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luxekook · 4 years

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in too deep ☼ knj

☼ dedication: this fic is a bday present for the loml tay aka tay bay bay aka @interludemoonchild!!!! luv u long time <33 (sorry this isn’t about hobi skksksks)

☼ pairing: marine biologist namjoon x assistant reader

☼ genre: idiots to lovers, fluff, angst, crack

☼ summary: you had always grown up being told tales of terrible jobs with tyrannical bosses. but now, you’re left to wonder why you hadn’t heard more tragic stories of all-too-wonderful jobs with all-too-beautiful bosses... did falling for your boss only lead to heartbreak and a two weeks’ notice? or could it yield the possibility of romance?

☼ word count: 3.1k

☼ warnings: pg15, cursing, chaotic energy, pining, miscommunication, mentions of quitting, lots of sea nerd stuff, namjoon is smart af but an idiot in love, the reader isn’t any better, crabby bois, arguments, completely cheesy fluff, short make out sesh, mention of sex

☼ banner creator: heathy bby @shadowsremedy

☼ beta reader: the amazing and astoundingly talented phia @meowxyoong

“Kim Namjoon!” You cry, swatting the blue-clawed crab away from your feet with a broom, “What did I tell you about bringing your goddamn crustaceans into the office?”

The man in question hustles out of his office looking disheveled, “You’ve seen Carl?” He sinks right down to his hands and knees to peer under your desk. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, little buddy!”

You stare disappointedly as your boss picks up ‘Carl’ from his hiding place and cradles him to his chest. “Namjoon,” You sigh exasperatedly, folding your arms.

He looks up at you and blushes, “Sorry, Star. I just feel so bad leaving them downstairs at the lab. It’s so lonely and dark down there.”

While your stomach flips at the mention of his nickname for you, your eyebrows furrow in confusion, “Well, why don’t you just stay down there with them?”

“Because you’re up here…” He mumbles something incoherent.

“What?” You lean forwards, your ears straining to catch the garbled syllables.

Namjoon clears his throat, looking everywhere but at you, “Because it’s nicer up here.”

“Don’t tell your investors that,” You laugh, thinking of all the fancy and shiny equipment housed in the aquatics lab a few floors below. Working for a top-tier marine biologist sure had its perks - namely the state of the art kitchen with a full espresso bar.

“Star, I would never!” He looks affronted by the mere mention of such a thing. “Now, apologize to Carl for scaring him.”

You scoff, but just one glance into Namjoon’s sparkling brown eyes makes you crumble instantly. “Fine,” You begrudgingly shoot the crab a look, “Sorry, Carl.”

“See, Carl?” Namjoon croons, “She’s sorry!” As he turns back to you, you can immediately tell he is about to launch into Marine Biologist Mode™.

“Carl is a blue crab - a Callinectes sapidus, to be precise. That scientific name literally means ‘savory beautiful swimmer’.”

“Savory, huh?” You quip, relishing in the scandalized look Namjoon shoots you.

“Don’t listen to her, Carl,” He whispers, stroking a finger gently down the crab’s shell. “Now, where was I? Ah, yes… He’s named for his pretty sapphire-tinted claws, and he’s one of the most harvested species of his kind. So, don’t even think about it.”

You burst out laughing as he eyes you, “Okay, Joon, I’ll leave my pot of boiling water at home.”

Namjoon splutters out a choked laugh, looking at you like you are the most exasperating thing he’s ever come across. And, you probably are.

When you came to work for the distinguished marine biologist four months ago, you found him literally buried beneath piles of research papers, files, and National Geographic magazines. Apparently, he had tripped into his filing cabinet and everything had fallen off of the shelves onto him. The man had been a right mess. It was no wonder he had put an ad out in search of an assistant.

In your new role, you slowly but surely introduced some structure and organization into Namjoon’s life as best you could. The first thing you did was update his office. The man still had an honest to god lava lamp on his desk. You were still baffled at how he had managed not to break the fixture before your arrival.

Swiftly following the disposal of the cursed lava lamp, you ordered new file cabinets - and had them nailed to the wall. Virtually, you did even more. You restructured his online platforms and updated his schedule to include more than just scattered notes like “Meeting at 10AM, i think? Or was it 10PM?”

To his credit, Namjoon adhered to most of your suggestions and changes, but apparently he still refused to grasp the ‘no creatures in the office’ rule.

Overall, Namjoon was a great boss - kind, understanding, sweet, and a tad eccentric. His love for all things sea-related shone through the gentle way he handled his specimens, the passionate tone of voice he used while speaking on any related topic, and the stars in his eyes at the mere mention of discovering a new species.

It had been all too easy to become infatuated with him. Especially when he called you “Star” and left you to interpret the meaning on your own.

You remember the exact moment that you fell in love with him so vividly. It had been last month, just three months into working for him. Namjoon had been going off about fucking sand of all things.

“…Sand speaks of history, of science, of travels. Each grain of sand holds thousands upon thousands of years of movement, of erosion. For example, the beach outside of this building is tan because of the iron oxide tinting the quartz and the feldspar to a light brown color. But, there are other beaches that are black, white and even pink in color! It’s fascinating! And to quote the goddess of marine biology Rachel Carson: "In every curving beach, in every grain of sand, there is a story of the Earth…”

Yeah, you are head over heels for your boss. And that’s why you needed to quit.

The end of the workday arrives too quickly - a common theme it seems when you love what you do and who you work for. Namjoon walks beside you down to the parking lot. You sneak a glance at his face and note that he seems deep in thought.

Your mind slips to the image of you and Namjoon going home together to a shared house overrun with fish tanks and models of sharks. It’s all too easy to picture, and all too painful to acknowledge the impossibility.

“Star,” Namjoon’s voice jolts you from your fantasy. You blink up at him, realizing you’re both stopped beside your adjacent cars. Namjoon smiles at you, “I’ll see you tomorrow? It’ll be Friday, finally...”

It seems like he wants to say more but stops himself for some reason. You pause, waiting for him to continue, but he just blushes and brings a hand to the back of his neck bashfully.

“Yeah, Friday,” Your tone is less enthusiastic. You planned to hand in your two weeks’ notice tomorrow. It’s a complete strategy on your part so that you can have the whole weekend to cry and shove at least one gallon of ice cream down your throat.

You wave goodbye to each other and enter your respective cars. You watch Namjoon pull out of the parking lot before you and pause to rest your forehead on your steering wheel. You were so screwed.

Twenty-four exhausting hours later, you find yourself with your fist poised over Namjoon’s wooden office door. Are you actually doing this? Are you really going to quit the only job you’d ever loved?

Yes, you are. You love Namjoon too much to stay here surrounded by his charisma and his beauty. You love him too much to try to complicate his workspace, his sacred ground. You love him too much to ask him to blur the lines of colleague and lover.

You need to leave - for his sake and for yours. It isn’t like he still needs you. He has been following your routine with vigor and always keeps his office organized now. Your tasks have been dwindling for weeks.

It’s time to move on. God, even the tension today had been off the charts with you and Namjoon skirting around each other like you were both walking on eggshells. Clearly, he is also feeling like you are in the way.

With that in mind, you straighten your shoulders and finally knock on the door.

Your ears strain for any sign of an answer. Your breath catches in your throat as you try to sustain the meager amount of courage you had mustered up inside you. Twisting open the handle, you push the door open and are immediately met with an empty office. Damn, he must be downstairs.

You chuckle at the sheer idiocy of your panicked state over knocking on an empty office door.

This is perfect anyways. You can hand Namjoon your two weeks’ and then evacuate the building in one sweep. Shutting down your computer and grabbing your things, you trudge out of the room and towards the stairs.

The journey downwards seems akin to walking the plank as you take each step slowly, dreading the inevitable.

Ciara has it all wrong: you do not love it when you One, Two Step.

The entrance to the lab looms overhead. The steel double doors look more like the gateway to hell rather than a nice entrance to a marine facility. You don’t break your stride as you march through the doors. If you had, you might not have kept going.

The familiar light humming of the tank filters meets your ears as you peer around the rows of shelves containing colorful fish and scuttling critters.

“Joon?” You call, the nickname slipping past your lips before you can stop it.

“Back here, Star!” His answer sounds from the very back of the lab. Of course, that’s where the crabs are housed.

You make your way past the tanks of clownfish and the pools of stingrays to where Namjoon sits hunched over the shallow tank containing four green-tinted crabs.

“That’s it, Nala.” Namjoon croons as the smallest of the four crabs swims around the tank, “You show your brothers how fast you are.”

“Talking to your subjects again, boss?” You can’t help but tease the man you've grown to love as he fawns over his work.

Namjoon blushes slightly and nods, pushing his glasses up to rest on the bridge of his nose, “Studies have shown that it helps them develop.”

“I thought that was humans?” You say, shifting your weight back and forth. The letter in your hand seems to burn more each second you hold onto it. You couldn't take it anymore.

As Namjoon opens his mouth to reply, you thrust the letter into his chest and say, “Never mind. This is for you. Please read it later.”

With that, you fast-walk your way back to the entrance of the lab. The sound of the envelope tearing open only forces you faster. Fuck, it had been idiotic of you to assume that he would actually listen to you and open it later. Namjoon is as impatient as they come. Of course he wouldn't wait.

“Star!” His strangled call startles you, “What is this?”

“We can talk about it on Monday!” You reply, somehow already close to tears. Why is this godforsaken lab so big? You pace down the aisles of tanks and breathe a sigh of relief as the exit comes into view.

Then, Namjoon comes barreling around the corner, cutting off your escape. The man looks baffled as he clutches your written resignation in his hands. His chest heaves as he holds the torn pages out towards you, “What. Is. This. Star?”

You bristle. I guess we’re doing this now, you thought. Stiffening your shoulders, you muster all the false bravado you can manage, “It’s my two weeks’ notice, Namjoon. I’m sure a smart guy like you can read.”

“Okay, allow me to rephrase,” Namjoon stalks towards you, tossing the crumpled letter over his shoulder. “Why did you give me this?”

“The letter explains everything,” Your eyes dart around, both in search of a viable escape and in avoidance of his intensity.

“Sure it does,” He scoffs, his eyes blazing with disbelief. “I want to hear it from you.”

Your back hits the cool glass of the tank behind you. You’re trapped between the contrasting temperatures of the water and Namjoon’s body.

“Joon,” Your voice shakes, “You don’t need me anymore. You’ve done everything I've asked of you and then some. You’re organized. You’re on time. You’re put together. I barely have enough tasks now to fill a day, let alone a week. It’s time to move on.”

“Time to move on?” Namjoon echoes before barking out a humorless laugh, “I don’t need you anymore? That’s really what you think, Star?”

“Don’t call me that.” The nickname snufs out any trace of fight left inside you, and you plead, “Just let me go, Joon.”

“Never,” He growls.

“I don’t understand what you’re not getting,” You sigh, exasperated and drained, “You’ve surpassed my expectations and erased the need for my position. I think the saying ‘the student has become the master’ applies here.”

Namjoon gapes at you before he snaps, “You’re the one who’s not getting it! Have you ever considered that the student might just be in love with the teacher?”

Joon rakes a hand through his hair as you become the one to gape open mouthed at the frustrated man.

He continues, “I wake up earlier every damn day because I can’t wait to see you at work. I organize all of my things because I just want to see you smile at me when you notice. I spend an hour each night picking out what to wear the next day because I want to impress you… Don’t you see? Everything I do is for you, is because of you. I want to be the best version of myself for you.”

Your mind struggles to compute the seemingly impossible notion that the object of your affections returns your love. “Did you,” You gasp out, “Just say that you loved me?”

“Yes, you complete jellyfish! I love you. I am in love with you! And it’s not like it’s not obvious! I call you ‘Star’ because you are my starfish, my sea star. You are the one who keeps the balance to my ecosystem of chaos. You are the key species that keeps everything afloat.”

“And you thought that was obvious?” You yell back at him, “How on earth would I immediately have known the intense analysis behind your nickname for me, Namjoon the science buffoon?” You huff, scrambling to process the amount of information that had just been thrown at you.

He needed you?

He loved you back?

He nicknamed you after a fucking marine invertebrate?!

Namjoon blinks in surprise, “Did you just insult me with a Bill Nye pun?” You don’t deign to give him a response. Namjoon chuckles before grinning sheepishly, “Okay, fine. You make a good point.”

“I know I do,” You pout. “You can’t just spring this on me, Joon. Why haven't you told me this before?”

“Because I was nervous that you would leave me, that you wouldn't return my feelings. Obviously, the first point is moot. What about the second?”

“You’re asking if I love you back?” Your body sags against the tank behind you, “How could I not, you crab-loving, walking mess of a—”

Namjoon captures your mouth with his, kissing you with fervor. His hands wind their way up to cradle your face between them like you are the most precious thing to him.

Pulling back slightly, Namjoon rasps out, “So, you’ll stay?”

“Hm, I don’t know,” You crack a wry smile, “What’s in it for me?”

“Well, let me show you,” Namjoon replies before whipping his shirt off. You gape open mouthed at the expanse of beautiful tan skin in front of you.

Was that a hint of a tattoo swirling over his left shoulder?

He reaches down to tug at the hem of your dress, insinuating he wants it off. A nice concept in theory; however, with one look around at your surroundings, you slap his hand away. “Namjoon! Not in front of the fish!”

“But, Star, these aren’t fish! These are squid, and they are classed as cephalopods—”

You put a hand over his mouth, “Allow me to clarify: I will only fuck in a creature-free zone.”

Namjoon murmurs something beneath your palm. You give him a warning look before removing your hand. He immediately repeats himself, “My office?”

Your eyes narrow, “I know for a fact you have at least three crabs in there.”

Namjoon pauses, looking suspiciously shifty, “There are only seven…”

You wait for it.

“...teen.” He finishes.

“Kim Namjoon!”

Two Years Later

The short walk down the aisle ends too quickly as you find yourself standing in front of a teary-eyed Namjoon. Five of his friends stand behind him in a row, while the sixth stands proudly as the officiant.

They really are out here looking like a whole boy band, you muse. But, you only have eyes for their leader.

Namjoon stands before you, all tall and handsome in his tux; and as Officiant Jin™ begins the ceremony, you can't help but wonder how you got so lucky.

Finally, the ring exchange is introduced dramatically by Seokjin who spouts something about circles and never ending love. “Let us now have the rings brought forward and presented by the ring-bearer!” He booms, raising his arms up like he is summoning a great force.

Ring-bearer? You rake your mind for a prior mention of a ring-bearer… You thought Yoongi as the best man would have the rings.

Suddenly, Namjoon produces a silver whistle from his pocket and blows it once. You stare at your soon-to-be husband like he has sprouted another head.

And then you hear it: the sound of legs and claws scuttling across the floor towards the altar.

“Tell me that is not what I think it is,” You whisper-yell over to Namjoon, who looks way too pleased for your liking.

Your fears and exasperations come true as Namjoon swoops down to pick up Carl who has two shiny rings tied to his shell with a ribbon.

“Oh, Kim Namjoon,” You sigh as you watch him remove the rings from Carl and hand the crab off to a disgruntled Taehyung, “What am I going to do with you?”

“You’re going to marry me,” Namjoon grins.

And marry him you did.

a/n: jellyfish have no brains, lolz. idk why making joon call the reader a jellyfish made me crack tf up but IT DID.

#bangtanhq #ficswithluv #btswriterscollective #btswritingcafe #hyunglinenetwork #kwritersworldnet #bangtanarmynet #btsbookclub #btsnoonanet #hyungsmutsociety #maknaesmutsociety #bangtanscenery #kim namjoon x reader #namjoon x reader #knj x reader #bts #namjoon fanfic #bts fanfic #happy bday tay!!!!!

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hollenka99 · 3 years

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Growing up by the coast unlocks a special experience, if I'm going to be honest.

For a few months of the year, everywhere feels crowded. Good luck getting to your nearest coastal town quickly because you'll be slowly cooking in your car forever since everyone and their mum has decided to go to the beach. I have been late to work because of this despite leaving early enough to try account for it.

Teenagers can easily get summer jobs in restaurants and cafes because those places are desperate to get help with keeping up with the huge influx of customers. Sometimes you'll be 17 and standing outside a stall wondering why the fuck somebody decided to clean their child(ren) with the sinks or how the fuck all that sand managed to get in, around and on the toilet. And that's not even touching on how entitled people seem to be while on holiday. They will personally blame you for ruining their week away if things don't go perfectly, despite the fact you're literally just trying to get on with wiping tables for less than £5 an hour.

Holiday makers tend to come from inland where they possibly never had to worry about drowning in a lake or river etc. Which is fine, the whole country can't be made out of water. But oh my god, nobody seems to know how to read water safety information. It's on signs by the beach, on coasters you see in restaurants, even on the very glasses you drink out of as you look over the beach that tell you it takes less liquid than you're currently consuming to kill you when drowning. The information is definitely there. But there's always somebody who lets themselves get fucked over by high tides or stronger currents than they were expecting. This doesn't mean locals never get caught out because we're all human but the majority of incidents come from those not used to life near large bodies of water. Water does not give a shit about how you want to enjoy your break, it will unapologetically make you find out if you fuck around. Please stay safe and don't be dumb. The RNLI can only do so much if you get yourself into trouble.

Oh and growing up here also unlocks a distaste for rich people. Every summer, prices for snacks and refreshments skyrocket because local shop owners want to make the most out of the visitors. The high school I went to was within walking distance of the beach and for at least one non-uniform day a year, our donations would go to the local charity that helped local kids be able to afford to still live in the area. Because you know what happens when city natives (usually Londoners) keep buying their second homes by the sea? House prices go up to take advantage of their larger incomes, leaving the people who live there all year round to suffer the consequences.

And I mean it's not all horrendous. I had my fair share of rides along the beach on ponies and donkeys as a kid. The admission price is a bit steep but seals, otters and other marine life are just 15 minutes away if I want to see them. There's a boat called the Wash Monster that takes people on tours and every time I see those dumb shark teeth, I smile. The nearby mini golf place is cool and pirate themed, if I remember.

Also have you ever stood by crashing waves? I have a distinct memory of standing by railings overlooking the sea, it was high tide and the wind was strong that night. I stood there for a good 15 minutes after that shift as I waited to be picked up, letting the spray hit my face, laughing to myself from the euphoria of it all. It was simply myself and the sea. I wish I could replicate those few minutes but by its very nature, it's impossible to do so which makes it all the more special. I miss that feeling of nothing else mattering except the wind and the waves.

So yeah, the people who appear in their temporary droves can dampen the experience but growing up by the coast is definitely something else.

#holly talks #tw vent #long post #started thinking about that time by the railings and how it's tough to get a home round here then accidentally started going off for 1 hour

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grailfinders · 3 years

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Fate and Phantasms #128: Tamamo no Mae (Lancer)

If you live in the northern hemisphere: With daylight saving’s finally behind us and the world once more starting to warm up, we turn our thoughts to summer, with plenty of beach-themed servants to tide us over until summer 4 starts proper.

If you live in the southern hemisphere: As Summer winds its way to a close and fall shuffles in once more, let’s take a moment to remember all the good times we had this... er, last summer. With the help of some classic summer servants, this’ll be easy!

Today we’re building Tamamo Shark, a.k.a. Tamamo no Mae (Lancer)! This foxy gal has traded in all her magical prowess for a bikini and an elegant parasol, but she’s still a force to be reckoned with!

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Summer Lovin’, had me a blast!

Race and Background

We’ve done this one already, so I’ll speed through it. As a Tabaxi Courtier, you get +2 Dexterity; +1 Charisma; Darkvision; the ability to double your movement for a turn with Feline Agility; Cat’s Claws for some slashing damage with unarmed attacks; and proficiency with Perception, Stealth, Insight, and Persuasion.

Ability Scores

Here’s where things get interesting. Your highest scores are Wisdom followed by Dexterity. When you hit the beach, you’re all about grace That means socially and physically. After that is Charisma- you have a lot of people who’d like to touch fluffy tail. After that is Constitution, followed by Strength. You’re still kind of a caster, but this origin’s all about letting loose a bit. Finally, dump Intelligence. You’re not dumb, you’re just not here to think. Save it for Fall.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: Don’t expect all the summer servants to have Unarmored Defense, giving you an AC of 10 plus your dexterity and wisdom modifiers while you’re wearing a bikini. There’s only so many ways you can fit that into a build, some of them are gonna have to put on some clothes eventually. That being said, monk works for you, for reasons that’ll be apparent in a bit.

You also get Martial Arts, allowing you to make an unarmed attack as a bonus action after attacking with a monk weapon as your action. You can also use dexterity instead of strength when making attacks, and your monk attacks deal a minimum of 1d4 damage, scaling based on your monk level.

You also get proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as two monk skills; Acrobatics for parasol skills, and Religion for Being a God.

2. Fighter 1: We’ll go back to monk in a bit for your signature move, but first we should head over to fighter to mod up your umbrella. For the sake of attacks, I’m calling your parasol a spear, but you can also use the Interception fighting style to pop that bad boy open and block some damage, using your reaction to block 1d10+ your proficiency bonus on an attack against you or someone else within 5′. You also get a Second Wind to heal as a bonus action. A bit underpowered compared to your usual kit, but we’re not aiming for heals here.

3. Monk 2: Second level monks get a number of Ki points per short rest equal to their monk level, which they can currently spend to Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or make two unarmed attacks as a bonus action. You also get Unarmored Movement, giving you an extra 10 feet of movement to work with each turn, which also increases as you level up. Turns out a bikini’s easier to move in than those kimonos you like to wear.

4. Monk 3: By channeling your mana from spells into your body, you unlock the Way of the Open Hand, allowing you to align your strikes with your foes’... ki... to produce one of several effects. Your Open Hand Technique allows you to add these effects to your flurry of blows attacks. Either: force a dexterity save or be knocked prone, force a strength save or push them 15′ away, or make them unable to make reactions for a round. It’s okay I wouldn’t be able to react for six seconds either.

You can also Deflect Missiles, allowing you to block incoming ranged damage, and with a perfect block you can even bounce it back to sender!

5. Monk 4: We’re keeping it simple with your Ability Score improvements this time. Bump up your Wisdom for a stronger AC, more mystique, and stronger fancy fighting techniques. You can also use Slow Fall, which doesn’t feel like it’d be very useful on a beach, but you never know. There’s trenches in them thar seas. Finally, you get Quickened Healing to heal as an action by spending some ki points. Again, less healing than normal, but you’re on vacation! You’re not going to work that hard.

6. Monk 5: Fifth level monks get an Extra Attack each attack action, and they can turn those attacks into Stunning Strikes by using ki points. The target then has to pass a Constitution save, or be stunned for a round. Stunned creatures automatically fail strength and dexterity saves, opening them up for your open hand technique, and all attacks made against them are at advantage. Also, they probably won’t be having children afterwards. That’s not in the player’s handbook, but it’s true.

7. Fighter 2: We’ve got your noble phantasm down, so now we can go back to multiclassing for style points. Second level fighters get an Action Surge once per short rest, giving them an extra action in a single turn. You’d be surprised how much you can squeeze into a summer day.

8. Fighter 3: You’re all about grace, and there’s no martial archetype that’s more graceful than the Samurai! You can activate your Fighting Spirit as a bonus action, giving you advantage on all of your attacks for that turn three times per long rest. You also get some temporary HP to help out with the not dying thing. On top of that, you also get History proficiency. You literally lived through plenty of historical events, I’m sure you remember them.

9. Fighter 4: For some more blessings of the fox god, use this ASI to grab the Lucky feat. This gives you three luck points per long rest that can be cashed in for an additional d20 roll for an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check involving you. You can choose either the normal result of the roll, or your lucky roll.

10. Fighter 5: To make up for how powerful that last level was, this one gives you literally nothing. Extra attacks don’t stack.

11. Fighter 6: Another ASI already? Bump up your Wisdom for a better AC and stronger stunning strikes.

12. Fighter 7: At seventh level, you’re an Elegant Courtier, letting you add your wisdom modifier to persuasion rolls, and you become proficient in wisdom saves. We aren’t spending any ASIs to improve your fluffy tails, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t the center of attention.

13. Fighter 8: Your last fighter level gives you yet another ASI. Max out your Wisdom and start on your Dexterity. Turns out monks are pretty predictable.

14. Monk 6: Oh yeah that’s right, you’re a monk! This level gives you Ki-Empowered Strikes, making your unarmed attacks magical against resistances. You also gain a Wholeness of Body, spending an action to heal yourself for three times your monk level once per long rest.

15. Monk 7: Seventh level monks know Evasion, meaning you take half damage from failed dexterity saves and no damage from successes. You also gain a Stillness of Mind that lets you end a charming or frightening effect as an action. Freaking out ain’t gucci.

16. Monk 8: Eighth level monks get another ASI, bringing your Dexterity one step closer to perfection.

17. Monk 9: At ninth level, you get an Unarmored Movement Improvement, allowing you to run up walls and over water. You still go into the water if you end your turn there though, so swimming’s still an option.

18. Monk 10: Your Purity of (beach) Body makes you immune to disease and poison. It’s a shame you couldn’t extend this to master, it might’ve helped.

19. Monk 11: Your Tranquility makes you much harder to hit, giving you the effect of a Sanctuary spell after each long rest that lasts until your next long rest, or until you attack or cast a spell on an enemy. Creatures attacking you must make a wisdom save against your monk DC (8 + wisdom modifier + proficiency) or redirect the attack.

20. Monk 12: You get one last ASI for you capstone, so grab the Piercer feat. This rounds out your Dexterity, and once per turn you can re-roll a die of piercing damage. Also, when you score a critical hit, you can add an extra die to the damage. It’s not particularly useful, but it’s better than leaving one completely useless skill point lying around.

Pros:

If your enemies want to hit you, they’ll have to get past 20 AC, your parasol, probably a dodge, your evasion, your luck, and your tranquility. That is to say, you’re pretty hard to hit.

With maxed out wisdom and the ability to shove advantage on your attacks, your stunning strikes can be a serious issue for your enemies. Who needs a boss fight when you can just slap an immobile target for a bit?

You come pre-packaged with plenty of self-healing. Hitting you in the first place is annoying, but hitting you enough to make up for your heals is demoralizing.

Cons:

You don’t have a lot of HP, meaning someone who can reliably break through your defenses might make short work of you.

Playing to character means you only have your fists, your feet, and your umbrella. You might have noticed none of those are ranged attacks. Javelins and bows are always an option, of course, but playing strictly to character will be a problem.

Most of you levels are monk, which means you don’t get many attacks to use with your Fighting Spirit. It’s almost like we took the subclass purely to make you super elegant, and everything else was a side effect or something.

#Fate Grand Order #FGO #D&D 5e #Tamamo no Mae #Fate and Phantasms #Monk #Fighter

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urrisma · 4 years

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@invadedzim Sorry it's so long qwq

(Me explaining my dream in your artsyle)

Okay, how do I explain this? The dreams started out later on and then kinda filled in the past years after a while so I'll see if I can start from where it began

So at the age of 13 (It was very specific on ages and yet not the timeline qwq) Dib and Zim both are kidnapped by the tallest, who need some sort of weapon to be built and it takes both a human and an irken to make (idk man dream logic) and Zim and Dib are the only human and Irken to ever work together on something, so they were their best bet. (Irkens and their pride and all)

During this they kinda become friends and talk to each other about each of their lives. (You can imagine that Zim was constantly telling him how "lucky" he is to be making something for the tallest as a worthless meat baby) They are actually really quick friends, and needless to say, Dib is pretty pissed at the tallest since y'know, they are complete assholes to Zim, remember that time they made him go through a bunch of shit just to protect a god dang cheeto that was worthless to them?

It takes a long ass time, but Dib finally starts to get to Zim when telling him what the tallest actually think of him. They both end up escaping together and back on Earth, where Zim needs time to think to himself. Dib is like 👌 and then they part ways.

So, I can only assume they somehow made a compromise and are now working together to try and make as many places as peaceful as possible (Mainly irk) because the dream just has a plot hole there, don't really know how they came up with that idea or really why they would want to, but y'know. (Also it took them a couple years to come up with the plan, let's say like 4 so the timeline makes sense)

Anyways, they try to go for an easy area first, a planet full of lemon-based pastries, yup, dream logic. The Queen of the place is based off a Lemon Cake, and they call her Lemica for short. She ends up with a crush on Zim and literally straight up tries to kidnap him. Great, new bad guy! She isn't really evil just completely oblivious, in fact everyone on the planet is completely oblivious and happy all the time (Oh and she had cute little minions called the Macas who were macaroons, and they would wear a hat that looked like the top of one and aaa- so c u t e)

They leave the place and think they'll try another time, after this for some ding dang reason (Maybe using reverse psychology? Since the cute little lemon pastries were evil) decided to go to a planet full of a bunch of shark people DREAM LOGIC. Anyway, the leader of that place is named Sharko (Later we find out that's just a nickname because his full name is too girly for him, he himself was really girly looking as well) he also had little shark minions

Surprise surprise, he's also evil and takes their propositions as a "You're bad you need to change" and says he will track where they live and murder em. So yeah, Sharko kinda a bitch.

After 2 failed attempts they decide to take a break (I can only assume, the dream don't explain everything) but they see on the news that sharks are popping out of the ocean and beating the shit out of people on the beach and decide to go out there and help them (Of course Zim is upset it's a place full of water)

They end up having epic battle and winning, woop woop! Finally something positive happens to the boys! Sharko says they have proved they are superiors and now will serve them and destroy any planet they want them to. Not wanting to risk another misunderstanding (I ASSUME) they just go with it and let em fly back to their planet (Also they erased the memories of everyone on the beach that saw them fighting, the dream told me that much.)

After awhile they decide to go back to the lemon pastries planet and talk to the leader, since she noticed how they reacted last time she doesn't try it again, then she asks for a weird liquid for a truce. So they like 👌👌 and go out to where she wants them to go.

Turns out it's some Irken storage unit, oop and here comes some Zim ptsd. Since he's shorter than the one giving the tour, he's asked to do almost everything, like opening doors and letting them try out certain weapons on him. He just be like "Sure, yeah, I'll let you take advantage of me, what else am I good for besides being a slave to those taller than me?" Very sarcastically. The one giving the tour just responds with "Yes!" Just making him sigh. Dib notices this and tries to silently comfort him, how cute. (Dib has a disguise and is praised for being such a tall "irken")

Anyway, they end up in the room with the liquid but also inside of it was an object that can show your worst nightmare coming to life. They try using it on Zim because of course they do, and nothing changes so they try Dib instead (THAT'S PRETTY EDGY ZIM) it ends up being multiple things like fluffy animals and his dad(Which he pretends he doesn't know) Zim just kinda pets one of the cats and watches his friend be terrified (Completely unnecessary detail about this one scene but not the more important ones, thanks dream)

Anyways, they get the liquid and get outta there. They make the truce with Lemica and tell her all about their plans, she decides to join them and ends up going back to Earth with them (Have no idea who's in charge of the planet now but whatever, plot holes)

So I'll assume years pass by, probably like 4 more (Also a year passed while they were doing the peace stuff) so that's 5 years passed. They did a lot of filler stuff, a lot of useless detailed scenes my dream decided to give me, BUT there was an important recurring theme, and that was Dib trying to boost Zim's self esteem.

After that 4 years, he succeeds in boosting it and helping him move on from the past. Buuuuuuuut according to my dream, whenever an Irken gets a POSITIVE emotion (Unrecognizable) it freaks the freak out and makes that certain emotion very bipolar. How does Zim deal with his self esteem going up and down constantly? He eats dirt. Yup, dirt. Thanks, dream!

Turns out it's not any dirt, it's dirt that makes all your emotions go away for even a second, so he just eats it to relieve the pain for awhile, it takes a while but dummy Dib besides to ask about why he is constantly eating dirt all the time because he was worried bout his friend (The dream was so bipolar about whether they were dating or friends so I'll just say friend to stay safe lmao) anyways he explains everything to him after a lot of persuasion (Also apparently the dirt constantly changes its texture so like it cancels out the emotions? I really don't know why this was info we needed, dream)

Dib, being the dumbass he is just goes "Oh don't worry buddy boi I'll just fix it!" And Zim just be like "Bitch wut." And boom! That's all the dream I've had so far!

I really did fill up a lot of the plot holes the dream had, this is what i THINK the timeline is. Anyways, Sharko and Lemica were both babies to me, all the filler really attached me to em idk why. Oh also Tak and Gaz kinda showed up sometimes and they were dating, it was sure of that, I just couldn't exactly tell where in the timeline she showed up.

It was really all in your artstyle, which was really…. Weird, to say the least. I guess you're in my brain now, just like my secret alien stash, where I had a dream they posted art and that's literally it. I'm really surprised a dream could make up such a story like this with not too many inconsistencies. Like the fact that his name is too girly so he calls himself Sharko is just… such a tiny detail and yet my dream added that layer to the character, it's just… nothing like this has happened to me before. That's all I can really say, I'll update if the dream comes back.

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imagine-loki · 5 years

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It's A Funny Little Story

TITLE: It’s A Funny Little Story CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: One Shot AUTHOR: MaliceManaged ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine taking (well, more like dragging) Loki to the aquarium with you when tensions are high with the others to keep things from escalating. You end up admiring the sharks, as they are your favourite animal (which you have told literally anyone who’ll listen). Imagine the look on Loki’s face when you casually tell him that you got munched on by a shark once, and that the shark tooth on the necklace you never take off was removed from your hipbone in the hospital. RATING: Gen NOTES/WARNINGS: Yesterday I decided that I really, really wanted to write, but none of my current WIPs was calling to me, so I looked through my bookmarks and found this prompt, and just like that, 2k words happened. I have barely slept. Send help. And cake.

______________________

They were arguing. Again. Mina could hear their raised voices long before she reached the common room, though she couldn’t make out what was being said. It didn’t really matter in the end; arguments always escalated into fights if they weren’t stopped, and fights were very bad for her stress levels, which was bad for everybody given that her powers were very much tied to her emotions.

They did not need another… incident.

With a sigh she hurried her steps and, without pausing or even a word of greeting, grabbed Loki by the arm and dragged him with her right out the other door, feeling a moment’s resistance before he realised it was her, though he did huff in annoyance as he went along. She heard a faint protest behind them but ignored it, walking along until they reached her room, where Loki finally resisted and pulled his arm back to remain in the doorway.

“This is far enough; I believe you’ve made your point rather clear,” he said coolly, moving to leave.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Mina countered, grabbing hold of his sleeve, “I am not done with you.”

“You stopped the argument; what more could you want?”

“Correction: I stopped one argument. I let you leave now, you’re just going to end up in another one.”

“And so you removed the source of the trouble; how noble,” he practically sneered.

Mina rolled her eyes. “Sure, keep putting words in my mouth; that’s real mature,” she replied sarcastically, “Not like I’m trying to help you or anything.”

Loki frowned. “Why would you help me?”

“Because you’re doing a terrible job of it yourself, mostly.” That earned her a glare. “Oh, don’t look at me like that; it’s true.”

“Fine; and what is your grand plan to help me, hmm?” he asked slightly mockingly, crossing his arms at his chest, “Am I to be confined to this doorway until I’ve learned my lesson?”

“You’re only there because you want to be; I have a perfectly good chair in here.”

He fought to keep his expression neutral. “My, how gracious,” he deadpanned, sweeping into the room and sitting on the aforementioned chair then looking at her expectantly, “Well? What now, oh, generous one?”

Mina arched an eyebrow. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a brat?”

“Not to my face,” he replied with a smirk.

She nodded then walked over and sat on her bed facing him. “So, what was it about this time?”

He considered refusing to answer, but ultimately sighed, figuring he might as well. As he talked, she began toying with her necklace; a shark tooth that came to rest on her collarbone on a soft leather cord. Loki had yet to ever see her without it, though he had never asked about it, not really wanting to make conversation with her. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, but he didn’t want to risk forming any kind of attachment to her - or any other mortal, for that matter - and prove Thor right; he would never hear the end of it.

“Sounds to me like you need to get out of here,” she said when he finished, earning a slight frown.

“I’m sure they would agree,” he replied a tad testily.

“I meant for the day, Loki,” she clarified exasperatedly, “Or at least a few hours.”

“And where do you propose I go; since you are so full of ideas?”

She leaned back, propping herself on her hands, and thought for a moment before her expression lit up. “Ooh, I know! Let’s go to the aquarium!”

“‘Let’s’?” he asked slightly surprised. He’d figured she would just give him a destination and send him on his way. Though in retrospect he should have known better; it wasn’t as though she’d ever shied away from his presence, which was both curious and slightly annoying, depending on the moment.

“Yeah! We can go see the sharks!” she continued excitedly, either ignoring or missing his tone, “They’re my favourite, you know.”

“Truly? I had no idea; you’ve only mentioned it a hundred times since we met,” he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm, then glanced around the room at the shark posters practically covering all the walls; the shark memorabilia adorning the desk, dresser and nightstands; the shark themed books both on the shelves and otherwise littering the room; the shark patterned covers on the bed, plus the throw cushions; and the three stuffed shark toys of increasing size taking up the rest of the bed, “Really; who could possibly have guessed.”

“Oh, shut up,” Mina half mumbled, blushing deeply. She stood and walked over to her closet, pointedly not looking at him, which made him chuckle. Grabbing a t-shirt at random, she found it to be the one she’d gotten from the aquarium promoting its then new shark exhibit, and looked back at Loki somewhat sheepishly to find him trying very hard not to smile. “Not a word.”

****

They stopped for lunch first, as that was what Mina had been on her way to do before encountering the argument in the common room, and she spent most of it rambling about sharks while he half listened, the rest of his amused attention subtly watching the looks they were getting. Mina seemed to either not mind or, most likely, not notice, especially when he further encouraged her info dump with a few well timed questions. One thing was for sure, he mused; the girl was very passionate about her interests. It was actually quite endearing, though he stopped that thought before it could take too much of a hold.

He was not forming attachments to the mortals, dammit.

By the time they reached the aquarium, Mina was practically vibrating with excitement and Loki felt as though he could write a book with all he’d learned about sharks in those two-ish hours since they’d left the compound. After paying the entrance fee, Mina took Loki’s hand and led him inside, surprising him; he knew her to be quite physical with her friends, and she grabbed his arm all the time when she wanted to lead him someplace, but the simple gesture was unexpected, as was the fact that she seemed not to think anything of it. Oddly enough, it didn’t bother him half as much as he’d have expected.

With her singular focus, Loki expected her to go straight to the shark exhibit, but she instead led them on a meandering course through the whole aquarium, admiring the rest of the exhibits with a peaceful smile on her face. There weren’t as many people there as he would have expected, but he noticed she was taking them to areas with a sparser number of patrons standing around and felt a sort of gratitude that she was respecting his aversion to crowds, especially without drawing any attention towards it. As he watched the marine life swimming, floating or crawling around in the tanks, he felt his irritation from the argument and what had caused it drain away to be replaced with a sort of tranquillity, and felt even more grateful for the outing. Mina had been right; he really did need to get out of the compound, for something other than work, anyway.

He tensed a bit when he noticed a group of people a ways away looking and pointing towards them and whispering amongst themselves, but as though sensing his shift in mood, Mina got his attention and pointed at a school of brightly coloured fishes swimming by with a grin on her face that had him smiling a bit back at.

Eventually they reached the shark exhibition and Loki had to admit, seeing them up close like that, he could sort of see the appeal; they certainly were impressive animals. Beside him, Mina was positively enraptured, and he was once again amazed that she’d delayed getting there long enough to show him the rest of the place. He smiled a bit to himself as he turned his attention back to the tank; she was a curious creature.

“You know, I got munched on by one of those once,” Mina spoke up casually after a while as one of the sharks swam closer to the glass.

Loki’s gaze snapped towards her. “Sorry; what??”

“Oh, yeah; it’s a funny little story,” she continued unconcernedly, “I was at the beach with some sort-of-friends, and they decided to hang out outside the water for a while. I didn’t really want to get out yet, so I stayed behind, and as I was floating around a shark came up and decided to take a bite out of me.” She picked up her necklace with her thumb and said with a grin, “They actually dug this out of my hipbone in the hospital; the doctor was nice enough to let me keep it.”

“I’m… I must confess I am surprised you survived such a thing,” he said, half questioningly, trying to wipe the incredulous look he knew was there from his face with marginal success.

Mina giggled a bit. “Well, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The teeth missed my spine by a couple inches, otherwise I’d have really been in trouble, and all the screaming and splashing drew attention fast enough to get me to the hospital before I bled out too much. It did leave me with this badass scar, though!” as she finished, she turned towards him and lifted her shirt to reveal her left side, where sure enough there were slightly jagged scars running in a semicircle over her abdomen and disappearing into the waistband of her jeans.

It took Loki a moment to find his words, simply standing there staring between the scar, the necklace, and Mina’s beaming face. “And, ah, what happened? To the shark, I mean?”

“You mean besides getting probably the biggest shock of its life?” she replied with a snort. At his raised eyebrow, she shrugged, “Nothing happened to it; it just swam away, probably questioning its life choices.”

Loki stared at her a moment longer then turned back to the tank. “I’m surprised after that you would still name these your favourite animals,” he mused as he watched a shark lazily swimming past close to the glass.

“Well, why wouldn’t I? It’s not like it meant any harm; it was just doing what sharks do. Not its fault its teeth are razor sharp and I’m so soft and squishy.”

He chuckled softly. “No, I suppose not.”

They stayed there a good while longer, until Thor called Mina asking if they were going to be away for much longer as he needed Loki to go over some paperwork with him, which caused Loki to roll his eyes and mutter something in asgardian that she doubted was particularly flattering. As they sat in the car on their way back to the compound he turned to her and lightly touched her hand resting at her side to get her attention, earning a questioning look.

“I wish to… thank you. For today,” he said a tad haltingly, “You were right in that I needed a diversion; and though I suspect this trip was more for you than me, I do appreciate it.”

Mina smiled warmly at him. “I get needing a break from everyone,” she replied, “They can be a bit much after a while for me, and I actually like them; I imagine it’s worse for you.”

He looked down with a slight huff of a laugh. “I admit, while it’s certainly not new to me, it can be… trying… being surrounded by so many people who despise me. The glaring gets rather tedious after a time.”

“I wouldn’t say they despise you, exactly; they just don’t like you very much. Mind you, your attitude towards them doesn’t exactly help.”

“Which is rather the point. We are not friends, we are tangentially allies solely because of Thor; there’s no need to pretend otherwise,” he replied somewhat loftily, turning back to his window.

Mina stared at him for a long moment. “Wow; you are so full of it.”

He looked back at her incredulously. “I beg your pardon?”

“That is not why you keep your distance and go out of your way to push people’s buttons, and you know it.”

“Oh?” he said coolly, crossing his arms at his chest, “And why do I do these things, then, since you seem to know my mind better than I do?”

She shrugged. “It’s a defence mechanism. If you push people away first, they don’t get the chance to do it to you.” His eye twitched a bit and he looked back out the window, settling back in his seat. “For the record; that doesn’t work on everyone.”

“So I have noticed.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence, with Loki heaving a sigh that was not as annoyed as he wanted it to be when she stayed beside him on his way to the meeting room where Thor was waiting. She only smiled knowingly, causing him to roll his eyes.

At the doorway to their destination, he paused and looked down at her. “Alright, I admit; perhaps you’re one mortal worth bothering with after all.”

Mina giggled, earning a raised eyebrow. “Who told you I was mortal?”

He blinked. “Wait, what?”

#Loki #Others #Submitted one shot #submission #it's a funny story #MaliceManaged

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blogglemymind11-blog · 5 years

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💕Dates on a budget💕

Picture this: you ask your crush/ s.o on a date and they say totally! Now all you gotta do is find the perfect spot that's just as romantic as it is entertaining. However , you know your not made of money and you havent done this in a while. relax weve all been there , that's why in this article I will be categorizing the best spots for dates year round!! Keep in mind I am going to break these up into season and by budget, so if you dont see what your looking for just keep reading !

Also small edit :" so" is s.o (autocorrect is dumb sometimes) sorry for the mind trip , hope you enjoy:)

WINTER: the snow is everywhere, the lake is freezing and Christmas is just around the corner . But theres gotta be more to do with your so other than just wait around the mistletoe. Here are some locations you cant miss:

CITY HALL: if a romantic evening spent bundled up on skates is what your looking for , this is your place. This is located at 70 Collier St , which is within the heart of downtown barrie .

🤑: 100% free

Address: 70 Collier St, Barrie, ON L4M 4T5

HORSESHOE VALLEY: if you and your so are more of the sporty type , then this might be the best destination. Although its year round , horse shoe is most popular for their ski slopes and snow tubing . They also have a variety of food available in thier restaurant and cafeteria. It is out in oro but if you dont want to drive back from there , simple: get a hotel within the resort !

🤑:skiing (6 – 18 years & 65+ 9:00am – 4:30pm, $23)

Tubing(10 Rides$50 ,15 Rides$75 Unlimited Pass Per day, per person, $35)

Address:1101 Horseshoe Valley Rd W, Barrie, ON L4M 4Y8

SAINT MARIE AMONG THE HURONS :

get in touch with your historical side at saint Marie's annual first light. The museum is full of activities and information about life back then .There is also an indoor market full of art, clothing, jewelry and food . Plus to add on to the beautiful decorations, food and fireworks , they are constructing a new castle to explore . Let's hope that its first winter is this winter !

🤑:Admission $10.00 per person, with a donation of a non-perishable item!

Address: St Marie Among the Hurons, Midland,16164, Highway 12 East, Ontario

L4R 4K8

CANADAS WONDERLAND :

Although this is normally seen as a spring and summer destination, canadas wonderland has introduced a new attraction called winterfest ! This includes a big beautiful skating rink, themed Christmas areas to explore and they've even decided to run some of the rides during the chilly season. This is an expensive activity, but it is worth it for the holiday experience . Plus, if you have a season pass and you upgrade it to a gold pass you can get into this event as many times as youd like , for free ! Let it snow let it snow let it snow...

🤑: WinterFest admission tickets are available online as low as $21.99 + HST.

Address: 1 Canada's Wonderland Drive, Vaughan, ON L6A 1S6

FALL: leaves are falling , almost as hard as your falling for your so . If You really want to celebrate the highlights of fall with them , youve gotta try these spots

CHAPPEL FARMS: if your from barrie, you will probably agree with me when I say this is one of the top picks for fall fun! With so much to do such as pumpkin picking , petting zoo's and thier famous "boo barn" this Is hours of fun for you both. Plus the wagon ride , haunted house and pumpkin is free with your admission, happy spooky season!

🤑:Weekend admission: $14.00 per person tax included (24 months and under are free)

Weekday admission: $7.00 per person tax included (24 months and under are free)

Address: 617 Penetanguishene Rd, Barrie, ON L4M 4Y8

CANADAS WONDERLAND: if you and your so want somewhere where the fear factor Is high, this is the best place to go . During september and october , Canadas wonderland transforms from an amusement park to a haunted attraction. With tons of themed areas built right into the park thered endless amounts of creepy in each haunted maze . So hold each other tight and conquer prepare for the scare, boo!!

🤑: $31.99 each or unlimited admission with a Gold Pass.

Address:1 Canada's Wonderland Drive, Vaughan, ON L6A 1S6

SUNNIDALE PARK: if you wanted to spend an afternoon enjoying the scenic side of fall rather than the spooky side, then sunnidale is your kinda spot. This is a relaxing park with tons of trails for you and your so to explore, they even have a community centre near by if you get chilly

🤑: 100% free

Address: 227 Sunnidale Rd, Barrie, ON L4M 3B9

BARRIE HILL FARMS: does apple picking sound like a romantic way to spend the day with your so? Then this is the place for you! For over 40 years barrie hill farms has been a popular destination for the freshest fruits and vegetables. So come down and fill your own bucket for an amazing price.

🤑:$5 per person – all customers age 6-96 who wish to take a wagon ride and enter the Pick Your Own fields.

Address:2935 Barrie Hill Rd.

Springwater, ON, CAN

L9X 1S8

SPRING: spring is in the air, the flowers are blooming again and its warm enough to step outside for more than a millisecond in a t shirt .just like the flowers, your looking for a place to plant yourself for a nice date .so why not Check out these places!

BRADFORD GREENHOUSES GARDEN GALLERY: this is the perfect spot to get into the Easter spirit. During the spring this popular greenhouse turns into an enormous easter egg hunt ! Spend am afternoon searching for eggs with your so or compete with them to see who has the most , Plus if you find the golden egg you win 4 free movie tickets ( bonus!)

🤑:100% free

Address:4346 County Rd 90, Springwater, ON L9X 1T7

HOOLIGANS : this restaurant is perfect for if you want a dinner that's over the top , literally. You can choose to stay inside or go up to thier rooftop , which is decorated and has its own bar. Although the menu is different upstairs , its definitely worth the romantic scenery such as the perfect view of downtown barrie and the waterfront.

🤑:30$ and under for rooftop menu

Address: 66 Dunlop Street East,

Barrie, Ontario, CA

L4M 1A4

RIPLEYS AQUARIUM: the fish are awake now that its spring, outside and inside ! This popular tourist spot is sure to blow your mind with everything you need and want to know about under the sea. They have countless attractions such as touch pools, shark tanks ,stingray shows and even shrimp that clean your nails! There is also food provided and a huge gift shop at the end of your aquatic journey.

🤑: general admission $33.00

Anytime Express admission $39.00

Address: 288 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON M5V 3L9

PUTT PUTT GOLF: looking for something indoors but also active ? This popular place will fulfill all of that ! With 18 holes of elaborate glow in the dark mini golf and a full arcade , putt putt golf is sure to keep you and your so entertained for hours. Plus they provide pizza and there is no time limit , Happy putting !

🤑: golf: General (13 & over) – $11.50+tax

2nd round of golf $4.00

Arcade: 100 tokens for $40

40 tokens $20.00

15 tokens $10.00

5 tokens $5.00

2 tokens $2.00

1 tokens $1.00

(Taxes included)

Address:34 Commerce Park Dr, Barrie, ON L4N 8W8

SUMMER: the sun is shining and the temperature is sizzling, so why not make your first date the same way with these summer bucket list items !

SUNSET BARRIE DRIVE IN MOVIE THEATER: this is the perfect place to go if you are looking for some good old fashioned fun . The retro vibe of the sunset drive in is a favorite spot for summer get togethers . They provide food, a small arcade and 3 outdoor screens all for a reasonable price . Movies are bigger and better , under the stars !

🤑:general admission $12.00

Tuesday special $7:50

BAYVIEW MEMORIAL BEACH AND PARK: this is the ultimate location for a beach date! It's out in the country so its quiet and relaxing . Plus the water is shallow and clear so you can see all the sandbars! I think I speak for everyone in oro Medonte when I say that this beach is the best spot for watching the sunset with your so .also depending on the time of year there may be an ice cream truck:)

🤑: 100% free

Address: 687 Lakeshore Rd E, Hawkestone, ON L0L 1T0

CANADAS WONDERLAND: aside from its seasonal attractions, Canadas wonderland is the definition of a picture perfect amusement park .With all the roller coasters, games and unique restaurants you can ask for, it makes you wonder if you could ever do it all in one day. Plus it has a huge water park to add to the summer fun! so grab a swimsuit and your so and conquer some of their famous roller coasters such as the leviathan , the behemoth and the newest addition: the Yukon striker (90 degree drop)

🤑:daily admission $53.99

Address:1 Canada's Wonderland Drive, Vaughan, ON L6A 1S6

CENTENNIAL PARK: this endless beach and park is located right across the lake from downtown barrie , and has alot to offer to its visitors . Not only is there a huge area for swimming but they have also built an inflatable park right on the water! This area also has alot of food and wide open spaces .sounds like a perfect spot for a beach/ picnic date with your so:)

🤑: water park (evening passes ($15), day passes ($25))

Address:55 Lakeshore Dr, Barrie, ON L4M 4T5

Happy holidays :)

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valmos · 4 years

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Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (second format) episode 10-12

Episode 10(a): Way Out Scooby

Monster: Scrappy? Lax security? This entire episode for reminding me that the Curiosity rover sang Happy Birthday to itself and made me sad?

Interests: Faux-gang is at a space center... gosh it is wild to think Scooby-Doo Where Are You original aired just a little under two months after the Apollo 11 launch. Scooby gets loaded with a robot on a rocket on the way to Mars, Shaggy and Scrappy go to get him but the rocket blasts off. On Mars, Scrappy wrecks the $6 billion robot (Going off a single website, that would be $17 billion today). NASA think Shaggy and Scooby are martins for a bit, but they still seem pretty cool about them having been stowaways. I guess they don’t want to disclose how the heck some guy and two dogs managed to sneak on a rocket.

Episode 10(b): Strongman Scooby

Monster: Gym culture? Scrappy?

Interests: There is a sign for “Tucker’s Fun House” but I wasn’t super paying attention and thought it said something else... Scrappy enrolled them in a body building class at Muscle Beach Gym, a one day class. Shaggy has workout outfit. Shaggy makes way to a health food stand. Another bulldog here, Scrappy antagonizes him saying Scooby is stronger. Shaggy offers Scooby a bit of a vegetarian sandwich, he eats the whole thing. Bulldog is apparently the instructor. Shaggy drinks something. Scooby ends up in the women’s section of the gym. ... Okay, bulldog dawns a fake shark fin to scare Scooby, but the pool is connect to the ocean, even has a label that says “To Ocean”, and a shark sees this and thinks its a pretty shark with lipstick comes into the pool. Scrappy pulls the fin off the bulldog and the shark sees now it wasn’t a lipstick cladded shark and is upset.

Episode 10(c): Moonlight Madness

Monster: Depression? Werewolf Shaggy? The Butler?

Interests: Faux-gang is in Austria at Moonlight Castle, Shaggy’s ancestral home. Butler of the castle is named Adolf... I had to look it up, and it seems it was a common name before WWII, but still... couldn’t use something different... Painting of Shaggy’s ancestor, Shaggy the First. (I can’t remember if Shaggy’s actual name is a thing yet and too lazy to go look at my notes, but either way awkward) Scooby wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to get food. Butler puts a Moonlight Medallion on Shaggy turning him into a werewolf. Shaggy eats Scooby’s sandwich. Butler is excited that a Shaggy werewolf roams the castle again (It is weird because Shaggy isn’t the family name?) Shaggy keeps untransforming as the moon keeps getting covered by clouds... which is strange, like it isn’t the moon hitting the medallion directly that is causing the transformation. Adolf ends up with the medallion on him and he stops feeling lonely, apparently the only reason he did this? (I wonder if this episode, influenced the.. 89? movie of Shaggy turning into a werewolf?)

Episode 11(a): Dog Tag Scooby

Monster: US Military’s predatory recruitment strategy, so bad when a literal pup shows up they don’t even blink an eye.

Interests: Touring an Army base... as one does? Trying to sneak into the mess hall to get food, they end up dressing up as new recruits. Scrappy wants to see the navy next.

Episode 11(b): Scooby at the Center of the World

Monster: Rock Monsters. Giant bats.

Interests: BADCARL’S CAVERN, “legally”(?) distinct, OC (original cavern) do not steal. Sub sandwiches. Two rock’s eat Scooby’ sandwich. Scooby drinks some juice, rock monster tries to eat the juice can. “Not rats, Raggy, rats!” So many bats, no poop. Also hello sudden giant bats. Scrappy rides the bat, making it exhausted, dumps water on the rock monsters making them shrink and keeps them as pets... Scrappy has no empathy... which I mean is accurate of young children until they can be taught.

Episode 11(c): Scooby's Trip to Ahz

Monster: Wicked Witch? Rocks? Shaggy and Scrappy not checking on Scooby for awhile.*

Interests: Scooby is rushing to the Mystery Machine with a bag of sandwiches, the Wizard of Oz is playing on TV. He trips and hits his head, causing the dream. Shaggy is the scarecrow, Scrappy is tinman and Scoob is the lion. Yellow-Brick Toad. Wicked Witch of the North by Southeast. Witch casts opium, it was super effective. Witch casts smooth stairs. Scrappy metagames, seeing the movie three times, throws a bucket of water at the Witch. Scooby wakes up, and it looks like Shaggy is giving Scooby the finger for a moment. *Like we don’t know how long Scoob was out there for, as Scrappy just says to hurry the movie is on, but when he comes to the wizard is about to show up. Give me the impression that they saw him outside and then just didn’t bother with him for at least twenty minutes.

Episode 12(a): A Fright at the Opera

Monster: Phantom

Interests: Faux-gang fall into the sewer under Eiffel Tower, right into a bathtub. Shaggy uses a toilet brush as an oar.

Episode 12(b): Robot Ranch

Monster: Some Guy with a Remote Control

Interests: Faux-gang is at another robot ran western theme park. Western outfits. “I’ll turn them into robots!” ... but like... assuming you aren’t keeping their brain thus free will, which you aren’t if you want to keep them at the ranch, why not just program the robot bodies you are building? Unless you want to make them into cyborgs? I can see that being on saving costs, maybe?

Episode 12(c): Surprised Spies

Monster: Some Spy, I Guess?

Interests: Faux-gang is looking for a snack bar and end up passing a random room and get recruited to deliver a secret passage. .... the door has SPY COMMISSONER on it... Trench coats. They get the package and have to diliver it to Alcatraz... Scooby seems worried about this and Shaggy tells him not to worry that the prison has been deserted for years... Didn’t Scooby already go to Alcatraz? Like in an episode they thought Daphne was a vampire?

#valmos watches scooby-doo

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theactivememoir · 4 years

Text

This, was the Hardest Fall 11.17.19-2.5.2020

Warning: ~10,600 words, This one is long. And very painful.

My life turned to hell in a matter of months, I left California 1.5 years ago and ever since then it turned into one big mess, and took all the strength I could muster to change that. But it took waking up. And one day I finally did it, I woke up.

But let me start from how this all got started.

I got broken up with 3 days before my 21st birthday in May of 2018. So I moved states after that to live with my cousin in North Carolina for a time. It was supposed to be a small vacation, just a couple months. It was supposed to be me finding myself as to who I am as an adult, how to be independent from living at home with my parents, how to live life. That’s what it was supposed to be...

But then I met him...

I was walking to the bar, since there were only 3 in this small town of Southern Pines and that’s just what you do on a Wednesday night. I saw someone I knew and gave them a hug and they introduced me to this disheveled skater boy named Josh. I didn’t really think anything of it, I met so many people every single day, I was the new girl in town, I ended up meeting everyone anyways.

I think I was still playing around, enjoying being the new girl since that brought all the attention, which is always fun, but he kept persisting. And persisting, and persisting, until finally I said yes to hanging out with him. We spent 36 hours together awake doing things with each other. It started at the bar on a lazy Sunday night, not many people, I could actually hear him talking across the table from me for once. I enjoyed his company, he was different from the rest, not some small town hick, he was actually pretty gentlemanly, and a Florida boy too. So here we were, the two random ocean children in the middle of a luscious green never-ending forest.

We talked and talked, and walked all around downtown after the bar closed down at 2am. There’s something calming-ly romantic about walking the streets of a lullaby downtown. The streets are lit just for us, window shopping is a must, as merchandise in the windows is the only thing to really look at. The stars shone overhead, and the distant rush of the wind, and a couple just passing the time by enjoying each other's company...

Monday was when he was supposed to take me on a date, and as the hours passed by into 7:30 am on the day of our date, we respectively went our separate ways for maybe 30 mins and he picked me up to go on our date.

And what do the only two Ocean Children do for a date?? Why go to the beach of course, an excruciating three hours away. But music and soft touches are enough to keep one's hopes up until the awaited sound of the sea.

When we got there he first took me to an aquarium, and like I always do, I got a pressed penny to solidify the memory. The aquarium was small, nothing beats the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. “Everything is better in California”

Then we went to the pier, lots of fishing guys out there, we even met a pelican named Frank. We spotted a stingray and a shark so we opted to not touch the water, on my behalf, so we posted up under the pier and laid in my double hammock for God knows how long, resting and snoozing to the crashing waves in the warm August sun. As the night went on and the sunset was breaking, he took me to dinner, and then the drive back home.

It was so calm and relaxing, his soft touches on my skin, drawing random patterns on my arms and neck. I thought I was the only one who did that. He listened to my fusion music and really enjoyed it, at the time he was interested in my dancing and liked how I danced. And he told me how he wrote music and played guitar, he used to surf in the Florida waves, and did construction for the longest time, always stressing his body but never giving up on it. I think that moment in the hammock, when we kissed as the sun hit our faces, our bodies entwined into one in the lightning blue cocoon, that’s when I fell for him.

I should have known myself, it was only 3 months that I had been single. I should have known better...

“I fall in love too easily, I fall in love too fast, I fall in love so terribly hard for love to ever last…”

I think after that day at the beach we saw each other almost everyday. His sister, who owned Southern Angel Donut Co. offered me a job, which paid way better than my $2.13/hr waitress job. Once I started working there it was all over. We almost never left each other's side. And he kept “calling it” saying working together would ruin our relationship. But I paid it no mind, and enjoyed making light and fluffy donuts with him.

While the rest of the world was sleeping, we were hard at work making the warm, melt in your mouth donuts that Sarah’s recipe was known for. We’d get off work at 10 am, and go to sleep the rest of the day away. A horrible habit that was ingrained into our bones far too early on in our relationship.

I think it was a mere 2.5 weeks that we started dating and seeing each other that I then started working with him at the donut shop. And within that mere 2.5 weeks we made it Facebook official that we were together.

I almost immediately got a phone call from my family members asking about who this person is and that I should be careful since I’m basically on my own and I should ask my cousin for advice about it. I didn’t listen. I was too in love to see that I was moving too quickly, and getting settled too fast.

As I stated before, we almost never left each other’s side. Wake up at 1:30/2 in the morning, go make donuts for 6-8hrs, then come back to his-I mean Sarah’s house, hang out with the kids for a bit, and then go to sleep in his room until around 7pm, or just sleep straight through until we had to work the next day. If memory serves me correctly I went back to my cousin’s house only a handful of times, for new clothes and a breather from Sarah’s gaggle of children.

The weeks blurred by, and the change in lifestyle left my bar friends wondering where the hell I went. My old coworker even reached out to see what the hell I was up to. “Making donuts! It's great!” I would reply. Oh, if only I could go back and tell myself how wrong I was.

No actually that is a lie. Making donuts is great. I’m a baker at heart. I love baking, I used to do it with my mother and so baking things and seeing people's reactions to the delicious delicacies I create for them is something I hold very near and dear to my heart. So yes, the art of making donuts is great.

First you fill the giant mixing bowl 1.5 liters of warm water, crumble and toss in a block of high quality yeast and whisk together. Then weigh out a top secret amount of top secret donut mix, 2 with all the weight, 1 with one weight off. Followed by attaching the VERY heavy dough hook, turn on the mixer and mix together for 8 minutes.

After the dough is mixed you bring it over to a very well floured baking table, pour out the heavy dough and push it to the back of the table, making sure the edges are fluffed underneath itself so when it rises in about 20mins it will have lovely rounded edges. Then you wait.

After about 20mins, you gently tap the dough, and if it feels right (which is a skill in and of its own) you either let it proof a little longer, or you start cutting donuts.

Now cutting donuts is also an art form, as we made handmade donuts. Each one is a little different from the one before. We cut the donuts with a roller, but each donut was touched by our hands as they were placed onto the frying screens. And then put into the proofer for another 15 mins.

Once they are proofed, and again, with sight and touching the dough you can tell if they are ready or not. Sometimes they would proof slower or quicker depending on the heat, the humidity, or the weather.

Then bring over to the 365 degree fryer, and drop the donuts in, fry each side for approximately 25-30 seconds, flipping with wooden chopsticks, lift the screen and donuts out of the fry, let drip as you cook the next screen, bring over to the glaze, lift the other screen from the fryer, glaze donuts, let drip, drop another screen, bring glazed donuts to glaze rack, flip donuts, bring screen to glazer, lift donuts, rinse and repeat for 6 -8 hrs.

My favorite part was decorating the donuts, especially when there is a holiday because my fully artistic self got all the pleasure of making themed donuts. But even the regular topped donuts were fun to make. Topping too had an artful skill in creating the perfect topped donut. Which all of the other employees didn’t have one flying fuck to learn to perfect.

There is a certain sheen, a certain drip, a certain way the frosting coats a donut, when melted to the perfect temperature. And no one else besides myself and his Sister cared to figure out what that perfect frosting consisted of. There is also a certain way the donut should look when certain toppings are put onto the donuts.

Sprinkles should, as the name is, be sprinkled, lightly, with carnival sprinkles. All others should be pressed. A maple bacon donut should have the bacon patted off so that the grease doesn't ruin the consistency of the maple frosting, a fruity pebble donut should never have crumbs or crushed pebbles on top, an oreo donut should never have fine oreo powder on top it should be big chunks, and a half and half donut should be vanilla icing first and then chocolate not vice versa. Not to mention cinnamon sugared donuts need to be cinnamon sugared whilst hot and Long Johns are always,always, ALWAYS double filled. If a filled shell has a bubble it should be tossed and if a round has a chopstick hole it too should be tossed because the donut will be too greasy. If the donut doesn’t have a halo it was under proofed and if the donut deflates or cooks too fast it was overproofed. If the donut is light yellow or dark brown it was either undercooked or over fried. A perfect donut is a lovely golden yellow brown, with a heavenly halo all around it, and a perfect thin shiny coating of glaze.

So when I say I enjoyed making donuts, I really did. Truly it was a skill I perfected over the course of a year and a half. I could put down “expert donut maker” on a resume, and I will in fact get laughed at when I say I only made donuts for 1.5 years. But if I showed someone, if I showed how I make donuts, how twists are twisted with minimal flour and second run only, how apple fritters are chopped and rolled, how cinnamon rolls are flattened and fluffed. They would say I really am an expert donut maker.

Three months into my relationship with Josh, it became crunch time for him and his family, as their lease was up at their house and they were going to move. Josh wanted a place of his own and, honestly I don’t know why Sarah moved out of that house in Pinehurst. It was actually a decent size. I think the reasoning was to be closer to the new up and coming second location in Robbins. (I will touch on that later) But honestly where she moved to in Carthage was quite a downgrade. I don’t know what else to call it besides a permanent mobile home? There's a name for it I just can’t remember right now. It had a long length but the width wasn’t very big. A single wide home? There was barely any space for her 6, ahem, 5 children plus one on the way.

Oh I haven’t explained that yet.

Let me backtrack some more.

Josh’s sister, Sarah (32), has been pregnant for most of her life. Her first child, and only daughter, she had when she was fifteen, FIFTEEN. And then right after came baby #2, her first son. Those two were fortunate enough to have the same father, Brandon, who comes into this story later. Her next son was born from a Haitian man. Her next son she won't admit has a different father so she insists the Haitian man is both baby #3 and #4’s father. Even though baby #3 is obviously Haitian, and baby #4 is obviously Mexican. Then comes baby #5, a 3 year old who can’t talk in full sentences, isn't potty trained, can’t dress himself, doesn’t usually put his shoes on the right feet, and has extreme anger and attitude issues, whose father is also in jail. AND THEN Sarah’s boyfriend, Alex (21, yes they are 11 years apart her being the older one) who SARAH AND JOSH KNEW WHEN HE WAS A BABY, is the father of her now baby #6.

So when I say I learned to bite my tongue very early on...I mastered the fucking skill, of biting my tongue and not speaking my mind.

In the moment, it was, oh to each their own. But that too became resentment.

Along with Sarah’s children, there was also their mother, who I liked, she was nice and always thinking of her children, but she too began to wear on me and for reasons I will soon explain.

When Josh and Sarah were 10 and 11 years old, their dad (who was born in the 1920’s) passed away. 6 months later their house burnt down. And soon after that their mother basically ditched them for drugs and also went to jail. So at the young age of 15, Sarah, who I presume was also pregnant at that time too, took custody of Josh. Which I’m sure some psychologist can look at that and explain to me that how I was treated was rooted from not having very good role models as a child and basically immediately into later childhood was put into survival mode and had to grow up in order to survive at the age of 10.

Going back to moving houses. Sarah basically downgraded her living to be directly in the middle of the two locations for her donut shop. Josh wanted a place of his own, but because we spent every waking moment together and I basically never left, he brought up the idea that we should move in together. My family DID NOT like that idea at all, which to my stupidity I withheld the information of our moving in together and kept it a secret until the day before we moved in. Because I knew it was stupid, deep down I knew it was a bad idea. I had free rent, free groceries, a beautiful yard, and a car at my cousins. And I was leaving all of that behind why? For a guy. Yes that sounds like a wonderful idea.

But there was a part of me that wanted so badly to say that this was my house. To say, welcome to our home, look at my kitchen. Come into my living room. I wanted that title that I was living on my own. Sure we lived together but the space was mine, ours really, but it was mine.

We found a lovely town-home, 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath, in a small town waaayyyyy out in the boonies for only $800 a month, we didn’t have any furniture so it was definitely bigger than we really needed. We didn’t even have a bed for the first two weeks we lived there. We slept on the floor with layers of blankets as a cushion. My hips were purple from bruises since I slept on my side. It was actually a pretty decently sized space, again, we didn’t have anything to fill it with. It had a large living room, and a nice sized master bedroom. And an enormous backyard, which was shared but who cares, my patio was overlooking a lake. It was a half abandoned golf course, that started losing money when the government had to break the dam to the lake years before when a hurricane blew threw and the water was too much that flooding would occur if they didn’t break the dam. Except they never fixed the dam afterwards, so the lake, which supplied the irrigation for the golf course, mostly dried up. So the original owners took as much money as they could and ran off. Leaving a half developed golf home community to fend for itself. Honestly it was quite beautiful in it's half abandonment. The underdeveloped housing areas made for peaceful trail walks with Forrest, our pit bull. And the lake with bridges that were falling apart made for risky and thrilling adventures to go explore. Or at least they were when we first moved in.

Tell me why is it that when one gets comfortable with their significant other, the romance and the wooing stops? Tell me why is that when the mundane things that used to be made interesting, go back to being mundane, or even a chore?

I wanted to serve him. Show him I was such a great girlfriend compared to his crazy psycho ex. That I could take care of myself and him.

I shouldn’t have so soon. He got used to it far too quickly.

I loved my little kitchen. I loved to cook, discover new recipes and try them when I got home from work. I loved shopping at the ole Piggly Wiggly and bringing home extremely discounted items and using them right away before they expired. He’d never know they were one day away from expiration if I cooked up a good meal that night. He’d be too busy looking for error coins to add to his growing collection to notice that the chicken I was using was in the fridge for two days, if he knew he wouldn’t eat it. I loved hearing him say, “Damn, you showed out on dinner babygirl. My Latina wifey makes me so happy when she cooks for me.” I craved that so badly. The instant gratification that I was doing a good job. That I was making him happy by doing something that I loved to do.

...until I started hating to do it…

My cooking meals for us, no matter how long my work day was. My taking care of doing the laundry on my days off and cleaning the house. My going grocery shopping and late night gas station runs to get him more cigarettes. It was always me, me, me, every damn time. And I never saw it. Until it was too late, and even then, I still told myself I was doing it to show him I loved him. What a stupid lie that was…

“Babe it's 11pm we should be going to bed.”

“Then go to bed, I’ll be here looking at coins.”

“No Josh, it’s time for bed. C’mon I want to cuddle you, it’s so cold in the bed alone.”

“Alright, alright, just let me smoke this cigarette and I’ll be up there, fuck.”

And still I slept alone. And nothing was ever changed. And that was still North Carolina.

We lived in our town-home in Vass for 7.5 months. We had a folding table and 2 chairs from the donut shop as our dining room table, a twin bed borrowed from their mom as our couch. We had a chest of drawers given to us by a former employee that Josh didn’t even use for clothes, and a queen mattress sent to us from my mother out of pity that we didn’t have a bed yet. For 7.5 months we lived in that home and we never got more things, even though I wanted the cutest matching dish set, the cutest hand towels. The most perfect beach bungalow themed town-home in the middle of evergreen pine needles, and pollen covered lakes, where the occasional cow moo can be heard, from the cow farm just over yonder. I wanted our home to be a reminder of where we came from, the two Ocean Children in the sea of trees. But it was just a reminder of where he came from. Poverty, and not having a home feel like a home.

Once the second donut shop location opened in Robbins, a small middle of nowhere bodunk town with barely any residents, our work schedules changed completely. It actually benefited our relationship slightly. He would go to work at 6pm and be home by 2 or 3am. I became the manager and basically sole employee of Robbins, and would go to work from 5am-3pm. I had only a couple hours to be with him during the days we both worked, and we had one or two days a week where we both had off and enjoyed each others company doing absolutely nothing all day. We even stopped at a gas station a few times, him on his way home and me on my way to work, just for a lovers rendezvous so I could at least be in his arms and kiss him for a min before not seeing him again for another 24 hrs. It almost fixed our already rocky relationship. If anything it just kept it going longer than it should have. Robbins was the beginning of my overworked-ness with Sarah. I was the manager, and main employee. I only got a $2 raise, and was still going in and making donuts 2 nights a week. And occasionally, whilst I was at the shop at 8pm I would get a call saying my employee wasn’t able to go to work the next day. So here I am busting my ass to make donuts for two locations, I wouldn't be getting home until 4am after making donuts for 7 hours, and then would have to rush to go to work by 530 am and work another 10 hours.

That’s when I should have started saying no. That’s when I should have started putting my health and well being on the forefront of my priorities. If anything I put it all on the backburner. That’s when Sarah realized she had full control over me, and could work me like a dog, like her personal slave. And I wouldn’t even argue it. Nor would she act like she was doing it.

This went on for months. Robbins opened early December, and when March rolled around a new development came into play. The owner of Dixie Cream Donuts in Florida called. The owner, was Sarah’s previous partner, Brandon, remember that name from earlier? Yeah Brandon is Sarah’s two older kids' father. He owned the donut shop that Sarah worked for originally for 18years straight. That's how Southern Angel got its recipes, they were from Dixie Cream, because Sarah used to manage Dixie Cream in Florida, where Sarah and Josh are from. Apparently Brandon was planning on moving out of the country, and there was no one else he trusted more to run Dixie Cream Donuts, than the Donut Queen herself. So he struck the deal of a lifetime for her, and sold her the business for Xmillion dollars. Hey guess what guys, we’re moving to Florida!

I was ecstatic, elated, to move to paradise. Crystal clear waters, aqua blue surf. Its summer all year round, sure there’s rain and hurricane season what could possibly have me worried about those? I’m from sunny Southern California where it never rains and all we have to worry about is an occasional wind gust and the earth shaking violently and unexpectedly…

Sure I was scared but I was so excited to move into a new place with the man who I was so in love with. By this time we had expanded our little trio and now had three dogs, making us a family of five. We had Forrest our pitty, and Lola and Luna, twin mut pups from Sarah’s two dogs Princess and Chubby. Luna was my baby, my little puff nut fluff ball. There’s not a day goes by where I don’t think about my fluffy white little cotton ball baby.

But our little family of five was so excited to be moving all the way down to Florida. The move would consist of driving all of us down the coastline in a caravan. One big U HAUL and the rest of us driving all of our vehicles. One overnight stop in Alma Georgia to visit their family and their mother, who left in January due to medical issues and “being cruelly treated and forgotten by Sarah” *shrug, this whole family drama I just started plugging my ears to at this point* In total it took us 2 days to drive from Carthage, North Carolina to Port St. Lucie, Florida. Sarah was able to get a brand new 4 bedroom home, thanks to Brandon helping with money. Josh and I on the other hand were given $2k to work with to get settled. Only problem was, there wasn’t anything on the market that was readily available and up to our standards. (Or who would allow 3 dogs, one being a pit bull mix)

We started our move to Florida on a slightly rocky but wonderful beginning. We had basically two weeks off from work, and let me tell you I was reveling in the fact that I didn’t have to work, I was already overworked and I hadn’t even started to be overworked yet at Dixie Cream. We were stuck in one of the rooms at Sarah's temporarily until we could find a place. It reminded us a lot of when we first started dating. When Josh and I would get sick of being on the back porch or dealing with the kids, or since we didn’t go out much since money was tight, we retreated to our room for naps, cuddles, and quiet but passionate love making. I think we had more sex in those two weeks than the 7 months we lived together. The first week in Vass we did a lot, we had nothing else to do, no wifi, no TV. You wonder why people in the olden days had so many freaking children, there was nothing else better to do to pass the time away, might as well pass it with the most fun activity God created. At least nowadays we have protection or else I’d have been screwed…no pun intended....maybe.

But besides us retreating for a lovers rendezvous, we were incessantly out searching for a new place to live. Even on my birthday. And everyone knows how seriously I take my birthday. I thought my last birthday, getting broken up with was bad enough, no this one he didn’t even get me a birthday present, wanted to go metal detecting at the beach instead of go swimming-and let me tell you it was the most aqua blue crystal clear water you could ever imagine-and then pushed dinner so far back that we went to a restaurant an hour before they closed. I honestly don’t even remember if we went back to our room for birthday sex, I honest to God think I was so upset, of course I didn’t show it, but I think I was so upset I just went straight to bed. I wanted to go out dancing, like real dancing, or go down to Miami and experience the Memorial Day clubbing going on. But nope. And having not gotten me a present...that stuck...that got filed away into the ever growing list of things I could bring up in an argument, the ever growing list of grievances…

We were two weeks into Florida and already I was getting annoyed, resentful, done with all this shit. And shit hadn't even started...

June 1st was when Sarah got full ownership of Dixie Cream Donuts. June 1st is when my life rapidly spiraled downward. June 1st is when I became the most overworked and underpaid dog to ever come into existence in the world of making some goddamn motherfucking donuts. The lure of, you’ll just be baking, there are already employees there, but you will be on salary, and you will also get tips. What absolute maddening bullshit if I ever did hear something. But you know what, I believed it. I believe every single word of poison that came out of both Josh and his sisters mouth. That this donut shop was going to change our lives, we could retire in 10-15years from all the money we will be making from this shop. Josh you get to receive 35% of the company at the end of each month, Alysha you get to be on salary and make tips, it's going to be a huge pay increase compared to North Carolina.

Lies. All of it lies.

One week of being at the shop in Fort Pierce, and we fired everyone except one person who we kept on as our only weekend person. You know who got the other people jobs? Me.

It started off slow, I wasn’t touching dough yet. But I knew. I even told the one employee that we kept, “As soon as I touch dough and learn to cut donuts, he is going to leave me here alone.” And I was right.

Backtracking again, I come from living in Irvine, California. America’s safest city ranked 5 years in a row. We moved down to Florida, which already is a crazy place, but then we work and find a place to live in Fort Pierce, Florida. The ghetto of the ghetto. Take Compton x30, have it meth fuck skid row and the baby it gets out of that add a little bit of Vegas whackados x20. That’s Fort Pierce.

I knew, the instant I learned how to cut donuts, his sheer laziness shrouded in “I trust you baby” would take over and he would leave me at the shop alone.

Take what I explained about the process of making donuts earlier, and now add on top of that selling donuts at the cash register to people, while cleaning up the kitchen, washing all of the trays, sweeping, mopping, and throwing away leftover donuts, AND counting down the register and doing daily paperwork for closeout. We would get to work anywhere between midnight at 2:30 in the morning. He would leave me alone at the shop to finish up the day until 2:30pm. Still to this day I haven’t a single idea as to what he did all day. Maybe he was telling the truth when he said he went home and slept all day. Or maybe it was a lie, because there would be days he would say he went home after work but as soon as I walked in, there was still dog shit on the floor, trash everywhere, and not a single thing picked up. Exactly how I left it that morning. He would say he was driving around town, doing what? I will never know. At that point, I was just happy he answered my phone calls and would come to pick me up at 2:30pm. There were sometimes he would sleep through my phone calls and I wouldn’t get picked up from the shop until 3:30pm. He was such a heavy sleeper. And an angry, angry, aggressive bear if you tried to wake him or ask him a question in his sleep. He was never physically abusive to me. But when I tried to wake him up in his sleep, he punched and kicked me a few times. I cried the most when he would yell at me in his sleep. He was so angry, and all I wanted to do was to get him off the damn couch and into bed with me so I could be wrapped in his arms. Or picked up from work so I could spend time with him. I would be at work all day, thinking of what groceries I needed for the nights meal, or stopping at the laundromat for a few hours to get some fresh work clothes. And it never worked out the way I wanted. We would always end up doing what he wanted to do. Which consisted of either going over to his sisters for way too many hours for paperwork and weed, or his mothers for weed too, and just chilling, when all I wanted was to go home and spend time with my dogs and my lover and not deal with another soul...It was always what he wanted. Even when we would go out on the very RARE occasion we were able to go out late. It was to the same dive bars with old retired people and pool tables; filled with cigarette smoke and lingering eyes on the curly haired girl who absolutely looked like she did not belong in a place of such filth and grimy repetitive routines of karaoke pool halls.

Then the hurricane didn’t happen. Hurricane Dorian, a hurricane so large that even categorizing it as a Cat5 is too small for how large this thing was. A Cat5 maxes out at 150mph, Dorian reached over 200mph. There was no label for this hurricane, and it was headed straight for our humble bungalow that overlooked the marina. Our house was built in the 1940s, a quaint little blue house on the edge of the ghetto, tucked away in a forgotten part of town, since the road was blocked thanks to a dead man who died on the train tracks. Our front door opened up to the marina boat yard, and just over the boats, if you stood on your tippy toes you could see the river and Hutchinson Island. We had an enormous backyard, perfect for our 3 pups. Our backyard was full of lush plant life, and a 100+ year old Banyan tree that gave wondrous shade to all the growing plants and our back porch. We had a mango tree, surinam tree, pineapples, and some wild cabbage. It was, in every sense of the words, a beach bungalow. It was tiny but adorable. And it would have worked out if things hadn’t started falling apart at the seams so early on into moving in. We had so many things, yet barely any furniture. I wanted to get an organized storage space out of the front room, I drew up some mock blueprints as to how to do this. He was the handyman after all. Nothing came about it. We lived out of unlabeled boxes for months. I bought a bedframe and it took 3 months for him to take it out of the box and put it together. Our dining room table was just a table for paint. (I did enjoy our painting nights, I got to teach him that his paintings didn’t have to be perfect, and that slowing down wasn’t a bad thing) My oil paints probably ruined the lovely wooden table we got from our employee. The dogs completely ruined the couch but he still slept on it. I had plans to rearrange the bedroom in order for our clothes to fit better since there was no storage space at all in this house, again nothing came about it, we lived by one single hanging rack and a 9 cube organizer.

And then came Dorian. I had two full trash bins, and we were under evacuation, we only had time to bring everything inside, and put the two trash bins outside. We had only enough time to pack the essentials, left everything else behind. Our quaint 1940s home was even unsafe in tropical storms, let alone an uncategorizable hurricane. I dropped nearly a grand to get all of our supplies in order to survive the aftermath of a giant hurricane coming. I even bought the very last inflatable mattress, which was a queen with lift-able headrests. And an entire carton of cigarettes so he wouldn't go too long without a smoke.

Then the hurricane didn’t happen. We went straight back to work, didn’t even go home, just straight to work from Sarah’s house to make donuts for the rest of Fort Pierce in their fear that we might still get hit. But it never came. It sat over the Bahamas for 24hrs bringing the ever beautiful beaches to ruin. And then moved straight up to hit the coast of South Carolina, and then New York.

I dropped nearly a grand on our survival, I dropped money I really didn’t have just in the off chance we would survive that behemoth in the sky. I never got a single penny in return.

Even when we went grocery shopping to restock the fridge I emptied in case it would be weeks until we could return, I got no money back from him.

The man I loved, the man who was actually my boss. The man who made $720 a week and 35% of the company at the end of the month and I never saw a cent of his money. And I didn’t get anything in return. But he asked me to go get him a pack of cigarettes for him because he didn’t want to put pants on and was too tired to move, and so I would go and get them for him. And still wouldn’t get anything in return.

I worked out the math. I worked 7 days a week, on a “salary” of $520 a week “plus tips”. That totals out to $5.77/hr. I was working 7 days a week at $5.77/hr, I paid all of my student loans, my Adobe and Spotify subscriptions, my gym membership (that I went to 4 times in 3 months because he would never take me nor let me drive his truck) I paid our electricity and rent on time, and he would occasionally pay me back in cash immediately. And then I would still shell out $40 for laundry because he would wait until 3 weeks worth of laundry had built up and he had worn the same underwear 3 times already. I still shelled out $150 on groceries that I cooked and cleaned up after for him and I. And everyday I would clean up the garbage that would get torn into because I didn’t have a trash bin because the two bins I had were still in the backyard from when Dorian was going to hit us, still full of trash.

I was on the verge of ending it.

I had a plane ticket.

September 15th.

I had a plane ticket.

I was overworked. Underpaid. Unloved. Unappreciated. Verbally abused. In full isolation. No friends. No family. I wanted out.

I.Had.A.Way.Out. And I STILL held on to this glimmer of hope that it would all work out. I thought the plane ticket would scare him. And it did. For a moment.

“Why? Why get into a relationship if you aren’t going to give effort? We were supposed to be equals and yet I feel like I am the only one giving effort. Why self prophecy that this isn't going to work out, and then not fight your own prophecy to make it work? Why not give such a simple effort to make me happy? I ask for such simple things Josh! I shouldn’t have to beg you to come to bed with me, I shouldn’t have to beg for sex with my own boyfriend, I don’t even care about the sex anymore. I just want to be held by you, to cuddle, to be given affection. I work longer hours and days than you at YOUR company and you cant even wash a dish or two? I can't live like this I'm going home.”

“Don’t go, please don’t go. Stay. We can work this out, I love you, you are the best thing to ever happen to me. I will fight for this relationship if it’s the last thing I do. Please don’t go.”

“....Okay I’ll stay...if you say you will fight and change, even though we have had this argument countless times….if you truly want this...show me….”

If anything it just got worse from there.

I was unemployed for two weeks. Two very long weeks. Honestly Assassin's Creed is what saved my life the last two months I was in Florida.

I was unemployed for two weeks, and every single morning when I would wake up around 9am, like a normal human being not having to work at 2 in the morning, I would pick up the trash littering my house thanks to the dogs ripping into the trash bag that hung from the door handle in the kitchen. I would sit on my phone scrolling through indeed, typing out my new resume with no way to print it. I had to wait for him to come home, and I so wanted to go out and do things, like visit the aquarium, or go to the beach and fall asleep to the waves crashing under the summer sun. But because I was Sarah and Josh’s workhorse, and once I told Sarah I was leaving then the next I wasn’t she didn’t allow me to work back at the shop. And because I did the work of 5 people, even though when I worked there I begged them to hire just one person, just one, to do the cleaning so I wouldn’t have to, they no longer had me there anymore. So Josh stayed longer, worked longer hours, and would come home tired. And sleep 90% of his day off away. So when he came home, I was so excited and wanted to talk about cool things I saw online, or wanted to go grocery shopping, or visit a mall. I got greeted with a heavy sigh, a plop on the couch, Joe Rogan or conspiracy theory videos, and snoring within 30 mins of him coming home. By the last two months of me being in Florida I didn’t talk very much with him. There was nothing to talk about. We stopped talking long before those moments though. I just hadn’t realized until I was home alone all day. What else is there to talk about when you work, live, sleep and breathe with the person you are in love with every single day. You run out of things that spark interest. You lose the feeling of, hey let's try something new, especially when your newfound intrigue is greeted with disgust, a steadfast no, or a blatant slap to the face that we obviously aren't going out tonight because he hasn't moved from his spot on the couch for 3 hours now.

My music is a very deep and obvious sign into my inner thoughts and feelings, whether I am aware of it or not. For the last four months of me being in Florida there were two songs I liked to listen to, specifically when Josh wasn’t home, because I knew he would give me shit if he heard them.

“All I Do is Sit Inside My House All Day” and “Suicidal Thoughts” from Josh A and IamJakeHill. And if that isn’t a blatant window into my soul in those months I don’t know what else is. There was another song, in which I quoted earlier in this piece, “I fall in love too easily, I fall in love too fast, I fall in love so terribly hard for love to ever last…”

Again, I will say, Assassin's Creed saved my life. If I hadn’t started playing AC2 on Josh’s PlayStation 2 and gotten absolutely swept away with Ezio’s story line and the beauty of ancient Italy and being able to sneak around assassinating bad guys, I would have killed myself. And I don't say that lightly. Every day, since September 15th, a little life from my soul faded away. All we would do is fight, and argue, or awkwardly sit on the couch together doing our own thing. I would beg for him to come to bed, ⅖ times I would be successful, and even then it was him on the base of the bed watching his videos, and he would fall asleep the wrong way on the bed. He would hint at wanting to make love to me but by the time he got home he was too tired or too dirty and would end up falling asleep anyways. I gave up thinking I would sleep with him every again. We did here and there but there was always a disconnect. I felt used by that point.

Due to such limiting factors of not having a car, and an unreliable boyfriend who wouldn’t let me drive his truck anyways, my job search was limited to what was within safe walking distance. I still carried two knives on me no matter what. It's the ghetto.

My options were 4 places: A gas station, another gas station, CVS, or a drive thru liquor store. I applied at the liquor store, as it was the closest and I didn’t have to cross a major highway to get to it. I got the job the day of my interview. 3 days a week at $8/hr. And that was, by far, the most whoreorizing and degrading job I have ever had in my entire life. And I was only there for a month.

Disgusting guys rolling up, with an AK47 in the middle console, their bro rolling a blunt in the passenger seat, the driver licking his lips at me saying,

“Hey mama, what’s your sexy ass doin’ in this window and not doin me? You busy later?”

To which I had to maintain my composure every single time and lie saying, “Sorry, I’m married, thank you though.”

“Aw c’mon that don’t mean shit. Don’t you want some side n*gga?”

“Here’s your booze. Thank you, have a nice night”

“Whateva gurl I’ll try again next week.”

Abso-fucking-lutely degrading. Luckily I only worked three days...but I also only worked three days. So I was home a lot more than my boyfriend. My job hours were normal, 10am-6pm. I could cross the street to go home with enough light for it to be safe. Come home, and hope on the playstation. Most nights I would either come home to an empty house, he hadn’t been home all day, I could tell. There would be certain signs that would tell me if he had been home at all or not. If the scent of cigarettes was stronger, there were new soda cans with ash on them on the cocktail table, if the remotes had been moved, if there was a new plate that was dirtied by some snack, or if there was a new pile of clothes by the couch… If none of those things were there, I knew he hadn’t been home all day. Our poor dogs stuck inside for at least the 8hrs that I was at work. And no, I would never know what he was up to all day. I know he had a previous gambling problem, but I nipped that early on when we were in NC. But it is legal in FL, and I still wonder if that’s where his money went….or just to weed...or if he really did just drive around all fucking day.

Having my shifts start at 10, I would usually be up until midnight or until he had to go to work in the morning, he would be fast asleep and so I could make private phone calls to my mother about what was going on. They saw it coming faster than I did. My therapist caught on to his behaviour long before I ever did, that he was toxic, verbally abusive, that he was controlling and his sister manipulative. It took a long time for my mom and I to get to the closeness we are now. To have the relationship we have now. It's been rough. But she helped me through this so much. And whenever he would say that she brainwashed me as a child, forced me onto ADD pills when that “shit fucks up your body” and that I was “still under her mind control and she still has power over you” always hurt. To say things like “oh I’m never going to California, I’m never going to visit your family if they are anything like your mother.” It killed me. When all we ever did was spend time doing the things he liked, and spending time with his crazy family. And not want to reciprocate. I played AC2 all the way up until the second week of November, when the PS2 crashed. I was left home alone for 80% of the week. Alone with my thoughts, and my music, and the strong suggestions of my parents that I need to think about my future, and if this is truly what I want for the rest of my life.

To sit at home, wondering why the man I love, the man I gave everything to, all of me, why he doesn’t want to give such simple efforts in return. Why I have to beg for attention and intimacy and never get it in return. Why the man I fell in love with brought me so far from family, and isolated me from everything. Why the man I love wouldn’t want to treat me with such care and love and selfless adoration the way I do for him. Why every morning I wake up wondering if I can even get through the day, or if the blade I keep strapped to my body in case some rando from the ghetto streets outside were to come into my house and hurt me, if the blade I keep on my person will be sharp enough to end my pain. If leaving and starting all over for the third time in a year will be worth it in the long haul.

November 9th,

I made a call, while the man I loved lay sleeping in bed, after begging him to come watch his show in the bedroom, and him finally falling asleep wrapping me in his arms. I snuck my way outside and called my parents. They were so happy on the phone, spending time with family and friends, like I would have been too if I was with them. But instead was calling, to ask if they could send me home. If there was any way I could come home sooner than 2 weeks from now for thanksgiving. If there was anyway I could come home and try again because I can’t be here anymore, and it’s killing me, and I can’t last 2 weeks.

They gave me a day to think about it. I had to say it for myself, it wasn’t their decision, it was mine. The last time I called like this I cancelled last minute because his words clouded my judgement and I listened to his pleas. I took the day to rule out the pros and cons. I took a day to really think about if this man was really everything I made him out to be. It’s a terrible thing when you realize the man you once loved is now a stranger. It's an even more terrible thing when you know that the man you love, who you know loves you just not in any way shape or form as much as you love him, is going to realize that now you are the stranger, and that you are going to make a very painful and difficult and traumatic event happen in his already traumatized and horrible past. That you are going to add to his already endless pain. That you are the one...that is going to break his heart.

November 10th,

I called in the morning, early CA time, he was already at work making donuts. It had been off between us the past few days. He knew something was up, but I was instructed not to say a word. I barely lasted two days not telling him anything. And the disconnect had already begun.

My dad answered the phone in such a loving and soft way, it was exactly what I needed...

“Hi sweetheart, how are you doing? Have you made up your mind at all or do you still need more time? We are ready for you whenever you are.”

“I…I need to come back home.”

“Is this your decision?”

“Yes ....I can’t stay here any longer…*the tears welled up in my eyes and my voice began to croak* because I know that if I do it will kill me and I can’t live like this. Please bring me home.”

“Okay, okay. I will send mom a text and she will send you flight information as soon as she gets it, okay? Are you already packed up?”

“*sniffles* yeah, I have 2 carry on sized bags, a duffel bag, and a backpack....I wish I could bring more, there's so much stuff I don't want to leave…”

“I know sweetie, I know, but what is most important is that we get YOU safely home. Things can be replaced, you are irreplaceable”

I got a call later that afternoon from Josh, asking if he should even come home because I might be leaving or not. I didn’t give him a direct answer, just if he can come home if he wanted to. He didn’t until late afternoon. And when he did, I got a message from my mother.

“Your shuttle comes to get you at 8:45am, your flight is out of West Palm Beach at 11:30am. We love you, keep us updated. We can’t wait to see you tomorrow boo.” “So that’s it then…” I muttered. “So that’s it what?”

I took a deep breath, and read him the text my mom had sent me. I couldn’t bear to keep it hidden from him any longer. Somehow I thought he deserved to know. That he needed to know.

“So you lied to me this whole time, you knew you were leaving and you didn’t tell me. You just made up that stupid lie that you were thinking things over and had a decision to make? Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

Of course he was angry. And disconnecting. He had already told me days ago that he was going to start hardening his heart towards me to ready himself for me leaving. He saw it coming too, and he knew it.

“I wasn’t lying, I was telling the truth. I had to think things over and I came to a decision this morning.” “And you're leaving tomorrow morning? No that’s a fucking lie, that shit you had planned, YOU'RE NOT LEAVING. YOU CAN'T LEAVE. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME. I LOVE YOU.”

Again the same argument, over and over again.

“Why? Why get into a relationship if you aren’t going to give effort? We were supposed to be equals and yet I feel like I am the only one giving effort. Why self prophecy that this isn't going to work out, and then not fight your own prophecy to make it work? Why not give such a simple effort to make me happy? I ask for such simple things Josh! I shouldn’t have to beg you to come to bed with me. I just want to be held by you, to cuddle, to be given affection. I do everything for you. EVERYTHING. I HAVE GIVEN YOU ALL OF ME. THERE IS NOTHING OF ME LEFT TO GIVE. MY WELL HAS RUN DRY JOSH. I AM AN EMPTY SHELL. You wanted the old Alysha back? Well guess what Josh, she isn’t here anymore. There is barely any of me left. What more do you want from me? My life?! I don’t even have one here! I’m sorry…”

I went to work in tears that night. Called my manager and told her I was leaving due to a domestic emergency, and also told her I might not work the entire night.

To which I then received a phone call from Josh, crying asking me to dip out on work so that we can spend one last night in each others arms before he never sees me again. And I idiotically said yes. And it is forever ingrained in my mind. The cries of the man I loved. The cries of the man I gave everything to. The pleas of the man who for one last night held me so tightly than he had ever held me before in the hopes it would keep in in Florida. The quiet crying pleas of the man I spent almost 2 years with, wailing in the night for me to not go, to not leave him. And my cries in return just never ending-ly saying I’m sorry. But I have to go. I didn’t even sleep that night. He just held me tighter and tighter and all I can think about is why he couldn't have done this every night? Why couldn't he put as much effort into trying to keep me here, now, why couldn't he do that every night and day? Why give me an excuse to call out of work only to try and keep me from leaving, why not make an excuse for me to call out of work to woo me into loving him again? Why wait for the last hours. The last minutes. The last seconds. And as I'm leaving and getting into the shuttle, he kisses me goodbye, puts on his sunglasses and says goodbye as if I was just leaving on a trip, because he doesn't want to look like such a fool in front of a total stranger…

I wish I could say it ended there at the shuttle...but it didn’t. Before the shuttle came, I was pleading to him that I was sorry, and that I didn’t want to do this but I had to. And somehow his pleas got me on my knees into begging that we could try long distance, see if that could work. Maybe he could come to California and start a new life with me. Somehow that where we left it off...and when I got to CA I was still under his control.

But as I finally got to be in my mother and father's embrace again, a little piece of my soul came back. A little flicker of a hint of a spark came from the ashes. And as I told my extremely summarized story to friends and family I felt that I had made the right choice. I felt like I was back where I needed to be. I had a future here, I had family and friends within an arm's reach, and not half a world away.

And the flicker became sparks, and the ashes began to glow bright, a flame beginning to burn out of the ashes.

I called him...still under his control but breaking free, finally. And ended it. It was too much of a fairy tale, that it would work like this. He was always the one telling me I need to stop living in a fantasy and live in reality. I guess I learned something from him. My dad walked in on our conversation...circulatory argument, really. About the same things over and over again.

“I love you Alysha, you are the greatest thing that ever happened to me. But you’re a bitch for leaving me like this. I'm surrounded by your belongings what the fuck am I supposed to do with this? Just throw it away?! I love you! I want to fight for us to make it work but you fucking abandoned us!”

My father told me he was a dick, and the short phone conversation he overheard from us was a textbook example of abuse from a significant other. I blocked him on every social platform imaginable. And waited patiently and anxiously for the one thing that tied me to them still to come in the mail…..my W2s.

The long and anxious wait ended...finally….and as I opened the letter with all of my documents I was filled with an overwhelming sense of emotion that confused me all to hell. This was it...it was really here...the last piece that was tying me to them and it was finally in my grasp. There is nothing else to bind myself to him anymore. Nothing else from Florida that can bring me pain or suffering or fear. It's over. It’s been over relation-ally for three months now. But legally...it's done.

I’m still processing the pain of it. The sheer torment I went through. I still don't know how I survived everything I went through. My memory is horrible right now with my brain trying to process the trauma, deleting things from memory due to how painful it is, that now I just am terrible at remembering almost everything. It will haunt me for an eternity. Until one day it won’t. And I hope that day is sooner than later...because this truly was hell to have gone through.

I don't trust myself anymore. I don't trust other people. I am terribly, terribly afraid of love. The last 3 relationships I have been in I have jumped into, with barely any time to get to know the person before making it “official.” Never again. Next time will take a long time. Deep established friendship first, before I can even consider beginning to feel again. I don’t know if I will ever love the same way again too...To give absolutely everything I have to the table. To give all of me to the point where there was none of me left...I loved him with all of my heart, soul, and being. And it ruined and broke me, knowing I broke that man, that I crushed his soul and shattered his heart...along with mine....

He called me a liar once for saying I was his ride or die, but I was leaving him. But what he did not realize is that I did die for him. I died every day...for four months...knowing I was going to end my life if I stayed there any longer….killing myself for a man who would never love me...the way I loved him…

#the activememoir #memoirofabrokenheart #brokenheartedlovestories

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lethargyspecialist · 6 years

Text

Masks: the Leftovers, part 2: Throwing the Shark

In which our heroine’s sense of superiority is thoroughly vindicated by her teammates’ own immaturity, the ocean beckons, and a birthday surprise is ruined.

Dear Father, Well first up, I can’t hold my excitement in, thank you for the secret underwater base, even if it is a little smaller than I’m used to. Since it’s so remote and secret and everything, I’m guessing it’s officially off the books which means it officially hasn’t been seized so it’s still mine, right? I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. The dumb alien ship lands us on a beach, for some reason. Yang’s alien girlfriend looks like a complete mess so I ask him if she’s meant to be that colour. He insists they’re just friends-of-friends. But he still puts his magic glowing hands all over her and declares that she’s been poisoned, in whatever fight happened before she crashed on my life. More importantly, it turns out Yang can use his weird life energy stuff to heal and never told me. I had to regenerate myself after I pulled that girder out of my leg when we fought that girder-themed guy last week, and it took hours. Now she’s all healed, Yang’s alien girlfriend immediately starts being mean to me. Well actually, I don’t remember who started it, or why, but I’m pretty sure it was her. So naturally I posture – the way you taught me! – and tell her she comes to my planet and starts being all superior at me and she really wants to challenge me here, in my element? She says what. I say, you know, my element, the ocean’s right here. I check behind me and the ocean is still right there. (I mean I know you’re the one with hydrokinesis or whatever but it still counts, right? If we did fight here, I’d totally have the advantage. That’s strategy.) But she’s still confused. I don’t think she understands, because she’s an alien and everything. The threat kind of fades out. It’s awkward. Yang, the coward, eyes us both weakly. He refuses to back me up and instead turns into a pile of sand (he can do that with his Infinite Powers I guess), shuffles into the ocean, then turns into a puddle of water to wait it out. What. The only other thing here is a rickety house some way down the beach, where some dude’s blasting crummy music - I don’t even have super hearing, but it’s reeeeeally annoying. So while Yang’s busy avoiding his responsibilities and being a bad mentor, the alien girl heads over there. I say fine, whatever, she can leave me too, I’ll handle myself over here. So I storm into her ship and press all the buttons in the hopes that I can either fly away, or screw things up for her, but it’s dead. Piece of junk. Which means I’ve got nothing better to do than follow her, I guess. So I can settle our score. Which I do! Very quickly. I catch up just in time to see her trying to be all friendly with the dude but he totally freaks out, which is refreshing after all the tiring reactions I get. I mock her for it, obviously, and she phases through the wall of the house, crying. Of course, this leaves me alone on this dumb beach, so I shout at the ocean to ask Yang if he’s done being jealous of my cool aquatic powers, and if he’s ready to come out now. Some random patch of ocean waves Yang’s notepad at me, threatening me with a bad report. (It looks pretty soggy. How does stuff like this even work with magical shapeshifting?). I tell the random patch of ocean that he’s being very cruel and unprofessional and he should at least shapeshift a face and come talk to me properly. He throws a tidal wave at me (Yang’s Infinite Powers are totally overpowered? And what does he think he’s going to achieve, attacking the sea-powered girl with seawater?). I break and part it perfectly with my tentacles, like a samurai or something. I think I manage to hit him too, wherever he is and whatever form he’s in, because I’m pretty sure I hear some pathetic spluttering from somewhere. Oh, also, there’s some kind of cybernetic laser shark washed up on the beach from the tidal wave, which I assume is Yang’s fault, or maybe even him shapeshifted, but I am 100% Done with this nonsense so I grab it and swing it around my head a few times. Then I fling it over the horizon and back into the ocean. It’s real satisfying. You know I said it was a laser shark? I was busy at the time, obviously, but it turns out it lasered its way through the walls and roof of the house while it was spinning. It kind of sucks that this seems to be a constant theme of Being a Hero but I’m gonna say it again, I can’t be held responsible for everything that happens with things I grab. Or throw. Or have thrown at me. I mean my superpower is tentacles, what do they want from me? I touch a lot of things. And like by definition if those things are Mine then I’m not going to be letting go of them, am I? So logically, that means the shark and the whole thing with the spacepod in the forest aren’t my fault. You can tell AEGIS that. So finally Yang decides to grow up and get out of the goddamn ocean (I mean it’s not like he has a legitimate reason, he doesn’t have to immerse himself occasionally to prevent his skin drying out or anything). And now we’re all in the loud guy’s beach house, because there’s nothing else remotely interesting around here. The guy’s now passed out drunk apparently, though maybe that’s the alien’s doing for all I know. The fridge is open so I casually streeeetch over and grab a bottle, because I deserve it. It’s been a rough morning, you know? I notice the alien girl actually already has a bottle of her own, so we toast on the sly because at least she’s got good instincts. Finally, the guy notices we’re here (I think Yang sucked the drunkenness out of him? Seems like a bad deal to me…) and asks us who we are and what we think we’re doing drinking. I tell him “I’m a goddamn hero and I just saved you from a laser shark, so you’re welcome and also I deserve this.” He stands silent for a second, which feels great. I figure I should press the attack and dust off the old intro – “I’m Cerata, scion of Dr Diluvian, and-” but he’s got his balance back and now he’s on his phone ignoring me, which is just rude. Turns out he’s a conspiracy theory nut who’s convinced he’s being watched. According to the alien girl, who read his phone’s mind or something. Or maybe just read his phone. Either way, we have this thing on Earth called “boundaries”. Obviously I don’t exactly care about his, but if she tries to read my phone, or somehow gets her little green hands on these letters, I swear I’ll throw her back into space. Anyway, now we’re all thinking about the cyber shark and, in hindsight, the big telescoping camera strapped to its back. Suspicious. I guess we were focused on the laser at the time. Yang’s apparently over his soggy tantrum now, because he decides to act like a leader again, and declares we’re going to investigate. It’s better than sticking around here, plus I’ll get to show off my awesome ocean powers somewhere other than grotty alleyways for once. He turns to me. “Doesn’t your dad do water stuff?” Seriously. Does my father, Doctor Diluvian, the world’s premier aquatic supervillain, do water stuff? Yeah, Yang, yeah he does. And so do I? In case you’ve forgotten? How about I go stick my head in the ocean and use my extremely sensitive chemoceptors to track the shark that I just threw very far away, a feat unimaginable to your puny baseline senses? Yang says he doesn’t know what that word means but yeah I should go do that. Ingrate. It’s been a while since my rhinophores (another word Yang doesn’t know, shame they’re not as dangerous as they sound, but they’re fun to have anyway) tasted water this clean, so far from the city, so there’s that at least. Plus when I’m in the ocean and the others aren’t, I can pretend they don’t exist. Plus, I did need to immerse myself sometime soon and this is much nicer than a bathtub. And this is a good excuse to do that without having to admit in front of Yang or the alien girl that I just need to go soak for a bit before we fly away. Once I’ve got a bearing, though, they fly the spacepod into the ocean (apparently it’s not broken now? and also seaworthy?) and I have to sit on the outside so I can still smell the damn shark while we follow it. Tracking a cyber-shark from the barest traces of heavy metals and other foreign chemicals on the ocean currents isn’t easy, but I do it anyway because I’m that good. Converting information from a sensory process that the others don’t have and literally can’t understand into directions they can follow also isn’t easy. In fact, that alien bitch gets impatient so she dives into my brain to pluck the information out for herself. (I knew she was a damn telepath when I first saw her. What if she’s been in my head already and I just didn’t notice? How can I possibly trust her?) That absolutely does it, so I ask her if she’s maybe thought about which of us can survive at the bottom of the ocean before she violated my mind like that. I’m this close to reaching through the hatch, grabbing her and throwing her out the back of the ship when she pushes a button and shuts me out of the cabin. I fume for a bit, and consider just swimming away and forgetting this mess. Then I feel Yang in my head, trying to calm me down, which is really just as bad and uninvited. Why can’t they just talk to me and be nice to me? I don’t think he realises how clumsy he is when he throws around random powers that he’s never used before, but I let him think he’s succeeded. I’ll hold it against him and bring it up some other time when he’s trying to paint himself as a saint. Finally, we track the shark to some kind of ocean-floor base. You know, like the kind you have, scattered around the world. It’s remarkably like one of ours, actually. I realise I never checked if the cyber shark had Fathom Labs insignia on it, but in my defence I was very angry and busy throwing my powers around at the time. Yang insists on going ahead in puddle form, and when we don’t see or hear any explosions for a couple of minutes, we follow with the ship. And use the submarine pen as it’s actually meant to be used, surfacing and stepping out onto the walkway like I own the place. Which, plot twist, it turns out I do. It was so good to hear your voice again, even in a recording. And so thoughtful of you to record that message in case I did find this place. I know it was meant to be a surprise for when I’m older, but I hope you’re proud of me for using my initiative now! I guess I just need to find out what kind of scum has crawled in here while you were gone, kick them out, and I can enjoy some small fraction of my birthright again. Naturally, the feeling is short-lived because Yang refuses to let me just have a moment, just one time, and he kills the shark. My shark! I say kill, I don’t actually know because with Yang’s Infinite Powers, who can tell what he did to the poor thing as it sat helpless in its shark cradle. I think he hacked it? Or absorbed it? Or both? Now he’s flopping around pretending to be some kind of sharkboy. What’s his deal today, with all the shapeshifting and muscling in on the ocean-themed stuff? Is he mocking me? Is he jealous? Does he finally accept that he should be my sidekick, rather than my mentor? Whatever. I’ll write to you again when I’ve liberated your base for you. And I’ll try not to break too much stuff while I’m at it, since for once everything around me is actually mine. Wish me luck! ~ Vikki

#Masks #RPGs #Long post #That one came out at over 2000 words #Maybe I should be putting these on AO3 or something

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exploredestinations · 5 years

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Top Places to visit in London with Kids

Top Places to visit in London with Kids - Explore this Vibrant city in Europe with Kids

Are you planning a holiday in London with kids? Or you are just seeking for best places that can fit both adults and kids in London. If you are not sure of these enthralling spots to impress your young ones, below is the list.

Mud chute Park & Farm

Nestled just in the south of Canary Wharf, Cubit town on the isle of dogs, Mud chute farm is a large urban park that provides a home to over 100 animals and fowls. This 32-acre area is among the largest farms in Europe. It includes a children’s nursery with a range of educational activities. To add on, the park awards bird’s eye views of London city.

V&A Museum of Childhood

This is a branch of the V&A group of museums. It is meant to exhibit all different types of toys that existed from the 1600s. For adults, you will see the toys you used in your childhood. Then for kids, it’s amazing to be exposed to toys that breathed before you. The on-site Rachel White read artwork place showcases a community of around 150 dolls.

Battersea Park Children’s Zoo

Not too big in size and just within the city, Battersea Park is mainly designed for kids. This Zoo is home to reptiles, different bird species and small animals; you cannot find big fives here. On a visit, children usually feed animals and engage in various plays.

Children’s Garden at Kew Gardens

This includes a huge children’s garden that is approximated to 10000 square metres. Besides the tranquil atmosphere, visitors to the area (adults and kids) enjoy the available water pumps, wormhole, windflowers, hammocks, periscopes and water slides.

Diana Memorial Gardens – Kensington Gardens

Positioned near the Kensington Palace, these gardens are intended for the less able-bodied children. It includes a playing area that consists of a pirate ship surrounded by a sand beach. Other things in place embody teepees, sculptures, sensory trail and plants. There are all perfect for kids.

Sky Garden

Renowned as London’s public garden, the Sky Garden is set at the top of the Walkie Talkie building. It consists of a remarkable viewing platform that rewards awe-inspiring views of the city. On arrival, you will first go through a security check-up and later move by a lift up to level 35 to immerse the available gardens and terraces. The locality is packed with restaurants and bars.

ZSL London Zoo

There is a lot to marvel in this locale; it is a true delight for both kids and adults. ZSL is inclusive of the oldest zoos in London. It shelters over 650 animal species. Other than having a spider experience in this area, you can visit the Gorilla Kingdom, Penguin Beach, Tiger territory, Land of lions and the Rain-forest life. It is awesome for kids and adults to meet face to face with some wild animals like Lions.

The Kensington Museum

This is a three in one destination; it includes a science Museum, the Natural history Museum and V&A. The science museum has plenty of multi-sensory activities that are quintessential for kids. The Natural History Museum has dinosaurs and a big blue whale skeleton. You can end the visit in the V&A, a place that runs varied hands-on workshops, artworks, games and live performances.

Emirates Air Line – Cable Car

Treat your kids to more excitements with a ride on the Emirates Air Line. This cable car links Greenwich to the Royal Docks. It offers spectacular views of London city. It takes about ten minutes, but if you wish for an extended night flight, then you have to board after 7 pm.

Holland Park & Kyoto Garden

Kyoto Garden is located just within the centre of Holland Park; it consists of a tiered rock waterfall, stone lanterns, Japanese maple trees, and a pond full of koi carp, peacocks which are all must admire for kids. This tranquil garden is best suited for picnics.

London Transport Museum

To those after knowing more about the history of London’s transport network from the 1800s up to date, the London Transport Museum is the best. Apart from that, you will enjoy with your kids the bus and tube simulator rides. There are also interactive kids’ workshops.

Royal Observatory & Planetarium

There is no better place for a family day out in London than Greenwich Park. This UNESCO site is home to the Royal Observatory and the Planetarium. Both areas are perfect for kids; while in the Planetarium you will journey through space, explore the universe and its 360 degrees cinema.

Sea Life London Aquarium

If you are looking for some of the best places for kids in London, Sea Life London Aquarium is one of them. It consists of 14 themed zones that shelter over 500 marine species. Two million liters of water favors the growth of seven shark species; you can immerse these species while on a shark walk. The walk along the ocean tunnel and the shark reef offer panoramic views of numerous sea creatures. Read the full article

#LondongetawayswithKids #LondonwithKids #TopPlacestovisitinLondonwithKids #WheretogoinLondonwithKids

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kdhvjhg-blog · 5 years

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As much as we all love Cornwall in both the summer and winter sunshine and the opportunities this offers both locals and tourists alike to simply sit and relax on the nearest beautiful beach, we also know that the English weather is unpredictable . If the rain does hit and potentially change your plans there is still always plenty to do and explore in this amazing county!

Nestled in a huge crater near St Austell, the Eden Project is always one of the most popular rainy day out destinations for every type of person. This one of a kind experience offers you the chance to walk amongst exotic plant life and tropical trees which thrive in the two separate warm biomes. One biome consists of Mediterranean style plants with another housing the world’s largest indoor rainforest! There is also a wide selection of onsite cafes with food from all around the world to try and explore. The Eden Project also offers more than just the indoor biomes with the site hosting an indoor kids soft play area and if you wouldn’t mind getting wet in the rain you could also ride on England’s longest zip wire which wizzes over the biomes!

Bodmin Jail is both a fascinating and spooky day out for all members of the family who are wanting to escape from the rain. The jail was built as the County Prison in 1778 and was notorious for its cramped conditions and public hangings. Today the jail stands as a fascinating museum and is reputedly one of the most haunted places in Britain . There are six levels to explore, from the dank cells and harsh punishments, as well as an execution pit and special exhibitions. The jail also has its own café/restaurant so you can be sure to take a more relaxing break and get your breath back after your trip around the museum with a nice Cornish cream tea!

If you can’t make it to the beach because of the rain you can still head underwater at the Blue Reef Aquarium located down by Towan beach in Newquay. The aquarium displays local sea life as well as more tropical fish to discover with over 40 naturally themed habitats which could take you on a fantastic journey through our oceans across the world. You could spend a morning or afternoon wandering through the underwater tunnel with sharks, stingrays and turtles and there is even an opportunity to feed turtles or tropical fish such as Cuvier’s Dwarf Caiman, Piranha’s or some tank-busting tropical fish!

Carnglaze Caverns is an all-weather family attraction near the village of St Neot located on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor. Here you can head 60 meters underground and avoid the rain on a self-guided tour of this former Cornish slate mine. You will be able to discover how the miners worked, see some of the minerals mined and quarried in the area and finish at the underground, crystal clear blue-green water lake. If the rain does hold off at any point, you can also wander through the Terrace Garden along its zigzag pathways which lead up to the Enchanted Delland and take in the spectacular panoramic view of St Neot village.

Wrapping up warm and embracing the weather is always a good option! One great place to walk and take some kind of shelter under the trees is in Cardinham Woods which is located near Lanhydrock. There are many different long and short walks to choose from which are suitable for children and adults at all levels. Cardinham Woods also has its own resident Woods Café which has previously been awarded the cosiest tea room by Clippers! The tea room is a perfect rainy day spot which serves freshly-baked scones, yummy cakes and hearty, homemade food and is dog friendly!

A trail which you’ll find a bit closer to our center here at Outdoor Adventure is the walk from Millook Haven to Dizzard. This walk starts at Millook Haven and heads up the valley through the broadleaf woodland. The route climbs out of the valley to reach the coast at Dizzard Point, you can then return across the top of the ancient coastal woodland at Dizzard, pass by Cancleave Strand and cross Millook Common before descending back to Millook Haven with spectacular views over Bude!

If you’re looking to keep the kids busy on a rainy day in Cornwall and have had enough museum trips, Outdoor activities or rainy walks then Kidzworld in St Austell may be the perfect alternative option. There is literally everything here from soft play with drop slides, sky trails, dodgems and trampolines to keep all ages entertained and dry with all attractions included in the admission price!

Last but not least, why not choose to embrace the rainy weather, put on a wet suit and head into the ocean! You can always book on to one of our Cornwall coasteering or surfing sessions and embrace all the different weather fronts we face in Cornwall. The cold water will have you feeling invigorated with plenty of scientific research suggesting that sea swimming raises your mood and happiness levels. Remember after your amazing experience how much you will then appreciate the dry and warmth once you’re back out the sea and inside sipping on a cold beer or coffee with a real sense of achievement and persistence even through potential inclement weather conditions.

#>What #333399;#>B #>C #>K #>O #f56473;>T #333399;>B #333399;> W #333399;> E #f56473;>

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mykhronicles · 5 years

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kktravelblog · 5 years

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galapagos: november 2017

It’s actually nuts that it took me over a year and a half to leave the country again. Once I got back from Australia, I got caught up in the hustle and bustle of real life and being a settled 26 going on 27 year old adult. Per my parent’s encouragement and American healthcare, I found a real job at an advertising agency, took care of a few ongoing health issues and then eventually moved to Hoboken. I feel the need to add that while I didn’t leave the country that year and a half, I definitely still experienced new things. I went to my first camping music festival (which I would do again a year later), my first of many city festivals, and visited Colorado (three times) as well as Sedona/Grand Canyon. This year and a half was different than previous but I am happy it panned out the way it did. I have made some incredibly awesome lifelong friendships through these experiences and have found an appreciation for live music. More on those adventures some other time.

The next trip I finally went on was to the Galapagos Islands, all inspired by a Facebook video I saw while avoiding working one day. In my defense being on Facebook was part of my job, mom. For months, Brianna and me would daydream and send each other random ideas, but nothing ever came to be until we saw this marine iguana video. Less than two months later, we had two other friends join the trip (Hi Shannon and Amanda! Amanda also went to the College of Charleston with Brianna and me) and for the first time, these daydreams of travel plans came together to a real thing. At this point in my life, it was a huge personal accomplishment because it proved I am capable of having a traditional life while still taking really cool trips (except that positive mindset only worked for so long… stay tuned).

Brianna and Amanda both worked long-hour seasonal jobs at the time so they set out a month before and did some much needed traveling around. I was jealously liking Instagrams from my desk. When the Galapagos week finally arrived, Shannon would join them on the Friday before me and I was set to join them early Monday morning, except per usual, I messed up my flights and actually got there on that Tuesday morning. Minor details. Sidenote, prior to the trip Brianna/Amanda and Shannon didn’t know each other, but because Shannon was heading to meet them first, I had to send each of them a picture of the other. Literal blind friend date. It ended up being great because it was college friends and a home friend becoming friends over travel and I wasn’t even there yet. The ideal situation.

OK so…

The Galapagos, technically part of Ecuador, are large islands set off the coast known for their large number of wildlife unique to only them including blue-footed boobies, large turtles, sea horses, sea lions, marine iguanas and more. It is why Charles Darwin became the Charles Darwin, scientifically meaning it’s where he created Darwin’s theory of evolution. Apparently a big deal for scientists. So big that the locals referred to him as the respectable name of Chucky. Chucky wasn’t Galapagos’ only claim to fame, it is also notoriously known for its large population of hammerhead sharks, meaning you have a pretty high chance of seeing one when you dive. This realization was definitely one of the main reasons we went.

Once I met up with the three of them in the airport, we set off and headed to the first island, Baltra. Baltra is really only known for the airport if I’m being flat out. But what I remember it as is my first glimpse of what was to come. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I always do little to no research before a trip because I personally don’t like to have expectations. I’d rather watch it unfold before my eyes as we go. So when we took the first bus to the main town to get the ferry to Santa Cruz, I was shocked. The land was very bare, colorless and open, with tons of cacti and leafless trees. In the distance, you could see the miles of blue water. While different than what I imagined, it was definitely still surreal.

The outline of the trip was set up very similarly to my last few short trips. If you’re not catching onto the theme, we tend to fly into the main airport, hang in the area, leave to another area, to return back to fly out. So for this trip, we landed in Baltra, ferried to Santa Cruz, hung out a few days, ferried to Isabela, hung out a few days, went back to Santa Cruz for a night and then left from Baltra.

We used these first days on Santa Cruz to explore the island, learn about Chucky Darwin, go to a turtle observatory, and find a place to scuba dive. Three of the four of us had been previously certified in scuba diving, but we found out that there was also the opportunity to dive even without a certification down there. This is normal in some countries, although I think we were all a little shocked that it was a possibility. We quickly learned that anything really goes in South America! Overall, the diving was incredible. We saw a lot of cool things, most notably, a hammerhead shark swimming by in the distance.

For me personally, this was a defining travel moment for me. If you read my blog when I got certified, scuba diving is the most out of character thing I have ever done. I am really afraid of water and not a confident swimmer. The water in the Galapagos on the first dive was incredibly choppy and the guide did not speak perfect english, which would traditionally be fine, but I had worked myself up and had what I consider the closest thing to a panic attack that I’ve experienced. I got out of the water, collected myself, and forced myself to go back in on the next two dives. I could not let that small moment define how far I’d come facing a fear, and I am so happy that I did. On a less serious note, it was also on this island that I spent the first three/four days thinking I was telling people “Nice to Meet You” but in reality was saying “I Love You”. Facing one fear at a time. A-hA!

However after that translation issue, there was no better time to leave the island then after a guy responded with I love you too! So the next morning, we headed to the ferry early, after passing through the sniffing dog security system, and were off to Isabela, “home of the best sunset in the world”. Within minutes of hopping on, one of the workers pointed to Shannon and told her to grab a friend with zero explanation. Before we knew it, Shannon and me were climbing the side of the moving boat and sitting on the top deck of the ferry with the captain. A true blessing to my seasickness. Thanks again Shandog.

We arrived to the island, greeted by sleeping sea lions and swaying large palm trees, and this is what I thought the Galapagos would be like. We spent the day exploring, eating an abuela’s homemade empanadas, sitting on beaches (locals thought we were nuts because we were literally white girls sunbathing on the equator.. it was justified though if you saw my back after day 1) and walking through a nature park full of pink flamingos. We also chose to book a tour to Tortuga Islet the next day. I have to mention that while at the shop the Lumineers were playing on the radio. If you don’t know, the Lumineers are my all time favorite band and it was really cool to hear them play in such a remote place. Had high hopes for the tour after that. Tortuga Islet ended up being one of the highlights of our time on the island, not only for the large turtles and sea horse sightings, but because of our tour guide Fernando. He also deserves a yelp review and again, I’ll get there one day. On this tour, we were also joined by three guys who were traveling the Galapagos by yacht (bougee!) and two Ecuadorian girls that were definitely entertainment, with their love of selfies and no awareness of personal space. Ask Brianna for more details please, she was the fan favorite.

The next day, Shannon left us, leaving the three of us to hang around the island for one more day before venturing back to Santa Cruz the next day. It was the ferry back to Santa Cruz that I, and I know Brianna, had single handily one of the funniest travel experiences to date (right up there with the North Island to South Island New Zealand ferry, right Brianna?). I’d be shocked if Amanda didn’t agree. The ferry was super early, so naturally we took the hour and a half to nap using our small backpacks as headrests. Our larger backpacks were sitting in a huge pile with everyone else’s belongings. We just weren’t aware what those belongs were… until all of the sudden about fifteen minutes before docking, we were awoken by a rooster sound. To be honest, at this point, I was so seasick I was doing everything in my power to not throw up, but when I did peak up, I just saw Brianna and the guy across from her uncontrollably laughing. It was then we realized it wasn’t someone imitating or playing the sound, there were ACTUAL roosters in what turned out to be a rooster carrying case. I’ll share the video. You be the judge, but there was no way to know that live roosters were in there. The weirdest part was they were quiet the entire hour and a half ride, and waited until we were docking to starting doing their thing. It’s like they knew it was time to wake us up. I’m laughing while writing this and incredibly grateful that Brianna took a video so you can all also enjoy. If any surprise, this video has been shared amongst the four of us countless times (it’s like you were there Shannon).

Once we got to land and departed from the roosters, we checked into the first hostel that would take us and set out to explore Santa Cruz for one last day. We started the day off strong by taking a short boat ride to Las Grietas, a stretch of inland crystal clear emerald green water at the bottom of an earth fracture. Basically, it was beautifully clear water set between two large rocks that you were able to snorkel through and had the opportunity of going through the rock tunnels or climbing over. Me being the terrible swimmer that I am chose to climb over the rocks. Looking back, I am not fully convinced climbing over the rocks was any easier than getting the courage to swim through.

After we returned to the island with the full day ahead of us, so we did what any motivated, dedicated travelers would do on their last day in the remote Galapagos Islands and posted up in a cafe for over six hours and played Rummy 500. Pretty sure we had coffee, lunch and dinner there. Early the next day, we woke up to head back to the mainland, but weren’t able to leave without yet another funny story…

Brianna and Amanda had booked the flight twenty minutes earlier than me. While I was sitting outside security waiting to be let through, I heard Amanda’s name called on the loudspeaker. I didn’t think much of it, until I met Brianna and Amanda in Guayaquil to find out that Amanda was collecting rocks and sediment the entire trip (illegal!!) and had gotten caught. Pretty sure her picture is hanging in the Galapagos airport to this day. Good on ya Amanda!

Brianna and Amanda had already spent a night in Guayaquil on the mainland of Ecuador, but I had not. I wasn’t sure what to expect but knew it wouldn’t have been anything like the Galapagos. And I was not wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I have heard great things about Ecuador and I am looking forward to returning, but Guayaquil is known to be a bit more dangerous and we got many warnings from locals saying we should not be walking around where we were for too long, especially too late at night. However, even with the warnings, we were able to explore the markets, get last minute souvenirs and eat (pretty sure I had KFC… so cultured!). After a few more hours of cards, Brianna and Amanda left for the airport and I was left to hang in the hostel for one more night before trekking home the next day.

Galapagos was a really cool trip and definitely once in a lifetime. It sounds like this super remote place, which it is in terms of what it has to offer, but it is incredibly easy to get to and even easier to backpack. I’d recommend it to anyone and everyone. This trip also reminded me just how much I missed the life I once lived everyday. Ten days would never be enough, at least not now. And it was from that point on that I continued to daydream and figure out how I could get out there again… Change was coming!

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