#No Pancake so waffle was the next best option I Suppose

[veloriium]

i think owning a waffle maker would save me

[heartfragment]

Heart Fragment Walkthrough: Clive

In a lot of ways, Clive is similar to the protagonist. He has the same cynical view of the world, the same sharp tongue, and the same inability to be honest with himself. The strange events that bring Clive into your life make you wonder, though: is he an ally? Or an enemy?

Note: Most endings have multiple ways of getting to them. This is a guide to guarantee you get them all, but feel free to mix and match or experiment with your own ideas!

Endings Overview

(for those who don't want a full guide, just the general idea of how to get the endings; if you want a step-by-step guide instead, keep reading!)

Clive branch 1 criteria: certain traits will add points towards this branch. Branch 1 can be unlocked by focusing on the following traits: genuine, nurturing

Clive branch 1, good ending, romantic: end the route with a pink heart or higher

Clive branch 1, good ending, platonic: end the route with an orange heart or lower

Clive branch 2 criteria: focus on the following traits: nosey, paranoid, cautious

Clive branch 2, good ending, romantic: end the route with a pink heart or higher

Clive branch 2, good ending, romantic BONUS: end the route with a pink trait or higher AND the bold trait unlocked

Clive branch 2, good ending, platonic: end the route with an orange heart or lower

Clive bad ending 1: choose "Little Red is eaten by the wolf" during Act 2 of Clive's route, then choose "Keep on running" later on

Clive bad ending 2: choose "Little Red is saved in the end" during Act 2, then choose "Run" and "Turn to look" later on

Clive bad ending 3: have the paranoid OR cautious trait unlocked on Saturday of Act 2, and avoid the previously mentioned bad endings

Clive bad ending 4: have the paranoid trait unlocked on Wednesday of Act 2, then choose "Don't meet up with him"

Clive bad ending 5: choose "Don't do it" when prompted in Act 3, AND do not have the cautious or nurturing traits unlocked

Clive bad ending 6: have cautious trait unlocked on Saturday of Act 2 OR have Clive's heart at dark blue or lower

Full Walkthrough - Common Route

Be polite

Don't disturb her

Yeah, it's me

Sit near him

Search your mother's name

Read the obituary as well

Should I start posting selfies too...?

Ask Shannon about mutants

Offer to shake his hand

You are seriously all crazy

Yes

Yes

Walk in

Admit you're curious

ask all the questions available

Don't pull away

Do more research on your laptop first

Don't tell Kay

I'm not too sure about this yet

Speak up yourself

Tell her it was about something else

Nah, I can go by myself

Yes

Yes

Ask if you can draw Kay

Were you blind from birth?

They can be different now

Don't disturb them

Don't do it

Yes

Yes

Post about yourself

The panacea

Yes

Jasper

You don't think it's too late for that?

Thank you

Welcome home

Your father

I think it has improved

Superpowers

...a good power to have

I want to know more

Your teacher

No, sorry

A full nights rest does sound good

I was just curious

Yes

Post about yourself

Run away

click the eye in the bottom left when it appears with Shannon to read her heart

Tell her about your father

Yes

I feel inspired lol

Do I really need to move?

Am I going to survive this...?

Follow him

Clive is behind a tree, slightly right of center on the screen

Are you saying I was attractive?

Tell him why

Tell Shannon that you're moving

type in "Clive" when prompted for his name

Don't reach for it

Don't reach for it

Don't reach for it

Don't reach for it

Reach out to the hand

I'll tell Clive

I'll tell him about Jasper

You can come again

select the red/orange fragments

Fantasy Intro / Act Zero

Maybe we can hang out

So you think I'll be safe from now on?

CREATE SAVE POINT 1

Text her

Let's meet up soon

I guess I'll go outside for a bit

I am scared, to be honest

Leave the subject alone

Mention all the dreams you've had

Please tell me

Give him the benefit of the doubt

Pancakes are great!

Alright

Yes... I want to talk about it

Ask about his interests

Maybe I should give it a try someday

Yes I am

Maybe

there are three shells on the screen (one small, one medium, and one big). the small shell will lose the contest, medium will end in a tie, big one will result in you as the winner. it's up to you which you do but the medium shell will add a point in favor of Clive's branch 2. the small one is near the very bottom of the screen, slightly to the left on the shore. the medium one is near the shore down from center and slightly to the right. the big shell is a little bit away from the shore and further to the right than the medium shell. end the search by finding the feather at the bottom right corner on the sand.

Grab his arm for support

I'm not happy

Clive Act One

So... what shells did you find?

I should get some rest

...nice (romantic) OR ...interesting (platonic)

Keep your eyes shut

A latte

I'm not sure

I really miss him

Tell the truth

It's alright

Go to the forest without hesitation

Stay

How did his heart end up this way?

Try messaging him on StarxSocial

Sure

Clive Act Two

I believe you

Get up and sit next to him

CREATE SAVE POINT 2

What's wrong?

How long ago did you meet?

Leave the matter alone

CREATE SAVE POINT 3

...Little Red is saved in the end

It sounds like fun

I'll take your word for it

Thanks for bringing me here

...afraid of storms?

Let's take cover somewhere

Suggest continuing in clear weather

I want to play it with you (romance) OR the game sounded fun (platonic)

Reply to Clive (romance) OR reply to Shannon (platonic)

It's kind of nice to have him around

You should stay for lunch

I wish I could have told you where I was

You are pretty bad at it

No, you can stay

Ask what Lana means by that

I am enjoying myself

CREATE SAVE POINT 4

Run

Keep on running

Steam achievement granted for continuing to run: "Filthy Mutant!"

I'll keep fighting

Message him now

I'm worried about you (romantic) OR I hope you're safe (platonic)

choose neither option; instead, click the window curtain

Steam achievement granted for clicking the curtain: "Clive? Are you there?"

I believe Clive has a genuine explanation

Meet with Clive

Steam achievement granted for meeting up with him: "Benefit of the Doubt"

I don't believe that

Clive Act Three

1 update will show up on your phone in the bottom right corner while in Lana's living room, check it

Touch his hand (romantic) OR Offer words of support (platonic)

I want to be closer to him (romantic) OR I do care about Clive (platonic)

Come back to the city with me

Steam achievement granted for inviting Clive to come with you: "Come With Me!"

Leave the topic alone for now

Cover him with a blanket

I like the way you are now (romantic) OR You already remind me of Kay (platonic)

Try to contact Jasper

Clive is more handsome than I thought (romantic) OR Why is he so self-conscious? (platonic)

Yes

Clive End Branch 1

1 update will show up on your phone in the bottom right corner after you got to take a nap, check it

Don't go (romantic) OR Be careful (platonic)

1 update will show up on your phone in the bottom right corner while on the beach with Clive and Gray, check it

Steam achievement granted for reaching Branch 1 ending: "My True Home"

RELOAD SAVE POINT 2

Clive Act Two - Guide to Branch 2

You don't need to hide in your hoodie

How long ago did you meet?

Ask him about it

...Little Red is eaten by the wolf

It sounds like fun

I'll take your word for it

Why did you bring me here?

...stalling to spend more time with me?

Let's run home quickly

Suggest continuing when the weather is clear

I'm willing to try it

1 update will show up on your phone in the bottom right corner after you get home from being with Clive, check it

Reply to Clive (romance) OR reply to Shannon (platonic)

It's kind of nice to have him around

You're leaving already?

I wonder what's up with the coincidences

No, you can stay

React by being flustered

Run

Turn to look

Steam achievement granted for turning to look: "Friends with the Enemy"

Clive was working with him

I want to find out the truth from Clive!

Message him now

I'm worried about you (romantic) OR I hope you're safe (platonic)

Maybe it was Lana's phone

I want to know his side of the story so far

We'll talk, but not in person

Some people aren't supposed to exist

Touch his hand (romantic) OR Offer words of support (platonic)

I want to be closer to him (romantic) OR I do care about Clive (platonic)

But you could still get hurt

What happened to him?

Steam achievement granted for asking what happened to him: "Nosey"

Cover him with a blanket

You can't replace Kay

Try to contact Jasper

Clive is more handsome than I thought (romantic) OR Why is he so self-conscious? (platonic)

No

Clive End Branch 2

1 update will show up on your phone in the bottom right corner while talking to Clive in your bedroom at night, check it

...I love you (romantic) OR ...you're my best friend (platonic)

Steam achievement granted for reaching Branch 2 ending: "Internal Consequences"

Bad Ending #1

RELOAD SAVE POINT 3

...Little Red is eaten by the wolf

It sounds like fun

You could word that a bit better

Why did you bring me here?

...afraid of storms?

Let's run home quickly

Wait until he invites you again

Reply to Clive

I think he's sticking a little too much

See you later, then

I wonder what's up with all the coincidences

Do whatever you want

Run

Keep on running

Steam achievement granted for reaching bad ending: "Deal with the Devil"

Bad Ending #2

RELOAD SAVE POINT 4

Run

Turn to look

Bad Ending #3

RELOAD SAVE POINT 1

Don't text her

I'm going to stay inside

It's terrifying

Ask her about it some more

Read her heart when the eye symbol appears

Keep it to yourself for now

Refuse to be friends with him

CREATE SAVE POINT 5

It'll be fine

I do prefer waffles, actually

Alright

Yes... I want to talk about it

Ask about his interests

Maybe I should give it a try someday

No I'm not

No way

find the feather in the bottom right of the beach

Grab his arm for support

I'm not happy

So... what shells did you find?

No way, let's have a rematch

I should plan my next move

...weird

I need to look eventually!

A latte

Well...

I don't really know

Make something up

I prefer you don't pry anymore

Go to the forest without hesitation

Leave

How did his heart end up this way?

I hope he's safe right now...

Sure

Don't give up

I still want him back!

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt

Maybe a little

You don't need to hide in your hoodie

Do you spent a lot of time with Clive?

Ask him about it

...Little Red is saved in the end

Isn't it too childish?

You could word that a bit better

Thanks for bringing me here

...afraid of storms?

Let's run home quickly

Wait until he invites you again

Reply to Shannon

It's kind of nice to have him around

You're leaving already?

I wish I could have told you where I was

You're embarrassing him

CREATE SAVE POINT 6

Leave it for another day

Steam achievement granted for reaching bad ending: "Quiet. At Last."

Bad Ending #4

RELOAD SAVE POINT 5

I don't trust him

Pancakes are great

I'd rather not

I don't want to talk about it

Walk in silence with him

Click the eye when it appears to read Clive's heart

I need to keep an eye on him

No I'm not

No way

find the feather in the bottom right of the screen

Get up on your own

I'm not happy

You can go home now, you know

I should plan my next move

...weird

Keep your eyes shut

Black coffee

Well...

I don't really know

Make something up

I prefer you don't pry anymore

Think it through

Click the eye when it appears to read Jasper's heart

Leave

I want to help Kay...

Can I really trust him after that?

I dunno...

Give up

But what will happen to Clive?

Steam achievement granted for reaching bad ending: "You did that wrong"

Bad Ending #5

RELOAD SAVE POINT 6

Go meet with him

Run

Keep on running

I'll keep fighting

CREATE SAVE POINT 7

Leave it here

Steam achievement granted for reaching bad ending: "Fool..."

Bad Ending #6

RELOAD SAVE POINT 7

Take it home with you

Wait it out a bit longer

I want to know his side of the story so far

CREATE SAVE POINT 8

We'll talk, but not in person

Some people aren't supposed to exist

Offer words of support

Clive has grown on me

You should leave town too

Say good night to him

You can't replace Kay

Don't do it achievement granted for reaching bad ending: "Poison"

Bad Ending #7

RELOAD SAVE POINT 8

Don't respond

[ohbeaby]

So food in Devildom is clearly VERY different from human food in terms on ingredients. We also know that there is some form of rotation in the House of Lamentation for cooking duty, I think this must apply to breakfast too maybe?

Anyway I just wanted to muse about the brothers thoughts on humans foods. This is all food from around my area so please forgive me if what I’m writing here doesn’t match up with what you typically eat! I’d be more than happy to research other cultures foods and do a similar comparison if asked!

Lucifer:

Breakfast: This man is very confused by pancakes. It resembles a pastry more than a meal and is covered in syrup? Which is just a bunch of sugar too? Is this healthy? No...can’t possibly be. This meal has confirmed for him that humans have no clue what they are doing and how can they possibly still be alive when they start the day off with SUGAR!

Dinner: Well...it’s definitely unique. He’s pretty picky about what he’ll tolerate eating and isn’t too sure what he’s supposed to do about a taco. He’s pretty much just going to copy whatever the human is doing and then get confused when he is informed that he can just pick and choose what goes into the taco. There’s no set recipe? You just plop whatever you want into it? He’s going to really struggle not having everything fall out of the taco as he’s eating. Flavor gets an 8/10 but actually eating it is a 2/10.

Mammon:

Breakfast: Honestly loves waffles. It gets pretty messy but he can definitely see the appeal and loves all the sugar. He’s the type to put butter in each little cave and then smother it all in syrup. Very happy when it’s the humans turn to cook breakfast because he knows he can convince them to make him extra waffles.

Dinner: Pretty similar to Lucifer here. He finds the foods unique but is way more willing to try new things compared to his older brother. He thinks all the casseroles are weird. A good weird...but still weird. He doesn’t have a reason for it either, maybe it’s all the flavors at once in each dish or the lack of pretty presentation. He is a fan of tacos much to Lucifers annoyance!

Leviathan:

Breakfast: He’s watched enough anime to see the buttered toast trope but is disappointed when the human informs him that it’s not accurate, or even comfortable, to run down the street with toast in your mouth. He likes toast anyways though because he can customize it with jams and jellies! He may have bought himself a toaster for his room and harasses asks the human about what type of bread is best for toasting.

Dinner: One word. Pizza. Man does he go nuts for the stuff. You can customize it however you like! Is constantly begging the human to make him the dough so he can make a bunch of personal pizzas (though Beel always eats them). He’s pretty adventurous too so if someone suggests a new combination he’s willing to try it, though sometimes it has the rest of the house questioning his sanity. Eggs don’t go on a pizza.

Satan:

Breakfast: He loves a good muffin. While it does have quite a bit of sugar, it makes Lucifer mad so he is down to eat it. The first time he saw one, though, he did question if the human had just randomly decided they were going to make cupcakes for breakfast.

Dinner: Veggie nights will be the bane of his existence for all eternity. He is that kid who refuses to eat his vegetables so being faced with the choice of vegetables or no food is not a fun time for him. He’s got nothing against vegetarians just please have some other options besides veggies. He’s even willing to just eat a salad! Just not broccoli and squash. Lucifer makes it clear that he enjoys the veggie nights just because of how upset Satan gets.

Asmodeous:

Breakfast: Prefers a simple egg breakfast with a small bowl of fruit. He’s got to keep up his form and can’t possibly give into the temptation of GREASY bacon! He won’t admit it but he loves all the sugar in the homemade cinnamon rolls the human made, he can’t give into the temptations all these human foods throw at him!......the whole tray of cinnamon rolls did go missing though and Beel wasn’t the culprit.

Dinner: Is the one secretly trying to convince the human for more veggie nights. He scrunches his nose up at all the different fried foods and complains about all the grease (he really does love all the flavors though but again he will NEVER admit he loves all the grease). He secretly gets excited when he realizes it’s going to be a fried chicken night.

Beelzebub:

Breakfast: This boy LOVES when the human goes all out for breakfast. He enjoys all the different types of breakfasts and has no complaints about this meal. Thinks the various types of dessert like items are strange but he is not going to be the one to stop the human from making them.

Dinner: Loves all the meals except for barbecue. He gets fussy and grumpy when he gets told that he can’t go and have some of the meat out in the smoker and that he has to wait. He can smell the meat cooking overnight and is just a grumpy boy the next morning because he can’t have any of it until dinner. He does love all the different sides though, mash potatoes, corn on the cob, homemade Mac and Chese? Sign him up.

Belphegor:

Breakfast: First off, good luck getting this guy up in time to even try any of your foods. If he does manage to get down in time he’s usually too tired to care about what he’s eating, the brothers have had to stop him from eating a napkin more than once because he wasn’t paying attention. He does like biscuits and gravy though, it feels like a comfort food to him and he sometimes goes to find the human just to have it made for him, he’ll just sleep through the prep for the biscuits.

Dinner: Honestly loves all the different types of soups humans have come up with. Soups in Devildom all taste pretty bland or weirdly sweet due to the poisons in some of the plants. Having something savory and delicious though is pretty refreshing. He won’t admit it but he also hates taco night along with Lucifer, you mean to tell him he has to put effort into making his own meal and then more effort in keeping it from falling apart while he eats it? Sounds like a lot of work but he agrees the flavor is nice.

[valwrite]

leap frog; daveed diggs

masterlist.

summary: rafael casal can’t keep a secret. (read the sequels: hopscotch, hide & seek.)

warnings: possible second hand embarrassment, fluff, mentions of murder, cursing

fic type: drabble

word count: 2366

author’s note:  ahaha, i hate myself for writing this but i also love it, gn. feedback is appreciated! oh, and if i don’t reply to a comment or something, it’s just cause i’m dumb as shit and haven’t figured out how tf to do that yet 🥰

It was official. Y/N L/N was going to murder Rafael Casal.

And, boy, would she make sure it looked like an accident.

The man was a nuisance, a mad man, a big mouthed buffoon. And the reason she now had to avoid one Daveed Diggs at all costs from here on out. Considering Rafael lived just one door down from her made this a challenge, as Daveed had a habit of treating the other man's apartment as a second home.

The trouble began two weeks prior, when, after a miserable night out, Y/N had stumbled into the building elevator, feet aching to get out of her heels and breasts desperate to be freed from their confinement. Before she'd had the chance to press her floor button, a hand slid between the closing doors and in stepped Rafael Casal. The two exchanged glances and greetings before riding up to their shared floor in a comfortable and welcomed silence. Had this exchange taken place three months before, perhaps Y/N would have felt a lot more awkward and intimidated by her attractive neighbor. However, things had changed between them ever since they'd become friends. She'd tag along on nights out with his friends (who'd seamlessly welcomed her in as one of their own) and he'd come round for dinner every time he so much as smelt her cooking from next door. The elevator had reopened and the hallway they shared came into view. That was when Rafa made the proposal she'd end up regretting: “Do you wanna come in for a few drinks?”

She'd accepted because, well, it was free alcohol. The fact that his company was anything but bad was just an added bonus. A few drinks turned into many, even some shots finding their way into the mix of things, as she and Rafa talked the night away: she shared details of the horrible blind date she'd been set up on that evening while he ranted about how insufferably boring Daveed had been, claiming the man hadn't brightened up the whole night after hearing Y/N would not be in attendance at their get-together. She was sure her cheeks had turned as red as they'd felt when Rafa made that revelation.

The real mistake came towards the end of their drinking session and, really, neither of them knew how to explain how or why they wound up locking lips. What they did know was the following: it was a meaningless kiss, both of them laughed right after and it had been the most uncomfortable kiss either of the two had shared in their adult lives. Kissing him, Y/N would later realize, wasn't the problem though. It was what the kiss had unearthed.

“Oh my god, you have the hots for Diggs?!”

In three months of friendship, Y/N had learned three fundamental things about Rafael Casal:  he preferred pancakes over waffles, friendship with him was a package deal that included Daveed Diggs and, lastly, Rafael Casal was the biggest gossip in town.

Any secret, any hook up, any scandal. You name it and it was almost a guarantee that, not only did Rafa know about it but he was the source of it all. So, having him become aware on the fact she had a massive crush on his best friend? Yeah, there was no chance in hell Y/N could ever speak to Daveed again without self-combusting in embarrassment.

Now, back to present times, where Y/N finds herself tiptoeing around her own apartment, anything capable of making noise switched off and her own breathing being the only sound in the living space. Five minutes had passed since Daveed had last knocked at her door, saying nothing but her name yet still managing to put her on edge.

The logical part of her brain told her to open the door, because the poor guy was probably just confused as to why she had suddenly started ignoring his texts and stopped hanging with him and Rafa while they watched the Warriors play. The rest of her brain told her to stay put, wait it out and, once she was sure Diggs had left the building, grab the participation trophy she'd been given back in elementary school and use it to go beat Rafael's ass.

Operation: Avoid Double D was working, much to her own surprise, and she'd even started to feel a little impressed with herself when- thud! - a noise came from her balcony. The door of it lay wide open, much like the book she'd been reading out there before Daveed had come knocking, but the curtains were drawn shut, gently moving with the breeze from outside. Like a scene from a cheesy horror movie, she approached the balcony with caution, reached out to draw the curtain aside and gasped at the sight of Daveed comfortably sat in her chair, skimming through her book- a very, very worn out copy of Emma by Jane Austen - and sipping on her iced tea.

“I... How... What...” There wasn't a coherent sentence to be found in Y/N's brain. “Why are you on my balcony?”

“Well,” Daveed snapped her book shut and discarded it on to the small table next to him, all the while smiling innocently up at her. “I knocked on the door and you didn't answer.”

“So you figured breaking and entering was the only solution?!”

“Hey, hey, there was no breaking involved. Just, y'know, entering.” He stood up, reminding her of how much taller he was. “You're the one that left your balcony door open to the world, I just took advantage of that and jumped over from Rafa's.”

Y/N couldn't help but turn her back on him to gaze over at Rafael's own balcony. A fresh batch of laundry had been sat out to dry on it and Y/N noticed how the only plant Rafa owned had now died, nothing left but a dried up mess in it's place. She then thought of the space between the two balconies and, more importantly, the space beneath them both. Granted, she wasn't living in some top floor luxury apartment but she imagined a seven story drop was nothing short of unpleasant. Yet there was Daveed, all smiles and charms, having just jumped over the space as if it were nothing but some innocent, childish game of leap frog. She both wanted to scold him for being so reckless and praise him for being so brave.

Until she remembered the fact she was supposed to be avoiding him and this, clearly, was ruining any of her attempts.

“What do you need so badly from me that it compelled you to do something as stupid as that?” It seemed to be that scolding was the option she'd chosen.

“Answers.” Oh god no. That's it, time to eBay a body bag and a fake passport.

“Answers to what exactly?” When she was a child, Y/N had always tried to play coy to avoid confrontation. It appeared to be she hadn't changed much with age.

“Do you have any of those blueberry muffins left?” Okay, that was not where she thought this conversation was going. “Rafa ran out of the batch you made him and he's too afraid to ask you for more, since you demanded payment last time, so he sent me over here to charm two muffins out of your pantry.”

“You're in luck. I made some last night.” They could have every last piece of food in her kitchen for all she cared, so long as that were the only thing Daveed wanted from her. Though, she was still contemplating manslaughter when it came to Rafa considering he'd sent over Daveed, knowing fine well why she was steering clear of the man. He was shameless in his meddling.

“So,” Daveed's voice and footsteps followed behind her into the apartment as she desperately aimed for the kitchen area. “how come you didn't answer the door earlier?”

“I was, uh,” I was trying to avoid you because I want nothing more than to bake muffins with you and have you nakedly recite poetry to me and that's an issue because we're friends and you don't even think about me that way. “Shower. I was showering.”

“You hair's not wet.”

“Never heard of a hair dryer? Jeez old man, catch up.” At this point, her hands were clammy from her own nervous sweat but she'd pulled out the tray of muffins and shoved the lot of them over to him. All she had to do was get him out of her apartment, then things would be fine. “Here you go, thanks for stopping by. See you later.”

“Wow, wow, wow! Calm down, girl!” Did he have to smile at her like that? “Why're you trying to get rid of me? I asked for two muffins, Y/N, not the whole batch.”

“Just take them, I forgot that I don't really like blueberries anyways.” If there was an Olympic sport for colossal idiots, she'd have won gold, silver and bronze.

“You didn't answer my question,” Daveed took one step forward and she took one step back, internally screaming as she felt her back bump against the counter. “why're you trying to get rid of me?”

“I'm not!”

“Okay then, why haven't you been answering my texts or calls?”

“Because I lost my phone.”

“The same phone that I saw on your coffee table?”

“You found it! My hero!” The body bag was no longer going to be used on Rafa, she was pretty sure she was one more comment away from dying of embarrassment.

“Y/N.” When had Daveed gotten so close to her? And why did he have to say her name like that? Her hand gripped on to the surface behind her and she gulped, struggling to maintain eye contact with him.

“Daveed.” She replied lamely, just begging that he'd turn around, grab the tray of muffins and leave.

“What's really up?” His words were softer and more serious, much like the look in his eyes. “You won't answer your phone, you haven't watched the recent games with us, you won't answer the door to me. I just... Look, if I done something or said something that made you uncomfortable, I'm sorry. I really miss you though, so does Rafa. So if there's anything I can do to fix whatever I did, just tell me. I'll do it. Anything.”

And now, ladies and gentleman, please buckle your seat-belts and get ready for take off, destination: Guilt Trip.

“No. Fuck, Daveed, no. You didn't do anything. Trust me, it's all my fault. I'm really sorry.” The words tumbled out of her quickly whilst her eyes fixated themselves with staring down at her nervous hands. “I know that Rafa told you and, just, I'm really sorry. I promise, I'm trying to get rid of them, it's why I've sort of been avoiding you. I don't want to ruin our friendship.”

“Rafa told me... what? Who are you trying to get rid of?”

“Wait,” Oh sweet hypothetical baby Jesus, had Rafael Casal not spilled the beans? Did he really not know? “he didn't tell you?”

“I'm confused.” Daveed said, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he continued to gaze down at her. “Was he supposed to tell me something? Wait, did he make a move on you or something? Cause I'll put him in his place if I have to.”

“Technically we made a move on each other.” The words flew out of her before she could stop it and she noticed immediately how his face contorted into a frown. “Not in that way! It was just a drunk kiss that we both regretted.”

“And he was supposed to tell me about it?”

“Huh? No! Ugh, look Daveed,” She'd already made a fool of herself enough, she may as well just round it all off with the mother of all embarrassments. Go big or go home, right? And, well, she was technically already home and with nowhere else to go. “I like you. Like, the way a bee likes honey or the way a dog likes a bone. A lot. But I get it, you don't like me and that's chill but would you please just give me the time and space to sort myself out and get over it so we can go back to being friends?”

“But I don't wanna be friends with you, Y/N.” Well done, idiot. So much for honesty being the best policy. “I mean, I don't know how I feel about being compared to honey or a bone but I do know how I feel about you. I think you're smart and beautiful, and stubborn and kind of a dork. And I really like it, you. I really like you.”

“Oh.” Oh? Oh?! Fucking oh!? That's all you can say to that. She couldn't stand living in her own head-space.

“I'm gonna ignore the fact that you and Rafa made out or whatever and just get straight to the point of asking you on a date. Tomorrow night, seven pm. Wear something easy to move around in.” Gentle fingers tilted Y/N's head up by her chin, forcing her to stare into his eyes. They were warm and welcoming, like chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven and melting with love. “Who knows, maybe by the end of the night you'll finally get a good kiss from a Bay Boy.”

“Why would Rafa kiss me at the end of our date?” At least she could still joke among the shock. “And you more or less just demanded I go on a date with you. No questions were made.”

“If demanding is what it takes,” He leaned down, his mouth hovering dangerously close to hers. “then so be it.”

Where she'd expected a kiss, she found nothing but empty space and the sight of Daveed picking two muffins out of the tray. Wide eyed and honestly a little confused about what events had just transpired in her kitchen, she watched as he finally headed for her door, suddenly not enjoying the thought of him leaving as much as before.

“Oh, and Y/N?” He was halfway out of her apartment, grinning back at her. “Rafa did tell me, I just wanted to hear you say it yourself.”

He slammed the door shut on the sound of Y/N cursing out the very man that was Rafael Casal.

[charlieweasleyxmc]

The Celestial Ball

(Y/N) gaped openly at the midnight blue dress, bespeckled with silver stars in front of her.

“It’s…beautiful,” she breathed out, seeing Andre’s smile out of the corner of her eye. “Did you make it yourself or find it somewhere?” she asked.

“Bit of both,” he said, still smiling, “I’ll leave you to try it on, shall I?” he asked.

She didn’t quite understand what he was saying until he had already gone from the room.

(Y/N) made her way to the great hall from trying on the beautiful gown for the celestial ball. When she finally got into the great room, she noticed that many people had already left for their next lesson after lunch. Since this was her free period, she intended to satisfy the rumbling in her belly before her next Herbology class.

When she saw a familiar head of ginger hair, she smiled and headed straight for it.

“Hey, you,” she said, teasingly, peaking around Charlie at the parchment he was working on. “An essay on gilliweed,” she mused, “for Professor Sprout?”

“No, actually,” Charlie said, writing furiously. “For Professor Kettleburn. It’s extra credit. I’m arguing why gilliweed is a valuable resource for caring for underwater creatures, but Professor Kettleburn seems to think the bubble head charm would do just as well. Only, I don’t think you’d be able to keep up with some of them unless you were some sort of swimming champion. I’ve got to get it done now since I have quidditch practice tonight.”

(Y/N) nodded, finding, rather guiltily, that her attention had faded from what he had been saying, to the piece of hair that tickled against his brow as he leaned over the parchment. She had gotten the gist of the essay, though.

Charlie, obviously feeling what she had noticed, sat up to brush the piece of hair out of his face.

He turned to look at her, smiling tiredly.

“How you doing?” he asked, pieces of hair falling out of the ponytail that had obviously had to go through a Care of Magical Creatures or Defense Against the Dark Arts practical earlier in the day.

“Good. You?” she asked, realizing the reply had been rather formal. She sighed. “Andre heard the rumors, that we started, about going to the celestial ball together.”

“So, it’s working then?” Charlie asked, grinning. “Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly, “we only keep up the rumor until the day of and then we don’t have to go.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” (Y/N) said, her voice growing softer. “It’s just, he got me a dress.”

“A what?”

“Dress robes, you know,” (Y/N) said, ducking her head. “And they are so beautiful. It’s hard not to want to wear them.”

Charlie stared at her. “So…you want to go?” he asked, a little bewildered. “You want to go after all?”

“No…uh…that’s not what I meant…I mean…the dress,” she sighed, going for a different tactic. “What?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips and scrunching up her face in a self-confident pout. “You going back on your promise to me?” she said, teasingly accusatory.

Charlie laughed, his eyes brightening. He lifted his hands up in the air, placating. “I guess not,” he said, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t want to look like I was leading you on, would I?” He grinned.

“No,” (Y/N) confirmed, haughtily. Then she dropped the act, giggling. “You know,” she said, after she had stopped, “we really don’t have to go. I know that wasn’t the deal.”

Charlie shook his head again as he ducked his head back to look at his paper.

“No. What kind of friend would I be if I kept you from wearing that sensational dress?”

(Y/N) smiled.

It was hard to pay attention all through Potions the next day. Snape even kept snapping at her nearly every time her attention wandered. He somehow had an uncanny radar for when her eyes would flit from her work to a random spot of the room and stay there, staring out into space to daydream.

She apologized as he sniffed, but not before taking five points. She scowled into her potion.

She managed to get through the rest of the lesson and get released to lunch without losing (Y/H) any more points. She was on her way to the Great Hall, hoping the House Elves had made some pancakes, waffles, or something, even though it was well past breakfast, when she had to pull up short to stop herself from running into little Oliver Wood.

“Hullo, Oliver,” she said cheerily, glancing down at him.

“Hey,” he gazed at her, a thought clearly dawning across his face. “Did you hear about the accident?”

(Y/N) stared, “what accident? No…I didn’t?

“The quidditch accident.” Oliver said. “Charlie’s got a hurt arm in the hospital wing. Now we are down a seeker for next Saturday’s match if Madam Pomphrey can’t fix him up by then. She said it’ll take a while though.”

But (Y/N) hadn’t heard the rest of Oliver’s comment. She was already gone.

Cutting past the great hall, she clambered up the marble staircase, doing her best not to trip on her robes, and hustled to the hospital wing at a jog.

She entered slowly, noting Madam Pomphrey wasn’t in the room, meaning she must be in her office in the back.

But two students were.

A red haired young man lay in one of the beds, struggling to eat his French toast with one hand, due to the fact that his other arm was bound up in a white sling. To his left, sat Nymphadora Tonks, who was talking animatedly with him and eating a bag of crisps in her hand. They both looked up when (Y/N) approached.

“Hey,” Charlie mumbled, as Tonks waved cheerily.

“Come to bid your last thoughts to the dying,” Tonks said dramatically, clutching her chest.

(Y/N) smiled despite herself and sat on the edge of the bed next to Charlie’s.

“Oliver told me you got hurt,” she said, simply, noticing Charlie had still not met her eyes.

“Yeah,” he said glumly.

“Oh! For goodness sake!” Tonks said, exasperatedly. She turned to (Y/N). “Look, (Y/N). He got hit with a bludger during practice last night and instead of coming up to Madam Pomphrey’s, since they weren’t strictly supposed to be out that late, they decided to try to fix it up themselves and he lost all his bones in his arm.”

(Y/N) stared, “really?” Charlie was still ducking his head.

“Yeah,” Tonks said, eating another chip. “Really stupid, right?”

But (Y/N) started to laugh. She gently slapped Charlie’s arm closest to her, the one not in a sling.

“You idiot. Madam Pomphrey has fixed you up in seconds plenty of times.”

Charlie nodded glumly.

“So, how long are you in here for?” (Y/N) said, still smiling.

“He’s got to grow the bones back,” Tonks said slowly, “and then Madam Pomphrey says he has to rest for a few days.”

“A few days…”

“Yeah,” Charlie finally spoke, his voice hoarse. “She said I can’t go to the celestial ball on Saturday.”

“Actually she said she couldn’t understand why you would want to go without being able to use one of your arms,” Tonks said, resting one of her feet on Charlie’s bed as a footrest, and leaning her chair back since she had finished her crisps. “And then she told you that you couldn’t anyway because the skelegrow makes you really tired and you have to stay in bed while taking it and then after.”

Charlie nodded, looking down at his French toast.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to come up here,” (Y/N) said.

Charlie looked up, meeting her eyes for the first time.

“You…what?”

(Y/N) looked at him, “well, if my date’s in the hospital wing. I won’t be able to go to the ball, then, will I? I’ll just have to come here instead.”

Charlie shook his head then, putting his good hand on her arm.

“No,” he said, you’re not going to come here to sit with me. Not while everyone else is at the ball. You’ll be able to hear them from here. I’m not going to let you do that. And you wanted to wear your dress. I already asked someone to go with you, so you don’t have to worry about anyone else asking even now that I’m in the hospital wing. He…well, the person he wanted to go with already had a date, so he wasn’t going to go until I got hurt. And he says he’ll go with you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Charlie, I don’t want to be given to someone random on a pity date.”

“You won’t be. I promise,” he said, with surety in his voice. “It’s…”

“Don’t tell her,” Tonks said gleefully, “it’d be more fun for it to be a surprise.”

Charlie glanced at her and (Y/N) knew he was going to reject the idea on principle, but (Y/N) rested a hand on his arm.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, “I’m not anxious about it anymore.”

Charlie looked relieved. Then a thought struck (Y/N).

“It’s not…Bill, is it?”

Charlie looked up, startled. “No,” he said, “I thought of Bill, but he’s tied up with some big Gringotts thing in Egypt. Won’t be back until our Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson next week. Did you…want it to be Bill?”

(Y/N) shook her head, “no, I mean, I didn’t want it to be anybody. I just thought that’s who you would ask. That’s all.”

“And Bill would be the only option as good as Charlie himself,” Tonks said, continuing to lean back. “I mean, he is a Weasley.”

(Y/N) grinned, “yup, Weasleys are pretty great.”

“Alright, you two,” Charlie said, chucking a pillow at Tonks with his good arm. “I actually thought,” he said, turning to (Y/N), “that Bill would be the best option since you’ve got that assassin wizard after you. He’d be able to protect you.”

“Or you could just ask the assassin wizard,” Tonks suggested, “I’m sure he’d love a chance to get close to you.”

Charlie frowned at her, but (Y/N) laughed.

“I’ll make sure to keep it in mind if I see him before Saturday.”

Charlie continued to frown at Tonks.

“What?” she asked, shameless, “I’d like a bit of a danger in someone I was with. Adds to the excitement,” she said, grinning. “Love knows no bounds,” she said in an overly romanticized voice.

Charlie chucked another pillow at her.

“Hey, Charlie,” (Y/N) said, “can I have some of your French toast?”

It turned out the date that Charlie had set up for her was with Barnaby. (Y/N) was not disappointed. On the contrary, Barnaby was her friend and she was grateful that she was going with someone she knew well.

She was also grateful that she had had a little while to get over the hope that she would be going with Charlie.

Barnaby met her in the Great Hall in a smooth ensemble of green velvet dress robes and he smiled widely, offering compliments at (Y/N)’s appearance.

She took them graciously, a little uncomfortable with how over-the-top Barnaby was praising her.

But, all in all, they had a great night. The first ball passed with a lot of fun dancing between her and her friends. Almost everyone had come and (Y/N) was having a great time when someone tapped on her shoulder.

It was her date, coming back from getting a drink.

“You want to dance for the slow song?” he asked.

“Sure.” She let Barnaby take her into a slow crawl and they stepped lazily throughout the song.

Barnaby seemed to get distracted part way through though.

“Let’s move this way,” he said, urging her towards the doors.

(Y/N) followed along, but let him move her through the crowd.

“Look to the doors,” he said in a low voice, spinning her around so that she was now facing the open doors to the Great Hall.

She gasped. Leaning around the entrance to the Great Hall was a boy in hospital pajamas and a sweater, his arm in a white sling.

He smiled, catching (Y/N)’s eyes and she grinned.

Charlie had come after all.

And though she could not dance with him. Charlie had made sure she had not missed the dance. Had made sure that she had been able to dance and find joy with her friends. And Barnaby had made sure she had not had to pass this night without seeing Charlie.

She smiled wider.

Charlie disappeared a moment later, but she did not forget his smile, his kind expression, and the effort it must have taken for him to come down here, as tired as he was. She almost wished he hadn’t, that he had rested in bed. But the gesture was not in vain and she held the gesture as a precious memory in her heart, one she knew, she would never forget.

This art by Charliexmcsittinginatree is a beautiful idea. I had to write a story from it because it was so perfect. Go give her a lot of love! She is incredible! In fact, we could all use a bit more love, especially right now, but always. Go spread the love!

[igrublocal]

The Takeout’s fantasy food draft: Best pumpkin spice items

Takeout DraftTakeout DraftFood. Fantasy sports. Debating over Slack. Welcome to The Takeout Draft.

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Every week, we will select a topic of conversation from the food and drink world. Takeout writers will then field a team via the snake draft format. After five rounds, The Takeout commenteriat will vote on who they believe was victorious in that week’s draft. At the end of 2020, the staffer with the most weekly victories will select a charity of his/her choice that The Takeout will make a donation toward. (The 2019 victor, Kate Bernot, selected the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild National Charity Foundation.)

The previous  drew many passionate voters who were more than ready to reminisce about summers past. After a tight race throughout the first day of votes, Aimee Levitt pulled ahead and scored a well-earned victory with expert picks like garlic fries and lemon slushie (as well as an unexpected swerve toward lobster rolls in the final round). Congrats, Aimee!

This week’s draft is nothing if not seasonal, and it’s equally likely to delight and disgust you: Best pumpkin spice items. Is this a joke? Maybe. Are we about to take our Draft duties very, very seriously? Absolutely.

G/O Media may get a commission

Now let’s cozy up to fall’s coziest flavor.

Marnie: Okay, let’s kick it off with the acknowledgment that Aimee winning the Best Ballpark Food draft is appropriate, since she’s the biggest (only?) baseball fan of the three of us.

Allison: Everybody loves hot dogs.

Marnie: And garlic fries. This Draft will be tough to win people over with. But Allison’s got first crack at it.

Allison: Wait... I have the first pick? I can’t remember the last time this happened! I’m so overwhelmed!

Marnie: Use it wisely

Allison: Alright, so obviously my first pick has to be the iconic pumpkin spice latte. It’s the crossover item that made us a pumpkin-crazy nation.

Marnie: OF COURSE

Allison: Once upon a time, back in the Dark Ages, coffee and pie were two entirely separate things. No one had dreamed they could be together in one cup.

It changed the way we see everything. There would be no Cronut without pumpkin spice lattes. No sushi burritos. Why have one when you can have both?

Marnie: Do you think its popularity is deserved?

Allison: I am a devoted black coffee drinker, and I still get a PSL whenever the first crisp day of fall arrives, and one on Thanksgiving morning.

Allison: I don’t know how anyone could drink them regularly, but they’re a nice treat. And, nowadays, a good reason to get out of the house.

Going out to get a PSL is not an errand. It’s an event.

You need a special outfit that includes a soft sweater, and maybe a scarf. You need to inform everyone you know on social media before, during, and after.

Marnie: That would have been my first pick too. So now I’m in a lurch. But I’ll say Pumpkin Spice Tea. Because we always talk about how it’s really just spices like clove and nutmeg and cinnamon, and those are nice in a warm drink beyond coffee.

This photo of a cheese-stuffed pumpkin in Always Add Lemon is enough to make you kick yourself for…

Allison: You know, I don’t know if I’ve ever tried this. How does it differ from chai?

Marnie: It’s probably just like any number of other warm spiced teas, just with pumpkiny marketing. But Trader Joe’s “Pumpkin Spice Rooibos” tin is adorable, dammit!

Aimee: Of course it is.

Marnie: I fall for it every time. And it’s not as sweet as a PSL.

Aimee: Well, few things are. But maybe if you dumped in a few tablespoons of sugar?

Allison: Or actual pumpkin...

Aimee: That would spoil it! It’s about the SPICE!

Allison: What about blending pumpkin with maple syrup, and putting a spoonful of that in your tea?

Aimee: Huh. That could either be really good or amazingly terrible.

Marnie: TBD.... First pick, Aimee?

Aimee: Pumpkin bread!

Marnie: Oh damn, of course

Allison: There has never been a day where a pumpkin bread has been in front of me and I didn’t eat the whole thing.

Aimee: I especially love the recipe in Joy of Cooking. It’s sweet and spicy and perfect.

Marnie: The “spicy” makes all the difference. I think it should make your nose wrinkle a little.

Aimee: But I also love the pumpkin challah in . I made a couple last week and they make the best French toast.

Allison: I used to make a pumpkin brioche and use it to make bread pudding. It was pretty damn amazing.

Marnie: You were born for this draft

Aimee: I was actually torn between waffles and pancakes, but I love waffles more, so that’s what I’m going with.

Allison: I have not had these either, and am wondering how these particular waffles have been pumpkin spiced.

Is there pumpkin in the batter? Poured on top?

Aimee: In the batter, and mixed with the ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

Marnie: Does it need cream cheese drizzle on top to really sing?

Aimee: Oooooh, yes, that’s genius!

Allison: I’m thinking of the recipe I did last year for butternut squash pavlova, but making the topping with pumpkin and putting it on a stack of Belgian waffles.

Marnie: Aimee’s double whammy of delicious pumpkin spice carbs has me reeling. How can my second pick compete?

Aimee: I believe in you!

Marnie: I will say pumpkin spice Cheerios. Getting to drink pumpkin spice cereal milk is a lovely way to start the day.

And it’s a nice contrast with all the hot pumpkin spice stuff we usually eat and drink

Allison: Oh GODDAMNIT that was my pick!

Marnie: HA!

Allison: I was apprehensive about buying that, but I had to because of the pumpkin spice bet I have with my husband. When we tried them, the Cheerios made the milk taste like pumpkin pie custard.

Allison: We bought like 20 boxes so we could enjoy them all winter. It was a fine decision.

Marnie: Allison, what’ll you choose now that I’ve swooped into the cereal space?

Allison: I’m going to take pumpkin spice ice cream, much for the reason you picked the Cheerios—it’s a nice cold option, in contrast to the PSL and so many other pumpkin spice’d foods.

Aimee: With caramel sauce and lots of whipped cream! Maybe pecans?

Marnie: Ooo, any particular brand?

Allison: Remember those Talenti layer things I love? They’ve got a pumpkin pie one now with pie crust and stuff.

Marnie: DAMN I want to try that

Allison: What’s also nice: we’re all so ready for fall the second Labor Day is over, but it’s still hot. And even though it’s hot, I’m STILL wearing a cute jacket outside, out of principle.

Marnie: True. We need pumpkiny items for the last legs of summer

Aimee: With the hot sun of summer but the cool breeze of fall...

Allison: I anticipate eating a LOT of ice cream over the next five weeks or so.

Next up: pumpkin pie toaster strudel. You can debate the need for pumpkin spice-anything all you want, but when you see pumpkin toaster strudel, it’s like “this makes perfect sense”

There’s nothing to quibble about. It’s a thing, and it should be a thing.

Aimee: This is true. It’s like a pie.

Allison: If anything, the pumpkin spice latte walked so that pumpkin spice toaster strudel could run.

Aimee: That’s beautiful. Brought a tear to my eye. (Pumpkin spiced tear, of course.)

Marnie: Only major downside of toaster strudel is that you absolutely have to warm it, whereas a Pop-Tart is flexible and can be eaten room temp. But a warm toaster strudel really is amazing

Allison: What I don’t like about pumpkin Pop Tarts is that they should be better. It’s like, if Pop Tarts respected us, it could be amazing. But they don’t. They phone it in.

Aimee: I feel that way about most Pop Tarts.

Marnie: Okay, my third pick might be....controversial. But hear me out: pumpkin pie

Aimee: Ha ha!

Marnie: The original pumpkin spice item

Aimee: It’s true! It’s so obvious, no one even thinks of it anymore. Someone should call it pumpkin spice pie.

Allison: Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite “bed pies.” Have I told you about that concept?

Marnie: Sounds self-explanatory

Allison: I wrote about it a few years ago. It’s essentially a family bonding experience where we all stay in bed and eat an entire pie together from the pan while watching old cartoons, like Garfield’s Halloween and Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Pumpkin is ideal for this.

Allison: The filling isn’t going to plop out all over the sheets. And the crust isn’t ultra crumbly

Aimee: Ah, yeah, I guess you wouldn’t have bits of fruit falling all over the sheets.

Allison: If made well, you can pick up a slice of pumpkin pie and eat it with your hands. Just like pizza (non-folded, of course). I very much encourage both of you to try this.

Aimee: And you can squirt the whipped cream directly into your mouth. No mess!

Allison: You understand me, Levitt!

Marnie: AIMEE

Aimee: Rolled in lots of cinnamon sugar.

Marnie: STOP TAKING THE GOOD THINGS WHILE I FAIL TO THINK OF THEM

THAT’S....CHEATING, SOMEHOW

Allison: I have not had a good doughnut in a while, and now it’s all I can think about.

Marnie: So just to be clear, we’re not talking about a filled doughnut

More like a cider doughnut, but pumpkinified?

Aimee: Well, I suppose you could... but yes, I was thinking of the cakey doughnuts. I love cider doughnuts so much.

Marnie: Yes please

Aimee: Oh, yes. With a variation for the stove!

Allison: Here’s your variation for the stove: fry it in hot oil just like any other doughnut. There ya go.

Aimee: My next pick is pumpkin spice oatmeal. With lots of brown sugar.

Marnie: Interesting—does it come in that flavor or do you add the spices to make it that way?

Aimee: Quaker does make that flavor, but I’ll bet you could just add the pumpkin spice if you want to do homemade.

My philosophy is that anything that tastes good with cinnamon would also taste good with pumpkin spice.

Marnie: Yes, I can’t imagine anyone being all in on cinnamon but out on nutmeg. Cloves? Mayyyyybe divisive. But it all seems to speak to the same palate

Aimee: Warming spices!

Allison: And it’s coldest in the morning! This is science.

Marnie: How does the pumpkin factor in if you make it yourself? Pumpkin puree right in there with the oats?

Aimee: The beauty of pumpkin spice is that there doesn’t have to be pumpkin. Only spice: the blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.

Allison: Yup! You can just stir it right in, with a bit of spice, and maybe some maple syrup to sweeten.

Marnie: I’m going to try to court the CPG crowd with a busy, on-the-go pumpkin spice item: the Spiced Pumpkin Pie CLIF Bar

Allison: Never eaten this! I had a Clif bar once in the early 2000s, and that was the end of that.

Marnie: Yeah, you either love them or hate them. I love that they actually feel substantial, like you just had breakfast. Regular granola bars never make me feel that way. And the Pumpkin Pie CLIF Bar comes with a drizzle of icing that, in my opinion, could stand to be paired with a lot more pumpkin spice items.

Pairs great with coffee! People are going to hate me for this but it’s my truth!

Aimee: That’s fine. You have every right to it.

Marnie: Aimee, do you have a firm stance on CLIF bars?

Aimee: I do not because I’ve never had one.

Marnie: I somehow think you’d despise them.

Aimee: I think so, too, which is why I’ve never had one.

Marnie: Last two picks, Allison!

Allison: Alright — my fourth pick is pumpkin butter. What makes this so great is it has the power to make anything into pumpkin spice.

Marnie: Here’s my question with pumpkin butter: what does it work best on? I can never figure out what to apply it to

Allison: You can stir a spoonful into your oatmeal, or put it on ice cream, or into your coffee or tea. Literally anything.

Warm milk! Pancakes! Toast!

Serve it with pork chops, smear it on cookies or graham crackers.

Marnie: Has an application ever failed spectacularly??

Aimee: This is like the shrimp scene in Forrest Gump.

Allison: ^^^and shrimp is a bad place to use apple butter.

But if you don’t know how to restrain yourself when feeding yourself pumpkin butter you should just stop cooking. Let other people do it for you. You can’t be trusted.

Allison: Very! I shared my super-easy apple butter recipe here last fall. You can do that with cubed pumpkin, or canned. As always, just keep an eye on things, because it’s all visual cues on that one. The line between apples and pumpkins in fall desserts is very thin.

I don’t believe that apple butter needs to be a fussy, complicated thing to make. You shouldn’t…

Marnie: That’s a good utility pick and I feel like the voters will reward you for it.

Unless you mess it all up on the last pick.....

Allison: Don’t think I am, because I’m reaching into my personal back catalog again and going with . You know me and pudding.

Marnie: Picking your OWN RECIPE on the final round is A POWER MOVE

Allison: Damn straight it is.

Marnie: I begrudgingly respect this decision

Please tell us what makes it a worthy pick, for those of us who haven’t tasted its majesty yet

Allison: Pumpkin pudding is much creamier and luxurious than pie! And easier to make, in a way. You don’t need to fuss with the oven, and don’t need to worry about making a pie crust. I make a pie crust better than anyone, and honestly do enjoy the process, but it adds a good amount of time to the process.

Sometimes you’re okay with waiting a few hours for pie. And sometimes you’re like “I want pumpkin something within the hour,” and this is what can get you there.

Marnie: A shortcut to immediate pumpkin spice intake is key

Allison: Exactly. There’s a ton of variables I consider when coming up with recipes.

One of them being “how long do I have to wait before I eat this dessert”

Aimee: That’s always an important one.

Marnie: Sometimes you don’t need to consider cook time at all. Because sometimes the thing you want is not edible in the least. Folks, my last pick is a pumpkin spice candle. To make EVERY room in the house smell delicious, not just the kitchen!

Aimee: Ha ha!

Marnie: It is a far-reaching, long-lasting pumpkin spice item. Perhaps the most cost-effective, too.

Aimee: AND if you don’t like pumpkin, it’s still mostly a pleasurable experience.

Marnie: A signal of the changing seasons! Coziness incarnate. People of all palates can agree on smells, can’t they?

Allison: I believe I have at least ten of these in my house right now.

Even if it’s not fall outside, it can be fall inside, whenever you damn well please. You guys need to try lighting up one of those bad boys in April and see how that changes you.

Aimee: As long as they’re not those cinnamon brooms. I don’t know why, but they annoy the crap out of me.

Allison: What are these cinnamon brooms? Another midwest thing?

Aimee: They sell them at Trader Joe’s. They’re in the front where you first walk in, with the pumpkins and the plants, so you can’t avoid them.

Marnie: They look sort of sinister

Aimee: Exactly. They’d be good for witches, but they smell like cinnamon which is somehow not exactly witchy.

Anyway, last pick goes to Aimee! What’s it gonna be?

Aimee: My last pick is... pumpkin spice cotton candy. Mostly because I would really like to find out if you can taste the spices.

Marnie: Does.....does it exist outside of your mind?

This is the first time I’ve really thought about cotton candy having a flavor. Isn’t it usually just sugar, in technicolor?

Allison: I do not like cotton candy, and yet I want to try this.

Aimee: Once I tried a rosé cotton candy and it tasted like rosé if you did the taste equivalent of squinting.

These people are geniuses!

Marnie: I’m excited to let this Takeout Draft loose upon the world.

Aimee: Because no one is tired of pumpkin spice yet!

Who won this week’s Takeout Draft? Vote in the comments.

[watchoutforthefanfics]

Heyo, lovelies!

I have decided to take on the challenge of writing these wonderous ideas from my previous post. As a person with slow creativity and a very small attention span, I beg of you to be patient with each piece.

TAGLIST for people who seemed interested on the 1st post: @fruitqueen8 @sanders-sides-rebloger @melon2109

But don't worry, I will be blogging the post with links to these posts.

Now, for the first one:

"I don't think marriage could ever really work."// Logicality Oneshot

TW: Martial Conflict (Solved), and Happy, Loving Marriage, Light Inferred Toxic Family (Not Detailed), so much fluff it'll rot your teeth.

Being married to Patton was probably one of the- no, the best thing in the world.

Logan had been skeptical, before he had even dated Patton, because love was quite... scary. For someone in his mindset, that kind of vulnerability and that many options for mistakes was too risky, it wasn't worth it.

But Patton had taken his hand and guided him on the road to accepting love and understanding it was okay to feel, before Logan even fell in love with him.

Logan couldn't be happier, and he wouldn't change any of it for the world.

~ ~ ~

He shifted, deep into his bed as the light hum of a windchime enveloped the warm room. Adjusting his arms, Logan still felt his husband there: soft skin and fuzzy pajamas.

He smiled, very lightly in the dusk of sunlight pouring through the window, and felt his heart swell at his husband who was curled carefully into him with no hesitation. Sometimes (who was he kidding, literally every time), he had an insane urge to skip work and just close his eyes with his adorable life partner. (His schedule always won.)

With a soft kiss to the temple, Logan carefully pulled Patton's arms from around his waist and tried to creep out from under the covers. It didn't work out.

"Lo?" his husband's sleepy drawl pulled him in again, "Are you leaving?"

Logan grinned, soft but genuine, "Oh, love. I've got to go to work."

Patton pouted, not necessarily because he was leaving but rather for something else, "I was supposed to-" he began sitting up with a groggy yawn, but Logan gently pushed him back down, "-maaake you breakfast...?"

Logan smiled, "I know, it's okay. I'll pick something up on the way to work, you go back to sleep and I'll see you at noon, okay?"

"Mmkay-" Patton slurred with sleep, "-but Lo?"

Logan bit back the urge to hold him again, as he spoke, "Yes, Patton?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

~ ~ ~

"So-" Logan spoke clear and determined, "-pudding is in aisle 7, and we need to cross through..."

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft kiss to his cheek, completely throwing him off balance.

"Sorry, honey~" Patton grinned, bright and flushed with sparkling eyes, "-you just look so cute when you're determined!"

Logan smiled, lighting his step as he carefully examined the layout before him.

"Oh, and Lo?" Patton smiled, taking the map out of his hands, and interlacing his fingers with his, "We don't need the map, I know this place like the back of my hand."

Logan sighed, a defeated grin on his face, "Of course you do, Patton."

~ ~ ~

Logan felt at peace, reading a book with one hand combing through Patton's hair. Patton's body was curled slightly into him, and his head was placed carefully on his lap.

It was nice, and Logan felt true contentment.

"Bee, did we ever-" Patton bit back, almost embarrassed at what he was saying, "-talk about our love languages? Like how we need to be treated and such?"

Logan paused, placing his book down after ensuring the bookmark was in it's proper place, "Not directly, no, but I believe we learned them from our interactions. Like I believe your love language is physical touch, so I make sure to kiss you every morning and night, along with cuddling and hugs. I love it, but I know that's what you need."

"And you like being appreciated, complimented-" Patton giggled, as he turned his head to Logan, "-and being shown you're valid and important to me... But you also like just to sit with me, so I guess you're both Words Of Affirmation and Quality Time?"

Logan smiled, "Well, it's possible to be diverse in areas so clean cut, so why not?"

"You know-" Patton spoke, soft and careful, "-if you ever need anything, let me know, okay Lo? I will always be there when you need me."

"Til' death so us part?" Logan hummed, winking at his husband.

Patton grinned, pulling down Logan's tie and snatching up his lips in a quick breath, "Til' death do us part."

~ ~ ~

"Honeybee?" Patton called out to him, a smell wafting with the soft tone of his voice, pancakes.

Logan grinned, popping out of the office, "Yes, love? Is everything satisfactory?"

His husband smiled, turning to meet his eyes with his cute little apron swishing with him, "Yeah, I just need to ask you a favor in advance. Tomorrow, I'm going to be working at the daycare late. Can you make dinner?"

"Of course," Logan hummed, "-it was my night anyway."

Patton pursed his lips, "Oh."

Logan spoke soft and careful, as he pressed a kiss to Patton's forehead, "But, you know I would've done it otherwise, love."

Patton stepped on his tippy-toes to to peck his cheek quickly with a telling smile, "Can you mak-"

"I'll make pasta," Logan chuckled, "-I know it's your favorite."

"And this is why I'm making Crofter's Waffles! Other than the fact that I love you."

"Love you too."

~ ~ ~

"Patton," Logan spoke, stern and determined to get his point across.

Patton was exhausted, throwing his hands around, "Lo, I just wanted to meet your parents. You've locked them so far away, I feel like..."

"It is not your place-" Logan spoke, with an edge to his voice, "-to invite my parent's over, when I'd specifically told you not too. It's not fai-"

Patton frowned, "I... I know Lo. I know it wasn't right, and I'm truly sorry it hurt you like this. It's just... I feel like you're ashamed of me."

Logan softened, his eyes shining with suddenly a new sense of understanding, "Patton, I could never... Ugh, I'm sorry it came to this, I should've told you sooner, love. I guess I should be more clear to you."

Patton sniffled, as Logan carefully wrapped himself around his husband, "It's still not fair that you did so without my permission, but I should've been more open to you about why. You deserve an explanation."

"I'm sorry too, Lo-" Patton hummed, quietly whispering into his chest, "-I should've known that it wasn't okay, I should've asked you. I was just worried..."

Logan tightened his hold of his husband, whispering ever-so-lightly, "Next time you feel this way, promise me you'll talk to me. I know you had issues when we were younger, b-"

Patton wrapped his arms around Logan's neck, "I won't, I'm past that. We're past that."

Logan held him tighter, with a soft smile, "That we are, love, that we are."

~ ~ ~

"Bee?!" Patton came running down the hallway, skidding to a stop just in front of him, "Did you hear? Did you hear?!"

Logan chuckled, placing his coffee down, "You have to specify, Patt."

Patton started jumping up and down, his glasses slanting and the grin on his face so bright, Logan swore it was just like the first time he met him again.

"Oh, right! Sorry-" Patton was on the verge if a happy squeal, flapping his arms in such excitement, "-but, Roman and Virgil are engaged!"

Logan gasped, "Our old highschool friends? I thought they hated eachother."

"No, no-" Patton shook his head, "-they always had a thing for eachother! But you were never good with emotions back then..."

Logan pursed his lips, "True, but we should get in touch with them again. It's been far too long."

Patton began to glow, his eyes sparkling as he leaped into Logan's arms securely, "Ooh, and we could plan the wedding with them and we could give them advice or go on double dates or ev-"

"Sounds wonderful~" Logan hummed carefully with a soft smile, Patton was and always will be his entire world.

~ ~ ~

It was a cozy night, cuddling on the couch and watching 'Winnie The Pooh'. A treasured, special night that Patton orchestrated and Logan always loved (as long as there was no impending work).

Well, until the silence was broken.

"Do you think, maybe-" Patton hummed, "-we could have kids?"

Logan would never know why Patton chose this day to drop such a question. Maybe it the rawness of the moment, or how he felt, or maybe it was just on his mind.

But it was said, and it was real.

Logan paused, "We could, but it's not something we can decide immediately."

"I know, I know-" Patton muttered, "-I just wanted to talk about it."

"Well, then-" Logan hummed, careful and genuine, "-yes. If you want kids too, I think... it's very possible... for us."

Patton grinned, locking eyes with him, "Really?"

"Of course," Logan spoke with a genuine tone, "-there's nothing in world, I'd love more than having a family with you, Patton. If you want it, that is."

Logan watched as his husband's eyes began to get foggy, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks, but the bright grin he had on was so contradicting of what the tears felt.

It was a quick movement, as Patton wrapped his body around Logan's, and whispered into his neck, "We will be great Dads."

~ ~ ~

Logan interlocked his arms with his husband's, as they carefully made their way through the cute little lunch menu. The booth was bright red, in the classy 50's-like diner, and Patton was practically bursting at the seams.

Patton asked with a bit of excited curiousity, "Do you think they'll be the same, at all?"

Logan inhaled, careful and concise, "It was highschool love, we won't know if they've changed or not. Because you're pretty much the same, but I'm inherently different. It truly depends on the person."

Patton nodded, "Thanks Logie, sometimes I think you're way too smart for me."

"That's a lie-" Logan snorted, "-you're an absolute genius, just in a different way than me."

Patton grinned, flushed on his ears, "Thanks, Lo. I love you~"

Logan bit back a grin, "Love you too."

"Oh, my goodness!" a shrill, but somehow deep voice echoed through the diner.

"Roman, calm down~" a gruffer voice responded, smooth but a bit with nervous tone.

Patton, on the other hand, couldn't take it; he lept up from his chair, and wrapped the two in possibly the tightest hug ever possible.

"Woah, Patt-" Virgil, now with longer hair and a stronger built, chimed, "-gotta breathe."

"Sorry," Patton hummed, apologetically, "-I tend to get out of hand sometimes."

"Shine~" Logan spoke sweetly, "-they know, it's okay."

Roman stepped back for a second, "My goodness, you two are adorable. When are you going to get married?"

"Um-" Patton giggled, holding up his hand with two twinkling bands.

Logan finished off, also holding up his hand, "We have been for 3 years."

Roman and Virgil seemed shocked for a moment, a bit of disappointment flashing behind their eyes.

"You guys-" Roman gasped, "didn't invite us?"

Patton's face fell, a little dejected, "We had fallen out, after highschool. We weren't sure if-"

"Hey-" Virgil chuckled, "-don't feel bad! We can make it up at our wedding. Which-" Virgil looked at Roman, "-we've been meaning to talk to you guys about."

Roman piped up, "Now, I know we haven't talked in ages... But, Virgil and I think-"

Virgil finished off with a hopeful smile, "-you guys should be our best mans?"

Logan and Patton froze, shock rushing through their skins but utter excitement and happiness bubbling underneath the nerves.

Patton squealed, "Of course! Of course! Of course! We wouldn't miss it for the world! I'm so happy for you gu-"

Logan rose up, holding Patton's shoulders to soothe his excitement, "We'd love to."

~ ~ ~

Logan was frantic, the room was halfway painted and the crib was halfway built; nothing was ready.

But Patton was tired, so Logan had to handle this himself. Including painting, and unboxing all the furniture they had prepped.

The issue was Logan tended to get overwhelmed with stress, and this was making it bubble up.

With a deep breath, Logan began painting the wall again: just one more to go.

His mind buzzing, he tirelessly finished the wall and began working on the crib and it's bedding. It was a lot more difficult than a Lego set, and very frustrating for someone who could've been building rocketships.

"Honeybee?" his husband's groggy voice echoed into the room.

Logan spoke, unfocused, "Yes, love?"

"I told you-" Patton hummed sleepily, as he tumbled into the room, "-I'd help later, and that you should wait for me."

Logan paused, looking up with a fond smile, "Well, I figured I could get some progress done while you slept. Daycare was tough today, so I thought I could han-"

"Lo," his husband spoke with a suddenly clear tone, "-we both know you need help with this, and you need rest, babe."

Logan melted slightly, "No, you need rest, shine, I can get some progress done while you sleep. I'll be okay-"

"Logi-" Patton whined, "you're getting overwhelmed, I can tell."

It was quiet for a second, Logan absorbing what he wanted to do at the moment in the absence of noise.

"Look," Patton spoke lightly, "-if you won't do it for you, do it for me. I can't fall asleep without you, bee, and... I need someone to carry me back."

Logan sighed, looking at his hands and the unfinished room around him then to his adorable sleepy husband in the doorway. With a fond but defeated smile, he stood and picked Patton up and began to make his way to their bedroom.

"Everything is going to be okay, Lo," Patton whispered into his neck, "-Emile is going to love it here, I promise."

Logan relaxed lightly, kissing the top Patton's curls silently, and not a bone in his body wishing he was somewhere else.

Why would he? Everything was perfect, and with a son on the way and Patton as a husband, things could only get better.

[sweetcatmintea]

A Very Good Day

@inexorableblob​ tagged me in a find the word game and I didn’t have any that they’d listed. The challenge was set; write a sentence with all of the words. I wrote a whole scene :v Enjoy! (Thanks for the prompts ^u^) Feedback appreciated!

Prompt: Frontier, Insubordination, Minimal, and Victory (Frontier was hard)

Words: 3404

Character(s): Echo and Storm

          Was it a dumb idea to slip out of the facility, practically at the crack of dawn with a sleepy Echo in tow, before anyone noticed they were gone? Absolutely. Was it down right idiotic to bring Avian, of all people, in on it to find out who was supposed to be shadowing them that day? Undoubtedly. Was that exactly what Storm found himself doing that dewy morning in the middle of winter? Three for three. Echo followed along, obediently holding his hand as he guided them away from the building. She was rugged up to the ears in her fuzzy brown jacket, their mothers red scarf, and thick gloves protecting her fingers. A stark contrast to Storm’s thin hoodie. Although, he only wanted it to cover his wings. The cold didn’t bother him after all. He had thought it would be difficult for her to wake up so early, but she’d recovered quickly. She was having a wonderful time pretending to be a frost dragon. Funny, that trick never seemed to work for him.

          The real plan wouldn’t start for a while - the rest of the world needed a chance to get up first. But if they’d delayed any longer, there’d be no getting away. In the meantime, they found a small, open-all-hours diner. There weren’t many perks to his current … situation, but there was one definite advantage. Money.

          A blast of warm air and stale coffee greeted them when they entered. A jukebox muttered out a jangly tune as they slid into one of the many empty booths. Red faux leather creaking with their movements. Storm unfolded a menu, holding it open so Echo could see.

          “Pick whatever you want for breakfast. Today’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

Her face lit up. [Anything?]

          “Yeah. Whatever you want. It’s your birthday breakfast.”

          She let out a delighted chirp, making quick work of scanning the menu and carefully contemplating the options. There were so many things to choose from! So many things she’d never even had before. Two steps in front of her head, her stomach growled. Burgers, eggs. Soup, pancakes …

          [Can I have waffles please? With bananas and maple syrup? And cream too! Please?]

          “Sure thing.” Storm signalled the waitress. It’s all about the confidence, he told himself. He’s totally not completely out of place here. He repeated the order, adding bacon and eggs, a coffee, and an apple juice. He could hardly believe his little sister was already eleven. She certainly didn’t act like it, but he still felt old. His heart tweaked a little at the thought. She was growing up. A blink and she’ll be a teenager. Gods knew he wasn’t prepared for that. He could only hope he was making the right decisions for her.

          Echo poked his arm, pulling him out of his musings. She looked like she was waiting for a response. Had she asked something?

          “Sorry, what did you say?”

She huffed, but repeated herself. [Are we going to get in trouble for this?]

          “No, of course not.” The awareness behind her eyes made his fur stand on end. What happened to all that naivety?

          Her brow furrowed, worry playing on her features. [We’re not supposed to go out alone. They’re gon-] Storm captured her hands in his own. They still fit.

          “Trust me. Everything is going to be fine. We’ll have a nice day, celebrate your birthday, head back, and everything will go back to normal. No problems.”

          Doubt flickered but faith overpowered it. Echo nodded, smiling brightly again. That was better. Storm was, without a doubt, going to have his ear chewed off when they went back. White would probably accuse him of “insubordination” or some other garbage. It didn’t matter. There were more important things than pleasing that pig sniffer. If Storm wanted to spend one day with his sister, by the stars, he was going to. And if White had a problem with that, well, he was just going to have to get in line.

          Their food arrived quickly. Unsurprising given the sparse customers. Storm didn’t know if Echo realised it, but she was purring while she dug in, happily munching away. Darn, she was a cute kid. She offered him a forkful of dripping banana waffle in exchange for a bite of his bacon.

          Business began picking up for the diner, signalling the next phase of his plan. Storm gathered up his sister, paid for the meal, and strolled onwards. Echo remembered her manners, signing her thanks from the safety of slightly behind her big brother as they left.

          Breakfast sorted, they boarded a train and watched the city melt away. Passing towns, parks, and lakes, Echo couldn’t begin to guess where they were going. There was a half-grown hope that they weren’t coming back, but Storm was not the kind of person not to pack beforehand. Without a suitcase between them, it didn’t look likely. Regardless, they shouldn’t be too easy to track down today.

~~~

          She never expected to be led to a zoo. She couldn’t quite believe it even as they manoeuvred around other milling patrons to gain admission. A ticket had always been a luxury beyond their means. The biting cold snapping at her nose suddenly didn’t matter. Jittery excitement filled her limbs, warming her and filling her with butterflies all at once. She tried to contain it, but her tail was practically vibrating as she bounced on the balls of her feet. They were going to the zoo!

          One glance at Echo and Storm knew he’d made the right decision. He’d torn himself apart debating the purchase for weeks. He wanted to get her the right gift. Tickets were expensive, even now that they weren’t on dirt poor avenue, poverty lane, and he’d been carefully saving every peckie so they could leave as soon as possible. But it was her birthday and if anyone deserved something nice, it was her. Maybe it would make up, at least a little, for his forced absenteeism. He could hardly keep his own tail from wagging as Echo walked, spell-bound, through the gates. Whatever was waiting for him back there, today was going to be a victory.  

          Not three feet passed the entrance and they saw their first animal. A peacock, all dazzling blues and greens, wandered up to them. Echo, reckless as ever, immediately took off after it, almost disappearing into the crowd. Hand holding was going to be a must here.

          “Echo, don’t run off! I don’t want to lose sight of you.”

          She gave a sheepish apology. [I was asking Nathaniel, that’s Mr. Peacock’s name, where we should go. He said to see the birds first.]

          Storm eyed the bird. “Did he now?”

[Yep.]

          Storm opened the map, pointing out where they were. “The birds are all the way back here. If we go there first, we’ll miss a lot of other exhibits and have to backtrack. Why don’t you pick a direction, left to giraffes or right to sheep, and we’ll go from there? We’ll take the best route to see all of the animals.”

          Echo followed along as Storm traced his finger along the potential paths, proving his claim.

          [Let’s go to the sheep!] Bouncing again. [Will we be able to pat them? I wanna pat a sheep!]

          Storm chuckled at her enthusiasm. “It looks like you can. There’s a little hand sign on the map.” She bit back a squeal of delight. “Let’s go then. Hold my hand while we’re here.”

          They found the path with minimal trouble. Despite all of the movement and the winding walkways, the signs were very clear. Birds twittered overhead, presumably chatting to their exotic friends. They arrived at what Storm could best describe as a giant, open, barn, ‘Petting Zoo within. Please wash hands’ was painted over the large entryway. Sheep and goats took turns bleating a chorus to chicken clucks and pig snorts. The smell was offensive. Hay and timber on their own were pleasant, but they couldn’t compete with the musty farm animals. Echo’s beeline for the first enclosure was circumvented by the insistence she take two seconds to follow the posted rules. Other children ran ahead of her, trailed by their less enthusiastic guardians. Finally, permission was granted. Barely waiting for the zookeeper to open the gate, she was waist deep in animals in no time. Storm followed, ready to fish her out again at a moment’s notice.  She chittered and trilled to them, greetings and pleasantries he supposed, before running her fingers through the closest sheep’s woollen curls. If the way she beamed was any indication, it held up to all her hopes and dreams. The more she spoke to them, the more animals joined her. They mustn’t get many Tainted visitors, or at least, many with animal speak. Storm kind of wished he knew what they were talking about. It was uncomfortable not knowing what they were filling her head with. He scratched at the rough horn of a goat to distract himself from his own over-protectiveness. The hair was coarser than he was expecting.

          When murmured complaints began piling around them, Storm figured it was time to move on. It wasn’t Echo’s fault that the animals were ignoring the other kids but that didn’t matter. Besides, there were plenty of other places to explore.

          “Come on, say bye to these guys. I think alpacas are next.”

          [But I love them.] Echo wrapped herself around a lamb, snuggling into its soft coat with big doe eyes for emphasis. Storm sighed internally. Please don’t let this be the procedure for every animal. He wouldn’t survive. His resolve was already wavering. Instead, he plucked a hay straw out of her hair and tried negotiations.

          “We don’t have a lot of time before we have to go. You can stay here all day if you really want to, but wouldn’t it be better to see the other animals too?”

          It was so very tempting, but she relented, reluctantly untangling herself from the animals and leaving the barn. He was no match for her puppy eyes, but she couldn’t dispute his logic. Her high spirits returned as soon as she saw the alpacas wandering about their field. More so when they crept through the reptile emporium, making an exaggerated effort not to disturb the slumbering snakes. An interactive encounter in which a massive python was draped over Echo’s tiny shoulders left Storm’s stomach in his shoes and a spring in Echo’s step. Did children have no sense of self-preservation or was it just her? Tracing the scales on the snake’s behemoth body was enough to send queasy shudders down Storm’s spine.

          Monkeys next. Storm enjoyed their silly antics much more than his sister. It was fun to watch them swing around and groom each other. Echo claimed they were making a lot of terribly rude comments about visitors.

          The red pandas’ acrobatic show enchanted Echo and the kangaroos’ raw power awed her. Although she wanted to watch the crocodiles, she couldn’t bring herself to go anywhere near their big pools. Of course she knew there was no way to fall in, what with the dual fenced perimeter, but her feet would not allow it. It was beyond frustrating. So close to a living fossil, someone almost certainly acquainted with the gods, and the mere thought of approaching their watery habitat sent tremors through her hands. She wouldn’t have been able to speak to a crocodile regardless of whether she visited the exhibit, the language of reptiles beyond the frontiers of her abilities, but to stand in their presence would have been enough. After several minutes of trying to convince her body to follow her wishes, Storm saved her from her self-appointed torture. Scooping her up, he tossed her into his shoulders.

          “Come on big kid, let’s see the birds. Did you know it’s actually the dad cassowaries that raise the babies?”

          Two taps for no.

          “It’s true. They’re also one of the heaviest and tallest birds in the world. Let’s go see if we can find one.”

          One excited tap and a wiggle for yes.

          Even in the safety of her pen, the shaggy black and blue dinosaur bird was intimidating. She stared down visitors with an almost menacing cocked head. Judgement made, she disappeared back into the trees. It took longer than Storm would like to admit for the pair to remember to move. Thank the stars cassowaries are not native to Yonder.

          They enjoyed walking through the massive aviary together. Hundreds of different colours whirled around them as birds called and sang. A handful of crows jeered at parrots who performed for fruit. Echo tried to provide a running commentary for Storm’s benefit, but there was so much going on, she couldn’t keep any of the conversations straight. They came upon a big cockatoo that she really liked until he squawked in her face, making her puff in response. Storm had been mindful to accidentally miss the sign offering canopy walks. Echo would have loved to romp around in the tree tops but even he had his limits.

          At some point, they had found themselves at the giraffes even though they were supposed to be at the meerkats. Apparently the signs were not as easy to follow as Storm had presumed. Echo took to the tall creatures much more than Storm had anticipated. Sure they were cool with their weird alien horns, ambling through their fields like new age brachiosauruses, but that was more his interest than hers. When she started bouncing on her toes again, leaning over the railing to get as close as she possibly could, he had to ask.

          “They’re pretty cool, huh?”

          She turned to him, a full-fanged grin plastered over her face. [Yeah! Plus, they talk like me!]

          He focused his ears to the field. Giraffes were supposed to be silent. Did they communicate with inaudible noises like cats sometimes do? It wouldn’t be that strange, most researchers were just normal people. That kind of thing might have gone undetected. Though he listened carefully, he couldn’t hear anything. He glanced back at Echo.

          [Not like that! They talk with their bodies. They sign.] She turned her attention back to the exhibit, eagerly watching. He’d never thought she’d be so happy over something as little as that. It made sense, but he was so used to her little noises, the way she would chatter to practically any animal she came across, he’d never considered she might feel … isolated? Out of place? He didn’t really know. Was this what parenting felt like? Like you spend every day learning how much you don’t know about your kid? He felt a little guilty. He was doing his best, but she was just running ahead of him, changing before he could catch up. How was she eleven already? He used to think being a parent was synonymous with growing up. It’s not. His breath caught in his throat, a single quiet hitch. He rubbed the mist out of his eyes before Echo turned back to him, head tilted in concern. A charming smile – he was good at those – and an easy laugh to prove he was fine.

          “Are you ready to keep going? We’ll get some ice cream before we check out the next exhibit.”

          Echo slid her hand in his, giving a reassuring squeeze. “Mn.” She was still by his side.

~~~

          Finally, they arrived at the exhibit Storm was most excited about. He’d purposefully saved the best for last. A rush of hot air hit as they shuffled into a building, decorated with leafy plants growing up a forest mural splashed over the unoccupied walls. Silence settled around them. There was no one else there. Thick glass panels covered an entire wall, dividing the room from the habitat. With a sharp intake of realisation, Echo froze. Storm nudged her closer, one shaky step at a time. Face to face with the glass, she stared, wide-eyed at the great predator. He surveyed his land atop his artificial tor, reclining into the stony throne. Light and shadow waltzed over the orange flames of his pelt, leaving stripes of ink where they tread. Massive paws hid keratin daggers. Echo let out the tiniest of breathes. His round ears swivelled, taking note. He stared down at her. Gold so intense her gaze dropped. She was face to face with a tiger.

          He rose, stretching his body, a lazy display of godly creation. He did not leap, but dripped to the floor in one fluid movement. Muscles rippled under fur. He was no house cat. A low growl rumbled as he sauntered to them. Not a threat, a reminder. They were so very soft to him. Echo dipped her head, tail lowered politely. An automated response. She wasn’t thinking straight, too busy trying not to throw up her heart. Storm followed suit. Eagle eyes never left his little sister’s form. As closely as he watched the interaction, it didn’t change the facts. He was an outsider here.

          The tiger padded to the glass. He held his head high. Even sitting, he stared down at her. The growls continued. A quiet edge to the air between them. It felt as if she was nothing. Not that she was suddenly any Less but that he was looking past her. Past her body. Past her mind. Scrutinising her very being.

          “Chfufufa.”

Her ears flicked up. His razor gaze had softened to a kind king’s.

          “Chfufufa.” He repeated himself, waiting for her to understand. Starstruck, she almost didn’t respond, but she recaptured her flickering mind, returning the greeting with a chuff of her own. She hoped he wouldn’t notice how fluffed her fur was.

          {Are you going to introduce yourself?}

          {Oh! Sorry! Yes! I – I’m Echo. Echo Bell. It’s an honour to meet you.} She bowed again. His eyes crinkled warmly at her earnestness.

          {Little Echo, you may lift your head. I am Nikita.} He looked towards Storm momentarily. {Your guardian does not share our tongue, does he?}

          {No. I don’t think many people can. I – I don’t know many people who can speak to tigers.}

          He nodded solemnly, a noise of affirmation. {Few can. Fewer still I wish to spend time on. Perhaps once, but I am old now. My desires have changed. You are young, a child.} He paused. {It is lonely, isn’t it?}

          Echo’s fingers worried the soft fibres of her scarf. She tried not to think about that too much. To speak to more animals than most knew languages, and yet still only able to communicate with precious few humans. But she was a cat, what more could she expect? Realising she’d left him without an answer, she hurried to compile her messy thoughts, but his expression stopped her. He didn’t need her explanation. He already understood.

          {There is a piece of us in you. I can feel him. He’s young, rash, despite the ancient stardust lining his hide. You are afraid. That is understandable. You do not have to be. She guides you with the ferocity of a mother, but you are not overpowered.} A full smile. {You are very interesting little Echo. I can see why the remnants watch you so intently.}

~~~

          They continued talking until crowds filtered into the building. Nikita had little patience for their noise, slipping into his pool in retreat. By the time Storm had gotten them both out, a new plush firmly in Echo’s grip, it was time to leave. They farewelled the zoo, both knowing perfectly well they would not be able to return for some time. Neither was sad. It had been a very good day.

~~~

          They sat, waiting for the train to complete its journey. Echo had fallen asleep several stations ago. She’d fought the doze off with all her might, but the rhythmic click clack of the tracks had her out in minutes. She nestled into her brother’s side, content. Storm held her steady, making sure she didn’t fall off the chair while he braced himself for the garbage parade that was undoubtedly waiting for him. Of course he was going to have to face the repercussions of his choices. But when he thought about Echo’s expression as she recounted the day to him, like her eyes had swallowed galaxies, he knew he’d made the right decision. “Happy birthday Echo.”

----------

Taglist

@inkovert and @snobbysnekboi

[shewhowantsmouseears]

Welcome to Spookyville! Chapter 4

Notes: As always, big thanks to my amazing editors, Drucilla and BlueShifted!

This was a huge 'make stuff up as I go along' chapter, as I had ideas for chapters 1-3 and 5, but not 4. As a result, this probably isn't as funny as the last chapter... but what can I say, Donald's such an easy punching bag. One more chapter and we're done!

Summary: Mayor Mickey tries to enjoy his day off, and winds up befriending a cute pink bat. You'll be able to guess the plot twist in a handful of seconds.

For this next tale of happy haunts and horrors, we skip the schools and office-work to find Mayor Mickey just getting out of bed. He was rather sluggish this morning, not exactly looking forward to this day – for it was his day off! As much as he whined about paperwork, he did love his job and was always eager to make Spookyville a better place. But even he knew that too much work would wear him out – his cheerful stalker not exactly helping that pace – and so he was forced to take a day off at least once a week.

How he loathed these days! They were so boring! Granted, he knew at some point Minnie would come and harass him, but even she ran out of spells eventually. What was he supposed to do for the rest of the day? He wanted to be in his office! He wanted to eat Goofy's pumpkin cookies! He wanted to follow Donald's schedule! He wanted to cut a big ribbon in front of a new building – he had a whole closet full of gigantic scissors for such occasions. With a sigh and shuffle, he slipped into his clothes, adjusted his hat, and mournfully ate his breakfast – pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles, and for a change of pace, pumpkin eggs. (Don't ask how, it's a horrifying process.) What to do, what to do?

Maybe he could go for a walk. But if he did that, he'd be so distracted by everyone around him and feel an urge to help them as the Mayor! Maybe he could go fishing. But if he did that, he'd be constantly thinking about water pollution and drafting ideas to clean the lakes! Maybe he could just nap all day. But if he did that, he'd have nightmares about a big-eared witch trying to tie his tail to a giant mouse-trap! It took him a moment to realize that wouldn't have been a nightmare but a recollection, as that did happen last Tuesday.

He mulled and mulled over his options until he heard a very loud THUD at his window. Mickey blinked, wiping off his mouth with his sleeve before rushing to the door to find the problem. There on his flowerbed laid a dizzy pink bat with a growing bump on its forehead. “Aw, poor little miss!” It was a fair guess, given the bat's color scheme. “Hope you didn't hurt yourself too badly. Lemme take a look at'cha.”

Mickey scooped the bat into his hands, holding her up to see her better. The bat sniffled, sitting up in his palms, large ears twitching back and forth. “Least you hit your noggin instead of your wing! I'm sure you'll feel better in a minute or two.” The bat squeaked, perhaps grateful for the reassurance, and Mickey found himself charmed. She was a cute little thing, and didn't seem spooked by him at all. Perhaps this was a domesticated batty, one who was used to human touch. In that case, it was only right to search for the owner. Plus, if she had rabies, surely she would've shown some sign by now.

“How's about we get some breakfast in you, and look for wherever you came from?” Mickey offered, already heading back into his house. “I always make too much for myself anyway. It'd be nice to have some company for once!”

As everyone begins to massively roll their eyes at the really obvious irony and guess the major plot twist already, it should be said that writing anything original these days is hard. C'mon, you have to admit you're kind of curious how this is going to play out.

The bat offered no objection to being in Mickey's house, and was more than happy to chomp away at the remains of his breakfast, even as she got a syrupy mess around her mouth. Mickey wound up laughing, picking up a napkin to dab at her mouth. “I guess you were mighty hungry! Now you've got enough energy to help me look for your owner. Until then, I guess I should call you something...” He tapped his cheek, trying to come up with a proper name. “StellaLuna?”

The bat made an X signal with her wings, as trying to make a trademark signal would have been much harder.

“Foxglove?”

A louder slapping of her wings for this X.

“I'm going to save us some time and say Bartok is no good either. That pretty much uses all the famous bat names.” A small shrug before he finally settled. “Why don't we keep it settle and go with Miss Pink?” The bat gave this some thought before agreeing, before flapping her wings and flying to sit on Mickey's shoulder. He chuckled, affectionately petting the top of her head with a finger. “All right, Miss Pink it is! Don't you worry, we'll find your home in no time at all! Oh boy, I finally have something to do on my day off!”

With a whistle and a skip to his step, Mickey readjusted his hat and walked outside. It was a perfectly sunny day, with the citizens enjoying the good weather and good company, waving to one another and glancing around for any signs of a certain witch. Mickey headed for the marketplace, since he figured this would have the greatest number of people, and thus, plenty of people who might know about a bat.  Spookyville's market mostly consisted of cheerful farmers selling their pumpkins and pumpkin-related goods, and Minnie-related insurance.

“Good morning, Miss Clarabelle!” Mickey waved to the cowhand cow, the resident town gossip.

“Goooood morning, Mister Mayor!” Clarabelle waved right back, though she had to watch how hard she moved any part of her body lest it fall off – she was a zombie, and reattaching fallen limbs was always a pain. “What can I do you for? We're offering a special discount on our pumpkins today – 20% off if you find a worm! 30% if you can find my husband's eye, he lost it last night. Again.”

“Actually, I was hoping you could help me with something else.” Mickey gestured to the guest on his shoulder. “I think my friend here belongs to someone, so I was wondering if you've seen her around before.”

Clarabelle thought about popping her eye out to get a closer look, before remembering that the average fanfiction reader does not appreciate emptying their stomach contents while reading. So she settled for simply leaning in. “Hmmm... sorry, Mayor, but she's not a familiar face! I can ask around, but I'm pretty sure this is a new one! A pink bat is really rare!”

Mickey raised his eyebrows, intrigued by this news. “It is? You've never seen one before?”

“I seen a peanut stand, heard a rubber band, I seen a needle that winked its eye, but I be done seen 'bout ev'rything, when I see a-”

“Okay you need to stop, we're not sure if that reference is offensive or not anymore.”

Clarabelle agreed to play it safe and moved on. “She's a real beauty though! I do hope you can find her home soon enough. But speaking of beauties!” She giggled, rubbing her hands together eagerly while hoping one wouldn't fall off. “Long as a certain missy isn't around... I've got an adorable niece who would just die to get her hands on you! I think you two would hit it off perfectly! Why don't you pick her up around eight?”

Mickey would have politely declined the invitation, but Miss Pink decided to do it for him – minus the polite part, and if “decline” meant “launching themselves at Clarabelle's face and trying to claw her to death.” - which would have been impressive, given that the woman was already dead to begin with. “AAAAAH! MY FACE! IT TOOK AGES TO STITCH IT BACK TOGETHER! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I COULD FEEL PAIN THERE ANYMORE!”

Mickey blinked stupidly, wondering what had brought that about, and after a few seconds Miss Pink calmly returned to his shoulder as if nothing had happened at all. Clarabelle laid on the ground, trying to reattach everything, which we will not describe here because the narrator is too lazy to raise the rating on this story. Mickey quietly pulled out a few bucks from his wallet and slid it on the harvest table before inching away, mumbling an apology.

Once they were far enough away, Mickey picked up Miss Pink to wag his finger at her. “That was really rude of you, you know! No more attacking people! What set you off, anyway?” In a way, it was familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Sadly, no matter how hard the reader screamed at him, he couldn't hear it. (Only the narrator has that kind of power and she's having too much fun right now!) The bat merely shrugged, and sat herself on his shoulder again. “Hm... maybe you're just allergic to formaldehyde and it set something off.” It wasn't the most unreasonable connection – but it was second to most unreasonable. “We'll try a different place and see if anyone else recognizes you.”

It was a comfortable day at the park, with children playing, dogs being walked, and  several bomb shelters being opened in case a familiar witch made an appearance. Mickey tucked his hands in his pockets, happy to see so many people enjoying their best life. “See, this is what I love about Spookyville!” he announced, hands on his hips, taking in the fresh air and joyful laughter. “Everyone getting along and simply being themselves! I'm so proud to be the Mayor of this great town! I love everything about this place! I love the pumpkin patches, I love the sounds of people walking on crunchy leaves, I love children's balls about to smack me on the-”

BONK!

Mickey didn't know why people called pain “feeling smart”, because being smacked in the face with a large red ball made him feel pretty dumb. Miss Pink held onto his shoulder, squeaking worriedly, as Mickey sat up and rubbed his sore snout. “I don't think I'll be able to smell for a while...”

“Aw, gee, mister!” Two small mummy children scrambled over, the brother picking up the ball while the sister looked near tears. “We're real sorry! We didn't see you there!”

“That's okay!” Mickey said pleasantly, popping his hat back on his head. “No harm, no foul! I was kind of getting sick of smelling pumpkin anyway.” After making sure his nose was back in place, he stood up, brushed himself off, and then patted both of the kids on the head. “You two just be careful out there, all right? Let me be the only accident of the day!”

“Okey-dokey, mister!” the children said together, which was cute in a children's cartoon and would've been creepy in an adult horror movie. With their ball back, they frolicked back to their play area.

“What a cute bunch of kids,” Mickey mused out loud, not seeing the large shadow that began to drape over him. “Kind of makes me wish I had kids off my own... or a pair of twin nephews, which is apparently the same thing as having kids.” He then paused, noting a peculiarity. “I thought we weren't supposed to have clouds today.” So what was blocking the sun? He tilted his head up.

There stood the father of the little mummies, huge, hulking, and unpleasant. “Were you just trying to tell my kids what to do?” he snarled, drool dribbling from his jaw.

“Uh.” Mickey faltered, amazed at how he could get in trouble without Minnie's help. “I mean. Technically?” He reached for his cape, ready to use his magic if need be.

“NOBODY TELLS MY KIDS WHAT TO DO EXCEPT ME!” The mummy-daddy roared, grabbing Mickey by his cape and holding him up in the air. “YOU'RE GUNNA PAY FOR THAT!”

Mickey would have tried to gently rebuff that he sincerely meant no harm and that hands-on parenting could be a wonderful thing, except the cape was snugly tied around his neck, and thus the daddy-mummy had him in a chokehold. As such, his reply was, “MUUUGHFBLLBUFF.”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!” The mummy-daddy oh-we-did-that-already-sorry swung his fist back, ready to wreck the wimp, when Miss Pink flew into action, finding a loose strip of wrapping and tugging at it with her teeth. One, two, three tugs – and the entire binding began to unbind. Remember, boys and ghouls, always make sure your wrappings are snug and firm before you head out! Or else you might wind up losing everything and then turning into dust in the middle of the park.

Mickey landed on the grass, caught his hat, and tried not to sneeze from the dead man's powder. He raised an eyebrow at the mess, unsure if this counted as murder or not. He put a hand to his ear, heard aggravated grumbling from beneath the gigantic dust pile, and sighed with relief. “That was a close one. This story has shaky morals already.” Miss Pink returned to his shoulder, and Mickey smiled at her. “You saved my hide back there! Looks like I owe you one. Whoever your owner is, they're one lucky person!”

Miss Pink nuzzled up to Mickey's cheek, and as he walked on, lightly petting her, he began to consider the idea that maybe she didn't have an owner, or at least they wouldn't find them today. If so – well then, Mickey would just have to bear this responsibility and care for her himself! A pet would be nice! It'd give him plenty to do on future days off! He could walk her and teach her tricks and use her as a bodyguard! As much as the thought pleased him, he could only stop searching once he exhausted every avenue, and there was one place he had yet to try.

~*~

“Oooh, look at me, I'm the Mayor!” Donald mocked while swiveling around in Mickey's chair. “I'm the most perfect guy in the whole wide world! I'll let you walk all over me, who wants to use my face as a doormat!”

Goofy poured a fresh batch of tea. “Not still bitter about the last chapter, are you?”

“I'll stop being bitter when I recover from anemia.” Donald stopping spinning around, lazily leaning on the Mayor's work desk. “Besides, it's his day off! He's got no reason to come in today. I allowed myself five minutes on my schedule for goofing off. No offense.”

“None taken.” Goofy began to add sugar, cream, milk, and anything else he could pull from his hat. “But we should still work our hardest, even when he's not here! That way, when Minnie ruins our day, we can at least say we tried our best. Then we can spend the rest of the day putting out the fires she set.”

“She's probably hounding him down right now.” Donald chuckled at the mental imagery – knowing Minnie, she could have made that literal with a giant magical doberman. “And the Mayor's running for his life, tail between his legs, screaming like a little girl, and exactly how long as he been standing behind me?”

“Long enough to dock next week's pay,” Mickey dryly replied, watching Donald slowly slide out of his chair.

“What're you doin' here anyhow, Mickey?” Goofy asked, eyes quickly flying over to the odd looking animal on Mickey's shoulder. “Did you get yourself a new pet?”

“Yes and no.” Mickey held out his hand, and Miss Pink hopped into his palm, happy to be shown off. “I found her this morning and I've been trying to find out if she's got an owner... but if she doesn't, I might just keep her myself! She's pretty cute, ain't she?”

“I'd be very careful about that, if I were you,” Donald warned, eyeing the vermin suspiciously. “If Minnie finds out you like it more than you like her, she might wind up as bat flambé . Which is tasty but also disgusting.”

Mickey knew this was a rational, albeit disturbing, train of thought, but it brought him to another realization. “The funny thing is, I haven't seen Minnie all day! By this time, she normally would be rifling through my underwear drawers, stalking me through the streets, and have launched a love-potion missile down my throat. And that's just if she's not feeling inventive.” Why hadn't Minnie shown her face at all today? Did she, too, get off days from her “work”? Maybe crazy needed breaks too.

“Maybe your little friend is a good-luck charm!” Goofy chirped, always trying to see the positive side of things, despite their most obvious conclusions. “Keep her around and maybe Minnie won't come near! 'Course, we'd lose a whole lot of readers for that, but they're probably just scrolling down to the big punch-line at the end anyway.”

“I'm not making any big decisions until I know for sure she doesn't belong to anyone,” Mickey decided, wagging a finger, which Miss Pink imitated. “That's why I came here! I want to look at all the pet licensees in the town, and see if any pink bats come up! I figured it shouldn't take long. How big's the file anyway?”

Donald flipped through his notebook to find the correct data. “It contains... six-hundred and forty-two licensees.”

Mickey's confidence and finger faltered. “You're kidding.”

“Hmmm... ah, yes, you're right, I was wrong.”

“Oh thank-”

“Six-hundred and forty-three.”

Mickey glanced at Donald's notebook, and then off to the distance. “This... might take a while. Why don't we do one of those fancy line-breaks and check on another character? Go with a 'Meanwhile' and we'll catch up later.”

~*~

Meanwhile, Daisy was... taking a nap in her coffin. Hm. Let's try that again.

~*~

Meanwhile, Mortimer was picking his nose - okay let's go once more.

~*~

Meanwhile, Chip and Dale were by themselves in the busy streets of Spookyville, gratefully not doing anything boring or gross. They had woken up early that morning to help set things up for their mistress, as many witch familiars tend to do. This included laying out her clothes, cleaning up the house, and adding more deranged magazine clippings to the Mayor Mickey shrine in her bedroom. However, when it came time to wake Minnie up, she was nowhere to be found! Unlike the Mayor, witch familiars can't take a day off because they never unionized, so they set out to find her.

Naturally, they headed for the Mayor's house first, but didn't find a sign of her, although they did snatch some flowers from his flowerbed, knowing she'd appreciate the terrible gesture. Next up was Magica's school, but there was still no trace of her in the hallways, in the classrooms, or in the principal's office, where they went unnoticed by the drunken headmaster who was wailing that “HE'S WITH THAT GOLDEN-HAIRED BINT, ISN'T HE?!”

Their last option was the Mayor's office, but since it was still in one piece and they couldn't hear anyone screaming from inside, they decided she couldn't be there either. What to do? They sat on the doorstep, puzzled.

“What could we have missed?” Chip asked, cupping his thin in thought. “Mistress always goes after the mayor, and always leaves a trail of chaos in her wake. What changed?”

“Last night, she did say she was working on a new spell.” Dale replied, copying the gesture. “But I don't remember what it was! Usually when she goes into one of her Mayor-related ramblings I kind of tune out for a while.”

“Do you think it was an invisibility spell?” Chip pondered, trying to imagine it. “Hmmm... No, she definitely would have already tried to wait in his shower, and we would have heard that screeching no matter where we were.”

“Maybe it was a teleportation spell gone wrong?” Dale kept it up, knowing that Minnie's weird powers at times appeared limitless. “Maybe she's landed in some weird world that doesn't celebrate Halloween 24/7. She could be in a world that celebrates Thanksgiving 24/7!”

“Or worse...” Chip paled, the awful possibilities beginning to pile up. “... 24/7 Arbor Day! Dale, we've got to find that spell and get her home! She'll be bored to death!” The chipmunks jumped off the doorstep and headed back home as fast as their little feet could take them, hoping to save Minnie from the horrors of a 24/7 President's Day.

~*~

Well, that's enough of that. Back to what you came to see – bureaucratic paperwork!

“License for a ten-foot-long python named Tickles...” Mickey read aloud, as his companions were doing, the trio huddled around a stack of papers to try and find any trace of Miss Pink's owner if she had one. Miss Pink, for her part, was content to nestle herself on Mickey's head, her face sticking out from underneath his hat. “License for a Capuchin monkey named Cappuccino... I had no idea we had so many people with so many exotic pets, and with such terrible names too!”

“And I ain't seen a sign pink bat in any of these.” Goofy concluded, although his share of the papers were now folded into origami shapes. “I think you might be in the clear, Mickey!”

“This is the last one,” Donald announced, holding his paper high in the air before reading it. “License for a warlock named Donald.” He paused, and then crumbled it up. “All right, I need to have a word with Daisy later...”

“Then she's all mine!” Mickey said cheerfully, popping to his feet. “Oh boy, my first pet! This is going to be really exciting! I'll build her a nice bat-house, with all the trimmings! I'll walk her every day! And I'll get tested for rabies!”

Donald flipped through his notebook, jotting something down and using his magic to bring it to life. “Hang on, Mayor. If you're going to be a responsible pet owner, you need to keep an eye on her! So, here you go, one leash at the ready.” As stated, once he wrote it down, it poofed into existence – extra pink and glittery for all to see.

“Perfect!” Mickey gently picked up Miss Pink from his heat and helped fit the collar snugly on. “There you go, how does that feel?” Miss Pink blinked at the collar and leash, then glanced at Mickey with a strange, eyebrow-wiggling look. “See, she likes it! I'm going to take her home and show her around! Boy oh boy, what a great day!” He headed for the door, waving to his pals, Miss Pink fluttering behind him. “Thanks for all your help, guys! I'll make sure to remember this when it comes time for your bonuses!”

Goofy and Donald joyfully waved back until the door was closed, before their faces fell. Donald cleared his throat. “So... you realize that's Minnie, right?”

“Figured it out forty-five minutes ago when she kept licking his cheek.” A click of his tongue. “Us not telling him is gunna affect those bonuses, ain't it?”

“Probably. But the mental trauma might keep him from remembering for a few days. Maybe we should call the Spookyville Asylum and see if they have an opening? When is that spell going to wear off?”

“When it's funniest, I'd reckon. Which might be...” Goofy took a quick glance at the watch on his wrist. “...In a few minutes. Line break, please!”

~*~

“Dum de dum de dum...” Mickey made up his own ditty as he strolled down the street, fingers entwined in the leash and not a care in the world. A nice pet to love and take care of and keep him company – life was grand! Sure, the leash suddenly felt heavier, and people were staring at him with stunned expressions – one mother even slapping her hand over her child's eyes – but what did those things matter? He and Miss Pink were now BFFs! “Aw, you're gunna love livin' at my place! And I'll even get-cha a dozen leashes, see which you like best!”

“My word!” a scandalized skeleton cried out.

Huh, that was weird. Anyway, he went on, “And if you're on your best behavior, you can sleep in my bed!”

“There are children here!” an alarmed arachnid shouted.

What did that have to do with anything? “But first things first... we've had a pretty long day. I think what you need is a bath! Shoot, we both do, why don't we just save time and take it together?”

What followed was nearly a choir of aghast gasps, lots of incredulous pointing, and several ghouls declaring they'd switch candidates for next year. Mickey was a happy-go-lucky fellow, but even he had buttons that could be pressed, and he stopped walking to put his hands on his hips and glare at the various passerby. “What's got everyone's sheets in a twist? Can't a fellow walk his pet anymore? I tell you, this isn't like my Spookyville anymore! Don't you think, Miss Pink?” He turned his head.

And, to the surprise of nobody who has two brain cells working, there stood Minnie, the collar having magically grown with her to continue fitting comfortably. She grinned, not making any effort to take it off. “Um... squeak?”

Mickey looked at her, looked at the lash in his hands, back and forth, the last sense of trust he had in this waking world dissolving into ash. Now knowing Minnie had, apparently, the ability to transform, he could no rely on anyone or anything being its true self. He would never be bored on a day off again.

If there is a moral to be found in this chapter, it's to be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. Also, if you faint, don't do it on a stone pavement, because you will wind up with a cracked skull, and need to spend several weeks in the hospital, if the crazy witch stalker doesn't insist on healing you herself personally.

Okay, that last one doesn't entirely apply, but you get the idea.

[worldwarlove1]

My vegan list :)

Vegans (And those of us looking to or are making a positive enough impact) rejoice for even though this list (Starts after the next paragraph) has lots of stuff and covers pretty much if not every craving you are likely to have, this is a very basic/small list of all the vegan stuff that is actually out there, and to the best of my knowledge all of this info is correct, but if by any chance I have made any errors, please let me know (Note: At the end of this list, I do have a sustainable option of non veganism as well that can work if enough people get on board, and could encourage a lot more people to make a positive enough impact as well :)

From the Middle of 2017 till 2018 March 6th I was vegan, then on March 6th 2018 I decided to be an expert Flexitarian, then on the 1st of April 2018 I decided to nearly go back to the way I was before I was a vegan. I don’t know about where you guys live but here the speciality items, the imitation items and such are just getting too expensive and I am so fuckin’ poor that I would have to practically dare I say it, get into poor health and possibly die to keep on this path with my nutritional/specific needs, plus, I can’t afford a car or the insurance for it even if I could drive, I live an an old bachelor/studio apartment in one of the rougher areas, and on top of being fairly sensitive to sunlight I am ever more so with cigarette smoke and suffer many allergic reactions to it, and guess what, there’s more then enough of that second hand crap going on around here and it effects my mind, who I am, and my debt, don’t even ask, and, yeah, I kind of want to stay healthy and live… if I ever win the lottery or let lucky enough I will go back to being a vegan in a…heartbeat. When I was briefly an expert Flexitarian I though that if I ate as if everyone on earth or close to it were vegan then what would be humane, as in animals living their full lifespan/etc, you will see my all my reasonings at the end of this list. Suffice to say, living in that world, even though I know I’m in this one, and my flawed logic (Liver is a small part of a life form so having a big pig out on that as oppose to like maybe a small piece/slice once a year, I might as well just say the whole creatures life was for that particular kind of flesh/meat/food, and so on like that) + excitement took a backtrack because of this, but, in my dreams, well, I got quite the wake up call, and I will never consume any honey or fish, same with cheese, creams, butter, margarine as they are made from like 5% or less of the milk (5% milk/5% fat) or other stuff that is just too much of a strain for far too little gain, so adjustments will have to be made and knowledge shared :)

VEGAN LIST:

These are suppose to be the best of the best with none of the plant based substances present that can cause adverse effects such as "Lectins & Phytic acid" (Just to name a couple), so these 7 vegan subs should allow for a vegan diet to still have all the benefits of a non-vegan one:

1)Source Naturals, Vegan Omega-3s EPA-DHA, 300 mg, 30 Vegan Softgels

2)Doctor's Best, Vegan D3, 2,500 IU, 60 Veggie Caps (If you have little to no UV exposure)

3)Deva, Vegan, B12, Sublingual, 90 Tablets

4)Nature's Plus, Hema-Plex, 60 Fast-Acting Vegetarian Capsules

5)Solaray, Zinc Copper, 100 Veggie Caps

6)Thorne, Iodine & Tyrosine, 60 Vegetarian Capsules

7)Pure Vegan, Cal/Mag, 180 Veggie Caps

With these pills, you are most likely to eventually figure out what you need (Your body craves) each day and you may not even know how much you need something and how much better it can make you feel mentally/emotionally/physically until you’ve had it and/or the right portions, and depending on how you body is, it can change from day to day, so take the ones that make you feel best, after consulting with your doctor about these pills first, just to be on the safe side.

Meat:

Don’t be fooled by the word veggie, these are actually pretty good tasting meat substitutes - granted they are not meat, but if it wasn’t for them, I would most likely be having more then 14 pounds or less a year, as I have really, really fierce cravings for it when the urges hit, so for me, I am giving myself a huge pat on the back for what I am doing, I love animals/life greatly and I am doing what I can, again, these subs are really quite tasty and I’m pleasantly surprised by them:

Yves (Italian veggie ground round, Family pack veggie dogs, Jumbo veggie dogs, Spicy italian veggie sausages, Veggie breakfast links, Veggie turkey, Veggie ham, Veggie bologna, Veggie pepperoni, Canadian veggie bacon, Veggie bacon strips, The good veggie burger)

Other companies that sell vegan meat subs:

The Vegan Butcher, Trader Joe’s, Tofurky, Nate’s, Boca, Lightlife’s, Health is wealth, SoyBoys, Gardenburger, Amy’s, Gimme Lean, Smart Deli, Smart ground, Smart Bacon, etc

All fruits & vedgies + Canned/packaged & Frozen ones (Note, try to get ones that are non-gmo and have not been sprayed with pesticides/etc, and some places do use monkey/people in slave labour to get coconuts as well as the cocoa beans that are used for making cocoa and chocolate, so check to make sure), Any kinds of (Herbs Spices, Salts, peppers, Oats, Pasta), Onion rings, Uncle Bens rice (Not cheese, chicken or meat ones) + many others, etc

Waffles & pancakes:

Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Toaster Waffles, 365 Everyday Value waffles (Organic Multigrain Waffles, Organic Apple Cinnamon Mini Waffles), Kashi (Cinnamon Waffles Gluten-Free, Original Waffles Gluten-Free), Van’s waffles (Gluten Free Ancient Grains Waffles, Organic Whole Grain Waffles: Blueberry, Flax, and Totally Original, Gluten Free Pancakes, Gluten Free Cinnamon French Toast Sticks, Power Grains Waffles), Nature’s Path waffles (Buckwheat Wildberry Frozen Waffle, Pumpkin Spice Waffle, Chia Plus Frozen Waffle, Flax Plus Frozen Waffle, Homestyle Frozen Waffle, Dark Chocolate Chip Waffles, Maple Cinnamon Frozen Waffle), Maple, Surprisingly Vegan Original recipe waffle mix, Hungry Jack’s complete wheat blends pancake and waffle mix, Cherrybrook Kitchen glutin free pancake and waffle mix, Angie’s Pancakes pancake and waffle mix, Bob’s Red Mill (Glutin free pancake mix, Pancake & waffle mix, Organic 7-Grain pancake & waffle whole grain mix), Aunt Jemima (Aunt Jemima’s Original Pancake Mix & Whole Wheat Pancake Mix), Vegan Supply, Bisquick’s Original Pancake & Baking Mix, etc

Egg replacements to use for recipes:

Ener-G Egg Replacer, Follow Your Heart VeganEgg, The Vegg Scramble, Ener-go powdered egg replacer, etc

Scrambled egg subs:

Ingredient list on package should include (But not necessarily limited to) “Kala namak salt, Nutritional yeast, Vegan margarine & mayonnaise, Dried instant mashed potatoes, Dehydrated flakes and/or powder, Turmeric, Sunflower and/or canola oil, No Yolks sauce, Water, Egg replacer & Silken tofu (With a separate packet in the box with fresh chopped chives & freshly ground pepper to use as garnish).”

Vegan eggnogs:

Califia Farms Holiday Nog, Silk Soy Milk Seasonal Nog, So Delicious Nog Coconut Milk, So Nice Noel Nog, Rice dream rice nog, Earth balance soy nog, Silk nog, Silk almond nog, Vitasoy holly nog, Almond fresh noel nog, Matrioshka Vegan Egg Nog, Classic almond breeze nog, Vanilla chai spice almond breeze nog, Pecan malk nog, etc

Other tasty holiday (Or whenevz) drinks:

Vitasoy mint chocolate, So Delicious Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk, So delicious pumpkin spice coconut milk, Califia Farms Peppermint Mocha Cold Brew Coffee, Califia Farms Spiced Cranberry Cocktail, Pumpkin Spice Latte Cold Brew Coffee, Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spice Almond Beverage, Trader joe’s spiced cider, Trader Joe’s Chocolate Peppermint Almond Beverage, etc

Muffins:

Enjoy life muffin mix, Hodgson Mill Bran Muffin Mix, Earth balance Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins, Miracle Muffins, etc

Mac & cheese:

Field Roast Vegan Creamy Mac n’ Chao and Chili Mac n’ Chao, Daiya Deluxe (Cheddar Style Cheezy Mac, White Cheddar Style Veggie Cheezy Mac, Alfredo Style Cheezy Mac), Amy’s Rice Macaroni With Dairy Free Cheeze, Annie’s Homegrown Organic (Vegan Shells and Creamy Sauce, Gluten Free Vegan Elbows and Creamy Sauce), Road’s End Organic (Mac & Chreese, Shells & Chreese), Upton’s Naturals Ch’eesy (Bacon Mac, Mac), etc

Vegan donut shops:

Le Cave’s Bakery, Nami, Blue Star, Breakaway Bakery, Cake Girl, Donut Friend, Donut Panic, The Donuttery, Erin McKenna’s Bakery, Fōnuts, Nomad Donuts, Pepples Donut Farm, Psycho Donuts, Ring, Voodoo Doughnut, Beet Box Bakery, Sticky Fingers, Erin McKenna’s Bakery, Revolution Doughnuts & Coffee, Vegan Dream Doughnuts, A Better Choice Bakery, Glory Doughnuts, Union Square Donuts, Glam Doll Donuts, Tandem Doughnuts, Ronald’s Donuts, The Cinnamon Snail, Dun-Well Doughnuts, Erin McKenna’s Bakery, Move That Dough Baking Co., Blue Star, Organicos, Sweetpea Baking Co., Dottie’s Donuts, Vegan Treats Bakery, Nana’s Donuts, Five Daughters Bakery, Hugs & Donuts, Wheatsville Food Co-op, Mighty-O Donuts, Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts, Beechwood Doughnuts, Cartems Donuterie, Glory Hole Doughnuts, Léché Desserts, Through Being Cool, Tori’s Bakeshop, etc

Drinks, condiments & Pies:

Sara Lee’s Frozen Pies, Classico Pizza Sauce (Fire Roasted and Traditional), Brianna’s Poppy Seed Dressing, El Paso Enchilada Sauce, Mrs. Smith’s Deep Dish Pie Crusts, Veggie Worcestershire sauce, Plamils Egg-free Mayos, Marie Callender Frozen Fruit Pies and Cobblers, Girard’s Balsamic Glaze, Hunt’s Manwich Sloppy Joe Sauce (Original, Bold, Thick & Chunky), Organic Mung Bean Fettuccini, Gravy Master Browning & Seasoning Sauce, Bellissimo Dairy Free Parmesan Style Pasta Topper, Rice Dream Pies (Chocolate, Mint, Mocha, Vanilla), Girard’s Barbecue Sauce (Chuckwagon Hickory, Fiery Buffalo, Hawaiian Luau Plum, and Southwestern Mesquite), Most peanut butters, Ketchup, Mustard, Most Jams with no gelatin, Krispy Kreme Fruit Pies, Chocolate soy silk with 7 grams of protein per serving/cup + other silk & soy drinks & coconut/almond/cashew/etc milk, Tea, Coffee, Apple juice, Orange juice + Many other juices/drinks, Dairy-free Black Swan Dips, Dairy-free Wattle Valley dips, Ragu Pizza Quick Traditional Sauce, etc

Crackers, breads, buns, etc:

Super Pretzel Baked Soft Pretzels, Arnold’s Stone Ground Whole Wheat Bread, Melba toast (Wheat, whole grain), Thomas’s New York Style Bagels, belVita Crunchy “Toasted Coconut/peanutbutter/Cranberry Orange and Banana bread”, Amy’s Black Bean Tamale Verde, Arnold Premium Stuffing (Cornbread, Herb Seasoned, Sage & Onion, Seasoned, and Unseasoned), Gardeins & Beyond Meat products, Yves meatless products, Lightlife Black Bean Burgers & Smart Dogs, Annie’s Naturals Goddess Dressing, OrganicVille Pomegranate Organic Vinaigrette, Earth Island Mozzarella/Cheddar slices, Arnold Bread (Bakery Light—100% Whole Wheat, Brick Oven—Premium White, Healthfull Nuts & Seeds, Real Jewish Rye [Everything, Marble Rye, Melba Thin, Pumpernickel Rye, Seeded, and Seedless], Premium Italian and Stone Ground—100% Whole Wheat), Pillsbury crescent rolls, Ritz, Oreos, Pop corn (Depending on topping/s + Movie popcorns “butter” is not actual butter and is vegan, all be it very unhealthy, lolz), Arnold Pocket Thins Flatbread (8 Grain, Italian Herb, and 100% Whole Wheat), Arnold Rolls (Dinner, Potato Hot Dog, Steak, Wheat Hot Dog, White Hot Dog, White New England Hot Dog, Potato Sandwich), Arnold Sandwich Thins Rolls (Everything, Flax & Fiber, 100% Whole Wheat, and Multi-Grain), Cobblestone Bread Co. (Corn Dusted Kaiser Rolls, Philly Style Hoagie Rolls, New York Style Jewish Rye, Gourmet Kaiser Rolls, Vegetarian Minestrone with wholemeal pasta, Onion Rolls, Philly Steak Seeded Split, Pumpernickel, San Francisco Sourdough, Seeded Sandwich Rolls, White Sub Rolls, and Whole Wheat Bread), Food for Life (7 Sprouted Grains Bread, Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Cinnamon Raisin Sprouted Whole Grain Bread, Ezekiel 4:9 Flax Sprouted Grain Bread, Ezekiel 4:9 Low Sodium Sprouted Whole Grain Bread, Ezekiel 4:9 Sesame Sprouted Grain Burger Buns, Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Burger Buns, Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Hot Dog Buns), Thomas’ Bagels (Limited-Edition Banana Bread, Blueberry, Cinnamon Swirl, Cinnamon Raisin, Everything, Onion, Plain, Plain Made with Whole Grain, and 100% Whole Wheat), Thomas’ Bagel Thins Bagels (Plain, 100% Whole Wheat, Cinnamon Raisin, and Everything), Thomas’ Mini Bagels (100% Whole Wheat, Blueberry, Brown Sugar Cinnamon, Cinnamon Raisin, Plain, and Plain Made with Whole Grains), Thomas’ Sahara Pita Pockets and Tortilla Wraps, Weight Watchers English Muffins, Sprouted Whole Grain Hot Dog Buns, Sprouted Whole Wheat Burger Buns, 7 SPROUTED GRAINS ENGLISH MUFFINS, Ezekiel 4:9 Cinnamon Raisin Sprouted Whole Grain English Muffins, Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Flax English Muffins, Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain English Muffins, Genesis 1:29 Sprouted Whole Grain English Muffins, Gluten Free Brown Rice English Muffins, Gluten Free Multi Seed English Muffins, 7 Sprouted Grains Cinnamon Raisin Bread, 7 Whole Grain Pocket Bread, Brown Rice Tortillas, Biscoff, Chunkie Dunkies, Enjoy Life Foods, Lenny & Larry’s, Mary’s Gone Crackers, Newman’s Own, Sweets From the Earth Wholesome Chow, etc

Vegan butters, cheeses, slices, spreads & shreds:

Heidi Hos Creamy Chai Cheese, Treelines Chipotle Serrano Pepper & Herb Garlic, Becel vegan, Kite Hills Truffle Dill Chai & Almond and Cashews Creme Cheese Spread, Follow Your Hearts Monterey Jack Vegan Gourmet, Daiyas Pepperjack Style (As well as their cheese shreds) & Jalapeno Havarti, Violifes regular vegan cheese, Chaos Creamy Original + Coconut Herb & Tomato Cayenne cheese slices, Go Veggies Graded Parmesan Style Topping, Pure Butter, Vitalite Butter, Granose Butter, Suma Butter, Biona Butter, Vitaquell Butter, V-Bites’ Cheezly, Vegusto, Scheese, Tofutt, Sheese, Nutritional yeast, Yeast flakes, etc

Soups/stews:

Chili style pinto & red kidney beans, Hormel Vegetarian Chili With Beans, Mister noodle (No meat), Ramen noodles (No meat), Sweet pickles, Vegetable & noodle soup, Alphabet soup, Mega noodle soup, Zoodles, Tomato soup, Noodle soup, Vegetarian chili, Vegetable soups, Canned Spaghetti, Vegetable Lentil & Roasted Red Pepper Soup, Traditional Lentil Soup, Tuscan Bean & Rice Soup, Tuscan Bean Soup, Roasted red pepper and Quinoa salsa soup (w/o chicken), Tortilla Style All Natural Soup, Organic Minestrone Soup, Split Pea Soup, Corn & Vegetable soup, 5 bean vegetable soup, Black Bean Vegetable Soup, French country vegetable soup, French Onion soup, Savory Garden Vegetable Soup, Garden pea soup, Tomato and rice stew, Savory Vegetable Soup, Mostly Unsplit Pea Soup, Cuban Black Bean Soup, Bean and Vegetable Duet Soup, Mediterranean Lentil Soup, Ginger Carrot Stew, Tomato Vegetable Soup, Four Bean Chili Soup, Swabian Rice and Vegetable Soup, Lentil Vegetable Soup, Spicy Black Bean and Kale Soup, Tomato and roasted red bell pepper soup, White bean & cremini mushroom stew, Tomato vegetable soup, Split pea & carrots soup, Savory Bean Stew, Sante Fe Vegetable Soup, Louisiana Bean Stew, Alabama Black Bean Gumbo Stew, Old World Split Pea Soup, Spicy Southwest Vegetable Stew, Lantil & carrots soup, Black bean & vegetable soup, Super broccoli soup, Chili Bean Soup, Chunky Vegetable Soup, Vegetable Barley Soup, Homestyle split pea soup, Yellow split pea soup, Lentil & Parsley Soup, etc (Note: There are many companies that make these types of soups/stews so be sure to check the labels - Every time I have checked the labels the only non vegan things I have found are all easy to spot - “Cheese, Butter, Milk, Beef, Chicken, Creme, Eggs “Meat and dairy items” - All the other ingredients are fine and I have checked tons of cans/brands).

Gelatin Alternatives:

Agar, Agar-Agar, Kanten, Carrageenan, Carrageen, Irish Moss, Vegan Jel, kuzu, Guar gum, Xanthan gum, Arrowroot, Kosher gelatins, Pectin, Vege-Gel, etc

Vegan jellos, puddings, custards, frostings & cakes/mixes:

Food Heaven Dairy Free Tiramisu, Simply delish jel desserts, Natural desserts Jel dessert, Bakol Jel Dessert, Vegetarian jelly crystals, Provamel Alpro, Oatly, Alpro’s Soya Dessert, Gefen, Dr. Oetker Vege-Gel, Bakol Jel desserts, Vietxoco, Jell-o instant pudding & pie filling [With Silk & Duncan hines moist delux cake mix], Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style Frostings, Duncan Hines Cake Mixes, etc

Yogurts:

So Delicious Dairy Free Yogurts, Daiya Yogurts, Good Karma Dairy Free Yogurts, Amande Cultured Almondmilk Yogurt, Forager Project yogurts, Biona Puddings, Hain Celestial Non-Dairy Yogurts, Almond Dream Non-Dairy Yogurts, Silk Dairy-Free Yogurts, Koko Dairy Free Yogurts, Alpro Soya Yogurts, Kite Hill Artisan Almond Milk Yogurts, Kingland Soy Yogurts, Nancy’s Cultured Soy Yogurts, Nush Almond Milk Dairy Free Yoghurts, Biovegan Puddings, Organic Bio Provamel Soya Yogurts, Living Harvest Dairy-Free Yogurts, Yoconut Dairy-Free Yogurts, Coyo Coconut Milk Yogurts, Sojade Soy Puddings, Whole Soy & Co. Non-Dairy Soy Yogurts, Stonyfields O’Soy Yogurts, Sojade 100% Dairy free Bio Organic Yogurts, Anita’s Coconut Yogurt, Sojasun Yogurts, Coconut grove yogurts, Trader Joe’s Soy Yogurt, Tempt dairy-Free Yogurts, etc

Gravies, fries/etc:

Campbell’s Mushroom Gravy, Tofurky Vegan Savory Gravy, Fries/wedgies, tater tots, Hash browns, Home fries cooked in canola oil, Simply Organic Vegetarian Brown Gravy Seasoning Mix, Pacific Foods Organic Vegan Mushroom Gravy, Bisto gravy powder and granules, Oxo granules, Imagine Foods Organic Vegetarian Wild Mushroom Gravy, etc

Cookies & sweet pastry goods:

Famous Amos Sandwich Cookies, Goya Flan, Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets, Unfrosted Pop-Tarts, Nature’s Path Deep Chocolate Signature Series Cookies, Dads old fashioned oatmeal cookies, Newman O’s Creme-filled chocolate cookies, Uncle Eddie’s Vegan Cookies, Nana’s Cookie Company, Nabisco Nutter butter, etc

Chocolates, mixes, fudges, ice creams & popsicles/bars:

barkTHINS snacking chocolates, Endangered species brand + Many others - Most that don’t have the word milk in the ingredients list are good to go, Häagen-Dazs Non-Dairy, Ben & Jerry’s nondairy, Swedish Glace, Almond Dream, Coconut Collaborative, Bessant & Drury, Alpro, Coles, Cocoa, Gelativo, Sanitarium, So Delicious, So Good, Weis, Nushies Natural, Coyo, CocoLuscious, Tofutti, Live a Little Gelato, Botanical Cuisine, Simple Truth Almond Dessert, Tofuttis non-dairy frozen desserts, Steve’s Dairy-free, Hershey’s Syrup (Chocolate, Strawberry, Lite, Sugar Free, +Calcium, and Special Dark), Chipotles Sofritas, Nesquik Syrup (Chocolate + Strawberry), Fruttare real fruit popsicles/bars, Del-Monte real fruit popsicles/bars, Soy dream, Luigi’s Real Italian Ice, Rice dream ice creams - Bites - Bars & frozen pies, Almond dream bites, Coconut bliss ice cream & ice cream bars, Dippin’ Dots ice cream beads, Talenti, Breyers Non-Dairy, NadaMoo!, Dairy Queen Star Kiss Bar, Trader Joe’s Soy, Double Rainbow, Dream, Soy Dream Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert Rocket Bars (Chocolate, Vanilla), Tea Dreams Chocolate Caramel Chai + other Frozen Non-Dairy Desserts, Love Bean superfood fudge spread, Lydia’s Organics raw chocolate kreme, Santa Cruz Organic chocolate Syrup, Emmy’s chocolate sauce, Enjoy life brownie mix, Gharadelli double chocolate brownie mix, Keebler Fudge Shoppe Fudge Pops, Low Fat Pints (Chocolate Fudge), Klein’s Non-Dairy (Frozen Dessert cake rollm Frozen Dessert log (Cappuccino, Vanilla, & Chocolate), Rice Dream Chocolate Nutty Bar, Mast brother’s chocolate (Most have no dairy), Smooth ‘n’ Creamy Chocolate Eclair bars, Smooth ‘n’ Creamy Crunchy Munchy dessert bars, Smooth ‘n’ Creamy Frozen Dessert bars), Power Dream Soy Energy Drinks (Java Jolt, Mango Passion, Sky High Chai, Vanilla Blast, X-Treme Chocolate), Rice Dream Bars (Chocolate), Low Fat Pints (Coffee Marshmallow), Rice Dream Non-Dairy Dessert (Cocoa Marble Fudge) + other non-dairy desserts, Soy Delicious Creamy Fudge Bar, Sweet Nothings Pints Chocolate Sweet Nothings Pints Mint Fudge, Sweet Nothings Pints Vanilla, Low Fat Pints (Vanilla Fudge), Milk style chocolates (Vego, Vivani, and Ethicoco), Booja-Booja chocolates and ice creams (This brand is said to be one of the best), etc

Honey Alternatives:

Bee Free Honee, Stevia Products, Coconut nectar, Agave nectar, Maple syrup, etc

Cremes:

Alpro Soya Cream, Granose Soya Creem, Oatly cream, Coconut cream, Soya Too whipping cream, Squirty whipped cream, etc

Cereals/Porridges/Granola bars/Grahams/crackers/crumbs:

Kinnikinnick graham style crumbs, Kinnikinnick s’moreable graham style crackers, Nabisco grahams original + Other Graham crackers & Graham cracker crumbs with no honey, Instant Oatmeal, Cascadian Farm Organic Graham Crunch cereal, Cheerios, Maple cheerios, Kelloggs corn flakes, Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars, Peanut Butter Crunch, etc

Hot Cocoa & Marshmallows & other mellow stuff:

Ghirardelli (Chocolate Caramel Premium Hot Cocoa, Double Chocolate Premium Hot Cocoa, Mocha Premium Hot Cocoa, and Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa Beverage Mix), Amanda’s Organic & Toasted Coconut Marshmellows, AH!laska non-dairy cocoa mix, Dandies all natural marshmallows, Archer farms hot cocoa (Malted Milk Chocolate, Candy Cane, Dark Chocolate, and Pumpkin Spice), Ananda Foods chocolate-covered cookies with marshmallow center + marshmallow lollipops, CAcafe Cocoa, Dandies all natural Marshmallows, Cacoco (Original, Global Warrior,, Essential Midnight), Sweet & Saras marshmallows & mallow treats, Cocoa canard, Trader Joe’s marshmallows, Cocoa cravings, Suzanne’s Specialties Ricemellow Creme, Cocoa felice, Freedom Confectionery vegetarian mallows, Dear cocoa, Smucker’s marshmallow topping, Eli’s Earth, Godiva dark chocolate hot cocoa, Nibmor, Rawcholati, Silly cow farms, St. Claire’s, Whittard (Caramel and Rocky Road, but ask for info on other flavours), Zimt drinking chocolate mix, etc

Candies (Hard, soft, gummy), chips & others:

Skittles, Swedish fish, Kosha turkish delight - mixed flavoured (+ Others), Popchips Sea Salt Potato, Earth Balance Vegan Sour Cream & Onion Kettle Chips, Ruffles All Dressed, Sun Chips Original, Kettle Brand Maple Bacon Potato Chips, Rold gold, Kettle Brand Backyard Barbeque Potato Chips, Brach’s (Root Beer Barrels, Hi-C Orange Slices, Hi-C Fruit Slices), Hot Tamales, 7-Eleven Select Wasabi Soy Flavored Potato Chips, Zapp’s Voodoo Potato Chips, Santitas Totopos de Maíz Tortilla Chips, Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips, 7-Eleven Select Go! Smart Sriracha Corn Tortilla Chips, XTRA Tangy Buffalo Wing Pringles, Popchips Sweet Potato, Betty Crockers Bac~Os Bacon Flavor Bits and Chips, Indian Life Chips, Boulder Canyon Avocado Oil Canyon Cut Jalapeño Chips, Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, Fritos, Chile & Lime Flavored Sabritones Puffed Wheat Snacks, Beanitos, Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Flavor Kettle Chips, Corn chips, Original Salsitas Spicy Salsa Flavored Tortilla Rounds, Flamin’ Hot Munchos Potato Crisps, Most types of (Lays, Ruffles & Doritoes + Others, & The Compliments brand has delicious chips and the ones that have an omega 6-3 ratio of 2.5/ to 1 are the healthiest ones and most of their flavours are vegan as well), Life savers (Not the gummy ones), Gobstoppers, Koolaid, Fruit by the foot, Tic-Tacs, Bubble gums (Big league chew, Hubba Bubba, Eclipse, Mentos, Juicy fruit, 5, Super bubble), Jolly rancher hard candies & lollipops, jujubes, Mike & Ikes, Nerds, Runts, Jujyfruits Chewy Fruity Candy, Dum Dum Pops, Twizzlers treater size candy, Charms sweet pops, Brach’s sugar free cinnamon candy discs, Candy watches, Flying saucers, Anglo Bubbly, Candy necklaces, love hearts, Sherbet lemons, Smucker’s Uncrustables, Ainseed balls, Candy whistles, Justin’s new bagged candy, Seitenbacher happy-fruits, Tasty brand all natural sweets, Mamba fruit chews, Fuzzy peaches, Orange bites, peanut butter bites, Yummy earth organic lollipops, Annie’s organic bunny fruit snacks, Dare candy co real fruits, Squish, Surf sweets, Lovely candy co products, Glee gum pops, Tasty brand fruit snacks, TruJoy sweets, Kerr’s Molasses kisses, Brachs mandarin orange slices, Giant wheel lolipops, Fruity pops, Double lolies, Rainbow dust, rainbow drops, Dip dabs, Jawbreakers solid candies, Double dip, Rhubarb and custard hard candies, Kola kubes, American hard gums, Sweet peanuts hard candies, Fizzers, Strawberries and cream hard candies, Aniseed twists hard candies, Pineapple cubes, Pear drops, Rockets/lollies, Ring pop original lollipops, Angel mints, juju fruits mix, Chick O sticks candies, Original dark chocolate peanut chews, Now and laters assorted taffy bulk, Atkinson’s peanut butter bars, Original dark chocolate peanut chews, Kool-Aid [Bursts, Dry mix (Sugar-free w/o red40, Blue1), Gels, Jammers, Liquid], Rawtella, Go Lo dark hazelnut spread, Planters peanuts, Teddy grams (Not the honey variety - Chocolate and chocolate chip ones are actually okay), Cracker jack, Keebler Vienna Fingers, Ginger snaps, Minute Maid Frozen Juice Bars, Gin gins, Barbaras snackimals, Justin’s nut butter, Twizzlers/Nibs (W/O red 40), Dots gum drops, Zotz candies, safety pops, Mary Jane, Blow Pops, Atomic Fireballs, Bottle caps, Twizzlers Twists Strawberry Flavored Licorice, etc

Sugars:

Beet sugar, Unrefined cane sugar, Vegan sugar, Unbleached sugar, Sugar (Labeled as Raw sugar, sugar in the raw/etc), Zulka, Billington’s golden caster sugar, Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Sugar, Rogers sugar from the Alberta factory, Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Light Brown Sugar, Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Dark Brown Sugar, Now Foods Beet Sugar, Trader Joe’s Organic Sugar, Evaporated Cane Juice, Sugar labeled as Raw]}, Rapunzel Rapadura, Woodstock Farms Organic Pure Cane Sugar, Florida Crystals Organic Cane Sugar, Red Path Sugar, Billingtons, The Raw Cane, Sprouts Sugar, Stevita/Truvia/Stevia), Agave Nectar, Agave syrup, Yacon syrup, Luli Condensed Soya, etc (So far as I know, sugars that are in pop, candies, cookies and other store bought goods are vegan as they do not go through the bone char process as it is cheaper for them not to go through the trouble of making the sugar have its nice white eye catching/appealing appearance “But, items with cane sugar are a hit and miss so stay clear of them unless you know for certain.”

Other food brands with good vegan options:

Kinnikinnick, Back to nature, Edward & sons, Annie’s, Genen, Luna Bars, Alternative baking company, Cascadian Farm, Earth Balance, Foods Alive, Walnut Acres, Seeds of Change, Now and Zen, Galaxy, Santa Cruz Organic, Muir Glen, Natural Feast, Lona Linda, Natural Touch, Amy’s kitchen/soups, Dr. Medougall’s, Imagine, Nongshim, Brand New Vegan, Miso Soup Mixes, Suma organic, Good natured soups, Wolfgang Puck organic soups, GoBio, Zupa noma, Nature’s store, Kettle Cuisine all natural soups, Genius herbs, Buckeye beans & herbs, nona lim, Essential organic soups, Simply organic, Instant vegan Tom Yum Soup, Panera, All natural gluten free cafe, Baxters vegetarian soups, Bolthouse farms, 365 every day value organic, Dr. McDougalls soups, Simply Asia Sesame Teriyaki and Spicy Kung Pao Noodle Bowls, Annie Chun’s Udon Soup Bowl, Malibu organic, kroger (Breads, buns and bagels), etc

A few of the many fast food joints in Canada:

Chinese food:

Sweet-and-sour sauce, Vegetable spring rolls, Vegetable steamed dumplings, Hot or cold sesame noodles, Salad with ginger or sesame dressing, Noodles and Rice, Veggie chow mein, Tofu chow mein, Steamed/plain rice (No eggs mixed in), Vegetable fried rice (No eggs mixed in), Tofu fried rice [(No eggs mixed in) & with rices and other items you can add stuff like garlic or whatever], Garlic tofu, General Tso’s tofu, Sweet-and-sour tofu, Cashew tofu, Tofu and broccoli, Mapo tofu (Specify no pork since traditionally this dish is cooked with it.), Mongolian tofu, Orange tofu, Kung Pao tofu, Vegetables, Steamed vegetables with a side of sesame sauce, Sautéed green beans and Garlic eggplant, fresh fruits and veggies :)

It is random but certain CF places here in Canada will do other practises that will make any number of these items non vegan, so just ask to make sure that there is no beef/pork/chicken broth or oyster/fish sauce, no bonito flakes to flavour any salads/dressings/soups, and for them not to use any non-vegan stuff from their signature stock to enhance the flavour of a dish (The boiling of bones/meat/prawn shells etc) and not to cook anything in lard and/or beef/chicken/fish oil/broth :)

Pizza joints:

if I were to have them without cheese or just make my own vegan cheese substitutes, then places that can make their pizzas vegan include: Blaze, Cici’s, Domino’s, Little Caesars, Mellow Mushroom, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, Pizza Nova, Pizza Pizza [Has introduced Violife vegan cheese to its menu, so just ask for a violife vegan pizza (With your desired toppings) and your good to go + there are rumours that there may be other pizza joints that are thinking of adding vegan cheeses to their menu], PizzaRev, Pyramid Brewers-Margherita Pizza, Taco Bell-Mexican Pizza, zpizza-Berkeley Vegan Pizza, etc) and have crusts and sauces that are vegan (Be sure to ask) and also ask them not to add any sour cream or creams, and apparently pizza without cheese/vegan subs are still really tasty with extra sauce, red peppers, beans, garlic, onions and mushrooms in it’s place, but of course these toppings would be even better still with good vegan cheese.

Burgers and fries:

Newyork fries (Fries), McDonalds Fries & Hash browns, The Veggie burgers and fries from the A&Ws & Burger Kings are also vegan (Just don’t get any Onion rings on your Burger King burger, and as for Harveys most of there locations fries are vegan but some cook them in the same friers as the chicken nuggets and their soy based patty burger is also vegan (Oh Canada :)

Taco Bell:

Bean Burrito (minus non-vegan cheese), Cinnamon Twists

Tim hortons:

Savoury Potato Wedges, Hash Browns, Bagels (Plain, 12 grain, everything, cinnamon raisin, sesame seed, poppy seed, blueberry, pretzel and onion), Harvest Vegetable Soup, Oatmeal, Garden Veggie Sandwich (No Cream Cheese), Garden Salad, Bread, There is rumours going around that their iced caps and other dairy options (Including my fav. “Creamy Chocolate Chill”) may have vegan subs if more demands for that option are met.

Is your booze vegan?:

(http://www.barnivore.com/#)

Vegan body care, household cleaners, clothing, pet, home, electronics/etc:

LaBante London, Sugar Venom, V-dog, VeganCats, Bhava, Unicorn Goods, EcoTools, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, Kiss My Face Sunscreens & soaps, Supergoop Sunscreens, COOLA Sunscreens, Suntegrity Sun care products, Zazzle Vegan Electronics & Gadgets, Zazzle Vegan Gifts, Vegan Essentials, Nicora, Jaan J, 3M™ Thinsulate™, Environment Furniture, Votch, Biokleen Laundry Liquid, Mrs. Meyers home care products, Eco-Me Laundry Detergent, The Honest Company - Honest Dryer Cloths, Renee Rouleau, Method cleaning products, Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds All Purpose Cleaner + Others, The Good Home Co. Laundry Detergents, Pureology, Bourgeois Boheme, JASON, Green beaver, Wills, Acure, Shahlon Ultrafabrics, Allen’s Naturally, Silk Industries, Unstitched Utilities, Brave GentleMan, Vegetarian Shoes, Pai, UK New Line, Olsenhaus, Toray Industries, Jiangsu GTIG Eastar Co. Ltd., Lush soaps, The body shop, Coquette, Sommers Plastic Products, Ecover Zero 2X Laundry Detergent, Living Earth Beauty, Alba Botanica, Hung’s Fortune International Co. Ltd., Andalou Naturals, Trader Joe’s Liquid Laundry Detergents, First Aid Beauty, Tüp Merserize, Faith Bright Holdings Limited, VeganCuts, Dr. Hauschka, Donna Salyers’ Fabulous-Furs Inc, Roopa Knitting Mills, Blissoma, Clearly Natural vegetable glycerin soaps, Yarok, Jiale Textile Co. Ltd., Keep, Cri de Coeur, Mad Hippie, Nanshy, Noah, Auromere, Wilby, Queen Helene, Mrs. Meyer’s 64 Load Laundry Detergents, Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Soaps, Citra-Solv cleaning products, Vitacare, Lime Crime, FASHIONYARN®, Euromaglia, Meow Meow Tweet, Dr. Bronner’s All-One soaps, Snowtex, Method 8X Laundry Detergents, Lenzing AG, Glossier, Hangzhou Xinhe Garments Co. Ltd., VOID, Derma E, Sun & Earth Natural Hypoallergenic Fabric Softener Sheets & cleaning products, Juice Beauty, EcoSimple, Yes To, Le Labo, Nae, Angela & Roi, Indie Lee, Climashield®, Animal Behavior, PrimaLoft, Acure Organics, Billy Jealousy, Ramtex, Farmacy, Consinee Group (TopLine/Ningbo Textile), S. W. Basics, Renewtex, Ruggero Rossi (Rossi Lorenzo e Figli Srl), Nature’s Gate, Pure by Ami McKay, New Life, Unifi Manufacturing Inc., Singtex, Hemp Traders, Uğurteks, Shahlon Silk Industries, Viesso, Foss Manufacturing, Edoardo Miroglio (EM), Eco Balanza, Majilite, Tokyo Bags, Pacifica, Zhejiang Jinyonglai Trade Co. Ltd., Shea Moisture, DONGLIM, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, Avalon Organics, Arctic Fox, Eco-Dent, Oz Naturals, Dragon Textile, Arbonne, Korres, March Textile, Body Crystal of California, Cisco Home, NatureWorks LLC, Desert Essence, One Love Organics, GEO/Watermelon Red Textile, Q Collection, Faux England, Sibu, Modern Minerals, Aromi, Pacifica, Gruppo Cinque, Nip + Fab, Method - Fabric Softener (liquid), Beauty Without Cruelty, Sam’s Natural Birch Tar Soap, Novacas, OSEA, Unifi Manufacturing Inc., Tenbro, Whole Foods Market 2X Concentrated Laundry Detergent, Nature Clean Laundry Liquids, Beyond Skin, Bare Bones Body Care, Saintyear Holding Group, Thinsulate, Ekla Home, Hello Products, SoapBox, MuLondon Organic, Radius, Aubrey Organics, Palacek, Matt & Nat, Nourish Organic, The Honest Co., Camina Leggero, Sparklehearts, PrimaLoft®, Lee Industries, Ecover Fabric Softener (liquid), ColorProof Evolved Color Care, Goop, Paula’s Choice, NCLA, Corkor, Emani, Vaute, e.l.f., Tom’s of Maine, Trader Joe’s Vegan bar soaps, Earth Mama Angel Baby, Per-fékt Beauty, Pure & Gentle Anti-Allergen Laundry Detergents, Farm Sanctuary, Freedom of Animals, Hugo Naturals, Gunas, Herban Cowboy, Shartex International Trading Co. Ltd., Sparitual, Forever New Liquid Fabric Care Wash, Every Man Jack men’s self-care products, Hipsters for Sisters, Sibu Beauty, Wild Soap Bar, Indosole, dermadoctor, Lee Coren, Native Shoes, Drunk Elephant, Mukti Organics, Kunshan Insung Plush Co. Ltd, Robert Craymer, . Puracy Natural Laundry Detergent, Pammies, The Fanciful Fox, Sustain, Tata Harper, skyn ICELAND, Attitude (liquid) Fabric Softener, Kahina Giving Beauty, Radical Skincare, Tom’s of Maine, Rodial, Faux furs from (Stella McCartney, Shrimps, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein), https://www.veganmainstream.com/2011/01/19/vegan-professionals-building-a-sustainable-future/ , adopting from animal shelters, etc, etc, etc…

For today’s vegans that are craving meats and dairy (Or those that are curious), it may still be a little while yet, but were getting there (Scientists have already created bacon and hamburger meat from a harmless procedure of taking stem cells from said creatures, plus a lab created pizza that can be custom made to fit a persons daily nutritional needs while still tasting delicious, aaand researchers at Oregon State University were pleasantly surprised to find that, after working two decades with a seaweed species bred to feed abalone, they discovered that they were actually dealing with a delicious seaweed superfood called dulse that tastes like bacon when it’s fried).

Non vegan sustainability options - Feel free to correct me if any of this is incorrect, it was very, very difficult for me to find and I tried to insure that it was accurate + I left my old thoughts here too as they are all part of the journey:

The first one - the 7.5bil people scenario (If almost everyone to everyone is on board) is truly cruelty free, and you will see why after this paragraph - Hopefully : My little blurb before the list: From the middle of 2017 then doing more then enough to became an expert Flexitarian starting March 6th 2018, but I will never, ever, go to any levels below that, never, and here’s why (Just to give fair warning, these 2 videos are very, and I mean very graphic/real/powerful/Informative/etc to say the least, and they are true eye openers - As for the second one, it is a short 67second clip of deep spiritual proportions - the icing on the cake and you may want to turn the volume up on that one as it is rather low - oh, and a tasty little tidbit for all you fellow youtubers out there - While you are watching a video on youtube, you can cause that video to automatically loop and you can set it to do so at whatever part of the vid you want by changing “www.youtube.com” to “www.youtubeloop.net” (Again, while you are already watching that vid on youtube) - The vid will loop automatically right off the bat after entering it either once or twice as sometimes it does not register the first time, and there are 2 orange arrows below the vid that you can use to keep looping whatever part you want - Works for all youtube vids):

1)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDudVDdsS10

2)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw0xpEYWweY

When I was completely meat, dairy and harmful ingredients free I had no meat/dairy/etc (Just the rare mistake/error though). Anyways, after doing some research on how much dairy and meat products would be humanly available per person if nearly everyone or everyone in the world were to become vegan/humane as an expert Flexitarian could have that stat if said scenario happened - the 7.5bil people one (Animals dying of natural causes/etc and humanly keeping natures balance in cheque and so on). Once I got my answer, since I like to try and live my life in a theoretical world that is (As far as I am concerned) doing things right, I am going to consider treating myself every now and again, once I get my answer (Such as, a massive “pig"out of beef rice with extra beef and sweet and sour spear ribs and sweet and sour chicken balls twice a year (Roughly 36grams per sweet and sour chicken ball, roughly 21grams/small-37grams/large per sweet and sour spear rib) - Birthday and new years - who knows, maybe I’ll be able to have a few more sides of whatevs as well with this scenario in mind + 1 slice of bacon is around 25grams so I’ll have a few slices of that on special occasions also:)

Well, it’s quite amazing really. If everyone (Or close to it) became vegan now or in the not too distant future, and made their yards/properties bee friendly, if a fair number of families had lets say 2 hens each (Which could be done, especially with today’s methods/feeds/etc - The average hen can produce 1 egg roughly every 26 hours, sometimes taking 2-3 days for an egg, and although they do eat meat, love insects and mice/etc, they can still get all their proteins/etc from specialised plant feeds - The egg production can be reduced to around 80-150/year if balances are off and result in health problems and for temperatures, lighting, whether/etc), and made the available land/earth nature friendly and the likes, leaving the areas that had or still have rich enough diversity/etc alone. The estimates say that this would be possible for each person on earth to do without causing harm to the environment, or suffering to creatures/etc (Also keeping into account having enough of the carnivores/etc in the food chain to keep things healthy all around).

What would be allowed/humane with letting all the creatures live full wonderful lives with the best feeds/etc, only being put down before their time if they are too injured/etc.                                                                                                      - (100% Meat/best of the best, same for everything else, meat or otherwise, no fillers, growth hormones, crap, and, um, well, crap/etc - The kinds of animals raised in this scenario are the kinds that will allow us to still have the products that we are familiar with but many made with different meats, to have the most meat with the least imprint - meat that is still delicious of course). Also taking into account there being far, far less waste like the outrageous amount of good food and drinks that are tossed and left to go bad when not selling + other reasons (This, people should be protesting in mass about, and putting an end to it) - Anyways, these stats are of a truly humane scenario per person with a 7.5 bil population if every last solitary person on earth did this with everything being balanced, also abandoning the previously rich areas, allowing all of the previously cut forests (that are used for non vegan food and foods in areas that were once forests/etc) that either still do or once sustained good enough to truly incredible diversity (Which is pretty much every forest/ecosystem that ever was) to be reborn/etc with us helping them out, and letting nature do what it should to make them great again and maximizing good use of the earth, ghost towns, etc, etc, etc, all land cleaned up and used properly, proper structures around the world/etc with a super healthy planet, super rich diversity, lots of forests and the whole works in all the best places - Possibly even more then what is listen below:

-Around 1½-5 pounds of non cattle and non sheep meat a year (Depending on what larger non cattle/sheep creatures you consume, including chickens & turkey) if you include having a little under a ½ pound of cattle a year (Sheep is said to be a bit worse for the environment, but I can’t find exacting stats on this). Although unknown, including rats, mice, rabbits the total can be quite a bit higher, especially if you also include insects (Interesting fact: Like good wine the taste of animals improves with age, so the older they are before they die, regardless as to whether or not they have lost body mass/etc, the tastier they will be, that is of course meat from old animals that had all the best foods/environments/no alterations/etc, and have been processed right after or soon enough after death, these meats being coveted amongst the elite) and the amount of feed and negative impact on the environment when there’s too many of them would also mean less of them to keep a global eden in cheque - People have the potential to keep on making this world far, far richer/better/etc then it has even been). [Rabbits, mice and rats alone would increase the total)/etc or any other smaller critters, including mice/rats (Despite the myths and stereotypes, they are actually quite sanitary and can make great pets) and all other smaller ones, even insects/etc that can eat more then just a small amount of meat/etc, so if all that was takin’ into account, then who knows what the total would be!!].

-2-3 extra large chicken eggs/week - The average hen will produce about 265 eggs in a year. Most hens have two productive years of egg laying then taper off as they age (Top 10 best egg laying hens are: Golden Comet & other hybrids, Rhode Island Red, Leghorn, Sussex, Plymouth Rock, Ancona, Barnevelder, Hamburg, Marans & Buff Orpington) - Like cats and many other animals when their “owners” are knowledgeable enough about them, treat them well/give them a good life, they make for excellent pets and when taken care of as part of the family. On average hens will live for around 8-12 years (Sometime around 20+), and they will lay eggs whether they are mated with a cock/rooster or not, and be sure to use Backyard Vegetarian Layer Mash or other organic/vegan based feeds, ones that will meat, er, sorry, meet all of their nutritional needs/etc. Caring, less stress, good environments/conditions more often then not also leads to better/more eggs. Egg sizes for stores (Super Jumbo 77g/2.75oz or more, Jumbo 70g/2.50oz, Extra Large 63g/2.25oz, Large 56g/2.00oz, Medium 49g/1.75oz, Small 42g/1.50oz, Peewee 35g/1.25oz, Petite peewee 28g/1.00oz or less).

-37-48 grams of solid milk Chocolate worth/week (If you eat these or other stuff with milk/bars and still drink milk just subtract the total of said item from the milk you drink as well). I will have some chocolate for Easter (A solid milk chocolate bunny around 120grams), Thanksgiving (2 small chocolate Turkeys totalling around 50grams or less), Birthday (McCain chocolate cake) & Christmas (A Terry’s chocolate orange). Every now and again a chocolate bar. Note for bars, make sure there’s no butter, Milk fat, cream in the ingredients list, but having cocoa butter is good to go, I like big turk bars - They have a chocolate coating, that way, getting lots more bar, meaning lots more yum.

-W/O chocolates (Just milk), around 57ml of milk each week (I won’t drink any "around 57ml/week, what’s the point, the rest of it would just end up going baaaaaahd, besides, unless there was enough people drinking it - lolz”, besides, I’ve actually grown quite fond of the chocolate soy silk anyways (The kinds with 7grams of plant protein per 250ml), but I do incorporate milk into other products that use it - chocolate bars almost always have around 12%-15% of it’s weight in milk - On average 1kg of chocolate cake has around 190ml of milk anywhere from 140ml-200ml of either butter “any cakes with butter, well, it takes 21lbs of milk to get enough of the fat to make 1lb of butter, so, um, nope, not worth it” [Butters & milks lb and ml wise is pretty much the same, but cream I am not so sure of, it depends on how thick/creamy/etc it is (Will update further if I find out), or vegetable shortening - Also ⅔ milk + ⅓ butter makes most average creams (Other ratios for thin to thick/etc)].

-Honey (Stats unknown but expected to be crazily minute), so the occasional feeds of Maple syrup it is. With a bee friendly world each person may be able to have their share of honey every now and again too though, but it’s hard to say (Like fish, in today’s world it is truly at crisis points, each bee only produces like 1/12 teaspoon of honey in it’s lifetime and it is only really humane to take honey from abandoned hives - don’t know about you but when I was a kid and teen it was common place to see several bees through the summer, but now I consider it lucky if I see about 10/year - F*** you Monsanto!!). (According to USDA reports, 2.77 million honey-producing colonies in 2016 generated 161.8 million pounds of raw honey).

-Fish (Stats unknown), a no go for me anyways due to how devastated the ocean/aquatic life/system currently is, cause we need it where if we all did such and such, things can still become paradise (for realz), live it, will it to the cosmos, project it, believe it, ee-dawn baby.

Also, for 9bil people, sustainability of meat (Same as above with 100% Meat/best of the best/etc) - Still having a really healthy planet with great diversity, plenty of forests/etc (These stats do however max out the taking/use of milk and although still very kind, they will still lead great lives but with an expiration date (When they are just old enough to make for good meat) as these stats are less generous on the types of creatures raised for meat (Based on the average percentiles of the creatures Americans consume), still making then viewed as things, and these stats allow for more production of cocoa/ingredients for chocolate), still giving these creatures good healthy lives with pretty much all the best:

Based on a world population of 9 billion, which assumes that animals are only allowed to graze on grasslands and fed by-products not related to soy, maize or other artificial feeds, still keeping all the areas where there were once forests with the exceptions of allowing the richest of forests/environments to regrow, heal/etc, and the figure they came up with was 26 grams of meat, per person, per day. For meat solely from ruminants the figure was 19 grams. 1½ large eggs pp/pd. Plus 138 grams of milk pp/pd. 57grams of solid milk chocolate pp/pd (138grams minus the milk chocolate).

So, I got thinking to myself, why should I deny myself all this just because most or all of humanity isn’t vegan (At least not yet), or deny myself of many things that a fair number of people don’t or can’t have or aren’t using properly/etc because of the flawed system/etc, if people don’t change, then the same result will happen.

I can easily be called a hypocrite or callous for this by some, or possibly even many since the world is not like this (The 7.5bil scenario), at least not yet, but on the flip side, this could convince much more people to be far friendlier in the world the way it actually is now making it even more likely for the 7.5 bil dream scenario to occur, and if anything, this will show that the world can still have it all, if done right (…don’t…let..stuff…goo…too…waste…) you know, life your life the way you want it to be lived and try to project that energy/logic into the cosmos, live in the world you want to see/live in - one that can still become a reality - feel/live that life, project that life - project that satisfaction - believe it is reality now :)

So, anyways, I can still have a cake for my birthday (No butter, cream, if possible to find) and have a slice or two of cake from everyone elses birthday too, I can still have ice cream…er…in my dreams {1 litre of “real” ice cream contains 250ml of whole milk (Straight from animal-min to no processing) or butter milk and 250ml of heavy cream with 4 egg yolks [2 full eggs (yolks and whites) can be used but the flavour will have less richness]} then too and treat myself to it every now and again as well (Same with chocolate), all that will mean is that I will not be able to actually drink any milk (Again, what would even be the point), but that’s okay, cause I still like my subs anyways :)

I am sooooo looking forward to turkey for thanksgiving (With gravy), and every now and again a nice feed of liver & onions with the occasional Maple-leaf Vienna sausages too, just to name a few things (Make sure your adding it all up though :)

BTW, I’ve heard that rats and mice actually taste so chose to chicken that it is hard to tell the difference. Sheep meet (This review was given by an anonymous expert food critic) is said to have a richer flavour with added tastes of campfire, mushrooms, nuts, a bit of a wine like flavour with some kick to it, a hint of a butter-like taste, and kind of an earthly flavour that is relatively close to a mixture of liver and iron. It is said to often be a bit of a shock to the system at first but is very tasty once one gets use to it. As for dogs, they sound absolutely delicious, tasting like a cross between extra flavourful/rich beef and mutton (Another word for sheep flesh/meat) with added extra meaty flavouring, that cooked dog meat is actually delicious with a unique/strong meaty/fragrant mouthwatering aroma. Frogs, the flavour and texture are supposedly mild and extremely agreeable. No strong odours, no strange aftertaste, they say if you tell people they are eating premium farm raised birds that have been dunked for a while in fishy seawater, with having a bit of that taste to them, that they will believe you. Cat supposedly taste like a cross between chicken (White meat only) and frog.

Lastly, science is already able to make clones and as for bringing back extinct species of flora and fauna, even making Pokemon (lolz), eternal youth, everything worthwhile being far superior and new additions/senses/abilities, immortality with being far, far superior to the DS9 changelings/etc, who know what the future will hold, but if we don’t have enough resources left to get to any number of infinite wonders beyond wonders, well, I would hate to think of such a scenario.

[canaryatlaw]

Alright, I’m sitting on a train heading home from nyc to my parents’ place. Today’s been wild, to put it mildly, lol, so lots to explain there. To begin, my alarm went off at 3:45 am this morning, at which point I had to convince myself that I did actually want to get out of bed, then proceeded to do so and get dressed, throw my toothbrush in my bag and confirm that Jess was ready to go before calling the Uber. It was a few minutes out but I wanted to be ready, so I walked down the stairs in my apartment building and about three steps short of the bottom my brain somehow short-circuited, probably because I was still half asleep, and decided that there were no more steps there, so instead of walking down the rest of the steps I just took a giant plunge forward which landed me smacking my knees into the ground just in front of the door with a giant OW. My first observation though was relief it was just my knees that hurt from getting smacked and not any other parts of my body (like a foot or wrist that are known to break) that had been injured and could’ve been a much bigger issue. Don’t need one of those derailing the day to say the least, the amount of ice that’s been on the ground lately has made me really skittish about slipping and falling outside so that’s been on my mind a lot.

But I picked myself up and proceeded to actually leave the building and enter the Uber that pulled up a minute later. Picked Jess up and was on our way to the airport. I rolled my sweatpants up to check my knees, I had a fairly large scrape on my left one but my right one was ok, it wasn’t really bleeding though thankfully and I’m prepared for everything so I had bandaids and bacitracin within reaching distance. So I patched myself up a bit and we were on our way. Made it to the airport and since we had our boarding passes printed out and weren’t checking any bags (we were flying Spirit so just doing a backpack each) we just went straight to security, which proved to be a bit of a longer work than initially predicted, but once we got through successfully we saw we had no need to worry because the plane was not going anywhere fast lol. We ended up being a bit delayed, and then there was a whole hoopla where the lady on the speaker initially said we needed 23 people to switch to another flight that was leaving soon after and that there was gonna be a $250 voucher available for every person that switched, which led to a large amount of people rushing over to try to claim this, only to be followed up with a minute later that oh wait, actually there’s no voucher available but we still needed 23 people to switch to another flight. So naturally that put a bit of a damper on people’s willingness, but eventually we figured it out and actually did get onboard. Once we were onboard the pilot got on the speaker and explained that the issue had been that they had overfilled our plane’s fuel tank and that instead of removing fuel they instead transferred the weight of the extra fuel (apparently about 23 people’s worth) to another flight to make up for it, which made a lot more sense because I was like even for Spirit overbooking a flight by 23 people is wildly irresponsible, so I felt better knowing that didn’t occur. Once we were in the air I took out my make up bag and proceeded to do my make up, and when I was done with that I just closed my eyes while listening to music and didn’t sleep but at least rested my eyes for most of the trip. We ended up making decent time, got there at like 9:20 when our initial landing time was supposed to be 9, so not bad.

Once on the ground we headed to the nearest bathroom where we both changed our sweatpants into jeans and Jess did some make up before we left. Headed to the taxis (because easier that Ubers in NY) and gave them the address for Juniors, which was serving breakfast until 10:45, and headed there. The ride wasn’t bad, had to eat the midtown tunnel toll which was like $6 but that was unavoidable. But we got there pretty soon and waited for about ten minutes before getting seated and having breakfast. I had an omelet for the first time in quite a while, not because I don’t like omelets (because I do) but generally when given the option I preferred something breadier and sweeter (so pretty much waffles and French toast, occasionally with pancakes thrown in) but they had a corned beef omelet and you can’t get that every day so I went for that. They were good and fast of course, they know what their gig is and they play it well. After that we headed out and ended up going to a stuffed animal store on the corner that apparently was featuring the stuffed animals from the members of BTS which Jess is like obsessively against (she’s an anti-fan, basically) so we had to go and check that out and see all the very, very weird products they had (and they were very weird) and eventually took a picture with a giant teddy bear at the front of the store. We didn’t have much else to do at that point so we went to the Forever 21 in Times Square and ran around there for a while, Jess grabbed a few things and while we were checking out there were like best friends matching keychains that we were joking at and we were like oh if they were something more relevant to us maybe we’d get them, and under them they just had normal keychains of like a pineapple I lifted one of them which revealed an avocado keychain which then caused us to freak out because this was clearly Fate, so now we own best friend avocado keychains that weren’t supposed to be a best friend thing but they are now.

Once we finished there we really didn’t have anywhere else to go, so we ended up just chilling in the Starbucks on 47th until it was closer to the show time at which point we walked to the theatre on 43rd and stood in line briefly before getting to our seats. We were in the literal last row of the orchestra, where I have been before but have never complained about because I knew the important part was being in the orchestra to begin with, even the last row are good seats. And then it was time for the play (a bit of a change since we generally do musicals, but for Harry Potter you change things up) and so we were off. When the script had been released I had heard reports that it was very weird and a lot of people didn’t like it, but I had it on good authority that the play version was worth watching, so there we were. And oh, it was very much worth watching.

Heavy spoilers from here on, obviously, because I’m gonna freak out about how good it was now. Like, agh, all of it was done so well. I totally see how it wouldn’t transfer to paper well in the means where people were expecting to read it like a novel but plays aren’t meant to be read they’re meant to be performed, and this definitely needed to be performed to reach its full artistic genius. The technical effects were excellent, but unlike shows like King Kong and Spider-Man (the musical!) the effects didn’t far outshine the story but only served to elevate the story (as they should). They used music for a lot of the transitions, not unlike a musical except of course nobody’s going to start singing at some point. Everything was done very smoothly and they often left you with a “how did they do that....” as the scene goes on (and I mean, I’ve seen a lot of effects, but there were several I was quite taken with). Storywise of course I’ll only go through this for the first half of the show since it’s split into two actually separate shows (like first starts at 2 second starts at 7:30, each of which had an act one and act two). Okay so, act one. We open on the well-known scene that is pretty much all we know about the future of the HP-verse up until this point: the epilogue. We see Albus Severus talk nervously about potentially getting sorted into slytherin, then goes on the train with his cousin Rose (Granger-Weasley). Much like the opening of the original (as Rose points out was where their parents met) they come across one Scorpius Malfoy in his train compartment. I hadn’t imagined Scorpius as much other than existing from the epilogue up until this moment, yet I instantly recognized he was nothing like what I would’ve expected from him and was also 100% as he should be. The actor playing him was fucking hilarious but made it work with so much more than just the funny lines. So Rose gets sorted into gryffindor and Albus gets sorted into slytherin, where him and Scorpius become best friends. There’s also the establishment of a crucial plot point, being that there were rumors that Draco couldn’t get his wife pregnant and to keep the Malfoy line going they used a time turner to go have a love child with Voldemort and Scorpius is actually Voldemort’s child, something he gets teased about and Draco is trying to get Harry to tell people the ministry destroyed all the time turners but Harry won’t get involved.

We get shown a few scenes indicating the passing of the years, Albus having a deteriorating relationship with his father who can’t seem to relate to his middle son, up until right before he’s starting his 4th year. Harry, who works for the ministry, gets a visit at home from old Mr Diggory who is fairly unhinged and is begging Harry to use the time turner that just showed up at the ministry to go save Cedric. Albus is listening from the stairs in the back and gets introduced to Delphi, Diggory’s niece who is taking care of him in his old age. The scene ends, Albus and Harry have a fight where not nice things are said (mostly by Harry), Albus decides on the train the next day he was done with this crap and convinces Scorpius to abscond with him on a mission to steal the timeturner and go save Cedric. Now, some character commentary. Albus and Scorpius are fucking great together. From the first scene I legit just leaned over to Jess and was like GAYYYYYYYYYY because they’re legit just the entire plot and all of it was just them basically being in love with each other (🤷🏻‍♀️).

So the show up at the old wizard’s center Diggory is at And they run into Delphi who they conscript into their adventure to save her cousin. They manage to break into the ministry and do manage to steal the time turner, where they plan to go back to the first task of the tri-Wizard tournament which is of course flawed thinking because they only would’ve needed to intervene in the last one, but there had to be a whole show here. So they go back and interfere, they steal his wand and when they come back Ron and Hermione aren’t married and Albus is sorted into gryffindor, apparently the result of some prodding from Ron’s son he had had with Padma Patil. Meanwhile there’s parental angst and Harry tries to keep them apart because he thinks Scorpius is a bad influence on Albus. So these lovable dorks are like let’s go back again and interfere with the second task (again, not the point), but when they get back Albus is gone and Scorpius is greeted by headmaster Umbridge, who explains Harry died at the battle of hogwarts and the wizarding world is under Voldemort’s control, close curtain end of part one. So that was wild.

After the show we went back to Juniors and had more food, then ended up going back to the theatre because it was cold outside and back to the story because that’s where we wanted to be. Meanwhile in the theatre they had switched all the merch and stuff over to the dark insignia (not the traditional dark mark, a new snake thingy) because it’s all under that now. So the play opens, everything’s very militaristic, under a despot, and Scorpius is VERY STRESSED, he keeps getting hassled because he was asking about Harry, and talking about Cedric, where he is able to find out Cedric was so humiliated by his terrible loss in the second task of the triwizard tournament he went down a dark path and became a deatheater, but “wasn’t even very effective because he only killed one wizard, some loser named Neville Longbottom.” Oh. The future of the free world rests on Neville Longbottom. That tracks. So he eventually goes to Snape who’s still a teacher at the school and spills everything, including him knowing about Snape loving Lily from the other world, which leads Snape to take him into the room of requirement (didn’t spell that right) where we find Ron and Hermione and that’s about it, there’s a whole confrontation with the dementors which they did much more effectively than the movies, that basically led to all the adults sacrificing their lives in this reality so Scorpius can go set it right in the real world (at which point I was like legends season 2 finale much??), which he manages to do and yay Albus is back! So everything is good except Harry’s scar has been hurting and there’s some issue going on.

So they make the adults think they lost the time turner but Scorpius then reveals he had it and wouldn’t give it back to the adults because they would just lie and keep it again and since he had seen the true horror he knew they had to destroy it. So Albus sends an owl to Delphi because she was there with them to begin with and she should be there to see them destroy it, and manages to get the time turner from them and upon hearing of the alternate reality Scorpius was telling of she reveals she’s actually the child of Voldemort and is actually a very powerful witch who takes them back to the night of the final task of the tournament where they’re supposed to be stop Cedric from winning so he’ll become a deatheater, something about a prophecy, she’s crucio’ing Scorpius so Albus will comply but they manage to get away from her, for a second ACTUAL CEDRIC shows up and gets her away and I swear to fuck I fucking cried it was beautiful and so I’m home now and didn’t mean to get into explaining this much plot shit because as you can see it gets quite complicated and takes a lot to explain but we’re here now so I guess we’re going the rest of the way home. So the boys are missing again and parents are distraught again, they manage to foil her plans for that night but then she grabs them and takes them to a day and then smashes the time turner so they’re stuck. Meanwhile parents figure out who Delphi is and they go to her room which looks normal but when you turn the lights out there’s like glow in the dark words written all over about the prophecy except instead of just being on her walls they were all over the entire theatre like under the balcony right back where we were sitting EVERYWHERE it was so good and also Harry was having weird flashback dreams that never happened that mostly just consisted of him going weird places with the Dursley’s but one of them was at his parents’ graves and there was a jump scare that scared the shit out of both of us, so that was fun.

So boys figure out they’re stuck the day before Voldemort tries to kill Harry as a baby so they figure Delphi’s gonna stop him from getting destroyed, so they stake it out and with some creative choices they manage to get a message back to Harry and everyone about where they are and Draco reveals his dad had been hoarding a much better quality time turner (at which point I just leaned over and was like “a very potter sequel?”) so the adults (meaning Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Draco) all go back and find the boys and make a plan to corner Delphi when she shows up, but then they figure she’s waiting for Voldy to show so she can introduce herself, so Harry transfigures into Voldy and tricks her into where they all were except it starts failing at the last minute and so they’re fighting and at first she manages to lock everyone else out so it’s just her and Harry and she got his wand so he’s fucked but Albus is tiny and like climbs through a grate in the floor (they’re supposed to be in the old church in Godric’s Hollow), gets his dad his wand back and lets everyone else back into the fight where they defeat her. It was revealed when she was talking to fake Voldy that apparently she was the love child of Voldemort and Bellatrix LeStrange born before the battle of hogwarts and raised by Rodolphus LeStrange when he was apparently let out of Azkaban (because that happened for some reason) and was basically confunding old man Diggory and tricking everybody into thinking she was his niece and nurse (there was a confrontation with Draco and Harry and Diggory where they’re like “we know they’re with your niece!!” and Diggory is like “I don’t have a niece, I was an only child and so was my wife????”) and then once they have her defeated actual Voldy comes in and they have to watch his parents get killed (we hear it and see them watching) which was very sad. But then they get back to the present where they get yelled at a lot by McGonagall (well-deserved) and then some eventual cheering and improvement in father-son relationships for both boys and like, I’m sure the plot I just explained sounded really nuts but it was honestly such a sweet and sincere story that was so incredibly well-executed. If Angels in America hadn’t been playing on broadway last year, I’m convinced they would’ve swept the (play) Tonys, and while AiA won the actor focused awards (for best leading and featured as Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane, because of course), cursed child won for best play, best director, scenic design, costume design, lighting design, and sound design, which is honestly a huge feat in itself so they should be very proud, though I maintain Scorpius’ performance very much deserved a Tony (upon consulting with British friends since almost all the main cast was taken from the original west end production the actor did in fact with the Olivier for the role so that brought me comfort). But yeah, that was wild.

And since then, we left, walked back to penn, chilled at shake shack until the train was ready to go, rode the train home where I started writing this, and I’ve since gotten off the train, into an Uber, back to my parents house, got ready for bed, and am now sitting on my bed with the lights out ready to go to sleep as soon as I finish writing this, it’s almost 2 am so I think it’s safe to say this is a good spot to finish. Goodnight loves. Hope you had a wonderful Saturday as well.

[regigigina]

Public Transportation Part.1

I would describe my younger self as adventurous. I liked to live life dangerously you know, like ordering spaghetti marinara while wearing a white shirt, then washing my white and dark coloured laundry in one load. Most memorably, I indulged in that adrenaline rush of almost missing my rides - be it by coach, train, even aeroplane.

In the early days of my freshman year in Southampton I barely had one close friend, so I took an absolute delight in going on weekend trips to London to see my old friends. They were the friends I met during my preparatory year in Cambridge, and London was perfectly situated halfway between us. I would take the train from Southampton Central and disembark at the trains’ terminus, London Waterloo or Victoria.

Our meeting point in London would usually be some museum I want to visit. I never ceased to be in awe with the British Museum permanent collection, replete with Italian renaissance and Egyptian mummy display. I never cared much for Victoria & Albert Museum design oriented inventory, but gosh, the marvelous Gamble Room inside is perhaps the most stunning room to have an afternoon tea in.

On entry to the cafe, one will pass a magnificent marble fireplace standing in between two archways, facing intricately carved Ionic columns and beyond them, a curved wall adorned with ornate stained-glass windows. The entirety of the wall is laminated with red-hued ceramic mosaics and golden metal plates. The pièce de résistance, however, is the sparkling orb chandeliers which sets the whole place ablaze with opulence.

Other times we would be frugal and head for the usual Turkish kebab place in Bayswater which my friend said, unlike its neighbours, had not learnt of inflation for the last three years. Or when homesickness hits, we thought it wise to queue an hour long for the famous, always so jam-packed Peking duck place (which shall go unnamed here because you will see in a bit). Their roast duck pancakes were so good, even the plate banging service and the bills, which were always served before asked (rude!), did not lose them their loyal customers. Anyway, rumour has it that the original chef eventually defected to a fancier Chinese restaurant - I kid you not - in Bayswater, just a couple blocks away from our kebab place.

They were also the friends who introduced me to such whimsical cuisines as Duck & Waffle, as in literally duck confit on top of a waffle, Polpo, an Italian establishment serving their food Spanish tapas style, and my all time favourite (drumroll, please...) Belgo Centraal, which serves moules-frites any way you could imagine it: classic, Provençal, to Thai or Indian-style (too adventurous) in an underground dining space one could reach only by descending a prison style industrial lift - that or a drab flight of stairs.

London with my friends was like a city full of paper wrapped gifts, each weekend unwrapping a few to show the little marvels inside. I never spend enough time with them and certainly not looking forward to going home. At the end of the day though we would go our separate ways, most of them to Cambridge by way of King’s Cross Station, and myself to Victoria Station to catch the 23:00 train to Southampton, and not a single train earlier.

One weekend, I had to go home on the Saturday whilst my friends stayed over until the next day. Since they were not in a hurry to catch any train that night, gone was my natural cue to leave. Can’t say I remember where we were that evening, but positively a good distance away from Victoria Station. It was half past ten when I finally admitted to myself that I need to take off. We said goodbye and I rushed to the tube station.

”I could get there in 18 minutes,” I reckon, resigning myself at this moment, because there was nothing I could do to make the tube trains go faster.

A brief background here, train tickets in the UK can be issued as open return passes valid for 28 days, or as day return passes for a lower price. The National Express coach (bus) fares are even more affordable. Once I journeyed twenty-hour long from Southampton, which as the name imply, lies on the very south coast of England, to Inverness in Scotland, the town nearest to Loch Ness, for a mere £20. But I usually avoid the coach whenever economically possible because I tend to get carsick, the coach ride takes longer, and the service terminates in London in a decrepit station.

Now that day I was holding a day return ticket, and being late for the last train would not be a prudent option. I was indifferent between indulging in a cab ride to Victoria and missing the last train, since they probably cost about the same. Worst case scenario, I take the cab and still manage to miss the train anyway, then that would cost me twice as much. So there I was ten minutes before my train departs, minding the gap out from the tube train and into the crowded platform. I hurried through a gate and to a long flight of stairs, then paced briskly along the endless tunnel, until an escalator gave way to the vestibule of Victoria Station. 

“Yes! I have five minutes left!”

But Victoria is by no means a small station. To save time, I bolted to the south-bound section at once while my eyes searched the announcement board for my train’s platform. The appropriate expression to describe my haste would be to run like the wind; but really I was wearing ankle boots with heels and carrying two bags that kept pounding my back and each other, and judging by the sound of it I was running more like a horse than wind.

“Platform 5!  Double check, yes, platform 5 Southern service calling at Clapham Junction, East Croydon, etc. etc. etc... and Southampton, that’s the one!” I read.

I dashed to platform 5, hopped on the train and seized the nearest seat just as the train doors closed behind me, the whistle sounded and off the train went, first slowly then swift and steady. Six minutes into the ride, the train stops at Clapham Junction for ten minutes. I was still out of breath from scurrying around the station and had not stopped breaking a sweat. I calmed down after a while and noticed that the seats were only sporadically taken, so I relocated to a quieter spot. By the time the train left East Croydon, I was already quietly giggling by myself, replaying in my head some funny jokes my friends had told me earlier.

The train announcement went as per usual, “This is a Southern service to Brighton, calling at Gatwick Airport, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, and Brighton, where this service will terminate.”

My eyes opened wide and I looked up. Come again?!

I was convinced I got on the right train - I double checked it. Did my eyes deceive me? I could not make sense of it and went dizzy for half a second. I waited for the announcement to repeat itself.

“This is a Southern service to Brighton, calling at Gatwick Airport, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, and Brighton, where this service will terminate.”

“Oh no no no, not good. Did I just get on the wrong last train?! What if I wind up in Brighton - where will I stay the night? Do I wait at Brighton station until it’s open tomorrow morning? That doesn’t sound safe. Do I know anyone in Brighton - I do, actually. But it’s almost midnight, it would be rude to knock on their doors - assuming they are still awake, that is! Shiiiiit.

Maybe I should alight at Gatwick, airports are suppose to be open 24 hours, right? But how will I get home, take the morning train? Ugh, I really don’t feel like spending the night at the airport, it’s not like that film ‘Night at The Museum’. Taking the cab to Southampton would perhaps cost me around £100 - rididulous!”

Only days later did I figure out what exactly transpired that night. Basically two train companies service the London-Southampton route: the pricey South West which runs services from Waterloo, and the cheaper Southern from Victoria. The Southern service stops at a great many small stations along the south coast, increasing journey time to 2 hours. As a student, however, I preferred to redeem 40 minutes of my time for a £10 worth of saving, unless South West was having their occasional discounts, matching their prices with Southern’s.

Now from London, Southern normally runs two distinct services to Brighton and Southampton, never shared, not as far as I knew anyway. Both trains stops at Clapham Junction, East Croydon and Gatwick, but then diverge to their respective terminus. That Saturday night the Southern service to Southampton did not run, presumably due to some disruption, whose announcement I must have missed. Instead, courtesy of Southern, I was supposed to take the Brighton train and transfer to the South West service to Southampton at Clapham Junction. At Clapham Junction. Where I was still catching my breath.

Back in the train, incognizant of these facts, I was hit by a surge of panic. I rose from my seat and frantically searched for the ticket inspector. I found her soon enough, in her customary white shirt / black vest uniform and holding the electronic ticket machine, standing by the train doors in the next carriage, and asked her whether I had boarded the wrong train. In all likelihood, she must have explained things as I understood it later, but at the time all I grasped was that I should have switched trains at Clapham Junction, and I did not. She offered the best solution was to disembark at Gatwick and take the National Express coach, the last service being at 1 a.m.

“Great. This looks like it’s going to be a long night,” I resigned. 

It was half past midnight when the train reached Gatwick Airport, I thanked the inspector and she gave me a knowing look, a mix between pity and I-have-seen-many-like-you-before. I made my way into the terminal building and traipsed a never-ending corridor to the coach station. By the time I got there my soles started hurting. The place was desolate; brightly illuminated by the orange tinged street lamps but still, silent as a grave, save for the hum of aeroplanes and the occasional sirens. Not a single person was present, neither was the coach.

I inspected the timetable, “Last coach... Arriving at 1:00 a.m., departing 1:10.”

I sat down on the cold, perforated metal bench, contemplating if I should purchase the ticket online and save some money. But getting on the coach without a printed out ticket is a risky stance, some drivers would not let a passenger board by showing only their phone screen. I figured I had not enough luck left for a wager that night, and better pay the driver in cash. I dipped into my wallet to prepare the exact amount for the coach fare and - blimey! There was no cash in my wallet, not a single penny!

I was convinced I had at least two tenners with me - if I spend it on something earlier that day I could not remember what. I grew resentful of the circumstances and pain started creeping up my neck. I really wished I had been on the right train right now, dozing off on my way to Southampton. I took a peek at my phone - 00:51 a.m., I had ten minutes to find cash.

I scrambled into the terminal building, my bags again pounding at my back and each other, and now the pain on my soles was unbearable. My eyes searched for maps, directions, officers, anything, anyone to ask where the ATM is, but there were only a handful of other passengers traversing the building with their wheeled luggages - I did not suppose they could be informative at all. 

I took my chances and went whichever way my feet took me. As it is in such critical moments, the nearest ATM just happened to be located way on the far side of the building. I inserted my bank card into the machine, took the money, and checked the time: 00:58. Have you ever felt despaired and energized at the same time? I did a quick calculation in my head.

“Seven minutes to get here, seven minutes back to the coach station. Minus time spent looking for the ATM and taking money, let’s say six... So, I will make it at 01:04. If my feet can do it. If my phone tells the same time as the driver’s!”

I concluded it was no time to gamble, so I took off the damned boots, freed my feet, grabbed both boots by the left hand, and sprinted back to the coach station as fast as I could. All eyes on me, I did realise, but not care. I was only concerned with going home that night. Just as I exited the terminal building, a patrol officer in her hi-vis jacket stopped in her tracks, chuckled, bewildered by my barefootedness. The coach had arrived, stationed next to the bench where I had sat, its engine rattling and passenger door ajar, although no one was getting in or out. Thank goodness the driver was so punctual, he did not leave before 1:10!

I climbed onto the coach and paid my fare in cash. The driver too, was amused by my lack of footwear. Now that I was confident I had dodged a sleepover in the airport, I did find it slightly comical. I was too hammered to put my shoes back on, I placed them on the floor next to my feet and rested my eyes. Minutes passed, but I could not fall asleep and grew impatient. I guessed I might as well catch up with some reading until I get carsick. I carefully removed my laptop out of its bag, but as I did, something else fell out onto my lap.

They were banknotes, three ten-pound notes.

[thepurplealmond]

I’ve had my first failure in my pioneer cookbook adventure. (Formerly, Throwback Thursday) I attempted two more recipes this week. One was an utter failure and one mostly worked. (Tasted wonderful, but, didn’t look quite right!) Well, when you’re dealing with old terms and skimpy recipes with very little instructions, it’s bound to happen.

So, here’s the latest episode in my adventure cooking with the…

1903 – GOOD HOUSEKEEPING EVERYDAY COOK BOOK

Oven temperatures:

When dealing with these old cookbooks, there aren’t any oven temps, as there are in modern cookbooks. (Remember: they had wood burning ovens back then). So, I did a bit of research and found the following chart, which has been a great guide so far. I’ll put it on my side panel, in case anyone should need it.

My Flannel Cake Failure:

Ok, I must have read this recipe a dozen times. And, every time I asked the same thing. WHERE’S THE FLOUR?  I couldn’t fathom how it would work without flour. Nope, not an ounce of flour. I mean there’s 3 cups of milk and 2 eggs! That’s A LOT of liquid, without flour! How is that supposed to work? It’s a typo, I think.  I did research on flannel cakes, and every recipe had at least 2 cups of flour. So, basically, flannel cakes are just like pancakes.

But, just for kicks, I mixed up the batter, EXACTLY AS PRINTED. The only difference was I didn’t have cream of tartar. After doing research, I found out I could use vinegar as a substitute. Here’s what I used:

I decided to try and “cook” them. Well, as you’d expect, it turned out…well…quite poorly. You can see the result below, kind of like sweet, white scrambled eggs. I ended up dumping out the batter, but, next time, I’ll try it with flour, and make them properly.

SNOWBALLS!

Ok, yes I know these look great in the pan, but, they were next to impossible to get out of the pan. By the time I got the first batch out of the pan, they were quite deflated and looked like this:

These little gems are so difficult to remove from the pan, because they are so light and delicate, which is what makes them SOOO good. But, I decided to bake them on a pan, with the second batch.

So, there are two options with these: do it the modern way and use cupcake liners or make them like pancakes, on a griddle. Let me tell you, I think I prefer the pancake like option. Making them on a griddle for breakfast, in place of your regular pancake recipe would be amazing with some fresh fruit and a little honey or maple syrup. They’re already sweet, so you don’t need much.

Here’s the recipe:

The ingredients:

4 pasture-raised eggs (whites only)

1 cup organic, grass-fed heavy cream

2 tablespoons organic sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup organic einkorn all purpose flour (approximately)

The steps:

Beat egg whites to soft peaks and set aside. 

Mix heavy cream, sugar and baking powder in a bowl.

  Add flour till you get a pancake like batter, about 1/2 cup.

 Fold in beaten egg whites.

Add to a buttered pan.

 Bake in a hot oven, until raised and golden brown. I baked mine at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. Serve hot.   

    Closing thoughts:

Well there you have it. A slightly bumpy part of my adventure in old fashioned cooking. I’m sure the flannel cakes will be fine, when I make t hem properly. I’m going to try the snowballs on the griddle AND in cupcake liners, and see which turns out best. I’ve decided to skip over several recipes in this baking powder bread section. I’m skipping the waffles, all the biscuits and all the corn bread/cakes.

So, stay tuned to the next edition of

MY PIONEER COOKBOOK ADVENTURE, when I make…

BOSTON BROWN BREAD.

  My Pioneer Cookbook Adventure: 1903 Good Housekeeping ~ Snowballs (… and a failure) I've had my first failure in my pioneer cookbook adventure. (Formerly, Throwback Thursday) I attempted two more recipes this week.