#i went to the Seattle location in August and it was good but. not as good as the brooklyn one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

timeless-hollywood-classics · 4 years

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Rhonda Fleming (born Marilyn Louis; August 10, 1923 – October 14, 2020) was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most glamorous actresses of her day, nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor" because she photographed so well in that medium.

Fleming was born Marilyn Louis in Hollywood, California, to Harold Cheverton Louis, an insurance salesman, and Effie Graham, a stage actress who had appeared opposite Al Jolson in the musical Dancing Around at New York's Winter Garden Theatre from 1914 to 1915. Fleming's maternal grandfather was John C. Graham, an actor, theater owner, and newspaper editor in Utah.

She began working as a film actress while attending Beverly Hills High School, from which she graduated in 1941. She was discovered by the well-known Hollywood agent Henry Willson, who changed her name to "Rhonda Fleming".

"It's so weird", Fleming said later. "He stopped me crossing the street. It kinda scared me a little bit -- I was only 16 or 17. He signed me to a seven-year contract without a screen test. It was a Cinderella story, but those could happen in those days."

Fleming's agent Willson went to work for David O. Selznick, who put her under contract.[5][6] She had bit parts in In Old Oklahoma (1943), Since You Went Away (1944) for Selznick, and in When Strangers Marry (1944).

She received her first substantial role in the thriller, Spellbound (1945), produced by Selznick and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. "Hitch told me I was going to play a nymphomaniac", Fleming said later. "I remember rushing home to look it up in the dictionary and being quite shocked." The film was a success and Selznick gave her another good role in the thriller The Spiral Staircase (1946), directed by Robert Siodmak.

Selznick lent her out to appear in supporting parts in the Randolph Scott Western Abilene Town (1946) at United Artists and the film noir classic Out of the Past (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, at RKO, where she played a harried secretary.

Fleming's first leading role came in Adventure Island (1947), a low-budget action film made for Pine-Thomas Productions at Paramount Pictures in the two-color Cinecolor process and co-starring fellow Selznick contractee Rory Calhoun.

Fleming then auditioned for the female lead in a Bing Crosby film, a part Deanna Durbin turned down at Paramount in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), a musical loosely based on the story by Mark Twain. Fleming exhibited her singing ability, dueting with Crosby on "Once and For Always" and soloing with "When Is Sometime". They recorded the songs for a three-disc, 78-rpm Decca album, conducted by Victor Young, who wrote the film's orchestral score. Her vocal coach in Hollywood, Harriet Lee, praised her "lovely voice", saying, "she could be a musical comedy queen". The movie was Fleming's first Technicolor film. Her fair complexion and flaming red hair photographed exceptionally well and she was nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor", a moniker not worth much to her as she would have preferred to be known for her acting. Actress Maureen O'Hara expressed a similar sentiment when the same nickname was given to her around this time.

She then played another leading role opposite a comedian, in this case Bob Hope, in the The Great Lover (1949). It was a big hit and Fleming was established. "After that, I wasn't fortunate enough to get good directors", said Fleming. "I made the mistake of doing lesser films for good money. I was hot – they all wanted me – but I didn't have the guidance or background to judge for myself."

In February 1949, Selznick sold his contract players to Warner Bros, but he kept Fleming.

In 1950 she portrayed John Payne's love interest in The Eagle and the Hawk, a Western.

Fleming was lent to RKO to play a femme fatale opposite Dick Powell in Cry Danger (1951), a film noir. Back at Paramount, she played the title role in a Western with Glenn Ford, The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951).

In 1950, she ended her association with Selznick after eight years, though her contract with him had another five years to run.

Fleming signed a three-picture deal with Paramount. Pine-Thomas used her as Ronald Reagan's leading lady in a Western, The Last Outpost (1951), John Payne's leading lady in the adventure film Crosswinds (1951), and with Reagan again in Hong Kong (1951).

She sang on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour during the same live telecast that featured Errol Flynn, on September 30, 1951, from the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.

Fleming was top-billed for Sam Katzman's The Golden Hawk (1952) with Sterling Hayden, then was reunited with Reagan for Tropic Zone (1953) at Pine-Thomas. In 1953, Fleming portrayed Cleopatra in Katzman's Serpent of the Nile for Columbia. That same year, she filmed a western with Charlton Heston at Paramount, Pony Express (1953), and two films shot in three dimensions (3-D), Inferno with Robert Ryan at Fox, and the musical Those Redheads From Seattle with Gene Barry, for Pine-Thomas. The following year, she starred with Fernando Lamas in Jivaro, her third 3-D release, at Pine-Thomas. She went to Universal for Yankee Pasha (1954) with Jeff Chandler. Fleming also traveled to Italy to play Semiramis in Queen of Babylon (1954).

Fleming was part of a gospel singing quartet with Jane Russell, Connie Haines, and Beryl Davis.

Much of the location work for Fleming's 1955 Western Tennessee's Partner, in which she played Duchess opposite John Payne as Tennessee and Ronald Reagan as Cowpoke, was filmed at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, (known as the most heavily filmed outdoor location in the history of film and television). A distinctive monolithic sandstone feature behind which Fleming (as Duchess) hid during an action sequence, later became known as the Rhonda Fleming Rock. The rock is part of a section of the former movie ranch known as "Garden of the Gods", which has been preserved as public parkland.

Fleming was reunited with Payne and fellow redhead Arlene Dahl in a noir at RKO, Slightly Scarlet (1956). She did other thrillers that year; The Killer Is Loose (1956) with Joseph Cotten and Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956), co-starring Dana Andrews, at RKO. Fleming was top billed in an adventure movie for Warwick Films, Odongo (1956).

Fleming had the female lead in John Sturges's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) co-starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, a big hit. She supported Donald O'Connor in The Buster Keaton Story (1957) and Stewart Granger in Gun Glory (1957) at MGM.

In May 1957, Fleming launched a nightclub act at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. It was a tremendous success. "I just wanted to know if I could get out on that stage – if I could do it. And I did! ... My heart was to do more stage work, but I had a son, so I really couldn't, but that was in my heart."

Fleming was Guy Madison's co star in Bullwhip (1958) for Allied Artists, and supported Jean Simmons in Home Before Dark (1958), which she later called her favorite role ("It was a marvellous stretch", she said).

Fleming was reunited with Bob Hope in Alias Jesse James (1959) and did an episode of Wagon Train.

She was in the Irwin Allen/Joseph M. Newman production of The Big Circus (1959), co-starring Victor Mature and Vincent Price. This was made for Allied Artists, whom Fleming later sued for unpaid profits.

Fleming travelled to Italy again to make The Revolt of the Slaves (1959) and was second billed in The Crowded Sky (1960).

In 1960, she described herself as "semi-retired", having made money in real estate investments. That year she toured her nightclub act in Las Vegas and Palm Springs.

During the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s, Fleming frequently appeared on television with guest-starring roles on The Red Skelton Show, The Best of Broadway, The Investigators, Shower of Stars, The Dick Powell Show, Wagon Train, Burke's Law, The Virginian, McMillan & Wife, Police Woman, Kung Fu, Ellery Queen, and The Love Boat.

In 1958, Fleming again displayed her singing talent when she recorded her only LP, entitled simply Rhonda (reissued in 2008 on CD as Rhonda Fleming Sings Just For You). In this album, which was released by Columbia Records, she blended then-current songs like "Around The World" with standards such as "Love Me or Leave Me" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". Conductor-arranger Frank Comstock provided the musical direction.

On March 4, 1962, Fleming appeared in one of the last segments of ABC's Follow the Sun in a role opposite Gary Lockwood. She played a Marine in the episode, "Marine of the Month".

In December 1962, Fleming was cast as the glamorous Kitty Bolton in the episode, "Loss of Faith", on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Kitty pits Joe Phy (Jim Davis) and Peter Gabriel (Don Collier) to run against each other for sheriff of Pima County, Arizona. Violence results from the rivalry.

In the 1960s, Fleming branched out into other businesses and began performing regularly on stage and in Las Vegas.

One of her final film appearances was in a bit-part as Edith von Secondburg in the comedy The Nude Bomb (1980) starring Don Adams. She also appeared in Waiting for the Wind (1990).

Fleming has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

Fleming worked for several charities, especially in the field of cancer care, and served on the committees of many related organizations. In 1991, her fifth husband, Ted Mann, and she established the Rhonda Fleming Mann Clinic for Women's Comprehensive Care at the UCLA Medical Center.

In 1964, Fleming spoke at the "Project Prayer" rally attended by 2,500 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The gathering, which was hosted by Anthony Eisley, a star of ABC's Hawaiian Eye series, sought to flood the United States Congress with letters in support of mandatory school prayer, following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 of the United States Supreme Court, which struck down mandatory school prayer as conflicting with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Joining Fleming and Eisley at the rally were Walter Brennan, Lloyd Nolan, Dale Evans, Pat Boone, and Gloria Swanson. Fleming declared, "Project Prayer is hoping to clarify the First Amendment to the Constitution and reverse this present trend away from God." Eisley and Fleming added that John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers, Mary Pickford, Jane Russell, Ginger Rogers, and Pat Buttram would also have attended the rally had their schedules not been in conflict.

Fleming married six times:

Thomas Wade Lane, interior decorator, (1940–1942; divorced), one son

Dr. Lewis V. Morrill, Hollywood physician, (July 11, 1952 – 1954; divorced)

Lang Jeffries, actor, (April 3, 1960 – January 11, 1962; divorced)

Hall Bartlett, producer (March 27, 1966 – 1972; divorced)

Ted Mann, producer, (March 11, 1977 – January 15, 2001; his death)

Darol Wayne Carlson (2003 – October 31, 2017; his death)

Through her son Kent Lane (b. 1941), Rhonda also had two granddaughters (Kimberly and Kelly), four great-grandchildren (Wagner, Page, Lane, and Cole), and two great-great-grandchildren.

She was a Presbyterian and a Republican who supported Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election.

Fleming died on October 14, 2020, in Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, California, at the age of 97. She is interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.

#rhonda fleming #classic hollywood #classic movie stars #golden age of hollywood #old hollywood #1940s hollywood #1950s hollywood #1960s hollywood #1970s hollywood

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autumnal-thunder · 3 years

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I understand peoples' frustrations with minimum wage jobs as I have worked in Fast Food. The issue wasn't "sweatshop-like condition" but management and coworkers. Coworkers didn't do their tasks, half-assed their job, clock back in late (10-15 minutes late), and called out without notice. I had to stay behind past my shift because one coworker quit in the middle of her shift. That coworker even tried taking a nap past the end of her break. Overall, she wasn't a good worker and was lazy. Another should have her hours reduced a lot sooner. Management was terrible because most of them (managers) should have been fired or demoted because of their poor leadership, terrible leading by example, and or violated several rules. Most likely they would have if they were at another location that wasn't understaffed. There were no crew trainer promotions because they couldn't get their shit together. Most of the potential crew trainers (me included) left. To add, they were fine with treating the day and night crew differently. I was a full-time worker and night crew member working a swing shift (late lunch to near closing). Night crew had more to handle, including tasks that the day crew was supposed to finish. We had to temp the meat, clean the oven, and their dishes. The day crew got to leave even though they didn’t complete all their tasks. A closing manager acted like my closing crew coworker's refusal to do the morning crew's task was unreasonable. Despite this, we were paid the same for doing more work. I got paid the same as my less productive coworkers who were lazy when I was always doing something. It didn't help that the closing managers didn't (seem to) do anything to change things, and our GM had no clue what the closing crew does. I like to think that my departure caused the closing crew exodus. The location went from closing at 11:00 pm to 8:00 pm (currently). It's a reasonable outcome from poor management. They failed at employee retention, even valuable ones. I know that I was one of the best employees there. I attended all the crew trainer meetings, and they considered me for the manager position. I got trained for most of the positions as well. I was punctual, did my work, and stayed past my shift to help out. To add, I worked full time and had the hours I wanted. I quit during the pandemic (August 2020) because the stress wasn't worth the treatment. In hindsight, I likely would have stayed if I had known that I wouldn't find another job. However, I don't regret it because I left to try to better my position. I have more opportunities in California than on an island near Seattle. The free market goes both ways. I'm not sure if the people who claim that they're sticking it to capitalism are aware that they're a part of the system. The minimum wage isn't capitalistic paying everyone the same rate. I would have reduced hours and pay for half of my coworkers (lowest $5). I definitely wouldn't have given those coworkers a living wage at any rate.

I agree with all of that, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I had similar experiences at my fast food jobs. One of them gradually increased my hours to over 40 hours and seven days a week (i went nearly two months without a single day off before I quit) despite my repeated requests for less time due to being a full time on-campus student. And I worked at a Hardees where all the male employees were forbidden to serve customers directly in any way. My guess is they wanted to use sex appeal by only having women serve customers, because of how risqué their advertising is. I love serving customers and talking to them, so I wasn’t gonna settle for being shoved in the back behind a grill ever shift. If you’re being mistreated, leave asap! Ideally with another job lined up but sometimes that isn’t an option.

And I know what you mean with lazy coworkers, that’s my biggest gripe. In a sense it’s good for people who hustle and pick up the slack because you will get noticed, and it improves your working skills. You’ll be offered promotions or at worst, your next employer will notice how hard you work. But its always the workers who stand around not doing anything who are the ones going to government demanding for higher wages. The problem is a lot of people don’t value work. They say things like “minimum wage = minimum effort”. Well if that’s how your approach work, you aren’t going to improve your position much. And it’s not anyone’s fault but your own. Don’t tear down a system that is beneficial to others just because you refuse to work. That’s envious, laziness, and wrong. And we’ll all be worse off for it.

#long post #inbox #Anonymous #and i know 40 hours isn't much work but #i was doing 12 hour shifts every saturday and sunday despite having class and homework monday through friday #literally leaving me with no time on the weekend to get school work done unless i stayed up all night #just to clarify

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prettyoddfever · 4 years

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The Seattle Ryden story isn’t real.

(google the Seattle Ryden theory if you’re not sure what I’m talking about... I just had to google it myself to see what the whole deal was).

I actually appreciate the enthusiasm & creativity of a good conspiracy theory, but I also think it’s important that it doesn’t replace reality. There’s so much fiction in the current pre-split Panic fandom that’s taken for fact just because people want it to be true, or maybe they hear it repeated so often that it seems like a commonly accepted fact.

WHAT WE DO KNOW HAPPENED IN LATE AUGUST 2007:

The band did a string of shows & appearances in the UK (Decaydance Fest, Kerrang Awards, Reading, Leeds). The last show was on August 26th.

Then they flew home from the UK. It looked like Ryan flew to NYC to spend a few days with Keltie (there were pictures of them hanging out in places like Central Park and they did this photoshoot). I’ve seen people guess that the other guys went home to Vegas & Chicago for a couple days. I’d rather just leave that blank and say idk/idc.

P!ATD’s next show was Bumbershoot in Seattle on September 1st, so they had a few days off.

Meanwhile, Keltie threw Ryan a 21st birthday party on August 30th at Angels & Kings in NYC. There were a ton of pictures and you can see that some of Ryan’s friends were there: Travie McCoy, Gabe Saporta, and Eric Ronick (who was from NYC). Most pictures focused on Keltie & Ryan, though, so idk everyone who was there.

I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal that Ryan’s Vegas friends he’d been hanging out with in 2007 or his bandmates weren’t there. It just seemed like a NYC thing. Ryan hung out at Angels & Kings with Keltie and her friends earlier that summer too. Plus, Travie McCoy had a birthday party at Angels & Kings that summer with a cake that looked very close to the one Ryan got. Their bday parties were good publicity for the new bar. But the point is that we don’t know the exact reason why Ryan’s other friends weren’t there. I know some people have guessed that Jon, Spencer, and Brendon wanted to go home for a couple days before Bumbershoot. I’ve also seen people guess that Keltie was toxic/abusive and wouldn’t invite Ryan’s friends who lived outside of NYC. All I know for sure is that Brendon & Spencer weren’t allowed into a lot of the nightclubs & parties that Ryan was at in fall 2007 because they were under 21 (sometimes they’d walk the red carpet and then have to leave while Ryan & Jon got to stay lol).

The day after Ryan’s birthday (August 31st), Ryan and Brendon did an interview for Fuse that was chopped up to use in all of those Videos That Rocked The World episodes (here’s an example from the first episode). I was hesitant to rely purely on my own judgement when I started this account, but at this point I feel safe stating that this interview is definitely uncut footage from the overall VTRTW interview.

Brendon wore his grey hoodie a lot during that season. Ryan tended to mix his outfits up more often, so it’s easier to date pictures by what he’s wearing. Yes, the picture at the top of this post looks like it was most likely taken in late August after the UK trip (but that still doesn’t tell me anything significant).

I wanted to confirm that the Fuse interviews were done on August 31st for sure before I shared that info, so I emailed someone who worked on that set. She passed some other contact info along and three very kind people looked into their old emails & call sheets to let me know the date/location of Brendon and Ryan’s interview: August 31, 2007 in New York City.

I talked to the director and the executive producer in charge of production for the Videos That Rocked The World series. There’s a chance they were wrong and the interview was in Seattle... but they each said the same thing separately so I’m going to share it as something to consider.

Either way, the interview was absolutely on August 31st. That part is 100% certain. So the romantic motivation for Ryan to meet up with Brendon is erased once you factor in the fact that they had a work obligation the morning after Ryan’s birthday.

THE SEATTLE THEORY WAS WRITTEN BY SOMEONE WHO DIDN’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE BAND

Ok even if the interview had never happened and Ryan therefore had a totally different motivation to join Brendon the next day... the theory still doesn’t make sense lol. Here are a few things to consider:

The band members talked a lot about how they were basically nocturnal in summer 2007. They’d stay up all night and sleep during the day. Ryan & Jon also talked a lot in 2008 about how they were still practically nocturnal on tour – they’d wake up in the afternoon, eat dinner in the middle of the night, and usually didn’t go to sleep until after the sun came up. So if the whole Seattle story were actually true, it still wouldn’t be unusual for Ryan to go about a normal routine in the middle of the night.

Yes, Brendon changed a line in That Green Gentleman to joke about Ryan while they were doing an acoustic show at the Space Needle in Seattle in October 2008. Do you know how many times Brendon spontaneously changed lyrics to joke around?! Or changed that specific line in That Green Gentleman to be the name of the city they were in that night? That doesn’t feel like a remotely notable event to me.

Please don’t ruin Northern Downpour by dragging it into the Seattle theory and making new fans honestly believe that the song is somehow a Ryden thing. People are wildly misinterpreting some interview quotes (possibly because they don’t understand Ryan’s role in the band), so there’s more in this post about Northern Downpour.

Brendon, Ryan, Spencer, and Brent all talked about how much they loved the Pacific Northwest starting from the first time they played a show there in fall 2005. The boys were from a desert area and talked a lot in the early months about how they hadn’t had the chance to travel much (except Brent had been to Canada). Each time they visited Seattle or Portland at least one of them would mention how they loved the weather, trees, etc. That is true. However, I really don’t get how their strong appreciation of Seattle starting in 2005 is somehow linked to an affair in 2007??

WHERE DID THAT PICTURE EVEN COME FROM

It’s SO important to look at where a story is coming from and how you know something. Does anyone know who the fan is who shared the picture above? and what their original story was? It’s repeated a lot but I’ve never seen a source, a direct quote, or anyone who even saw the original person’s post (which is super weird). The whole Seattle story sounds about as reliable as the current fandom’s “funeral picture” tbh.

I learned the hard way to never trust stories behind pictures unless I recognized the account who was sharing them because there was a big problem in 2006-2008 where some fans would steal other people’s pictures, claim it was theirs, and then invent a story about meeting the band. Usually they would crop out or draw over the original person (and the picture-stealer would just spin a story about how they looked ugly that day, didn’t want their face online, didn't want the band to know who was sharing the story, etc). I’m not saying that the picture above isn’t authentic! I have no idea what the original person said or where it came from. I’m just trying to point out how it’s so important to think critically and not blindly trust whatever fun story you hear.

#bday07 #no #ryden

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delta-roseblr · 4 years

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Could you write a fic about Dean coming to Vermont, and waiting for Felix to be picked up. While waiting, Felix's ex comes over and flirts with him. Dean awkwardly tells her that sorry, he has a boyfriend. I would love to read Dean awkwardly telling her he's seeing someone and when she keeps it up with the insisted flirting (saying that he can always do better, meaning herself) he tells her he's waiting there for his boyfriend. Xxx

Hello!

This was a super cute prompt but it didn’t fit with how I knew Dean would meet Felix’s ex (because I have known how that would go for a very long time). So I decided to write Dean meeting Felix’s former friends. I hope you still enjoy it even though it is a bit different from your original request.

Enjoy!

Dean was looking down at the now empty cup in his hand as he declared, “I was kind of expecting something more impressive.”

Felix couldn’t help but laugh as he interlaced his fingers with those on Dean’s free hand. Being early August, it was hot and humid out and both of their hands were quite sweaty, but Felix really didn’t care.

“It was the first Ben and Jerry store, not the Washington Monument,” he pointed out with amusement.

Felix had never been much of a fan of wandering Church Street but having Dean with him actually made it fun. He was sure that hadn’t been his dad’s intent when he decided Felix should go back to Vermont for a few weeks before school started to visit his mom. Too bad for him that Felix’s mom actually liked Dean so she immediately suggested that Dean should come along. Having Dean there made the whole visit infinitely more enjoyable, and Felix was loving showing Dean around Burlington.

Dean looked up from what had been his container of ice cream and grinned. “Exactly,” Dean commented before tossing his cup into a nearby trash can.

Felix had always been aware that Ben and Jerry’s had started in Burlington, but it never seemed like a big deal. Dean, on the other hand, insisted that they had to go there at least once. He compared it to going to Seattle and visiting the first Starbucks location. Felix didn’t know if the two things were really the same, but Dean was so cute about it he couldn’t find it in him to argue.

It was such a warm day, the ice cream had been a welcome relief, but Felix was excited to move on and show Dean more of the city. “Come on,” he exclaimed as he gave Dean’s arm a gentle tug.

Dean let himself get pulled along a little although he wasn’t as quick and willing about it as he had been most of the day. “Felix, we don’t have time,” he reminded, “We need to get Alley.”

That was a disadvantage Felix really hadn’t anticipated for Dean’s visit. His mom had never really expected Felix to drive his sister around but that had apparently changed because it seemed like every time he turned around since arriving he was getting asked to take Alley somewhere or to pick her up from something. It didn’t help that Alley seemed to be always volunteering him for those jobs.

Felix hadn’t ever really been close to his sister until he decided to come out to her. He hadn’t been looking for some kind of bonding moment or anything. Honestly, Felix had just wanted to say it out loud and had thought she was drunk enough to forget.

Whatever his motives that decision had changed his relationship with his sister. Shockingly, Felix kind of liked that they were closer even if it could be weird at times. He didn’t mind playing chauffeur when Dean wasn’t there. No offense to Alley, but once Dean arrived Felix was looking to get as much alone time with him as possible.

Worse yet, Felix couldn’t even protest most of the time because Dean was quick to accept the job on his behalf. It was a mix of southern manners, Dean’s desire to make Felix’s mom like him (even though she already did), and his interest in playing the older sibling. It was all very sweet of Dean and was only driving Felix a little crazy.

“I know,” Felix assured even though Alley would be fucking fine if they were a little late to get her. It was the middle of the fucking day, and she was shopping with her friends. “The coffee shop she is supposed to meet us at is right around the corner,” he explained and gave Dean’s hand another quick tug. “She can walk with us back to the car,” he commented. Felix wouldn’t have been surprised if they ended up waiting around for her because she lost track of time or some stupid bullshit so the least she could do was to walk with them back to the car rather than make them try to drive to pick her up.

“And we could get coffee?” Dean questioned as his face lit up like a kid on Christmas. It was absolutely fucking adorable. “You know, before we head back to your house where sweet caffeine is forbidden.”

Fucking Chad, Felix’s mom’s now live in boyfriend not only didn’t drink coffee but wouldn’t let it in the house because apparently if he couldn’t enjoy it no one could. The guy was such a pushover about a lot of things but on that one, he wouldn’t fucking give. Whenever it was brought up, he would go into a full-on lecture about how coffee wasn’t good for your body. Felix’s mom went along with it too even though Felix knew she just stopped at a coffee shop on her way to work. The whole thing was fucking stupid.

Felix hadn’t really anticipated how affected Dean would be by the lack of caffeine. He guessed it made sense because as much as Dean fought it, he wasn’t a morning person. Felix wished he had thought about it, so he could have warned Dean even though he didn’t mind Dean curling up in his lap when he had a headache. That was actually pretty fucking cute.

“Babe,” Felix replied with a grin. Seriously, he had been smiling so much since Dean showed up his face was starting to hurt a little. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you’ve got a chemical dependency going on with coffee,” he teased as he gave Dean’s hand one last tug before they started down the sidewalk side by side.

He felt more than saw Dean shrug as they walked. “Considering my genetics, I could be addicted to a lot worse.”

The comment was said casually and with much more levity than Dean normally spoke about his father’s borderline drinking problem. Felix had already planned on agreeing to coffee but after that, he didn’t see how he could say no.

He brushed his shoulder against Dean’s playfully as he assured, “Then I think we can make time for coffee.”

Dean made a happy little noise that was absolutely Felix’s favorite sound ever before he leaned over and placed an affectionate kiss on his cheek. “You’re so good to me!”

Felix was sure he blushed at that. He was definitely grinning like an absolute idiot. He always did when Dean did cute things like that, but there was something about him doing it in public that Felix especially loved. They were still keeping their relationship quiet back in Tennessee which Felix understood. Dean had watched how shitty people (or at least some people) were toward Will when it came out that he was gay, and he didn’t want Felix to deal with that while he wasn’t around. It made complete sense. Felix still liked it whenever people could see they were together.

Dean was being extra cute and affectionate as they made their way through the crowded streets. It made the walk pass by more quickly than Felix had anticipated. It had felt like only a few minutes had passed since they walked out of Ben & Jerry when the café was in sight.

The café was one of the smaller businesses on Church Street, which meant it was still pretty large and busy, but it just tried to give off more of a boutique vibe. Its storefront was mainly one large window so most of its interior was visible from the street. Felix was pretty sure that it was supposed to be reminiscent of Paris, but it really just served to make people watching far easier.

In this case, it served as a quick warning because as he and Dean approached Felix saw several familiar faces sitting around a table toward the front of the café. He stopped dead in his tracks and hissed, “Fuck!”

“What?” Dean questioned stopping too. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he looked around searching for the problem, but he didn’t see it. He couldn’t because he didn’t have the necessary knowledge.

It was such a good day. Felix didn’t want it to be ruined by horrible people. He didn’t even want to talk about it, but it wasn’t like he could just drag Dean away without explaining. He hated the whole situation. “You mean besides my really shitty luck?” he questioned with frustration.

“Um…?”

Felix just sighed. He peeked at the window to make sure they hadn’t been spotted even though he knew where he and Dean were standing that would have been impossible before meeting Dean’s gaze. “Some people from my old school that I used to hang out with are in there,” he admitted even though he really didn’t want to.

“Oh,” Dean exclaimed. If Felix didn’t know Dean he wouldn’t have noticed it, but he did know Dean, so it was impossible not to hear how carefully neutral Dean’s tone was. Dean wanted to say more or ask more but was carefully choosing not to.

Felix knew Dean wanted to know more about Felix’s life in Vermont before they met. Every once and a while he would ask a question or two which Felix normally tried to dodge without really giving any information. It wasn’t that he was trying to keep secrets from Dean because he wasn’t. Looking back Felix just hated who he used to be or at least how much he had let other people dictate how he should act. The people he had once called friends were all shallow assholes, and Felix had spent so much time hiding so many things about himself to maintain the right image for them. He was pretty sure if he and Dean had met when Felix was in Vermont Dean would have hated him. If he had learned anything it was that Dean wasn’t the type to hold his past against him, but he didn’t want to disappoint Dean either. None of it mattered anyway because Felix was never going to be that person again, so it was just easier to not talk about it.

There had to be a way to get around the whole awkward situation without Dean being exposed to those awful fucking people. “Maybe I can just text Alley to get her ass out here,” he commented looking down at his phone. It was a good plan and Alley was always glued to her phone so she should get the text. Felix was surprised how easy of a solution that was and then he remembered the problem. “Fuck! We were going to get coffee, fuck!”

“Felix,” Dean said his name in the sweetest most reassuring tone. It looked like he went to touch Felix’s arm reassuringly but pulled back last minute which was telling even if Dean didn’t mean it to be. “It's fine.”

Dean wanted coffee, and it was their day for Felix to show Dean around and have fun. He didn’t want it ruined by ghosts of horrible friends past. And he wanted to get Dean fucking coffee. “It’s really not,” he muttered. He was impressed that he managed to hide how truly pissed off he was by the entire situation.

“They were your friends,” Dean pointed out, “You should at least go say hi.”

Dean didn’t really get it and that might have been Felix’s fault. On the few occasions he had talked about Vermont, he had called all those people his friends. A lot of that had been not long after Felix had moved, and he hadn’t realized how inaccurate that word was. The longer he stayed in Tennessee and got to know Dean he realized more and more those people had never been his friends. The thing was, the longer he was away from them the more Felix embraced who he really was and what he liked. It was hard not to be around Dean because he was always so authentic. Felix was just fucking embarrassed he had hidden himself, and let himself get dragged into things he didn’t want to do by people he wasn’t even sure liked him.

When Dean eventually left for college, he would be happy to come back home, and he would want to see Wash and Watts and probably even Kyle because they really were his friends. He couldn’t really get that Felix had no desire to be reminded of his old life. Of course, Dean would think Felix would want to see his old friends at least on some level.

There was no way he could explain that to Dean or maybe Felix just didn’t want to try because it meant admitting to things from his past that he preferred Dean not know. He probably should have just kept his mouth shut, texted his sister, and just tugged Dean away from the stupid café. He didn’t do that because in some ways he was very dumb.

“That’s debatable,” Felix grumbled under his breath as he continued to just stand there.

“Come on,” Dean stated insistently as he gestured toward the door of the café, “I’m a little curious to meet your old friends.” Dean paused for a second before adding a little more quietly, “You never really talk about them.”

And now Felix felt guilty on top of being frustrated. He wanted to make the day fun for Dean and somehow the shitty people he used to hang out with were ruining it. That was bad enough, but Felix was left looking like a complete asshole. “Um, yeah,” was the only reply Felix managed because again he didn’t know how to honestly explain that he didn’t want to expose Dean to such shitty people.

The change in Dean was undefinable but still unmissable. It was almost like he pulled away from Felix even though he didn’t really move at all. “Felix, it’s okay,” Dean insisted with carefully chosen words. Felix wasn’t even sure what he was talking about, but he could tell Dean was saying that because it was expected and not because it was actually okay. “We don’t have to tell them we are a couple or anything if you don’t want to,” Dean explained as he faked being comfortable with the idea. Maybe if Felix didn’t know him, he would have believed the act, but he did know Dean, so he saw right through it, “I’m totally fine with that.”

That wasn’t it. That wasn’t it at all. How could Dean think that Felix would care about that? Felix wanted to scream they were a couple from the rooftops for everyone to fucking hear. “Dean,” Felix sighed out the name. He didn’t even know where to begin in an attempt to reassure Dean, and the fact that Dean needed the reassurance broke his heart.

Felix had more to say, he was sure of it. He was sure if he could just get started, he would find the right words, but Dean didn’t let him. “Come on,” Dean insisted. He went to reach for Felix’s hand, probably to tug him along like he had on so many occasions but stopped just short. Felix saw the moment where he decided that was a bad idea flash in his eyes even though Dean tried to hide it. Pulling his hand back he gestured over his shoulder at the door to the café. Dean was trying so hard to act casual about the whole thing, and to a stranger, the act would have been enough.

Felix ached seeing Dean like that and the fact that he was trying to hide his upset only made Felix ache more. He wanted to do something, to say something. Maybe he just needed to explain things to Dean, at least as much as he had to for Dean to understand that it wasn’t him. Or maybe he should just apologize for being the worst boyfriend in history.

Again, Dean really didn’t leave him much of a chance to do anything. He didn’t wait for Felix to agree or really say anything in reply before he started walking backward for a second before turning on his heels to start for the door of the café. Felix really had no choice but to follow Dean. He couldn’t let Dean go in there alone. Those assholes would eat him alive.

Stepping through the door, the café was everything Felix remembered. The air was filled with the strong scent of coffee and baked goods. All the tables were crowded with people and the cute music that was playing overhead was just a little too loud so that it intermixed with all the people talking to create a chaotic chatter that was overwhelming.

“What do you want to drink?” Dean asked. He sounded so close to himself it was really nice to hear.

Felix looked at Dean as he processed the question. Dean was hot no matter what but there was something about the café, it’s lighting and its color scheme. It brought out the blue of his eyes, the golden of his hair, and the shine of his skin. He looked like art.

At this point, Felix had known Dean for over a year and had been dating him for about half that time. He should have been used to the fact that Dean was good-looking, but it could still leave him struggling to find words.

“Um, whatever,” Felix managed to mutter, “You know what I like.” Actually, Dean seemed to know what Felix liked better than Felix did sometimes. Half the time Felix ended up liking what Dean ordered more than his own drink, so he was pretty confident that Dean could order him something he would like.

Dean smiled and for a second it was a real smile but then his eyes drifted off a little, and his smile seemed to take on a little sad note. “Go ahead,” he stated with a weak gesture toward where the people Felix didn’t want to see were sitting, “I’ll be over in a minute.”

Oh, Felix didn’t like that idea at all, but Dean was already making his way to the counter to place his order, so he really didn’t see how he had any other choice. “Okay,” he stated more in an attempt to steel himself for what was to come than anything else. He took a deep breath and headed over with all the excitement of a man walking to his death.

Vanessa wasn’t an observant person. Normally if it didn’t have to do with her, she was fucking oblivious. So the fact that she spotted him approaching from what felt like a fucking mile away was just another sign of Felix’s horrible fucking luck.

“Felix, is that you?” Vee exclaimed with her patented fake excitement as she gestured for him to come over. Felix was planning on it even if that was the last thing he wanted to do. The feeling that he was being ordered around by Vee just increased his reluctance and annoyance with the entire situation. “Allison said you were visiting, but I didn’t think we would actually see you.”

Felix made a mental note to scream at his sister for forcing him to talk to these people about him. He would have preferred if they forgot he existed. They seemed to have when he first moved so it apparently wasn’t that hard. Felix didn’t think he was asking for much.

He walked up to the table where everyone was sitting. Well, maybe not everyone but the real highflyers. Vee was there because she would simply be devastated to not be the center of a social gathering. Emily was there because she simply had to go everywhere Vee went. Isaac was there as Vee’s “boyfriend” prop which worked well for Isaac because Felix was sure he loved having everyone know he was dating the “It girl”. Rounding out the crew was Dex who in all fairness wasn’t half bad. He was typically one of the quieter ones, and he didn’t seem like a total dick when he wasn’t being influenced by others being fucking assholes. Thing was, there were always other people around being fucking assholes.

“Yeah, aren’t you too cool for us now,” Isaac added on with heavy condescension.

Isaac had always been a condescending ass to pretty much everyone but maybe less so to his social circle. Felix never really noticed it or realized that they had apparently been in some sort of weird competition for years until he had found out he was moving. Any decency Isaac showed Felix vanished as he swept in to take all the things in Felix’s life that he apparently wanted all along, like a vulture picking at a corpse. The captain position on the lacrosse team that he claimed for years he didn’t even want was the first thing he had gone for, and he hadn’t even waited for Felix to move for that one. Vee was just another one of those things, and at least for that one, Isaac waited until after Felix had left. He hadn’t waited long, but at least he had waited, and in the end, Felix couldn’t really be too pissed about it because he got Dean. Going from Vanessa to Dean was like the upgrades of all upgrades. That still didn’t mean Felix wanted to deal with Isaac’s general douchebaggery.

As much as he wanted to tell Isaac to shove his attitude up his ass he knew if he wanted to get this whole thing over quickly, he needed to just ignore it. “Hey,” he greeted with zero fucking enthusiasm which was about what they deserved. “Um, have you seen Alley?”

“A while ago,” Dex answered, “But not here.”

Fuck my fucking life, Felix cursed internally.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Alley wasn’t where she was supposed to be, but it was wildly fucking inconvenient. “Awesome,” he groaned. Maybe he could just go get Dean and head outside to wait for her. It was a good plan except he was pretty sure that Dean was convinced he was trying to hide their relationship from his stupid fucking friends, and if he did that Dean would feel like that proved that even more.

Fuck!

“So, are you visiting for long?” Vee asked with interest.

Felix could practically see her plotting. It was like spring break all over again. Felix would think she had learned he wasn’t interested in being a part of her weird mind games or her fucking drama, but no. Vee’s ego just couldn’t allow her to get that.

Felix sighed in resignation to the whole shitty situation before replying, “Feels like too long.”

He might have been being a little dramatic because besides for a small annoyance with his mom when he first arrived Felix had actually been enjoying the trip. Dean being there was a huge part of that but whatever the case he had been content until that moment. Of course, dealing with Isaac and Vee was like a black hole of suck that almost nothing could escape.

Isaac huffed dismissively almost like he won something even though Felix was fucking positive he hadn’t won shit. “Can’t wait to get back to the land of pickup trucks and confederate flags?” He questioned and fuck was he ever lying on the condescending prick tone heavy.

Felix glared. Yeah, Tennessee felt like going back in time in all the worst fucking ways, and Felix was usually the first to point out how backwoods it was. That didn’t mean Isaac got to make comments like that. Felix wanted nothing more than to tell Isaac to go fuck himself.

Of course, he didn’t get to because things just had to get worse. “Oh. My. God,” Vee’s friend, Katie, declared excitedly as she returned to the table, practically pushing Felix aside as she did, “The hottest guy ever is at the counter right now and I literally feel transcended having just looked at him, I swear to god.”

Katie was another one of Vee’s little group of girlfriends. Like all of them, she was on the cheerleading squad and valued perfect hair over perfect grades. She was annoying and shallow, and most importantly, just like Emily, she defaulted to everything Vee said.

Isaac rolled his eyes because he just hated the idea of anyone threatening his newly acquired role as alpha fucking male. “Oh, how no one cares,” he dismissed.

Vee fucking giggled her fake giggle as she smacked Isaac’s arm playfully. “You’re such a jerk!” She told Isaac teasingly.

The whole exchange was so fake it was nauseating. Felix wondered if he could just walk away because it wasn’t like any one of them were really paying attention to him. Somehow, he didn’t think he would get away with it.

Katie dropped into a chair and craned her neck as she looked to the front counter before gasping more dramatically than could have possibly been necessary. “Oh my god,” she exclaimed, “And now he is walking this way!”

Everyone looked, even Isaac who tried to look annoyed and unimpressed as he did and Dex who tried to act like he wasn’t looking even though he obviously was. All three girls made approving noises while Isaac made a dismissive huff that didn’t quite cover the look of discomfort which suggested that whatever he saw made him feel threatened.

Out of curiosity, Felix turned to see who Katie might be talking about, and he wasn’t all that surprised to see Dean approaching with two iced coffees in hand. Of course, Katie was talking about Dean. He was gorgeous and unfamiliar. Also, it was in line with Felix’s supremely shitty fucking luck.

“Yeah,” He let out a resigned sigh and turned back to Vee, Isaac, and their cronies, “He’s with me.”

It wasn’t like Felix could hide that, at least not for long, but it felt like the wrong thing to say as Vee, Emily, and Katie all turned on him wide-eyed. “Shut the fuck up,” Katie gasped.

Oh, Felix really wished he could.

Before anything else could be said, Dean arrived at Felix’s side completely unaware of the awful people he was about to interact with.

“Hey,” Dean greeted as he offered Felix one of the cups of coffee, “I took a risk and got iced because it’s like a thousand degrees.”

Felix took the cup, noted the whipped cream and red-tinted drizzle on the top. He had no idea what that was, but he could see Dean had it on his drink too, and if he was being honest, it looked pretty good. Also, even if it was awful considering what Dean was going to have to go through because he was dating Felix, Felix would have suffered through it.

“Iced is perfect, thanks.”

“Felix, don’t be rude,” Vee scolded which unfortunately reminded Felix about where he was and who he was dealing with, “Introduce us to your handsome friend.” She had been no more than halfway through her sentence before her attention drifted to Dean and she zeroed in. When all was said and done, she was looking him up and down like he was a meal and she was a hungry animal.

Vee, in true Vee style, wasn’t being fucking subtle, and Felix wasn’t the only one to notice. After giving another heavy eye roll, Isaac was all but glaring at Dean. Felix didn’t know who pissed him off more, his ex-girlfriend who was currently ogling his boyfriend or Isaac the asshole who was currently trying to do some weird alpha male intimidation thing.

“Yes, please,” Katie exclaimed excitedly before turning to Dean, smiling, waving, and greeting, “Hi.”

Yup, Felix thought to himself, I already hate this.

The real fucked up part was he was sure it was just going to get worse. Felix was absolutely positive he was the worst boyfriend ever. He didn’t want to be, but he really felt like he was.

“This is Dean,” Felix offered with a gesture toward Dean and absolutely no enthusiasm. These were just two worlds Felix had never wanted to collide, but it was happening, and he couldn’t make it stop. “Dean this is Dex, Vee, Isaac, Emily and Katie.”

“Hey,” Dean greeted with a wave.

“Your accent is so cute!” Vee exclaimed like Dean was a cute animal at a petting zoo or something. Not only was it annoying because she was still checking out Dean, but Felix was also offended on Dean’s behalf because it was sort of offensive. “Welcome to Vermont!”

“Must be jarring to be away from the family farm and tractor,” Isaac commented, “Get used to paved roads yet?”

Felix was going to punch Isaac in the fucking face. He didn’t get to talk to Dean that way. Everyone else, Felix could give two fucks about but not Dean. He felt himself tense and he might have even taken a step forward. He wasn’t really sure. It was like the world had gone black.

What stopped him was the sound of Dean’s amused laugh. “Oh wow,” Dean exclaimed, and he didn’t sound offended at all.

The world came back to Felix, and at least he wasn’t the only person that looked pissed at Isaac. All three girls, including Vee, were glaring at him not that Isaac seemed aware of it. He was too fucking busy looking at Dean like he had won something.

“So, let me clear something up for y’all,” Dean stated. He still sounded amused which Felix couldn’t understand, but at the same time, it felt very Dean. He was the type that took the saying turn the other cheek seriously. “We live in the suburbs of Nashville,” he explained gesturing between himself and Felix, “And the only farm I’ve ever been to is the abandoned one outside of town and I wasn’t driving a tractor.”

Well, Felix could attest to that because he knew from personal experience that there was an abandoned farm just out of town that was Dean’s go-to hook up spot. Felix had been there with Dean plenty of times and most of them ended with them fogging up the windows of Dean’s Honda.

“Don’t mind Isaac,” Vee stated politely before she shot Isaac a disapproving and annoyed look, “He’s apparently easily threatened.” Normally, Felix wouldn’t back Vee’s passive-aggressive jab at Isaac’s ego, but on this, he honestly deserved worse, so Felix was for it.

Of course, the unspoken moment of solidarity that had existed between Felix and Vee was short-lived because it took her seconds before her attention focused back on Dean and she went back to her bubbly cheerleader persona as she asked, “So are you guys on the Lacrosse team together?”

Felix realized he couldn’t hit a girl, but he also recognized that he really fucking wanted to. Dean, on the other hand, was either completely oblivious to the fact that Vee was flirting with him and probably trying to picture him naked or was pretending not to notice it. He just shook his head and corrected, “Soccer.”

“I love soccer,” Vee declared, and she really went over the top with it. She gave an excited gasp and everything. This was from the same girl that complained incessantly about going to any soccer-related activity unless the cheerleading squad was performing. Felix was used to Vee being sort of fake, but this really felt like she was bringing it to a new level.

“Soccer’s the best,” Emily declared with a dreamy sigh.

Dean’s eyes lowered slightly, and Felix thought he made out the slightest of pinks spreading across his cheeks. So apparently, he wasn’t completely immune to all the over the top attention. “Thanks?” he muttered somewhat bashfully.

Fucking Isaac and his fucking mouth apparently weren’t done. “Let me guess,” Isaac interjected, and he still sounded so fucking annoyingly triumphant.

What the fuck did he even think he was fucking competing for, let alone winning? Vee? Boy, was he going to feel fucking dumb when he realized.

“You play goalie,” Isaac declared with utter certainty and utter distaste. He apparently didn’t think much of the fact playing goalie was hard as fuck. Really that was just very Isaac and shouldn’t have been surprising, but it still got added to the list of reasons Felix really wanted to punch Isaac in the fucking face.

Dean, in perfect Dean fashion, apparently wasn’t bothered by Isaac. He seemed more comfortable with Isaac being a dick than the girls’ over the top flirting. Felix realized he was probably an asshole for finding that somewhat comforting. “Forward,” Dean answered completely unbothered. “Or I did,” he corrected quickly and then went on to explain, “I actually just graduated.”

“Yeah,” Isaac commented, and he still seemed so fucking triumphant, “Does Tennessee have good community colleges?”

Oh, Felix was so fucking done with Isaac and his fucking mouth. He could be a condescending asshole to Felix all he wanted, but not Dean. And he didn’t get to fucking sit there and question Dean’s intelligence, especially when Felix knew Isaac usually barely managed a B- average and that was cheating off Felix for math.

He glared at Isaac with the heat of a thousand suns. “Are you seriously being this big of a fucking asshole right now?”

Isaac gave him a dismissive look which just pissed Felix more, but Dean was still completely unaffected by all of it because he apparently had the patience of a fucking saint. “I don’t know. I didn’t really look,” Dean admitted with a casual shrug, “I’m attending UC Berkeley in the fall.”

Isaac’s face dropped, and Felix would have sworn he heard angels singing, the sight was so perfect. Felix already knew he was in love with Dean, but he might have fallen in love with him a little more just because he knocked Isaac off his stupid fucking pedestal. Also, Dean tried to hide it, but he had a victorious little smirk of his own at Isaac’s reaction, and Felix fucking loved that too.

“Cute and smart,” Vee exclaimed, “Color me impressed.” Vee was already laying it on pretty thick with her tone, but she actually had the fucking boldness to fucking look Dean up and down like she was undressing him with her fucking eyes. Felix had some news for her. Dean looked fucking amazing naked, and she was never going to see that for herself.

“That’s apparently not that hard,” Isaac grumbled as he actually slumped in his seat a little and pulled his arms over his chest like a pouty fucking child.

Vee ignored him and kept her attention solely (and intensely) on Dean. “So how long are you visiting us?”

Again, Vee’s attention made Dean bashful and quiet in a way that Isaac being a big old bag of dicks just didn’t. Felix was sure Dean would come up with a response at some point. The thing was Felix had reached his fucking limits.

“I literally can’t take this,” Felix declared to the ether like he was already justifying what he was about to say. “Yeah, so Dean’s actually my boyfriend,” he stated, and he didn’t even bother to hide the fact that he was absolutely seething.

No one laughed or anything, but there was a moment where it was more than obvious that everyone around the table thought it was some kind of joke. The longer Felix was silent the more it seemed to hit them that he hadn’t been playing around. Since almost everyone around the table was a horrible human being Felix knew that confession would bring him nothing but trouble, but it all seemed fucking worth it to watch Vee and Isaac's faces fall into matching expressions of shock.

“Um….,” Dex hummed nervously. He was so obviously uncomfortable, and he was suddenly looking everywhere but at Felix and Dean. “So….um….yeah,” he commented awkwardly as he looked around the table for who knew what, “That‘s….unexpected.”

Dex had definitely been looking for someone to agree with him. The rest of the table, on the other hand, they seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Dex had talked at all. They all just continued to stare with shock.

Now that that was out there Felix was seriously considering just grabbing Dean and dragging him out of the café. Okay, that or grabbing Dean and making out with him a little just to make a fucking point, but mostly to pull him out of the café and away from those horrible people. Now that Dean had experienced them a little Felix was sure he would get it.

Ultimately, Felix’s moment of hesitation ended up screwing him and again, that really did make sense with his shitty fucking luck. Vee managed to remember that words were a thing, which in and of itself sucked. Vee was so much more tolerable when she was fucking quiet. But she spoke with what sounded like disgust, which made it so much worse. “Excuse me?”

“Dean’s my boyfriend. It’s not that confusing,” Felix retorted flatly mainly because at that point he just really wanted to bother her more. There had been a few out kids at their school that Felix could remember, so it wasn’t like she wasn’t fucking familiar with the concept.

Felix kept his eyes on the table. He was determined to stare them down and make them as uncomfortable as possible because they deserved it. He didn’t have to look to feel that Dean was staring at him too. Felix could feel his eyes on him, and he could practically feel the energy rolling off him in waves.

Pointing at Dean he ordered, “And stop grinning.” In truth, Felix was happy that Dean was apparently happy that he had just outed their relationship without warning, but just knowing he was smiling at him was pretty fucking distracting.

“I’m not,” Dean denied even though Felix could clearly hear the smile in his voice.

“Yes, you are,” Felix stressed.

“Sorry, I just….,” Dean paused and hummed. Felix thought he heard a little of the uncertainty that he had heard in Dean’s voice before they had entered the café sneak back in, which was sort of the opposite of what he wanted. “I just didn’t think…um….”

Felix knew. He knew what Dean had been thinking. He knew what Dean had been worried about. He knew what Dean hadn’t been saying. Dean thought Felix cared about what Vee and Isaac and the others thought about him. He thought Felix didn’t want them to know they were a couple in case they cared or thought less of him for it. Felix was also sure that his immediate reaction to seeing them had only made Dean’s fears worse.

“Yeah, well that was stupid,” Felix declared flatly and promised himself that he and Dean would talk about this later. Dean deserved an explanation and apology, and Felix wanted to give him that.

Felix wasn’t sure what he was actually expecting, but if Felix had expected Dean to take that silently he had been very wrong. He felt Dean lean toward him seconds before Dean’s lips pressed against his cheek in an affectionate kiss. It wasn��t a long or showy thing. It lasted a couple of seconds before Dean stepped back and stated happily, “I fucking love you.”

When it was just them, they did stuff like that all the time, especially Dean. He was just a touchy person, so Felix was just used to getting a kiss on the cheek rather than a thank you or getting pulled into a hug rather than hearing hello or good morning. But since they weren’t really public in Tennessee, that wasn’t something they did in front of people often. Felix didn’t mind public displays of affection. That didn’t stop all the blood from rushing to his face and his cheeks from starting to burn.

“I love you too,” he managed to get out without sounding sheepish. Felix had a rule when it came to ‘I love you’ ever since he and Dean had gotten back together. He always said it back, no matter what. He meant it, and Dean deserved to hear it as often as possible.

Felix had no control over the fact that he was blushing. He might not have been embarrassed or ashamed of his feeling for Dean, but he still wasn’t used to saying things like that in front of other people. He liked it in a weird way. He wished he could do that back home where it really mattered.

Obviously, Felix had been distracted by his own thoughts and Dean, because he pretty much had forgotten the people around the table even existed. Trying to gauge their reactions or even caring about them was just completely beyond him.

It was Vee’s aggressively insistent voice that pulled Felix from much happier thoughts. “No,” she asserted.

Felix looked back at the people sitting around the table. For the most part what he saw was what he expected: a bunch of shocked faces. Vee was the one exception. She was glaring and her arms were pulled over her chest in a show of defiance. It was so far from any sort of reaction he had been expecting, Felix honestly didn’t know what to think let alone say.

“Um,” he hummed confused, “No what?”

“No,” Vee reiterated as she shook her head like a stubborn five-year-old, “You’re not gay.”

Wow, that was just so ridiculous and also so very Vee. Felix was a little disappointed in himself for not seeing the over the top reaction coming. Vee prided herself on knowing everything about everyone because she was just so perceptive and in tune with people. The idea that Felix had this whole thing about him that she didn’t know probably killed her. Add to that Vee never could handle anyone taking attention away from her for any reason, and Felix was sure she was practically dying inside.

Vee’s reaction pretty much summarized all the reasons Felix couldn’t understand how he ever dated her. He didn’t really attempt to hide his contempt either because he had done that for years, and he was officially past doing that sort of thing. “Last time I checked my sexuality isn’t up for a fucking vote,” he declared dismissively.

“We dated,” She pointed out like that point alone proved something beyond Felix’s past bad taste, “I would know if you were gay.”

Felix could have pointed out that he wasn’t actually gay. He could have explained that he was bisexual, and the assumption that he was gay just because he was in a relationship with a guy was actually pretty offensive, but there wasn’t a point. Vee wasn’t going to really hear it, and Felix really didn’t care if she did. Instead, Felix kept his cool and tried a different approach. “Vee, what’s my favorite color? Or movie?” he asked seriously because he knew Vee didn’t know a singular answer. Vee struggled to focus on other people unless it benefited her in some way. “How do I take my coffee?”

Vee’s mouth tightened, and her glare intensified as she said nothing. Felix wasn’t expecting answers because that was the point he was making, but he still got some. The fact that he got his answers from Dean proved a whole other point. “Blue, The Matrix, and no sugar extra cream” Dean listed quickly and with certainty.

When Felix turned to look at Dean it was obvious that he had been ticking off the answers on his fingers like facts for a history test. Dean had been right about every single one, which was both incredibly sweet, and not at all surprising.

He sort of wanted to kiss Dean’s face for being so fucking adorable, but it just wasn’t the time. Instead, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in an attempt to cover how badly he wanted to grin. “It wasn’t a quiz,” he pointed out.

“So you say,” Dean dismissed. God, Felix could hear how proud Dean was in himself in his voice. “But if it was, I aced it.”

Felix looked at Dean with an affectionate sort of bewilderment. Dean just grinned back at him like he had won something. Felix turned back to Vee and explained, “We might have dated, but you never knew shit about me.”

The point was made, and Felix knew it had really hit home when he saw the anger flare up in Vee’s eyes. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to tell Vee off and rub her nose in just how happy he was, and how much better Dean was than she had ever been until that moment. It was so satisfying.

At the same time, Felix prepared himself for the worst. Vee was the fucking queen of the mean girls, and she wasn’t going to take any kind of insult quietly. He could practically see her formulating the nastiest most hate-filled insult she could come up with and wondered if he could just run an end pass around the whole thing by taking Dean’s hand and leaving before she could say anything.

Bolting ended up being an unnecessary tactic because that was the moment Alley decided to sashay in like a flustered tornado made up of sentient shopping bags. Felix honestly couldn’t think of a time where the saying ‘better late than never’ was more than relevant.

“Okay, okay I know I’m late,” Alley started. Knowing his sister, she had probably been practicing her excuses as she hit two or three more stores. Based on the sheer number of bags she was carrying she probably had bought something from every store on Church street, so it would have been believable.

She stopped rather suddenly and looked around the table for a second and apparently forgot she was in the middle of giving some bullshit excuse. “Oh,” she exclaimed, “And apparently I missed something important.”

Felix almost laughed because that had to be the understatement of the century. “What gave you that impression?” he questioned flatly.

“The general waves of hostility and confusion,” Alley replied dryly.

Dean kept saying that Alley talked a lot like Felix, which Felix kept saying he didn’t get, but with that matter-of-fact statement, Felix actually kind of heard it. He didn’t like it, but he heard it.

Apparently done with Felix, Alley looked to Dean before asking, “So, what did I miss?”

There were times when the fact that Dean and Alley had bonded was kind of cute and then there were times that it was very annoying. This wasn’t quite as bad as Alley telling Felix to ‘marry him’ six times a day, but it was up there.

Dean for his part just gave an uncertain look around before humming, “Um?”

Vee gave an overdramatic huff in Vee’s patented way of both communicating her absolute disapproval while also absolutely demanding everyone’s attention. “Your brother…I don’t even know what his end goal is,” Vee declared. Felix had never noticed it when they were dating, but Vee got extra Valley Girl sounding when she was pissed off. It wasn’t a very flattering characteristic. Actually, it was a little annoying. Felix was surprised he never noticed it before. “But he is taking whatever it is way too far.”

Alley looked at Felix for a second before turning to look at Vee. “That doesn’t really clear things up,” She admitted.

Felix sighed and rolled his eyes to show just how over this whole situation he really was. It was both nothing like he expected and was somehow worse. “Vee is currently refusing to believe that Dean and I are dating,” Felix explained.

“Oh my god!” Alley exclaimed so loudly it hurt Felix’s ears. He actually winced from it. And if that wasn’t dramatic enough, she literally dropped the absurd number of bags she was carrying before she added even more loudly, “We’re telling people!!!! I didn’t know I could tell people!”

“That’s what you just focused in on? Really?” Felix shouted back. That seemed like the least important thing out of what he had just said. Also, he didn’t get why that mattered to her at all.

“Yes!” Alley exclaimed, “I’ve been stressing about how to explain-” she gestured between Dean and Felix dramatically as she spoke, “-this.”

How had things gotten so off track? Felix had no fucking idea, but it was literally giving him a headache. He pinched his nose and closed his eyes in hopes of finding some relief but failed. “What does that even mean?” he questioned completely exasperated.

“It means you two are touching constantly,” Alley explained. She sounded equally exasperated which was completely unwarranted. “Like seriously, neither of you can keep your hands to yourselves.”

Felix had heard that before, and he guessed he and Dean did tend to touch more than two guys normally did, but he doubted it was that much. People just fucking liked to exaggerate about it for some reason. The fact that Felix heard Dean chuckle quietly didn’t help matters any.

Felix could have just let it go but he wasn’t really in that mood. “Why does everyone say that?” he asked sharply.

“Because it’s true,” Alley replied without missing a bit in the most dismissive tone Felix ever heard, “You’re supposed to be smart.”

“This is for real?” Vee's voice cut through the obnoxious sibling moment. Honestly, Felix had both forgotten she was there but was also impressed that she had let the attention be off her for so long. Her voice was somewhere between shock and disgust as she continued to talk, “Felix isn’t just making this up to get back at me?”

Oh, there was so much to respond to there. There was the fact that she thought Felix still cared about her enough to want some sort of revenge. He had thought he had been pretty clear when he had seen her during Spring Break, but maybe her ego hadn’t let her really hear it. Even if Felix did still care that much the idea that he would lie not only about being in a relationship but also about being in a relationship with a guy seemed so extreme it was fucking insane.

Felix was completely bewildered by the thought process that would allow her to think that was in the realm of possibility, and he was sure it showed on his face as he asked, “Why would I lie about that?”

“Um…He does have a point there,” Dex interjected in a timid way.

Felix knew Dex would probably pay for that from Vee and Isaac for days. He couldn’t help but appreciate Dex putting his neck out there even if he seemed so nervous as he did it.

“Straight guys really wouldn’t lie about that,” Dex pointed out.

Felix was so far from that way of thinking and had been for long enough that he hadn’t even thought about that, but Dex had a really good point. Most straight guys were just so concerned about making sure people absolutely knew they were one hundred percent straight.

Dex’s punishment was apparently going to start immediately if Vee’s hate-filled glare was any indication. “Shut up, Dexter!” Vee hissed with an impressive level of venom in her tone.

It was funny because Felix had walked into the situation knowing it was going to be unpleasant, so he thought he was prepared for it. Prepared or not, he had already reached his limit and he couldn’t think of one good reason why he should stay and try to put up with any of it for one second longer.

“You know what? This whole fucking thing is giving me a fucking headache,” he declared. At this point, he was talking more to the void rather than anyone in particular. He looked to Dean who had seriously taken his already impressive boyfriend skills to a whole new level just tolerating this whole scene with such patience and grace. “You have your coffee,” he pointed out because Felix had promised Dean coffee, so it mattered that he got it, “So we can fucking leave.”

Felix was already turning on his heels with every intent on storming out like an overdramatic pre-teen when he heard his sister huff. “What if I wanted a coffee?”

“You should have been here on fucking time,” Felix answered without sympathy. “Pick up your shit so we can go,” he ordered as he pointed toward the bags that surrounded his sister’s feet. He started to move again but thought better of it and turned back to his sister with a serious look. “And before you ask, no, Dean will not help you carry anything,” he stated forcefully because he knew she would ask, and Dean was too southern to tell her no like he should, “If you didn’t want to carry it, you shouldn’t have boughten it.”

“I really don’t mind,” Dean commented. Of course, he didn’t mind. He was Dean, and he was an amazing person that way. Felix gave Dean a look because at this point it was about the principle of the thing, and Dean seemed to get that just from the look. He bowed his head a little and held out his hand slightly in a show of surrender, “But you’re making a point.”

“It’s been seeing you, I fucking guess,” Felix told the table with an unenthusiastic wave. It was far from a good-bye, but it was better than telling them all to go fuck themselves like he really wanted to, so they would just have to deal with it.

Without any more discussion, Felix turned his back on the people he once called friends and left with Dean and Alley half a step behind him. Felix couldn’t really explain why, but he didn’t feel like he could really breathe until he was sitting behind the steering wheel of what had once been his car.

As Alley loaded her absurd number of bags into the back, Dean slid into the car’s front passenger seat. Of course, Felix’s former car was a SUV, so it was the only kind of vehicle that had a more imposing center console than Dean’s Civic. It was really fucking obnoxious because Felix would have liked if Dean could sit close to him.

Dean pulled his door close, took one look at him, and instead of making a comment about how he could drive like he normally would he asked, “You okay?”

Felix looked over at Dean and could see the concern written all over his face.

Fuck.

Felix sighed and looked forward because that was just so much easier. “Not fucking really,” he admitted heavily.

He saw Dean’s hand reach out seconds before it covered his own on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry,” Dean stated softly in a voice filled with such empathy.

Dean’s voice, his touch, and everything about his presence were infinitely comforting while still being extremely confusing. “Why are you sorry?” Felix questioned as he turned to look at Dean so Dean could fully see how fucking confused he truly was by the thought, “You shouldn’t be sorry. Dean, you shouldn’t have had to deal with any of that bullshit.”

Dean’s gaze became downcast and his voice managed to get softer as he spoke, “I just know it had to be hard for you that your friends reacted like that.”

“Friends? Dean, those people are fucking horrible, and I’m genuinely fucking embarrassed that I ever hung around them,” Felix admitted, and in hindsight, he wished he had told Dean that from the very start. It would have probably saved him a headache.

Felix took a long breath and slumped in his seat. “I’m upset about how they treated you,” he admitted because that was what really stuck with him from the whole thing. He had to groan just thinking about it. “God, Isaac was such a condescending prick, and Vee was a fucking cunt.”

Felix had barely stopped talking when he felt Dean’s lips press against his cheek. It was a brief and affectionate little kiss, but Felix still felt himself relax a little in his seat. “That statement had a lot of curse words for something so sweet,” Dean stated with amusement as he leaned back into his own seat. “Felix, I used to hang out with Eric, and I dated Promise,” he reminded, “I can handle Isaac and Vee’s bullshit.”

“Ahhh, Isaac is an asshole and Vee is a total bitch,” Alley butt into their conversation as she finally climbed into the backseat of the SUV. She pulled her door shut way too hard as usual and Felix had to remind himself it wasn’t his car anymore so he shouldn’t care. “Luckily, Felix’s taste has improved drastically with the move,” Alley added happily.

She wasn’t wrong, but Felix was pretty sure she didn’t need to say it out loud like that. “Thanks, Alley,” he called back to her flatly because he wasn’t all that appreciative of the comment.

“Don’t know why you’re in such a mood,” Alley dismissed as she moved in the backseat so that Felix could clearly see her in the rearview, no doubt so she could better interrupt any conversation he and Dean tried to have. “You totally got to show them how much you won that breakup,” she declared with way more certainty than she had any right to have, “Treat it like the victory it is.”

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aeipcthys · 4 years

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╰ ❛ 💉 — › brenda song. cis-female. she/her. ╯ have you met margot moore yet ? this twenty nine year old virgo has been living in the seattle area for one month. she makes a living as executive assistant to the chief of surgery, which is best suited for their observant, loyal, picky, and judgmental personality. hold on by wilson phillips is one of their favorite songs.

trigger warnings: mental health, mental illness, bipolar disorder, racism, microaggressions, gambling addiction mention, addiction mention

full character page here

BASIC INFORMATION

Full Name: margot moore

Nickname(s): moore

Age: 29

Date of Birth: august 23, 1992

Hometown: lake placid, florida

Current Location: seattle, washington

Ethnicity: hmong, thai

Nationality: american

Gender: cisgender female

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Orientation: she has only ever slept with men. that being said.......how y’all doing

Status: technically in a relationship

Religion: christian

Political Affiliation: democratic socialist

Occupation: executive assistant to the chief of surgery

Living Arrangements: she wants a roommate so if someone breaks into her apartment she won’t be the only target

Language(s) Spoken: english, hmong

Accent: american

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Face Claim: brenda song

Hair Color: brunette

Eye Color: dark brown

Height: 5'2

Weight: 113 lbs

Build: slim

Tattoos: anchor, writing on her finger, cross on her knuckle, writing on her wrist, bee on her wrist, cross on her side, symbol on her wrist

Piercings: ears, cartilage

Clothing Style: cute, fashionable kind of thing

Usual Expression: resting bitch face probably

Distinguishing Characteristics: laugh

HEALTH

Physical Ailments: none.

Neurological Conditions: has a form of bipolar affective disorder, doesn’t talk about it much, and is strict about her medications

Allergies: none.

Sleeping Habits: sprawls out across her bed when she eventually passes out with the tv on

Eating Habits: vegetarian except when she’s not

Exercise Habits: she actually attends those soul cycle kind of classes, and is really into it, but she would definitely make fun of them to everyone else

Emotional Stability: 9.14

Sociability: chatty, definitely can be nice, often judgmental but with good intentions, will gossip with you

Body Temperature: runs cold yet often wears outfits she’ll definitely be cold in

Addictions: stupid dumb men

Drug Use: we’re not necessarily opposed, but not a regular thing

Alcohol Use: bottle of wine everyday when she gets home kinda thing

PERSONALITY

Label: tbd

Positive Traits: observant, loyal, analytical, hard-working,

Negative Traits: picky, judgmental (with love), cynical, bossy

Fears: people in mascot costumes

Hobbies: being tupperware for other people’s messes (i stole this from an astrology site but legit her okay), girl can internet stalk the HELL out of someone for you if need be

Habits: eavesdropping on conversations, accidentally cutting people off when she has a better idea, zoning out when a whole lot of boring is coming at her

FAVOURITES

Weather: if it’s not humidity, she’s cool

Colour: shades of peach

Music: anything she can dance to in her apartment or every once and a while something at her desk that would make lachlan uncomfortable

Movies: no movies, movies are long

Sport: uh

Beverage: wine

Food: too many things have been described as her favorite to keep track

Animal: no thanks

FAMILY

Father: cye moore

Mother: mai moore

Sibling(s): elias moore

Children: none.

Pet(s): n/a

Family’s Financial Status: middle class

EXTRA

Zodiac Sign: virgo

MBTI: estj

Anything Else:

BIO

Margot Moore grew up in Lake Placid, Florida...a very tiny place in the sunshine state. Lake Placid had a population of just about 2,000 people, and Margot felt the smallness of it all ever since she was young.

Her parents, Cye and Mai, were good and loving parents to Margot and her brother, Elias. Both her parents were immigrants to the United States, so they were among the many who worked tirelessly to provide a good and stable life for their children. Her father worked his way up to being a branch manager at a manufacturing company, and her mother worked at a bank. All in all, her life could be described as pretty normal.

However, growing up in Lake Placid wasn’t always a walk in the park. Lake Placid was a largely white town, and because it was small, everybody knew everybody. Which meant people talked. You never wanted to be on the wrong side of that talk. As she got older, Margot started to see that she looked different from a lot of her classmates. Her classmates noticed it too.

TW racism, microaggressions She began to experience racism and microaggressions at the hands of people who were her friends. A lot of it was unconscious, but there was a definite bias. Margot’s parents knew it too, but they didn’t want to rock the boat. They encouraged Margot to ignore it. To try and blend in as much as possible. So, that’s what Margot learned to do. She tried her best to just blend in with it all. She didn’t talk much about her family’s culture or traditions. She tried to make herself look more like her friends, even dying her hair blonde for a period of time to try and make herself into the ideal standard of beauty.

TW mental illness, mental health, bipolar disorder During this time, Margot also began to struggle with other things. Her mood swings were unpredictable. She experienced racing thoughts and an inability to focus. She started sleeping less and making some risky decisions. At first, Margot didn’t want to get help. She didn’t see a need. But when she started to fall back into a depressive episode during her junior year of high school, her parents said enough was enough. Margot started going to regular therapy appointments and met with a number of psychologists. She was diagnosed with a milder form of bipolar affective disorder, and she has been on medications ever since.

Margot has done extremely well keeping up with therapy and her medications. Therapy is the one thing she’ll never reschedule. Not even for work. Old habits die hard for Margot, though. It’s hard for her to talk about her mental illness because in her mind, this is just another thing that separates her from everyone else. And remember what her parents always said: assimilate.

Margot went on to college, and she had a strong desire to get herself out of Lake Placid. She decided to study business at the advise of her dad at the University of Central Florida, but it wasn’t something she was exactly passionate about. It was a thing to do while she enjoyed her college years. She wasn’t bad at it, she just didn’t give as much effort as she probably should have.

Out of college, Margot had little money of her own, but she was determined not to go back to Lake Placid to live with her parents. She started temping at an agency, and she would get moved around from business to business, mostly doing administrative work or bookkeeping. It wasn’t overly exciting, but it gave her some money to live off. Plus, Margot lived off of learning about each place she worked at...all of the office gossip and drama.

Somewhere in her post-grad life, Margot met Holden. Holden was, in fact, an idiot who probably had a (TW gambling addiction, addiction) gambling problem that Margot funds. Margot and Holden just kind of ended up together. It wasn’t that they were madly in love. They just kind of...stuck. Margot was the one who pretty much kept them alive. She for some reason has a soft spot for the dumb ones...it was the only thing that kept her from kicking him to the curb through the years. Their relationship isn’t solid, or even necessarily exclusive...it just kind of exists. And no one understands it.

When she was about 24 years old, Margot started temping at a private practice in Florida. This is where she soon met Lachlan Covington and Andrea Martinez. Both the doctors worked at the private practice, and Margot started actually liking her job. Of course, it was a temp job, so she had to work her magic. Sure enough, she was eventually able to persuade Lachlan into taking her on as an assistant.

Margot has been working for Lachlan ever since, and she’s built up a good friendship with Andrea. She was shocked when Andrea left for Seattle, and high key disappointed to see the couple split up. She always hoped they would be endgame. Margot stuck by Lachlan, but she often told him that he needed to get Andrea back. Because he did. Eventually, Margot watched Lachlan leave too. She initially had no intention of going with him, considering her life was all in Florida. However, after a few weeks him being gone, she realized how boring most of her other co-workers were. When he reached out to see if she’d come to Seattle, she said yes almost immediately. (She tried to be casual about it though). She assigned herself the title of executive assistant, just because she thought it sounded more important with the word executive in it.

Margot didn’t exactly break up with Holden before she left, and by the sounds of his texts, he may still think they’re still together. She’s just kind of letting that be for the time being. After all, they’ve been together for so long.

Margot is liking Seattle, but she hates living alone and is still trying to get her own lay of the land. She likes to have resources...people she can go to when she needs something, people she can squeeze information out of, the good restaurants she can order from and charge to the hospital credit card when Lachlan’s inevitably working late and she stays in solidarity...that kind of thing.

PLOTS

y’all know me open to anything

probably looking for: roommate!!! folks she always goes to for info, people to gossip with, a friend she often grabs lunch with, that one doctor she hates and always tells them that lachlan is in a meeting when really he’s completely free

#traumaintro #she was not meant to stand still ( margot moore. )#sup #( character intro. )

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howaminotinthestrokesyet · 4 years

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Behind The Album: Appetite For Destruction

In July 1987, Guns N’ Roses released their debut album, Appetite For Destruction. The album would go on to become the biggest selling debut record in music history. Furthermore, it would be the 11th highest selling album of all time in the United States. The strange thing was that the record did not actually achieve this immediate success after its release. Its popularity was a very gradual growth that needed the help of singles, a tour, and music videos including their only number one hit “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” The record company, Geffen, did not do much in the way of promotion for the band, Critics at the time did not think very much of the album at first, but now they all agree that Appetite For Destruction now represents a classic album that changed music.

The recording sessions began in January 1987 as the band had signed with Geffen Records six months prior. They could have signed with Chrysalis Records for twice the money, but they would not give them complete artistic freedom. For their part, Geffen Records did not have very much faith in the album anyway pushing the band to release the EP Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide the previous December. The executives did not feel that GNR had enough material to make a full album, but they did not want to miss out on the buzz that was building about their live shows. Most of the tracks for the album had been written while playing their club shows primarily in LA from 1985-1986. As stated previously, they produced a wealth of material that actually went on their other albums, G N’ R Lies and Use Your Illusion I and II. For example, “November Rain” was seriously considered for this album, but they only wanted one ballad on there, which became “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” a love letter to Axl’s girlfriend Erin Everly. The band considered several producers to record the album including Paul Stanley of Kiss and Mutt Lang, who had produced Def Leppard. The rejection of Lang really came down to the producer being too expensive. The first producer they worked with, Spencer Proffer, actually recorded nine tracks with the band, but he was ultimately rejected. They finally chose Mike Clink, who had produced several records by the band,Triumph. The album would be mostly recorded at Rumbo Studios in the San Fernando Valley. One of the reasons for this decision represented the fact that the location was away from Los Angeles, which meant the band members could focus a lot more on the music. The distractions of sex and drugs were problematic from the very beginning. The record company from the time they were signed began to fear that the band would not be around long enough to record any album because one of them was probably going to die very soon. Recording was slow at first because Slash needed to work on perfecting the guitar sound for the album. Once he got that down, the album still took quite a bit of time because Axl Rose demanded that his vocals only be recorded one line at a time. Steven Adler would later say that his drum tracks only took six days. As Axl gradually recorded his vocals, the rest of the band stayed completely away from the studio to let him work. A good number of the tracks for the album had actually been written when band members were in other groups. “Rocket Queen” had been a song written by Duff McKagan, Slash, and Stephen Adler when they had the group, The Road Crew. The song “Anything Goes” had been a Hollywood Rose tune. The lyrics reflected personal experiences of the band members. The song, “Welcome to the Jungle” came from Axl hitchhiking to New York. A homeless stranger came up to him upon arrival and said, “Welcome to the jungle you’re gonna die, man.” The song, “Out To Get Me” had been based on Rose’s troubles with the police that essentially forced him to leave Lafayette, Indiana to avoid prosecution. The song, “Mr. Brownstone was a direct reference to their seemingly full-time pastime of doing heroin. The song” “Paradise City” was written just after a disastrous trip to Seattle for one of their first tours. They had been left stranded on the way there needing to ditch much of their equipment just to make the tour. Paradise City emerged as a reference to Los Angeles upon their return.

GNR needed to battle the record company over the original cover art for the album. They had wanted an image of a robotic rapist being punished by a metal avenger, but record stores said they would not sell the album. Band members would later say that the robotic rapist was a symbol for the industrial system polluting our environment. Sometimes when it comes to Guns N’ Roses, you simply could not make this stuff up. A compromise was finally reached to allow the image to be included on the insert. The cover of the album, which is now iconic actually originated from a tattoo Rose had gotten the year before. Along with his tattoo artist, the singer would receive most of the credit for that logo. A little known fact emerges in that the knot symbol in the cross on the logo was actually a reference to Thin Lizzy. Another creative difference that most people may not realize was that the record did not have an A and B side, but a G and R side. The G side represented songs that took on darker themes like drugs and violence, while the R side were the ones about love, sex, and relationships. Originally, Axl had wanted to have a picture of the Challenger space shuttle exploding as the cover of the album, but the record company refused because it would have been in extremely poor taste.

At first, nobody noticed that the album had even been released. For example, in August 1987 Appetite For Destruction was number 182 on the charts, but exactly one year later the album was number one. Author Stephen Davis said that competition from other groups like Aerosmith and Def Leppard at the time hindered the group's ability to effectively promote the album. Slash would recall, "We thought we'd made a record that might do as well as, say, Motörhead, it was totally uncommercial. It took a year for it to even get on the charts. No one wanted to know about it." Another thing that must be noted that absolutely helped the success of Appetite For Destruction was the music video for “Welcome To The Jungle.” MTV had refused to play the video until David Geffen from the record company requested that the channel play it. The video aired for the first time at 4 AM on a Sunday, but some people saw it that lead to a tremendous number of requests for the video. Surprisingly looking back now, but critics absolutely hated the album at first. Dave Ling of Metal Hammer said the band simply copied other groups like Aerosmith, Hanoi Rocks, and AC/DC, and not very well at that. Other critics believed that the band’s popularity could be wholly attributed to their embrace of sex and drugs in their lyrics. They felt the group was glorifying it at a time when America was suffering from the AIDS epidemic and the war on drugs. Now in retrospect, critics undoubtedly keep lavishing praise upon the album being a turning point as rock and roll turned away from hair metal and glam metal to hard rock. Many agree that it represented the best metal record of the late 1980’s, if not the entire decade. Ann Powers of Rolling Stone would write, it “produced a unique mix of different rock values, speed and musicianship, flash and dirt,” that "changed hard rock's sensibilities at the time." Christa Titus of Billboard also noted that overall Appetite For Destruction embraced multiple other sub genres besides what would become hard rock. The album had, “metal's forceful playing, punk rock's rebellious themes, glam metal's aesthetic, and bluesy guitar riffs that appealed to purists." As other critics brought up that the record was more in line with The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith in the 1970’s, rather than any current band. In 1999, Axl Rose with all new members of Guns N’ Roses re-recorded the entire album. His reasoning had been to utilize new recording technology to improve upon the master. This new version was never released to the public, except for the second half of the song, Sweet Child O’ Mine which can be heard in the credits for the film, Big Daddy. In 2018, the band released a deluxe version of the album including early demos recorded at Sound City, Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide remastered, and early versions of the tracks that would eventually land in some form on Use Your Illusion I and II.

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bloodandfire-kennyhickeyfanfic · 5 years

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Chapter 7 - Spend Some Time, Drink Some Wine... Ehem Whiskey

New York, New York August 7 1994

"Where in the fuck is my bag?" I say to myself as I stand at the luggage terminal inside John F Kennedy International Airport waiting for the little luggage carousel to push out my bag. I feel like I've been standing here forever waiting for it to pop out and each time a bag rolls by it never ends up being mine.

The meeting I had with Susan went really well and I'm so excited that she appointed me as an assistant for Pantera.

Pantera! Can you fucking believe that? I sure as hell can't. Their tour manager needed some extra help so Susan was able to set it up for me and I am so excited. I had already met with Steve Bainbrige just a few days ago and signed a temporary contract with him so that I am able to assist him for the next couple of show dates for Pantera. Type O Negative is also playing a few dates with them as well so at least Kenny will be with me and it won't be so nerve wracking.

The only time I've ever met Phil, Vinny Rex and Dime was when they played a few shows with Soundgarden when Soundgarden was opening for Skid Row. Damn, that seems like such a long time ago. Like another lifetime ago.

This is my first time doing this all on my own and I'm nervous as fuck. I seriously don't want to mess anything up at all. I'm going to try and be confident and professional and not shy and socially awkward just because I'm such a big fan of Pantera. They're playing here at L'Amours tonight so I will get first hand at what it's like to work for Pantera. I'm so fucking excited!

I glance up at the multiple clocks that were lined up on the wall behind the ticket booth indicating what time it was in each time zone, New York showing just passed 4:00PM. I called Kenny earlier this morning letting him know when my flight was in and he said that he was going to meet me here at the terminal. I just hope I hadn't kept him waiting because of this stupid luggage carousel refusing to give me my luggage. After another 10 minutes waiting and it still didn't come out, I walk over to the attendant at the luggage terminal to ask where my luggage was.

"Your luggage ticket number?" The bulky male attendant asks me barely looking up from his computer screen.

"5023" I say a little impatiently. He types a few keys into the computer still not looking at me and starts to shake his head.

"Nothing in the system with that number, what was your flight?" He says still not looking at me.

"Flight 402, the 11:00AM Seattle to New York," I say trying not to sound frustrated. He punches a few more keys and still not one ounce of eye contact. Suddenly I feel a warm hand slide across my lower back under my leather jacket and I glance up and see Kenny looking so freaking amazing in his black button up shirt loosely tucked into his black jeans and leather jacket, his jet black curls flowing passed his shoulders standing beside me.

"Hey babe," He says a little raspy with a cute grin and places a kiss on my temple, his sweet cologne tickling my nostrils perfectly.

Damn he smells so fucking good.

"Hey," I exhale, my frustration diminishing for a few moments.

"Still nothing in the system... last name?" The attendant says to me still not looking up at me.

"Um, Cornell," I clear my throat.

"First name?"

"Andrea," I say and he types some more keys.

"What's going on?" Kenny asks me.

"Trying to pick up my luggage," I say looking up at him as I push my curls out of my eyes.

"I'm sorry there's still nothing here with that ticket number," The attendant says.

"What do you mean?" I ask frustratedly.

"There isn't any luggage with that number," The attendant finally looks up at me but doesn't offer any other expression other than a straight face. I pull out my ticket and show him but he still says that there's no luggage with that number.

"So, what... it's like lost then?" I ask attempting to remain calm but the attendant still offers no sympathy or anything which pisses me off even more especially since he is working a customer service position.

"Did you purchase any insurance?" The attendant asks.

"Well no... but - "

"I'm sorry we can't do anything without insurance," He cuts me off.

"Are you kidding me?" I say as my anger starts to rise.

"Babe, hey... it's alright, Here... let me," Kenny says and moves to the attendant window and talks to the attendant, trying to be sweet at first but as the attendant still shows no empathy or anything, Kenny starts to lose it. As he argues with the attendant I try to pull him back to calm him down.

"It's policy, no insurance, we can't do anything sir,"

"Yea well, fuck your policy!" Kenny exclaims.

"Kenny, hey... let's just go," I say trying to pull him away from the window. He was getting angrier than I was and was starting to create a scene which I don't blame him but I really didn't want to draw any attention.

"Fuck you!" Kenny exclaims as the attendant smirks and shakes his head and I'm eventually able to pull him away from the window.

"I'm sorry babe but what the fuck? He fucking needs to show some remorse or something... like, Jeezus," Kenny says as we walk away.

"It's ok, just... what the fuck am I gonna do now? I only have what I'm wearing right now and a dress in here. All my favorite band shirts and my favorite jeans... and my shoes to go with this dress... fuck me, " I say frustratedly as I look down at my bag slung over my shoulder.

"Hey, it's ok babe... we'll get you something. I've had this happen to me more times than I can count... Just that fucker back there could use some fuckin' customer service training or something," Kenny says which makes me giggle.

He takes my hand in his lacing his fingers through and suddenly he stops us from walking towards the main doors. I glance up at him and he has the most sweetest grin on that boyish clean shaven face of his. His other hand reaches up and cups my face, his thumb brushing across my bottom lip and then presses his lips to mine so soft and gentle, lingering for a few moments as his tongue flicks at my top lip and then he pulls away, touching his forehead to mine. After a few moments we break away from each other as he leads me out of the main doors of the airport.

"C'mon, We'll uh... head to my place," He says.

"Ok,"

Fuck, I've missed him.

*****

A short while later, we arrive at Kenny's apartment, a small one bedroom located in Brooklyn near the lower east side. The building was part of a duplex with his apartment on the upper floor. Once Kenny opens the door, I step inside to see his living room that was attached to the kitchen, scattered with stacked Mesa/Boogie amps and a few of his guitars, a T.V on a small makeshift stand and a stereo record player set up on the opposite side of that, a couch that faced the T.V and a large reading chair to the left with a ton of magazines and scattered papers all over the coffee table and floor. It's such a guys apartment.

It reminds me of the first time I went to Chris's apartment that he shared with Andrew Wood from Mother Love Bone. Chris had it set up the very same way. Guitars and amps all over his room and a string of unfinished lyrics that you could shake a stick at.

"Sorry for the mess, I just hadn't had time to uh, you know... clean," Kenny says immediately walking over and trying to tidy up the papers.

"It's ok," I say and close the door behind me as I watch him try to find where to put everything.

"Kenny it's ok, I don't care really," I giggle as he shoves more papers into a drawer in the coffee table then flips his curls out of his face as he turns to face me.

"You want a drink or somethin'?" He asks so cutely, stepping over a stack of magazines.

"Sure,"

He steps into the kitchen and fumbles around to make some drinks as I set my bag down at the door, take off my jacket, head over to the couch to sit down and glance at some of the papers that were still somewhat scattered around the coffee table. I glance up at Kenny as his back was facing me while making our drinks and then pick up the one piece of paper that caught my attention and read a little bit of it. I didn't mean to be so nosey but I couldn't help it.

"Did you write this?" I ask cutely when he steps back over to me and hands me a Jack and Coke.

"Uh... yea, I did," He says suddenly sounding shy about it as he steps passed my to sit down beside me taking a sip of his beer and turning slightly to face me as I glance down at his scribbling. Funny, how I always thought that Peter was the lyricist and Kenny just came up with the guitar parts.

"You want me to play it for you don't you?" Kenny smirks slyly at me taking another sip of his beer.

"No, no I was just... I mean, not if you don't want to," I say getting a little flustered as he leers at me still. He takes another sip and sets his beer down, then leans over and grabs his acoustic guitar.

"It's not like... completely finished but... well anyways," He says so cutely laying his guitar across his lap and plucks a few strings. I couldn't help but grin a little seeing him get flustered and shy. I shift a little in my spot as I watch him get himself situated, clearing his throat and figuring out how to start. Then he begins to play.

"You give your love to me tonight You owe your flesh to me for life You give your body and your mind I'll fuck your warmth and your lies My lady..."

He continues to strum and the sound of his voice is so different. I'm used to him singing the small parts when he plays with Peter if Peter can't sing in that range. Here, he sounds so clean but raspy at the same time, with so much emotion that I never thought would come out of him. It's making me feel things that I didn't think I would feel ever again.

"You give your heart I'll treat it right You bring your flaws I'll give them light You know I wanna sink deep into you I'm created to love you and finally lose..."

He trails off and stops but still avoids my eyes and I had no idea what to do for a moment, but then I couldn't help myself. I set my drink down and then immediately move myself over to him take his face in my palms and press those beautiful soft lips to mine. For a moment I could tell that I startled him but then as I started to suck his bottom lip, he moves the guitar from between us never breaking his lips away from mine and responds with his tongue swiping across my bottom lip, his hands immediately going straight to my hips and up under my White Zombie band shirt, to the small of my back and further up.

Suddenly after a few moments, I had to stop myself. I have no idea what came over me or why I started to second guess myself but I needed to stop.

"I can't..." I pull away and he looks at me with those dark eyes completely confused and I don't blame him.

"You can't what?" He asks and I lean my arm on the back of the couch covering my eyes with my palm, forcing myself not to cry. I can feel him still looking at me but I can't bring myself to look at him.

What the serious fuck is happening to me?

"Baby...?" He asks slightly worried moving closer to me. I still couldn't bring myself to say anything and all I could feel was this intense feeling of fear and sadness inside me.

"This is stupid... I'm so stupid... I can't... I just..." I try to explain fumbling over my words and still holding back tears and not letting myself look at him.

"Andi, talk to me... what can't you do?" His voice is calm but still worried as he pulls my hand away from covering my face. I open my eyes to look into his, seeing the worry and concern on his face.

"What are we doing? I mean... what the fuck am I even doing? Fuck I'm not making any fucking sense," I say as I start to get angry at myself.

"Baby... talk to me..." He still looks at me with those eyes and suddenly I let everything out.

I tell him everything. I tell him how I was married to Chris, and that I still am though we are separated and haven't talked to each other since we split, other than breaking out of the contract I signed with Soundgarden which I had to talk to him then but other than that, nothing from him since March. I tell him the reason why we split which was the most difficult thing I could talk about since I haven't been able to talk about it since it happened.

"... we tried for months to have a baby you know? The whole time I thought that there was something wrong with me. Like, my body wasn't working right or something. But, then after so long we just decided if it doesn't happen it's ok. But then it did. I got pregnant and I was so excited..." I say as I look down at myself unable to look him in the eye forcing myself to keep it together.

"What happened?" He asks after a few moments though I think he already knew the answer.

"... I uh... lost the baby. She was um... she wasn't breathing when I delivered... her and..." I trail off fighting the urge to cry and I could see the look on Kenny's face that he could tell how I'm still struggling with losing her.

"...anyways after that Chris and just... fell apart. He started to ignore me and I wasn't any better since I couldn't fucking even get out of bed for like 4 months straight. I tried to make it work once I started feeling better but at that point it was too late. We had already grown so far apart that there was no going back at all. Anytime we talked to each other it just turned into an argument. He just threw himself into Soundgarden and left me alone to fight the horrible pain all by myself..."

I cannot believe I'm letting this all out. There is no way in fucking hell Kenny is going to want me after this. If I were him, I'd be heading straight for the fucking door.

"Jeezus..." Kenny exhales.

"Kenny... I'm so fucked up," I say looking away and trying to stop the tears from coming out. He reaches up and cups my face in his palm, brushing away a stray tear that rolled down my cheek.

"No... no you're not fucked up," Kenny says looking at me with those dark eyes.

"I have no idea why you even want to have anything to do with me... I mean, I'm pretty much like damaged goods here," I say looking back down at myself.

"Andi... I don't know if you've figured this out yet though I thought you would've got the hint from that song, but... I'm fucking in love with you so... if you're fucked up then I'm fucked up too,"

I flick my eyes back to his in complete disbelief. I had no idea what to even say but I also wasn't sure I heard him right.

"What?" I ask quietly.

"I love you,"

#Blood&Fire #type o negative #type o negative fanfiction #kenny hickey #kenny hickey fanfiction #peter steele #johnny kelly #josh silver #louder than love trilogy #my story

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allthetribbles · 5 years

Text

Research and Mini-Gaunts

August 11, 2018; OIS Game Notes

Setting - OIS Seattle Office; 01/09/2085-01/15/2085.

01/09/2085. Had a meeting with Director Elwood to go over the last operation (01/06/2085) at the cultist location. Discussed whether it actually looked like the golden winged creature was attacking, or if it was escaping – Alan and Ryan both agreed “attacking” would be the correct term. It is becoming “concerning” that we're coming across more zombies/undead. Just under orders to keep an eye out for those that express an interest in necromancy. Also, in the future, keep an eye out for the golden winged creature – call it in immediately and either detain or TERMINATE.

Helped the interrogation of the most recent cultist (Alex Murphy). According to him they weren't working independently. Claims they were working for someone else that had given them everything and told them to “summon stuff.”

Background information on Alex Murphy – Ex-NEG soldier for the past 6 years, several tours of duty in China; discharged for mental unstability/medical discharge. Relatively clean record – reprimanded for balking at killing children. Shortly after, he started to repeatedly fail mental wellness exams. After the fourth failure, he was discharged back to Chicago as medically unfit. While in China, he spent time indulging in recreational drugs, alcohol and stims between deployments.

He disappeared from Chicago to go to Phoenix arcology for about 4 weeks before returning to Chicago. He then disappeared about a year ago before showing up in Seattle.

- > How did he he meet the cultists. He was approached in a bar by the PoI in Dec 22 raid (the description he gave of the woman – easily 6 foot/6' 1”, black hair with tattoos on her arms matches). Through her they were getting their materials and supplies (for their activities).

- > What was his motivation for joining her. He figured the best way to fight against something was to be apart of it – fight from within. He was gradually recruited against “worse things than the cultists.”

Questioning took about a week to complete. They were not told WHY they were to summon things, but just to do it. The Bahki is a minion of the witch and delivered messages to them. D'lo'trehalt AKA Del is the name of the Bahki. With what he said previously, it is assumed that the cultists knew we were coming.

------- Livia's OIS Incident Report (Ctech01.15.2085).

Incident type - Supernatural/Security Date - 01/15/2085 Incident Location - OIS Seattle Office

01/15/2085. We were in the library researching bahki and the golden creature that attacked it. We were following a lead from Pvt Alex Murphy (cultist from incident on 01/06/2085). According to his information, the escaped bahki was a minion of a woman that fits the description of the witch that escaped from the raid on December 22, 2084. The bahki regularly reported orders from Witch to the cultists. She provided all supplies and orders needed for the reanimation of corpses.

In researching unknown winged meta-terrestrials we delved into ancient christian texts – the closest we got were to the old world angels, but didn't match the humanoid type. Going further back, we started researching “Noden” - Godlike entities that oppose creatures of the mythos, avatars of an “Elder God”, not to be confused with Great Old Ones or other elder gods. Some texts did mention nightgaunts as opposition to the bahki, confirmed later by Director Elwood (that bahki and nightgaunts don't get along).

At this point, both myself and Ryan heard rattling in the vents above us. As we listened, it seemed to get closer and we called a few others to confirm. I refused to go into the vents; Franklin went up instead, looked around before opening fire. The vent kind of burst with what looked like bats without faces. As we were fighting, a closer look determined the creatures appeared to be miniature nightgaunts. Took 20-30 minutes to clear the swarm in the library; then we started a sweep of the building.

About halfway through, Ryan realized that the fights were a distraction – we went to check on Alex Murphy and he was still alive despite being attacked by the mini-gaunts.

In the office, around 11 were flying around, but were calmer than the ones in the library. They didn't seem particularly violent except when approached. We neutralized 9; sparing two for the research department. The minigaunts seemed drawn to Ricky's desk (who was out). They seemed to take active care to avoid me (and my desk).

Tracing the entry for the minigaunts – security determined they CHEWED through an outside vent to gain entry to the offices. (How, without faces... or teeth?)

Agents involved - Alan, Ryan, Liv Witnesses - Franklin (first contact), Alex Murphy

------- (Game Notes Cont'd) During the incident, the director was not in the office for the lockdown. When he arrived he asked for the report from Livia (who recounted the above, sans mentioning the mini-gaunts being drawn to Ricky's desk and them avoiding her – she saved that for the report).

To recap – Alex Murphy still alive, despite being attacked by the mini-nightgaunts. The thing seen before is definitely not a nightgaunt, it didn't share any of the features.

DM Game Notes - Interview with Director Elwood. It went well? Told to keep an eye out for other Necromantic events. Began a series of research into the Witch, the escaped creature and start research into Nodens when they are interrupted by a swarm of mini-Nightgaunts. They deal with them and find out that some have a strange aversion to Livia... strange. Ryan figures out that it's a trick and checks on their prisoner who amazingly enough is still alive! Fates be praised.....

Date ending: January 15th, 2085, it's a good year already!

*NOTE: IMPORTANT: Let the party know how the Mini-Gaunts got into the OIS Offices

#ctech #ois #game notes #liv grasse #cthulutech

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insatiabletc · 5 years

Photo

This is Alillia “Lala” Minthorn, a 25 year old member of the Yakama Nation in Washington. Here is how her friends and family remember her:

“Alillia “Lala” Minthorn was a daughter, a friend and a sister: big-hearted, a caretaker to everyone and altogether curious.” – as described to Emily Goodell with the Associated Press*

“She was there in the rough times and in the dark times when nobody else wanted to be…And she never left until you were OK.” – Her sister, Tanya Miller*

Overall, outside of her sister, Alillia’s family has been quiet about the case.

One disturbing fact is that Tanya and Alillia knew quite a few women that have gone missing over recent years. They had a relationship with Linda Dave, Destiny Lloyd, and Rosenda Strong. They also knew Felina Metsker and Roselita Longee. Longee went missing in 2019 and has not been found. Felina Metsker was murdered in 2016. These women are not disappearing in a vacuum – a whole community of women are being harmed and taken. Whole networks of families are impacted. Children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, nieces, nephews, brothers, and friends. What is happening is an insidious toxin that is working its way through generation after generation of a people that have already experienced tremendous trauma and harm. We must start asking questions and demanding answers from our law enforcement agencies and lawmakers. By looking away we are robbing communities of the justice they so deeply deserve. Even if a perpetrator is not a white man, the racist and genocidal systems our country has implemented since the birth of our nation hold culpability. We must start caring.

Facts of the Case

On May 3rd, 2019 Alillia left a homeless camp and got into a car driven by Jordan Stevens and two unnamed “witnesses.” On May 9th a missing persons report was filed. On May 29th, with the assistance of one of two “witnesses,” police were led to Alillia’s body, where it had been left in a remote part of the Yakama Reservation. On July 10th, Stevens was remanded into custody. The cause of death was a gunshot to the head.

Currently, a trial is scheduled for February 2020. Because both Alillia and Stevens are enrolled members of the Yakama Nation, the case is being handled by the FBI and the trial will be held in federal court.

Jordan Stevens

Jordan Stevens has a long history of violence.

In 2011 Stevens was incarcerated for a serious assault against a romantic partner. He was sentenced to 41 months in jail and was released December 12th, 2016. In 2017 a warrant was issued for his arrest as he had not followed through with any of his probation conditions. The latest court document we could view for this case said his whereabouts were unknown.

He is also believed to be responsible for an assault in April, 2019, in a homeless camp in Toppenish.

April 30th Assault

Several news sources have indicated that Stevens was involved in an assault on April 30th, 2019 at the same homeless camp that Alillia was picked up from. The court documents actually say “on or around” April 30th and “near” the homeless camp. We found three assaults that could be the one referred to.

This is the “Compound” as seen on Google Maps:

There was an assault on April 21st:

An assault April 26th:

And an assault on April 30th:

There was also an assault that occurred on May 3rd at 11pm, but since that’s the day Alillia went missing, it seems unlikely that this was the April 30th assault.

We are unable to dig up any other information about these three cases or how they relate to Stevens. We do know from the Criminal Complaint filed on June 28th 2019, that Alillia was “questioned at the scene.” She also told family “If I don’t come back, look for me” when she got into Stevens’ car.* To us, this sounds like Alillia knew that Stevens thought she had “ratted” him out to federal authorities. Later, the “witness” referred to as “Witness 1” confirmed that this was Stevens’ motive in the homicide.

What’s interesting about the court document referring to this case is that it is not expressly said that the two events are related. The April 30th date is presented, and it is implied that this is what Alillia was murdered over. We wonder though if this is truly the reason why Stevens felt he had been sold out. Maybe it was related to his probation issues. Maybe Alillia told the federal agents investigating the assault where he could be found? We won’t know really, until February 2020, so stay tuned for updates when the trial begins.

Next of Kin

One thing that stood out as incredibly strange to us about this case is how authorities treated Alillia’s sister, Tanya. When Alillia was reported missing, Tanya was determined to spread the word and find her sister. She had an active Facebook group dedicated to doing so, and made posts hoping to find her sister from May through August 2019. While authorities had identified Alillia’s body and had a suspect by May 29th, no one told Tanya until August. It is not publicly known who Alillia’s dedicated Next of Kin (NOK) was, but we know they chose to stay quiet and not alert the rest of the family. Tanya and her aunt, Tina, felt a rightful sense of betrayal, not just from the NOK, but also from authorities who they had contacted daily to get updates to Alillia’s case. We imagine it would be embarrassing and angering to be so vocal in the search for a loved one, and now know that others knew what happened and kept quiet.

Some have called for policy changes to ensure this doesn’t occur again, and we have some speculations on what might have happened in this case in particular. Before we start, it is important to remember that we do not actually know what happened so take our theories with a grain of salt.

First, authorities knew by May 29th that Stevens had murdered Alillia. They knew this because “Witness 1” came forward and led them to the body, as the “witness” felt Stevens may murder them for having information related to the homicide.

Stevens was arrested July 10th, 2019.

Newspaper articles began coming out in mid-August stating that Alillia had been found and identified, and Stevens was in custody. Tanya made a post on the page acknowledging that the search was over for her sister.

We wonder if authorities instructed Alillia’s NOK to keep quiet about the body discovery for two reasons:

1. “Witness 1” was afraid they would be murdered for cooperating with federal agents, and since this person had been a party to a murder with Stevens that had been carried out for that very reason, this was a reasonable fear.

2. Authorities may not have known where Stevens was (as indicated by it taking them almost two months to arrest him).

Had Tanya put on her page that Alillia had been found, Stevens may have seen that and known that one of the two “witnesses” had aided federal authorities (especially since the body was in such a remote location that authorities could only have found it with assistance. They searched for it before without the aid of the “witness” and were unable to find her). He could have left town or hurt the “witnesses.” The same would have been true for news media reporting the same information.

Perhaps this is why authorities did not reveal information to Tanya and her aunt when they sent in their daily requests for information.

There is a kink in this interpretation of events, however. On the Facebook post Tanya made about her sister being found and dead, there was this comment:

Whoever made that comment knew Alillia had been discovered and that the NOK was keeping quiet. And this person doesn’t indicate any reason why Tanya would be left in the dark.

One thing is for certain, though: if there was no good reason for keeping Tanya and her aunt in the dark, this was an exceptionally cruel undertaking by the authorities they were in contact with.

The Compound

Tanya has stated to the press that Alillia was homeless. We cannot find anything else that states this explicitly, but it sounds like she may have been living at the “Compound.” In 2017 350 – 500 families were evicted from Tribal owned housing, forcing some to become homeless. This led to the creation of the semi-permanent “Compound” and another lot with tiny homes.

The top three reasons families were evicted were:

1. Drug test failure

2. Late rent payments

3. Overcrowding in units

Before leaping on the drug test failures, it is widely known that drug use is prevalent in rural communities across the United States and is not unique to these Toppenish families. The other two reasons speak to poverty and a housing crisis currently affecting reservations.

Tribal owned housing is desperately needed on the Yakama Reservation, and in Native American communities in general. On the Yakama Reservation alone, the poverty rate is 37.3%, compared to the US average of 26.8%.

Factors that contribute to poverty on reservations:

· Remote locations – many reservations were placed by the federal government in isolated plots of land away from urbanized environments (aka, further away from jobs).

Looking at this map, it appears that the Yakama Reservation is close to both Portland and Seattle, but in actuality it is 4.5 and 2.5 hours away by car, respectively.

· Lack of public transportation to get to jobs

· Tribal lands are owned by the federal government. Yakama specifically is 80% owned by the federal government, and 20% privately. This impedes the ability of tribal members to own businesses and enrich their communities. Additionally, the federal government makes it bureaucratically difficult to make economic developments on tribal land.

· Lack of access to education – reservation schools are funded by the federal government, so they do not benefit from state taxes designated for education. The Trump administration has been consistent in their desire to cut federal funding for education.

· Federal programs fund housing for sovereign tribes, programs the Trump administration has cut funding for.

The federal government’s historic and current meddling and abuse of tribal land has culminated in an environment where it is hard to reduce poverty in these communities. We as a society love to say it’s the responsibility of tribes to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” and invest in their own communities, while at the same time electing leaders that make that almost impossible.

We know that homeless persons are uniquely vulnerable to violence and disenfranchisement. We know that homeless women are especially vulnerable. It is terrifying to be homeless.

We wonder if Stevens also lived at the “Compound.” Did he terrorize people there? It certainly sounds like it. When we ignore Native American communities and reservations, we create an environment where men and women can hurt others almost without consequence. We don’t know that Alillia’s housing status played into her murder, but it likely made her more vulnerable.

What Can We Do?

Learn more about the tribal communities in your state. Get to know the policies and programs that hurt or assist those communities and stop seeing your relationship with tribal communities as “us versus them.” Donate to programs that need it! Reach out to organizations that serve tribal communities in your state to see what assistance they need. Read, learn, and educate yourself. Put pressure on your law enforcement agencies to follow up on these homicides and ask your local media to report on them. Be a voice for change! Learn some facts and dismantle ignorant arguments and statements made by your friends, family, and community. We cannot keep watching this violence unfold and turn a blind eye. After decades of genocidal policies, we need to do much, much better.

To learn more about the Yakama Nation: http://www.yakamanation-nsn.gov/

To Learn More About Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women:

· National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada) https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

· Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA https://mmiwusa.org/

· CBC’s database on MMIWG (Canada) https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/

· Justice for Native Women (USA and Canada) http://www.justicefornativewomen.com/

· The REDress Project (Canada) http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=43

· Melanie Bartel, an indigenous artist in Canada. Check out her work! https://www.melaniebartelart.com/justine-cochrane.html

· Missing and Murdered (Canadian Podcast) https://www.cbc.ca/mediacentre/program/missing-and-murdered

Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear (American activist based out of Montana, United States) https://twitter.com/native4data

*Article here: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/if-i-dont-make-it-back-come-look-for-me-yakama-woman-told-her-sister-before-she-was-killed/

#mmiw #mmiwg #toppenish #washington #truecrime #true crime #illustration #sketch #sketchbook #art #portrait

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templeoftheslavegarden · 5 years

Text

BLOOD & FIRE

Chapter 7 - Spend Some Time, Drink Some Wine - Ehem Whiskey

New York, New York August 7 1994

The meeting I had with Susan went really well and I'm so excited that she appointed me as an assistant for Pantera.

This is my first time doing this all on my own and I'm nervous as fuck. I seriously don't want to mess anything up at all. I'm going to try and be confident and professional and not shy and socially awkward just because I'm such a big fan of Pantera. They're playing here at L’Amours tonight so I will get first hand at what it's like to work for Pantera. I'm so fucking excited!

"Your luggage ticket number?" The bulky male attendant asks me barely looking up from his computer screen.

"5023" I say a little impatiently. He types a few keys into the computer still not looking at me and starts to shake his head.

"Nothing in the system with that number, what was your flight?" He says still not looking at me.

"Hey babe," He says a little raspy with a cute grin and places a kiss on my temple, his sweet cologne tickling my nostrils perfectly.

Damn he smells so fucking good.

"Hey," I exhale, my frustration diminishing for a few moments.

"Still nothing in the system... last name?" The attendant says to me still not looking up at me.

"Um, Cornell," I clear my throat.

"First name?"

"Andrea," I say and he types some more keys.

"What's going on?" Kenny asks me.

"Trying to pick up my luggage," I say looking up at him as I push my curls out of my eyes.

"I'm sorry there's still nothing here with that ticket number," The attendant says.

"What do you mean?" I ask frustratedly.

"Did you purchase any insurance?" The attendant asks.

"Well no... but - "

"I'm sorry we can't do anything without insurance," He cuts me off.

"Are you kidding me?" I say as my anger starts to rise.

"It's policy, no insurance, we can't do anything sir,"

"Yea well, fuck your policy!" Kenny exclaims.

"Fuck you!" Kenny exclaims as the attendant smirks and shakes his head and I'm eventually able to pull him away from the window.

"I'm sorry babe but what the fuck? He fucking needs to show some remorse or something... like, Jeezus," Kenny says as we walk away.

"C'mon, We'll uh... head to my place," He says.

"Ok,"

Fuck, I've missed him.

*****

"Sorry for the mess, I just hadn't had time to uh, you know... clean," Kenny says immediately walking over and trying to tidy up the papers.

"It's ok," I say and close the door behind me as I watch him try to find where to put everything.

"Kenny it's ok, I don't care really," I giggle as he shoves more papers into a drawer in the coffee table then flips his curls out of his face as he turns to face me.

"You want a drink or somethin'?" He asks so cutely, stepping over a stack of magazines.

"Sure,"

"Did you write this?" I ask cutely when he steps back over to me and hands me a Jack and Coke.

"You want me to play it for you don't you?" Kenny smirks slyly at me taking another sip of his beer.

"You give your love to me tonight

You owe your flesh to me for life

You give your body and your mind

I'll fuck your warmth and your lies

My lady..."

"You give your heart I'll treat it right

You bring your flaws I'll give them light

You know I wanna sink deep into you

I'm created to love you and finally lose..."

He trails off and stops but still avoids my eyes and I had no idea what to do for a moment, but then I couldn't help myself. I set my drink down and then immediately move myself over to him take his face him my palms and press those beautiful soft lips to mine. For a moment I could tell that I startled him but then as I started to suck his bottom lip, he moves the guitar from between us never breaking his lips away from mine and responds with his tongue swiping across my bottom lip, his hands immediately going straight to my hips and up under my White Zombie band shirt, to the small of my back and further up.

Suddenly after a few moments, I had to stop myself. I have no idea what came over me or why I started to second guess myself but I needed to stop.

"I can't..." I pull away and he looks at me with those dark eyes completely confused and I don't blame him.

What the serious fuck is happening to me?

"Baby...?" He asks slightly worried moving closer to me. I still couldn't bring myself to say anything and all I could feel was this intense feeling of fear and sadness inside me.

"This is stupid... I'm so stupid... I can't... I just..." I try to explain fumbling over my words and still holding back tears and not letting myself look at him.

"Andi, talk to me... what can't you do?" His voice is calm but still worried as he pulls my hand away from covering my face. I open my eyes to look into his, seeing the worry and concern on his face.

"What are we doing? I mean... what the fuck am I even doing? Fuck I'm not making any fucking sense," I say as I start to get angry at myself.

"Baby... talk to me..." He still looks at me with those eyes and suddenly I let everything out.

"What happened?" He asks after a few moments though I think he already knew the answer.

I cannot believe I'm letting this all out. There is no way in fucking hell Kenny is going to want me after this. If I were him, I'd be heading straight for the fucking door.

"Jeezus..." Kenny exhales.

"Kenny... I'm so fucked up," I say looking away and trying to stop the tears from coming out. He reaches up and cups my face in his palm, brushing away a stray tear that rolled down my cheek.

"No... no you're not fucked up," Kenny says looking at me with those dark eyes.

"I have no idea why you even want to have anything to do with me... I mean, I'm pretty much like damaged goods here," I say looking back down at myself.

"Andi... I don't know if you've figured this out yet though I thought you would've got the hint from that song, but... I'm fucking in love with you so... if you're fucked up then I'm fucked up too,"

I flick my eyes back to his in complete disbelief. I had no idea what to even say but I also wasn't sure I heard him right.

"What?" I ask quietly.

"I love you,"

**************************************************************************************************

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myspideysensesrtingling · 6 years

Text

In My Way (1)

IN MY WAY: THE COUPLE FROM NEW YORK

Pairing: (eventual) Peter Parker x Reader

Words: 2539

Warnings: none!

Notes: first fic alert! I hope you enjoy it!

Summary: You've spent your days devoted to learning both in and out of class. You've grown up accustomed to this lifestyle and even accepted that you'd grow up at the orphanage. So when an unnamed couple calls and wants to adopt you, you're nothing short of intrigued.

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Sunlight crawled along the old wood floor, slowly reaching creeping up the bed and onto your face. Closing your eyelids a little tighter, you rolled over in your twin cot for just one more breath before the day began. You inhaled deeply as you sat up and reached for the ceiling, a monstrous yawn escaping from your lips despite the long night of sleep. Slowly twisting around to stretch your back next, you stole a glance at the clock - 6:28 am. Two minutes before the alarm would go off - right on time.

It was another summer Monday like any other: quiet in the house for at least a little longer. The other children would wake up sometime in the next half hour and the volume level would quickly escalate. You loved to enjoy these moments of silence at the start of each day. Turning the alarm off, you rotated to face away from the window, sliding your legs out from under the blankets. Your toes just touched the ground; you pressed into them as you shifted your weight to stand up. Rolling your neck around to alleviate some typical stiffness, you crept around the other cots with kids still snoozing to get to the dresser. You reached into the top drawer labeled "GIRLS 13&UP" and fished around for a moment before pulling out a light long sleeve shirt and some running shorts. You slipped them on gingerly, followed by a pair of well-worn white socks, and laced up your scuffed running shoes. The traction on the bottom was nonexistent, worn completely flat from covering many more miles than the shoes were meant for. As you left the girls' dormitory, you grabbed a hair tie and slipped your hair into a high ponytail.

This was a normal routine for you; each day, you'd wake up before anyone else in the house and slip downstairs without notice of the majority of the residents. Before sneaking out the back door, you caught a glimpse of light glowing out of the office of the headmaster, a slightly heavy-set brunette in her late fifties who dressed the same every single day. You knocked softly and, upon hearing confirmation, pushed on the handle to swing the heavy door open, revealing Miss Johnson already scanning over paperwork on top of her desk.

"Good morning, Y/N," Miss Johnson uttered, already focused on her work, "are you planning to go on your usual run?"

"Yes, ma'am," you replied, eager as these morning jogs were a privilege you were not prepared to lose. "And--good morning to you, too, of course."

"Here's your tracker. Stay within the property line and be back within an hour." Miss Johnson quickly returned her attention back to the papers in front of her as you took the location-tracking watch and fastened it to your wrist. You were by far the oldest at the orphanage at the age of 15 (almost 16, as you counted down the days), which granted you some freedoms. These rules only allowed kids above the age of 13 to use these tracking devices so they could pass the tree line and venture into the forest that lay beyond the courtyard behind the orphanage. This was where the other kids - all under the age of ten - played in a recess-like setting under supervision by the teachers on the grounds. Though filled with outdoor toys and games, this didn't afford them much room to play as the tree line sat quite close to the building. It was the forest that extended far beyond and opened up to multiple trails. These were used primarily in science classes to test the environment or for hikes that substituted for PE classes, but you loved the serenity of being outside in the trees in the morning when the world felt quiet and belonged completely to you. When you turned 13, you quickly took advantage of the freedoms granted by the rule. You never pushed the boundaries, though - breaking rules was not something you had experience in.

You crept out the back door and into the sun as it slowly climbed higher above the horizon and inched its way up the sky. After stretching your legs briefly and rolling your shoulders each way, you strolled toward the forest edge at the back of the yard. You walked in a little way to keep loosening your muscles and, upon reaching the tree with the bird's nest perched on a low branch you could almost see into when standing on your toes, jogged off.

This time had become an adventure despite knowing your usual route and the landmarks in the forest as well as you knew your own name. That said, you didn't know a third of your name. Over 15 and a half years ago on a late December night, Miss Johnson hustled to a knock at the door only to find you as an infant on the doorstep in a small basket with a typed note reading "Y/N XXX --- [Y/B/D]/2001." Drops of rain from the overhang on the porch had fallen onto your small face and the note, causing the ink of the last name to run and rendering it illegible. Despite hours of research on where the mysterious child came from, child services was unsuccessful in determining your last name or in even finding any record of you. They then somewhat randomly picked the last name Anderson for you and Y/N Anderson then existed in the system under the care Miss Johnson and the other teachers at the Children's Home of Seattle. That was the extent of your knowledge about your past. It was 2017 now and you had other things to think about; you rarely concerned yourself with it as all your life had been at the orphanage as long as you could remember.

Continuing your jog along the path, you reached the bottom of a hill and trotted up to the top where the trees cleared and the entire Seattle cityscape was within sight. It was a beautiful August day without a cloud in the sky and most of the city was already bustling. Behind you you could see across Puget Sound and over to the Olympic Peninsula where the Olympic Mountain Range launched into the sky. In front of you you could see the Rocky Mountains stretching up even farther away. Looking to your left was downtown, with the Space Needle standing out near the sports stadiums and the many high-rise towers. Any run up a hill was worth it to earn this view!

After looking lovingly over the surrounding landscape, you jogged back down into the forest along the second half of the trail. You admired the evergreen trees as you went while listening closely for the squirrels scrambling up trees and birds chirping back and forth. Beads of sweat formed at your hairline deep in the forest, driving you to push just barely harder for this last stretch on the way back to the home. The forest ground lightened as daylight crept in and you suddenly reached the opening of the trees back into the courtyard. Taking a deep breath and slowing to a walk, you paced in some circles to slow your breathing before opening the back door and returning the tracker to Miss Johnson in her back-corner office.

"Oh, Y/N, hold up a second," Miss Johnson said as you turned away. You slammed on the breaks and whipped back around as uncomfortable thoughts consumed you: Am I in trouble? Did I go over my time limit? You were no rebel and the thought of possibly having done something wrong set you on edge. The teachers at the home weren’t particularly strict and you had never gotten in trouble, but it didn’t mean you weren't afraid of the thought of it.

"I…I actually had someone call about you. They will be arriving at nine this morning," Miss Johnson stated, hope underlying her tone, "so please come back to my office a few minutes after that so I can meet them before you come in."

The whites of your eyes stretched as you stared back at Miss Johnson. This had happened just twice before, and both times were a bust as you went to the homes of the people looking to adopt you for only a week or two before returning to the orphanage. You never lost hope, however. Sure, your life so far had consisted of your time at the orphanage. But there was no way your future would be there, too. Every day you woke up and went on your jog, then studied all morning as all the other kids went to their classes. You initially took classes with the other kids but begged the professors to privately teach you so you could progress ahead of the younger kids. You initially didn't get your wish, but as you continued to surpass the other kids, the teachers eventually decided it would be in everyone's best interest. The system worked out well for you; you were able to take the morning to yourself to study and research topics you found interesting on a spare computer in the computer lab. Oddly enough, this time alone spent researching was when you learned the most. The afternoon consisted of your private lessons, which were also much more efficient since you were the only student. Your standardized test scores were off the charts, but you didn't know that. You knew you passed and that they were good, but you didn't know they were that good. You had no idea how smart you really were and instead figured that you scored poorly on tests, which was why no one came to adopt you. Plus, who would want a 15- (almost 16) year-old when they could adopt a much younger kid?

Doubts about how adoptable you were cast aside, you instantly had an endless list of questions to ask Miss Johnson about these potential parents. Who were they? How did they know about you? What were they like? Before receiving the chance to ask any of these pertinent questions, Miss Johnson cut you off.

"It is a couple from New York. The man called and refused to give a name over the phone but sent numerous recommendations from high-ranking officials and clearly is a reliable person. I know nothing about them, which is why I need a little time to speak to them before you come in," she stated, trying to be optimistic without getting her or your hopes up. "Just wait outside my office a little after nine and I will bring you in when we are ready to see you. Ok?"

Clearing your throat - and your head - you nodded coolly and ducked out of the office. Mind running faster than a race horse, you headed back upstairs, oblivious to the small kids running around and past you. There were so many things that could happen and so little time until they did. Your imagination weaved intricate stories of who this couple could be as you grabbed your bathroom caddy and hopped in the shower once all the kids were gone. You didn't stop thinking about it - not while you brushed your teeth, not while you put clean clothes on, not while you brushed your hair - you were on autopilot while considering all the possibilities the day could bring.

Back in the bedroom, your clock never moved as slowly as it did now. You were ten the last time someone came to meet you; nerves were quickly resurfacing. Soon enough, though, the clock ticked to nine and you laced her trusted shoes back up to go downstairs. You immediately analyzed everything about yourself and everything you ever did. Were you smart? Were you nice enough? Were you cute enough? Were you enough? You didn't have much social experience other than with adults and with kids way younger than you…what if they thought you were weird?

Next thing you knew, you stood outside Miss Johnson's office for the third time that day. Leaning up against the wall facing the office, you focused on your breathing. It was a method you learned online as with a lot of things you knew. Counting slowly to three on the inhale…and to five on the exhale. But your mind still ran. And ran, and ran, and ran…

In the brief moment the headmistress stepped outside, the woman was checking over her nervous fiancée. They had both talked about this decision for months but were not immune to the jitters. Their relationship had been rocky and adding a kid to the picture would smooth anything over.

“Come here,” the woman whispered to the man, who stared straight ahead as his knee bounced relentlessly. She leaned over and adjusted his lapel, smoothing it out. “You do want to impress her, right?”

“Yes,” he bit back without looking at her, swiftly covering up his own nerves as he had learned to do so well growing up. “But I don’t want to look like father business, honey!” In their silent connection the woman knew exactly what he was referring to. He despised his father and the fact that he grew up, for the most part, without one. Without his knowledge, his thoughts mirrored those of the girl outside; he feared the worst. He feared he wouldn’t be enough.

“Hey,” the woman asserted, setting aside her own anxiety to try to quell that of the man next to her. She leaned over once again and gingerly placed a hand on the cheek facing away from her, pulling his face toward her. “She’s not going to think you’re like your dad,” she assured. She kissed him on the cheek closest to her and let him go as the door creaked back open behind them.

"Y/N?" Your head shot up as Miss Johnson stuck her head only out of the office door and into the hallway as if she was going to ask a password before allowing entry. "Please come in."

Nodding slowly, you stepped forward and paused with your eyes softly closed for just a half second to regain your composure before the moment of truth. Miss Johnson closed the door behind you, and there was the couple from New York sitting at the desk. The woman sat, stretched up tall with perfect posture, styled in a white suit perfectly pressed and contoured to her shape. Her skin glowed as much as her light hair. The man next to her wore a dark suit with light stripes, a pale blue dress shirt, and a navy tie. His hair was dark and slightly unkempt yet still fitting the rest of his look. Large sunglasses covered his face. Despite the contrast in their appearances they shared the same expression: a soft, closed-mouth smile with nothing but hope in their eyes. In return, you stared with a puzzled look to try to figure out where you knew these people from. You knew her. You knew him. It couldn’t be. No way. But it was.

"Hi, Y/N," the man said as they both stood. He slipped off his glasses and stuck out his hand, finally introducing himself. "I'm Tony Stark."

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#myspideysensesrtingling #myspideysenses fanfic #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #marvel #peter parker #fanfic #fanfiction #in my way #pepper potts #tony stark #iron man #spider-man #mcu

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basshouse · 6 years

Text

Workin’ It

Today is my last day of work at SLI Systems. I’ll miss the location and I’ll definitely miss spending my days with people like these:

No, we don’t usually wear this much makeup at work. It was a holiday party -- in the summer! I’ll drink to that. Well, apparently I drank to that and quickly went looking for a refill:

Seriously, one of the questions I have been asked most frequently is: How’s work??

The answer has changed pretty materially many times, and in what seems like a very short amount of time to have this many different answers. It goes like this:

May/June: Great! Super chill. Nice people. Just getting started. Cool to learn about new industry. Fun to work in the CBD and be able to explore it. The office is full of people from a wide variety of places around the world.

Late June: Wait, what? This assignment sucks. I can’t believe I have to do this.

July -- August: Busy! Interesting. I have some important work to do here. It’s a lot of change management but I’m up to the task. Thank you Diana Kumar for giving me the playbook on release management, and thank you Tableau for making me do so many things I had no idea how to do. I’m using my very broad skillset. My work life balance is great and I’m learning.

August: Tas is here! My new office mate has potential to become my NZ BFF and my life changes forever :-)

Early October: Success! We have reached a significant milestone and I helped make it happen. We have a carnival to celebrate. Also, I start working on a really interesting new project, to define and launch an Image Search product.

Late October: Record scratch in the form of this announcement:

October to December: Visa research. Job interviews. Mood swings between “stay focused on doing good work” and “where are we drinking for lunch today?” Holiday party fun despite (or because of?) the fact that we’re probably all getting canned. The getting canned thing stretches on and on.

December 19th: I sign up my first beta customers for Image Search, exciting! The takeover deal is done. We all listen to the new American CEO tell us our roles will be terminated in the near future, but I don’t have enough official documentation or information about being fired to take a different job because of the visa I have. My visa request is denied. No details about my expected severance pay. #immigrationpaperworkisforthebirds #nowweare defiitelydrinkingatlunch

January: The new CEO visits and spends at least 30 minutes telling us how Amazon works, how many packages his wife ordered last year, and how smart he is, but never actually tells us what we need to do or whether we’ll have jobs in the future or when we will lose the ones we have. I talk as little as possible so people will forget I’m American. People are annoyed, people are sad, people are angry, a few are hopeful and understanding. Either way we’re all still supporting each other and socializing. I get to know people better than I did before because most of our days are spent making tea/drinking coffee and catching up. Friday happy hour starts around 3 instead of 4:30 now. The amount of work happening is verrrry close to zero,but who can blame us? We have no direction. My visa paperwork finally goes through and I resign to take a new job. No severance despite the fact that NZ law and my contract state I get one if I’m let go. Booooo. But it’s time to move on.

Now let’s jump up a level, to the summary: work has been great and work has been awful. That’s pretty much the way it goes, eh? SLI has been a nice place to work and the people I have met are fantastic. I was glad to be there. I got to do some cool stuff. I had to spend more time than is comfortable doing very little, but hey, I started a blog! I didn’t expect to look for a job so soon after arriving in CHCH and having to do it kind of sucked, but the silver lining is that I know more about the job market and my network is growing. And I think I have found a really interesting opportunity (more info in future blogs I hope).

When the announcement happened and the visa stuff was dicey, Jason and I had a hard think about whether we should just move back to Seattle. Was it worth? Did we like it? Is the job market good enough to get us through and keep us busy? What about the kids? Should we just move to Bali for a year and head back to Seattle? Side note, we did NOT discuss this with the kids or even tell them about the job stuff because we thought they’d get fixated on the possibility of moving back or scared about more changes coming their way after they just got settled. The good news is that in the end we were both very clear that we wanted to try to stay here. It was a good opportunity to reflect on the details of our experience and align on what we wanted to do with our lives and how we felt about the move. It’s good to know we could go “home,” and really nice to feel like we made a good decision in coming here.

There’s nothing like drama to make you reflect on what you feel and what you want (silver lining). I was re-reminded of a few other universal truths that I can now say I’ve witnessed as true in a different part of the universe: when people don't have information, they fill in gaps, and what they make up is usually more negative than not; most people are kind and amazing, and it’s important to let yourself be supported; inauthentic, egotistical, selfish people are just dicks; drivers who honk a lot are silly, no matter what side of the car they sit on; almost nothing in the world is as annoying as an underpowered hand dryer, unless it’s an underpowered hand dryer that’s hanging high enough on the wall that the water drips down your sleeves when you dry your hands.

And here’s my first Kiwi flag, signed by my co-workers (Tas is responsible for the huge “BUGGER OFF” in the top left), a going away gift from SLI:

They asked if I wanted an American flag or a Kiwi one. I think they were serious. What do you think? Hard to tell with the accent.

Here’s something I’d like you to know (if you know me well, this may be hard to comprehend so get ready): Since I moved to NZ, even when I was busy at work, I have NEVER worked at night or on the weekend. Almost never on vacation (maybe an hour or two). I spend less time with my laptop closed than open. I bike to work. I have time to surf. I sleep enough. I exercise. I took Anily to the mall to buy a scrunchy in the middle of the work day and didn’t feel stressed about it. And it feels really good. When I tell old friends stuff like this, they often say things like “well you deserve it after how hard you worked and what it took to move. It’s ok to take some down time.” Which I appreciate because it is supportive and kind and true. But listen: we should not feel like we have to excuse or explain away a life that does not include cognitive overload and work related stress and constant busy-ness. I know it’s become a hallmark of many “high performing” people, including me, and we easily feel guilty or try to justify the moment that we are not overworking or over reaching. If we’re getting what we need to get done done, can we stop feeling bad for not doing more? We deserve better than that.

(I don’t think I am saying that just because I am not sure I know how to work hard anymore but I can confirm after next week when I start my new job).

Also, I have a much greater level of sympathy for immigrants than ever before. Even though as far as immigration issues go, mine are probably minor because I am educated, employable, speak the language and am not fleeing a dangerous situation or being persecuted. It’s still really scary to not have control over your own fate and wait on paperwork and try to manage what feels like a house of cards. You can feel a little sorry for me (thanks!), but please feel more sorry for many others who are trying to mAke their way to a better life.

As for Jason? He’s still working for Stoup and killing it. From anywhere and everywhere and all the time (nice office, huh?):

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urbantm-blog · 6 years

Text

— — — - * ♡ ◟ 𝙹𝙾𝚈, 𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙾𝙽𝙰 𝙲𝙴𝙻𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙴. thirty - one. wedding planner. aesthetics include: neat collars and pleated skirts, pastel shades, rose gold necklaces hanging around a paled neck, an undying belief in true love, dog - eared copies of jane austen novels, a life lived through rose - coloured glasses, blush dusted across already - rosy cheeks & a half - drunk bottle of moscato.

𝟶𝟶𝟷. 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚃𝚂.

full name. winona celeste joy. nicknames. winnie, ‘nona. hates ‘nona with a passion. age. thirty - one. date of birth. august twenty - seventh. place of birth. hartford, connecticut. zodiac. virgo. nationality. american. occupation. wedding planner. gender & pronouns. cisgender female, she/her. sexuality. panromantic pansexual. hogwarts house. hufflepuff.

𝟶𝟶𝟸. 𝙱𝙸𝙾𝙶𝚁𝙰𝙿𝙷𝚈.

inhales ... i love winona celeste joy with all my heart, and that’s all you need to know.

so, she was born in hartford, connecticut to a doctor and his homemaker wife. from the absolute get - go, mary and allen joy were the picture - perfect ideal of what true happiness is meant to look like. they had it all: they were the nuclear family from heaven ; two kids, white picket fence, dog panting at their feet. they had everything they ever needed.

winona and her older brother grew up very loved. their mother was always at home when they got home from school, waiting to hear about their days with juice and cookies already waiting. mary adored her children with a passion unseen in most, and directed every ounce of her undying affections towards them. winona, nicknamed winnie during her childhood, understands the dynamics of it now but mary focused heavily on loving her children so she didn’t have to face the fact that her husband of ten years was cheating on her.

mary and allen separated a few months shy of winnie’s sixth birthday. her mother sat both her and her brother down and quietly explained that ‘mommy and daddy aren’t going to be in love anymore, and you won’t live with daddy anymore. you can see him anytime you like, but a lovely man said that you can live with me.’ ( this, of course, was a light overview of the nature of the situation: the custody battle was quick and easy, with allen agreeing to pay child support and accepting fortnightly visits from his kids. mary loved them too much to let them go without a fight, but it turns out that she didn’t need to. )

this should’ve absolutely shattered her belief in love, because as a kid she saw her parents as the absolute epitome of what love should look like. it didn’t, though, because something else was about to take its place.

for a while, winona and her brother were raised by their mother alone. mary did her best on a seamstress’s salary, taking up whatever jobs she could, and whilst they were never rich, they were always happy. mary made their clothes, made the best halloween costumes, cooked up a storm and never stopped to take time for herself because her kids were her entire world. one day, at one of her various day jobs, though, she met a local accountant and fell more deeply in love than she’d ever been.

david bryant and mary joy were a match made in heaven, and by the time winona was thirteen they were married. winona was her maid of honour, and cried the entire way through the ceremony like the soft bitch she is.

this is pretty much where i stop inventing my own character shit and start pulling directly from 27 dresses.

after that wedding, winona fell in love with love. her brother gave her shit for it, but she loved love. she read jane austen and the brontë sisters like they were the bible, fell down the rabbit hole of wanting to find the one, and devoted all her time to thinking about love.

it’s that drive, that genuine love of love, that leads winona to dream of becoming a wedding planner. she wanted to make sure everyone’s happiest day was truly their happiest, so that they could look at each other the way her mother and step - father looked at each other on their wedding day.

she got through school with good grades, and went straight into training to be a wedding planner. mary would’ve liked her to carry on with her studies, but winona was set on what she wanted to do. she got her license, and started working on her business and her brand. she’ll tell anyone who cares to listen that working on her business was almost the happiest thing she’s ever done.

by the time she was twenty - five, winona had already planned a series of successful, beautiful weddings for friends and the like, and business was thriving so she decided to consider moving it to somewhere else. she looked around at a few locations before deciding on seattle, and moved there on her twenty - sixth birthday.

she loves seattle, and loves planning seaside weddings. she’s set up an office in west seattle, and her business is doing amazingly well. she’s so proud of what she’s accomplished, and loves being part of someone’s special day. she attends every wedding she plans, and cries at all of them. she cries more than is warranted.

winona wants to be in love ! she wants to be swept off her feet the way her mother was, like the windswept character out of a harlequin romance.

her aesthetic is very season 1 betty cooper. it’s pastel colours, cardigans, ponytails and delicate necklaces. she loves a good skirt.

i love her so much and i’m never going to shut up about it tbh

also please bring me her brother / best friend tbh

#━━━ ˊ * ♡ ◟ 000. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐦. ↺ introduced.#206.intro #i LOVE one (1) angel of a woman !

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livingcorner · 3 years

Text

All Kitchen Nightmares Updates@|what happened to the restaurants on kitchen nightmares@|https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-emlGYLI8XR0/U0h4AGbsm3I/AAAAAAAADLM/LOShu12OnbQ/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Kitchen+Nightmares+Open+Closed.jpg@|25

This page will have updated statistics of the restaurants that have appeared on the US version of Kitchen Nightmares. This will be continually updated, so feel free to bookmark it and share it with others.

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There are relevant links to the restaurant updates from this site, as well as links to reasons why restaurants have closed and how well they are rated.

I have kept comments available on this page, so if you see anything I may have missed or have any updates regarding a restaurant status, feel free to leave a comment or contact us.

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Running Total Of Episodes That Have Aired – 60 of 77 Restaurants Have Closed, 15 of 77 Restaurants Are Still Open, 2 of the 17 Have Moved, 2 Restaurants Sold

Season 7 (2014) – 2 of 6 Restaurants Open, 4 of 6 Restaurants Closed

Episode Restaurant City Status Comments 6 Bella Luna Ristorante Easton, PA Closed Closed just 3 1/2 months after Kitchen Nightmares filmed. The landlord kicked them out. They claim they want to open elsewhere. More Detailed Update. 5 Zayna Flaming Grill Redondo Beach, CA Open Still open with very good reviews and a lot of them. Keeps an up to date Facebook. More Detailed Update. 4 Mangia Mangia Woodland Park, CO Closed Still open with mixed reviews as recent as 10/2014. Brought some menu items back. Closed in November 2014 More Detailed Update. 3 Kati Allo Flushing, NY Closed Still open average to above average reviews, and have a lot of complements on the food. Closed in April 2014, shortly after their episode aired. More Detailed Update. 2 The Old Neighborhood Restaurant Arvada, CO Closed Restaurant was for sale when the episode aired. Stayed open for a bit, but closed in April 2016 – More Detailed Update. 1 Pantaleone’s Denver, CO Open Still open with above average reviews and people raving about the pizza. Owner says they are still struggling. More Detailed Update.

Season 6 (2012-2013) – 8 of 13 Restaurants Closed, 4 of 13 Restaurants Open, 1 Has Moved, 1 Restaurant Sold

Episode Restaurant City Status Comments 1 La Galleria 33 Boston, Massachusetts Closed Still open with above average reviews, although there are some 1-star reviews mixed in. Closed in November 2018. 2 Mama Maria’s Brooklyn, New York Open Still open with above average reviews. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. 3 Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania Open- Moved The restaurant is still open with minimal reviews and the restaurant has moved locations. Restaurant has positive reviews but there are negative reviews about catering 4 Barefoot Bob’s Beach Grill Hull, Massachusetts Closed Still open with below average reviews as recent as 4/2016. A lot of 1-star reviews. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. Closed in late 2016 – Info on closure. 5 Olde Hitching Post Restaurant & Tavern Hanson, Massachusetts Open Still open with average reviews as recent as 2/2017. 6 Levanti’s Italian Restaurant – Renamed Levanti’s American Bistro Beaver, Pennsylvania Closed Closed in November 2013 (despite a lot of positive reviews) with the owner saying he was retiring and wanted to get out of the business. 7 Sam’s Mediterranean Kabob Room Monrovia, California Closed Closed in the summer of 2013 stating business never picked up after the show. 8 Nino’s Italian Restaurant Long Beach, California Closed Still open with average reviews as recent as 4/2016. Recent reviews are much better. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. Closed in August 2016 – Info on closing. 9 Mill Street Bistro Norwalk, Ohio Closed Mill Street Bistro was renamed to Maple City Tavern in December 2013. There are a lot of complaints about the owner in local articles. Restaurant closed in 2/2016 – More info on the closing. 10 Yanni’s Seattle, Washington Open Still open with above average reviews as recent as 1/2017. Reviews weren’t too bad before the makeover. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. 11 Prohibition Grille – Renamed Prohibition Gastropub Everett, Washington Sold Still open with average reviews as recent as 2/2017. A lot of 1-star reviews filtered out. Sold to new owners mid to late 2016 and is still open under the same name. 12 Chappy’s Nashville, Tennessee Closed The restaurant closed and was seized by the state of Tennessee in June 2013 due to unpaid taxes. Owner did a lot of complaining about Kitchen nightmares saying it ruined his business. 13 Amy’s Baking Company Scottsdale, Arizona Closed Not enough words for this one. This was the first restaurant that Gordon walked out on, and the story went viral after that. Amy and Samy responded to people on Facebook calling them names. Pretty much all the reviews are people bashing Amy and Samy from the show and not actual diners. They plan to sell the restaurant and will close if the sale goes through – More Information. Amy’s Baking Company officially closed on 9/1/2015 – Info on closing.

Season 5 (2011-2012)- 9 of 14 Restaurants Closed, 5 of 14 Restaurants Open

Episode Restaurant City Status Comments 1 Blackberry’s Plainfield, New Jersey Closed Closed in March 2013 due to stagnant growth 2 Leone’s Montclair, New Jersey Open Still open with average reviews. 3 Mike & Nellie’s Oakhurst, New Jersey Closed Closed in January 2012 according to their Facebook page, which was just a few months after their episode aired. 4 Luigi’s D’Italia Anaheim, California Open Still open with average to above average reviews. Better reviews as of late. 5 Burger Kitchen Los Angeles, California Closed Was under new ownership in late 2011 around when the episode aired, and closed in February 2012. Owner thought online reviews killed the restaurant. More detailed update. 6 The Greek at the Harbor Ventura, California Open Still open with average to above average reviews. 7 Michon’s College Park, Georgia Closed The College Park location has closed, but they have a small location in Atlanta, GA, and are opening another location in St. Louis. UPDATE – Atlanta location now closed and St. Louis location never opened. 8 El Greco Austin, Texas Closed Closed in December 2011, about 5 months after filming. Closed before their episode aired. 9 Park’s Edge Atlanta, Georgia Closed Their lease ran out in November 2013 and they plan to reopen somewhere else, but have not done so. Apparently they may in Spring 2014 10 Spin-A-Yarn Steakhouse Fremont, California Open Still open with average reviews, but there are a lot of reviews for the restaurant. Some complaints about prices. 11 Charlie’s La Verne, California Closed Closed in July 2012 according to Yelp reviews 12 Cafe Hon Baltimore, Maryland Open Still open with average to below average reviews. Some of the recent ones are more positive. Keeps an up to date Facebook page 13 Chiarella’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Closed Still open with above average reviews as recent as 3/2015. Closed in June 2015 – More info on the closure. 14 Zocalo Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Closed Closed around February 2013 and apparently had some unpaid tax issues.

Season 4 (2011) – 10 of 12 Restaurants Closed, 2 of 12 Restaurants Open

Episode Restaurant City Status Comments 1 Spanish Pavilion Harrison, New Jersey Open Still open with average reviews. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. 2 Classic American West Babylon, New York Closed Closed in August 2013 according to their Facebook page. 3 PJ’s Steakhouse – Renamed PJ’s Grill Queens, New York Closed Closed in May 2009 a few weeks after filming the episode, and was closed before the episode aired. 4 Grasshopper Also Carlstadt, New Jersey Closed Closed in October 2012, and a new restaurant is now in its location. 5 Davide Boston, Massachusetts Closed Was sold in November 2013, and eventually closed in January 2014 6 Down City Providence, Rhode Island Closed Closed in December 2011. Gordon’s changes weren’t liked by many old customers. 7 Tavolini Bridgeport, Connecticut Closed Closed in December 2010 just after Christmas. Was investigated by the Attorney General for selling gift cards right before closing. Owner said they closed due to medical reasons. 8 Kingston Cafe Pasadena, California Closed Still open with average reviews. Some complaints about service and price. Closed for a little, but reopened in Nov. 2013 with the same name. Closed in August 2018 – More info on closure. 9 La Frite Sherman Oaks, California Closed Still open with lots of reviews that are average to above average. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. Sold in 2016, closed in Oct 2017 – More info on closure. 10 Capri Eagle Rock, California Closed Still open with above average reviews. Keeps an up to date Facebook page that has a cover photo of the twins and Gordon Ramsay. The restaurant closed in September 2019. More info on the closure. 11 Zeke’s Metairie, Louisiana Closed Closed in October 2012, and a new restaurant is now in its location. 12 Oceana New Orleans, Louisiana Open Still open with a lot of reviews, many of which are above average. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. More detailed update.

Season 3 (2010) – 9 of 11 Restaurants Closed, 2 of 11 Restaurants Open

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Episode Restaurant City Status Comments 1 Hot Potato Cafe Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Closed Closed in August 2010 according to their Facebook page. 2 Flamangos – Renamed The Junction Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Closed Closed in April 2011 3 Bazzini Ridgewood, New Jersey Closed Owners claimed they only talked to Gordon Ramsay when it was on camera and that’s it. Restaurant closed around June 2010 4 Mojito Brooklyn, New York Closed Still open with average reviews as recent as 4/2014. A lot of 1-star recent reviews. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. Closed in 3/2016 – More info on closing. 5 Lido di Manhattan Manhattan Beach, California Open Still open with above average reviews. One of the better rated restaurants from the show. Keeps an up to date Facebook page 6 Le Bistro Lighthouse Point, Florida Open Still open with above average reviews. One of the top rated restaurants for Lighthouse Point on Tripadvisor. 7 Casa Roma Lancaster, California Closed Still open with minimal reviews. Changed names at one point, but it is back to Casa Roma now. Closed at the end of June 2017 – Info on closing. 8 Mama Rita’s Newbury Park, California Closed Closed in December 2010, but the owner Laura is still doing catering. 9 Anna Vincenzo’s Boca Raton, Florida Closed Closed in late 2010. Gordon went back to visit in an episode in 2011 10 Fleming Miami, Florida Closed They went back to their original menu, and closed in October 2010 11 Sushi-Ko Thousand Oaks, California Closed Closed in August 2009, a few months after filming. Closed before the episode even aired.

Season 2 (2008-2009) – 11 of 11 Restaurants Closed, 0 of 11 Restaurants Open

Episode Restaurant City Status Comments 1 Handlebar Mount Sinai, New York Closed Closed in 2009, not long after the episode originally aired. 2 Giuseppi’s Macomb Township, Michigan Closed Closed in July 2009. Owners blamed the bad economy and the lack of liquor license, which they put out a lot of money for. They were happy with Kitchen Nightmares 3 Trobiano’s Great Neck, New York Closed The restaurant closed in October 2008 after it was seized for not paying taxes. This was not long after the episode aired. 4 Black Pearl New York, New York Closed The restaurant closed in September 2008 just days after the episode aired. 5 J Willy’s South Bend, Indiana Closed Owner was trying to sell the restaurant in October 2008, and ended up closing in February of 2009 6 Hannah & Mason’s Cranbury, New Jersey Closed The restaurant closed in February 2010 citing the bad economy and less customers 7 Jack’s Waterfront St. Clair Shores, Michigan Closed The restaurant was sold in 2009, and the new owners ended up closing in late 2010 8 Sabatiello’s Stamford, Connecticut Closed Closed in December 2008, and the owners opened another restaurant in Greenwich, CT, which also later closed. 9 Fiesta Sunrise West Nyack, New York Closed Closed in September 2008 before the episode even aired after failing to pay back taxes 10 Santé La Brea Los Angeles, California Closed Closed in June 2011 according to their Facebook page. 11 Cafe 36 La Grange, Illinois Closed Closed in April 2009, a few months after their episode originally aired.

Season 1 (2007) – 9 of 10 Restaurants Closed, 1 of 10 Restaurants Sold, 0 of 10 Restaurants Open

Episode Restaurant City Status Comments 1 Peter’s Babylon, New York Closed Had bad reviews after Gordon left, and closed in December 2008. 2 Dillon’s – Renamed Purnima New York, New York Closed Very dirty restaurant when Gordon visited. Owner tried to sue him to prevent show from airing. Closed in December 2009 3 The Mixing Bowl Bellmore, New York Closed Closed in January 2009. People think the manager was to blame 4 Seascape Islip, New York Closed Closed around October 2007(same month the episode aired)and a new restaurant has opened up in its place. 5 The Olde Stone Mill Tuckahoe, New York Sold Was sold to new owners in 2009. Restaurant still goes by the same name and has average to below average reviews. 6 Sebastian’s Toluca Lake, California Closed The restaurant closed in January 2008 when the owner moved back to Boston for family reasons 7 Finn McCool’s Westhampton, New York Closed Buddy sold the restaurant in 2009, and the restaurant ended up closing in March 2012 8 Lela’s Pomona, California Closed Lela’s closed by the time the episode aired on TV because the debts were too high. 9 Campania Fair Lawn, New Jersey Closed The restaurant was sold in 2010 by Joe and eventually closed in January 2011. Joe actually committed suicide just days after selling the restaurant 10 The Secret Garden Moorpark, California Closed Still open with average to above average reviews recent as 5/2015. Better reviews as of late. Keeps an up to date Facebook page. Closed in 11/2015 – Info on the closing.

Also if you watch Bar Rescue, visit Bar Rescue Updates for updates on that show.

See Food Network Gossip for Restaurant Impossible Updates and how many restaurants are Open vs. Closed. For updates on businesses that have appeared on CNBC’s The Profit, visit The Profit Updates

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