#dec 17

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Green Day - 2000 Light Years Away

[fe-smashorpass]

Misty Trees (Night) - Digimon World

[mistfunk]

Mistigram: on this date 121 years ago, Orville Wright became the first person to ever make a sustained airplane flight (for 12 seconds at least) near #KittyHawk, North Carolina. AdeptApril has drawn this #ANSIart illustration of the #WrightFlyer in honour of the occasion.

[xscarletsakurax]

I’m missing jonghyun today.

[msbarrows]

I am woefully far behind again on Thing A Day, which I'm blaming mostly on seasonal sadness and partially on addiction to a new game (House Flipper, which has turned out to be a lot more fun than I initially expected, and was an excellent diversion from the seasonal sadness).

Did my weekly usuals of laundry and cleaning the bathroom. I meant to bake cookies but did not. But I did at least do one of my planned activities and baked a tortiere (French Canadian pork pie) for the holidays; I'd originally been thinking of making it for Christmas Eve but then decided I'd rather stick to my usual meal plans of not doing two prep-heavy meals back-to-back and made it on the 23rd instead. I had it all assembled early enough that I had some time to spare before it needed to go into the oven, so I rolled out the pastry scraps, grabbed my little tin of leaf-shaped cookie cutters, made some egg wash, and festively decorated that thing:

I'm very proud of how it turned out. Two thirds of it are now in the freezer for future meals, as is an entire magarine tub of the precooked filling, sufficient to make a second pie.

I have finally cracked the mystery of my dad's proportions; my previous tortieres have been lacking on filling compared to dad's, despite using his preferred recipe. But I had an entire 3lb club pack of pork to use up this year, which is sufficient for a triple batch of the filling by the recipe dad preferred, and half of that is exactly enough to fill a pie as deeply as my dad did. Split between two pies cut in six pieces that works out to 1/4lb of meat per slice, which is a decent sized serving.

And my little 'what have I cooked recently and should avoid cooking again too soon' list:

Dec 17 - I have no memory of this date

Dec 18 - Fish sticks, french fries, and steamed corn & squash (very new world veggies menu, much to my amusement)

Dec 19 - Hamburgers and a big salad

Dec 20 - Beans cooked in broth, with mild Italian sausages and steamed mixed veg

Dec 21 - Steak marinated in beer and topped with garlic butter, with seasoned potato wedges, corn, and a salad

Dec 22 - Chili with rice and a cucumber salad

Dec 23 - Tortiere with boiled potatoes, baked squash, and green peas

Dec 24 - Beef and macaroni stew (yay for having some lactose free cheese on hand, I used to make this frequently before youngest bro developed lactose intolerance)

Dec 25 - I will be baking a ham, roasting half a squash, and probably making a salad and mashing some potatoes

[anabellelycan]

Happy _late_ birthday, Loki!

wished it to you yesterday, just not on here

[mrwexleysr]

Where: Sada's Loft When: Dec 17th, Noon

"He's dead, Sada! Laying there in his room, naked and dead, and now I have to explain to this entire building what happened? You truly think that's going to stay hush hush?" Almost able to feel the vein in his forehead threatening to burst, Tobias stared with incredulity at the woman who stood before him, cold and emotionless as ice.

"What do you expect me to say to you? You killed him."

"Excuse me?" The sharpness to Sada's gaze took on a razor's edge, locking on the man who had designated himself the leader of this little pack just because he owned the building. "I did nothing of the sort. Are you proposing that I caused the leak? If I had wanted to kill him, Tobias, I wouldn't have done it stuffing chimneys."

Heavy white fur swathed around her as scoffed in his face, Sada stepped around the man and toward her bar, speaking as she pulled down two glasses and filled them each to the halfway point with rich amber liquid. "Hawthorn was my... lover-" Though she almost cringed at the word. "I didn't want him dead. He knew what he was getting into, and it was consensual." Especially once she'd convinced him of just how badly he deserved to be punished for moving on so quickly when he'd thought her a victim of the outbreak.

"I don't need to hear about your intimate life, Sada. People are going to want something done about this. The fact that you forgot about him there is almost criminal in and of itself." Had she realized and untied him as soon as the alarm bells had been rung maybe he could have been saved.

Ignoring the drink for now, blood boiling as he watched her sip her own with a restrained rage he could see bubbling behind the porcelain mask she'd perfected.

"And who exactly made you judge, jury, and jailer? So now because you own the building you're president of this little community, is that right? Going to put me on trail? Send me Wexley jail?" Sneering the words on the back of a dismissive chuckle, she took another long sip off of her drink, stepping around the bar to all but shove the drink into his hand.

"What do you think would ever happen if there was a vote? Let the people decide who they want to lead them? I have my people here, too, Tobias. I'm far more one of them than you are, living forever up here in your lord's tower. How loyal do you think your serfs really are?"

"Are you threatening me, Sada? This is not the time for divisiveness. Winter is coming and all conflict is going to do is make things harder on us all. You fucked up. You will have to face the consequences." Reaching over to tip his glass so the scotch inside found a new home in her own glass, Tobias set it down on the table next to him.

"You're to be confined to a suite on the fourth floor next to the scouting headquarters until we can decide the best course of action. I have Mal turning the locks around as we speak. You can gather some things and come with quietly, but I won't hesitate to remove you with force if I have to."

"Fine." Looking down at the glass in her hand filled with liquor worth more than the rent than the apartment she'd be kept in, Sada tossed it to the floor at his feet and turned to head into her room without a second look back at the mess it'd made as it smashed on the marble flooring.

Returning not long after with an extremely large suitcase stuffed absolutely to the brim rolling along behind her and a large duffle bag slung over one shoulder, bunching up the sleeve of her polar bear fur coat. Bottoms of her platformed Louboutin's and the wheels of the suitcase crunching over glass she shoved the handle at him and then pushed past, obviously expecting him to carry it down. As if she'd be sleeping on whatever bedding was down there. "This is such a joke. You're a joke."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, Sada."

Taking a hold of the handle of the suitcase, he ignored that scotch that was soaking through his shoes and trailing along in two tracks off the wheels trollying along behind them. It'd be a wonder if they survived the stairs as he fully planned to just let it bounce down them behind him.

[emberwexley]

Where: The Atrium When: Dec 17, 1:00pm

"Oh... I-... I'm fine."

Unsure if that was really true, Ember was just sort of in shocked numbness. Hawthorn was dead? It was just a week or so ago they'd been enjoying themselves all over the building... and now he was gone. It was... so weird. The only people she'd ever known that had died before had been her grandparents, and she'd never really been close with them. There was so many emotions and thoughts rolling around inside her she wasn't sure what to do with it all, and it had her sitting off the side, staring at nothing as she tried to process it all. At least, until someone speaking to her had pulled her back to the moment.

"I... we were... I don't know. I just... I can't believe it."

[disarmluna]

[sadavang]

A note slid under the door: "I'm looking after your place while you're chilling here, but I'm taking Doom Slayer with me. Lmk if you need anything. Room Service"

[fe-smashorpass]

This is True Love Makin’ - Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001

[mistfunk]

Mistigram: #EpicMegagames' heavily-armed green lagomorph #JazzJackrabbit was drawn in #ANSIart by @Grymmjack, as he appeared in his seasonal 1995 #HolidayHare bonus disk, to appear on this date in last year's ADVENT23 #AdventCalendar.

[msbarrows]

Dec 17 - ran four loads of laundry, preparing to pack stuff to go down to Toronto for 2-3 weeks. Also did a little cleaning, mostly things like breaking down boxes and getting some loose recyclables into the bin.

Baked some hamburger buns to use up a couple of egg yolks leftover from cookie making the other day, and then served hamburgers, oven fries, and steamed veg for supper.

[mrwexleysr]

Who: Everyone Where: The Atrium When: Dec 17, 12:45 pm

Standing among his people with yet more bad news to deliver, Tobias felt heavy and oh so tired. Still, it had to be done and there was little he could do to delay it any longer. Making his way to the center of The Atrium where even those in the other spaces surrounding it could hear him, he called every one over before finally speaking loud and clear to be heard by all. "Hawthorn Penrose, unfortunately, has been discovered as a victim of the carbon monoxide. He'd been... unable to flee his apartment, and the only person who knew he was there, Sada Vang, had forgotten about him. Ms. Vang has been detained to an apartment on the fourth floor where she will remain until we can all decide how to go about dealing with what's happened. For now, let's all focus on making it through the next few days down here, and once we can all go back to our homes, we'll shift focus to Ms. Vang and her consequences. Does anyone have any questions?"

**Ic questions can be sent to his inbox, as sort of an ic Q&A as if they're standing in the atrium asking him their questions in real time.**

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[mrwexleysr]

"Keep going, I can hear it loosening!" Leaving his coal stirrer to grab a quick gulp of fresh air, Tobias hurried back and started to jab and stab almost violently into the blockage while his hand held onto the lever for the dampener. Wincing a little as debris started to fall down onto Ashton in larger and larger portions. "Okay, get out of there, I think I've got it!" Urging his partner in work to leave the fireplace, the moment he was clear Tobias gave a hard grunt as her pushed all his weight onto the poker. All at once the remains of the blockage came loose, raining down to the bottom of the fireplace with a surprisingly quiet cacophony of sticks and leaves.

Hand yanking down the damper, ash residue and dust joined the gas as the fresh air blowing down spread it. "Good, we're good, get out!" Directing Ashton toward the door with a stop at the window for fresh air, he realized just how light headed he was. "Go." Coughing shaking his body hard enough to send pins and needles across his chest, he realized he wasn't going to make it to the door.

"Go Ashton, just go!"

Ash had hoped the older man would listen to him just once, because if he died on Ash's watch, he might as well self evict before Ember tries to stab him. In the end hearing the adamant footsteps behind him only made Ash sigh internally and pick up his pace, rushing for the windows so that they could take a breath, sharing a nod, sign that they're doing alright.

Ashton had never even touched the fireplace in his apartment, opting to get an electric radiator instead, so it was a good thing Mr Wexley had been here with the knowledge of its inner workings. "Right, downsides of the fireplace," Ashton simply listened, trying to envision the explanation watching him fiddle around with the lever. "On it," Ashton quickly moved over as he took a breath and went around the apartment looking for something long and sturdy. He came back to the older man's side with a broom from the closet, being an empty apartment, only the bare bones items would be around here.

"Unlikely.. it's probably too high for squirrels. And too low down the chimney for birds," he took a deep breath from the fresh air outside before crouching down to the opening, "-here allow me," once space was made he laid down and pushed himself into the fireplace, continuing to poke where Mr Wexley was just a moment ago, the longer range broom helped reach whatever blockage was as he felt the broom hit a snag, jiggling to hear several things falling down, sounding like sticks and leaves. "Let me know when the lever works again," he pressed on, voicing out the Mr Wexley as he worked.