were in the holiday issues of various computing magazines. Between the delays inherent in print publication and the challenges of a mail-order only business model, there was a slim window where readers could purchase the game and ensure that it arrived in time for Christmas with all of the customizations inact. Samples were sent to computer stores, but this was not the perfect harmony of distribution and marketing that Winstan’s e-cards needed to be successful.

The Apple II edition of “A Christmas Adventure”

I’d love to report that A Christmas Adventure was the surprise hit of 1983, but that distinction falls to Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Kids. They made their Christmas delivery, but ultimately the timeline and budget were too tight to build a distribution pipeline to reach the masses by Christmas morning. Less than a thousand copies were sold that first year, plunging Chartscan Data into debt and ultimately bankruptcy. Having played the game (as you will soon read), they did not fail for lack of either effort or a good idea. Winstan’s concept of personalized games as gifts was a remarkable leap in 1983! In fact, I would assert (without adequate proof or research, mind you) that he is likely the unsung inventor of the “e-card”. I hope that he and his team look back on this failure with a certain amount of pride.

As a final coda on this part of our story, Winstan tells me that The Sloane Report, a Miami-based newsletter focusing on software in education, named A Christmas Adventure as their co-game of the year in 1984. Of course, this recognition came too late for the Christmas season, but it hinted that there may still have been life in the product after all. Although Chartscan Data had gone under, a new Bitcards, Inc. emerged through the magic of business and financial wizardry. Winstan taught himself BASIC and continued the development of A Christmas Adventure himself, releasing a “2.0” edition in time for Christmas 1984. This is the version that I played in my review. He continued updating and selling the game through Christmas 1986 with the final version being tagged as version 2.8. He tells me that he nearly had an agreement for a boxed edition of the game, but at that late stage the industry was shifting towards IBM PCs and that was not a platform that he or his team envisioned supporting. In the end, no other Bitcards were created and the company was eventually folded. Winstan and Callahan continued their careers at Vanier College. Winstan taught Psychology, while Callahan ran their IT Support Services (a role that is very dear to my heart!).

Frank Winstan in the 1980s.

This title has become exceedingly rare. Unlike so much of the early Commodore and Apple II software library, the game was never picked up by the BBS community or the abandonware forums. Very few copies were known to survive. For many years, the only known version was one of Winstan’s “sampler” demos sent to computer stores, documented by AppleAdventures in 2015. This version included 50% of the story and a “mini-customizer” so that you could see how your personalization would affect the story. AppleAdventures was later able to get his (or her?) hands on an original full version by 2018 and produced a “Let’s Play” video of it on Youtube, but I was unable to convince him to give us a copy to review. When I speak of the differences in the 1983 version below, I am comparing to his earlier efforts in documenting the game.

The version that I played for review was Winstan’s “version 2.0” edition with a 1984 copyright date. This update incorporated a few new puzzles and cleaned up old ones, added a bit more music, and redid some of the item names and text descriptions. This is the version available today on the Internet Archive and, I believe, the version that we purchased last year in our GoFundMe promotion.

Before I begin, I want to thank Frank Winstan and Larry Callahan for their kind cooperation in my review of their work. I can only imagine what it is like to have strange people email you about something that you did thirty-six years ago, but to their credit they have been incredibly forthcoming with details and anecdotes about the development of the game. It is to my great shame that I only incorporated around a third of the historical details that they provided me. I am also exceedingly grateful for Frank for sending along a copy of the manual and offering to mail me a pristine Apple II version for my review. I was unable to take him up on that given the time constraints– I suspect rushing right before Christmas is a feeling that he is familiar with!– but appreciate it nonetheless.

Very nice “3D” rendering of flying towards the palace; quite advanced for 1983!

Introductory Movie

The game opens with an extended cinematic, very unusual for a game of this era and well-done over all. The camera flies over a darkened North Pole snow field towards Santa’s Ice Palace. We are taken inside to Santa’s office. A “greetings” message on the wall appears to be customizable. I’m not positive who is narrating, but they have “chatted” with Santa’s computer many times before and refer to us, the viewer and player, as a “poor mortal”.

Something is amiss? What can it be?

OMG. Who could it be?

Suddenly, an alert appears on the computer: Santa is missing! With only a few hours before Christmas, the computer springs into action to figure out what to do. It searches its worldwide naughty-and-nice database to locate someone that can help. That someone… is you! My version has the name set as “Current Player” although this also is customizable.

With that, we are instructed to flip over the disk and begin.

Presumably the Apple logo was also customizable.

Playing the Game

We start the game where the cinematic ended, in Santa’s “Ice Palace”. The greeting message from the opening is still there, but the safe that was clearly visible before is now covered by an Apple painting. I’d wager that was either customizable as well, or at least changed based on which platform you were running. Is that a hint? Yes! We can move the painting to reveal the safe, although it is keyed to only let Santa open it. A strange parser issue shows up immediately in that the “waste basket” is spelled “was’basket”, presumably because the word was too long. You have to be careful as “basket” isn’t recognized as a synonym. I’ll have to be on the lookout for these sorts of things.

When we look at the desk and chair, we get the message that they “cannot be manipulated in any way” and “this is not a trick”. The 1983 edition of the game doesn’t mention them at all and I am not sure what was gained by adding them in except to fill out the room.

In terms of customization, the 1983 video that I viewed has the game brought to us by “Frostbyte Computers” while my version says “Apple User Magazine”. Apple User was a magazine published in the 1980s by Database Publications, although beyond that I am not deeply familiar with it. Frostbyte is a name that is used by far too many companies over the years and I am unclear which one this referred to. In both cases, my guess is that these are companies that Frank Winstan worked with to promote the game. I do not know what a straight-from-the-factory edition of the game would have said.

In addition to the vault, we also have a computer that wants us to insert both a system and a data disk (oh, the 1980s!) and we can pick up the waste basket.

Made in Canada!

My first task is to explore the house and see what I find. Rather than narrate through every room one-by-one, let me summarize:

To the north is Santa’s Workshop, complete with a map of Canada! I grab a shovel, but the crafting tools are too delicate to be picked up by my fingers. I pull aside the rug to reveal a key. I ignore the stairs down for now.

In the northwest of the palace is Santa’s minimalist art gallery: only a single painting adorns the wall. Moving it causes me to be attacked by “cursed elves”. That triggers a brief action scene, but there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do except watch as they ransack the place. I am forced to restore already. A window in the room is too high up for me to do anything with it. Will I find a ladder?

West of the office is a living room with a chair and a (very!) hot fireplace. Even looking at the fire kills me, so I’ll avoid that for now. I sit in the chair and discover that it “feels funny”. I remove the cushions and discover a rope that I can add to my collection. A sword over the fireplace seems interesting but I can’t do anything with it.

Further west is an entertainment room with a jukebox and ping-pong table. I pick up a record, but there is no obvious way to play music.

North of the living room is a spartan kitchen containing milk and an empty bag. I nab both.

In the south, I find a bedroom with dressers and closets. One closet contains a surprise Pac-Man cameo while the other has a full set of Santa regalia including boots, a hat, a coat, and gloves. I pocket some coins from the dresser. A second drawer is locked, but my key fits. That contains a disk labeled “chanukah”! Finally, a piece of paper falls out of Santa’s coat that says to call “Current Player” (me!) in the event of an emergency. How did they know I was so good at adventure games!?

Hey look! It’s a cameo!

That is a lot to digest, but I want to highlight a few things. When you enter that closet in the bedroom, the screen goes black and Pac-Man marches across the screen. When he gets around half way, he discovers that he’s in the wrong game and quickly runs off. It’s bonkers and the first laugh-out-loud moment of the game. I hope we see more examples of the authors’ humor as we play on. It seems impossible, but when this game came out Pac-Man (1980) was very new and “Pac-Man fever” had only just subsided.

Interface-wise, the game is inconsistent whether or not objects disappear when you pick them up. The shovel and key disappear, for example, while the wastebasket does not. Unlike Sierra’s Mystery House-style games, dropped objects only appear when you drop them in the room that they originated in. The parser seems very simple with very few supported synonyms. I’m also fairly sure that it has only three characters of sensitivity, as opposed to the five used by many other early adventures.

Finally, this is the first reference to Chanukah (or “Hanukkah” or any number of equally-valid alternate spellings) in one of our Christmas games! I’ve been hoping to come across a Hanukkah adventure game, but I’m almost certain that none were made in the classic era. The only Hanukkah game that I know of at all is Game of the Maccabees (1983), a little-known action game for the Atari. The earliest Jewish-themed adventure game that I know of is The Pesach Adventure (1993) celebrating Passover. If I ever find a Hanukkah adventure, you can bet your menorah that I’ll find a way to cover it.

If only Amazon could work out how to store 43 million boxes in such a small space!

Just beneath the workshop is the “gift storage room” where we can see piles of gifts for the good little boys and girls in the world. Looking at them triggers a database-style interface where I can theoretically learn the gifts of all 43,126,798 good children, but for simplicity we can only see the first eight entries. While 43 million seems like a big number, there were 63 million children in the United States alone in 1983. Were the rest naughty? And what about all the good children everywhere else in the world? And did I spend more time than I should researching historical census data? The answer to the last question is “yes”.

We can look at the presents, but only a couple of them seem valuable. Presents #1, #5, #6, and #8 all teleport me somewhere around the castle when I look at them. I’m not clear why. Present #3 is apparently “curtains” and thanks to the magic of an overly-destructive pun, I die and have to restore. #7 is the present for me that I will get at the end of the game. The only presents of value are #4, a doll that I can pick up, and #2, a rhyme:

I was talking to a computer ace Her name, it was Veronica I said, “Hi Ronny- what’s the word?” She said, “The word is Chanukah!”

With two references to Hanukkah in the last couple of minutes, I think that will be important later.

The 1983 game has a completely different puzzle here. In the opening cinematic, there is a brief display of Santa’s gift list. For some reason, Susie’s present is listed in that opening but left blank here. Somehow this is supposed to clue you in that you can pick up (“get doll”) in this room. Regardless of how you get it, the doll is pull-string and intones, “Mommy says that you have to keep warm when you are sick.” Could that be a clue?

The sleigh is pointed in an inconvenient direction, don’t you think?

Past the gift room is the empty reindeer stables and a garage containing Santa’s sleigh. With neither reindeer to pull it, nor jolly old man to steer it, they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. I do find a blanket that I can grab. By this point, I’m out of inventory space and storing things elsewhere but you get the idea.

With no more rooms in the Ice Palace, I resolve to solve some puzzles. The first is easy: Santa’s security system is fooled by wearing his clothes and that gets me access to his safe. Inside is an unlabeled potion. I can also insert the “chanukah” disk in the computer, but it still needs a second before it will boot. (Weren’t old-timey computers so quaint?) It takes some time and experimentation, but I realize that the record from the jukebox is referred to as “floppy” in its description. That makes no sense at all, but the computer boots when I (somehow?) insert it, so what do I know?

On startup, the computer asks for a password so I take the most obvious guess: “chanukah”. It works! Only a moron would write the password on the disk itself, but my wager is that Santa isn’t the most clued in to digital security. Wait until he gets his whole “naughty” list hacked one of these years! The computer displays a menu with four options:

The first is the gift list, but it doesn’t appear to be useful. The list does not match what is in the store room; the doll is the same, but the third gift is a bicycle and not (evil) curtains.

The second and third options are “need to know” and the computer somehow thinks I don’t need to know yet. When I need to “cure elf maladies” or render “reindeer first aid”, I’ll know where to look for answers.

The final option describes an emergency exit from the palace. It reveals that during an emergency (like this one), the castle is automatically sealed to prevent anyone entering or leaving. However, there is one way out via a “virtually empty” room, although it involves fastening together two common items hidden elsewhere. To make it trickier, one of the items is in a “different time plane”. Is there time travel in this game? My guess is that the rope is one of the items, but what is the second?

The 1983 edition has the computer with the same password, but without the menu. Instead, it gives you a (unnecessary, in my case) clue to access the vault.

Catch the elves in color!

This is where I get stuck and I eventually watch the 1983 video to see what I missed. The next puzzle that I could solve was the “cursed elves”. I had not noticed that if I opened up the painting while carrying the bag, my action scene would be different. Now, I can control the bag with the arrow keys to capture as many elves as possible. It was more difficult than it looks! For one thing, the elves can move diagonally while I can only move up and down or left and right. Even leaving one behind ends the game and it took me a few tries to capture them all. Once I did, I discovered that I captured seven bad elves and one good one. I have to play over again to try to leave one of the green elves and this adds another layer to the difficulty as the green ones seem to kamikaze whenever I get close. After a few frustrating attempts, I work out that the striped elf is the “good” one (not the plain green one) and seal the deal.

This puzzle is clearer in the black-and-white version of the game as all of the elves wearing vertical stripes are evil while the one with horizontal stripes is not.

Catch the elves in black and white!

Once we work out the correct elf to keep and get lucky with the arcade sequence, the final elf appears in the room with me. Unfortunately, all of the evil magic has made him ill (an elf malady!) and I can now consult the computer to see what to do. The computer tells me that I need to feed the elf the potion and to keep him warm. I hand over the potion and blanket and he’s right as rain again. The elf turns out to be the leader elf and is happy to follow me around from room to room. I am not clear how to solve this puzzle in the 1983 edition of the game as there is no computer hint. I believe that the doll’s advice was supposed to clue you in to give him the blanket, but I am uncertain what may have clued you in to needing the potion as well.

With the elf in tow, I can pick up the tools in Santa’s Workshop since he can carry them for me.

I fail to notice at first, but you can walk through the hole where the evil elves poured through. This leads to a dark tunnel and then to a time machine! See? I knew there would be time travel here eventually. The original edition of the game has a small maze in place of the tunnel, but since I’m just watching a video I have no idea how difficult it was.

This time machine has a Y2K problem.

Even with the time machine, I am immediately stuck again. The 1983 video just shows the elf activating the machine when you enter the room and look at it, but that doesn’t happen in the 1984 version. I have to solve this myself. Before I get too far, let me admit that this was multiple hours of experimentation with a little bit of “reading the source code” included. Only a small portion of the game is written in BASIC and I was unable to find anything relevant, but that tells you how desperate I was. Given the rarity of this game, I do not believe a “request for assistance” would have been useful!

If I only had the manual when I played!

This is when I discovered the “help” feature and boy is it robust! This is all clearly laid out in the manual, but I did not get my hands on a copy (thanks again to Mr. Winstan!) prior to playing. By typing “help”, you can request general information (such as a list of verbs that the game understands) or more specific information about the room that you are in. You can even decrease the difficulty of the elf capture game! This is a great feature, made slightly worse by all of the disk swapping that you have to do to access it. This was likely quite easy on a real system, but my emulator did not handle the disk swapping correctly (probably because the game writes its state to the disks?) and so I had to restore after receiving the hint. I will blame this on modernity rather than a bug in the original. The two hints for the time machine room are cryptic:

“He is his name and his name is like he. Get his attention- that’s the key!”

“Only someone who is small by design can help you slip through the cracks of time.”

Both clues point to the elf as the solution, but I only stumble on the answer by accident. We can, it turns out, issue commands directly to the elf by typing “elf” by itself. That brings up a second prompt to tell him what to do. You can even type “help” again and he’ll give you his own clues! In this case, he tells us to examine the time machine. I had done that already, but now I tell him to examine the machine. This reveals that there is a keyhole in the back.

I know I missed something because I never learned that the time machine was broken, but if you tell the elf to “fix timemachine” when he is carrying the tools, he does so and we are whisked back to the past.

I had thought that this strange syntax for asking the elf to do something would have been in the manual, but it turns out that it is not. My manual is for a later update to the game and perhaps this puzzle was tweaked again, but as it stands I found this to be the most frustrating part of the game so far. Being able to issue commands to the elf is a great feature! It opens up tons of puzzle mechanics and was implemented very well in the Zork series, for example. I am not aware of any other games using this syntax and I wish that it would have been mentioned in the manual.

Prehistoric!

With my complaints out of the way, I travel back to the year “1”. (The current year was “8X”, but I’m not going to nit pick this two-digit year too much. I expect there were more than just cave paintings in the year 1901!) When we are in the past, the interface doesn’t really work because– somehow this makes sense– we are in an era before computers existed and therefore we cannot tell our computer to do stuff for us. Fortunately, the elf traveled with us and we know how to control him so it all works out. It’s clever but reminds us that we are working through an avatar. We learn that the cave paintings are done by an ancient Evil One and that he is the one that put the elves under a spell. Did he make Santa and the reindeer disappear as well? I discover a hook hidden under a pile of bones and grab that before heading back to the present.

The 1983 version of the puzzle is different.

In the original version, the time machine is easier to activate as I stated previously, but also takes you to a different era. This is the only example of changed art that I see so far between the 1983 and 1984 games. Rather than going prehistoric, we seem to go somewhere else. The dial remains on “83” so I am glad that this sequence was rewritten for clarity. We still pick up a hook in the past (behind a painting rather than in a pile of bones) and then travel back to the present.

With the hook and rope together, I can create a grappling hook! I throw that to the window in the art gallery and I am able to leave the Ice Palace for the first time. I’m not even going to mention that we were on the second floor.

Just because my nose glows… I just don’t fit in.

I have been reluctant to mention this before now because I am not sure what is the game and what is the emulator, but I have been struggling with infrequent lockups. I’ve never lost more than a few minutes, but from this point on the game suddenly becomes much less stable. By the time I reach the end in a few minutes from now, I’ll be carefully plotting every move and avoiding actions (like checking our inventory!) that can trigger a crash. I push through, but if these bugs were in the original then I am not sure how much patience the players would have had for this. I’m going to assume that the bugs are due to emulaton and possibly due to my use of save states rather than saving to disk as intended.

I emerge outside. To the west is a snow bank. I dig with the shovel and discover that Rudolph was trapped under the snow! He’s suffering from the extreme cold and his nose has turned orange rather than red; apparently that also means that the other reindeer will not recognize him. Are glowing colored noses so common that they couldn’t put two-and-two together? Sure, Comet and Cupid might be dumb, but Donner and Blitzen could have worked it out. I ask the computer what to do and it tells me that I need to administer a “hot non-alcoholic beverage”. I don’t have any of those yet.

Not the game’s best art.

Abandoning Rudolph for now, I head east to discover a hut with a loose floorboard. Looking at it tells me that it is “hanging at the window” and I can only assume that it’s a translation error of some kind. It hardly matters because I can move the board to find a path downstairs. Heading down, I discover not only Santa’s secret stash of booze, but also the jolly old elf himself. He’s been tied up, but it is no problem at all to “untie santa” and he heads off on his way. Santa will wait for us by his sleigh.

The final puzzle stumped me for a long time, but I eventually found the “hint” that I needed by hex-editing the game files. I know, I know… I’m a dirty cheater. The 1983 edition of the game just requires you to give the milk to Rudolph, but the 1984 edition wants it to be warm milk. I had guessed as much, but no amount of trying to warm it by the fire seemed to have helped. I eventually noticed an item in the game called “was’bas+mlk”. This revealed that I could put the milk in the basket, then I could put the basket in the fire, and finally I could fish them back out and have warm milk. Make sense? The parser doesn’t handle this very clearly as we cannot remove the milk from the basket when done, but it gets the point across and we can feed the milk to Rudolph. Once back to health, he too went back to Santa’s sleigh.

I race back to the sleign, noticing that there are now reindeer in their stables. Presumably Rudolph gathered them together once he was feeling well. At the sleigh, Santa gives me a present and a message from my friend that gave me the game and heads off on his yearly rounds. I win!

Time Played: 6 hr 35 min

Santa thanks you and leaves for his once-a-year task.

We get our gift (never revealed) and then the game ends with a personalized message.

Final Rating

We made it to the end of another holiday classic! I hope you enjoyed this trip as much as I have. I have a ton of fun researching these holiday games and I hope that comes through. This is a game that has tremendous promise, but for everything that is ahead of its time (the personalization and help system especially), there are some head-scratching moments that a more seasoned game designer would have avoided. The fact that I had enough fun that I was willing to try to hex-edit the game to solve it should be seen as a sign of my enjoyment and desire to reach the end, rather than my frustration.

Every one of our reviews may be someone’s first and that is doubly true for these holiday posts. Let me remind you that we are using our “suspiciously similar” EGGNOG system for review since our usual rating scale doesn’t seem festive enough. Also keep in mind that these scores are based against an idealized version of a circa-1990s LucasArts or Sierra game. Text adventures and early adventures in general do not score all that highly, but this is an indication only of their quality compared to games released more than a decade later. These ratings are designed to be fun and it is generally not a good idea to put too much stock in them.

Let’s get to reviewing:

Enigmas and Solution-Findability – On the whole, I enjoyed the puzzles in this game even though most did not rise above fetch quests around the house. The use of the computer for hints was fantastic, as was everything involved with the Elf, and the creation of the warm milk. Ultimately, those were let down by the primitiveness of the parser but the underlying ideas were solid. The animated arcade sequence was also done well with the right level of charm and frustration; having to work out which elf to save was a nice touch. I am giving extra credit for the robust helpo system which was exceptional for the era and helped to ensure the game remained fun and not frustrating. The rhyming clues ( which I only briefly covered) were some of the game’s best sources of humor. My score: 3

Game UI and Items – As much as I hate to say it, the interface isn’t quite baked yet. A three-character parser with very few synonyms is not great even by 1983 standards and it shows that the developers hadn’t played that many adventure games prior to building this one. If they had better tools, they could have made a better game. Still, the verb list was helpful (even if it felt like an exaggeration) and there are some great features such as the ability to make multiple moves in a single line which are listed in the manual but which I did not discover on my own. My score: 2

Gameworld and Story – The Ice Palace and environs were fun to explore, but they never felt like a real place and the story never coalesced into a full narrative. We never fully understood who our avatar was in the game (an intelligent or magical computer?) and the menace of an Evil One from the dawn of time who plotted something against Santa was a great start, but didn’t go anywhere and didn’t have any impact on the ending of the game. It feels like there were plot beats missing. Who tied up Santa? How did Rudolph end up trapped in the snow? Did we ever cure all of those cursed elves? My score: 1

Noises and Pretty Pixels – This game gives us both a Christmas soundtrack and some excellent art, including a surprisingly nice opening animation. A few of the locations weren’t drawn as well as the others, but the little touches ranging from Pac-Man’s cameo to the catch-the-elves game were done very well. My score: 3

Overworld and Environs – In our normal rating system, we refer to this category as “Atmosphere” and it describes how the game made you feel. Was it tense? Did the setting evoke strong emotions? Did it all come together in an indescribable way? Unfortunately, I have to say that while the game was good and had some nice bits of levity, the overall tone wasn’t consistent. I may have felt differently if I had used the help system more or if the rhymes were integrated into the game itself. My score: 2

Gregariousness and Thespianism – This category refers to the game’s text and I’m very much in a split-decision. On one hand, the room descriptions were spartan and a few object names had strange contractions. And yet, some of the jokes landed, the computer interfaces were nice, and the help system was robust and clever with lots of rhyming clues that most players would never see. I loved those rhyming clues! My score: 2.

Before we add it all up, I want to add one bonus point for being customizable. I was considering deducting points for the crashes, but as I am uncertain whether that was my game or the emulator, I’ll give the game the benefit of the doubt.

Finally tally: (3+2+1+3+2+2)/.6+1 = 23 points!

Honestly, that feels about right. This is another case where the game is greater than the sum of its parts, but it is in good company with several of our other Christmas games, as well as Brian Moriarty’s early work. I am positive that the Bitcards team would have continued to improve had they remained in the industry. With a slightly better engine, they could have done wonders. Even so, it seems likely that Frank Winstan invented the computer greeting card.

I might be stretching things a bit, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that Winstan’s game inspired the release of Merry Christmas from Melbourne House the following year. While they were Australian (but releasing games in the US and UK) and it seems unlikely that they played this one, a particularly inscrutable joke in that game was that you could only exit Santa’s workshop via a window. We may never know if these events are connected, but I have my suspicions.

If you are looking for even more Christmas-gaming fun, please check out our previous holiday specials:

Merry Christmas from Melbourne House (1984)

A Spell of Christmas Ice (1984)

Crisis at Christmas (1986)

Elves ‘87 (aka Elf’s Christmas Adventure) (1987)

Humbug (1990)

As for me, I’ll be taking a break until the new year when I will resume our Infocom marathon (finally!) with Trinity. See you in 2020!

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/missed-classic-79-a-christmas-adventure-1983/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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charmdup-blog · 6 years

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Well Hello there 2019!

2019.....

Let’s see. Just like any normal person around early December, I started thinking about my “2019 Goals”. Being how much of a shitshow that I felt 2018 was, I looked at it as a lesson. So now here I am in January of 2019, feeling like it’s 2018 2.0. Like wtf?! I had my whole list of goals set up, ready to get to it! My 2019 was gonna LIT! (As the cool kids say) Joke was on me! Sheesh!

2019 started so rocky full of anger and other emotions that I couldn’t seem to organize in a way where I could choose the proper “reaction”. They say that you’re allowed to ‘feel’ right? Until those feelings offend others then it’s a problem. But anyways. I’ve learned how to take the bad with the patience and to know that the good is coming. So I’ve accepted that January was my jumpstart to the new year. Not the first day of January, but the entire month. The entire month to figure out HOW I wanted MY year to go.

It’s the last week of the month and I’m ready for it to come and be done! February awaits. Because now....I can really attack my goal list. So I’ve created my game plan. Hey in January I had ALOT occur, ALOT of epiphanies, ALOT of WTF moments. Enough to be fed up and enough to say to myself “I really got this’”. Like despite of what some people may suggest. The whole “why start after the new year with, start now”—and yes, I said that in my annoyingly whining voice. Because it is, indeed, ANNOYING. Like shut up. Who is ANYONE, to tell someone else when and how to begin their goals? And that was always my issue it seems. Being so impulsive all of the time. Wanting my goals and dreams to happen within like...ASAP. Not seeing what patience can do.

We often forget about patience. Like yes, success is the goal of most of us. But with social media now? It’s almost too easy to compare ourselves to the next person. But hey, I look at it this way now. I don’t know their lives, I don’t know the hard work they put in or the tears they had to release to get to where they are. All I could do is use that as constant motivation (that’s why it’s important to follow others that boost you, social media for drama is OUT when you have goals)

So you’re probably like ok chick what did you learn and how are you attacking this year’s goal list. Well, I’m going to first, CALM THE F*CK DOWN. Believing in the point of power, focusing on the NOW. Meaning what can I do NOW, that’ll get me closer to where I want to get to in the future. I looked at all that I wanted to do. To change my impulsive ways, I’ve learned that each thing that I want to do, will be accomplished when I take each task ONE at a time. There’s only so much I can do before I’m overwhelmed. And once I’m overwhelmed, I’m discouraged. And once I’m discouraged, I’m depressed. And once I’m depressed, I’m literally back at square one. Trying to pick and place where I went wrong.

In a previous blog, I mentioned having your girl tribe. This is important sh*t folks, and for any male readers, your guy gang is just as important. Make sure that who you tell your goals too, have goals of their OWN! *Read that last line again. I’ll wait*

It can be very draining and a distraction talking to others that are not like minded as you. Those people drag you down in so many ways, mentally especially. You kiiiiinda need your mental state to be in tip top shape when going for what you want in life. Sure there will be hiccups along the way. But know what can snap you back on track.

Recently I redid a room in my house, and I call it my “She Suite”. Yes I made that up. And here it’s MY space. Rearranging items in the room, you know that “feng shui” thing. And I guess it really is a thing! I have my alter, which consists of sage, crystals and candles. And my favorite ‘self help’ books. The energy in this room? Man! Good idea ma’am. *Pats self on back* I needed a room to completely tap into my creativity whether it’s for makeup or to write... blog. A book is a goal too. I also have my speaker for my mediation music to fill the room completely and an oil diffuser to release the scent of whatever essential oil I may need at that moment.

The point is. January is basically over. What have you learned or done so far that’s going to get you one day closer to your dreams? Hey if you hit this year on top.... listen GOOD SH*T! But if you’re like me, and it’s started a little rocky. It’s okay. We got this now right? I know what my distractions are. My triggers to my anxiety and depression. And few of the angles I need to know in order to approach a few things. And most of all. I learned to LET GO. In everything we want to do, the biggest halt is fear. Fear of failure. I don’t have that. I have the “Let’s hope for the best because I’ve done my best” mentality. A list of self affirmations doesn’t hurt. I am a woman. I am a wife. I am a mother. I have so many reasons as to why just like I’m writing this blog. I should be writing them often, at the instant of inspiration. And it’s all around me, because that’s all that I will allow!

So don’t fret Charms, 2019 is FOR SURE the year. My year. Your year. OUR year. Look back at the last few weeks so far. Anything you’d do different? Anything new you’d try for next month? Well, get to it! Year of the Flourish. For real this time. Lol! ❤️

#Charmdup

Live.Love. Flourish.

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lalast0ne · 6 years

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Homecoming

Wilder

*The miles rolled past as we made our escape from Boston, leaving behind the history of a city we did not explore and a past that died in the ashes. Many things gnawed at my mind…..the could I see Jake through and heal from this pain, the success of our club, my town that felt like it had trouble coming and as I cast my eyes over to Layla, all those thoughts leaving my mind but never too far from my grasp. I reach over and grip her thigh, squeezing as we get stopped at that same red light. The one that welcomes you to Blacksoul. A smirk plays on my lips as it finally turns green. No one gets in and out of my town without being stopped here. Evidence they came, a photo stored away and some never leaving. I squeeze her thigh again to grab her attention.* A penny for your thoughts Little Ball of Fire.

Layla

*The journey home from anywhere always seems to pass quicker than the journey to the outgoing destination. Although we hadn’t been in a rush, exactly, to get out of Boston, when we pulled up to that red light relief went through me. We were finally returning to our safe haven. I’d been feeling uneasy since my shopping trip yesterday. I hadn’t told Wilder what I’d seen, instead I did what I seemed to do best lately and pushed that face out of my head as best possible and tried to continue as normal. Which it turns out isn’t easy. Every darker haired female I’d seen since then, I’d needed to see her face. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself my mind was just playing tricks on me, I couldn’t quite work out why my mind had chosen that face. Your hand coming down on my thigh drags me back to the present and I turn to look at you with a big smile plastered on my face.* I’m just wondering if the club’s still standing. *Placing my hand over yours, I lace our fingers and squeeze.* I’m really glad to be home. These last couple of days have taken it out of me.

Wilder

*I lift our hands and bring them up, kissing the back of your hand.* I have no issues firing Jessie or Salem if they screwed up our club in the few days we were gone. I will gladly do it with a smile on my face and beer in hand. *Hoping to lighten the weird mood you seem to be in and I can feel your mind working in overdrive as I drive through town and turn on our street.* Are there going to be boxes on the front porch of all the shoes you bought and tried to hide from me? *Jake laughs from the back seat as he wakes up. I can’t help but to laugh as well when I cut the engine, Delores standing on her front porch.* I’m starting to think she has access to my security system.

Layla

*My laugh is genuine when I see the smile on your face as you kiss my knuckles.* I’ve no doubt you’d take immense satisfaction in firing them both but I’m sure they’d have contacted either of us if there were any major issues. *I shake my head, dispelling the thoughts that are affecting my mood and twist to look at Jake when he laughs from the backseat.* I promise, there will be no boxes on the front porch … I arranged for them to be delivered to work. *I wink at Jake then turn back to you grinning.* I’m kidding! Jake is the only one I brought any shoes for which is a first for me. *I blink at the realization.* I did see a pair I liked but .. *I trail off as I look between you and Jake then over at Delores, who stands like the welcoming committee ready to greet us.* I think she just has Wilder radar .. *I lean in to kiss you as you grumble, my shoulder shaking as I chuckle inwardly.* Watch out for her grabby hands. *I climb from the car and stretch my body before opening the back door for Jake who climbs out and stares at the house. His lips slightly parted in shock. I guess it is a little bigger than his parents house and it’s certainly more homely. I slip my arm around his shoulder and squeeze gently.* Welcome home buddy.

Wilder

Maybe she will start grabbing Jake’s ass instead. *I laugh loud when he looks at me.* Stay on her good side man. She’s makes the best baked goods. *I wave over at Delores and grab the bags from the trunk.* Kingston redid one of the rooms while we were gone. I’m pretty sure he spent all my fucking money on gaming shit and drums. Those stay in the garage by the way. I can’t have pissed animals running around the house. *We all walk inside and I drop the bags by the door.* Welcome to your new home Jake. I would give you the same rules I gave Layla but I don’t need to see you walking around naked. *Groans when you elbow me in the ribs.* What? That rule still applies but we need to tweak it a little.

Layla

*I suppress my smile when you mention the rules as I look at you from the corner of my eye, the corners of my lips twitching.* The rules are definitely going to need to be tweaked now we’ve got a teenager living here.* I look down at Jake who is busy spinning on the spot taking all the surroundings in. It’s completely different to the house he’d lived in and I know it’s probably intimidating for him; not just in size but in presentation too. Everywhere is pristine. Every belonging has a place. Admittedly that’s more Wilder’s doing than mine but it’s something I’m finally getting used to. Raising an eyebrow, I turn to you questioningly, hoping the chosen room is no where near ours … for reasons.* Which room did he decorate?

Wilder

*My hand comes down and squeezes your ass hard, smirking slightly.* I know teenagers like there space so Kingston set him up in the basement. You have your own room, bathroom and a small area with a couch and TV. Kitchen is over there *Points that direction* and we are upstairs. *I lean down and whisper in your ear.* That should be far enough away that you can still scream my name when I fuck you senseless. *I bite your earlobe as I look at Jake.* We can hit the store later and get some of your favorite foods. We still have things to figure out but I think you will be happy here. You can come hang out at the club during the day some if you want. *Shrugs my shoulders, having no clue how to raise an 11 year old.*

Layla

*I press back against you when you hand moves to my ass. Your words then your teeth tickle my ear and I can’t hold back the laugh which falls from my lips, earning us both an eye roll from Jake. I can’t help it if I’m loud .. I don’t need to remind you whose fault that is with words. Instead I just give you a look that tells you exactly what I’m thinking then turn my attention back to Jake.* The club in the day is fine for now, we’ll have to get something in place for the evening when we’re both at work. We’ll look at getting you enrolled in a local school or maybe one in the city but we can do that over the next few days. *I mirror your action and shrug my shoulders, both two completely clueless people when it comes to children and having no clue where to actually start.* Right now, why don’t you take some of your stuff downstairs and start unpacking while I make us all some lunch. *Jake nods and walks in the direction Wilder had pointed out to him, just as I’m about to turn to you, Jake looks back, a small smile on his face.*

“Thank you for everything.”

*My head drops to the side and I smile back, my hand finding yours and clenching your fingers.* You’re welcome.

Wilder

You’re welcome man. *I squeeze your fingers and Jake disappears down the stairs and then I hear him.* Yep, Kingston spent all my money. *I shake my head and laugh as I follow you into the kitchen, caging you against the counter. Dipping my head, I kiss your neck, sucking until I hear you moan, my body pressing against yours.* You know you are going to have to tell me what is going on in that mind of yours Little Ball of Fire. Or I can take you upstairs and fuck it out of you. The choice is yours.

Layla

*My body relaxes, pushing back against the counter as your body leans in to mine. My hand stroke up your chest and my fingers grasp at your shirt to keep to close. Just as my eyes begin to close, they open instantly when you question what’s on my mind. It’s not that I don’t want to tell you .. or maybe it is. If I tell you what I saw then who knows what effect that’ll have. So instead, I opt for distraction. Slipping my arms around your neck, I grin and press my lips to yours.* I’m just tired baby. A lot’s happened in the last couple of days .. we now have a child to consider in everything we do. When we’ve got a plan in place, I’ll feel better. *My fingers tug on your beard and my smile widens.*

Wilder

*I lean my forehead against yours, holding you close.* It has been really stressful but we made it through it and have Jake safe with us. Now we just need to figure out things and take it day by day. He seems to be doing really good though. But knowing from my past, he will hit a really hard time soon. He may lash out or withdraw into himself. It’s to be expected. He’s been through a lot. *I move my hands along your hips, squeezing gently.* Thank you for everything baby.

Layla

*I nod as you explain what we can expect. You more than anyone would know how he’s feeling just like you, more than anyone, are the perfect person to try and help him through it. My forehead remains against yours and my hands lift to cup your jaw.* We’ll be there for him whatever happens. *Rubbing the tip of my nose against yours, my fingers playing with your beard.* You have nothing to thank me for. We’re a team, baby. You and me against the world.

Wilder

We are the perfect team. *I tug your bottom lip between my teeth, kissing you deeply, letting myself get lost in only you. Everything else falls away when it is just the two of us. I suck your tongue in my mouth as your body molds against mine and then groan low when I hear Jake laugh and clear his throat.* Dude, I’m going to put a bell on you. You are getting some rules now.

Layla

*The kiss breaks reluctantly and I look over to where the new addition to the household stands with a sheepish look on his face. Stroking my hand down your chest, I clear my throat and compose myself; my body completely betraying me as a flush creeps into my cheeks.*

“I just thought I’d make myself useful and help with food but I see you two are already eating.”

*Jake gives a lopsided smile and takes a seat at the kitchen table, waiting patiently for the rules to be laid down. Pushing gently against your chest, I snap my teeth at you and nod in Jakes direction, completely amused.* I need to listen to these rules.

Wilder

*I turn around and lean back against the counter, my legs crossed in front of me, thinking things over quickly in my head.* He gets less rules than you Layla. *Smirking over your way and then look back at Jake.* Respect our house, Layla and I and we will all get along perfectly. Let us know if you are going to hang out with friends and show back up at a decent hour. I think that about covers it.

Layla

*I pout slightly, pretending to be upset by Jake’s limited list of rules. Truth be told, the majority of the rules set for me went out the window within weeks. Jake nods his head as you reel them off and smiles when you finish up.* For now .. I’m sure we’ll have more when certain situations arise. *I ignore the questioning look from Jake and place a huge plate of sandwiches down on the table with some chips, saying in my worst french accent.* Bon appetit!

Wilder

The birds and the bees talk. *I let out a booming laugh, stuffing chips in my mouth as I sit down.* I think Layla should go ahead and give it now. *Winking at you as I take a drink of water, waiting for you to start.*

Layla

*I shoot you a death glare and resist the urge to stuff a sandwich into your mouth to stop you from talking. Clearing my throat, I take a sip of my own water and sit back in my seat.* Yes, that talk. But I think Jake would feel much more comfortable if it came from you .. you know .. man to man. *Jake shifts in his seat uncomfortably and I smirk.* Buuuuuuuut I think that awkward conversation is a way off yet. Let’s just say any females back here stay in the living room. If you go down to your room, the door stays open. I think that’s fair. *I nod to myself and look at you.* Right?

Wilder

Sounds good to me. *I laugh as I grab a sandwich and take a huge bite, relief coming over Jake’s face that we are not going to be those awkward adults with the sex talk. Right on cue, the doorbell rings and I send Jake to answer the door.* He needs to be broken in Delores style now. *Leaning over, I cup the back of your neck and pull your lips to mine.* I love you Layla.

Layla

Poor Jake *I lean in, my lips pressing to yours, eyes shutting briefly as I lose myself in your kiss.* I love you more Wilder. *My teeth graze your bottom lip and I pull back as the scent of baked goods drifts thru the house, my stomach grumbles again.* Forever.

Wilder

*Jake comes back to the table carrying the baked goods, laughing saying she grabbed his ass.* We can officially welcome you now. *All of us laughing as we eat and talk. I cast my eyes to the window, thinking I saw something move past but realize my eyes are playing tricks on me. Together, we will learn each other and figure things out. One step at a time.*

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