#i don't know if it's a national park but one of these days maybe i'll do the buffalo river just for shits and giggles

[orkowhereheshouldntbe]

[ID in ALT!]

Orko at New River Gorge National Park. Will he fall out of the boat?

[queen-dahlia]

𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲?

Note: Translation is not 100% accurate. Expect grammatical errors.

// : alternate translation | ⫘⫘ : flashback

I want to apologize for one thing to the rabbit who became a child.   //   There is one thing I would like to apologize to the little rabbit who has become a child.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Gilbert: "What are you doing here?"

Tough Guy: "Ah, I’m sure this has nothing to do with you, but stay back, you idiot!"

Gilbert: "What? It's creepy to stare at me."

Gilbert: "Can I crush your eyes?"

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

I thought I was being careful at the time, but I let out murderous intent.

The feeling of the baby rabbit trembling in my arms is still fresh in my mind.

Gilbert: "Emma, please."

Emma: "Wow, sparkles!"

Emma's little hands hold the suncatcher she just bought.

It was made from a collection of colorful gemstones, which scattered light around it through the sunlight.

Emma: "Are you sure?"

Gilbert: "Of course. I'm happy if the little rabbit is happy too.''

Emma: "Thank you. I will make it my treasure!"

Emma was so pleased with the "sparkles" that she wouldn't take her eyes off them.

It's not an uncommon commodity at ore festivals, but for Emma, it doesn't seem to matter.   //   It's not an uncommon item at an ore festival, but that doesn't seem to matter to Emma.

(You don't seem to be forcing yourself to be happy.)

(I hope that the scary memory from earlier will fade away soon...)

Gilbert: "Emma, there's a delicious sweet shop over there."

Emma: "Sweets!"

Gilbert: "Do you want some?"

Emma: "I want to eat!"

Gilbert: "Let's go, then."

I hold Emma's hand, still distracted by the suncatcher, and start walking away.

As I was about to head to the candy shop I wanted to visit, I felt a small resistance.

I stopped my steps and followed the gaze of those round eyes.

Before I knew it, she was staring at a small park in a corner of the city.

In a park that has only recently been developed using national funds,

Children about the same age as Emma are now playing happily.

(Is she… tempted to get in there?)

If it is an adult Emma, I would not let her get involved with people as much as possible because of jealousy, but I have no intention of tying her up as a child.

Perhaps it was because I had very different feelings about (little) Emma than I did about the adult Emma, but I was willing to be forgiving now.

Gilbert: "Go ahead."

Emma huffs as I let go of her hand.   //   When I let go of her hand, Emma gasped.

Emma: "What about Gil?"

Gilbert: "I'll wait here for you."

Emma: "Are you just waiting?"

Gilbert: "Then I'll watch the little rabbit play all day long."

Gilbert: "If you look like you’re having fun, I’m having fun too."

Emma: "…"

Emma's gaze keeps going back and forth between me and the park.

After making a pretense of hesitation, a small hand grasped my cold fingers.

Emma: "I knew it."   //   "As I thought."

Gilbert: "Why?"

Emma: "Because I wanted to be with Gil."

Gilbert: "It's written all over your face that you want to play with those kids."

Emma: "That's not true!"

Gilbert: "I know a liar when I see one."

Emma: "Then I'll play with Gil!"

Emma puffs out her cheeks and starts walking, pulling me by the hand.

The destination seemed to be in the park, and when I stopped in front of a swing, she asked me to sit down with her gaze.

Gilbert: "Maybe you'd have more fun playing with the other kids than me?"

Emma: "It's much more fun with Gil!"

(Did you care about me?)

(No, no matter how Emma is, she's still a child, so I can't believe that.)

When I give up and sit on the swing, Emma jumps onto my lap.

(... I can't help it.)

When I swung Emma slowly so she wouldn't fall, her innocent face blossomed. **

Emma: "Gil, more, more!"

Gilbert: "Emma has courage, doesn’t she?"

I kick the ground, thinking about my physical strength and trying to live up to expectations because I have been hoped for.   //   Since I was expected to, I tried to live up to her expectations and kicked the ground while thinking about my physical strength.

Although Emma was innocently enjoying herself, there was something smoldering in her chest.

══════════════════

Emma: "Sparkle... sparkle..."

Back at the Imperial Castle, Emma never gets tired of looking at the suncatchers.

I could even hear what sounded like singing and could tell what kind of mood she was in.

Gilbert: "Do you like it that much?"

When I sat down a little further away and asked, Emma turned around quickly.

Emma: "Yeah! It's so beautiful."

Emma: "And you know what, those sparkles... they're just like Gil's eyes!"

A small finger indicated a red gemstone that stood out among the suncatchers made of multiple gems.

(Speaking of...)

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Emma: "But you know what sparkles the most?"

Gilbert: "Oh, isn't that a gem?"

Emma: "Nope!"

Emma: "Gil's red eye is the most sparkling and beautiful."

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

I chuckle at the memory.

Gilbert: "I wonder if my eye sparkles that much."

Emma: "Yeah, it sparkles. But you know..."

Emma: "Sometimes the sparkle just disappears."

Gilbert: "Disappear?"

Emma nods, releases her hand from the suncatcher, and runs over on her little feet.

And then she tugged at my clothes and tilted my face as if listening to a secret conversation.

Emma: "You know, you know."

Emma: "When Gil isn't sparkling, he looks lonely."

little Emma is talking about Gil's eye here.

Gilbert: "…"

(... It's my first time hearing that.)

(Yeah, but... maybe it's the difference between keeping your eyes down or not.)

Adults and children alike always look up when Emma is around.

I can't take my eyes off Emma, and when the sunlight hits her, her eyes may seem to sparkle.

(But I don't really pay much attention to the others.)

Of course, it's not like I haven't seen it at all, but I'm not interested.

I've never been conscious of it, but I seem to spend more time with my eyes downcast.

(Emma, as a child, is really watching closely.)

As I admire her, Emma raises her hands up.

When I picked her up, she looked like she was in a "hold me" pose, but when I picked her up, her little hands grabbed the fluff (of the cape) firmly—

Emma: "See, it's still sparkling."

Emma: "Sparkling like jewels!"

Her innocent eyes peered into my face, and my cheeks unconsciously relaxed.

Gilbert: "... I see."

Gilbert: "Maybe the reason you didn't go to the other kids at the park is because I'm not sparkling anymore?"

Emma: "Yes. When Gil isn't sparkling, things get a little tight here.''

Emma indicated the chest by saying, 'here.'

(I didn't mean to restrict you, though.)

It is no different for child Emma and adult Emma to react to loneliness that has come out unconsciously.

Gilbert: "I'm sorry."

Emma: "…?"

Gilbert: "Hehe, it’s okay if you don’t understand."

Gilbert: "In return, gentle one, I'll tell you big brother's secret."   //   "In exchange, I will tell you big brother's secret, who is kind to you."

Emma's eyes light up in response to the word "secret."

(I think you're more sparkly than I am.)

Gilbert: "When big brother is sparkling, that's when he thinks, "I love you, little rabbit.""

Emma: "!"

Gilbert: "But don't tell anyone, because it's embarrassing."

Emma: "All right!"

Emma clings happily with a big smile on her face.

(You probably knew intuitively that I was a scary person in the back alley...)

(You still feel attached to me.)

Gilbert: "You're so cute… Please love me forever."   //   "You're so cute… You'll always love me."

Emma: "Yes! Gil, you'll always, always love me, too."

Gilbert: "Hmm, of course."

(I know my "likes" are not always good for you, but...)

That is not something I should say to the little baby rabbit.

Gilbert: "Don't forget your promise to big brother, okay?"

[katsuyuswritings]

— amongst the flooded city of fontaine. | neuvillette x gn! reader

warning(s) ; fluff and confession (reader receive), reader has a hydro vision and is from Liyue but chooses to travel as a travelling legal adviser.

As a traveler, your duty is to explore the vast nations of Teyvat. Your duty continues to flame power in the city of Fontaine, where you are underwater. Your accomplice, Neuvillette, has instructed you to stay at the most luxurious hotel in the city. "You must take some rest. You're here because you're in charge of the case." He said, "I know. This time I won't get in trouble with those treasure hoarders." You reply, taking the government files. "Just... Stay safe. I don't want you to get hurt..." "What was that?" You reply teasingly. "(Reader), I said I don't want you to get hurt. Because... I have an interest in you." Your eyes lighten. "I didn't know that the general would like an outlander like me." You chuckled, placing your hand on the soft bed. "Well, you can stay here. By the way, I like you too." You fled to the kitchen, he stayed there, paused and blushing as you come back with some cookies. "Would you like some coffee too?" You asked, "Sure," you handed him the coffee. "I've always wanted to come here at Fontaine. My friend Yanfei said that it's the nation of justice, too bad she can't come because she has a criminal case." "That must be a hard one, I've kept my eye on Liyue for a while." "I know right?" You sip your coffee. "Hey, do you wanna go to a park to pass the time? It's still around 6PM, I can treat you to a meal." "Sure."

You both left the hotel and dined in a fancy restaurant, Neuvillette is naturally rich, it wasn't a drag to him. "Fontaine feels like a city that's filled with joy, but not as joyful as Mondstadt. I still like it here, though." "I'd like to visit Mondstadt one day, but sadly I can't just leave the city." "Aw, maybe I'll take you with me on my adventures." "Really?" You chatted away.

"Thanks for the meal, my dear." You hugged him, "Hey, would you be my partner from now on?" You paused, "Of course."

Messy asf but ok

[lastweeksshirttonight]

All right, gonna attempt to put the writing cap back on for this blog. And what better way to do so than to do a recap of everyone's favorite (episode) five car pileup of a game show?

It's Strike Force Wives time y'all

:thunderclap:

We are going to speak EXTENSIVELY about what a trainwreck Fallon is in this episode, but let's also take time to acknowledge that Stephen opens this episode by mispronouncing 'podcast' in two separate ways (podcant and codpast). While saying they're getting the podcasting thing down. This episode was cursed from jump street.

Giving Fallon credit where it's due, introducing John as "a frequent guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is objectively hilarious. Reminds me of the time Stephen introduced him on the Late Show as "you know him from The Love Guru", which is still the funniest introduction I have ever heard for anyone.

The introduction goes off the rails at 1:30. AND WE'RE OFF

Kimmel: "My first radio job in Seattle was called the Him and Me Show". [...] Fallon: "Which one were you?" Kimmel: "I don't know. To this day I don't know." I could listen to Kimmel talk about his radio show days for hours, honestly, just for wild bits of ephemera like this.

As we all know, the theme of this episode is Strike Force Wives. Now Fallon is clearly trying to do something akin to The Newlywed Game, where you ask a couple one question and you see if their answers match. Here is a scene from Parks and Rec showcasing the general idea (except as Tom's ludicrously named Know Ya Boo):

Fallon somehow manages to completely fuck up this very simple concept. I'll be honest, I STILL don't know how he screwed this up so badly. He just needed to ask both people the same questions and give them clearly defined subjects!

Moments right before disaster: "[Kate, John's wife] wanted more details than I had available to her, and I said 'Jimmy's gonna text you and it will all become clear.' ...He started texting her and early on, it was in no way clear."

Related, I love that Stephen and Kimmel's wives were totally up for it, Seth's did not want to do this, and John's wanted more details. Lines up pretty well with my sense of them (from the guys' descriptions and talk about them + Evie being a literal gem during the COVID shows).

Seth's kid shrieking in reaction to Seth going to try and quiet them was absolutely perfectly timed.

This will sound very silly, but I genuinely love hearing about how people met their partners. (Maybe because my story is a bit boring? Mr. Lee and I met on a dating app and managed to go the distance despite only having 3 dates before COVID shutdowns.) You can tell so much about a relationship from those kinds of stories. In that vein, Kimmel joking about how he met his wife Molly at work and spinning it, as a joke, into a sexual harrassment lawsuit waiting to happen before being a little more honest and vulnerable was very cute.

Seth and Alexi's meet cute at Chris Kattan's wedding sounds like a sitcom plot waiting to happen.

John and Kate met at "the opposite of a meet cute", the 2008 Republican National Convention. Regular followers of my blog/Buglers may remember this as the point in time where John lost his goddamn mind and did an episode of the Bugle fully naked and kept inexplicably bringing that up in-between bemoaning how catastrophically depressing his surroundings were. (Episode 44, if you're curious. Have you gone through The Bugle Archive? Maybe you should. Be sure to download and not stream!)

Kimmel: "[Your wife] could have been Sarah Palin." John, clearly holding back 15+ years of accumulated hatred and in the most purposefully even tone ever: "It could have been."

Stephen's story about meeting his wife involved him literally fleeing an old girlfriend by going to South Carolina, seeing a Phillip Glass performance that he wouldn't recommend, and seeing Evie across the room at that performance and immediately knowing she was the one he was going to marry. Which, as Seth and John point out, was probably really reassuring to that old girlfriend.

I'm pretty sure this is the first time we get loud clapping when Fallon mentions "Fever Pitch". I actually kinda like "Fever Pitch", but my grading scale for baseball movies is extremely biased and flawed. Let's be real, baseball fans, is "Major League" actually overall good? Because it's like half a funny movie and half a movie about a random baseball player stalking his ex-girlfriend.

Addendum: Queen Latifah should have been in "Fever Pitch".

Addendum to the addendum: This has been playing on a loop in my head for like a week so also Rob McElhenney should have been in Fever Pitch.

Update to Chris Kattan's wedding: Seth and Alexi were pretty convinced that Chris' marriage was not going to last very long, making their meeting even more sitcom-like. Seth thinks that Chris and his ex-wife themselves didn't really believe that wedding was going to take either.

Kimmel wants to see all the fights that come out of this game. He says this before the real chaos even begins in the episode.

Lessons about England - dimples were part of the class system in the 1970s. Totally true. Definitely a well-documented phenomenon.

As someone with chronic stomach illness, I deeply relate to Kate realizing John was the one when she was stuck on the toilet trying to determine if there was blood in her stool. That precipice where you are, as John so eloquently put it, "shitting yourself to death" in the same general area as your partner is when you find out if love is real, trust me.

With that, I also don't disagree with Seth that Kate bringing that up was probably because Fallon didn't explain this game correctly at all.

The first time I heard the little horn noise transitions in the podcast, I was so fucking happy and got really in my feelings about John and the Bugle. That apparently has not worn off at all in the gap between the last episode of the show and me re-listening to this one.

Kimmel is the one to finally break the game, as he asks the very difficult question "is it when she fell in love with me or when I fell in love with her?" Fallon's response is to acknowledge that's where it gets confusing, and then everything implodes with everyone. (John yelling "There's no 'I think', it's your fucking question!", incidentally, made me fall in love with John all over again. But was that the question? Maybe every question is, in a way, the question. The questions are truly the friends we made along the way.)

"Climb inside his head. It's a happier place."

Evie going to visit Stephen in Chicago and calling her sister about his monogrammed towels is the most Jane Austen thing anyone relates in this podcast series. She saw the magnificent grounds towels of Pemberly, Illinois!

Fallon's story about a driver dropping him off on the set of Fever Pitch (CLAPCLAPCLAP) and noticing his wife's smile and pop leads directly into John saying that Fallon described his wife like a horse. Why are you constantly thinking about horses John

Kimmel's "a horse with a Jansport" joke gets lost in the chaos, which is sad because it's the funniest part of Fallon's whole story of falling in love with his wife.

"My second question was 'what do you think bothers your wife the most about you?'" You can almost hear Kimmel's eyes bug out a bit before he follows up with "While we're pondering that..."

Kimmel has been thinking about Kate's story for a bit clearly, and is befuddled by the idea that a veteran combat medic would ask John to check her stool. I mean, he has a point.

Seth and Alexi seem like a parody of a chaotic couple sometimes. I cannot imagine caring about filling a humidifier. It seems to greatly occupy Seth's mind.

Molly and Alexi somehow ended up with different questions for the same round. Molly and Kimmel are on the same page about Kimmel's messiness at least?

Stephen pulling out his Colbert Report hat to tell Fallon "that's not what you said, but I'll accept it" made me cry laughing the first time I heard it.

Stephen: "I wanna say that she said that I'm selectively anal." Consummate frat bro Kimmel: 🤯

The moment where everyone starts going 'oh' after Stephen explains his fastidiousness is a nice, rare moment of everyone clowning on someone who isn't Fallon this episode.

Fallon thinks his wife is most irritated by his overthinking tendencies. Literally everyone else on this podcast is pretty sure that she's annoyed by his "inability to ask a coherent question". And a collection of badly worded questions asking basic concepts from all the guys.

Nancy then responded with what DOESN'T bother her, which...

I need to put a block break here because I've written too much about this podcast, lol. Happy Spooky Season!

ONWARDS!

I forgot this episode also had the adventures of Fallon eating the weirdest food possible in bed, like pizza and ramen. (Seth squeaks "soup?!" in a high-pitched quiet voice in the background.) Stephen, when asked if he eats food in bed, says he'll occasionally have a lozenge, which I am pretty sure does not qualify as food.

John: "What irritates me most about [Kate] - I hope she doesn't mind me saying this, she shits blood sometimes." Y'all I love two men and this is one of them

The Ryan Reynolds commercials are hit or miss, but the phrase "ivory underground bunker" is one I've gotten a lot of mileage out of to describe certain members of the US Congress.

Fallon forgot that there was a third option to his question about pet names. You could not script better escalation of absurdity.

The half-hit lightning strike is such a good noise. It sounds like a rustling sheet (something Seth notes pretty accurately).

Stephen's utterly convoluted explanation of how he thinks his imaginary version of his wife's pet name for him is Steve is, as Seth points out, a pretty solid way to answer a Jimmy Fallon question.

Seth and John both seem bewildered at the idea of calling someone "love duck", which, fair.

Esteban Colberto definitely is a deep cut. It's such a deep cut that it seems like Colbert completely fucking forgot about it.

Everything about Anastasio Somosa on this podcast kills me. Kimmel devoted almost 5 hours to making an AI message of Somosa telling Stephen he's proud of him as his son, which also kills me. If Kimmel and John ever joined their trolling forces, I think they could probably do some absolutely insane damage.

Molly's pet name answer: "Trump called him a low-rated loser, does that count?"

Alexi getting the pet name question so wrong that she just named her actual pet makes Stephen laugh harder than I have EVER heard him laugh. Ever.

Ranking everyone's family traditions from most to least weird: Meyers family's secret language > Kimmel's birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas (honestly a great idea) > Colbert men singing songs from the movie Zulu > Fallon banging pots and pans outside on NYE > Colbert family sharing the same story over and over again like they've never heard it > Kimmel making 20+ fishes > Alexi's father's karaoke nights > Oliver Uno championship (also a Lee family tradition, weirdly enough) > John and Kate having Italian food on Thanksgiving (this feels super LA, I know a lot of people who do this or get sushi)

Weird to hear Stephen briefly transform into my dad while discussing Zulu.

To round us off, a collection of quotes John has about Fallon's incredible inability to run this game: "Your staff all need their wages doubled." "Just because you inflect up at the end of a sentence doesn't make it a question." "They've had to insert an internal logic to what you're asking, and you're complaining that THEY'RE confused!" (upon the question being changed in the same round) "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" "When you ask her how's her day, what do you say? 'How do you think... days went? For your sister's sister?'" "You're being fed through Google Translate, that's how you sound." "Jimmy. How do you think this went?"

[villainsblog97]

Xdinary Heroes on Valentine's Day ❤️

Now anyone who knows me well, knows I hate Valentine's day, however, I love you guys so I'll do one

Summary: How do our 6 Heroes treat their Valentine?

Warning: Nothing really

Scenario: Boyfriend AU, fluff, romance, Valentine's day

Gun-il ❤️

How he asked you:

Tell me I'm wrong

He would plan a beautiful picnic

With little rose petals all over the blanket

And a dozen roses sitting by the basket

With a card that reads "Be my Valentine"

(Tell me I'm wrong)

With little cupcakes or cookies

And of course little sandwiches

He would ask with all the love in his eyes

And of course you'd say yes in a heartbeat

The day of:

I don't know why but I see him as a smaller bear kind of guy

Again more flowers

All your favorite snacks

And something you'd remember

Like a necklace or bracelet

He would have the whole day planned out for you guys

A day at the beach

Just walking along the waves

Ending it with a nice dinner

Jungsu ❤️

How he asked you:

Jungsu had everything planned out in advance

Like the second you mentioned Valentine's day was coming up

He went into planning mode

(Kind of like this gif)

He 100% made little cupcakes

Maybe that spells out "Valentine?"

With some little sweets around it

He was so nervous to ask you

Not sure why counting he was already your boyfriend

The day of:

He would definitely take you to an amusement park

Ride all the rides with you

While he holds your hand

Like he never lets it go

He's gotta let everyone know who you're with

Then he would take you back to the dorm

Where a big teddy bear and some pink roses were waiting for you

(Boy I'm feeling single af right now)

Gaon ❤️

How he asked you:

Gosh I could only imagine how he would be

Super nervous for sure

Again he's already your boyfriend

Would you really say no?

But he knew it was special to couples

So he made a hand crafted card

(Okay so you guys saw The Boyz's mv for Christmassy)

He would definitely pull something like Sangyeon

Have a pizza

and inside the box is says

"This may sound cheesy but will you be my..."

and on the pizza

Made out of pepperonis

It spells "Valentine?"

(Again tell me I'm wrong!)

The day of:

Like I've said before

The best dates I see with Jiseok are arcade dates

He would play a little extra hard

So he can get lots of tickets

He wants to get you something that you will keep forever

So he wins enough tickets to get you a duck plushie

"Look Jagiya we're twins!"

*Infectious Jiseok smile*

Then he would take you out for some bbq or something

And gives you a little bracelet he picked out a few days ago

With a little guitar pick charm on it

And reveal that he has a necklace with a bigger guitar pick on the chain that has an outline of yours that can fit perfectly inside

(Damn that's cute)

O.de ❤️

(Nation's Boyfriend coming through!)

How he asked you:

You best believe that Seungmin has trained his whole life for this day!

He's been thinking about this day since the day you said you'd go out with him

Since the day he became your boyfriend

So with that said

You're getting the whole treatment

He ordered chicken

and a cake

The cake says "Be Mine?"

And there's a card too that has a long ass essay on how much he loves you

Ending it with "Will you be my Valentine?"

How could you possibly say no?

The day of:

Like I said

You're getting the whole Valentine's day treatment

You wake up and he's got breakfast in bed for you

Then when you walk out into the living room

There are a dozen roses

A giant teddy bear

Chocolates

And your favorite snacks

(He's been training for this)

Then he'd take you to a movie

And then dinner

He would give you so many gifts as well

If you don't have an Oh Seungmin this valentine's day

You're doing it wrong my friend

JunHan ❤️

How he asked you:

As he said in the Lilac class

"Simple is best"

And that's what you liked about Hyeongjun

He was a simple kind of guy

So he didn't go all out

It was very subtle

He made you a card

and put a single white rose on it

It was a beautiful, yet simple, display of his love

He kind of waited for you to read the card

Then you just smiled at him and of course said yes

The day of:

I can see you guys doing two things

1

He could take you to town

Just walking together

Hand in hand

Looking at all the little things in the shops

and of course him buying something for you

Or 2

Having a day at home, where you guys play video games

Watch movies

Feeding each other snacks

Now either way I still see him getting you a little something

Like a little stuffed animal

Maybe a bunny

And those cute couple bracelets that have the magnets on them and they connect when you guys hold hands

Jooyeon ❤️

How he asked you:

Boy is clueless

Because he's really not much of a romantic

So he had to get some advice

Probably from Seungmin

So then he's got some flowers

and of course he has 5 Seconds of Summer's song Valentine playing in the background

And hes standing there

And holds out the flower to you

and personally asks you to be his valentine

The day of:

This boy would definitely stay out of tradition

He's gonna get you something like a stuffed alligator or dragon

(I'd love that dragon)

And then like your favorite chips and snacks

Maybe even a boba

Idk

He's gonna be random about it

Look at the selfies he sends on bubble

None of them are normal

But I can see him planning one really sweet thing

A little fire pit

He has a blanket around you

And he plays his acoustic guitar for you

(I'm gonna cry now)

That's it for that one! Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

[mrsniallhoran505]

I'm trying to remember.

An Austin Butler fluff.

The Candy Lady was an amazing place to work. Not only did I get to taste test chocolate all day but when there was street fairs we got to run a booth that let us sell candy, and chocolate, and chocolate covered candy and fruit. Everyone loved our dark chocolate covered gummy bears. I'd been working there for four years so I got to make the chocolate and the candies while the newer employees mostly handled dipping and toppings. 

Today we were having a street fair in old town. It was the original town before the city grew. Most the buildings were shops and restaurants now. Once a month each shop would do a sale and would set up booths on the side walk to sell popular items. When a fair happened there was usually a few bands playing at the park in the center of old town, food being sold from restaurant booths or food trucks, and fair games set up. 

We always made sure to get a booth at the end of the food booths so people can get a nice sweet treat after eating. Kids loved to run to us for the free samples. Parents liked to go into our store for our adult section. We sold weed edibles, edible garments, and candies and chocolate shaped like penises, vaginas, and breasts. It was a real hit with the college kids and bridal parties that came in. 

Today we were hosting the gathering of the nations so everyone was out selling goodies. I was setting up our booth and watching the natives dance and sing. We got the usuals first, then more tourists came. 

I was just setting out more samples of our latest 80% dark chocolate filled with 75% dark chocolate, it was my favorite, when a deep raspy voice asked what would I recommend for a first time buyer. 

"Oh, well I personally love the gummy bears and the Chocolate covered uh.. um… I'm sorry, I forgot the English word for the fruit." I frown and try to look for the card that says what it is but it's not out. 

"What's the name you know it by, maybe it sounds similar?" He asked. 

"Oh uh.. I just know it as melon but that's not close to its English word." I frown more, not wanting to look up at the customer and see the angry face I always get when I forget my English.

"Well that's not watermelon, that's Sandia right?" He asks and I nod. "So… honeydew?" He asks and again I shake my head. "Cantaloupe?" He tries and I grin. 

"Yes! Cantaloupe. We have it in white chocolate, milk chocolate, and different dark chocolate." I looked up after pointing everything out to see Austin Butler. I wanted to freak out, die, and cry all at once but that would cost me my job and make a scene for him. That wouldn't be fair to either of us. 

"Let me try those dark chocolate covered gummy bears." He smiled at me. I nodded and got him two for a sample and handed it to him. He took a bite and his eyes closed as he let out a satisfied moan. It took everything in me not to bite my lip and moan back. 

"That is really good. I'll take a pound. How about that cantaloupe?" He pointed out the one covered in 87% dark. I got him a piece as a sample. Once again he moaned at the taste and asked for a tin. I got it all for him and tied the bag with a perfect bow. 

"Thank you." He paid and as he walked away I was getting ready to fan girl when he stopped mid step, and walked backwards to me. 

"Actually, can I try the chocolate covered cherries and strawberries?" He gave me a sheepish smile. "I love dark chocolate and not many places do it like this.. I think I'm in heaven." He chuckled. 

"Don't worry, I love dark chocolate too and most of the stuff we sell is because the boss caught me making it for myself." I got him the samples and handed them over. "I love the cherries." I said with a smile. 

He tried them all and loved them but the cherries leaked out a bit on his chin. 

"You have, you um, you got some filling on your chin." I giggle slightly at his confused face. It was so cute. 

"Oh, heh, can I have a napkin please?" He asks while placing his chocolate down. I hand him one and he tries to wipe his whole chin but he just smears it making me laugh a bit. "Didn't get it?" He asks and I shake my head. 

I grab another napkin and wet it with my water bottle before handing it to him. 

"Actually, can you get it for me, since you can see?" He asks and I nod. He leans towards me and suddenly I can smell his cologne and man does he smell good. It has to be Tom Ford. I snap out of my daze and gently clean his chin for him. 

"There you go." I smile and toss the napkin away. 

"Thank you sweetheart." He smiled at me. I could die but then who would get him his chocolate. 

"I'll take a tin of the cherries and strawberries." He smiled and handed me the money. I take it and prepare his tins. I tie them with a bow and hand them over. He thanks me, takes a card for the store, and leaves me a 50 dollar tip. Once he's gone I have a mini freak out then get back to work. 

When my co workers arrived I'm able to finish setting up but our banner was slipping and I didn't have the ladder to tie it. I was the tallest in the shop and even with my heeled boots I couldn't reach it. 

I was about to walk away to get the ladder when someone reached over me to pull it tight and retie it. I turn to thank them to see Austin again. 

"Hi, uh thank you for that. I'm tall but not tall enough." I chuckle nervously at being so close to him. 

"Well I figured if I helped you, you'd help me." He smiles and turns to face me..wow, he's tall. 

"Sure what do you need?" I smile and go back to my customer service attitude. 

"Well you see, I met this girl and I didn't get her name or her number, which sucks cause I was hoping to ask her out." He asks, biting his lip. I could feel my smile trying to fall but I just nodded. 

"Well did she work a booth? I know quite a few of the other workers." 

"Yeah, it was a candy booth. She was giving me some free samples and couldn't remember the word cantaloupe.

" He smirks at me. 

I turn red realizing he's talking about me.

"Can I get your number, sweetheart?" He pulled his phone out and opened it to add a new contract. He held it out to me with a hopeful smile. 

"Oh uh, sure." I blush dark and take his phone. I start to put my number in when he speaks again. 

"And your name?" He asks. 

"I'm trying to remember it." I admit. 

[straykidsworldwild]

DUSKWOOD

Jake x MC

Plot : MC goes to DUSKWOOD even though Jake told her not too. First time meeting.

- "I love you, MC." I read his text message.

- "I love you, too, Jake." I replied back to which he left a "read" underneath my message.

That's the last thing this idiot told me. Those three little words meant so much to me. Even more after living that crazy adventure in Dusk wood along side with him. I refused for him to go there but he is so damn stubborn that he didn't listen! He f**king went there! He didn't think for one moment that people who loved him could get scared for him! He didn't think that his disappearance would have been painful and certainly a trauma for me... I know don't know him personally. I know we just talked through a screen. But we developed a connection together. Even through a screen, I could tell his feelings for me and it made my heart go more and more crazy every single message I received from me. He had such a big impact in my life that... If I happen to lose him, I'll blame myself for the rest of my life... Because, I couldn't stop him from losing his life...

That's why I took the decision to disobey his words. He went to Duskwood when he promised me he wouldn't. He was probably there this whole time since he had to flee his persuiers and left me for a few days... And he also probably lied to me to keep me safe and to not worry for him. Now, I guess it's my turn. Maybe I won't find him. Maybe I'll never meet him. Maybe I actually go there for nothing. Maybe it's too late... But I need to go and I need to know if he is alive!

I couldn't sleep much that night, so, at 3a.m., I got up, I packed a luggage, I took all the stuff I knew I needed for this trip, I put my phone in charge while taking a shower, I got ready, I grabbed some food with me, and I left. I have a long drive ahead of me. Leaving early this morning was a good idea. Now, it will take a few hours before I get to Duskwood...

Around 3:30p.m., after driving through highways, national roads, even mountains and tunnels, I finally reached that legendary small town. Duskwood. I have never been here before, but with the pictures Jessy sent me, I manage to recognize a few spot while driving. The pictures were amazing, but now that I'm here, I can tell that it's even more beautiful than I thought. I barely drove through this small town and I already see the charm it offers. Moreover, the automnal colored leaves lying on the ground gives it some kind of magic. Duskwood is definitely a special town...

After driving through Duskwood, briefly visiting the town at the same time, I finally reach a giant woods. I know what you're going to say. How do you know this is the woods where Jake went to? Woods are just giant trees standing next to each other, they all look alike... True. But seeing the police cars, the F.B.I., and ambulances parked in front of it, it can only be here... I park my car a bit further from those and step down.

It feels weird... Being here... Alone. Usually, Jake is on the other side of my phone... He is there to comfort me if I feel the need to get comforted. And I do now... I need him. I'm scared. Standing in front of these woods, in Duskwood itself, scares me. Everything seems more real... What if it was a mistake coming here? What if it was wrong? Am I going crazy? Ugh...!

Watching the woods, I stand next to my car, motionless. I can't bring myself to move yet. Too many questions are burning my mind. They keep popping up, some of them are on repeat which scares and anxious me... Is he still live? Is he still breathing? Why still so many police cars?

My heart is pounding so hard right now, almost reminding me that I need to breathe. I take a deep breath in and finally manage to take a step forward. My legs feel heavy. Each steps I take makes me more and more nervous because I know I am getting closer and closer to that spot... Everything will change once I'll be there. Good or bad... It will change, and it scares the hell out of me.

Walking and climbing on dead leaves and branches, I slowly reach the entry of that site. The feeling is definitely different... Being here in person and watching it from behind a screen... It's different. The FBI are roaming around, most certainly searching for clues and evidence. Police officers from Duskwood are even here. I wonder if Alan Bloomgate is here. Okay... It's pretty serious. Usually, you see this on TV... I look around until my eyes stop at the entrance of that cave. He went in there... He must have been so scared... What if he is still down there? What if he couldn't come back up? What if they found him? Oh God...

I take a step back as stress and anxiousness take over me. My heart is palpitating so fast in my chest. I can even hear my heartbeat in my ears... My hands are becoming very sweaty and my breathing is getting heavy...

- Excuse me, miss! I rapidly look up and see a man approaching me. You can't come here, tells me, a police officer from Duskwood. I notice it just by the uniform he wears.

- Wait, no, my friends were in there! I exclaim with a point of fear mixed with despair in my voice.

- I'm sorry but you have to step back, he insists seriously, not caring of what I just told him.

- Please, just tell me how they're doing. Please! I plead him, impossible for me to give up. What if Jake...? No! I refuse to believe it. And besides, the FBI wouldn't still be here if they found him.

- Miss, step back now! I won't repeat myself! He tells me, slightly raising his voice. He spoke with such a stern tone. As if I was a child not listening to him.

- I'm just asking how they're doing! Please, I need to know! I repeat myself, disliking the way he talked to me. I'm not touching or pushing him. I haven't raised my voice on him. And I haven't insulted him. Why losing it on me?

- Miss!... He half screams at me. He grabs me by my shoulder and pushes me backwards.

- Hey! I suddenly hear a man exclaiming behind him, before I could say something. The police officer takes his hand off and turns around as I look up to see who it was. Another one... Great... Let her to me. Go see if agent Shepherds needs you. He's on site at the entrance of the mine, he tells his coworker with a dead serious tone.

- Yes, sir, replies the police officer before leaving. He didn't argue... Is he his superior? I stay quiet and watch the man leave.

- Hi, I'm Alan Bloomgate. How may I help you? He introduced himself to me before kindly offering his attention. Bloomgate?

- Alan... Bloomgate? Police Chief Department of Duskwood? I question with a surprised tone.

- In person. Why do you look so surprised? He asks back, looking confused himself.

- I just... I thought you were going to look much older. Sorry, I reply with honesty. The man nods. He doesn't seem to know how to react on my comment. Yet, a small smile appeared on his face. But it didn't last for long.

- You said your friends were in there. I believe you are MC, he suddenly tells me. Oh... How...? He didn't see my face when we were on a call...

- How do you...? We just talked on... Are they okay-Wait, I... I blabber so fast that I don't know which question I want to ask first. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hits me. The ground feels like it's wobbly.

- Wow, are you okay? He asks as he catches me. The police Chief Department of Duskwood helps me sit on cut tree trunk that wasn't too far. Do you want me to call emergency? He kindly offers.

- No, I just need to sit a bit. I'm sorry, it's... The tiredness, all the sudden emotions,... The situation itself. A mixed of everything, I answer sincerely and seriously as I take a few breaths.

- I understand. But don't worry, thanks to you, everything is over, he answers, giving a small comforting smile. Over? I look at him with a shocked expression when the tears began to come up. Over... I don't know if I like the sound of that. Could over means no more Jake? I'm sorry about Richy Rogers. I believe he was also a friend of yours, he suddenly tells me as I see on his face that he doesn't know what to do.

- I thought so too... I whisper shakily due to my tears.

- Let me get you a coffee and then we can talk? He kindly suggests. I nod as I saw he was waiting for an answer from me. The Police Chief Department leaves, walking towards his colleagues. What am I doing here? Was I wrong to come here? Suddenly, I feel my phone buzzing. My heart skips a beat, hoping it is Jake... Oh Thank God!

- "MC. I thought I told you not to come here until I contacted you again. Are you okay?" I read the text message from none other than Jake himself. A part of me feels happy because if he contacted me, that means he is still alive. I have been waiting for days for his message! Yet, I don't like the sound of his message. I look up and look around me as discreetly as I can. I don't see anyone... Oh! This silhouette hiding behind the tree...

- Jake... I whisper with a sudden hope in my voice. I don't know where it came from. I want to run up to him... I want to run up to Jake and hug him. After everything that happened, after every message we shared, the happy and the sad moments... I want to see his face. To discover the real face of who I have been talking with the whole time.

- "Are you okay?" I look at the screen of my phone as it buzzed again. What kind of question is this? Who is okay right now? I get up, still looking in his direction.

- Miss, MC? startled, I turn around to face Mr. Bloomgate. Here's your coffee, he tells me as he hands me the coffee. I accept it despite disliking it and smile to thank him. As if nothing happened... I glance quickly back at where Jake was but I cannot see him anymore. Did he leave? Where is he? I didn't know if you wanted sugar so I brought some, tells me the Police Chief Department. I look at the sugar, staying quiet. Are you okay? He asks me with concern.

- Yes, I'm okay. Well... As okay as I can be after all of this, I state sincerely, not really knowing what else I could say.

- Do you mind me asking you a few questions? He gently asks. Whatever answer I will give him won't change the fact that I need to answer them. If not now, it'll be later...

- No, I... Please, ask them, I reply with a small voice. Where's Jake? Why is he still around? I watch Bloomgate get a pen and a piece of paper to take notes.

- How did you get in contact with everyone? He starts asking.

- They contacted me first. But I don't know how they found my phone number, I reply, trying not to lie too much about this situation. Well, I don't have much to hide except everything that concerns Jake.

- Who contacted you? He asks me as he finishes taking notes from the previous question.

- Thomas. He made a group chat with all of the others, I respond as I keep my eyes on the ground. It's like I am scared to look up and to see Jake around. If I see him, everyone can as well. I don't like that.

- There was a Hacker helping you, right? Or was he a nuisance at finding Hannah? He continues to ask me. A nuisance? Jake... I need to be extra careful of what I'm telling him now. I look at the police chief with a slight upset frown.

- A nuisance? The hacker was our best friend in this investigation. He helped us in so many ways, even the police couldn't do. No offense, I answer with a defensive tone. Maybe I shouldn't have react like this. It will make things obvious...

- None taken. Has the Hacker ever threatened you in any way? He asks me. How many questions does he have? Why would Jake threaten us?

- No, I simply reply.

- Did he forced you to say that? I look at Bloomgate for a second, surprised by the question. What is he doing? Trying to reach me emotionally so I would give answers he couldn't get?

- No. Of course not, I say seriously. Suddenly, Alan lowers his notes and cut his radio. What is he doing? I watch the Police Chief Department looking around, as if he doesn't want anyone to hear us. Why?

- He was in there, wasn't he? He questions with a small voice, making sure no one hears us.

- No, he wasn't, I answer, giving him a lie.

- You love him, don't you? He states. He already knows the answer, why ask?

- I thought you were going to ask questions about this investigation, I remind him with a calm tone. I can't let him get to me.

- He loves you too, doesn't he? He continues to state, as if he slowly got all the pieces. And maybe he actually has some of them...

- I don't know, I reply. It's true, maybe he was just playing a game with me after all...

- I don't believe you, miss, I quietly stare at the Police Chief Department. I watch him grab his radio and turn a button. It makes a sound and then nothing. Please, tell me the truth. It's just between us. My radio is off. I do not write your answers anymore. And we're alone, he calmly says to me, speaking with a gentle tone. He almost seems to be a friend. He spoke with a small voice, like someone wanting to know a secret. Well, it's kind of the case...

- He wasn't in the mine. How could he? I reply seriously and gently, still following Jake's demand.

- The FBI is here. They would have never came for Hannah or Richy. So I'm guessing this hacker of yours is wanted. And he was here. I'm also guessing that you wouldn't be here if he wasn't in there, he tells me, giving me more and more proof that he already knows half the truth. Well, some of those things are hard to hide and hard not to link.

- Maybe... But I honestly don't know if he was in there or not, I respond sincerely as I shrug. Mr. Bloomgate nods. I can't tell if he believes me or not. His expressions are pretty stoic.

- Do you know what he looks like? He asks me as I see him holding his pen and block note up. I wish I knew...

- No, he never showed his face and he never let us hear his real voice either. He always made sure that his identity was hidden, I answer with sincerity once again. Now that I think about it, I went to look for a guy I fell in love over a crazy adventure across my phone with people living at the other side of the country and I don't even know my lover's face. Damn... How crazy is that?

- I can sense strong emotions coming from you when you talk about him. How come? He says seriously. He knows he isn't going to get much answers from me, so he analyzes me. Smart... But I'm smart too.

- I'm a pretty emotive person. Too emotive maybe, I reply, avoiding what he's truly trying to do.

- Phil Hawkins was released. He called someone from prison. Was it you? He slightly changed the subject. Phil... Jessy's brother. I almost forgot about him.

- Yes, it was, I answer.

- Weird. He could have called his sister instead. He doesn't know you but he trusts you than them. Can you explain this to me? He says, frowning as he seems curious. Well... I can't tell either why he called me to be honest... So how can I explain this?

- You will have to ask him this in person. I do not know why he trusts me so much or why he called me, I respond to the Police Chief Department. He nods once more.

- What about your friends? Why not believing Phil Hawkins, someone they know? Why believing you, a stranger? He continues to ask me his questions. More and more... When is this interrogation ending?

- I don't know. I guess... They sort of put everything on my shoulders. Their trust must have come slowly as I was helping them step by step, I answer, giving him the truth. Well, I think it is. I don't see why else they would trust me so blindly. The man nods as he seems a bit defeated. There aren't many answers I can give him to be honest...

- Thank you. That's all I'll ask for today, he tells me as he puts his pen and block note in his pocket and turns back on his radio.

- I'm not a bad person Mr Bloomgate, the Police Chief Department looks at me attentively. None of us are. Except... Richy. I misjudged him. I let him fooled me. I really thought he was one of us. I know why you're asking those questions. And I'm answering them truthfully. There's no point for me to lie to you, I reply sincerely to him. I have no reason to lie. My only reason is to protect Jake but the rest, I don't have any reason to lie. I'm just telling him what he needs to know. No more.

- I believe you. But I think you need to rest before we finish this. You look very tired, he says with an actual caring tone.

- I am. I haven't slept in the last 23h, I admit to the man.

- Do you know where you're sleeping? He gently asks me. I shake my head negatively. I didn't really think about that. I guess I thought my car was going to be enough... There's a motel in town. I'll give a call for you and make a reservation. When you arrive there, your room will be ready for you. The person will greet you warmly, he says as I see him taking his phone out. Maybe a phone only for work? I doubt that's his personal one...

- Thank you very much, Mr. Bloomgate, I thank the Police Chief Department with a smile.

- Please, if you need anything, contact me, he says with seriousness.

- Thank you, I smile once more, appreciating his gesture.

- One last thing. Did the hacker do things for you that he would have not done for anyone else? He asks me. Is it part of the interrogation or is he just curious? Is he testing me to see if I lie or not?

- Yes. He has I confess. Mr. Bloomgate smiles.

- Have a nice day, miss MC, he says politely.

- You too, Mr. Bloomgate, I wish back before watching him walk away. Mr. Bloomgate is kind but not stupid. He knows I lied a bit to him. He'll certainly contact me again soon... In what kind of situation am I in? Suddenly, my phone buzzes.

- "MC..." I read the first text from Jake. "Don't say too much. Be careful with his tricky questions.", He added. "MC, tell me once he is done asking you questions.", I read the third text. Don't say too much... He knows I will never sell him away. Of course I wouldn't say too much...

- "It's over.", I simply sent him back, not in the mood to talk. I love Jake with everything in me despite never meeting. But I... I'm so tired right now, so stressed, so... Overwhelmed. Why can't things be easier?

- "Are you okay? What did he ask you?" I read his new message. Am I okay? I don't know. Probably not, just like he is. I sigh and pass my hand in my hair before lowering my phone. I don't take time to answer. My phone buzzes again. "You are angry.", He texted me. Oh. So he is still watching me. He isn't far... If he can see me, why ask if I'm okay? He must see that I'm not... I'm so tired. Emotionally, mentally, physically... I don't answer him once again. "MC, I can see that you read my text messages. Please, answer me.", He adds, seeming worried. I sigh one more time as I feel the tears coming up.

- "You want answers? Let's meet then. This has to stop, Jake. No more lies. I need to see you! I need to hear your voice! I need you to hold me! To tell me everything will be alright now! That everything I did for you was worth it! I need you because I feel absolutely terrified right now.. You've become my safe place, Jake..", I responded to the man before hearing policemen shouting behind me. I turn around and see them all still focused on the cave. Oh God, I thought they saw him. Where is he by the way? If he can see me, I should be able to see him too. And he isn't standing where I saw him before...

- "Tonight. I will send you a location." He replied. Tonight? More hours to wait... I let my first tear roll down my face. Why does everything feel like time has stopped? It's so long...

- "Will you?" I reply before wiping my tears. I'm even starting to doubt everything now... Everything. I turn back around and take a deep breath in when I notice a shadow next to a tree farther from where I am standing. It's half hiding behind the tree trunk. That hoodie... Jake.

- "I know you see me. I wanted to show you that I am here. With you, MC. But don't come up to me. They could find me. I'm already putting myself at risk by standing here.", He sent me. My heart keeps beating so fast down my chest. Even watching him from afar makes me feel like a wave of energy just hit me. Like I sort of live again. He is here. For me. He came and stayed. He waited despite the danger for him. And I'm there complaining... How selfish am I? Still, now that I saw him, I can't wait until tonight. We could leave right now while they are bothered with the cave.

- "I don't want to wait until tonight. I want to see you, Jake. Now.", I sent him before biting my lower lip out of nervousness.

- "MC, I want to see you too, more than anything. But I can't for the moment. It's too dangerous for both of us. I need to find a spot to stay safe and I need you to stay safe too.", He replied. Oh... Well... I lower my phone, not answering him and start to walk away. I think I should just regain my car then... Mr. Bloomgate will call me if he has more questions. Right now, it's the perfect timing to leave. "MC, where are you going?" I read his new text message without unlocking my phone. I sigh and unlock it to answer him.

- "I'm leaving. I don't think you actually want to see me.", I press on "sent" as I keep walking.

- "MC, of course I want to see you!" He quickly replied. He never replied that fast before. I shake my head negatively and just follow the way I took to go back to my car. "MC, don't leave. Please. Tonight, we see each other. I promise you.", He added.

- "I haven't slept since yesterday, and the nights before, I slept maybe 3 or 4 hours. I was damn worried for you! To the point I even had anxiety! All police officers and F.B.I agents are there! We could have seen each other somewhere far from here since they are bothered with the cave. We could have left together right now! But you prefer waiting tonight? Really??" I reply back as I feel a new tear rolling down my face. Tears of anger, fear, and tiredness...

Jake read my text message but didn't reply. Seriously? What does his silence mean? Upset, I wipe my tears only to have more falling down my cheeks.

Under my feet, I can hear the leaves cracking. I stepped over a root, almost falling as I barely saw it with my tears. Jake... Why is everything so complicated?

I rapidly step out of the woods and reach my car. I was so into my thoughts that I barely noticed the time I put to exit the woods... Standing next to my car, I take my keys out of my pocket to unlock it but, I accidentally drop them along with the coffee. Great! I pick them up and wipe my cheeks before hearing my car beeping. Unlocked. Oh... What the...?

On my car window, I see the reflection of a man standing right behind me. I stopped. I freeze. I completely stopped moving or even breathing for a second. The man sounds breathless, like he ran for his life. He is wearing a hoodie, I can't see his face, just like... Staring at him through the window, I take a deep breath before sniffling. He came...

I watch him slowly take off his hoodie, revealing his face to me. Jake looks down and slightly titles his head on the side. Oh God... I close my eyes and lean against my car as I cry silently.

- MC... He softly calls me. The sound of his voice is just so heavenly. No electronic background, not modified by a computer... It's real. I lift my hand up for him to stay quiet. Jake stays silent. I wipe my cheeks and slowly turn around to face the man I've been dying to meet for months. Damn... I sniffle as I bring my hand towards his arm. I can touch him... He's real. He's in front of me and real. That bastard. I push the man twice, tears rolling down before he catches my wrists and pulls me against him. I am wrapped by his arms, engulfed in his chest. I let a sob out as I feel like everything needs to get out. He is here now... I'm here, I hear him whispering softly.

- I hate you... I say, even though I don't mean it. Why do you have to scare me like that? I question him as I hold tightly onto the man.

- I'm sorry, he whispers. His hold is so comforting, so soft. I thought he would pull away from me, having enough. But instead, he rests his head in my neck. His perfume smells so nice. The two of us stay like this for a moment, enjoying this type of freedom. But everything has sadly an end. I pull away from Jake and look up at him. The both of us stay quiet, still enjoying the moment a little longer. Jake wipes my tears away, his touch being so soft.

- Ugh, you have blue eyes...! I exclaim in awe, making him smile. And a beautiful smile. Such a waste to hide that from the world, I add sincerely with a point of flirting.

- Maybe, but if I didn't hide from the world, it wouldn't just be for you, he replies with his adorable smile. I stare at him, enjoying the view and the moment. I hope this won't be the last one... I hope it won't be the only time I see him. Suddenly, Jake passes his hand behind my neck as I step backwards and him forward. My back bumps against my car. My arms are around his back, keeping him close. My heart is racing so bad despite feeling like time has suddenly stopped. The boy takes a bit of time but he eventually leans in, slowly. I do the same and close my eyes when I feel his lips connecting with mines. God, they're so soft! The kiss... Is so passionate, so deep. I answer his kiss, moving one of my hands to place it behind his neck to put some more pressure. I didn't think he would have made the first move.. I didn't see him as this kind of confident guy. But I like it. Eventually, after a moment, the both of us pulled away to catch our breath. I was about to pull him against me, but he did it first, hiding his face in my neck again. I love you, MC. Maybe you'll find this ridiculous but... You make me feel safe and loved, he whispers softly. I rub his back to comfort him. I don't want to let him go. He is so close to me. I dreamed of that moment for months.

- It's not ridiculous at all. You make me feel the same way, I whisper back as I feel him pull me even closer to him. He places a kiss on my neck before pulling away from me. It's crazy but, despite the actual situation and the FBI or the Police Department potentially coming out from the woods, I feel like a bubble of happiness just got created around us. It's like it is keeping us away from everything. Like we are in our own little world. how's that possible? What's that feeling... Love? Softly, he grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers. I'm selfish, aren't I? I add with a sorry tone, still whispering.

- No. I was dying to see you too, he rapidly answered, comforting me in the idea of being selfish and potentially putting him in danger. I crack a smile and nod positively.

- Where are you going to go now? I ask him as I lose my smile. I squeezed his hand, scared of his answer. He can go anywhere once again. He is "free" in a way. He can disappear... Jake puts some time to answer, seeming to think.

- Where are you going? He asks me with a soft smile. Oh..!

- I don't know. Anywhere. Everywhere, I reply, making him chuckle. Honestly, I really don't know where to go. to my house and live my boring life like before? After all of this? No... You have to go, don't you? I ask him with a disappointed tone, unable to bring myself to smile at him. Jake looks up, thinking as he leans on the car, still holding my hand.

- Before they come and find me, yeah... But I don't have to leave alone this time. Maybe we could leave together. To go anywhere, everywhere, he tells me as he softly rubs the back of my hand with his thumb. Anywhere and everywhere... That's what I said. I smile, still surprised by his answer. I didn't think he would propose such an idea. That's... Everything I wished actually. As long as I'm not visible to the FBI and my pursuers, we can go anywhere you'd like, MC, he tells me with a smile. Anywhere... That sounds like a wild adventure, but also like heaven to my ears.

I smile at Jake before stepping forward and crashing my lips onto his. The boy answers to my move, giving me back the same love I am giving.

An adventure is waiting for the both of us. It doesn't matter where we go, it's there. Now that we met, that we survived this crazy adventure with Thomas, Jessy, Phil,.., We need to go forward. We need to move one. And it's just starting. Jake and I have grown feelings over the months, after all of those messages. There's so much that we have live together, to experience, so much that we can share. Yes, it will have to be secretive and we'll have to be extra careful. But it is worth a try. He knows what he is doing. And I'm ready to follow him wherever he goes. It might sound crazy. But I just... I love him with everything in me, I can't just let him go.

Not wasting time, the two of us get inside my car and I start driving where he indicated me. We had to go get his stuff before leaving. I still don't know where we're going, but I'm pretty sure once we reach our destination, I'll have to leave my car there. I'll actually have to leave everything I had and knew behind me. My life is changing completely. It scares me. The unknown scares me. But I'm doing it with Jake. I should be fine. I trust him. Maybe it's actually what's best to do. Starting a new life, full of love and adventures, living incredible moments for the both of us to share. Love is a mysterious feeling and unexplainable, but when you know you are with the right person, nothing feels impossible. It's you two against the world, and that's what we're going to do. We'll fight together, hide together, live those adventures together, and most importantly, love each other. We'll see what the future holds for us..

[gatzilksis-2]

Today's Holiday: The Intern Pt. 1

July 28: National Interns Day

yesterday's holiday

In which we see Michael from a different perspective...

18+

"Oh, Donnie!" a deep voice boomed across the roomful of cubicles.

Donnie was already sweating at his desk, a small, scrawny man. He didn't answer the call, didn't even turn his head to look. It was Michael, his ripped, bearded boss. Maybe if Donnie ignored him, Michael wouldn't...do what he usually did.

Donnie was kidding himself. Of course Michael was going to play his games. Donnie knew what day it was; National Interns Day. Michael had been reminding him of the "holiday" for weeks. That meant he was probably going to do something worse this time.

"Donniiieee," Michael said in a crooning fashion right behind him.

Donnie didn't want to turn his head, because he knew exactly what would happen. He was never allowed to breathe clean air for very long.

The intern exhaled and turned his head to look. A big ass in navy blue slacks rested on his shoulder. BLRB-BWRRRRR!

Donnie turned his head with a whine, but Michael turned it back with a big, forceful hand. "I told you I had a gift for you. It's National Interns Day, buddy. That means you're the focus of the day."

BRRRWAHP!

Donnie felt it against his shoulder, and his face was surrounded by a cloud of stink like a dumpster fire. No, it was like the time he'd passed a decomposing deer while jogging. Worse, even.

"Stop!" Donnie leaned away, swatting Michael's arm as he tried to grab. "It smells so bad!"

"You're right." Michael's ass left his shoulder, and the man turned to face him. He ran fingers through his beard as he took a long sniff. "That's enough...for now."

Michael winked and walked away. Donnie wished he had air freshener, but the last time he'd sprayed, Michael had called him into the office and farted so many times he almost got sick. He didn't want a repeat of that. Instead, Donnie tried to fan the bad air away with a folder.

Michael came back around a couple hours later, but only to do a routine cropdusting of the cubicles. Donnie caught a whiff of the stink, but it was better than being blasted in the face.

Michael returned as Donnie was getting ready to leave for lunch. He was thankfully already standing, but Michael blocked the opening of his cubicle. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off?"

Donnie was confused. It had to be a trick. He didn't trust Michael's smile. "I can't. My mom can't pick me up until she's done with work."

"I'll drive you."

Donnie imagined being locked in a car with a bunch of his boss's deadly, disgusting farts. "Uh, I'm good."

"I promise I won't fart." Michael put up a hand as if swearing on a Bible. His smile was bigger. "Come on, I'm trying to do something nice for you."

Donnie took a second, trying to figure out if the smile was genuine, if he really was trying to be nice. The man had happily farted in Donnie's face so many times, and there was nothing to stop him from doing it again. "I don't know..."

Michael sighed and crossed his massive, tan arms. "I'll be waiting in my car. If you don't come, I'll sit here with you the rest of the day."

"Okay," said Donnie, immediately accepting the lesser of two evils. The ride to his house was ten minutes. Even if Michael did fart, it would be better than three hours of farts right beside him.

"Good." Michael left, and Donnie let him get significantly far ahead to combat the stench of any possible farts.

He reached the lot and found Michael's car, sitting in the front passenger seat. The air smelled like the old, stale farts undoubtedly trapped in his boss's poor seat. Michael started the engine and pulled out of the office parking lot. "Where do you live?"

"Pinecrest," Donnie answered quietly. His heart was beating fast, and he was almost shaking with nerves. He knew Michael, and this much pure kindness wasn't him. Ordinarily, everything was done as the leadup to a nasty fart.

If this was one of those times, Michael was sure letting it build up.

Donnie sat back and stared out the window, watching residential rodes pass by. They passed Pinecrest, and his heart dropped. "What--?"

"I have a proposition for you." Michael smiled and pushed a button on his door. "You smell my farts and I make you a salesman. I'll even give you two accounts right away so you get a good first paycheck.

Donnie squeaked. He couldn't be serious. "I'm not smelling your farts. Don't you have a boyfriend for that?"

"But he loves it. It's not as fun." Michael turned a smirk on his employee. "I'll give you a bonus. I know you hate it, but that's the whole point."

Noxious green stink filled the car without warning. Donnie grimaced at the thickness of it, covering his mouth. He coughed and tried his window, but it was locked. "Michael! No! It's so bad!"

"You'll get an office, and I promise I won't fart in it," Michael continued, really trying to push his agenda. "Or at least, I'll try not to fart in it much. I will still be your boss, but you'll be the boss of other people. All you have to do is let it in."

Michael gripped the steering wheel and lifted his ass. PWRRRT! BWRRR-ERRR! He sighed heavily with a big smile.

Donnie groaned, fanning the air and trying his window again, though he knew it wouldn't work. "How many farts?"

"Well, I already told my boyfriend I have an emergency conference out of town." Michael chuckled and turned into the lot of a motel. "How does three days sound?"

"No way! That's too much!" Donnie protested. The car was a rolling death chamber of toxic, aerated chemicals.

Michael parked and leaned away from Donnie. BWRT! BRRRRRrrr..."Ah! Three days: today, tomorrow, and the next day, and I'll give you a week paid vacation."

Donnie pulled his shirt over his face and tried to breathe normally. He'd never smelled anything so bad. Donnie closed his eyes and wondered if it was worth it. It seemed ridiculously easy; it was just smelling farts.

But the farts were horrible, and the man was brutal with his sharing of them.

Three days of farts was nothing compared to weeks and weeks of paid commissions and an entire seven days of paid vacation. If he didn't do this, he wouldn't get that many job perks for at least another year.

"Okay," Donnie said slowly. "I'll do it."

"Alright!" Michael turned off the car. "I guess it's Happy Interns Weekend now, huh?"

@gatzilksis-2 to buy my stories or order your own!

[astroprompts]

✧ —𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 [𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝟐]

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐃 𝐈 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒

“You ready for more yet?”

“You haven't met him yet, you haven't had the chance.”

“The sun comes up and the world still spins.”

“Now the work at home begins.”

“So what'd I miss?”

“My home sweet home, I wanna give you a kiss.”

“I traveled the wide, wide world and came back to this.”

“I haven't even put my bags down yet.”

“I guess I better think of something to say.”

𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓 𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 #𝟏

“We fought for these ideals, we shouldn't settle for less.”

“Oh, if the shoe fits, wear it.”

“It's too many damn pages for any man to understand!”

“Welcome to the present, we're running a real nation.”

“Don't lecture me about the war, you didn't fight in it!”

“You think I'm frightened of you, man?”

“Damn, you're in worse shape than the national debt is in.”

“Turn around, bend over, I'll show you where my shoe fits.”

“Such a blunder, sometimes it makes me wonder why I even bring the thunder.”

“You wanna pull yourself together?”

“They're being intransigent.”

“You have to find a compromise.”

“They don't have a plan, they just hate mine.”

𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊

“They think me Macbeth, ambition is my folly.”

“Do you have to live an ocean away?”

“Take a break.”

“There's a little surprise before supper and it cannot wait!”

“I'll be there in just a minute, save my plate.”

“Hey, our kid is pretty great.”

“Run away with us for the summer.”

“I've got so much on my plate.”

“We can all go stay with my father.”

“There's a lake I know in a nearby park.”

“You and I can go when the night gets dark.”

“In a letter I received from you two weeks ago, I noticed a comma in the middle of a phrase. It changed the meaning, did you intend this?”

“I'm coming home this summer at my sister's invitation.”

“I know you're very busy, I know your work's important.”

“You're not joining us? Wait--”

“I know I'll miss your face.”

“Screw your courage to the sticking place.”

“Take a break and get away.”

“If you take your time, you will make your mark.”

𝐒𝐀𝐘 𝐍𝐎 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒

“There's trouble in the air, you can smell it.”

“I hadn't slept in a week.”

“You've never seen a bastard orphan more in need of a break.”

“I know you are a man of honor.”

“I'm so sorry to bother you at home.”

“I don't know where to go, and I came here all alone.”

“I don't have the means to go on.”

“You're too kind, sir.”

“I don't know how to say no to this.”

“I wish I could say that was the last time.”

“Uh oh, you made the wrong sucker a cuckold.”

“Time to pay the piper for the pants you unbuckled.”

“So was your whole story a setup?”

“Stop crying, God dammit, get up!”

“I didn't know any better!”

“I am helpless, how could I do this?”

“Just give him what he wants and you can have me.”

“Whatever you want, if you pay.”

“How can I say no to this?”

“Nobody needs to know.”

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐒

“I guess I'm gonna have to finally listen to you.”

“Well, hate the sin love the sinner.”

“Decisions are happening over dinner.”

“No one else was in the room where it happened.”

“No one really knows how the game is played.”

“I know you hate him, but let's hear what he has to say.”

“Maybe we could solve one problem with another.”

“Wouldn't you like to work a little closer to home?”

“We never really know what got discussed.”

“Click boom! Then it happened.”

“You got more than you gave.”

“When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game.”

“You don't get a win unless you play in the game.”

“I wanna build something that's gonna outlive me.”

“If you stand for nothing then what'll you fall for?”

“The art of the compromise, hold your nose and close your eyes.”

“We want our leaders to save the day, but we don't get a say in what they trade away.”

“We dream of a brand new start, but we dream in the dark for the most part.”

𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐘𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃

“Sometimes that's how it goes.”

“No one knows who you are or what you do.”

“They don't need to know me, they don't like you.”

“You'll always be adored by the things you create.”

“People think you're crooked.”

“I've always considered you a friend.”

“I swear your pride will be the death of us all.”

𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓 𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 #𝟐

“The only person you have to convince is me.”

“Revolution is messy, but now is the time to stand.”

“He knows nothing of loyalty.”

“Everything he does betrays the ideals our nation.”

“You must be out of your GODDAMNED mind.”

“We're too fragile to start another fight.”

“Frankly it's a little disquieting you would let your ideals blind you to reality.”

“Have you an ounce of regret?”

“Before he was your, friend he was mine.”

“I bet you were quite a lawyer.”

𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄

“Every action has an equal opposite reaction.”

“Try not to crack under the stress, we're breaking down like fractions.”

“We smack each other in the press, and we don't print retractions.”

“I get no satisfaction witnessing his fits of passion.”

“This prick is asking for someone to bring him to task.”

“I'll pull the trigger on him, someone load the gun and cock it.”

“If we don't stop it, we aid and abet it.”

“Well, somebody has to stand up to his mouth.”

“If there's a fire you're trying to douse, You can't put it out from inside the house.”

“Follow the money and see where it goes.”

𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

“I wanna give you a word of warning.”

“I don't know what you heard, but whatever it is, [name] started it.”

“I need a favor.”

“Relax, have a drink with me.”

“Let's take a break tonight.”

“Pick up a pen, start writing.”

“I wanna talk about what I have learned.”

“You have to serve, you could continue to serve.”

“Your position is so unique.”

“Why do you have to say goodbye?”

𝐖𝐄 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖

“You are uniquely situated by virtue of your position.”

“Virtue is not a word I'd apply to this situation.”

“To seek financial gain, you stray from your sacred mission.”

“The evidence suggests you engaged in speculation.”

“I hope you saved some money for your daughter and son.”

“You don't even know what you're asking me to confess.”

“I don't have to tell you anything at all.”

“If I can prove that I never broke the law, do you promise not to tell another soul what you saw?”

“I may have mortally wounded my prospects, but my papers are orderly.”

“I never spent a cent that wasn't mine.”

“You sent the dogs after my scent, that's fine.”

“Yes, I have reason for shame. But I have not committed treason and sullied my good name.”

“As you can see, I have done nothing to provoke legal action.”

“Are my answers to your satisfaction?”

“How do I know you won't use this against me the next time we go toe to toe?”

“Rumors only grow.”

“We both know what we know.”

𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄

“In the eye of a hurricane, there is quiet. For just a moment.”

“When I was seventeen, a hurricane destroyed my town.”

“I couldn't seem to die.”

“I wrote my way out.”

“I looked up, and the town had it's eyes on me.”

“Total strangers, moved to kindness by my story.”

“I wrote my way out of hell.”

“I wrote my way to revolution.”

“I was louder than the crack in the bell.”

“And when my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance.”

“I was twelve when my mother died.”

“I'll write my way out.”

“This is the eye of the hurricane.”

“This is the only way I can protect my legacy.”

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐓

“Have you read this?”

“That's one less thing to worry about.”

“I came as soon as I heard.”

“All the way from London? Damn.”

“Thank god, someone who understands what I'm struggling here to do.”

“I'm not here for you.”

“I love my sister more than anything in this life.”

“I will choose her happiness over mine every time.”

“Put what we had aside.”

“You could never be satisfied.”

“God, I hope you're satisfied.”

“Hey, at least he was honest with our money.”

“You ever see somebody ruin their own life?”

𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍

“I saved every letter you wrote me.”

“Be careful with that one, love.”

“When you were mine, the world seemed to burn.”

“In clearing your name, you have ruined our lives.”

“You've married an Icarus. He has flown too close to the sun.”

“You and your words, obsessed with your legacy.”

“Your sentences border on senseless.”

“The world has no right to my heart!”

“The world has no place in our bed.”

“They don't get to know what I said.”

“I'm burning the memories, burning the letters that might have redeemed you.”

“You forfeit all rights to my heart!”

“You forfeit your place in our bed. You'll sleep in your office instead.”

“I hope that you burn.”

𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐔𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘

“The scholars say I got the same virtuosity and brains as my pops.”

“I'm only nineteen, but my mind is older.”

“Gotta be my own man, like my father, but bolder.”

“I shoulder his legacy with pride.”

“He disparaged my father's legacy in front of a crowd.”

“I'm making my father proud.”

“God, you're a fox!”

“How 'bout when I get back, we all strip down to our socks?”

“Shh, I'm tryin' to watch the show!”

“Ya shoulda watched your mouth before you talked about my father.”

“I didn't say anything that wasn't true.”

“Your father's a scoundrel, and so, it seems, are you.”

“I don't fool around, I'm not your little schoolboy friends.”

“Well, see you on the dueling ground. That is, unless you wanna step outside and go now.”

“I doubt you would have let it slide, and I was not about to!”

“I came to ask you for advice, this is my very first duel.”

“They don't exactly cover this subject in boarding school.”

“Did your friends attempt to negotiate a peace?”

“He refused to apologize, we had to let the peace talks cease.”

“Everything is legal in New Jersey!”

“When the time comes, fire your weapon in the air.”

“But what if he decides to shoot? Then I'm a goner!”

“To take someone's life, that is something you can't shake.”

“Your mother can't take another heartbreak.”

“You don't want this young man's blood on your conscience.”

“Make me proud, son.”

“I'm a little nervous, but I can't show it.”

“You talk about my father, I cannot let it slide.”

“I'd rather skip the pleasantries, let's go.”

“The duel will commence after we count to ten.”

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 (𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄)

“Where's my son!?”

“He lost a lot of blood on the way over.”

“The bullet entered just above his hip and lodged in his right arm.”

“I'm doing everything I can, but the wound was already infected when he arrived.”

“You did everything just right.”

“Even before we got to ten, I was aiming for the sky.”

“Save your strength and stay alive.”

“Is he breathing? Is he going to survive this!?”

“Who did this!?”

“I'm so sorry for forgetting what you taught me.”

“You would put your hands on mine.”

𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐄𝐓 𝐔𝐏𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍

“There are moments that the words don't reach.”

“There is suffering too terrible to name.”

“There are moments when you're in so deep, it feels easier to just swim down.”

“I never liked the quiet before.”

“You would like it uptown, it's quiet uptown.”

“They say he walks the length of the city.”

“You knock me out, I fall apart.”

“Look at where we are, look at where we started.”

“I know I don't deserve you, [name].”

“Hear me out, that would be enough.”

“If I could trade his life for mine, he'd be standing here right now.”

“I know there's no replacing what we've lost, and you need time.”

“Just let me stay here by your side. That would be enough.”

“There's a grace too powerful to name.”

“We push away what we can never understand.”

“We push away the unimaginable.”

“It's quiet uptown...”

“Forgiveness... Can you imagine?”

“They are going through the unimaginable.”

𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟎

“Can we get back to politics?”

“I love the guy, but he's in traction.”

“He's not very forthcoming on any particular stances.”

“Ask him a question, it glances off. He obfuscates, he dances.”

“You need to change course, a key endorsement might redeem you.”

“You've created quite a stir, sir.”

“You're openly campaigning?”

“Honestly, it's kind of draining.”

“Is there anything you wouldn't do?”

“I'm chasing what I want. And y'know what? I learned that from you.”

“The people are asking to hear my voice.”

“I have never agreed with [name] once.”

“Congrats on a race well-run.”

“I look forward to our partnership.”

“You hear this guy?”

𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐓

“I am slow to anger, but I toe the line.”

“I look back on where I failed, and in every place I checked, the only common thread has been your disrespect.”

“If you've got something to say, name a time and place, face-to-face.”

“I have the honor to be your obedient servant.”

“I am not the reason no one trusts you.”

“I will not equivocate on my opinion, I have always worn it on my sleeve.”

“Even if I said what you think I said, you would need to cite a more specific grievance.”

“Here's an itemized list of thirty years of disagreements.”

“I don't wanna fight, but I won't apologize for doing what's right.”

“Careful how you proceed, good man.”

“Answer for the accusations I lay at your feet, or prepare to bleed.”

“I stand by what I said, every bit of it.”

“You stand only for yourself, it's what you do.”

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇

“I wish I could tell you what was happening in his brain.”

“My fellow soldiers'll tell you I'm a terrible shot.”

“It's him or me, the world will never be the same.”

“This man will not make an orphan of my daughter.”

“If I throw away my shot, is this how you'll remember me?”

“What is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.”

“Teach me how to say goodbye.”

“My love, take your time. I'll see you on the other side.”

“History obliterates. In every picture it paints, it paints me and all my mistakes.”

“I survived, but I paid for it.”

“Now I'm the villain in your history.”

“I was too young and blind to see.”

“I should have known the world was wide enough.”

𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒, 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐒, 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘

“When you're gone, who remembers your name? Who keeps your flame, who tells your story?”

“I put myself back in the narrative.”

“I stopped wasting time on tears.”

“When I needed her most, she was right on time.”

“I ask myself, what would you do if you had more time?”

“You could have done so much more if you only had time.”

“When my time is up, have I done enough?”

“Oh, can I show you what I'm proudest of?”

“Will they tell my story?”

“I can't wait to see you again.”

“It's only a matter of time.”

[purplesurveys]

1804

Did you know that all the fish are dying out? That's the sad case for a lot of animals...

Would you ever wear a white tuxedo? I can't see why I'd ever refuse the opportunity. It's not my personal style, but also why not?

Do you judge a book by its cover? In a literal sense, yes. People-wise, I have my first, super topline impressions depending on how strong a person initially comes off as.

Do you like chips and dips? Yes, anything that comes with a dip I'd be all over.

Last time you went on a rollercoaster: 11 years ago in Singapore. I rode one for the first time, hated it, and have never wanted to get on another rollercoaster since.

Ever been to a pottery class? Not a class per se but I went to a factory once where we were shown the process of pottery and allowed for a handful of volunteers to make their own jars. I joined in :)

Does your milkshake bring all the boys to the yard? I hope it doesn't...

Who was the last person to stay over at your house? That would be Reena I think, but that's been a while.

Do you like red lipstick? Not on me.

Can you recall your country’s national anthem? Of course.

Do you believe in ghosts? Nope.

Which sweets/candy would you put into your dream pic'n'mix? I never liked candy and never had a bag of mixed candies, so I don't relly know...maybe a bunch of different gummy shapes, sour strips, and peanut butter chocolates.

If you had a boat, where would you sail in your boat? Point Nemo.

Can you rap? I have select rap verses memorized but abilty-wise I'd never say I could be a rapper haha.

Are you a light sleeper? No, I'm awful when it's situations where I have to wake up. I'm never able to do it, regardless of how many alarms I set.

When you were young, did you ever pretend to “marry” somebody? Eh, not really.

What is your favourite Disney film? Toy Story and Tangled.

Do you prefer brown or white bread? White.

Have you ever spent an entire day in bed? I have. I need those days sometimes.

Don’t you just find it annoying when people get too much plastic surgery? I'll sometimes find it hard to understand people who do it in excess, but I just keep those thoughts internally always and I also wouldn't say it's annoying.

How high’s your pain threshold? Very low, it's almost clownish.

What would you wear to a red carpet event? I see myself declining the invitation, lol.

Whose birthday is next, out of all the people you know? Hobi's :)

What kind of coat are you going to wear in the winter? We don't have winter and I don't own coats.

Did you ever go through a Goth phase? I didn't.

Do you find architecture interesting? Only to a certain extent. I like seeing photos of certain styles, like brutalism, but I wouldn't read about architecture.

When on the computer do you ever think about how it all works? Never, tbh.

How many songs are there in your iTunes library? I haven't used iTunes in over a decade.

Do you like Irish accents? I don't dislike it but I also don't particularly watch out for it.

Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on: My ex cursing me out in full public view at a party.

When did you last go to the park? Last July at the KLCC Park in Malaysia.

Which two animals would you breed together to make a hybrid? Dog and quokka, haha.

Do you ever forget how to walk? Doesn't really happen to me, no.

Do you own a Jesus bracelet? Nope.

How far out can you stick your tongue? Not far at all. It doesn't take long before it starts to hurt.

Do you like David Bowie? I like him and acknowledge his talent but I can't say I've really listened to him a lot.

Would you eat a live cockroach if it made you a millionaire? Tempting, but no.

Does it annoy you when you feel like people aren’t really listening? It depends on how they're like when they do so. Some people are more outright about not actually listening to what you have to say (my mom does this a lot and it drives me insane), but there are those instances where someone just isn't comfortable with eye contact so they do other stuff while hearing you out – that's okay with me.

Are you the type who usually plays it safe? For the most part.

Do you want what you can’t have? Yes, all the money in the world lol.

Ever been copied by somebody, clothing or style-wise? Not really.

Is there a point to clear nail varnish? Idk I don't know much about nail polish and things like that.

What is the latest time you’ve ever woken up? 11 AM.

Ever gotten into trouble over something you didn’t really do? Sure.

Are you currently ill? I had colds just a few days ago but it's on its way out now.

Don’t you just hate being corrected? If it's done in either a condescending or a really harsh reprimanding tone, then yeah.

Are there any really beautiful buildings close to where you live? Not really. You'll need to go all the way to Manila for the pretty architecture.

Who do you think about most? These days, it's about thinking of what to do and what new things to explore and experience once my resignation officially takes effect. I plan on spending April doing a hard reset and kind of just taking a trip here and there to rediscover myself and get myself ready for my new chapter.

I'm also thinking of what new jobs to apply for, of course.

Do you have embarrasing parents? No. My mom can be embarrassing when she occasionally turns into a Karen but otherwise at 25, embarrassing is a word I hardly use for my parents anymore lol.

How often do you use the word “poltent”? Did you mean potent? Because I'm not sure poltent is an actual word.

How’s your grandmother? They're both fantastic and healthy.

What in your opinion is the most annoying noise in the world? Kids.

Are you any good at writing? I am.

Can you speak any Spanish? Not conversational but I could make out words and phrases beyond the basic ones because Spanish colonization.

Do you like things from the ‘50s? Just Audrey Hepburn but otherwise wasn't being a woman at the time awful?

Would you rather be skeletal or curvy? I don't have a preference.

What’s your favourite type of cloud? I don't have one either.

What’s something that really matters to you? My wellbeing.

Did that pass some time? Yes, so much so I took this over 3 days lol. Thanks it was fun!

[hagoftheholler]

do you know of any folk practitioners/practices specifically of the Kentucky area? i have family from there (idk how far back) and i’m just looking to connect to them. i thought i’d ask before digging around the google

also, (semi on topic)

how does one go about researching folk practices without the ‘witch’ or ‘magic’ implication? i heard using ‘healer’ instead helps but i’m still not sure how to go about that in the actual practice of searching by key words and finding relevant information.

Kentucky is in a funny position, because people argue on whether it is a southern or midwestern state. I feel like it can be both depending on location... Regardless, I don't know much about Kentucky but I will try to help ya out here.

I will suggest "The Witch of The Woods: Spells, charms, divination, remedies, and folklore" by Kiley Mann. I haven't actually read this book, but I was told it is more focused on midwestern folk magic. I was also told it is a decent book, so maybe pick it up and see if it can offer ya anything. The Appalachian mountains also runs through part of the state, so you may have some luck with Appalachian folk magic if that's where your ancestors settled.

Moving on, regarding how to research folk practices... That's actually something I'm gonna go into more detail in my guide to learning folk magic. Still working on that, I just have... ya know... a job and a life to put first lol

I'll tell ya little about that, though. So, yes, looking up terms such as "folk traditions", "folk healing", "folk healer" or "healer" helps. For certain practices, such as southern and Appalachian practices, the term "Granny" may also help depending on what you're looking for. A big thing about folk magic is it is oral tradition. Books on the topic is a very recent trend, and you have to be careful of who you trust on those topics. Try talking to older folk if you can. Don't call it "magic" per say... But ask if you happen to have had grandparents or great grandparents who were of the superstitious nature, or used strange remedies for things. You'd be surprised by what you can dig up by asking about those things.

I also strongly suggest doing a little more than looking up the magic part of it. This is because, in the old days, magic was just part of the equation. Folk magic isn't just magic: it is old remedies and a means of survival (it used to be, at least). I suggest getting familiar with the land, and how the flora and fauna work. You'll be able to work with it better with that knowledge.

Also look into local folklore. Finding books (especially pdfs) can be tricky. I usually pick up any books on folklore in gift shops when visiting nature parts or national parks, or historical sights. They usually have a lot of books on those types of things. Hell, the Foxfire Museum was established to preserve the heritage and history of the Appalachian mountains (and they sell Foxfire books and other things in their gift shop).

[mihai-florescu]

Good day! This is going to sound like I'm turning you into my personal human tripadvisor, (#sory) but you're a bucharestgirl so I feel the need to ask you for recommendations on things you personally enjoy seeing or doing around there. I've been there 3 times before but they were all short stays and I didn't get to plan them out at all, nor did I see as much as I'd have liked to see (also 2/3 stays are attached to bad memories. Cursed capital!). Purely hypothetical question, because I actually do not have any sort of trip mapped out or confirmed as of now, but I wanted to ask just in case. You Know...

Glad my #bucharestgirl nature can be of help! I do need to give you the disclaimer that I havent actually lived here since 2020 and i only come back on summer/winter breaks to hang out with my friends (which means i go to their apartments and/or to bars. If youre interested in that i can ask my bestie for her list of favs)

Now with that out of the way, I will try to remember my favorite places from back in highschool... if there's anything in particular you're interested in lmk, but this is a general list of things i think you might enjoy^_^

Well first you have to go to Cărtureşti. Verona and Carusel are the prettiest ones. It also helps that they're in very good locations. If you're at Carusel you can see centrul vechi (and right next to Cărtureşti there are art supply stores and 2 antique shops. One of them, the one on your left entering the gang, also sells handmade jewelry. If the lady is there that day, tell her you're a friend of mine and she might give you a discount. I really should pay her a visit the next time im in Bucharest).

Now, I imagine you would like to visit some museums too? I will not tell you about the national ones etcetc i'll tell you about one that maybe isn't in the tourist guides: Casa Filipescu-Cesianu. It's on Calea Victoriei, which has a bunch of other really cool places on the way. There's always Ateneu (behind it there's a sweets shop i quite like, Mara Mura). Oh also on Calea Victoriei there's the Green Hours Jazz Cafe that's quite nice if they have a performance (the food's good too though, if you just want a meal).

My favorite place to see plays Back In The Day (9th-10th grade lmao) was Centrul Replika. I'm trying to look at their website but I don't see any upcoming performances...

There's always the national theatre tho. And Teatrul Mic. And Bulandra. Teatrul Mic was my favorite out of this list.

Oh and for food...hmm... there's a Korean restaurant i like, Seoul, but it's not really in a central area. There's a cafe, Frog, that i used to go to weekly at some point. And if you feel like junk food, Switch Eat is my favorite. Maison des crêpes has good sweet and savory pancakes, i remember going a lot back in highschool. But im always on the lookout for new restaurants so if You find anything good lmk.

There are a bunch of wonderful parks (Herăstrău, IOR, Cişmigiu) if you dont feel like being in the city crowds. I also like watching the fountains at Piața Unirii. And there's always the malls if you Do want to be in a more commercial area (im a Park Lake girlie personally but like. They're all malls lmao)

But if anything catches your eye while you're here please please lmk, I find that I've been very disconnected from the city when I do go back. I hope you will have a better time in this hypothetical trip than in your previous ones<3

[aonoexpat]

29-08-2023

While my mood continues to swing, I do feel like I am finding my way again in this adventure :)

I tried my luck with the job search in the Tāhuna area, including Wānaka. On my way there I got caught up in the evening rush hour, and decided to wait it out in a resting bay by the side of the road. The farmer that lived there must have had their fair share of rude tourists, because they had gone through the trouble of putting up this sign, which was quite a funny sight to me:

I spent two nights in Wānaka and met some lovely people in the SC parking spot, who I had the honour of teaching my favourite card game to. I did unfortunately discover a patch of (dreaded and inevitable) mould in the MDF my bed is made of 💔 So, I spent the next days attacking it with bleach and sandpaper, and I think I've killed most of it. I've been airing out the bed as much as I can, and will just have to live with it as it is now. Luckily I am told it is not harmful and unlikely to spread!

After a seemingly pointless job interview back in Tāhuna and no responses from any potential employers for several days, I decided to throw in the towel. Most of the hospitality gigs wanted a long-term commitment that I wasn't ready to offer. I realised that even if I found a place that would have me for only three months instead of the regularly requested six, that would still mean I'll have spent 2/3 of my time in this country working when I go back home. Though I could really use the money, that's not worth it to me. I'm proud of trying, but my heart wasn't fully in it, especially with the extreme scarcity of accommodation in the entire region due to ski season. When I do get my next job, I want to be able to enjoy it. So instead I sent my first e-mail to a Dutch IT company in hopes of starting the journey to secure a well-paying job for when I get back home! I'd rather re-earn money well spent here on a spectacular adventure than save it and miss out on some truly unique opportunities in these parts.

In the true spirit of making the most of my time here, I booked a trip for the very next day to go see Piopiotahi, one of Ata Whenua's most spectacular and accessible fiords. The entire day had me smiling ear to ear, from the moment our enthusiastic tour guide picked me up from the Tāhuna bus terminal in the early morning to the goodbyes we said in the late evening. There were 11 other people on the tour with me from all corners of the world, and it was great to feel part of a group again. We talked about our favourite places around the world, our careers, and on the ride back to Tāhuna we all got to share a party song using the driver's Spotify account (I picked this one). I was also able to get some great advice from the driver, who was local as could be, about spots worth visiting on the rest of my trip. He reignited this little spark of inspiration I've had in me ever since I went traveling on my own for the first time back in 2014: the aspiration to maybe one day be a tour guide myself. He told me something I've only ever heard a handful of people, including my father, say before: he doesn't work a day in his life, because he truly enjoys what he does from the bottom of his heart. If that's not a career goal, I don't know what is 🤩

On this tour, we drove the almost 300 km to Piopiotahi while our guide told us everything we wanted to know about the area. We experienced quite some rain, but in the morning that just meant we had some beautiful rainbows to look at from the car windows:

Soon we entered the national park, and again that sense of driving from one biome into another hit like a ton of bricks. In a matter of seconds, the scenery suddenly looked like this:

We were surrounded by beech trees, and the rain only got worse as we drove. We went for a little walk at the Mirror lakes, which unfortunately weren't mirror-ing very well due to the weather, but the views were still worth it:

After a quick stop at Knob Flats, I started to seriously appreciate the fact that I didn't have to drive these roads myself. Not only would it have been more expensive than the tour in terms of fuel, but these roads are not for the faint-hearted. They are perpetually wet and slippery, winding as can be, and on top of that they encompass a 21-kilometer long, so-called "avalanche risk area": a stretch of road on which you are not allowed to stop driving under any circumstances:

Not long after, the tour guide swapped out the generic pop music for movie soundtracks; a much better fit for our new surroundings. He explained to us that in these parts, the ground is almost entirely made up of pure granite. This means there is virtually no top soil present in the ecosystem. The rocks are overgrown with moss, which provides just enough hold for the massive beech trees to take root, which are in turn also overgrown with moss. Due to the rain, all the mountains were overflowing with innumerable delicate little waterfalls, that made the whole place (to me) reminiscent of Iknimaya: the floating mountains in the Avatar movie.

We stopped next at Monkey Creek, both to admire the views and to fill our water bottles from the stream of crystal clear mountain water. To my absolute elation we were welcomed by a pair of Kea, which came running over to us as soon as we had parked, hoping to steal the crisps from the bus. They had me doing tippy taps of pure excitement! I had been looking forward to meeting these amazing mountain parrots for months, and I finally got to lay eyes on them. They are very clever birds, and for some reason they thoroughly enjoy destroying any rubber they can get their beaks on, so our tour guide had to stay with the bus at all times to protect the windscreen wipers!

We went for another hike in the prehistoric wilderness of the forest, one of very few places left on earth that have truly been untouched by human hands, and show what a jungle might have looked like in the Jurassic era:

And then, finally, we made it to Piopiotahi! We had officially reached the West coast of Te Waipounamu. Our boat awaited us patiently, ready to take us on a little cruise through the fiord and out to sea before bringing us safely back to port. We were so lucky that the rain let up for most of the cruise, only starting to pour down again as we were on our way back. This place deals with, I kid you not, nine meters of rain per year. Only two of the waterfalls in the photos below are permanent falls. The rest only happen when it's raining!

These detail photos show the trees directly growing on the granite. In order to survive in these harsh circumstances, the trees' roots connect to each other in one big network. This, unfortunately, also means that if one of them breaks and falls, it tears others down with it, resulting in "scars" in the vegetation down the side of the valley. In the second photo you can also see copper, iron and quartz deposits in the granite!

On our way back, we got to see a beautiful sunset over Lake Te Anau:

That night I went to sleep very tired, but very satisfied. The only blemish on the day was the fact that after the tour I tried to refill my water tank from a public tap, only to find it not working, so I had to spend 10 minutes pouring FORTY (40) cups of water into my tank from a public bathroom sink. Would not recommend. The cherry on top was that it was one of those fancy exe-loo electronic bathrooms, so I got to listen to some nice elevator music for a while before the voice started scolding me with its "Your use time has expired. Please leave this bathroom immediately" lines 😂

The next day I took the leap, spread my wings once again and left Tāhuna in my rear-view mirror! It felt very empowering to choose my own path again. I really wanted to make it all the way to the Southernmost tip of Te Waipounamu, and so after fueling up I turned up the music and drove for hours. My most invigorating tracks of the day were these two. I raced the sunset, and, unlike the good people of Rise Against, I won!

I burst through the gate in the fence and felt like I was running to the very end of the world. I was all alone when I greeted the icy winds at Slope Point, the most Southern tip of mainland Aotearoa!

I stayed to watch the sun go down and walked back to Elrond with a skip in my step and this song in my head, before finding a spot to sleep for the night. I was a happy camper, though my gas cooker has decided to malfunction. I'm hoping to get it fixed in the next few days!

[katblu42]

Day 15 Banff

Today was a free day just to wander at leisure. It was a fairly lazy day for me, but still included 4 hours on my feet, and over 200 photos!

Started with a walk down The Avenue (Banff Ave), and when you look north the skyline is dominated by Cascade Mountain.

I did walk (south) to the Bow River, but I'll show you pics from there later . . . Most people won't think a magpie is all that exciting, but our magpies don't look like this!

Stopped in at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, which had some interesting interactive displays about the national parks and railways and the people behind them, but I really liked the exhibition of artworks about birds.

Owl sculpture in bronze is called Slipstreaming and is by Niel Clifford

Steel sculpture called Little Bird by Peter McFarlane

and this one called Owl which is ink on paper by Robert J Hope looked kind of 3D as I approached it on an angle, but I couldn't capture that effect with the camera.

Okay, photos from the Bow River. I'm not sure what mountains are in these shots, maybe Norquay and Edith?

This one is Mount Rundle

and from the other side of the river we can look back across as Cascade Mountain.

Next stop was the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum. Wandered through the gift shop before I went in and loved these buffalo horn carvings, but chickened out of buying the one that was begging me to take it home.

(The eagle near the middle of the second pic was the one I nearly bought.)

Inside they had a bunch of life-sized diorama displays, but I was mostly fascinated by the clothing/accessories, baskets etc decorated with porcupine quills and beads (which came later after trading with Europeans began).

How cool are these head pieces!

Getting close to the 30 pic limit again!!! So, just a couple of pics from the grounds of the Cascades of Time Gardens.

This impressive building is the headquaters/admin building for the Banff National Park. It's made from Rundle Stone.

Gonna say it again . . . 30 images is not enough! But then, I did have to choose from over 200! And I know I did not do justice to the things I saw with just these few, but I hope you get the idea! (and that I did not bore you with my photo spam)

[galacticlamps]

green emoji asks 🦖🌴🥝? c:

🦖 - what’s your favorite dinosaur?

as a kid I loved any of the ones with really long necks because I loved going to the natural history museum and being in one of the biggest rooms I'd ever seen and there being a GUY whose NECK took up practically the whole length of it all on its own

as an adult, I have a little dino carved from some kind of rock that I keep on my bookcase which I choose to believe is like a low-res stegosaurus even tho the ridges on its back are not individually marked & that specific (vaguely defined) dude is my favorite dinosaur

🌴 - what’s your dream vacation?

Hmm, I don't really feel like I have one? There are plenty of places I know I'd like to go if I ever get the chance but in my mind calling something a dream vacation implies a bit more of a plan than that. (I think that's bc I'm not very good at the whole relax & do nothing kind of vacation - if I'm going somewhere I really feel like I've gotta research all the details before to make sure I'm doing & seeing enough that it's not a waste of time or money. But that includes taking into account seasonal/temporary events/shows/exhibits, and I don't bother looking into those things unless I know I have an opportunity to follow through on them coming up soon, which hasn't been the case for a while now)

But if I stop being fussy about the fact that I'm not actually dreaming about a specific itinerary for five seconds, then the answer's definitely Scotland. Of all the places I want to see, it's got the worst ratio of minutes I've spent in the country (being zero) to number of things I want to see there, from whole cities and areas down to individual museums, historical sites, places relatives came from, national parks, and even distilleries. But it's also way too much to fit into one trip, so I think of wanting to go there as less of a specific vacation than other things I want to do less badly but can at least conceive of more clearly - like saying that in the fall, I hope to visit a relative's house in the mountains and spend a few days in a little town with a nice cider mill.

🥝 - what’s your music taste like?

A mess! Really, I'm so bad at putting music in categories. My main playlist is literally called What's a Genre - and it's 90% Irish & Scottish bands (though even saying that feels misleadingly homogeneous, since I can count everyone from the Dubliners to Hozier & the Tannahill Weavers to the Proclaimers that way) but there's also other things that kinda maybe fit there, like The Amazing Devil (and Robert Hallow & the Holy Men? does anyone know if they still exist?) and The Decemberists, and then ones that even I know don't belong there, like ELO and MCR. And that's just the one playlist. If I'm working from home, my go-to is Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald & co for some reason. When it comes to decades, I tend to favor 60s pop (or is it rock? I'm not sure I know the difference), and I'd take the Kinks over the Beatles - but I also keep them on a playlist with ABBA, David Bowie, Queen, and They Might Be Giants (which is mainly for both cleaning & hanging out with friends). I also still own & regularly listen to a lot of music from different genres whose only unifying factor is 'was actively on the radio when i was in middle school.' And I'd be lying to make myself sound cooler if I didn't also admit that I have a pretty sizable library of cast albums & show tunes, which I'll also shuffle through like any other playlist. The last album I bought was Skerryvore's Tempus that came out last week, the only concert I've been to as neither a friend nor a worker was Billy Joel. I think the Waterboys might be my most 'any context, any mood' safe to put on in the background to vibe with w/o getting distracted, especially Fisherman's Blues. When I'm not looking to listen to something very specific, the only deterrent from putting my entire library on shuffle is the fact that random Big Finish audio tracks will play if I do that.

So I think the friends who've called it 'eclectic' were being generous, but I also don't have any better descriptors to offer up.

[melmac78]

For the ask game: 6 for John please

How would I spend the day with John?

Well, clearly it's space themed somewhat … but as I'd expect he'd visit these two places for sure I wouldn't be taking him to the traditional NASA/Space Center Houston (Texas) or Cape Kennedy (Florida).

I'd argue he'd be interested in touring the remains of the Trinity Project site, but as that's an all day event and you really wouldn't see much - I think he'd skip it unless he really needed sleep.

(The Trinity Project site is open only twice a year as it's on the White Sands Military base. It's the site where they tested the first nuclear bomb, and really from what I've seen and read, there isn't much).

So, we'd go to the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, New Mexico and tour the building.

He'd probably be like me - but worse, correcting folks on names of astronauts next to the scale models of the original projects.

(No seriously - for as much as they talk about Alan Shepard himself and John Glenn's Friendship 7 mission, they sure do use a lot of photos of Gordon Cooper for references to items. Cooper wasn't even from New Mexico. Several of the doctors and physicians who whittled down the 32 applicants to 7 were that I know of, and the original 7 had their physicals in a clinic in Albuquerque).

He'd likely too get a kick out of seeing all the rockets and test tracks and such.

Don't know if the staff would be appreciative or annoyed he’d talk people through the landing of shuttles in the simulators (they have fun seeing folks try but fail spectacularly…) then debate the rocket building. (He Would have some issues about the experiences of the experience if you were in a rocket or shuttle for several projects).

We'd likely skip the planetarium and Omni, but instead go to White Sands National Park (not part of the base) and have fun walking and sliding down the sand dunes. (Yes, we'd get the sleds to do this, and hilarity would ensue. There'd be perks here with him being well known- he would have a lifetime pass to the parks).

Afterward, we'd likely go to either Pistachioland for pistachios (maybe sample some wine) or just head up 18 miles to Cloudcroft, stopping at the Red Barn Restaurant to eat a good burger and fries (I preferred theirs over the restaurant I ate at in Cloudcroft, though it too was good), maybe see the railroad trestle bridge too.

If the weather was pleasant we'd eat outside and enjoy the mountain view (it was too windy and cold for me to do this last go).

The rest of the day would be enjoying the mountains in Cloudcroft, some shopping (if the weather was nice - the snow does stay there even in 60*F temps), drive by the museum (I'll be honest it'd be closed by the time we got there), do some walking around the cabin site and then turn in for the night. It would either be two separate cabins or one of the larger ones with two separate rooms.

Thanks for the ask.