#I'm going to bed. Good night. (7:00 a.m.)

[haruka-636]

Now that I have some free time again, I've started reading GITM au!! YAYYY!! “ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ💖✨️💖✨️ When I'm reading it, I still can't decide whether to read "I" as "私", "俺", or "僕"

[mimisempai]

I'll find you at the end of the road - Chap 3/8

Chapter summary

Through the mysterious mailbox, Crowley and Aziraphale get to know each other and their bond grows stronger...

On Ao3

Rating G -  3764 words

Chap 1 - Chap 2 - Chap 3 - Chap 4 - Chap 5 - Chap 6 - Chap 7 - Last chapter

April 15, 2024 - 7:00 a.m.

Crowley, his heart beating a little faster than usual, approached the mailbox from which the flag was raised.

He opened the flap and unfolded the note with slightly shaking fingers.

Thank you for this lovely gesture. I haven't stopped wearing it since I received it. But how did you know that tartan is one of my favorite things?

You tell me that this connection with me allows you to open up to others and not feel alone, and you ask me if I want to continue this correspondence?

I don't want to stop either! I feel the benefits in my life as much as you do.

I don't know if we'll ever meet, but I want to keep getting to know you and for you to get to know me.

Let me know what you like, what you don't like, what makes you tick, whatever you feel like writing.

Sincerely.

Aziraphale.

Crowley, not realizing he was holding his breath, let out a sigh of relief, tucked the letter in his pocket, and left. He had to get to work before he could write. It was no longer a matter of writing a short note; he wanted to take the time to think before he could answer Aziraphale.

As he walked through the school gates a few hours later, even though he loved his job, for once he couldn't wait for the day to be over.

April 17, 2022

Aziraphale was reading Crowley's latest letter, a steaming cup of tea beside him, sitting in what had become his special Crowley corner, the armchair in front of the bay window.

As for the tartan, I was really acting on a hunch, I saw this scarf and thought you'd like it.

A little more about me: 

I became an astronomy teacher because I've always loved the stars and planets. I lived in a country village as a child and was fascinated by the night sky.

My favorite color is red, although I pretty much only wear black.

My favorite spirit is Talisker and I love spicy food.

Queen is the best band! (I won't accept any arguments to the contrary).

My favorite book is Persuasion by Jane Austen.

I love to drive my old Bentley. 

I'm afraid of fire.

I can't stand cruelty, condescension, and lying, especially people who lie to themselves.

And I hate people who feed bread to ducks (it's not good for them).

I love the lake house.

Aziraphale laughed slightly at the humorous tone of the letter, then finished his tea before fetching his notepad to begin writing his reply.

April 19, 2024

Crowley, sitting cross-legged on his sofa, Harry curled up in a ball on his lap, read the latest letter from Aziraphale.

I love old things, especially old books. In my antique shop, the only thing I refuse to sell are old books. I prefer to keep them for myself.

I love restoring old furniture and objects to their former glory.

I also drive an old car, an old yellow Beetle from 1941.

My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice, but Persuasion is a close second.

I listen to my favorite classical music on an old gramophone, but I also have Queen records. (Which I listen to sometimes and I won't deny that they are the best band).

I like to draw, or rather make sketches that I never finish. 

My favorite drink is sherry and occasionally a good glass of French red wine from Bordeaux. I love sweets more than anything and especially French crêpes.

I also dislike lies, prejudices, and gratuitous meanness - well, just plain meanness.

I also like the lake house. A lot. A lot. (All the more, since it seems to be what made our connection possible.)

As for the ducks, what should I feed them if I see any on the lake? 

How did you come to live at the lake house? 

Crowley reread the letter, folded it, and placed it in the small metal box where he'd put the others before going to bed and thinking about what he'd answer the next day.

April 21, 2022

It was a day of rest, and Aziraphale was still in his bathrobe when he left the house to see if there was any mail. He was pleasantly surprised to see that Crowley had already replied, if the little flag was to be believed. He refused to think about the fact that his heartbeat had quickened for that reason, attributing it to the fact that he'd been walking a little faster than usual.

He took the letter and read it over his breakfast, Harry munching on a lettuce leaf at his feet.

Frozen peas. The ducks love them and it's good for them. 

I rented the lake house after I graduated from university. I needed some space and peace.

It was the strangest place I'd ever seen. 

I couldn't imagine anyone building it. In fact, I couldn't imagine anyone building it and not living in it. I liked the way it seemed to float above the water. I liked the path that led to it. I don't know why, it has a strange, timeless charm.

April 23, 2024

Crowley, during a break between classes, took Aziraphale's answer out of his pocket and read it again.

I now have a bag of frozen peas in my freezer. I'm ready for the ducks. 

Regarding the lake house, I so agree with you.

The fact that you have to walk so much to get to the front door, it's like you have to earn the right to enter the house. Every time I walk up the path, it's like I'm on a quest, and the prize is the right to enter.

I'm sorry, I must sound a little eccentric. 

April 24, 2022

During his lunch break and throughout the day, Aziraphale read and reread the last words from Crowley.

Please don't apologize. Not to me for being who you are. 

You can be eccentric. You can be anything you want.

Aziraphale had always felt different, in both his personal and professional life choices, never accepted by his own family for who he was, so Crowley's words eased some of his inner struggles. 

He couldn't ignore the warm feeling in his chest at this affirmation from someone he'd never met.

There was someone in this world who accepted him for who he was.

You can be anything you want.

A few weeks passed as Crowley and Aziraphale continued their strange correspondence. 

It was late spring now, and yet the wind was blowing strongly on this early morning in London as Crowley walked briskly to the academy. 

As he always did these days, he smiled at the thought of Aziraphale's latest letter, already thinking of what he would write back. 

His phone began to vibrate in his pocket, snapping him out of his thoughts, and he reached for it to answer the call.

Seeing the name on the screen, he said in a cold voice, "Yes?" 

He held back a sigh of annoyance as he listened to his caller and then replied, "Look, this isn't easy for me either. You know... no, I'm not angry that you called. It's just that... I'm sorry, I have to go to work and I..."

He approached the school and didn't want to continue this conversation as more and more students entered.

After listening to the arguments on the other end of the line, he replied firmly, "I don't think that's a good idea. No, Furfur, I'm asking you not to come. Because we need more time... Especially if we want to stay friends. I just don't think we should... Look, I'm on my way to work, so we'll talk. Bye."

Crowley sighed again and shook his head as he walked out the large front door.

"Don't tell me you've lost your motivation already."

Crowley looked up and, meeting Mrs. Tracy's gaze, replied, the smile back on his lips, "Absolutely not."

"That's fortunate. Eric has the flu and we need someone to cover his classes while he's out. Since your resume says you majored in art, I was wondering if..."

"No problem! I'm happy to oblige. Just don't blame me for associating it with astronomy." 

"I'm already happy to have someone, I'm not going to be picky. You can check Eric's schedule with the assistant and then make arrangements. Thank you, Crowley, really. If it weren't for the exams, I wouldn't have asked you."

Crowley replied kindly, his expression open to show her he meant it sincerely, "No worries, really."

On the contrary, he was pleased to see that even though he was the last to arrive, he was trusted.

However, at the end of the week, when he came home with his arms full of groceries, he thought maybe he should have thought before saying yes, because he was literally exhausted. He hadn't realized how much time and energy it would take to do the work of two people.

Luckily, Eric was back at work by Monday. 

But despite his exhaustion, nothing could stop him from going looking for Aziraphale's letter, which must have been waiting for him at the lake house for days.

Less than two hours and a few speeding violations later, he parked in front of the mailbox in a cloud of dust, and a few seconds later, leaning against his car, he eagerly read the letter.

Hello, pen pal. 

It's been a while since you last wrote. 

I hope all is well.

Several words were crossed out before the letter continued in Aziraphale's elegant handwriting.

It's ridiculous, just a few words to write, and it makes me sound like a babbling teenager (if there's such a thing as sound when it comes to a letter).

Well, I'll write it: I MISS YOU

It was obvious that the last words had been written with determination, probably as much for the author as for the recipient.

Crowley felt a strange warmth in his chest. He, too, had missed the correspondence, more, he had missed Aziraphale's words, so he hurried to reply and put the letter in the box before heading home.

Parking the car in front of the mailbox, Aziraphale decided to ignore the butterflies in his stomach when he saw the little flag raised.

He took the letter out of the box, and once he was home and Harry was fed, the antiquarian went to his favorite spot to read it.

It's been a tough week.

I've had to take a sick colleague's classes and have only had the strength to go to bed at night (and feed Harry, of course), and I feel like it's been a century since I've looked at the sky or seen a bloody tree. That's what I miss. The nature that surrounded me at the lake house.

It's not so bad when I'm busy. It's when I have a minute to breathe, to look around, that it seems really hard. 

I wonder what I'm doing here, alone, in this gray city. I miss the trees.

PS: I missed you too. A lot.

June 15, 2022 - 7:00 pm 

Aziraphale left the house with a medium-sized tree and gardening tools in the trailer attached to the Beetle and headed for London.

June 15, 2022 - 8:55 p.m.

Arriving at Crowley's address, in front of the construction site he'd seen the other night with Muriel, Aziraphale parked the Beetle. He took out a shovel, put on the gardening gloves he had in his pocket, and after finding the ideal spot in front of the construction site where Crowley's future home would be, began digging a hole.  With the help of a rope and a lot of sweat, he managed to get the tree into the hole and covered its roots with the soil and potting soil he'd brought.

Half an hour later, at 9:30 p.m., he stood in front of his work with his hands on his hips and said quietly, "I hope this will work."

June 15, 2024 - 9:30 pm

Halfway between the school and his apartment, Crowley saw rain gathering in the sky and began to pick up his pace as he realized he didn't have an umbrella. Suddenly, a rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance, and as he ran almost the entire distance to his apartment, the rain began to fall.

Of course, he was completely soaked as he ran the last few meters to the front door of the building. He fumbled for his keys, dropped them, and grew increasingly frustrated as the rain poured down on him, when suddenly it stopped. 

Which surprised him because it seemed to be falling everywhere around him except on him.

He looked up.

Above him, the thick green branches of a young tree formed a canopy that swayed in the rain just above Crowley. That tree hadn't been there a second ago, but now it was sheltering him, and Crowley stared at it, mouth agape.

June 15, 2022 - 9:37 p.m.

Aziraphale smiles as he tosses the shovel into the Beetle's trailer before heading home.

June 15, 2024 - 9:37 pm

Crowley, overcome with emotion, smiled broadly and, knowing that only Aziraphale could be responsible for it, whispered to him, though the other man could not hear him, "Thank you, my friend."

Raindrops fell through the green branches, but Crowley didn't care as he danced with joy under the tree, his face turned skyward.

2022 - A few days later

Muriel stood on the small path in front of the lake house and exclaimed, "Wow!"

Aziraphale motioned for them to follow him inside, and Muriel entered, still stunned by the house, before asking, "So this is where you've been hiding?"

Aziraphale smiled back, "Yes. Would you like some tea or something stronger?"

Muriel replied quietly as they looked around, "Tea is perfect."

Aziraphale took two cups from the cupboard, poured the tea and they sat down in the chairs in front of the bay window. 

They talked for a while about the new house, for Muriel, as usual, had a lot of questions and Aziraphale was happy to answer them.

Muriel finished their cup of tea, put it down, and with a more serious expression, they said quietly, "Aziraphale. I didn't just come here to escape my miserable existence in the city. I've come to talk to you about HH and to ask you to come back with us. We need you."

Aziraphale shook his head vigorously, "HH? Sorry, Muriel, but no."

His friend insisted, "But if you talk to her..."

"Forget it, Mother doesn't want me back. I don't want to come back. Everybody's happier now."

Muriel argued anyway, "What about your work? Your work was great. Even she admitted that. Look, I know it's hard, but if you put aside your problems with her..."

"I said forget it," Aziraphale replied, this time in a firm tone before softening, "I'm really sorry, Muriel. It's just that... I like it here. And I like my job at the shop."

Muriel replied gently with a slightly sheepish look, "At least I tried," then after a few seconds they asked with a mischievous twinkle in their eyes, "Are you seeing anyone?"

After a slight hesitation that didn't go unnoticed, Aziraphale shook his head.

"Why did you hesitate?"

"I didn't hesitate."

"Yes, you did."

Aziraphale said in a voice he knew was a little unconvincing, "I... I'm not committed to anyone, okay?"

"Okay," Muriel replied, smiling amusedly before continuing, "I'm just saying you might want to think about the future."

Aziraphale laughed. 

He couldn't stop himself. 

Think about the future.

For God's sake, he was communicating with someone who lived two years in the future.

Muriel looked at him as if he'd gone mad, "What?"

Aziraphale continued to laugh.

"What?"

A few days later, with Crowley's letter open in the passenger seat of his Beetle, Aziraphale drove to Waterloo East Station, near Westminster School. 

He parked, picked up the letter, and got out, heading for the station entrance.

About the same time, two years ago, I lost something. 

At Waterloo East station.

I was taking the train home to my parents and left it on the platform. See if you can find it for me. I won't tell you what it is. 

Then drop it in the mailbox. 

It's your mission if you decide to accept it.

The exact date and time is on the back of the letter.

Aziraphale couldn't resist a challenge, so he found himself searching for an object he knew nothing about. He wandered around the station, scanning the few people who were there. 

He looked for a single man and saw none. Only a few families and an elderly couple. 

He continued his search when suddenly, through the window overlooking the platform, he saw a man with short red hair get up and prepare to board the train.

Aziraphale's heart leapt, he wasn't sure if it was Crowley, but he had this deep intuition that it was, and if it was, oh my God, his pen pal was incredibly handsome. 

Aziraphale hurried through the door to the platform where he was standing and was about to approach him when he stopped abruptly.

The red-haired man was embracing another curly-haired man who had his back to Aziraphale. 

They kissed quickly and embraced again before parting.  

Neither of them noticed that Crowley, for it was undoubtedly Crowley, had left a book on the bench behind them. Aziraphale had seen it, but he didn't dare come any closer and decided to wait and watch, a slight twinge in his heart that he chose to ignore.

A voice over the loudspeaker announced the train's imminent departure.

Crowley gave the other man a sad smile before boarding the train, obviously reluctantly.

The one who appeared to be Crowley's lover didn't move and watched the train pull away until it was completely out of sight. He didn't notice the book. Aziraphale watched him go, and when he was far away, he approached the bench. He looked at the book that Crowley had left behind. It was a well-worn copy of Jane Austen's Persuasion. 

It had definitely been Crowley.

Crowley impatiently made his way to the mailbox, thinking that Aziraphale might already have gone to the station. He was not deterred when he saw the small flag raised.

He opened it, disappointed not to see the book, but only a note. With just one question.

What are you doing on July 1st?

Crowley replied immediately on the same piece of paper, and just as he was about to leave, he heard the characteristic sound of a small flag being raised and returned to the mailbox and opened it. He grabbed the note and unfolded it.

C: I have no plans. Why do you ask?

A: If you remember, the village celebrates summer with fireworks on the lake. 

Would you like to watch them together? 

From the lake house. The fireworks on the lake are wonderful.

C: I know, I used to watch them from the house when I lived there. You're not asking me out, are you?

A: No, no. I just thought it would be nice to do the same thing, that's all.

C: The same, but two years apart.

A: It's better than staying home.

C: Okay. Let's go see the fireworks.

A: See you in 10 days. 

July 1st at 10 p.m. in front of the mailbox.

Aziraphale didn't wait for an answer and walked happily back into the house. Even though he'd denied it, it still felt like a date of sorts. Perhaps Crowley would agree to tell him more about his mysterious companion. 

July 1, 2022/2024 - 10 p.m.

Two years apart, in the same spot, Crowley and Aziraphale sat next to the mailbox. Aziraphale brought one of the chairs from the garden and Crowley brought an old folding camping seat from his car.

They were both armed with notepads and pencils.

The strange, timeless conversation resumed, still punctuated by the little flag going up and down.

C: Did you go to the train station? I never got my book. You're not going to keep it like all your old books, are you?

A: Let me keep it for a while. I want to read it. By the way, I've been meaning to ask you.

Who was the other man at the train station? Was he your boyfriend?

Why didn't you tell me about him?

The way the questions were asked gave Crowley the impression that Aziraphale was jealous, but he didn't want to get the wrong idea.

C: You don't talk to me about your love life either.

A: Because I don't have one. God, I can't believe you didn't tell me you were married.

C: I'm not married, you idiot. We split up when I moved to London.

I'm single now.

The fireworks have just started.

A: They've started here too.

I'm sure yours are better because they're supposed to get better every year. 

C: Probably. Let's enjoy the show.

Then, during the fireworks, the flag didn't move for a while. But the noise did not drown out the sound of their hearts beating in their ears.

Then, as the last bouquet ended and silence fell, the flag suddenly rose, startling Crowley.

A: At the station, when I saw you... I didn't expect... I mean, you didn't tell me you were gorgeous...

Crowley gasped, then blushed at the compliment. He looked around, embarrassed, even though he knew no one was there.

C: That's not fair. 

You've seen me, but I still don't know what you look like.

Aziraphale ran his hand over his face and figured that since it was the night of truth, he might as well go for it.

A: You're right. 

I would like to know what I'll look like in two years. Why don't we meet in the future and you can tell me what you think? 

Crowley thought, then looked at his watch; it was 10:43 p.m. He took a deep breath, suddenly excited and nervous, then wrote quickly.

C: Why don't you call me on July 1, 2024 at 10:45 p.m.?

Just as Crowley was about to raise the flag after dropping the note in the mailbox, the phone in his pocket began to vibrate, nearly knocking him out of his chair.

Heart pounding, without looking at it, he pulled the phone out of his pocket and picked it up, "Hello?"

_________

A damaged author can't write the next chapter... so don't hit me for this cliffhanger...

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story�� 🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable Husbands masterlist : here

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Serializing the opening of “The Lost Cause”

On October 7–8, I'm in Milan to keynote Wired Nextfest.

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful tale of the climate emergency, which comes out on November 14. Kim Stanley Robinson called it "an unforgettable vision of what could be":

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

I'm currently running a Kickstarter campaign to pre-sell the audiobook, which I produced and narrated myself (for complex and awful reasons, Amazon won't carry my audiobooks, see the Kickstarter campaign page for details). You can also pre-order the ebook and hardcovers, including signed and personalized copies:

http://lost-cause.org

For the next week or so, I'm going to be serializing the prologue of the book, which gets it off to quite a spicy start. Here's part one!

I thought that I was being so smart I signed up for the over nightwhen pager duty for the solar array at Burroughs High. Solar arrays don’t do anything at night. Because it’s dark. They’re not lunar arrays.

Turns out I outsmarted myself.

My pager app went off at 1:58 a.m., making a sound that I hadn’t heard since the training session, GNAAP GNAAP GNAAP, with those low notes that loosened your bowels offset by high notes that tightened your sphincter. I slapped around my bed for my screen and found the lights and found my underwear and a tee and then the cargo pants I wore on work duty and blinked hard and rubbed my eyes until I could think clearly enough to confirm that I was dressed, had everything that I needed, and then double-­checked the pager app to make sure that I really, actually needed to go do something about the school’s solar array at, I checked, 2:07 a.m.

2:07 a.m.! Brooks, you really outsmarted yourself.

Gramps’s house had started out as a two bed/one bath, like most of the houses in Burbank, but it had been expanded with a weird addition at the back—­again, like most of the houses in Burbank—­giving it a third bedroom and a second bath. That was my room, and it had its own sliding door to the backyard, so I let myself out without waking Gramps.

It was warm enough that I didn’t need a jacket, which was good because I’d forgotten to put one on. Still, there was just enough of a nip in the air that I jogged a little to get my blood going. Burbank was quiet, just the sound of the wind in the big, mature trees that lined Fairview Street, a distant freight train whistle, a car zooming down Verdugo. My breath was louder than any of them. A dog barked at me and startled me as I turned onto Verdugo, streetlit and wide and empty, too.

Two minutes later, I was at Burroughs, using my student app to buzz myself into the school’s gate, then the side entrance, then the utility stairs, and then I jogged up the stairs. I was only supposed to get paged if the solar array had an error it couldn’t diagnose for itself, and that the manufacturer’s techs couldn’t diagnose from its camera feeds and other telemetry. Basically, never. Not at 2:00 a.m. 2:17 a.m. now. I wondered what the hell it could be. I opened the roof access door just in time to hear a glassy crashing sound, like a window breaking, and I froze.

Someone was on the roof with me. A person, glimpsed in the corner of my eye and then lost in the darkness. Too big to be a raccoon. A person. On the roof.

“Hello?” Gramps’s friends sometimes made fun of my voice. I’d hated how high-­pitched it was when I was a freshman and had dreamed of it getting deeper someday, but now I was a senior, weeks away from graduation, and I still got mistaken for a girl on gamer voice-­chats. I’d made my peace with it, except that I hadn’t entirely because I was not happy at all with how it squeaked out over that roof. “Hello?” I tried for deeper. “Someone there?” No one answered, so I took a step out onto the roof. Glass crunched under my feet. It was dark and it stayed dark when I slapped at the work-­lights switch next to the door—­they should have been tripped by the motion anyway. I found my flashlight and twisted it to wide beam and checked my feet. Smashed glass, all right, and when I swung the light around to the nearest solar bank, I saw that each panel had been methodically shattered. I took a step back toward the door, and the light beam swung up and caught the man.

He was wearing a head-­to-­toe suit—­a ghillie suit, Gramps’s friends called them—­and holding a short four-­pound sledgehammer with a handle and head painted in nonreflective black that swallowed my light beam. He was coming toward me. I reflexively hit the bodycam 911 emergency switch on my screen and it sounded its “Warning, bodycam recording” alert in a warm woman’s voice that I’d chosen for its nonthreatening tone. Mostly I bodycammed when I was having an argument with someone and the calm voice was a good balance between cooling things out and satisfying California’s two-­party consent rules for recording.

As he raised the hammer, I wished that I’d chosen the cop voice instead.

“Wait,” I said, taking a step back. The roof access door had closed behind me. “Please.”

“Shit,” the man said. He was using a voice-­shifter, either a separate unit or part of the ghillie suit. His voice was deep as a diesel engine. “Dammit, you’re just a kid.” He used the hand that wasn’t holding the hammer to flip up his nightscope goggles and peer at me. His eyes, visible in the ghillie suit’s slit, were bloodshot and wrinkled and blue. He squinted at my light and brandished the hammer. “Shit,” he said again. “Get that out of my eyes, dammit.”

“Sorry,” I squeaked, and lowered the beam, casting it around.

It seemed like 80 percent of the panels were ruined. Why had I said sorry? Force of habit. “Shit.” If he could say it, I could too.

“Shit. What the hell are you doing, man?”

“You’re recording this, kid?”

“Yes. Livestreaming.”

“Good, then I’ll explain. You just stay there and we won’t have a problem. I was gonna have to make a video when this was done, you’re just saving me the trouble.” He lowered the hammer and let it dangle. I thought about rushing him, but I’m not a fighter, and he was still holding the hammer. Same for turning and trying to get out the door before he could catch up with me.

“Kay, listen up. This world we’re in, it’s debased. America’s been rotted from the inside. First it was immigrants. You might think I’m a racist, but I’m not. It’s not immigrants I object to. It’s illegals. You want to come to America, you come in the front door, on the terms your gracious hosts here are offering. You don’t skip the line or break in through the window. That’s what a criminal does. You let in a criminal, let ’em become citizens, soon enough they’re voting for other criminals.

“You know just what I’m talking about, don’t kid yourself. The money we’re spending now? This Green New Deal? This Jobs Guarantee? These fuckin’ solar panels? Bill’s gonna come due on this. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Chinese hoaxed us into believing in this climate garbage, then they got us to go into hock to them up to our eyeballs to buy their shiny crap, and then they’re gonna charge us interest, and our kids, and their kids, and their kids. Mortgaging their future? Shit, what future? They’re headed for debt bondage for eternity. Biblical. It’s Biblical.

“All this mumbo jumbo about ‘money users’ and ‘money creators’—­it’s just word games. There’s two kinds of people in this world, and it’s not ‘money users’ and ‘money creators’—­it’s ‘makers’ and ‘takers.’ The makers create all the wealth, the takers elect politicians who confiscate it and redistribute it.” “Redistribute” came out like another f-­bomb.

This was crazy, but it wasn’t unfamiliar. I’d heard versions of this conversation around Gramps’s place ever since I came to live with him, back when I was eight. More, I’d heard these specific words before. I pressed my recollections, tried to put a face to the words. All the faces in Gramps’s living room had a sameness, a whiteness, matching haircuts and the same Maga hats, faded and frayed. Who had said those words? I could bring the face to mind now, the rest of the face that went with those blue watery eyes peering out of the ghillie suit.

Now, the name. Mark. Not Mark. Mike. Mike! Mike, uh.

“Mike Kennedy?”

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/06/green-new-deal-fic/#the-first-generation-in-a-century-not-to-fear-the-future

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

[oli-draw]

The Great adventures of Wally and his friends

Act One:

We will begin our story quite interesting and slightly exciting

This story tells about a guy named Wally, he was completely different from other people in that he was a muppet and he wasn't shy about it. He was very kind and generous, which allowed him to make many friends. A whole neighborhood just like him, cheerful, friendly and not like everyone else.Barnaby, Jilia, Frank, Eddie, Sally, Poppy and Howdy were different, but they were still passers-by. Wally didn't have any adventures in his life and the lives of his friends, but this moment changed their lives.

Wally was sleeping in his cabin and he dreamed of a very beautiful and interesting, but at the same time strange and frightening in the end:

In the beginning, he found himself in a clearing, grass and flowers were blowing around him, bees were buzzing and butterflies were flying. Wally was very surprised and at the same time happy. I had no time to lie down on the grass and enjoy watching the clouds, when a familiar voice came from nowhere. It was Julia's voice.

"Wally! Where are you?! We are all waiting for you!"

As soon as Wally heard her voice, he got up and followed the voice. As soon as he got to the tree where he was going to picnic with friends, hike or just lie down and listen to the singing of forest birds, he did not see his friends.

"It's weird..." the boy thought and heard a rather strange voice. It was as if the young lady was calling for his help. Wally quickly ran to where the voice was coming from, and when he got there, he saw a burning building and the voice was coming from there. Wally entered the burning buildings and started looking and when he got to the middle, he heard something crack and fell on him.

With a startled scream and a sweat, Wally woke up and realized that it was a terrible dream.

" Phew... Well, I'll dream about it," he said with relief, and a minute later his phone rang. He picked up the phone "Hello?"

"Wally?! Where have you been!"Frank 's voice came out of the phone and he was very angry "We 've been waiting for you for three hours !"

"What?!"Wally screamed in fright, he remembers that yesterday he set the alarm for 7:00, and now it's 9:47 a.m. "Oh, Loaf Butterflies!"

Putting the phone down so that he could hear and speak, Wally quickly jumped out of bed and began to pack.

"Wally, listen, you remember why we're all going, right?"Frank asked.

"Of course, we're going to the summer festival and also to visit Miss Beagle,"Wally shouted, washing up and putting his suitcases in the hallway. The house also woke up from the movement and all Wall's fuss, he began to slam shutters and doors.

"Oh! Good morning Home... "Wally said, "I'm busy right now."

" Wally, is that coming soon?" Frank asked with a sigh.

"Yes already!"Wally answered joyfully, taking the suitcase with things in his right hand and the suitcase with things in his left and kissing goodbye to the wall of the house, he left and headed for the others.

They were standing near the travel van, they were discussing something.

"Well, finally!"Sally spoke loudly and viciously, interrupting everyone "And I thought we'd be waiting for you forever!"

"Sally, will you stop acting like that!?"Howdy made a remark to her- It's not his fault that he accidentally overslept.

"Thanks for waiting"thanked Wally and gave his luggage to Eddie, who had already put everything in the trunk.

"well... Everything is almost ready," Eddie said.

"Yes, everyone" answered.

"Well, then, let's load up," he replied, and all the neighbors loaded into the van and set off.

But this story is not only about them, but also about other characters. Let's move to one place where this event will take place. In the building of the Valentino show circus, he was in his office with his secretary.

The walls of the office were a red wine shade, and the ceiling was black as a starless night. He was sitting in an armchair and glowering at the papers, then at the secretary, but at the girl sitting on the floor and wiping something like an ashtray. Valentino was dark blue and had an elegant jacket with trousers and a red tie with a bloody stripe. His hair was dark as darkness, his skin was pale, there was a bristly beard on his chin and two red eyes resembling the devil's fire on his face.

" No, no, and no again!- cried out loudly and throwing papers "This is no good!

"But.. sir..- the secretary said timidly " I gave you the best options..."

"This is too stupid and old-fashioned"!Valentino interrupted her, "We need something new!" Could you find a spy or someone else who could get some boring artists or animals for my show?

Upon hearing these suggestions, the girl who was cleaning the ashtray said:

"Can I find a good copy?"

Everyone looked at the girl with surprised eyes

"Oli, my dear," Valentino said affectionately - You can deliver a worthless thing to us"

"Don't worry Valentino!" Oli said, and put the ashtray on the dresser, ran out of the office-You can count on me!

When she reached her dressing room, she changed her gray T-shirt, shorts and white socks into a purple shirt, bluish-blue jeans and red sneakers.

" This is the best day I've ever lived in it!" She said and packed everything she needed for her assignment in a bag.

Meanwhile, Wally and his friends were on their way, chatting about the plan for that day when they were on a trip. Wally, Sally, Julia, Poppy and the others sat in the back of the van as Howdy drove the car.

"Oh, dear! "- Julia said joyfully, waiting for new impressions during the trip " I can't wait to see the new world"

"Yeah," Eddie replied, "We've been around so many roads, we'll tell you so much, won't we, Wally?"

Wally was silent, thinking about something, but when Eddie distracted him, he woke up

"Huh? "Wally asked and understood the question a little "Yes! I am very ready for this! I'm looking forward to meeting new cities, new horizons, new friends and I can assume this is the day... it's... um.."

Wally couldn't finish the sentence, as one word flew out of his head and now he can't find the right one

" Is it a beautiful day?"helped Barnaby's mind

" Yes! " happily answered Wally"he is! This is a Beautiful day!"

* Wally started singing a song*(Tim McMorris song)

Wally: The sun shines bright

As it moves across my face

I feel the light

And everything is in it’s place

I woke up feeling great

Today was made for me

And life is good, the way it should, the way it was meant to be

And it’s a beautiful day

It’s a beautiful day

It’s a beautiful day

It’s a beautiful day

Yay!

Oli: The wind is blowing, the bells are ringin’

Children playing in the park

While birds are singin’

And I’m walkin’, and I’m laughin’

Life is perfect, I’m not tryin’, it’s just happenin’

And it’s a beautiful day

It’s a beautiful day

It’s a beautiful day

[reginadeltrash]

The Hazbin Hotel's rules

(but I can only use and slightly rephrase actual rules from my summer camp):

1. You can sleep in a room with whoever you want (I don't care) the only thing to remember is that we are currently 8 in this hotel, and I want it to be true next morning as well.

1b. (however if you really have to change that number we prefer murder rather than pregnancy)

2. 'Dish cleaning duty' is not under any circumstances allowed to become 'Water balloon war duty'

2b. (no matter how much you hate the person you're stuck with)

3. If you see a bug don't freak out, please, the floor is already dirty as it is, we don't need bug's blood on top of that

3b. (Niffty, please, stop breaking rule 3)

4. A 'Hotel improving meeting' cannot be held in the middle of the night

4b. (or in the bathroom)

5. If an overlord comes by please don't disturb them. They'll probably just sit in the hall and stay on their phone until the person they need arrives, anyway.

5b. (Alastor, please go talk to them as soon as possible, we all know they're here for you 99% of the time)

5c. (The previous rule does not apply to Rosie. Rosie's nice, and she's probably just here to drop food)

6. If you arrive after 2:00 A.M. you need to have a convincing excuse.

6b. ('We got lost' is not convincing, because our building is fucking huge! Try again)

7. The kitchen is reserved for people who can actually cook, everyone else can try and make their 'recipes' in the garden, so we won't have to clean.

8. If I find another attempt at a Molotov in one of the rooms I'm gonna commit a crime.

8b. (Cherri, this is 100% about you)

8c. (Didn't think I needed to specify this, but, when I say Molotov I mean every kind of explosive thing)

8d. (Yes. Including fireworks)

9. The dirty clothes need to be put in the laundry room, not on a random chandelier.

9b. (You're only allowed to break this specific rule if you had the worst day ever, and also if you promise to be the one who will retrieve those clothes the morning after.)

10. Please, read the instructions if you want to 'help' with the washing machine.

11. If Charlie is talking, you don't interrupt her, otherwise you can't whine when everyone is angry at you for making her cry and consequently craft a ninety minutes power point on 'the art of listening'.

12. If we say to meet up at like 7:00 try to be here at least for 9:00, ok?

13. No jumping or having sex in the bed

13b. (I don't care which one you were doing last night, I'm just fucking tired of repairing that bed.)

14. Windows are not a good alternative to doors.

14b. (Especially those on the second floor)

15. For the love of God! Stop complaining about the cookies we serve for breakfast! Angel made them when drunk and we need to finish them in order not to hurt his feelings.

16. The music we use during exercises is chosen by Charlie, if you have any problems with it talk with her.

16b. (Always remember the looming threat of a ninety minutes power point, though)

17. Movie night is a privilege not a right.

18. 'Murder mystery night' is just a game. Quit telling Pentious is real.

18b. (Also, no! It can't actually become 'Murder mystery night for real', Niffty)

19. Stay at least six feet away from Niffty when she's sewing, if you value all of your limbs.

20. Outsiders (like delivery guys) may not be completely on our dynamics, so please try to behave like normal human beings when they come by.

21. Singing/Instrument playing time is set from 10:00 A.M. to 9 P.M. respect it, please. We don't need another noise complaint.

22. You need to always have clothes on.

22b. (A bikini is not considered clothes from now on.)

23. If your luggage doesn't have a lock good luck my friend!

24. During the cleanliness inspection there isn't a winner.

24b. (Update. Cleanliness inspection can have a winner, if you want, just leave your rooms clean, please.

25. Please, don't cry during 'compliment game' night, because I have no idea how I should help you with that.

26. Don't make any mommy/daddy issues jokes.

26b. (They may be funny where you're from, but not here. Here people have several of them)

27. That's about it!

27b. (Please don't force me to add more, people already think we're crazy)

List redacted by:

Vaggie

[yesyourstalker]

Sheldon: excuse me is this the store of Neta ... Uh

Mahi: yeah this is his store.....we don't allow weapons in- oh Hey Sheldon

Sheldon: yeah I have his E-liter..... And I must say this is the finest weapon I've had in my shop. This is a real weapon!! Ahem I do work on other real weapons but mostly for inkling Splatoons but octarian made weapons are rare!! A bronze military grade 2k. It's an old model with an attachable scope. This back lining weapon has a farther distance than the average liter used in turf war with a stronger ink pressure valve. Even when it's not fully charged it takes out opponents with one shot. The downside is that the charge is incredibly slow and a lot heavier so it makes movement a lot harder but with it's power makes up-

Mahi: that's really cool Sheldon. I'm gonna get Neta

Neta: ayyyy Shelly! You got my weapon!!

Sheldon: yep, it's cleaned. I fixed the ink jam, the pressure valve is weakened and the range was shorted. it's perfect for turf war. I also fixed some of the dents and scuffs It looks brand new.

Neta: aww thanks man here's a tip. When my little Cirrina walks on the field with the only bronze e-liter they're going to be so jealous. *Sniff* My little girl's taking after her daddy.

Mahi: that used to be yours right?

Neta: yep. This used to be my weapon when I was her age............ Except she'll actually be using it for fun

Sheldon: The rumors are true! You were in the military! please I must ask.

Mahi: No Sheldon please don't do that he gets weird if you bring up that shi-

Sheldon: What was the military like! Was combat as glorious and thrilling as I've been told.

Mahi: Cod damn it

Neta: I mean it was fun sometimes......I'm not sure what an inkling Splatoon is like but I'm assuming it's very different from an ontarian Splatoon......... The first 4 years was just gruesome training. 4-hour runs intense obstacle courses, shooting drills. We got up at 7:00 a.m. and went to bed around 12:00 a.m.

Sheldon: fascinating and what was discipline like?

Neta: they had this thing called the pit. It was this concrete room filled with ink and they pushed you in. You become one with that ink and you have no idea how long you've been there It could be days, hours, weeks. By the time you get out of it you kind of forget how to revert back to normal for a while.

Sheldon: that sounds... Interesting

Neta: yeah they do that to break your spirit so when you actually go into combat and kill someone or someone next to you gets killed you don't feel anything...... It kind of worked I still feel numb sometimes

Mahi:.............. I'm sure there were some good memories you know why don't we change the subject a little bit.

Neta: yeah I get good memories with some friends especially during project Z Cod I love my old Splatoon..... I lost some friends and colleagues. Injuries and stuff like my ear. Sometimes at night my ear starts to ring and I get this piercing ghost pain like it just got shot off. I start shaking I start hearing noises and my room starts to be filled with ink.

Mahi: Neta that's enough

Neta: my hands are covered in my own blood and I just look at my hands because if I look up I sometimes see a body floating. They don't respawn like they do on the turf wars field. They just float to the surface never in one piece-

Mahi: NETA!

Sheldon: .................

Neta: and then I'm just there again. On my hands and knees My weapon knocked out of hands after the shot, far away from me. And they're there right in front of me an inkling. Probably a year older than me. They're just standing there staring at me with an N- zap pressed against my head. At that moment I just accepted death, I didn't want to die but it's not like I didn't deserve it tho. All the shit I did because I was ordered to do it. For half an hour we just stayed in that position. Eventually they just put the gun down and left.......... To this day I don't know if they did it out of pity or they realized that we were both victims of this war that we didn't even start.

Mahi: you see what fucking did Sheldon! He's going to be like this all day now!

Sheldon............. Uh

Neta: I mean you get tons of benefits. Like a lot of good medical perks your kid gets free life insurance, free prescriptions at any time. they just mail me insulin pumps I don't even have to pick it up anymore. Yeah there's benefits of the military and shit. It's pretty fun..................I'm gonna stay in bathroom until we close. If anyone asks the bathroom is out of order.

Mahi belongs to @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

[pbandjesse]

Today was shockingly exhausting. Like I am so tired and I just didn't expect that to be as bad as it had been. And I had a great day. It was my first Native American field trip of the season with the new lesson plans and I was super nervous but it went great. But Jesus Christ I'm so tired. My body aches and I just want to go to sleep so much.

It does not help that last night sleep was not great. We went to bed at a reasonable time. I fell asleep pretty quickly. It had started to rain a little bit before we went to bed but around 2:00 a.m. we got woken up by some of the loudest thunder I have ever experienced and there were so much lightning outside. I swear to God the building next to us got hit by lightning on the roof like I think I saw that happen. And it was just so incredibly loud I was so scared. And we got flash flood warnings on our phones and it was just really really unsettling. I'm shocked I fell back asleep honestly.

So once I had to wake up for real at 7:00 I was really tired. My ear hurt because I had slept on it weird and I was just not my best. But I thought if I just powered through things would be okay.

And they were I had a great day. I got to camp with my little sandwich that James made me. And I was there before 8:00 so I was able to get everything run around and set up exactly the way it needed to be before 8:15. I drove around and did all my stuff. And then I went to the office to wait for my field trip parents. Heather got there first and she printed my schedules for me which helped me out a lot. And it was just a good start to the day.

There were a lot of chaperones. I had two or three people at every station plus two parents per group. So that was like 25 adults. It was like excessive. But it ended up being perfect. There was a lot of stress though because the school lost power and so they were canceling school for the day but thankfully did not cancel the field trip because the kids were already on the bus. And they got there even a little early which was fine because they had to wait for me cuz I was on the other side of camp helping get some parents set up. But the parents were excellent and I really appreciated that they were chill about the lesson plans changing because they had originally been coming in the spring and had done all the prep then. So they had some of Walters information and some of my information. But overall they were just glad that the new lesson plans were a little bit more straightforward and not as overwhelmingly long. I was pretty proud of myself for that.

Elizabeth had to call me and be like are you coming back? And I was like yes please just have them wait for me. And I got over there as Heather grabbed my last two volunteer parents and took them to the craft lodge. I wish that all the parents had come at the same time so I could have given them a little bit of a interest bill but it's fine. I got over to the hacienda and I was literally dripping sweat. Because I had come all the way from woodlands as fast as I could. And I was wearing the new LL Bean clogs that my mom gave me but they're just a little bit too big and so they were hurting my ankle. But I did my best and I got over there and we jumped right into it.

I need to work on my intro a little bit I was a little stilted at times. But I'm really glad that I built in this whole 45 minute to an hour segment because my intro ended up running a little short so then I was able to extend the fibers paint brush making section without it being an issue because they're together. I did then notice that I accidentally put lunch in the wrong half hour. And I was very annoyed with myself but everything was printed already so I wasn't going to bother dealing with it. Everything would be fine.

And the groups were awesome. They did a great job making their paint brushes, all the parents we're not only present but like really making sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing. And once they were done their brushes I sent them off into the world.

The teachers were also super nice. They were so nervous because this is not a field trip they've ever done before. Because it's usually a fourth grade field trip and not a fifth grade field trip. But they did great and they were super nice. And we would be walking around basically all day kind of talking and checking in and it was good.

During that half hour after the fibers program I cleaned off all the tables and then started wandering around. I was still really hot but I would be okay. I definitely had a lot of issues with the timing of the day. With having the program starting in the hacienda the walk is so much farther that I felt like people were leaving their programs too late and then starting really late and it was definitely a problem that I'm going to have to revisit. But I think it's fine. And I would not even really take a break because once they did come back for lunch I had to run around and get people a couple materials that were forgotten about and then a couple things flew off the porch into the pool deck and I had to go find a pool key. And it was fine. I handled it. But it was definitely a lot. I felt like I had been running running running the whole time.

The three afternoon programs went very smoothly in my opinion. And I felt like everybody did a great job. And I just really enjoyed my day. I was just so tired. I would spend a little bit of it sitting in the office just chatting with Heather about a tool that I had seen on TikTok and how I was sending an email to the company because they are trying to find more nonprofits to work with. And I'm hoping that they pick us because I think that the tool, which is a child friendly table saw for cutting cardboard, would work so well in my art program. Fingers crossed we can make some kind of relationship with them.

I would also stop and talk to the bus driver for a bit. He is a firefighter and he does this one or two days a week for a field trips which I thought was so cool. He was a really nice guy. He said the kids are afraid of him. But he was like I'm just a big idiot I don't know why there's scared of any. Made me laugh.

When's the last program was finished everyone came back to the hacienda to do a group picture. We didn't have time to do our closing quizzes so I told the teacher to just collect all of their books and They could use it as a participation grade or something. Since at least they all put their names on it. I just kept saying thank you to everyone because I was just so thrilled and I really appreciated how hard all the parents worked. It really made today go smoothly.

And it was just a beautiful day. It was supposed to rain and then we got the rain last night so it wasn't something we had to think about today. And I was finally able to sit down for a few minutes and call my dad. Because it is his birthday. Happy birthday dad. I love you so very much and I am so proud of you for all the hard work that you have put into getting better over the last couple years. And happy anniversary to my parents because my parents got married on my dad's birthday so that he could not forget it. I love them both very much and I'm so glad that they got married.

After I talk to my dad I spent the next half an hour cleaning up my program. I had given cleanup instructions to the parents but only two of them actually read it I think. So I had to pack everything back up myself which is fine. It is not a big deal. I got everything from the hacienda in my car and drove it to the Craft Lodge. And then down to woodlands to get everything else. At least the fire was put up properly.

After I got everything away I was so beat and I went back to the office to sit down with my laptop and go through my notes that I had made about different things that needed improvement for the program. It's a little stuff. Some schedule things. Nothing huge. But I would work on that for a little while.

I told Heather that I would leave around 3:30 today because I didn't take an actual lunch break. She and Elizabeth invited me to go on a little walk around camp but my legs hurt so bad that even though I wanted to go with them I said I could not. And I stayed behind.

While they were gone I had a nice man from Camp running Bear come in to get a piece of mail that was delivered to us by accident. And he kept saying I'm not going to tell on you for just wasting your last 20 minutes. Because I kept saying that he wasn't bothering me because I was just doing nonsense. But it was true. I was just doing nonsense.

And I was a little bit hungry so after he left I packed up my stuff and I went to Hunt valley.

people were driving real stupid. And not following the rate of way at intersections. But I made it safely to Hunt valley's Chipotle despite their best efforts.

I kind of wild out and got both a bowl and queso. So the whole meal was like $20. Which is crazy. But I'll have half of it for lunch tomorrow so it's fine. It'll work out in the end. And it was really good. I mixed a whole bunch of the toppings from my bowl into the queso to make it fancy and I would have half of it then and then half of it at home. And when I got home I separated the cold toppings from the rice and beans and put them in two separate containers to take for lunch tomorrow. I'm hoping that it makes it really nice.

After I finished eating what I wanted to eat I packed up and I drove over to the Marshalls to walk around. I ended up finding a night cream which is something I have been looking for for a couple weeks now. I ran out of the one that I had been using and I really liked packaging of the one that I got tonight. I also got a new spray leaving conditioner but the spritzy part seems to be broken and I can't figure out why. Smells nice though.

I also got a new mesh screen door for our fire escape. We've had the same one on there for like 3 years and it has a huge hole in it and has not been attached properly for like 6 months. And this one was on clearance for $8. So I was thrilled.

After I paid I headed home. There was some traffic but it wasn't terrible. And when I got back here it was like 5:00.

All I wanted to do was take a shower but I knew that I needed to do other stuff first. I walked around the apartment I picked things up. I changed the kitty later. I vacuumed. I put my lunch box together for tomorrow. And then I took a shower. And it was glorious.

Washed my hair real good I did two different types of body soaps. I felt a lot better but I was so tired still.

I did not want to fall asleep because I would really like to sleep better tonight. So I spent the evening lounging with sweet pea. Watching the sun go down. I did put up the mesh screen to replace the old one. I watched a guy put his recycling in our neighbor's trash. Live your best life. And I've just been hanging out. Texting with Jess and Celia. I fed all the aquatics. I've been scratching sweet pea's head the entire time I've been running this post because of when I stop he starts biting me. And I'm just waiting for James to come home.

They had extended hours at the museum today which both of us forgot about. That's usually on Thursday once a month. But there's an event so instead it is today. Which through both of us off and James went to work too early. But they should be home soon. And we will go to sleep.

Tomorrow I am going to work on some of my to do list at camp and redo my boxes that were cleaned out today for the fibers program. And then we have a small group in the afternoon just doing low ropes and zip. Celia and Sarah are going to be there and I really hope it's a nice day.

I hope that you guys all have a good night. And I hope that you're taking care of yourself. Happy birthday to my dad again. I hope that you're 69th year is the best year. I love you all.

[tia-amorosa]

Episode 27: Hint from afar?

While Cassandra and the others are already asleep, Pascal is still up and about. He watches Bella, who is absorbed at the easel, painting a picture. “That looks really beautiful, you seem to have great talent“/”I paint a lot, at least I did on Lunar Lakes.“/”Your daughter said that you celebrated it a lot before you disappeared“/”Really? I'm… so sorry I can't remember”.

“There's also no point in obsessively searching for a memory in the back of your mind. Something like that comes naturally… If at all."/ ”My… daughter is safely in bed now. Can you answer a few questions already?"/ ‘Few, but Cassandra can explain most of them to you’/ ‘Where am I from, where did I last live?’/ ”You were born in Sunset Valley, and you disappeared in Pleasantview, where you lived for a few years before that.”

“Pleasantview… That must be a nice place…"/ ,,A small town with nice people, yes. Anyway, you're married and have two children…"/,,v-married? ? Oh, of course, otherwise I probably wouldn't have the children…"/ ”He's retired now… Time was different where you were. You didn't age any further and you said 42 was the age at which you died?"/ ‘Yes, that's how it was’.

Pascal paused for a moment. “Cassandra told me that he… Aged faster than normal somehow because of the grief"/ ”R-really? I'm sorry about that"/ ”I'm sure it's not your fault, Bella. I'm going to go to bed now, it's late“/”,I know… But as a ghost, I'm only really active now. Can I hang the picture up here? As a kind of… Thank you?“/ ,,Sure…good night”/,,Good night”.

At 0:30 a.m. Bella was finished with her picture. She thought long and hard about what title to give it. “I don't know if they're just coming or going… But I just have one question… Where is my home? Yes, that's what I'm going to call it. Cassandra… Alexander… And… What's my husband's name?”… And the pondering began again. So she spent half the night thinking.

It's shortly after 5:00 a.m. when Pascal is woken from his sleep. “Dad, the ghost woman is here…"/,,Oh, I… I didn't mean to scare you, just… A little green boy? How did he get here?“/,,that's a longer story…are you scared, Tycho?”/ “No….she's shimmering"/ ”yes… I am, because of the anomaly… May I… pick you up?"/ ‘yeees’.

“I'm always amazed that spirits aren't just made of air, but have physical properties“/”I can move anything, pick it up, carry it…"/ ‘You're beautiful’/ ‘Oh, thank you little darling…’/ ”Hehe, he thinks every woman is beautiful. How was the night for you?"/ ”It was… Pleasant, but… frightening at the end"/ ‘Why frightening?’/ ”I drew another picture, but I don't know what it means. I just felt very uncomfortable while I was painting it”.

Pascal was curious as to what Bella might have drawn. So he went outside with her. “A planet… And pink nebulae, hmm, I've honestly never seen that before. At least it's not Lunar Lakes…“/ ”no… It must be… Much, much further away…“/”And why do you feel uncomfortable in the presence of the image?“/”I don't know… Maybe, maybe I've been there before?”.

“yes, maybe that would explain your discomfort…. Or maybe it's a clue, brought on by your subconscious.“/”If you don't even know the planet… Then who should?"/ ,,Maybe… Tycho, my boy, do you know anything about this constellation and the planet?”. The little boy looked at the picture with a strained look, as if he were analyzing it. But then he shook his head, “No, Daddy, unfortunately not”.

“hm, if you don't know, maybe Polli won't know either. Because you got your knowledge from him"/ ‘who is Polli?’/ ”Pollination is an alien just like him. The oldest here, he's both brother-in-law and stepfather to us… All rather complicated family relationships"/ ”I understand… But can't we ask him anyway?"/ ‘Sure, we'll definitely see him in the lab today’

Shortly after 7:00 am. Cassandra also got up and met her mother first thing. “Good morning,… Mom"/ ”good morning… oh, you're… Beautiful. And I recognize a lot of similarities between the two of us… I can't see myself in the mirror anymore, but I remember… What I looked like"/ ‘you were, I mean you ARE beautiful too and I recognize everything, no matter if you're a ghost or not’.

Bella was touched by Cassandra's words, “Thank you, that really is a lovely compliment. Sorry, I'm a little confused For me, nights are like days, I have a lot of time… I painted a picture and… Later another one, which keeps me very busy”. She told her daughter about the picture with the planet and that Pascal wanted to consult Pollination about it.

“But if Pascal says that probably neither his son nor Polli know anything about this planet…“/ ,,Well, I really hope that one of them knows something….and… Pascal also said it comes from my subconscious”/ “yes, maybe. And if you can remember at some point, that might be something decisive…"/,,yes. Oh, can you… tell me what… Your father… So my husband's name?"/,,Dad? Mortimer, his name is Mortimer”.

“Mortimer…” Bella repeated quietly. “Yes, you've known each other for a very, very long time, since you were children…“/”That long? Oh, I wish my head would show me something useful, but there's such an immense emptiness in it."/,,Something like that doesn't happen overnight, Mom. When we go to the lab later, I can tell you a bit more about him“/” yes, I'd love to.”. Cassandra was surprised and happy at the same time that her mother had become a little more curious. they were now just waiting for the others to get out of bed.

@greenplumbboblover , @solorisims , @plumbobgothica ⭐

[ryker-mallowpants]

12/11/24

"i cant sleep," i told him. 7:48 A.M. i'm dizzy now, the lingering effects of the mushrooms from the night before, when I still felt comfortable and was laughing so hard it was painful, body strained through mild nausea, having the time of my fucking life up until then. anyway. the joy's left it. my stomach still hurts and every time i move my head it feels like i'm doing, like, six backflips at once. what am i talking about. i started to think i took too much, but i followed the recommended dosage on the packet, so do i really have anything to worry about? maybe, maybe not. ugh.

i have to do my errands anyway, even though my body feels like garbage and so does my head, so around noon i go out to pick up some socks and underwear because for some reason all of mine always seem to disappear into thin air. i'm on my way to the walmart and there's a street blocking my way, i'd have to do a big loop to get around it and i really don't want to. so i just stand there for a minute waiting for a good opening to cross in the middle, and i realize there's another girl on the other side waiting to cross, too.

i decided to trust her when she began walking across, because if there's two people on the road, we're less likely to get hit, maybe? i think? anyway, we're both jogging across the street, and when we make eye contact we both just start laughing. and we keep laughing until we're both all the way across, and then we just go our separate ways. i wonder what she was up to or where she was going. maybe she was also running errands. i hope she's safe and happy. and warm, its fucking cold out.

5:00 P.M. or so I'm just sitting and playing WoW. drinking even though my head feels like shit. missing finnegan. hes just at work but i miss him anyway.

6:30 i come back from a run to the store. bought sushi and a fancy pack of gourmet bonbons, there's six of them and it cost like fifteen dollars but i needed a special treat or my head was gonna explode. going to bed early tonight i think, playing WoW until like 8:00 and then i'll be down for the count. goodnight diary

[morgbin]

before the day I'm supposed to leave for Resto, I know this much: 

I'm supposed to arrive on Sunday, September 15th, and I'm currently approved to stay through October 2nd 

I'll be working as a volunteer. some, (I suspect most) of the rest of the crew working those dates is getting paid $15 an hour. I'm not sure why I'm not getting paid; I suspect it's because I first applied to only work one week, or maybe because I applied relatively late. 

I'm part of the second & final phase of Resto. abandoned bikes, large debris, and the like will have been picked up already. The trash fence is removed. 

What I've read in the JRS over the years. that most of the job is staring at the ground and picking up trash. What it means to "walk the line". how the BLM inspection works. 

that I'll be given a place to stay, and meals will be provided 

I've made a bunch of assumptions so I can pack and plan, but I don't feel remotely prepared. 

on the day I'm supposed to leave, however, I get an email that answers most of my questions. I learn: 

I'll be living in shared housing in Gerlach, not on playa. I should bring twin sheets and a blanket. I should pack light because space is cramped. 

The shared housing has a kitchen, common room,  and even a washer & dryer.

our planned working hours are 8:30 to 4:30, Monday through Saturday. but that can vary based on whether and playa conditions. 

we have to be on the bus in Gerlach by 8:00 a.m. to ride to the playa

I need to arrive in Gerlach Saturday the 14th or Sunday the 15th, between 8am - 6pm, the hours that the burning Man office is open

there's an "annual pool tournament" and a "notorious talent show"

The commissary is in the back of Bruno's and serves breakfast from 6 - 8 am and dinner from 6 - 8 pm. lunch is self-prepared sandwiches  that we make at the commissary and bring with us. 

The Black Rock saloon is the Resto team hang out headquarters. there's internet and some computers available. The bar is open from after work till midnight every (ish) night

There's some sort of public transit system between Gerlach, fly ranch, and shoreline, that runs hourly in the evenings 

some common sense packing tips: bring a backpack, a water container, layers for cold mornings and hot afternoons

that apparently burners need to be told to be respectful to the gerlock residence keep all our bits covered while in town. (this one seems obvious to me, but it was in the email so I guess it's been a problem in the past)

before arriving, this is what I expect: 

-The drive down alone from Seattle to Gerlach will suck , but there wasn't any other way to get to Gerlach, and it will be useful to have a car while I'm there.

The work will suck a little bit. staring at the ground will be tough on my eyes. My neck will hurt from looking down. My back and knees will get tired of stooping down to pick things up. The work will be repetitive and boring. 

despite this, I'll really enjoy it. I expect there to be good camaraderie within the crew. inside jokes, goofing off, work songs, the days will be mostly fun. Even the not fun bits will be enjoyable to me. I usually find moop sweeps to be relaxing and meditative

I'll be physically uncomfortable most of the work day- sunburnt, too hot, dusty, dry skin, cracking cuticles. 

but this won't be nearly as bad as it is during burning Man, because I have access to a shower daily and get to sleep in an actual bed 

My worries: 

If I share a room with someone else, my gender might be a problem for them 

There might be a division between volunteers and paid staff, and I'll end up on the volunteer side despite being part of the crew that stays the whole time 

I might be lonely. people might be unfriendly or standoffish or I might be on the outside of already established group dynamics. if that's the case I might get bored as well. I didn't bring much in the way of entertainment except for my phone. 

My hopes: 

The schedule that I adapt to here - being ready to go and on the bus between 7:30 and 8:00 - will stick after I get home, and propel the rest of my leave of absence 

I'll meet a lot of interesting people with a lot of varied life experience. talking to them will be interesting. talking to them will give me inspiration for my next career move.

I will have time to sketch and to make other art, by myself or with others 

I'll find some really interesting moop that I can do stuff with later 

that I'll follow through on my plan to spend some of the time organizing my phone. turning off notifications, deleting apps that are distracting, setting appropriate time limits, etc. use it as a digital detox but also plan for how to be intentional with my phone usage once I returned to Seattle 

The tension and anxiety that I built up over the past year or two will subside a little. The go with the flow, chill Morgan, unbothered, happy version of me will emerge a little 

I'll do some writing. I'll keep up with this blog. lots of people expressed interest in what Resto is like for me, so I want to share that experience.

that I develop a connection with a girl and we spend some amount of time together, and have sex 

If that doesn't happen, I find another bi guy and we hook up 

I develop a familiarity with the org, or DPW, and learn from someone about what it's like to work DPW. I find a way to get more involved with the org in a way that suits me and is different from any of the ways the rest of Sunrise Diner folks have been involved in the past

I get along with people. that I'm proud of the way that I show up. that I'm kind and generous and fun and chill 

I learn some interesting or juicy org gossip. I learn more about how the event runs behind the scenes 

it doesn't rain too much 

everyone treats me like a guy without making a thing out of it at all

That I'm able to look back on the experience positively in the future 

That on the last day that I'm in Gerlach, my feelings are closer to "sad it's ending" than "relieved it's finally over"

[just-here-for-the-moment]

Claire...may I request a lil' writing? I'm thinking of Javi maybe post Columbia and he builds up a routine. He goes to the same coffee shop every morning on his way to work and of course picks up the same order. You're a barista at the coffee shop and eventually, you can pin down his arrival to the minute so one day, you make his drink for the exact moment when he gets there, with your number written on the cup cause screw it, he's damn hot. What would happen? <3

Oh Maia, this was FUN to write for you!!! I hope you enjoy it! :D

Exciting update!!! GIF and media genius @nicolethered made an amazing video for me to go with this fic!! Go give her big love!!

Second exciting update! I was challenged by @quica-quica-quica to play the POV game for this piece (where someone Asks you to rewrite a piece from a different character's POV). So now there is a companion piece to this from Javier's POV, called: "Coffee Shop Girl". Enjoy!

For Now

Word count: 3900+

Rating: explicit, 18+ only

Outline: Javier Peña x “You” (Austin coffee shop barista; cis/het female reader; “blank canvas”/no physical description/no name/no use of “Y/N”)

Warnings: slow-burn; oral sex/F receiving; vaginal fingering; protected P/V sex; cigarette smoking

Ten days. It took ten days between the first arrival of the handsome stranger and you ending up in his bed. A new personal record for you, given how reserved you normally were. But it was nothing to be ashamed of, as long as you were careful. It was the 90s now after all, there was zero reason to have to keep your knees closed until marriage, as long as you used condoms and got tested regularly.

You liked the coffee shop well enough, situated on the southern end of downtown near the warehouses and a few clubs. It drew a full spectrum of Austinites: college kids closing out their club nights with breakfast tacos and pastries before going home to crash; early morning construction workers, employees from the big post office around the corner; and the usual boring lawyers and office staff who started streaming in around 7:30 every weekday morning. You could do the job well enough, even considering the odd hours: waking up early enough to open the doors at 5:30, serve the slow trickle of early morning customers with patience and ease until a co-worker joined at 7:00 for the morning rush. And the barista and food service parts of the job were physically but not mentally demanding. It was a job, and certainly less hassle than your bartending gig some weekends. At least here you only had to throw drunks out once a month.

And then one Tuesday in early June, at 7:47 a.m., he appeared. Tall, neatly groomed mustache, dark eyes, a sheaf of bangs swept to the side over his forehead. His navy blue blazer and tie said ‘accountant’ or maybe ‘state employee’ and his sideburns were just a little out of date. You pegged him at about 40, probably one of those men who visited the same barber their whole lives, not bothering to keep up with fashion trends as long as they looked neat and clean. When he reached to take his to-go cup of black coffee from you, you noticed that his ring finger was bare, and you liked that his fingernails were clean and trimmed. He offered you a nod in thanks, and you smiled at him a little more warmly than you had with your other customers so far. He held the door on his way out, pausing just a moment to let two women enter… and then he was gone, out into the bright sunlight and foot traffic and morning rush. You hoped you would see him again.

On Wednesday he came back again, a repeat of Tuesday except with a different tie, deep red today instead of navy. Black coffee to go, leather portfolio tucked under one arm, clean hands, eyes as dark as the coffee you handed him. This time rewarding you with a gruff and gravelly, “Thanks,” instead of just a nod. You relished the accidental brush of his fingers on yours as you handed the cup over, another flash of him imprinted on you, along with yesterday’s vision of him going golden as he stepped out into the morning sun. This time you watched him through the big glass window until he was out of sight, admiring his strong nose in profile, the curve of it perched over that mustache. Two extra seconds of handsomeness poured into your morning before you had to turn back to rinsing mugs and making change. You hoped that he’d come again on Thursday, making it three visits, a genuine pattern instead of a fluke.

On Thursday he reappeared, same time as the previous two days, waiting patiently in line behind two wake-and-bake potheads who were taking their sweet time staring up at the food menu. Today he was dark gray instead of navy, wearing a charcoal blazer and a sharp black tie. You waved him over with a smile, letting it melt all the way up to your eyes instead of flashing the tight, brief, closed-mouth thing you used on most customers.

“Black coffee, right?” You watched his face, taking in the dark eyes, the hair, the brief smile that made a surprise dimple appear in his cheek.

He nodded, “That’s right. Thank you.” He slid a rumpled bill across the counter. “Keep the change.”

You bit your lip as you turned away, preening at his thanks and seven whole words as if they were genuine praise. His voice was deep and rich, landing with a rumble in your own chest, like the remnants of thudding bass from a passing car. You poured the coffee and secured the lid, brain scrambling desperately for something clever to say. To make him come back, to talk to you more.

You turned and handed him the cup, and as he reached for it you again let your hand be in just the right spot to feel the brush of his fingers. Your eyes locked on one another, and for the briefest moment you forgot to let go of the cup. You wanted to swim in those brown eyes forever, get lost and let him drown you whole. He paused, and you thought you saw the briefest twitch of his mustache, a pinprick in his calm exterior before you drew your hand back. He inclined his head, a single nod, and then he turned to leave and your attention was swept back to the register and the next customers.

Friday he arrived “on time” and you met his eyes as soon as he opened the door. Today he was warm earth tones, a dark red shirt under a brown tweed blazer and no tie, a nod to casual Friday. You turned and prepared his coffee, tightening the lid and then holding it up to him across the room, smiling and tossing your chin up in a friendly greeting. He walked up and slid a few bills over the counter to you.

“Thanks.” He winked at you and something in your pelvis fluttered. “See you next week.”

You watched him go, stepping out again into a halo of golden sun, pulling a pair of aviator sunglasses from his pocket and putting them on before striding away. You suddenly felt lost, facing the many hours between now and Monday.

Your weekend passed in a blur of extra bartending shifts and catching up on sleep. You were forever napping at odd hours, trying to reconcile the slightly staggered rhythms of early morning coffee shop hours and late-night bartending. It wasn’t the hardest you’d ever worked or the worst schedule, but it wasn’t fun. At least, it hadn’t been fun until now. Now you had something to look forward to.

Monday morning you opened the shop and kept an eye on the clock. At 7:46 you poured black coffee into a to-go cup. Thirty seconds later, he appeared on the other side of the plate glass window, the navy suit and tie again, blowing out a long stream of cigarette smoke before dropping the butt and giving it a quick twist under his foot. He took off his amber-lensed aviators and tucked them into the pocket of his blazer, then pulled out his wallet. At 7:47 on the dot, he opened the door, met your eyes, and saw you holding up his coffee. And there went that smile again, the dimple, the wink.

You smiled as he approached the counter. “You psychic or something? Or am I just that predictable?”

“Both, maybe.” You grinned and wiggled your eyebrows.

He opened his wallet and passed a bill across the counter, larger than what was strictly necessary for a to-go coffee and a reasonable tip. “Great service, keep the change.”

You thanked him, giving him the full-watt smile and wishing him a good day as you opened and closed the register, putting the change into the tip jar. Thankfully there was no one else in line right now, so you could give his handsome figure your full attention as he left, watching how the navy blazer hugged his shoulders.

He went out the door, turned right like he always did, and then he turned his head and his eyes met yours through the glass. You should have felt embarrassed that he caught you staring, but you didn’t. Mostly because you realized that he had stopped to look back, too, which meant you weren’t the only one hoping for more. He nodded and lifted his cup in a gesture of thanks. Then he was gone.

Tuesday was the same, only with the charcoal blazer and the dark red tie this time. The wink, the flutter in your gut, the over-tipping. The glance across the counter as his fingers brushed yours around the cup. The aviators slung on as soon as he stepped out the door.

Wednesday, again, the navy suit and tie, another brush of the fingers, a smaller tip but a bigger smile, gracing you with that dimple again. Another gravelly, “Thank you,” that sounded warmer than he had to date. The handsome profile and a quick meeting of the eyes through the glass as he left again.

Thursday was the same, only better. You used a permanent marker to write something on his paper cup before you poured it precisely at 7:46 a.m., watching, waiting. He did not disappoint. At 7:47, precisely on time, you caught a glimpse of his profile as he came into view through the plate glass window. Charcoal again. He turned and saw you inside, then opened the door, holding it again for a woman exiting. You pointed at his to-go cup on the counter and smiled.

“You trying to get rid of me? In and out so quickly?” He smiled and twitched an eyebrow at you.

You smiled back, “Depends on how long you were planning to stay. We close at 1:00 a.m. after open mic tonight. After that you gotta go somewhere else.”

The handsome man chuckled and pursed his lips. “And what time do you get off, after the morning shift?”

“Depends on who’s asking.” You winked and immediately regretted it, it felt too bold, it wasn’t your normal mode.

He met your eyes and said simply, “I am.”

You felt your face split into a wide smile. “I finish at 1:00, after the lunch rush.”

He nodded. “Good to know. I’m Javier, by the way.” He stuck his hand out and shook yours. You gave him your name and a warm shake of the hand.

He fished a few bills out of his wallet. “Can I maybe stop by after your shift, take you to lunch sometime?”

“You can do me one better than that.” You rotated the paper cup so that the writing was facing him. “My phone number’s on the cup.”

His eyebrows popped up, and then he gave you an appraising glance, like he was impressed. You saw his tongue shift up under his lip to suck a tooth and you suddenly wanted nothing more than to see how that tongue felt on you. You flushed hot, tingling with desire.

He arched an eyebrow at you. “You do that for all your customers?”

“Just the best tippers.” You winked at him and laughed.

He stuck his hand out once more and you gave him yours. He lifted it and kissed the back of your hand, mustache sweeping ever so briefly over your knuckles before he gently released it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” his voice was low and something in it went straight to your groin, making your pelvic muscles clench. You watched him pick up the cup and go, smiling at you with that dimple through the glass as he left. You stood for just a moment, hoping, hoping, hoping. Maybe he would call you after work?

At 1:00 you finished your shift and handed the register off to Mike. You were just untying your apron and hanging it up when you saw a familiar profile sweep into view outside the window. Javier. Your stomach flipped over and a million little butterflies flew out.

He ducked inside the door and searched the shop for a moment, smiling when he saw you coming out from behind the counter with your bag slung over your shoulder.

“Hey,” you stood for a moment and hesitated, suddenly shy.

Javier slipped his sunglasses off and tucked them into his pocket. “Hey, I’m glad I caught you. Are you busy, or can I take you to lunch today?”

“No, I’m not busy. I’d love to go.” You smiled. “There’s a sandwich place around the corner, and a park we can go sit in.”

He smiled, wider than you’d seen him do so far. “That’s perfect.”

He let you lead, walking him across the street and around the corner to the sub shop. You made small-talk on the way there, finding out that he was from Laredo but new to Austin, a former DEA agent consulting for the state. You picked up your food and walked a block over to the small city park, where you told him about your roommates, your cat, your wish to go back to school and finish your degree. By the end of lunch you were both smiling, feeling that spark, the little magnetic pull that had started over his coffee orders. At 2:00 Javier said he had to get back to his office.

“... but I’d really like to see you again. Can I take you to dinner? Tonight if that’s okay, since you’re working tomorrow night.” He stood close to you, looking warmly into your eyes.

“Yeah, that would be great.” You felt that flutter again, that twitch of interest from looking into his warm brown eyes, seeing the way they crinkled when he smiled. You were so busy looking at his eyes that you didn’t see him reach his hand out, sweeping it around to circle your shoulders and pull you in for a kiss. You kissed him back, as urgently as was proper for the time of day and the public setting. When he pulled away to walk back up the few blocks to his office, you stood there dazed. Wow.

You went home and napped, then showered and changed into datewear. Javier picked you up at 7:30, and you were relieved that the little spark was still there. You had half-worried that it would wear off in the few hours between your lunch date and now, or that it was a localized feeling limited to a small radius around the coffee shop. But dinner was fun and warm, and by the end of dessert and coffee you didn’t want to leave him yet. You decided that you would be bolder than you normally were.

“Listen, my roommates are home, but do you want to go back to your place?”

Javier looked surprised for only a moment and then smiled, “Yes, let’s go.”

You kissed all the way back to the car, ran your hands lightly over the back of Javier’s neck as he drove, kissed all the way from the car to his apartment door, and tumbled inside together, feeling for buttons and zippers and helping each other out of your clothes. His erection felt warm and solid against your hip, and when he finally got naked you were nearly moaning at the expanse of his broad shoulders and golden skin. He was beautiful.

Javier walked you backwards to the bedroom and paused only to pull a wrapped condom out of a drawer and turn on the bedside lamp to chase away the dark. You lay back and watched him as he tossed the foil packet onto the quilt next to you and then knelt beside your legs. He looked at you as he ran his hands up and down your naked thighs. Then he butterflied your legs slowly apart and ran one warm hand up to your pussy, teasing you with his fingers, dipping them in and out between your labia and running them up to tickle your clit.

“Can I eat you out?” He asked almost shyly.

You nodded, a breathy “Yeah,” issuing from your lips. Javier dove down and licked into you with a rush. You gasped and threw your head back, clawing your fingers down into the blankets. Javier worked you open on three fingers and used the tip of his stiffened tongue to flick your clit rapidly from side to side while his fingers slipped slowly in and out. You moaned and fought the urge to close your legs while he curled and stroked inside of you, finding the spots you could never quite reach yourself. Within a few minutes you were cresting the wave of release.

“Oh God, I’m gonna come! Keep- keep going,” you gasped, “Just like that!” Javier kept his pace steady, working you along as you huffed and breathed faster. He curled his fingers just right and you sped off the edge into oblivion, gulping and grunting and making noises that were almost embarrassing, that didn’t sound like you, but you felt too good to even care. Javier stopped licking and slowed his fingers as you clenched around him, using the broad flat of his tongue to swipe a long, comforting stripe up the outside of your labia. When you were finished coming, he pulled his fingers out slowly and sat up on his haunches, smiling like a prizewinner.

He wiped one broad, flat hand down his mouth and chin, and then crawled up the bed to lay next to you, stroking you from hip to breast with his thick fingers. “Was that okay, cariño?”

You groaned out a chuckle, “Oh yeah, that was good.” You rolled onto your side to face him, and drew him in for a deep kiss. You loved the mix of how he smelled and tasted, your own salty musk blending with his spicy cologne and the smoky phantoms of cigarettes past and his after-dinner coffee. As you kissed, his hand came up to stroke a trail of goosebumps on your shoulder, and you reached yours down to stroke his cock to attention. The heft of him was thick and warm in your hand, and within seconds he was hard and throbbing. You ran the pad of your thumb up the bottom of his head and over his slit gently, and you giggled as he shuddered and reached down to pull your hand away.

“You keep going like that and I’m not going to last long.” His thick fingers wrapped around yours, and he pulled your hand up to place a long kiss to the inside of your wrist, blowing warm air out through his nose, the feel of it on your skin sending a thrill up your spine. He reached for the condom and opened it, rolling it down his proud length. He put his hand down and stroked your thigh before hooking one hand behind your knee to pull your leg up and over his hip. He held himself so that his tip was buried just at your entrance, then he thrust up and into you in one swift motion. You inhaled sharply and hooked your leg tighter around him, letting him set the pace. He nudged your jaw, nosing up into the crook of your neck and kissing you from ear to chin and back again.

His hot words sent chills down your neck and your nipples stiffened into sensitive buds. “Baby, you feel so fucking good, so hot and wet. Fuck, you’re amazing.”

You kissed him and shushed him, then you pressed an open palm to his chest, “Wait. Roll over. I wanna get on top.”

Javier grinned in the dim light of his bedroom, then he wrapped his big hand around your lower back and pulled you over with him. You shifted and settled into place, and the feeling of being speared on him, of his cock hitting deep inside, of his coarse curls rubbing against your clit was almost to the point of overstimulation. You whined and fell face down into the crook of his neck, smelling his warm spiced fragrance and going limp at the ‘too much’ of it all. He planted his feet flat on the bed and kept his arms wrapped around you, thrusting up, up, up into you over and over. He made the most delicious noises, sounds that might have been words or not, but which conveyed all of his pleasure in little grunts and groans.

You decided you wanted to watch his face, so you sat back up and braced yourself on your knees, rolling your hips in rhythm with his and helping him chase his high.

“God, you look so fucking good on my cock, cariño. So beautiful.” He started to turn glossy with sweat, tiny golden beads reflecting the single lamp beside the bed and making him look surreal. You followed a drip of sweat as it appeared on his neck and then ran down to pool in the hollow at the base of his throat. You tipped forward once more to lick at it, to taste the salt and the smoke of him and nip one tiny bite into his neck before moving up to lick and nibble at his earlobe.

Javier suddenly tensed his legs, giving one big thrust and then hissing out a “Fffff-” between his lips as he came. He thrust again and then stilled, relaxing back into the bed, but keeping you close against him. You let him hold you, your breaths slowing together until you were back, calm again, heartbeats back to center. He released you and held the base of the condom as you lifted off and rolled onto your back. He went to the bathroom, and you heard him run water before he returned with a wrung-out washcloth. He offered it to you, and you declined with a weak wave. He turned and tossed it into the bathroom sink and then motioned for you to scoot off the bed so he could turn the covers down.

He picked up a packet of cigarettes and a lighter, gesturing at you with a raised eyebrow. You put a hand up, “Not a whole one, but I’ll take a drag off yours if that’s ok.”

“Sure thing.” He lit one and passed it to you, and you took a deep drag before handing it back.

“Thanks.” You blew the smoke out in a blue stream.

He crawled into bed and patted the mattress next to him. “Stay,” he looked at you with a smile. “If you want to.” He parked the cigarette back between his plush lips.

You smiled warmly and crawled in next to him. “Okay, just for a little while.” You checked the digital clock beside the bed. “I gotta go home and change, and then get to the coffee shop at 5:00. Can you set the alarm for 4:00?”

He nodded and picked up the clock, pressed a few buttons and slid a switch into place. Then he raised his arm and settled it around your shoulders, and turned off the lamp. You watched the cherry of his cigarette glow and then turn faint, bobbing in the dark as he moved to flick ash into the ashtray on the nightstand.

He murmured low, into the quiet room, “You know, I’m only here for the summer. The consulting job ends in August.” He paused to take the final pull of his cigarette, then stubbed it out in the ashtray. “After that, I gotta go back to D.C.”

You yawned and nodded. “No problem. We can have fun this summer. I’ll take you to Barton Springs and Mount Bonnell, give you the real Austin tour. We can just have fun for now.”

He kissed your forehead, moving down your nose to land soft kisses on your lips. “Okay, summer girl. I’m all yours… for now.”

---

Just-here-for-the-moment’s masterlist

The only tag list I have: @quica-quica-quica @anaaaispunk @justanotherblonde23 @gracie7209 @nicolethered @honestly-shite @driedgreentomatoes @dihra-vesa @1800-fight-me @the-queen-of-fools @juletheghoul @kesskirata @honeymandos @silverwolf319 @mourningbirds1 @greeneyedblondie44 @spacedilf @maxwell–lord @anxiousandboujee @cevvie @sherala007 @writeforfandoms @libellule2001 @deadhumourist @mandoalorian @javierpinme

[unrequited-words]

03/08/23 Wednesday 9:49 p.m.

Two beers in. I made this simple pasta mini shells, premade taco meat I made yesterday, a jar of pasta sauce, Parm cheese in the shaker plastic can (romano, maybe), and mozzarella cheese. It's nice.

the beer is helping me forget. Baby is still up. An hour of OT tomorrow. I'd love to do more but I'm not wanting to wake up from 7-9 a.m. from extra hours and five bonus points per hour. If I am awake ... maybe?

Yeah, fuck that.

This last week was so hard. I took Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday off from being sick.

Of fucking course zod gave me shit. All I do is work. Haven't had a real vacation since I gave birth.,.. if you call that abfucking vacation? I had 713 points paid and now I am around 113 give or take. It's all paid. Damn,this pasta is good. I took a bite, lol

On Microsoft teams, my boss messaged me and he said I bonused for February fiscal month. 506.93 I think? I didn't I'd bonus at all due to quality.

Idk, guys... I still believe in God, I'm just scared for the future. Maybe it's supposed to be this way. I support a family of five between 38-39 a year. Inflation fucking sucks. Politics suck.

Rent went up so starting April it's 1300 plus the rest of our expenses, if I keep doing what I do for work we can make it on one salary for now.

I was nominated for an acclaim award for being big hearted at work, and if I win (doubt it) I will get a gift card (50/100.00) and either crumbl cookies. I've never had them.

I've been wanting to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. We get the kids Saturday. If I pack everything Friday night and on Saturday work from 7:00-9:00 am, and we leave around 10:00-10:30 it isn't so bad. Round trip is 6 hours, but with the baby it feels longer.

We get the kids for a week and I know my son will fucking test me. He always foes. He doesn't fucking listen at FUCKING ALL! He is on his fucking tablet and on the spectrum. It's manageable but Jesus fuck yes this is me venting. It's difficult. Their mom is dofficult. Doesn't allow them to go and play or have sleepovers. She's a fucking trainwreck. she's rather chase dick than be a mom, honestly

If me and Zod ever split up I wouldn't chase dick I'm too old, and with a kid dating is exhausting. No thanks. I'm good.

It was a slow work day. I didn't do too bad. I'm tired. 10:06 pm and maybe in the next hour I can pass out. I hope Astrid goes to bed before modnight. Last night I fell asleep between midnight and 1:00. Slept through my alarm, oh well.

Maybe I'm buzzed but damn this pasta I made sure is yummy, lol. 🍝

I may have another beer but that's pushing it. Tomorrow sometime I need to wash the sheets for the other bed, and make a list before we leave Saturday. Maybe another trip to the grocery store?

My ex sent my birth certificate through the mail and I pray to fucking god it isn't lost. It has thos weird tracking number starting with 70, when normally USPS tracking starts with 98 ... The reason I know is I work with ups, USPS, FedEx, and DHL when customers order.

I'm very oaranoid. I need it to go to the DMV, otherwise if it's lost I get to spend a cool 54.00 fucking dollars requesting a new one.

The other bedroom is closed with all her toys. If she gets out of bed she has nothing to play with. She's watching Peppa Pig. It's cute. It isn't as annoying as that fuck Calliou. God, I need adult froends. I'm drowning in toddler bullshit, 😂

Welcome to my Ted Talk

[sofi945]

What you read every day

Welcome to our magazine.

1.In the first section, we have a few tips for you to take care of your pet.

Some guidelines for caring for animals are:

1) Identify your pet.

2) Do not leave dangerous objects within reach.

3) Offer you a quality meal.

4) Wash and brush regularly.

5) Take him to the vet regularly.

6) Don't leave him alone.

7) Reward their good behavior and appreciate it.

8) Educate your dog and be patient with him.

9) Get them vaccinated.

10) Deworm them with the help of professionals.

11) Provide him with a proper diet.

12) Provide adequate space.

13) Give love.

14) Be clean.

15) Groom her fur.

2.Now in this section, we have a guest and we will ask her some questions to learn a little more about her daily routine 🤔✨ Interview with Classy:

Unfortunately, we couldn't make a video call with her, but she has written to us and our talented interviewer Paula is the one who will ask her the questions:

Paula: Hi Chelsy, how are you?

Chelsy: Hello Paula, good and you.

Paula: Thank God.

Chelsy: Well I'm glad.

Paula: Chelsy, can I ask you some questions?

Chelsy: Yes of course.

Paula: Let's start.

Chelsy: Okey.

Paula: Chelsy, what time do you get up during the week and on the weekend?

Chelsy: During the week I get up at five o'clock a.m. and on weekends at nine o'clock a.m.

Paula: What time do you start class?

Chelsy: I enter at forty minutes past six.

Paula: How are your classes?

Chelsy: They are synchronous, they are in the morning and they are seven hours.

Paula: What time do you leave your classes?

Chelsy: I leave classes at twenty minutes past one.

Paula: What time do you have lunch?

Chelsy: Lunch at two o'clock a.m.

Paula: What do you do in your afternoons?

Chelsy: In my afternoons I rest or do pending activities.

Paula: What time do you have dinner?

Chelsy: Dinner at thirty minutes past seven.

Paula: And finally.

Paula: What time do you go to bed?

Chelsy: I go to bed at eight o'clock p.m.

Paula: Thank you very much, Chelsy.

Chelsy: Ok with pleasure.

Paula: We'll see each other another time bye.

Chelsy: Bye.

3.After that incredible interview she gave us information about his perfect daily routine:

First I get up early at five o'clock in the morning, then I shower and get dressed in thirty minutes. After breakfast with my family and I exercise from six o'clock in the morning until forty-five minutes past six.

The rest of the morning I am in virtual classes studying. Then I rested a bit, I had lunch with my family and at four o'clock in the afternoon, I did my homework. At seven o'clock at night, I have dinner with my family and we watch TV. Finally, I brush and go to sleep at nine o'clock at night.

That would be my perfect routine.

4.After that great intervention by our special guest, we have a friend who lives in Japon and he tells us every day what his life is like. Would he be different from our special guest? Stay and find. out.

AM 6:00:Eldest son's point of view.

At 6 a.m., the day begins in many Japanese households, some earlier, some a little later.

Newspapers are already ready to be read waiting in the post, which is usually delivered from four to five a.m. Then Mom starts preparing breakfast.

AM 7:30 to 8:00

Schools and colleges usually start at eight or thirty minutes past eight in the morning, unless the child goes to private school (which are in the minority) children leave the house from thirty minutes past seven to fifty minutes past seven because here the schools (public) can not be chosen but are already determined according to the place or area where you live.

AM 8:25 AM

Beginning of school activities, on Mondays and Fridays, all students gather in the big room, the children of the fifth and sixth grade, start the mini ceremony for the beginning of the week.

There they report on the important activities of the week, the report of the health group, social and different clubs. On Fridays, they usually report what has happened during the week and congratulate the team who have achieved their plans, etc.

2:00 to 1:00 pm: Mother's point of view.

It is lunchtime for people who work, some bring their lunch or buy an event (take-out) and eat at the office or workplace, or go to restaurants for lunch. Since it is only one hour, the places where there is a lot of offices, it gets congested. My husband is also one of those who goes to restaurants for lunch.

After one hour, work starts. Most of us women get into the habit of brushing our teeth after lunch, but men don't seem to do it.

Snack time three o'clock pm.

In many homes, daycare, kindergarten to offices, workplaces take a short break for snacks.

From time to time, I buy cakes like the picture for my children, they eat when they come back from school, they usually come back very hungry.

8:30 a 9:30 pm

This is the time when they take a bath to remove all the impurities of the day and then between ten o'clock and thirty minutes past ten they go to sleep.

Thanks to all of you for reading our magazine.

[hawkeyes-sanity]

Oli's babbling post it is 12:13 and he can't sleep

So you ever forget what you're doing as you're doing it that's me all the time I honestly can't sleep right now because I'm not tired so I'm watching binging with babish and I'm just hungry now I'm just falling apart today has been a day of days I have to go to school again at 8:00 a.m. my alarm goes off at 7:10 a.m. I don't do math but I think I have six hours till I have to technically be up for school. I'm 19 and trying to get my high school diploma at this moment so yeah it's exhausting and I know I'm only in my young years but I'm allowed to be tired I'm allowed to complain.

Sometimes I wonder why I hold the movie MASH, top gun, The Green Mile and Pat Garrison and Billy the Kid so close to my heart and I realized I just have good taste of movies. I'm using text to speech right now if I don't know how good it's going I'm just talking in like putting indents not indent spaces where they need to go to show I move from one thought to another even though I didn't put a space between this and the thing in the thought above.

I'm kind of sad that it doesn't put my coughs in but I can understand why cuz over half this post would just be me coughing, I'm not sick anymore I don't know why I'm coughing. I just cough sometimes and it's weird.

It took me so long to realize that goose and Dr Mark green are the same person mostly because connect that Anthony Edward plays both and I feel like that's because he doesn't look like goose in ER so in my little world of my brain it's like it's not the same person that's like when I can't think of his last name but I'm pretty sure his first name is Rene who played Dago in the mash movie was Odo and Star Trek deep space nine right he was in the deep space nine it was deep deep space nine yet it was deep space. I mostly don't connect actors characters together because actors are supposed to be like chameleons for their roles like when I watched a show called say elsewhere I didn't realize Fiscus was Howie from Let's Make a deal wait no from deal or No deal that's what his show was dealing No deal.

I can't wait to read this post after I get some sleep if I ever get some sleep because I'm probably going to be like what was I doing what was I thinking my ADHD went off the record again. You ever think about the guy who made the enema like what made him think to do that you know like word that even come from I'm not even I don't even know if it was a guy who made it could have been a girl for all I know I don't know I don't know I don't know.

Well I've been incoherently babbling for a good amount of time I guess.

I wonder who thought let me dry out corn kernels and make popcorn the world confuses me a lot I've used the excuse I'm too transgender for this I'm female to male by the way and honestly I think that's why I have so much social anxiety I think that's where my real like anxiousness when I'm out and about in public comes from because sometimes I pass and sometimes I don't you know I don't know.

I started watching worst Cooks in America celebrity edition and by started watching I'm like halfway through the first episode I know like four people on it it's got that the kid who plays a Luke from modern family in it Ian from 90210 the original Daisy Duke Oscar from the office the toilet Jackson and other people that I don't know but Ian was looking for whipped cream in and told him he had to make it and he was like I don't know how to make it and she said it's literally whipped cream and he made it before the time ran out and I was so proud of him.

I'm going to keep using the same photo for when I babble so people who don't want to read my babbles can just like scroll by and people who want to read it instantly know oh that's one of Oliver's babblings I want to see if he's mentally stable that guy on the TV kind of look like Glenn Frey and I don't know how to feel about that distracted again I am still watching binging with babish but it's try to stop I can't think of her name and she's making like a fake food and not fake food like a savory food masquerading as a real no savory food masquerading as a sweet food.

I promise I'm okay I also promise that that might be a lie but I'm okay in the sense of I'm not having a panic attack or having a complete another mental breakdown I'm going to bed now I promise I'm probably going to be scrolling on Tumblr for another hour at least and I feel bad for that because I need sleep but I don't don't think I can fall asleep you know you know how you feel like tired but you don't think you could fall asleep that's how I feel right now like I feel exhausted but I can't fall asleep you know I watch this episode already. Good night.

[newcedarsee]

Update from the last two days

I skipped posting for a day. I didn't have a chance to sit down and type out an entry.

Saturday was great. I woke up around 7:00 A.M. to get ready and travel to work. My girlfriend made me lunch, which was very nice of her. I caught the bus from campus. It was on time, which is always nice.

I worked from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. with one of my co-workers. She's a very nice lady, though she does tend to fall for right-wing conspiracy theories. This makes it really hard to talk with her about current events. I'll (foolishly) bring up something I saw in the headline and she'll instantly turn the discussion into something about Bill Gates buying up farmland in middle-America.

Other than that, her attitude toward the job is funny. She's old, and she's been doing the same thing her entire life. This has led her to be cynical about the job. She doesn't care how many smoke breaks I take or if I lay down for a bit. Working with her makes the job easy.

After work, I got some groceries. My fridge was depressingly empty. The university gave us rooms with kitchens, but the neighborhood it's in is a food desert.

Once I got my groceries I caught the bus back to campus. I did some chores, like taking out the trash and washing the dishes. I then went to visit my girlfriend. We spent some time together before I got a call from a few of my friends inviting me out to a club called Cavo.

I had never been clubbing, so I was a bit apprehensive about going. They somehow managed to talk me into it. About half an hour later, one of my friends picked me up, and we went to another one of our friend's house.

There, we met up with a few more of our friends, some of whom I heven't seen since high school. I suppose nearly everyone I knew from back then has started going out on the weekends with each other. We sat around on the front porch eating pizza, drinking tequila, and talking shit. After a while a few of us split off to go to the club.

We arrived in the Strip District (the neighborhood the club is in) at around 11:00 P.M. I loved it. The floor was crowded and the music was incredibly loud. These are two of the things I thought I would have hated the most. It was good then that a was incredibly drunk when we got there.

We left, and my friends dropped me off on campus. I then went on to spend the rest of the night with my girlfriend, cuddling and watching television. I love spending time with her. I have to songs which I love playing for her, despite how cheesy they are. Cool by White Reaper and The Purple Bottle by Animal Collective. We went to sleep at around 4:00 A.M.

I woke up Sunday at 11:00 A.M. with a swollen throat and body aches. I have been sick since last week, but a cold combined with a hangover is hell. I went back to bed and woke up again at 4:00 P.M. Again, I went back to sleep and woke up around 6:00 P.M. to a call from my girlfriend. She was concerned that I wasn't replying to her messages. We agreed that she would come down to my room to do homework with me.

Afterward, I was surprised by a new roommate. I wasn't expecting anyone, especially since I had not received an email from mgmt. I introduced myself. He seems cool; I don't remember his name.

My girlfriend came down at the time we agreed on. We did our homework, which for me was revising a paper, shooting and editing a quick video, and contributing to a group presentation. I was done with everything in around five hours.

When we were both done, we cuddled until 11:00 P.M. Now she's back in her room, probably asleep. I'm here, about ready for bed. I have a quiz tomorrow, so I'll be sure to prepare the coffee machine for the morning.

[corruption-exe]

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents?

Yes.

02: Who did you last say “I love you” to?

My baby brother.

03: Do you regret anything?

Many things.

04: Are you insecure?

Uh, cheese?

05: What is your relationship status?

Single.

06: How do you want to die?

Heh. I'm just trying to get through 2022 alive.

07: What did you last eat?

A Fudgee Bar.

08: Played any sports?

Swimming when I was, like, 5, and soccer when I was 8-10. I didn't show up to many of the soccer meets.

09: Do you bite your nails?

Only if I'm very nervous.

10: When was your last physical fight?

When I was a toddler. With my sister. I was a very troublesome kid.

11: Do you like someone?

Not really.

12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours?

No.

13: Do you hate anyone at the moment?

Fictionally, many people, in real life, just my little brother. That annoying little snot.

14: Do you miss someone?

No.

15: Have any pets?

Siblings.

16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment?

Meh. I had to wake up at 7:00 A.M. for a class.

17: Ever made out in the bathroom?

What?! No! Like I said, I'm single.

18: Are you scared of spiders?

It's tempting to quote Ron Weasley, but that depends on the situation.

19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?

No?

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone?

The mirror. That's the only place I can kiss someone because I'm a lonely bitch.

21: What are your plans for this weekend?

Swimming.

22: Do you want to have kids? How many?

Dude, I'm only 13.

23: Do you have piercings? How many?

2. One in each ear. Though I'm not wearing any earrings.

24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)?

Art and Music.

25: Do you miss anyone from your past?

No?

26: What are you craving right now?

Nothing.

27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

My own with situations that would probably never happen OC's

28: Have you ever been cheated on?

I've never dated.

29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry?

Like I said, SINGLE!

30: What’s irritating you right now?

All these relationship questions.

31: Does somebody love you?

My family?

32: What is your favorite color?

Olive green and gold.

33: Do you have trust issues?

Depends.

34: Who/what was your last dream about?

Something about KOTLC. I can't be sure.

35: Who was the last person you cried in front of?

I don't even remember the last time I cried.

36: Do you give out second chances too easily?

Fictionally speaking, yes and no.

37: Is it easier to forgive or forget?

Is this a paradox?

38: Is this year the best year of your life?

Last year.

39: How old were you when you had your first kiss?

Never had one.

40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked?

Sounds fun, but no.

51: Favorite food?

52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason?

Yeah.

53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night?

Write.

54: Is cheating ever okay?

On your diet, yes for your tastebuds and stomach, no for your health. On a person, that depends.

55: Are you mean?

I roast people.

56: How many people have you fist fought?

0. I'd scratch my sister. Now, I just use my words.

57: Do you believe in true love?

Yeah.

58: Favourite weather?

Windy and cloudy.

59: Do you like the snow?

I live in Asia. I've never seen snow.

60: Do you wanna get married?

Depends.

61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby?

It feels weird since I'm not dating anyone.

62: What makes you happy?

My little brother crying (the one I hate)

63: Would you change your name?

Yes. If I'm a criminal.

64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed?

How do I duplicate myself? Oh wait, this isn't google.

65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

Ask them out.

66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around?

No.

67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to?

In-person or through Zoom?

68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

What deep conversation?

69: Do you believe in soulmates?

Yes.

70: Is there anyone you would die for?

Fictional characters.