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theawkwardterrier · 4 years

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Prototypes, Pekingese, and Other Things That Might Test Your Patience

Steggy Week 2k20, day 1 Prompt: Domestic Bliss

Summary: Sunday afternoon, Steve comes home from the movies and finds Peggy sitting on the sofa, having what seems to be a staring contest with the ugliest little dog he’s ever seen.

AO3 link here. Thanks to @steggyfanevents for organizing!

Sunday afternoon, Steve comes home from the movies and finds Peggy sitting on the sofa, having what seems to be a staring contest with the ugliest little dog he’s ever seen.

To be clear, the dog is the kind of ugly that probably means that its ancestors came over on the Mayflower and it is the result of centuries of very carefully considered and high-standard breeding which would put Steve’s own pedigree to shame. That said, the animal has been left with a flat face, watery eyes, sharp little teeth, minuscule legs, a coat that probably weighs more than its actual body, and an apparent tendency to snuffle even when at rest.

None of this makes a good first impression.

“Hello,” Steve says carefully, closing the door. “I thought you were finishing up the Beckworth operation today.”

“We did.” Peggy breaks her stare with the dog on the floor in front of her, sounding sour. “The first part went absolutely swimmingly. He was entirely willing to reveal the location of the safe while showing off for Gladys.” She gestures to a curly blonde wig lying on the side table. “The distraction was timed perfectly, and I was able to crack back in while he was gone and remove the prototype before calling for backup. We arrested him without incident. It was all as smooth as you like, textbook even, until I gave the prototype into the care of Fletcher in evidence collection - you’ve met him, ginger, entirely too tall? - and the man immediately dropped it on the floor only to have it eaten by this thing.” She glares again at the dog. “And now it has to be watched while we wait for the prototype to...pass, so it can be used as evidence and then handed over to Howard and his merry band for examination.”

“Ah.” Steve lowers himself into a chair, keeping a careful eye on the dog. It seems the type to be easily unsettled by simple things in its surroundings. “And it needs to be watched here? By us?”

“Well, after what happened today, I’m certainly not going to give more responsibility to Fletcher or any of the so-called experts in evidence collection.” They’ve barely finished staffing the various departments over at SHIELD, but Steve now suspects based on her tone that they might be going back to the drawing board in some places. “Of course, I wouldn’t trust Howard to take care of it himself, and Jarvis and Ana have been told by the adoption agency to be on the alert in the next few weeks—”

“Hey, that’s great!”

“It is, but of course it means that they should have as much time as possible to prepare themselves, which does not at all fit with taking responsibility for this. And, of course, I’m trying to build a more official reputation for the organization. As reliable as Jarvis has proven himself to be, I’d like us to try to appear slightly less homegrown than we have in the past, at least for the moment.”

Steve looks around himself at the living room of their home, then down at the dog, which has started to pace and sniff around itself. “So it’s up to us.”

“Yes. But I can’t imagine it will take long for the prototype to reappear, and then they will both be off our hands.”

Peggy comes home on Monday evening and, flipping through the mail on her way down the hall, nearly forgets to even look for the dog until she reaches the kitchen where Steve is washing dishes.

“You didn’t call,” she says, “so I assume that the prototype is still…”

“As far as I can tell,” Steve says, looking a little worn. “And I’m pretty familiar with what did come out of him today.”

“How was—” she tries, just as a high, incessant yapping starts from the front room.

“Sorry, he’s been looking out into the yard all day, going nuts over squirrels, birds, the mailman, anything. It’s a good thing there weren’t any Girl Scouts going door to door today,” Steve apologizes before calling tiredly toward the next room, “Knock it off, Eliot.” To Peggy’s surprise, the sound turns to a whining, nasal growl, which is at least softer.

“You gave it a name?” she asks, kissing him quickly as she leans to put the mail on the counter.

“He didn’t come with one that I could figure out, and I had to call him something.”

“And why decide on Eliot?”

Steve finishes drying off his hands, then points into the trash can where there’s a pile of shredded paper mixed in with the usual garbage.

“I guess the books looked at him funny because he started clawing at them pretty early on. I managed to move most of them up to higher shelves before he got them too bad, but he really did a number on Middlemarch. Moby-Dick, too, but he didn’t exactly seem like a Herman any more than he looked like a George. And I guess I could have called him Pepper, because he knocked that over too, but he’s the wrong color.”

Eliot comes, nails clicking, into the kitchen to bark at their feet. Peggy stares down on him. She sighs.

“Well, your instincts about Melville were spot on, at least,” she tells the dog, and takes her husband upstairs to show her gratitude for his forbearance.

When Peggy calls Tuesday morning and tells Steve that she’s scheduled a veterinary appointment for Eliot that afternoon, he groans aloud down the phone line.

“He’s actually finally quiet,” Steve says, watching from out of the corner of his eye as Eliot yawns, peers out the window, and seems to start dozing again. “If I take him out somewhere new…”

“Yes, but that place might be able to offer some guidance about when we might get to see the prototype again, and therefore when we might never have to see the dog again.”

Eliot shies away from anything particularly cold or shiny at the vet’s office in a way that Steve remembers from his own earliest medical experiences. He keeps up a constant, quiet growl; Steve considers it polite if anything based on the lowered volume, and luckily none of the staff seem overly concerned or insulted. Then again, they aren’t actually that helpful either: the vet cheerfully informs Steve that these things usually pass by themselves within a few days, and as long as Eliot is still able to eat, drink, and play normally there’s no reason to be concerned.

“You can come back in if something changes, and of course, if you’re really concerned, I can refer you to a colleague about an hour away who can do an x-ray of the little fella,” the vet offers, and then quotes a price for it that makes Steve laugh reflexively at what must be a joke. (It isn’t.)

The only helpful piece of advice comes at the end of the visit.

“Fur like that,” the vet says, going over to the door, “I’d expect you must be showing him.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, dog shows, contests, like that.”

“You mean we can get him trimmed if we don’t care about all that?” Steve asks, relieved. He’s wearing his only pair of brown trousers today; even though Eliot sleeps downstairs, somehow strands of his long fur have migrated onto the black and gray pants which fill most of Steve's wardrobe.

The vet looks surprised. “Sure, though it’d be a shame. He’s a pretty fine specimen, after all.” He tilts his head, turning thoughtful. “Say, if you don’t really want him for that, I have a friend who’d love to get his hands on a purebred like this. Pay you nicely for it, too, what do you say?”

Steve looks over at Eliot. Despite the standoff the dog is having with a row of bottles on the doctor’s counter, he looks up at Steve with something very human and pleading and familiar in his eyes.

“No, thanks,” Steve finds himself saying, picking Eliot up in one arm. “I think we’ll hang onto him for now.”

Steve is as surprised as Peggy when she comes home Wednesday to find the dog lying politely at the foot of the armchair while Steve sketches. Eliot’s paws are forward, his face relaxed on the carpet between them. Steve had apparently been successful in his mission for the day; the nimbus of tawny fur is gone, trimmed to a more manageable - and, she’ll admit, attractive - level. She can actually see the dog’s eyes clearly now, blinking slow consideration, and his tail puffs up sweetly rather than billowing wildly outward.

“Well, this is quite the change of pace,” Peggy says, keeping her voice pitched low on instinct. Eliot turns to look over at her, but returns to staring peaceably through the window where the tree in the front yard shifts slowly in the breeze.

“Yeah,” Steve says, glancing down with...is that fondness? “He isn’t so bad once you get used to him. Or once he gets used to you. Melinda, the girl at the dog barbershop, said that he probably just needed to figure out how to handle a new place and new people, and that his breed can be a little bossy and vocal.” He pauses. “Also, she said he might have just been hot and annoyed from all that fur.”

“Well, he's at least sensible,” Peggy says, sitting down too. She knows she should go and change, should at least unpack her case, but there’s something comforting about sitting there, just listening to the scratch of Steve’s pencil, the constant sound of Eliot’s breathing. Without her thinking much about it, without even asking if there’s been any update on the prototype, she decides to stay a while with the two of them.

“He’s still not exactly the cutest little thing,” Bucky comments when he comes for a walk with Steve and Eliot on Thursday afternoon. Eliot doesn’t pay him any attention, sniffing busily at the sidewalk in front of himself as he trots along (although Steve knows that he’ll run out of energy pretty soon and slow to a crawl).

“Looks aren’t the only thing that’s important,” Steve points out, moving over so Mr. Sabitini and his grandsons can pass by. “Character plays a big role in things, and Eliot’s got plenty of that; he might be mouthy, but he's pretty intelligent, and considerate too. Yesterday he saw a boy drop his ice cream on the ground and started to nose it back to him.”

Bucky snorts. "Probably trying to sneak a few licks in for himself."

"I don't think so." Steve’s voice is firm, his glare hard.

Bucky stares, then shoves a hand through his hair. “Oh God,” he says. “You’re starting to identify with the mutt. You should have just called him Steve Junior.”

“What? No, I’m—” Steve starts, then shoves him over the curb into the street. “Shut your trap, Barnes.”

“Just calling it like I see it,” Bucky laughs, and he gets back onto the sidewalk only for Steve to shove him over again.

At dinner on Friday evening, Steve tells Peggy about how Eliot has started to just bark a polite little greeting to the squirrels on the lawn, as if welcoming them to the home to which he’s graciously allowed them access, and then asks how the Beckworth case is coming.

“The prosecutor is optimistic, which I consider an accomplishment for him - he’s usually quite doleful. Of course it would be better if we had the prototype in hand, but we have the schematics and the testimony from the assistant…”

“What’s wrong?” he asks, as she trails off.

"Mr. Beckworth is seemingly quite...upset that we have taken custody of his dog. I read the report from his latest interrogation and it was all he spoke about.”

Steve swallows a bite of chicken. “He’s probably pretty worried about his life’s work being trapped inside him.”

Peggy shakes her head. “I don’t think so. I think he’s actually concerned about him. Unless he’s playing some sort of game, I believe he truly loves the creature.”

“Well, he’s actually pretty easy to love,” Steve says. “He just shouldn’t have to put up with criminals.” When he palms and drops a piece of his chicken on the floor for Eliot to sweep up, he tries to think of it as more of a consolation than a bribe. Peggy sees and shakes her head; apparently she’s missed the distinction

Peggy calls to say that she’ll be working late on Saturday, so Steve tells Eliot, “Guess it’s just you and me for dinner tonight, fella.” He thinks of what Bucky or Peggy would say if they heard that, groans, and then shrugs, because they didn’t hear it so who cares?

Eliot whines as Steve goes upstairs and shuts the bedroom door, but the house is definitely furrier than is preferable even after the haircut and the establishment of a daily brushing regimen, and there are some lines they haven’t crossed, at least not yet, so Steve goes to bed alone.

He wakes up alone too, several hours later, wondering for a blink what pulled him from sleep. Then he hears Eliot’s growl from down in the kitchen followed by a yip, as if someone’s kicked him.

For a moment, as he makes his quick, silent way down the stairs, he gropes for his shield, something he hasn’t done in years. But before he can really miss its presence, he hears Peggy say, “I’ll thank you to unhand my dog,” in a way that he can tell means she’s aiming her gun.

“I don’t know who you think you are, lady,” says a voice, “but this is Ned Beckworth’s dog.”

“It was,” Peggy says, perfectly calmly. “But Mr. Beckworth is awaiting trial, as you soon will be as well, and now it’s my dog. Just as this is my house you’re standing in, and my husband coming up behind you, so put Eliot down, if you please.”

Looking from the doorway into the dimness, Steve can only see the backs of the two men who have broken in, moderately sized and wearing black. One of them has Eliot under his arm, a hand over his muzzle even as he tries to wriggle away. When the stranger doesn’t move, Steve says, “She really will shoot you if you don’t let the dog go. She’ll get your leg no problem, even if you’re trying to use him as a shield,” and Eliot is reluctantly and a bit too forcefully released. He takes a minute to regain his footing, nails scrabbling on the linoleum after being dropped to the ground, but before Steve can say a word, the dog has vomited copiously onto his captor’s shoe before skidding over to Peggy and pressing himself against her leg. The prototype, its light still blinking a calm blue, lies in the middle of the puddle.

“Excellent aim, Eliot,” she says dryly, without taking her eye off the now loudly disgusted housebreakers. “But your timing leaves quite a bit to be desired. Steve?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it.”

Between the two of them, they pretty easily subdue their unwanted guests, and wrap up the prototype to deliver to headquarters in the morning. (Peggy says she’ll trust a retrieval team to take care of prisoner transport, but the prototype stays with her from this point forward. Steve, cleaning up the mess on the floor, says she is welcome to it.) Eliot obeys commands for “sit” and “quiet” for only a few seconds at a time before once again starting to dart distractingly around the room, barking. Still, once everyone else has left, he curls easily into Peggy’s lap and allows himself to be petted.

“He acquitted himself well,” she says as Eliot’s tail flips through the air, clearly pleased by her attention to his ears, “even if he isn’t exactly anyone’s picture of heroism.”

“Neither of us exactly was either,” says Steve, “so I think he’ll fit in fine.” He pauses. “Don’t tell Bucky I said that. He'll just start again about me over-identifying.”

She laughs. “I wouldn’t dream of it, even if he might have something of the right of it.”

Eliot barks in what seems to be agreement, but Steve knows for a fact that, if the dog could talk, he’d sell Steve out in a minute if offered a half decent steak.

As Sunday dawns, the three of them are still sitting in the living room, asleep together.

#steggyweek20 #Steggy #Steggy fic #Steve Rogers #Peggy Carter #kinda wild to me tbh how the prompt that should have been 1000% in my wheelhouse left me scrounging for something but here you are!

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tackyink · 4 years

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Why do I do this to myself, I ask, as I post the next chapter two weeks after the first one, which took four years, thus defeating the entire point of extensive editing and risking a huge tone shift. Then again, I’ve been whining about it so much that it would be odd not to share.

Chapter 1

— — — — — — — —

Chapter 2

The sun pounds down with criminal intent as Alex and her friend run across the terrace of Mrs. Isabel’s monumental house. They are adventurers this time, or maybe pirates. It doesn’t matter. The reflection of the light on the colorful tiles and whitewashed buildings is blinding, and her friend’s blonde hair makes her glow like she’s wearing a crown woven with sunlight. They are wearing matching pendants of stone that she picked for them while she was on a trip.

Laughing, her friend turns to Alex with a toy chest between her hands, but Alex can’t hear the sounds coming from her mouth and her face is a featureless blur that she can’t make sense of. Who’s this person? The stress of not being able to focus on her face makes the image vanish into white, then black, then...

When Alex woke up, she vaguely remembered dreaming about home, so she didn’t give it much thought. She very rarely remembered dreams, and dreams related to the past were the worst because they were filled with people she hadn’t seen in years, so she wasn’t going to make an effort to recall only to feel bad.

Getting up with a lot effort, she remembered she had gone straight to bed as soon as she got home the day before and she needed a shower. She groaned as she undressed and dropped on the nightstand the seastone pendant she usually wore under her clothes. It was a small, useless thing that may have at some point been used as a bullet and repurposed, but it was a gift from a family friend, and she liked how it looked. A good luck charm of sorts that clearly wasn’t doing its job.

The shower seemed to stretch to infinity as she reviewed the events of the previous day and what she needed to do from then on. She wished that had been a dream. If only things were always that easy.

True to word, the pirates had left with the rising sun. Alex didn’t get to see their ship, even though the first thing she did that morning was go to the port to sneak a glance and contemplate the fish-shaped submarine in its entire tacky splendor. She’d always liked watching ships, ever since she was a kid and sat down at the beach or near the shipyard to see them from up close.

The following weeks were a haze of bureaucracy and preparations to leave her post at the library. She booked a ticket for a passenger ship to the city-island of St. Poplar with the intention of catching another ship from there that could sail her to the Sabaody Archipelago. Then she’d need to request permission to cross the Red Line, and once she was there, well, it wasn’t like she was in a big hurry to return home. But if she didn’t enter the New World soon, there was a chance that once the Poneglyph was be discovered and she’d be held up as soon as she set foot on holy land.

Nearly a month and a half had passed by the time she was able to get all her ducks in a row: training her replacement at work, sending letters to friends and family telling them she was moving, as well as shipping a couple of boxes to the Sabaody Archipelago. When that was done, Alex spent the longest three weeks of her life inside that passenger ship, trapped in a vessel wondering where the heck was her life going, but after several stops along the way, in a very early morning, she arrived to Saint Poplar. She had about a month to go until the renovations started and she became officially a fugitive. Probably. The fact that she wouldn’t be able to know if she was overreacting unless shit hit the fan didn’t help her feel secure in any decision she took, but hey, if she was wrong and nothing happened in the end, she could always go back to Duster Town.

The first thing she did upon arrival was consult the ship schedules at the port. Several pages with timetables were tacked to a board with a glass cover. It was better kept than most information boards she had come across, but it was to be expected, since Saint Poplar and the surrounding islands were popular tourist spots.

By the looks of it, she had missed the last direct ship to Marineford by two days, and the next one wasn’t scheduled yet because there was an Aqua Laguna alert. Joy. She had to explain her predicament to a few locals until one of the women working at the port gave her something useful to work with.

“There should still be a liner leaving Water 7 in a few days. They usually wait until the last day so as many people as possible can leave the island before the sea gets too rough.”

Alex took this information as well as one would take a knee to the solar plexus. Another trip meant more money wasted. It was becoming increasingly evident that she’d have to pick up a job somewhere before she was able to cross the Red Line, because safe passage required money. Lots of it. And unless she robbed a bank, she didn’t think she’d be able to get it before the archive renovation started. She had a gun. And she entertained the idea for the entirety of two seconds before coming back to reality.

“Okay,” she said. If nothing else, she’d be able to sightsee. That was an island she had wanted to visit for a long time. “Do you know where can I take a ship to Water 7?”

“There are no ships to Water 7,” the lady replied, amused. “There’s the Sea Train.”

“Oh! I forgot.” It was very much like her to know the Sea Train was a thing and not remember that it had an actual purpose, besides making a city famous. “Is the station far from here, or…?”

“No, it’s…” She looked below the ship schedules in front of them. There was a faded map of the city behind the glass. She pointed one spot, on the opposite side of the city. It was mostly a straight line from where she was if she followed the main streets. “Here. It’s easy to find.”

She had to resist the temptation to pull out of her backpack a fountain pen and draw the map on the back of her hand, since she didn’t trust her memory all that much, and instead she said, “Thank you very much!”

The woman smiled at her, lifted a crate bigger than Alex without breaking a sweat, and went on her merry way. Meanwhile, she spent the following minutes staring intensely at the map to make completely sure that she wasn’t going to take a wrong turn even though there were absolutely no turns to make. Anxiety was a wonderful condition.

By the time she started moving, she was looking at the next hours in a different light. As inconvenient as this detour was, Alex felt more excited than anything else at the idea of riding a Sea Train and going to the city where it originated. She’d seen the pictures, and it was supposed to be all canals that the locals navigated with little boats instead of wheeled vehicles. May as well enjoy the trip as much as she could, right?

Humming as she went, the trek across the St. Poplar brought her through streets of stone lined with tall buildings, some made of that same stone, but most of them in a more polished classical style. The pediments she saw suggested fifteenth century, so not too old. The less ostentatious houses were brick painted in light tones, with planters hanging from balconies that added little splashes of color to the otherwise muted palette and, in the case of those that were more worn out, provided the exciting possibility of said planters falling on a passerby’s head. Better to stay away from some of those cornices, too.

The atmosphere more than made up for the stoning risk, though. The city was as lively as it could be, and she found herself wishing that she had an excuse to remain in it for a little longer, but it was not to be. Come to think of it, wasn’t there a huge carnival going on in San Faldo around those dates? That explained the people walking around in costumes and elaborate masks. If she ever got to go on vacation again, she was making this area of Paradise her priority.

But if an Aqua Laguna was approaching, she needed to be out of its range as soon as possible, or she risked getting stranded in a place highly frequented by government employees where she could be spotted without backup. Moving swiftly was a priority until she could settle down and lay low to see how the situation unfolded.

She took longer to get to her destination than if she hadn’t kept getting distracted with every little thing that caught her attention, but eventually she was greeted by a platform and a white-gray building with a sign that identified it as Spring Station. She looked out to the sea, unable to see anything at first, until she noticed a shadow beneath the water. Railways swayed back and forth with the waves, a feat of engineering that she wouldn’t have believed had the train not been functional for over ten years. It even connected directly with Enies Lobby, so it had to be reliable. The government wouldn’t be using it to routinely transport their own people otherwise.

She walked into the station and headed straight to the timetable next to the ticket window. There were people sitting inside with bags, and many of them in costume. She wished she could spare the money and the time to join in, or at least run her hands over the velvety fabrics and intricate embroidery. She had done her fair share of sewing and the construction and materials of the costumes were seamstress porn.

The train was scheduled for departure in two hours. Better not to wander too far.

❦

There were many people inside Alex’s car, some dressed in regular clothes, some in costume. She would have liked to sit next to the window, but she was stuck in an aisle seat, and though she wasn’t uncomfortable by any means, she lamented having to spend the trip looking at her feet instead of the sea.

The seats were really nice, though. She wondered how luxurious first class had to be, if her butt was already on velvet and her feet on fluffy carpet. That was where the government agents must go, since when they stopped at Enies Lobby, nobody entered her car or the adjacent ones, judging by the lack of noise.

About an hour passed without incident until she noticed a faint smell, like smoke, and soon after, someone spoke through the PA system.

“Dear passengers, we inform you that the Sea Train is going to make an unscheduled stop at Shift Station for maintenance. The new hour of arrival to Water 7 will be 12 PM. We are sorry for the inconvenience. You may leave your seats until it’s time to resume the voyage.”

Varying degrees of protests filled the car, but Alex couldn’t say she minded. The train was starting to get stuffy with so many people, and she sensed an incoming headache from the nonstop chatter of the group across the aisle.

A scarce minute later, the train reduced its speed until it came to a halt, and immediately after, a stewardess appeared to unlock the doors. Alex decided to get up, find out in what kind of place this Shift Station was, and stretch her legs, because the seat may have been velvet, but the cushion under it was long flattened. First class was hoarding the good ones for sure.

The smell of saltwater hit her in the face with the subtlety of a Buster Call. She was very confused at how much water she was seeing until she realized that the station was little more than a platform on each side of the rails, a lighthouse, and a house in the middle of the ocean.

There wasn’t much to see once the first impression wore off, though she could have easily spent hours just watching the hypnotic swaying of the waves. There had always been something drawing her to it. She thought about how terrifying it had to be getting caught there during a storm, and how solid the little house on the platform must have been to still be standing there for a decade. The station master, if there was one, had to have nerves of steel.

Since she had nothing else to do, she stretched and began to pace around the platform, watching the passengers who had also gotten off the train. Not too many, considering the amount of people that were travelling in it, but she had to admit the platform amidst the waves was not for the faint of heart. She was certainly not going to get close to the edge. She saw mostly the same types of people she had been sitting with, but from the first car appeared a group dressed in expensive clothing and another of men in black suits.

She did a double take when she saw a familiar World Government insignia on the lapels of their jackets. Embroidery work was wasted on those people. They were Cipher Pol agents, and while their presence was more than reasonable, they still put her on edge. Best not to get close. How did one try their hardest to not look guilty without looking even guiltier?

Faced with this unsolvable conundrum, she diverted her gaze to look anywhere but at them, and out of the corner of her eye she noticed one of them look in her direction for a moment before going back to their conversation. Slowly and innocently, if steps could be walked in such a way, she ducked into the building and decided to keep to the shadows until the train was ready to go. Out of sight, out of mind, they said, and in case she actually became a fugitive, she didn’t need to be remembered by a member of an intelligence agency.

The fresh air was nice, though. Definitely worth sharing her vital space with government agents for a few minutes.

“Chimney got clogged again, didn’t it?”

Alex wanted to jump out of her skin when she suddenly heard a voice behind her, but the upside of being in a constant state of mild anxiety was that she just tensed up very hard when she got spooked. Shoulders squared and butt firmly clenched, she turned around to see an old woman with a grin so wide that it dipped into the uncanny valley. She was stocky, with lime green hair tied in braids, and wore a hat with Water 7’s initials that probably meant she worked there.

This was not how Alex had expected the station master to look, and if she had had it in her to worry about complete strangers, she would have been concerned about the woman’s safety.

A small girl with lips and hair conspicuously similar to the woman’s spoke up from behind her, annoyed. “I didn’t! I’ve been going every day!”

The older woman laughed loudly. “I meant the train, not you!”

The girl huffed and left, but the older woman stayed.

Now that she was facing her, her breath hit Alex, and it reeked of alcohol. Oh dear. She hoped the woman didn’t have a terribly important job there. She didn’t get what was so funny about the exchange, but she didn’t want to ask, either.

“I don’t know,” she replied with hesitation, realizing she had been asked a question. “They just told us we were going to stop for a while.”

“It happens sometimes.” She said. The grin was perpetually etched in her face. “They made the chimney too long, but Tom always said it looked nicer that way. You’d think Iceburg would have more sense once he took over, but he says he doesn’t want to change it.”

As soon as those names were dropped, Alex’s brain began to try and make connections like a madman with a wall covered in papers trying to make sense of a conspiracy theory. She didn’t know if the woman was assuming she knew who those people were or she was so drunk that she didn’t care.

Fortunately for Alex, she did know, marginally, who she was referring to – Iceburg, Water 7’s current mayor, was famous worldwide thanks to the Galley-La Company, and by Tom she assumed she meant the man who designed the original sea train. That name would have escaped her, had not a number of coincidences engraved it in her mind.

She couldn’t say if Tom had been forgotten as a relic of a past era or forcibly ejected from public memory as a result of being connected to Gold Roger and ever-present racism. He was a genius inventor, the one who put Water 7 on the world map by building the Sea Train, and the world returned the favor by executing him.

Most executions relating to the Pirate King had happened when Alex was still very young and didn’t pay much attention to anything that went on outside of her immediate vicinity, but Tom’s happened much later, when she was twenty and being aware of the world’s geopolitics was an indispensable part of her studies. They granted him a few more years to finish the Sea Train, and everybody back then had been convinced that his service would be repaid with a pardon, but that wasn’t how the World Government worked.

Unstoppable in their mission to purge every little thing that remained of Roger, they eliminated the man who built the Oro Jackson. Alex’s friend opened a bottle of his wife’s good whiskey, and then another, and suddenly it was four in the morning with him slurring and sobbing on the table, and his wife was halfway through the second pack of cigarettes of the night and Alex was so drunk in solidarity too that it was a good thing that her chair had a sturdy back and armrests, because otherwise she was pretty sure she’d have slid to the sticky floor and stayed there listening to old stories. He had a killer hangover the next day and Alex was just sleepy because young bodies were capable of amazing things, and then everything seemed to return to normal.

That had been a bad year, and a combination of everything happening at once and managing to torpedo her own academic career meant that putting it behind wasn’t an easy thing to do. Aside from Tom’s execution bringing down the mood considerably and her own personal problems, passage through the Red Line was also shut for months after queen Otohime’s assassination, meaning that Alex couldn’t return home at the time the country was going through the worst political unrest in centuries, and even if she had been free to go, the long absence would have made her flunk the year and lose her scholarship. Alex remembered that year like one remembered a fever nightmare: fuzzy, never ending, with huge gaps in the middle, yet sinking its claws so deep within that it was just a mention or reminder away from resurfacing. Sabaody got worse around that time, too, due to Doflamingo’s rise to Shichibukai and king status. His auction house started operating in the archipelago while Marines looked the other way, and kidnapping crews grew in number and activity.

All in all, not the best time of her life. In fact, current technically-not-on-the-run Alex was still faring so much better than past Alex that the thought wrapped around from depressing to funny.

She looked at the Sea Train, trying to imagine it with a shorter chimney. Two men were at the top of the smokebox with big brushes. “I can see their point. The proportions would be off.”

The woman must have been in a very good mood, because she chuckled. “I’m not an engineer or an artist, so I can’t say. Why are you here, anyway? Do you need anything?”

“Oh, no, sorry, it’s just—” She thought about the Cipher Pol agents out there. “There’s a lot of people on the platform.”

“And it’s windy, too,” she said, looking at the sky. “People have gotten blown away before, you know.”

“…Oh. That’s good to know, thanks,” she said, timidly taking a step back into the house so she wasn’t being hit by the wind anymore. Alex still had some time to kill and was curious about the woman, and talkative as she was, she assumed she wouldn’t mind a bit of prodding. “You mentioned Iceburg and Tom. Do you know them?”

The laugh that came next didn’t sound as happy as the other ones, somehow. “Know them? I’ve known Iceburg since he was a little brat. Tom was a good friend. Did you know that Iceburg was his apprentice? Not that these people care,” she nudged her head towards the Cipher Pol agents and Alex sank even deeper into the little house. “Tom died so they could save face, but they won’t touch Iceburg because he’s useful. That’s all they mean to them.”

Alex didn’t know very well how to respond, but she felt the need to say something. “I have a friend who said the same. He sailed on one of Tom’s ships years ago.”

The woman looked at Alex, and beyond the drunken stupor, some clarity shined behind her eyes. “Oh? And what did he think about it? Was it smooth sailing?”

Alex smiled just a little bit. “Not really, but he says it was the best ship in the world.”

The woman cackled, happily this time. “Of course it was! He made the best ships! Not even Iceburg or…” She trailed off, and Alex couldn’t tell if she had forgotten where she was going or she had done it on purpose. “Say, are you headed to Water 7?”

“Yes, why?”

“I need you to do me a favor. All this talk’s gotten me nostalgic and the Aqua Laguna will be here any day, so…” The woman walked to a counter, pulled out a notebook, wrote something, tore out the page and kissed it before folding it twice. She waddled back to Alex and gave her the paper. “Give this to Iceburg.”

Alex’s hand froze with the paper already in it. “I… don’t think I can do that. Isn’t he famous? How am I supposed to meet him?”

The woman brushed her concerns off like nothing, and Alex’s nerves didn’t appreciate that. “Nah, it’s not a problem. Go to Dock 1 in the afternoon, he’s usually there avoiding official duty. Tell them Kokoro sent you. That should be enough.”

“Okay…?” She said, still unsure. “I won’t promise anything, though.”

“No need for promises, just deliver it. I need a drinking buddy.” And she added, “You should go to Blueno’s bar while you’re there. The booze is cheap and the food is good, and that isn’t something you can’t say about many places in the city.”

“Oh?” This new topic was interesting. “Is it very expensive?”

Kokoro laughed. “You’ll see when you get there.”

That sounded ominous for her budget, and Alex didn’t feel too good about this ordeal she had been roped into because the last thing she wanted to do was enable an alcoholic lady. But maybe Iceburg would look after her…? They were longtime friends, according to her.

At any rate, there wasn’t much point in refusing the errand. If delivering the note happened to be too complicated, she could pass and no one would be none the wiser. Her priority was to find a ship and get to Sabaody the sooner, the better.

And when she was there, maybe tell her friends that she had met a friend of a friend.

❦

When Alex arrived to Blue station, she had to remind herself that she had several objectives in mind and sightseeing came second. She put on her sunglasses to block out the glare of the sun and its reflection on the water, and looked up.

In front of her stood a colossal city built upwards and turned fountain, with five different levels of construction that culminated in an upwards surge of water. It was collected by a series of canalizations that crossed the city from the top to sea level and divided the second tier in smaller areas.

Water 7 was one of the many independent state-islands in the area, and though not affiliated with the World Government – it hadn’t been a notable location at all, before the Sea Train that ironically connected it to Enies Lobby was put in motion – its globally renowned shipyards often worked on Marine ships and other vessels for people with important positions in the government. It was said that nowhere else in the world could you find better shipwrights than in Water 7, and the man famously acclaimed for it was Iceburg, current mayor and owner of the aforementioned shipyards. He had founded the Galley-La company a few years ago, recruiting the best shipwrights he could find for his behemoth of an enterprise, and it worked. Alex was actually excited to see firsthand what all the fuss was about.

But first things first, and before taking the mysterious note to the mayor, she needed to find the ship that would take her to the Sabaody Archipelago.

She got unnecessarily lost several times inside the labyrinth of canals and side streets because she refused to walk up to people and ask, but eventually, she found the Grand Canal of the island and the harbor where most ships docked.

It didn’t take her long to mind a means of transport, thankfully. The passenger ship departed the next day in the morning, and with a lot of pain, Alex had to fork over a good chunk of her remaining savings to secure a ticket on such short notice. It wasn’t the end of the world, since, she already counted on having to stay in Sabaody for a while to rebuild her budget, but it stung.

After the more pressing issue was dealt with, she took a walk around the area to find somewhere to eat, maybe try some local specialty, but she felt her hunger vanish when she looked at the prices of the menus outside. Kokoro had been right. What was the place she had mentioned… Bruno’s? Blueno’s? Yeah, that sounded familiar.

Unfortunately, a cursory glance didn’t reveal its location. If it was cheaper, it was probably somewhere less central, and if that was the case, she’d have more luck crossing the bridge to Green Bit unscathed than finding it without assistance.

Face with the unavoidable fact that she had to ask someone if she had any hopes of finding the place, she took a look around and decided she might as well procrastinate on it for as long as she could. She started to walk towards the upper part of the city, the Shipbuilding Island, where the docks were located, or so multiple signposts said. It really drove home that they were the main attraction of the city, more than the canals of the amazing architecture.

Getting there was going to take a while. She could have rented one of those cute Yagara boats, but she was cheap as hell, and, not less importantly, the critters seemed a little overenthusiastic. After the trip, all the walking she had done and the lack of food, she wasn’t in the mood to be social with anybody, human or not.

Maybe she would be lucky and come across Blueno’s place as she went to the shipyards. Yeah. That was a hopeful lie she could hang onto while she forced her body to walk way more than it was used to.

She hummed on her way up, singing to herself when she went through empty streets. As it turned out, the difficulty of reaching the shipyards by foot wasn’t finding the way up, but rather being in the proper sidewalk when she happened upon the next bridge or set of stairs, and after an hour she had lost count of the amount of times she had reached a dead end and had to turn back to the nearest bridge to cross the street and ascend, from the third instance onwards accompanied by a cranky ‘GAAAAH’ as she ran in the right direction. One would have thought this wouldn’t have won her any points with the locals, but she heard a few snickering at her and saying something in a language she didn’t speak but universally translated as ‘hahaha, tourists.’

She’d be the first to admit that going up that monumental city while carrying a backpack wasn’t her brightest idea, but she was damned if she was going to cave in at that point and rent the Yagara. She’d wash downstream on the way back if it came to that, but she had to get to the top now by her own means.

The moment she set foot on Shipbuilding island, she walked a few steps away from the staircase to not block it, dropped her backpack, and then her ass next to it to catch her breath.

When she recovered enough to raise her head instead of thinking how miserably sore she was going to be in the morning, she was greeted by an even better view than when she arrived to the Blue Station, and she pushed her glasses up for a moment to better see the colors of the city.

The lowest level of Water 7 extended below her, clusters of white houses and orange roofs covering the entire expanse of the island that wasn’t occupied by the canals. The wind blew harder at that level, too, with less obstacles in its path, since that part of the city was built on a steep incline, and it carried with it the spray of the central fountain, painting a timid rainbow across the sky. She imagined the view at night being just as stunning.

She chose to view this as the reward for her efforts, and then snorted at her the consolation prize of her own making.

As nice as it was to stare at the city and the sky and sea beyond, she was there with a double mission of getting the note to Iceburg and being a little nosy, so she looked at the monumental stone door she had just crossed with the number three painted on it. She was willing to go out on a limb and assume that that wasn’t Dock 1, so she began to circle around the area to find the next one, and once again she had to go the way she had come when she saw the next door had a four. Alex would be the first to agree that the most powerful force in the universe was cosmic irony, but after the sidewalk business while she made her way up there, this seemed a little excessive.

At least the circular shape of the area and the conveniently located bridges allowed her to cross over the canals with ease, saving her from getting lost again, and in a matter of minutes door number one, wide open, came into view.

At first she didn’t know where to go, since each dock could have easily been a town on their own. She began to walk upwards, wondering how was she supposed to find Iceburg and with little intent to go out of her way to find him if she didn’t have luck. A couple of minutes later, she noticed a group of townspeople standing in a half circle and staring at something. Alex decided to approach them and see what was going on. There was a good chance that the mayor himself was attracting the crowd, if he really was as popular as the rumors said.

Standing at a safe distance from the group, she realized that it was composed mostly by women, and she looked at whatever had them so interested. A man with his torso covered in tattoos was carrying a couple of long planks over his shoulder with surprising ease, and another one, farther away, was sawing a tree trunk so big that it couldn’t be for anything but a mast. He caught Alex’s attention because for some reason he was wearing a top hat that clashed horribly with the rest of his outfit and there was a pigeon sitting on a nearby pile of crates and watching him work with surprising focus. None of them, obviously, looked like mayor material.

Alex wasn’t sure what the crowd was doing there until she heard a hushed comment about the shipwright’s arms and being able to break concrete with those. Oh, God, they were there to ogle at the shipwrights? Alex wasn’t nearly straight enough for this. How was that even allowed? She took a step away from them, but by then a cheerful man wearing a tracksuit of questionable taste had noticed the group and acknowledged them with a wave and a smile. One of the girls swooned, and Alex died a little inside, then died some more because she had worked hard on leaving behind her ‘not like the other girls phase’ but the circumstances weren’t helping matters.

The other workers were busy, but the new face seemed to be free at the moment, he looked friendly, and she had come to the conclusion that she’d have to communicate with strangers if Kokoro’s note was to be delivered. She waved back at the man with the paper in her hand and something that resembled urgency on her face. She wasn’t hopeful, but to her surprise, he started to walk towards her. At the same time, the man with the top hat finished the cut he was making and the white pigeon stood up, cooed at tracksuit guy, and flew to rest on the shoulder of his coworker.

“Hattori is so cute,” one of the women said.

Alex didn’t know anymore who of the three was Hattori. She was even more confused when top hat guy passed near his colleague and the pigeon said, “I’ll take care of it.”

“Lucci’s coming our way!” One of the younger girls said, excited.

“Do you think he’ll pick another fight with Paulie today?”

“I hope so! Did you see what his fingers did to the—”

Alright, time to unplug from the conversation. She could guess that Lucci was the name of the man, because she didn’t think a pigeon, no matter how articulate, could inspire so much passion.

The name gave her pause.

Where had she heard it before? It sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Maybe she had heard someone talk about him at some point. He had to be a renowned shipwright if he was working in Dock 1 of Water 7, of all places.

Lucci was tall, but she didn’t realize just how much until he was right in front of her, staring her down in a way that, in any other context, she’d have assumed meant that he was about to snap her neck. Was he taller than Trafalgar Law, or did the top hat made him look like he was? She only knew that if she ever had the back luck of bumping into the guy, she would likely split her forehead against his pectoral muscles. The man was built like a classical marble statue with facial hair, tattoos, and a serious case of resting bitchface. She could empathize with him on the latter.

“Can I help you?”

Alex didn’t know whether to look at the pigeon or the man, and in a panic, she settled on the man because it felt wiser to not lose sight of him than a bird.

And what a bird. That pigeon was easily the size of her head.

“I met a woman named Kokoro at Shift Station. She asked me to give this note to mayor Iceburg,” she said, showing the folded note to him.

He extended a hand for her to pass the paper, and she wasn’t sure how ethical it was to let another person read a clearly personal note with a kiss stamped on it, but to be quite frank, she didn’t care and he and the close attention his group of fans was making her anxious.

A pair of strangely-shaped eyebrows lifted when he read the message.

“Kokoro?” The bird repeated. There had to be a trick there. That was a pigeon, not a parrot, they weren’t supposed be able to enunciate like humans. It was probably unreasonable of her to revoke her suspension of disbelief due to that when she knew there were so many strange creatures living in the Grand Line, but she had to draw the line somewhere. “Mayor Iceburg is doing his rounds right now. He should be here in a few minutes. You can wait for him over there,” he said, gesturing with a wing at a pile of neatly stacked timber across from where his owner had been working, and Lucci returned the note to her. “Don’t be noisy.”

“I wasn’t going to,” she retorted with a mix of indignation and embarrassment, reflexively taking a step away from him and the group she had just been associated with. The movement telegraphed against her will that she found him intimidating, which only served to embarrass her more. “Thank you.”

There really was no way anybody with functioning eyes could mistake her for one of the group. The ladies looked nice, and Alex looked like… well, she couldn’t tell, but she was glad she didn’t have a mirror on hand, because if she looked as sweaty as she felt, she wasn’t a pretty sight. The boots and big backpack on her back were also clear signs that she wasn’t from around there.

Wordlessly, Lucci returned to his job while Alex was left with the impression that she had just been made fun of, not that anybody could tell by the shipwright’s stony face. She relaxed a little when he left her alone, not in small part due to the attention of the group being lifted from her.

That place was nothing like the shipyards she was used to. Canals ran through it, same as in the city below, and led to other slide-like canalizations that connected to the lower levels. There were a lot of those all around the city, she had noticed, acting as roads for the Yagaras, and, she guessed in the case of the larger ones, to help transport the newly built or repaired ships from the docks to sea level.

Some time had passed when she caught sight of a blue-haired man in a striped suit walking in her general direction, closely followed by a blonde woman with a strict expression, and while he was busy inspecting the work of a shipwright, she noticed Alex was away from the crowd and made a beeline for her.

“Excuse me.” The tone of the pleasantry suggested that it was actually her who was excusing Alex’s presence. “Do you have any business here?”

Alex didn’t enjoy being talked down to, so the reply came out harsher that she meant. “As a matter of fact, I do.” When she realized how snappy she had sounded, she explained quickly, “I was told by Kokoro to deliver a message to mayor Iceburg, and he,” she gestured at Lucci, who was busy with his job and not paying them any mind, with the note, “said I could wait for him here.”

“Did he, now,” she replied, sending a skeptical glance at the man, and she extended her hand towards Alex. Someone must have pissed in her coffee that morning. “Let me see.”

That note was going to places, she thought, but the woman must have found its contents acceptable, because she returned it to Alex and told her, “Wait here.”

Alex was about to start having flashbacks of all the bureaucratic mess involved with her recent move out of Duster Town. The woman went to the man in the suit and directed him towards Alex while she walked over to Lucci to tell him something she wasn’t able to hear because she now had to pay attention to the mayor of the city.

“Hello,” he said, sounding much politer than the woman. “Kalifa tells me you have a message for me.”

It was curious, comparing the old descriptions she had heard of the man with his current appearance. He wouldn’t have been caught dead in a suit twenty years ago, for instance.

“Yes, from Kokoro. Here,” she said, finally giving the note to its intended recipient and feeling like she was set free from a curse.

“Hm?” He opened he note, and after just a split second his face turned into a grimace. “Ugh, gross!”

“Uh, what?” The note had already passed two filters, so she couldn’t imagine what could warrant that reaction.

He showed her the note and Alex read it for the first time. Same place, same time? It said. The lipstick imprint of the kiss was smudged and stained the whole page. Iceburg didn’t waste any time in crumpling the paper and tossing it over his shoulder.

“Thank you for delivering the message.”

“Mr. Iceburg! No littering!” The woman from before warned, but someone else replied to her.

“Don’t speak like that to Mr. Iceburg, you wretched woman! And show some property while you’re in the docks!”

The woman didn’t reply, but she sent a death glare to the man who had spoken up, and Alex could have sworn that she pulled down the zipper of her jacket lower than it already was, drawing an even bigger reaction from him.

“Nmaa, don’t mind them,” Iceburg said, sounding bored. WYou don’t seem from around here. Are you visiting?”

“Just passing by before the Aqua Laguna comes,” she replied. “But I wish I could stay longer.”

He smiled with something akin to pride. “It’s a good city, isn’t it? What have you seen so far?”

“Oh, well, I walked around the Grand Canal and the shopping district earlier, and I saw a bit of the city while I walked up here, but—”

“You walked here?”

Oh, this was so awkward. She should have tossed that note into the sea. “I’m a historian,” she replied, because that was an excuse that always curbed people’s curiosity. “I wanted to take my time exploring.”

“If that’s the case, have you seen the maritime museum yet? It’s near the Grand Canal, and there’s a showcase about the origins of the city right now.”

She wasn’t a big fan of museums, truth be told, but professional habit compelled her to go anyway. The list of places she had to visit didn’t seem to shrink. “No, but I’ll be sure to—Oh, that reminds me!” Might as well ask while she had his attention, she thought. “Kokoro recommended going to Blueno’s bar while I was here. Where can I find it?”

“Ah, good idea!” Iceburg’s face lit up. “Let’s see, what can we do… Since you don’t have a Yagara, let me ask Kalifa if she has a map of—”

“No need, Mr. Iceburg.” Someone else piped up. “It’s time for my break, so I can show her.”

The guy in the tracksuit from before was walking up to them, showing a warm smile.

“That would be perfect,” Iceburg replied, and the said to Alex. “This is one of our foremen, Kaku.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Kaku looked young and sounded old at once. “Likewise,” Alex replied. “I’m Alex.”

“Well then, Alex,” he said in a suspiciously cheerful tone. “I don’t have long, so we’ll have to get there in a jiffy. Are you ready?”

As ready as she was ever going to be until she had a good night’s sleep. “Sure. Whenever you…”

A not so inoffensive grin spread on Kaku’s face and he broke into a sprint in Alex’s direction, so fast that she couldn’t duck from his path before he threw an arm around her, easily lifting her from the floor, extra weight from the backpack and all, and he kept running toward the edge of the level and jumped.

She thought she yelled, but she couldn’t hear her own voice against the roar of the wind in her ears and her blood pressure rising at the absolute certainty that she was going to become a pancake, the only doubt being whether she’d be dry or wet at the bottom of a canal.

On reflex, she grabbed tightly onto the only thing available, which was Kaku’s arm firmly wrapped around her torso, and her grip was met with stone hard muscle. What was up with these shipwrights?

She saw Dock 1 get smaller and smaller at breakneck speed as she fell backwards, and she braced for impact and shut her eyes as the first rooftop approached, but they didn’t crash against it because Kaku did something before he hit it. She felt it in the shift of his body, like he had bounced off the surface.

Alex paid more attention to his feet after she realized she wasn’t going to die splattered against a rooftop, and the second time she saw it: right before his shoes touched the roof tiles, he jumped again, stepping on air, effectively creating the illusion that he was jumping from building to building.

The adrenaline-fueled fear of impending doom was suddenly replaced by cold dread.

She had seen that before. She knew what that was.

A civilian couldn’t possibly know how to do that.

So who was the man carrying her right now? The only thing separating her from certain death? Could he have learned to do that anywhere else or could it be a different technique? There was always a chance that he was retired, but he was so young, and already so skilled, and she knew for a fact that the Marines didn’t like letting go of those.

…Marines?

Where… where had she heard the name Lucci, again…?

She had to be imagining things, for sure, but she also had a strong feeling that she needed to take her leave from the island as soon as possible. She was sleeping with a gun under her pillow that night.

With a few last hops, Kaku landed on firm ground and Alex thanked her lucky stars when he put her down safely. She felt lightheaded, and wasn’t sure if it was because of the sudden freefall or that her all-consuming paranoia had her doubting the intentions of one of Galley-La’s foremen, which sounded increasingly stupid the longer her feet where in contact with solid stone.

“Here we are,” he said, gesturing at something behind Alex’s back.

Her reaction was slow, but when she turned around, she saw a door with a big red sign above that said Blueno’s.

She felt a pang of guilt for being afraid of the guy when he had done her a huge favor, albeit in a kind of dickish way. Dock 1 was a good ways away, and she would have given up if she had had to walk there. She looked at him and admitted, “That was pretty cool once I got over the heart attack.”

She still sounded kind of breathless and didn’t know if asking how he had learned to extreme parkour was a good idea.

Kaku laughed with joy that rang true. “My apologies about that. I rarely ever have company on the way down.”

She tried to picture Kaku grabbing Lucci the same way he had done to her and jumping down, and her brain broke during the attempt. “Yeah, I can’t imagine that colleague of yours with the top hat jumping down the…” She trailed off, interrupted by her own thoughts and questions about that other guy, and the pause became awkward. “Anyway—”

“You can ask,” he said, smiling.

She jumped at the opportunity. “Is he a ventriloquist?”

“It’s a hobby,” Kaku replied, amused, as he pushed the door open. “Ladies first.”

Alex didn’t know what it was with every strange man he came across lately that their courtesies sounded vaguely threatening, but she entered the venue, nonetheless.

It was much nicer than she had expected. The bartender was a wide man with a circle beard and hair sticking out like horns, and he was appropriately wiping a set of glasses behind the counter, like every barman should during their first introduction.

“Good afternoon, Blueno!” Kaku greeted him before Alex could say anything, going inside after her.

“Same as always?”

“Please.” He leaned against the bar. Alex sat on a barstool near him and tried to be emotionally ready to be the third wheel in two strangers’ interaction. “Oh, and something for the others, too. Whatever it is. We’re finishing a big repair today and you know how it goes.”

“Is it the Marine warship?”

“A windjammer for a private client. Working metal is a pain, and they want it yesterday.” He sounded displeased for the first time since they had met. “You can’t rush a good job.”

“The customer is never right,” Blueno agreed.

Kaku raised an eyebrow at him. “I hope that wasn’t directed at me.”

“Of course not,” Blueno’s reply sounded paternalistic. Alex could sense the history behind these two. “It’s odd to see you with someone else.”

Kaku put aside his mild annoyance to introduce her. “She’s Alex. She was visiting the shipyards and I brought her along on my way down.”

“Hi,” she said, looking for any other words she had learned during the course of her life and drawing a blank. Someone kill her, please.

“I see. I thought the landing sounded heavier than usual,” Blueno observed.

“Attentive as always.” Kaku commended him. “But what an awful thing to say to a young lady. She’s light as a two-by-four.”

“No offense meant,” Blueno said to her in good humor. “It’s part of the job.”

“None taken, I’m at least a four-by-four.”

There was a hint of a smile, on his face when he asked, “What will you have?”

“Whatever you recommend. I haven’t eaten since I woke up.”

“Can you believe she walked all the way to Dock 1 to sightsee?” Kaku chuckled. “I didn’t think historians were the sporty types.”

“You heard that?”

“I have pretty good hearing, too.”

“I can’t imagine what type of madman wouldn’t ride a Yagara to make that trip,” Blueno replied. No doubts about who he had in mind this time. “A historian, huh? I suppose this city’s fairly old.”

“The architecture’s really interesting.” She replied, finally reaching a topic that she could talk about. Though she was a bit concerned that they knew what she was because Suspicious Foreman was suspicious, she didn’t see what harm could come of it. “It’s impressive to think this is all supported by wood pillars.”

“They keep sinking year by year, though. At this rate, there won’t be a city in a few decades,” Kaku said, surprisingly grim.

“Thanks for showing me the rooftops while they’re still visible, then,” Alex joked in a weak attempt to bring his good mood back.

It worked. He had such a cute smile. “You’re more than welcome.” He turned to the bartender. “Now then, Blueno…”

“Right away,” the man replied, going into the kitchen and leaving Alex and Kaku alone for a few minutes.

A companionable silence, until Kaku broke it and his question put Alex on edge again. “Where do historians in the making study nowadays, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Marineford, mostly. There aren’t many places left.” The same people offering the current curriculum had made sure of it.

“And what drives someone so young to be so interested in history?”

She had been asked that question so many times, and the real answer was always curiosity. To learn the truths that shaped the present. She had the folder with the Poneglyph transcript in her backpack to account for that.

But even partial truths could be dangerous given her current situation, so she replied, “I could ask the same of you. How does someone so young get so good at building ships?”

There was a flash of surprise in his face at the question being turned against him. It was quickly substituted by one of his smiles, but Alex had the impression that he was very aware that she was deflecting on purpose. “I’ve liked them since I was a kid,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you why.”

She shrugged, mirroring his smile. “There’s your answer.”

He laughed lightly and turned to look at the bottles behind the bar with an amused expression. He didn’t insist or say anything else, and the more at ease he looked, the more anxious Alex grew.

It wasn’t long until Blueno showed up again with a bag full of sandwiches wrapped in paper in one hand and a towering plate of pasta with black sauce on the other that she set in front of Alex.

“Thanks,” Kaku said, putting the money on the counter and grabbing the bag. “See you later.” And he faced Alex one last time, lifting his cap a little in a polite gesture and revealing a blonde mass of curls. “It’s been a pleasure. Good luck on your travels.”

“Thank you!”

He left the bar, and his departure added to the leaning tower of pasta made her think that her day was starting to look up until she remembered that she had only mentioned she was leaving soon to Iceburg.

How long had he been listening in?

❦

She couldn’t sleep.

Despite her misgivings, the rest of the day had passed without incident. She booked a room for the night at an inn off the beaten path that Blueno had recommended, checked out the maritime museum, and nearly fallen asleep after half an hour because that was the effect that, sadly, most museums had on her. But she did see an old picture next to a Sea Train model of Tom, his two apprentices, and the master of Shift Station.

Time didn’t wait for anybody, she thought as she flexed her aching hands.

She ended up walking around again, this time only through the lowest district, rejecting even the mere sight of stairs, and saw a cape where someone had built the weirdest and most colorful house of the city. Near it was a scrapyard, and though she had no intentions of going close to either, a couple of locals told her to watch her belongings while she was there. It was a bit nostalgic.

It was difficult to believe, she thought as she stared at the ceiling of her room, that such a vibrant city was sinking under its own weight, and that as soon as the sea swallowed it, there would be nothing but stories being told about it. Maybe that was how those legends of ancient islands that disappeared came to be. Maybe Water 7 would become a legend to, a few centuries down the line.

She fidgeted with the stone around her neck, a nervous habit had for as long as she’d been wearing it. It was better than biting her nails, at least, but it looked weird when she wore it inside her clothes and unconsciously reached for it, so she did her best to avoid it.

She was very tired and sore from all that walking, but try as she might, she couldn’t turn off her thoughts. After way too much tossing and turning, she decided she would rather see more of the city than waste her time in bed. She could catch up on sleep when she boarded the ship to Sabaody, anyway.

She picked up the same pair of jeans she had been wearing all day, the black tank top she usually wore under her sweaters, and tossed around her shoulders the same red shawl she used to wear like a scarf in Harlun. It wasn’t cold outside, but the night breeze was somewhat chilly. Better safe than sorry.

She debated whether to pick up the gun in her backpack or leave it there, and she decided on the former. A present from her father when she came of age for the sake of her safety, and one she had never liked.

It wasn’t too late yet, only a few minutes past 10 PM, and there was still a healthy flow of people on the streets. Alex made her way to one of the many Yagara rental shops still open and paid for one of the small ones. There she went, defeating her own purpose like the hypocrite she was.

“One question,” she told the shop owner as she settled on the boat, “Are the docks open at this hour?”

“They usually leave the doors open, yeah. Sometimes there’s people working at night.” He replied. “Why, you want to go now?”

“I was thinking of checking out the view from the highest part of the city.”

“That so? Then you just need to go up one of the main canals in the Shipbuilding Island.”

“Thanks!” She said, and then patted the Yagara on the head. It was cold, wet and scaly. “Can you bring me to Dock 1? There’s no hurry.” She had seen one of them speeding through a canal early and she was not ready for that.

The Yagara uttered a high-pitched guttural sound that no fishlike creature had any business doing and started to swim at a relaxed pace.

Alex didn’t know how long it took them to get to their destination, distracted as she was watching the city from a different viewpoint, but the higher they went, the less people that seemed to be out. By the time they reached Dock 1, the area was devoid of human presence, and all the ship parts and materials Alex had seen in the morning had been either moved somewhere safer or covered by tarps to protect them from the weather.

The Yagara continued its slow ascent through the canal that separated Dock 1 and 2, and the base of the fountain wasn’t too far when she heard hammering sounds. Someone was still working.

Curiosity, as was usual, got the best of her and she told the Yagara to slow down. Whoever was there also noticed her presence, because the hammering stopped.

A man stepped under the light of a streetlight, hammer in hand, to check out the canal, and Alex realized with surprise that he was none other than Water 7’s mayor, though he had shed the jacket and shirt. He was wearing only an undershirt with those awful striped pants from before and business shoes.

“Who’s there?” He asked.

Alex realized the light didn’t reach her, so he was probably just seeing a shadow, and in the deserted dock it had to be more than a little unnerving. She nudged the Yagara towards the light and replied, “It’s me from before! Sorry to interrupt, I was just passing by!”

Iceburg looked at her with interest and approached her, so she thought it was only polite to step out of the boat.

“Where are you going at this hour?” He asked, stopping at arm’s length of her.

“I was trying to get to the top of the city.” She smiled apologetically. “I’m sightseeing.”

He relaxed upon hearing the explanation, and with a smile, he said, “Glad to see that the scare from earlier didn’t kill you.”

It was official, everybody in Dock 1 had decided to pick on her. “It could have!” She replied. “Does he do that often?”

“Jumping? Yes, but most of the time he doesn’t take people with him. He did it to Paulie once and he was foaming at the mouth when they landed. Never heard the end of it for a week." The fondness with which he spoke betrayed that he hadn’t minded the aftermath as much as the words suggested.

She didn’t know who Paulie was, but he was justified in being upset. She also thought that it was nice to meet a boss that seemed to appreciate his workers. “I don’t see other shipwrights around. Are you working here alone?”

“Nmaa…” he started lazily, “I sent them home. The heavy lifting was done; I can finish it myself.”

Iceburg may have been a shipwright before becoming president of the company, but Alex hadn’t expected him to do manual labor when he had paid other people for it. “The windjammer?”

“Kaku told you?” He sounded pleased, and he answered the unspoken question from before. She assumed he got it a lot. “My day job is meetings, papers and ass kissing all day long. I prefer this.”

This was much easier to reconcile with the stories she had heard of Water 7. “I can’t say I’d mind the papers, but the rest sounds exhausting.”

“Bodies need to move. Weren’t you doing field research today?”

“By accident.” She couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face. He was easy to talk to, and seeing this side of him, she didn’t feel like she had to watch her words so much. “I’m trying to find a way home. Train and ship schedules brought me here.”

“You chose a difficult time of the year to sail. Is it far away?”

She nodded lightly. “It’s still a ways away.” Nonetheless, she was glad for this detour. Maybe that was why she found the courage to say, “I have a friend who came to this city about twenty years ago. He said you worked on his ship.”

Maybe it was because she lost filters when she was tired.

“Is that so?” He said, curious. “I’ve worked in many ships. Things were very different back then.” He glanced away, at the district that had only taken this shape a few years ago, thanks to him. “Did the ship do its job?”

She wondered what to say. Nothing that could do it justice, for sure. “Brought them to the end of the world, in fact.”

She wished she had been there to see it.

Iceburg’s eyes widened with surprise, and after a short, contemplative silence, he said, “That ship took much from us.” There was hurt in his voice. “I think Tom knew it would be one of his last, so he put his everything in it. He would have done anything for his friends.”

It was easy to forget that every great story had real people behind it. “Sorry for bringing it up.”

He shook his head. “We never regretted it, so… don’t. It was a magnificent ship. Tom’s best work, after the Sea Train.” He paused. “Is your friend okay?”

“Doing alright for sure. He’d be all over the papers if something happened to him.”

“That’s good to hear.” A smile that reached his eyes came back only to morph into a sigh in an instant. “Well, I need to go back to…”

“Of course!” She said very quickly. “Sorry for holding you up. It was a pleasure to meet you.” And to put a face to the stories, too.

“I should say the same,” he said, and it didn’t sound like an empty pleasantry. “Fair winds on the way back home.”

“Thank you.”

As he started to walk away, Alex hopped back on the boat and pulled the shawl tighter around her. Perhaps she should have put on a jacket, after all.

The view from the top of the district was as spectacular as she had hoped.

❦

She wasn’t sure how she got up from bed the next morning. Must have been the fairies that pushed her upright, because everything hurt and she was so exhausted that she couldn’t even open her eyes after a thorough face wash. Somehow, she managed to drag her feet to the dining room and have a light breakfast. Bless the laziness that had prevented her from changing into her pajamas again before she dropped on the bed when she returned from the docks, because she didn’t think she’d have been able to stick her legs in the right holes of the jeans.

She returned to her room, triple checked to make sure she wasn’t leaving anything behind, and checked out of the inn.

Despite the brief but intense stay, and the uneasy feeling she had since she had met Kaku, she didn’t really want to go, but she had done the right thing booking passage for the ship to Sabaody. Imagine getting stuck in a city next to one of the government’s main islands because of a high tide. No, thanks, she hadn’t come this far to fail when she was a week away from her destination.

So it was with a bit of regret that Alex boarded the passenger ship that would carry her to the archipelago, but she had always been good at ignoring what she felt like doing in favor of what had to be done, and this was going to be no exception.

From the deck, she saw a pirate ship sail past them, black flag with a straw hat billowing in the wind.

#what are tags even and what are titles #degrees of separation

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the-goddess-of-mischief-writing · 4 years

Text

The aftermath {2}

Chapter summary; After he left the gym, he hadn't been seen the whole day. But by the evening he appears, cheeks reddened from the chilly air and with a distant look in his eyes. What is the shadows that cling to yours and Bucky’s back?

Pairing: Bucky x reader

Rating: Mature

CHAPTER NO/ONESHOT: Chapter 2/2

Word count; 3.290

Warnings; of course caring Steve makes an appearance, heart-tugging angst, tooth-rotting fluff

Author: @the-goddess-of-mischief-writing

SERIES MASTERLIST

"Have you seen Bucky?" You looked up at Steve which you ran into while, at this point, aimlessly walking around. His brows furrowed, eyes hinting in a confusion that wasn't present seconds earlier.

"I thought he would be with you?"

"He was this morning, we sparred until Nat came an interrupted"

"Did you really spar then?" He mused and you slapped his chest.

"Yes, we were very well sparring, thank you for asking Rogers", he laughed at your defensive outburst, but you continued without putting any more thought into it. "As I said, last time I saw him was then and I wanted to talk to him afterwards...", you trailed off in the end, not knowing how to word your thoughts. However, Steve, who knew you well enough to be your brother, noticed the shift and immediately knew what it indicated.

"How was he?"

"He seems to be good, don't get me wrong but", you hesitated to say the rest. The brunette had since long ago begun being able to talk about his problems more freely and by own accord. He often spoke to you, a reliable comfort he found, but he also went to Steve. The times when he didn't talk, like today, were few and far between and they worried you more than the topics he sometimes brought up.

"But?"

"But something's wrong Steve. He didn't sleep well tonight but he didn't say it himself, neither why he didn't", you and Bucky had your separate rooms, although more times then not you slept in the same. Last night had been one of those which you didn't, you needed to finish work-related stuff, so by the time you were done you didn't want to disturb Bucky and resided on your own floor. "That's not all he's going back to old habits, he behaves like he did when he first came. He finds some comfort with me, but as soon as Nat entered he began closing up, not showing as much", you finished and you saw the worry in Steve's eyes lightened like a small fire.

"I know he still has his troubles, however, he hasn't behaved like this since, well, he got here. Neither has he mentioned anything that could’ve triggered it, not to me at least", you shook your head in confirmation, he hadn't told you anything that could be the cause of this either.

"I don't want to pressure him", the thought of asking Stark where the man had gone had passed your thoughts multiple times as you searched for him, but never happened. Bucky needed the time for himself, like anyone else, but you knew of the bad habit he had of thinking too much. "But neither do I want him to put himself down", you sighed. A move of continuing the walk was interrupted by Steve when you felt his hand on your shoulder. His eyes were the same calming blues that they always been as he looked down at you.

"Meanwhile just remember to not do the same to yourself, how much it ever is his habit, it's also one of yours", he told you and you smiled

"I'm the psychologist here", you and him both chuckled before he continued.

"And never forget he isn't far away, even if the fool wants to, he can't leave you. You mean to much to him", you wished Steve could feel the reassurance and warmth his words spread through you.

The blonde man did in fact, the radiance from you seemed to brighten and he knew your thoughts about Bucky always played a part in it. Opening his arms, he pulled you in for a hug. He always knew it was a way for you to anchor yourself, but he couldn't deny it did the same to him. Since the first time he'd done it, when your frustrated sobs rocked trough you during the conflicting thoughts you had about joining the team after what you've done, he'd found comfort in the display. He couldn't be more grateful for the help you gave him when Bucky joined. Without it and you, he didn't know how his friend would be, neither him for the matter. You meant so much to him and he knew you meant at least as much to the brunette. He was happy the two of you found each other.

"You should go, you never know when your brooding soldier returns", he pulled a burst of laughter from you while you stepped out form the embrace.

"Better do, don't want him finding me in the arms of his best friend", he couldn't help but laugh himself.

"Don't think I have a chance, you always liked brunettes more", you chuckled and felt joy push away the worry you earlier felt. "And neither do I want to fight someone with a metal arm again"

"Don't sound like such a brother", you jutted your finger in his ribs, a recoiling action following it. "And I'll hold him back so you can get a big enough head start", he chuckled while beginning to walk away.

"Good, I think I'll need it", you smiled and shook your head while heading the other direction.

You'd headed directly to Bucky's room after you'd eaten something, while doing so you passed Steve's. You knew the last-mentioned had numerous things on his schedule for the rest of the day, whereas the first-mentioned had none and that was why you wondered why both of their quarters were empty. For a few hours, you busied yourself with finishing up another mission report you'd brung. By filing the information it stopped your mind from wandering, wandering to your concern about Bucky. When the report was done you placed it on your left side on the desk, quickly grasping the folder on the opposite side. Opening it you read through some of the information for a future mission. You would go to Spain, together with Sam and Clint along with Nat as a backup. Sources confirmed an associate to Hydra, a millionaire who had sponsored their projects, had been spotted in his supposed vacation house there. He would be given some time to settle in, therefore the mission wasn't scheduled for about two more weeks. Your fingers gripped the page, intending on turning it but your eyes stopped on one word. Hydra. It didn't pass your line of thought regularly, but the word had an attachment to both yours and Bucky’s past.

Now it was well past afternoon and still no sight of your soldier. Expectantly you looked at the door as if he would have had a comically good timing. But no one opened it. He isn't far away. Steve's words made you sigh and put down the folder, only to pick up a book instead.

The bed was soft under you, the book an interesting one, but you didn't acknowledge either. You read the pages but felt like you would've needed to do it again to understand them. A noise you waited for and listened closely to hear was what pulled you out of your state.

"Bucky?" You looked towards the door, now open and showing him. Eyebrows raised high enough so that you couldn't see them as the rim of his cap hid them.

"Y/N? What are you doin' here?" He closed the door behind him as he shuffled into the room. The black cap was enough for you to notice he'd been outside, he never wore it otherwise. But the jacket over his henley, opened and slightly damp ensured your guess.

"I just wanted to talk", you put down the book, not caring if it closed as you would need to re-read it anyway. "But I couldn't find you after this morning", his gaze met yours as you walked closer and you still noticed the haziness they held. You didn't stop until you were close enough to lift your hand and place it on the side of his face. It was cold, bitten by the chilly air outside. His eyes dropped close feeling your, in comparison, warm hand on his cheek.

" 'Bout what doll?" He asked, new drowsiness lacing his voice.

"About what is worrying you", his eyes opened, as if his peace was disturbed. Eyes flickered over your face before he took a step to the side, your hand left in hanging in the air as he headed towards the centre of the room. "Bucky what's on your mind?" You softly called after him while turning so you could follow. He didn't stop, not until he threw his jacket, which he shrugged of while walking, over the couch's backside.

"It ain't anything important", he smiled but it looked hollow, like the one he'd given you while leaving this morning. You didn't believe him, his demeanour showing everything but him being ok. But you found yourself nodding, asking him something else instead to get the answer you wanted.

"So where did your daily adventure take you?" You circled his waist when came to stand in front of him and he smiled down at you.

"Took a walk, went to the museum...", he trailed off when he saw the look in your eye. For a second it looked like a light made them flicker and he knew you understood.

He visited the museum even though he, by now, knew what was on every information board. Idly walking through the massive building he hadn't fully stopped until the exhibition of the second world war. Watching the videos, looking at photos he'd beginning to think back to those times. Remembering how he'd been. While he walked around he'd created the scene from his imagination, when you'd done the same thing with Steve. He imagined how the two of you walked around until you stopped on a similar place as he, watching the holographic picture of him. He still didn't know what your reaction had been when his friend told you about him, but he knew how you reacted when visiting with him. Content and with a calm smile on your features you walked around, reading and looking at the historical things, that was what he witnessed. He noticed that it calmed you down and made your thoughts focused, a kind of calm heaven, one which also had become his.

You knew Bucky didn't go to the museum that often by himself and when he did it was usually something troubling him. His head dropped as soon as you presumed he saw your understanding.

"You knew from the beginning didn't you?" You opted to nod as he glanced at you. He sighed and you saw it came from the deepest part of him. You shifted your hold, from his waist to his face.

"I pointed it out this morning and I know it hasn't changed since", you stroked the opposite side of his face from what you did earlier. He watched you, while small strands of hair fell down from behind his ears.

"What did I do to ever deserve you?" You smiled at his question and took closer to hug him closer, although he stepped back, keeping a certain distance between you.

"I'm serious, what did I do to deserve you doll?" The nickname felt like a knife instead of a blanket. You recognised the look in his eyes, it was the one you remembered seeing when he woke up from a nightmare. Panicked and scared.

"You were and continue to be yourself", he shook his head, not accepting it as an answer.

"No, what have I really done?", he questioned and you noticed his voice cracking in the end. "I haven't been myself, not until recently when I'm becoming better. You haven't met the real me, you've only seen him in the museum".

"Bucky, look at me", he did and you continued when having his attention. "I have met the real you, I have gotten to know him and he's standing in front of me right now. I can't meet the man in the museum, because you know what, he is dead", you saw the glisten of tears when you gently stated it and the involuntary flinch. You hated to say it, but it needed to be.

"You can never be him again, too much has happened to you for it to even be reasonable", you watched him carefully as you inched closer. "You're still James Buchanan Barnes, the man I love, but you're not the same man as people read about in that museum".

Bucky hated that he knew what you said was true, he hated that he never would become his old self. But he saw it hurt you too. The tears he felt in his own eyes was present in yours too. You looked so small when standing this close, your gentleness radiating enough from him to see that you didn't want to hurt him. What you said then, however, caught him off guard.

"You should now, I tried every time to not think about it, but I knew since the start that you wouldn't be the same, it was impossible. But I never said it, never to you or Steve", he wanted to meet your eyes, but they were cast down, so he made you. Lightly hooking your chin on his finger he lifted it up, seeing the tears falling down. "You never knew that since you have gotten better, I started believing what Steve said", he knew what his friend said, that you'd been one big part of getting him better. It was true, he didn't feel comfortable with you in the beginning, but something with you always eased him. He found that sooner rather then later he enjoyed being around you, a comforting feeling always enveloped him when was.

"I started believing, but then it turned into hope", he saw the quiver on your lip as you continued. "It's an unfulfilling dream. My hope was that I could be the person who made your problems go away. I know it's silly, it doesn't work like that, I out of anyone should know", you huffed out a sad laugh. You looked up at him but your gaze never lingered on the same place for long.

"I feel like I'm not enough", your low muttered voice made his heart swell and a tear finally fell down his cheek.

It was with seconds notice you saw the tear fall before he pulled you close enough for it to be impossible. Your head rested against him and you felt your own eyes widen when he dipped his head only to press it into your hair and neck.

"Oh Y/N", his voice trembled and you were glad he was so close, otherwise you wouldn't have heard it. "Your enough, more then so", the hand on your lower back, the other between your shoulder blades cradled you closer. You hadn't noticed that you, as a reaction, had raised your hand to his neck, drawing unknown patterns on it.

"You've done so much that you never should feel like that", he raised his head from your neck to watch you. While doing so he shifted his hold. Instead of pressing you closer, he held your face in both of his hands. This made your arms fall, to rest on his lower chest.

"If anyone should, I'm the one. You deserve more than a broken man", you stared up at him.

"In your own words you may be a broken man, but you're my broken man", the first smile graced his lips when you said it and he let his forehead rest against yours.

"And you are my hope", your eyes fluttered close when you noticed his did. The gentlest touch of his lips to yours settled the unsaid promise. They weren't cold, not even chilled as you guessed they would've been before. The only cold that was present was his metal hand, the glove he wore when going outside discarded with the jacket earlier. He parted from you, his breath fanning over yours. You opened your eyes, staring back into his stormy blue.

"God I love you", he whispered, his lips so close they just touched yours. A smile formed on your lips, matching the one he had earlier.

"And never stop believing I won't love you right back", he chuckled lowly, the sound deep and soothing.

"I think I distinctly remember you saying that this morning", his thumb brushed over your cheekbone and when he stopped, you felt heat rush to the place by how he looked at you. He had a lovesick expression on his face when you took his hands in your own, reaching up to peck him on his lips, then nose and cheek.

"About that", you pecked him on the other cheek. "I remember something about a reward", a smirk conveyed his lips as you returned to them, lingering a bit longer, enough for him to kiss you back.

"I think I do too, now when you remembered me", the smirk was still on his face when he continued. "You owe me five of them"

"If I counted right, that was five kisses", you smirked and he lifted a brow, a smugness on his face. You bit your lip, trying to conceal the laughter that bubbled up.

"So that's the reward we go for, hm?" He slid his hands down, on the outside of your arms not to break up your grip. He encircled your waist and while you thought he would pull you close against him, he didn't. He started to walk backwards, pulling you along. His eyes were on yours the whole time and you couldn't tear away from his gaze.

When he reached the end of the bed he sat down elegantly, whereas you weren't as graceful. He'd tugged you down, your grip on his shirt tightened by instinct when you crashed down into his chest. He'd pulled you closer, so much you now straddled him, knees on either side of his hips. The pose elevated you, so he now looked up instead of the other way around. You glanced from his eyes to his lips, which was parted slightly.

"Well I should give you yours then", he uttered seconds before his lips crashed to yours. It was more intense than the ones you'd given him. One hand rested on your waist, its grip tightened and you didn't know if it was involuntarily or not, the other was entangled in your hair, angling it to his liking as he pressed you closer. The touch of his tongue made you refocus. You granted him entrance and by the intensity following, it wasn't long before you broke away in need for air. He trailed kisses to your ear and gingerly placed one beneath it. A shiver spread form the place and together with what Bucky said you felt your whole buddy buzz.

"I'm happy with you", he whispered.

Forever taglist: @flowerchild1216 @haven-in-writing @krystallynx @lancsnerd @thejamesoldier

Series taglist: @buckysforeverprincess

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vagrantblvrd · 5 years

Note

I would love anything Turnfreewood!

Lol, I was sorting my music collection when I had the perfect idea for your prompt, friend!

Vaguely noir-ish AU inspired by some songs from the game Contrast?

Private detective Ryan who used to be a cop before he left the police force.

Something, something, something shady business going on with corrupt cops and the like and idealistic idiot that he was he tried to expose it? But the baddies found out what he was doing and went after his partner, got them killed.

And Ryan, he’s not overly idealistic or anything, but he’s young, right. Got a real good look at how high the corrutption he was trying to expose went. How far-reaching, and in case he hadn’t realized that for himself he gets some visitors not long afterward.

Nice. Friendly. Letting him know if he kept pushing things his family might meet with some trouble of their own. (Ryan can’t be everywhere, you know? Can’t be on guard 24/7 to look out for the people closest to him - RIP his partner, btw - and so on.

The usual.

So Ryan.

He hates it, but they have a point, don’t they.

He’s just this little idiot in over his head and tells his family and friends some story about being forced to face his mortality while he was bleeding out in that alley with his partner. Waiting for backup that got there too late to do his partner any good, almost too late to save him and he lost the taste for being a cop.

Quits the force and leaves town (runs away) and kicks around for a little bit, gets all bitter and cynical and such and has these ~adventures that land him in, idk. Achievement City or Los Santos or somewhere.

(This feeling in the back of his head that things aren’t over, and he’ll have to face up to it sooner or later but that’s a future problem and why not try to forget about it for now?)

The kind of adventures where someone jokes he should become a private investigator because he’s more or less been solving crimes/cases in those adventures of his?

Supposed to be a joke, but it’s not like Ryan’s got anything else going on in his life at the moment, so private investigator it is!

Leases a little office somewhere and somehow manages to pull in enough business to pay the bills and tuck some away towards his savings. (Has to dip into said savings every so often for repairs/medical bills/whatever caused by cases and all that.)

And then one day someone walks into his office with a case. Something to do with a dead relative and a missing will. Or maybe it’s someone being blakmailed and someone mentioned Ryan as being both reliable and discreet and all that good stuff. (That, Ryan suspects, or no one would miss him/be all that bothered/surprised he got in over his head on one of his cases.)

Whichever it is, he’s in enough trouble financial-wise the money he’s being offered is too good to pass up, or worse? The client mentions the name of someone Ryan owes big-time who sent the client his direction with the expectation Ryan would know better than to say no.

SO.

Ryan takes the case and does all this Private Investigating.

Goes to his usual contacts and snitches around the city. Trustworthy and reliable ones and ones he can trust to look out for their own best interests and bribe/threaten them for what information he can get out of them. (And then figure out what’s true and bold-faced lies and working from there.)

Gets followed by Suspicious Sorts. Offered money to drop the case and send his client looking elsewhere for help and all that.

Gets into a back alley scuffle where he doesn’t quite come out on top but doesn’t leave with his tail between his legs either.

Goes to ground for a bit while he puzzles over what he knows, maybe goes to see his buddy in the police department here, and boy is Geoff ever not thrilled to see him.

“Seems like the only time I see you around is when you need something, Haywood,”

And Ryan being all scruffy and charming at him until Geoff sighs and tells him to go find Jack who will be able to give him what they’re allowed to without crossing any lines with ethics and the whatnot.

Jack is just as not-thrilled to see Ryan - goes all “What’s with the black eye?” the same way Geoff did and sighs as he hands over the files Ryan asks for. Tells him he’s an idiot and that Geoff and Jack didn’t see him, haven’t seen him in weeks. (And for fuck’s sake, don’t get killed idiot. the paperwork’s a bitch.)

Ryan all lol as he takes the files home with him and goes over them there. Just as confused about what the hell he’s gotten himself into this time, but!

There’s this one clue that has him sighing because he knows someone who knows someone who might - might - help.

Just has to do a little begging first.

SO.

He goes down to this little bar Meg runs with live singers and performers and all that? Trevor at the piano who flirts outrageously with Alfredo who’s one of the bouncers along with Jeremy.

Lindsay’s there doing whatever it is Lindsay feels like most days as far as Ryan can figure out? Michael’s a bartender/bouncer/whatever along with Fiona, and every once in a while one or both of them end up on stage because reasons?

All that.

Meg performs a few times a week, sings and dances or whatever else and sometimes Ryan heads there when he’s not working on a case because it’s one of the few places in town he’s actually welcome with open arms and all that.

Mariel handles most of the business side of things and Tyler is in charge of security and the like? (Something???)

Anyway.

Odds are good there are more things going on there than what the public sees - Meg and the others know way too much about what goes on in the city to explain otherwise - but Ryan’s never asked, (Learned better than that a long time ago.)

The first time he goes there during his current case Meg’s rehearsing on stage.

Middle of the afternoon and the place is closed to customers, but Ryan’s got a standing invitation to come by anytime he feels like it and everything. Good friends with Meg and the main players there and on good terms with everyone else.

Ryan walks in just as Meg starts singing this song, smiles when she looks over and catches his eye because they’ve got this Complicated relationship going on, you know?

On and off again and no hurt feelings (well, anymore, but all the grief she gives him is definitely deserved, okay.)

When she finishes the song she shoos everyone else working to deal with bar business and whatnot and takes Ryan over to a corner booth to talk business because he’s got the look he gets when he’s on a case.

When he fills her in on what he’s been up to the last few days she just. Gives him this look because fucking Christ, Ryan’s an idiot?

Getting all tangled up in Serious Business and such and oh, honey. That black eye looks awful.

Some flirting and concern and Meg despairing of Ryan and his life choices before she gives in and tells him what she can, promises to ask around for him, and oh, hey.

Maybe go see Gavin and what he can dig up for Ryan?

Which.

Yikes, because Gavin is part of this Complicated relationship Ryan has with Meg?

Part of this on again off again relationship the three of them ever quite manage to make work - timing’s always off and all that - but the times it does work are pretty great?

Just.

He’s good with Meg at the moment, but Gavin’s still kind ticked at him?

Something, something, something Ryan on a case and getting Gavin involved and the kind of shenanigans that almost got Gavin killed? Unpleasant reminder Ryan’s not infallible, that he got his old partner killed and oh, God, because he clearly didn’t learn his lesson if he’s putting Gavin - ad Meg - in the line of fire?

So he does what he thinks he has to to drive Gavin away and leaves things between them on a bad note. Meg saw what he was doing and stopped Ryan before he could try it with her too, but she warned him he was making a mistake and that he better apologize to Gavin make it up to Gavin or Ryan would regret it?

So of course he doesn’t, and Meg is just. Not angry, just disappointed and while Gavin figured out why Ryan did what he did, he’s not forgiven him for it. (Yet.)

ANYWAY.

Complicated because Ryan’s an idiot and Meg and Gavin are definitely aware of that fact, yes, Waiting for Ryan to get his shit together and figure out what he wants.

(In the meantime they’re..not-quite in a relationship? Like. Showing up as one another’s plus one at functions and seeing movies or going out to dinner together and such but aren’t Officially Dating, because waiting on their idiot and all.)

Ryan goes off to see Gavin who’s like. Freelance photographer or hacker or something, and they argue and bicker. Are about to move on to bantering, like maybe they’re ready to start dealing with their idiot issues when the guys who have been trying to intimidate Ryan into dropping his case make a move.

The whole fight in a dark alley/street and running from the baddies to end up back at Meg’s bar after closing time.

She’s just.

SIGH at these idiots and sits them down at that back corner booth to path themselves up/talk and goes to give them privacy as she deals with…other stuff? IDK.

Ryan and Gavin are patching one another up and don’t realize Meg’s finished up in her office and is playing a song over at the piano as tjhey talk and Ryan apologizes to Gavin.

But when they do, they look over and Meg’s got this little grin on her face because ridiculous and then like.

Smooches, probably?

More shenanigans that involve at least one (1) gunfight and a kidnapping or two (Gavin, of course and he’s super not thrilled at always being the damsel in distress, but Meg thinks it’s hilarious.)

A car chase and/or cat and mouse scene in an abandoned warehouse and Ryan solving his case to the relief/delight of his client and Ryan being like Jesus Christ, why does he keep doing this to himself? because he’s all bruised and battered and his car is probably a complete loss as far as the insurance company is concerned.

In the end he breaks even financially, but he’s made up with Gavin and has a date that Friday night with him and Meg and hey, things could have gone worse???

(That whole bit about his Tragic Backstory RE his former career as a cop definitely comes back to bite him in the ass in a future adventure, too. Wacky, zany adventures with many life-threatening moments and close calls with Meg and Gavin and good guys putting the bad guys in their places and more smooches before the credits roll. Or…something, yes.)

#ragehappy #turnfreewood #noir-ish au #vagrant fic #prompt fills #Anon #Anonymous #technically not a fic

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plantaardigegezichtsverzorg-blog · 4 years

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Working with a Home Health Care Employee

Plantaardige gezichtsverzorging

---------------------------------------------------------------

Working with a Home Health Care Employee

Supplying the primary care for an older loved one can be difficult. When you are unable to deliver all the elder treatment yourself and support via friends, family, and neighborhood organizations is not enough, it could be useful to hire a home medical care worker. He or she can offer proper care from a few hours a week for you to 24 hours a day, and can provide a great many other helpful services. Types of in-home health care services include:

Overall health Management like administration associated with medication or other topical treatments Personal care such as showering, oral hygiene, dressing, and also shaving Nutrition help just like preparing meals, assisting ingesting, and grocery shopping Homemaking expert services including laundry, dishwashing, and lightweight housework Companionship for example looking at to the senior or getting them on walks

Prospecting and Interviewing Applicants

There are numerous avenues for hiring a house health care employee. Generally, residence health care workers can be chosen directly or through an firm. Home health care agencies frequently have a staff that includes social personnel and nurses that will control your care. However choosing an independent home health care member of staff is generally more cost effective, it will also offer you more control over the form of care you receive.

Senior property care workers should be cautiously screened for proper exercising, qualifications, and temperament. Totally discuss the needs of the parent care recipient during job interview with a prospective home healthcare employee. There should be a composed copy the job description as well as the type of experience you are looking for.

Sources

Have applicants fill out a jobs form that includes the following data:

Full name Address Phone number Time of birth Social Security number Informative background Work history

Just before hiring, you should ask to choose the senior home care worker's licenses and certificates, when applicable, and personal identification which includes their social security credit card, driver's license, or photo IDENTITY.

References should be checked out carefully. Prospective employees should give the employer with names, schedules of employment, and cell phone numbers of previous employers as well as how to contact them. It is best to discuss directly to previous employers, instead of9124 to accept letters of advice. Also ask the consumer to provide or sign down on conducting a court records check

Special Points to Consider

Ensure the person you are considering hiring can really carry out the tasks the folk care recipient requires, for instance transferring the senior to help and from a wheelchair or maybe bed. Training may be obtainable, but make sure the staff completes the training successfully just before hiring him or her.

No one really should be hired on a seven-day-a-week schedule. Even the most dedicated staff will soon burn out. All personnel need some time to take care of their private needs. No worker ought to be on call 24-hours a day. In the event the elder care recipient desires frequent supervision or attention during the night, a family member or next home health care worker must be able to help out or fill in.

Live-in assistance may seem to be far more convenient and economic than by the hour or per-day employees yet there can be drawbacks. Food and accommodations costs must be calculated to the total cost of care, and it also could be difficult to dismiss an individual without immediate housing choices. If you decide to utilize a live-in agreement, the employee should have his own lifestyle quarters, free time, and enough sleep.

Job Expectations along with Considerations

Before hiring a senior citizen home health care worker, you ought to go over the tasks you expect them how to perform and other issues, including promptness, benefits, pay scale, getaways, vacations, absences, and warning announcement time needed for either boss or employee before career is terminated. If you job and are heavily dependent on your house health care worker, emphasize the significance of being informed as soon as possible if they is going to be late or lacking so that you can make alternative preparations. Be clear about notification necessary for time off, or what to do in case the home health care worker activities a personal emergency that requires these phones abruptly leave work. You should have a backup list of close friends, family, other home health care workers, or a home medical agency you can call on.

Be apparent, be plain, be manifest about issues concerning earnings, payment schedule, and repayment or petty cash cash for out of pocket expenditures.

You should spend the day with all the home health care worker in the first day to make sure you happen to be both in agreement over the way to carry out daily tasks. It could also be helpful to supply the household health care worker with a set of information on the elder treatment recipient such as: special diet plans, likes, dislikes, mobility difficulties, health issues, danger signs to be able to, possible behavior problems in addition to accompanying coping strategies, treatment schedule, therapeutic exercises, eye-glasses, dentures, and any prosthetics.

You should also provide the following facts to your home health care worker: your current contact information, emergency contacts, safety precautions and access to tips, clothing, and locations regarding washing/cleaning supplies, medical products, light bulbs, flashlights, fuse field, and other important household things.

Transportation

Another big thing to consider in hiring a senior house care worker is just how he or she is going to get to do the job. If they do not have a reliable auto or access to public transportation, then you might want to consider using the services of someone to drive him or her, that will be more economical than using taxis. Inform your insurance company in the event the home health care worker will probably drive your car when looking after the senior. Your insurance firm will perform the necessary generating background checks. If the home health-related worker is using his or her car or truck to drive the elder proper care recipient, then discuss use of his / her car, and conduct a new driving background check.

Insurance as well as Payroll

Check with an insurer about the proper coverage for the worker in your home.

Make sure each of the proper taxes are being sucked from the employee's check simply by contacting the Internal Revenue Services, state treasury department, public security, and the labor section. If you do not want to deal with typically the complexities of the payroll withholdings yourself, than you can work with a payroll company for just a fee.

Even if your home medical care worker is working as being a contractor, you are still compelled to report the earnings into the IRS. Talk to your accountant as well as financial adviser about making certain you are following IRS principles.

Ensuring Security

You should guard your private papers and also valuables in a locked record cabinet, safe deposit pack, or safe. If you are struggling to pick up your mail on a regular basis, have someone you rely on do it, or have it provided for a post box. You must check the phone bill with regard to unusual items or not authorized calls. You should put the block on your phone regarding 900 numbers, collect telephone calls, and long-distance calls.

Retain checkbooks and credit cards closed up. Review credit card along with bank statements on a monthly basis, in addition to periodically request credit reports by credit reporting agencies. Lock up beneficial possessions or keep a listing of items accessible to people employed in the house.

You can help to stop elder abuse to your family by:

Make sure the home healthcare worker thoroughly understands their responsibilities, the elder attention recipient's medical problems as well as limitations, and how to cope with nerve-racking situations. Do not overburden the house health care worker. Encourage visibility over potential problems.

Listed below are possible signs of elder mistreatment or neglect:

Personality adjustments Crying, whimpering, or neglecting to talk Sloppy appearance Inadequate personal hygiene Disorganized or even dirty living conditions Signs of incorrect sedation, such as confusion, or perhaps excessive sleeping Mysterious craters, pressure sores, fractures, or maybe burns Weight loss

If you suppose abuse, act immediately. Tend not to wait until the situation turns sad. Investigate the situation by talking towards the elder care recipient inside a safe situation, or put in monitoring equipment. Examples of violent behavior include yelling, harmful, or over controlling behavior that may involve isolating the elderly from others. If the circumstance is serious, you should affect the home health care worker as soon as possible. If you fear the anticipatory care recipient is in threat, he or she should be separated from your household health care worker as soon as possible. Position the elder care recipient which has a trusted relative or in a respite care facility. Make sure your mate is safe before confronting the property health care worker, especially if there exists concern about retaliation.

Review the situation to Adult Shielding Services after ensuring the security of the elder care person. The police should be contacted regarding serious neglect, such as lovemaking abuse, physical injury, as well as misuse of funds.

Supervisory a Home Health Care Worker

What is important to remember after hiring a residence health care worker is to keep your lines of communication wide open. You should explain the job obligations clearly, and your responsibilities for the home health care worker. Remember that the home health care worker will there be for the elder care individual and not the rest of the family. Regarding live-in arrangements, the maximum amount involving privacy should be set up for that home health care worker's dwelling quarters. Meetings should be create on a regular basis to assure that danger is nipped in the bud. When conflicts cannot be resolved following repeated attempts, than it's terminate the employee. In such a case, you could have to either place the older care recipient in a breastfeeding home temporarily or get a home health care worker by using an agency. Reserve funds must be kept on hand in the case connected with such an emergency.

General Qualification Requirements for Home Proper care Benefits

Hiring a home medical worker directly is usually cheaper than hiring through a property health care agency; but if the parent care recipient is suitable and you wish to use the assistance of Medicare, you must hire anyone through a certified home health-related agency. For the senior affected person to be eligible, three or maybe more services must be ordered by the physician. Other factors or qualification are the required need for competent nursing assistance, or one of many following therapies: physical, presentation or occupational. The folk care recipient's medical requirements will determine asset and also income requirements.

Hiring Property Health Care Workers through Household Health Care Agencies versus Separately

Different health professionals can determine the elder care recipient's requires. A nurse or societal worker can help with design and style and coordination of a household care plan. Your health care manager, doctor, or relieve planner can help with solutions being covered by Medicare. They often help make the arrangements along with a home care agency.

It is best to ask the home health care business how they supervise their staff members, and what kind of training their particular employees receive. Find out often the procedures for when a worker does not show up. Also enquire about the fee schedule and exactly it covers, there may be any sliding fee schedule. Moreover, find out if they have a policy intended for minimum or maximum several hours. Ask the agency when there are any limitations around the types of tasks performed.

Particularly if you have to pay for the care providers yourself, find out if there are virtually any hidden costs such as vehicles. If all the costs to get hiring a care worker via an agency become too much, you might like to consider hiring directly.

Selecting independent home health care individuals is not only more economical than having an agency, but it also allows a lot more direct control over the anticipatory care.

References Health care https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care

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nancypullen · 4 years

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Still Kicking

I thought I’d better post something so that you’ll know we haven’t succumbed to the scary virus. Seems like there’s not a lot of good news anymore, if it’s not the pandemic it’s the murder hornets - so I’ll share that we’re fat and happy and still kicking here on the Pullen spread. I can’t seem to stop cooking, so we’re eating A LOT. I’m staying busy with gardens, crafts , and books and the mister is working from home just as he did pre-pandemic. Not much has changed around here except that Home Goods misses my money. Although we’re content here at our place, I still worry. I worry about the rest of our family, I worry about the headlines screaming about everything from food shortages to a deadlier second wave of coronavirus. I’m usually not a big worrier - I analyze the issue and decide whether or not I have any control over it. If I do, then I decide what I can actually control and make a plan (and usually a backup plan, or two). If it’s something that I have no control over, then what’s the use of worrying? When my kids were stressed about something I’d ask them, “What’s the worst that could happen? And what will you do if that happens?” It’s amazing how much your burden eases when you have a plan. But this stupid virus has offered few answers, no timeline, and a fraction of the country is willing to kill the rest in order to be able to dine in at their local tavern or get their hair done. Dummies. As always, whatever is happening in my life reveals itself in my skin. When all is well my skin is glowing. When I’m stressed my skin goes into panic mode. Right now I have a zit on my chin big enough for a birth certificate. Now, my version of stressed really just means overthinking. This situation is hard for someone who likes to have her ducks in a row. I don’t even know how many ducks there are. So I guess I’ll just keep doing my masked grocery pickup every week or so and hope that the majority of Americans use some common sense so we can get ahead of this stuff. My skin would appreciate it. We were supposed to visit our sweet grandgirl in April but that didn’t happen. We have a really fun vacation on Prince Edward Island planned for September, but it’s probably not going to happen either. I’m not sure Canada will (or should) open its borders to us by then. We may end up spending vacation watching travel videos and trying foreign recipes. We can probably tour a lot of places virtually - maybe a walk through the Louvre followed by some crepes? I know, silly stuff to complain about. Considering what so many are dealing with, I should be ashamed for even mentioning canceled trips. Such minor inconveniences. Rest assured, even though I’ve spent this blog post venting and whining, we are in high spirits here at Casa de Pullen. We laugh a lot, we FaceTime often with our favorite toddler - yesterday I read her a book about big girl panties. She’s got an A plus in potty training, a quick learner! It’s so much fun to watch her sing and dance and act kooky. She’s curious about the world and has a lot to say. She’s pure magic. I think she may be keeping us all going during these troubling days. She’s our little ray of sunshine and hope. Speaking of hope, my gardens are coming along nicely. I hope I didn’t just jinx the whole operation. Right now I’ve got basil, rosemary, thyme, and dill up and thriving. I have one big, beefy tomato plant. I sprinkled zinnia seeds here and there and tiny green sprouts are popping up, my reliable perennials are going like gangbusters, and I’ve even potted a few flowers for the porch. Tomorrow should be mostly clear so I’ll snap some pics to share, that’s far more positive post than whining about the current situation. I’ve been making some fun cards so I’ll share those too. I should probably share recipes too. Hot dog, there’s a couple of blog posts in my future! I think I’ll go soak in a bubble bath and think about things. I also need to give myself a pedicure and get my toes summer ready. That’s never been a scheduled event before, now I’ll block out a whole afternoon for it. Mickey needs a haircut, maybe he’ll let me do it. It’ll give us something to do and more than likely something to laugh about. I’ll be back tomorrow with a few pictures and a much better attitude. I promise. A good soak and a good book will work wonders. And you can bet that these two will be waiting on the other side of the door when I come out.

They follow me everywhere. Every day. All day. They’re my posse. Until tomorrow - take care, stay safe, turn off the news for a while, give your heart and mind a rest. I’m going to take my own advice and catch you on the flip side. XOXO- Nancy

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jefferyjoy30 · 4 years

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Cigar Humidifier – A guide to Cigar Oasis

Cigar Oasis Cigar Humidifier are the best collaborators to maintain the ideal humidity level and cigar care in humidors with the storage capacity of 75 cigars up to 10000 cigars.

Cigar Oasis has four models with different features. But it can be difficult and confusing to find which one is best or what should buy?

This is a complete guide for you to overcome this problem and to help you find the best product by explaining the basic functionality and working’s of the different Cigar Oasis models.

How does the Cigar Oasis Cigar Humidifier Works:

The cigar Oasis humidifier work on the automated system. It has a refillable cartridge inside with distilled water that humidifies the circulating air in the humidor. The automated system works with the help of sensors. The sensors monitor the level of humidity inside the humidor and when the temperature drops down from the humidity level set by you according to your requirement, the sensor passes the instruction to the humidor and instantly the humidifier turns on its fan which blows the humidified air to the humidor. The sensor keeps monitoring the change in humidity level and when the preset desired humidity level reaches, the humidifier turns the fan off.

The fan of the humidifier doesn’t only blow the air into the humidor but it also distributes the blown air equally in all the sections of the humidor to keep cigars stored in the perfect environment.

Things you must know before buying Cigar Oasis Humidifier:

Now you have completely understood the working of cigar oasis humidifier but there are more things you should know about it. Everyone has its preferences and choices, some people like to use the fully automatic humidifiers, some like to set the humidity levels by own and some like to only know about the drop in ideal humidity level with alarms or indicators.

To get the best results from the use of a cigar oasis humidifier, you should have a complete understanding of the answers to the following questions.

You will be able to make a better decision about which the model of the cigar oasis humidifier will be worth paying for you in the future with these questions in mind.

Do you need to leave your humidor unattended for a few days or a week?

Do your humidor is placed near the power supply or away from it?

Do you want to monitor your humidor with the internet using your smartphone?

Are you able to sacrifice your cigar storage space to place the cigar oasis humidifiers in the humidor? Will you be satisfied by spending your amount to buy the cigar oasis humidifier unit for the preservation of your precious cigar collection in with ideal humidity?

The measurements of Humidor:

Now you know the working of cigar oasis humidifiers and understanding about the answers of some basic question rises in your mind about the humidifier benefit. Now you need to know about the size of your humidor for which you are going to invest your savings.

The formula of conversion for measurement in inches: L x W x H = Cubic Feet The formula of conversion for measurement in inches: L x W x H = Cubic inches/ 1728 = Cubic Feet

Here the cubic inches are divided with 1728 because it is the number of cubic inches in cubic feet.

Which model of Cigar Oasis Humidifier should I buy?

Check which maximum cubic feet are compatible with the measurement of your humidor

The Cigar Oasis humidifiers are attached normally with the lid of the humidor. So check from the dimensions about the suitable size available inside the lid of your humidor to attach the humidifier.

Decide which features you either want to have in your humidifier or not.

The four models of Cigar Oasis Humidifiers:

youtube

Cigar Oasis Ultra Humidifier

youtube

Cigar Oasis Excel 3.0 Humidifier

youtube

Cigar Oasis Plus 3.0 Humidifier

youtube

Cigar Oasis Magna Humidifier

What is the purpose of Cigar Oasis Cigar Humidifier wifi feature?:

With the help of enabling the wifi turn on the option, you can connect your humidor with your smartphone and you will be able to monitor the internal temperature, humidity level and water level in the cartridges of the humidifier no matter where ever you are. You can also make any changes in the humidifier setting.

A new cigar oasis humidifiers wifi module has a yearly subscription so you only need to renew your subscription after a year. With this subscription, you are notified with message and email if your humidor needs your attention ever so this could help you to fix the problem as soon as possible with the minimal or no losses.

What is the use of rechargeable power source in cigar oasis humidifiers:

Rechargeable power sources are normally batteries. The powers are reserved in these batteries by connecting them with the electric power supply with the adopter. Once the battery is charged you can use it and when the power reserved in it gets empty, you can recharge the same batteries again and so on. The rechargeable batteries are available for cigar oasis ultra 2.0, cigar oasis excels and cigar oasis plus 2.0.

You can use these batteries for the following times:

When you are going somewhere with your humidor for a short duration of time.

When your humidor is placed far away from the power supply.

When you have some power supply voltage issues.

What is new in the redesigned Cigar Oasis humidifiers

As the cigar oasis humidifiers were modified in 2014 and the designer added new advanced features in them. To make the cigar oasis humidifiers more useful and reliable they made some minor and major changes in the designing and functionality of the humidifiers. The advanced functionalities included as major change in the humidifiers are the following:

Optional wifi module

Make you able to do any changes if required in the settings of your humidifier with few touches on your smartphone even when you are away from your humidor.

Rechargeable batteries

You can use them during traveling or when you have some power loss issues as a backup.

Optional text alerts

The humidifiers give you warning alerts through messages or emails for low battery, low water level or low humidity level.

Advanced feature about temperature and humidity display

The humidifier can give you the maximum, minimum or average humidity level of the past three days.

Micro USB connections

The connections of cigar oasis humidifiers are plugged in strongly at the correct place and they will not disconnect easily.

Frequently asked questions:

Here are some FAQ’s asked by people normally before buying the cigar oasis humidifiers.

Are the sound of fans inside the cigar oasis humidifiers are loud? No, the sound is not loud at all. As the fan of humidifiers only turn on when the humidity level drops from the preset level so it needs to turn on for a very short time with almost no sound noise.

Do I need to buy new cartridges or I can refill the same one? Yes, you can refill the same cartridges three times but only with the distilled water. After refilling it, wait for a few minutes to settle the water level and then reattach it with the unit.

Can I place my cigar oasis humidifiers anywhere in the humidor? If you are using cigar oasis excel or cigar oasis plus then you can easily place it anywhere with the wall or sides of the humidor. it won’t make any kind of water leakages but if you are using cigar oasis ultra or manga then you must need to attach it with the lid of the humidifier.

Is the humidity level fixed at 70%? When you buy a new cigar oasis humidifier, it comes with the humidity level preset at 70% but you can change it between 55% to 80% according to your requirement.

How much power does the cigar oasis humidifier require to operate? It just needs the power supply of 100mA (milliamps) and that is very less.

Does the cigar oasis humidifier heat the humidor? No, it doesn’t heat the humidor because it requires very small power and the fun turn on for short time duration when required.

Do cigar oasis humidifiers have a warranty? Yes, all the models of cigar oasis humidifiers come with a warranty of one year. For more details about it, you can contact the cigar oasis website.

The post Cigar Humidifier – A guide to Cigar Oasis appeared first on Crown Humidors Cigar Lounge.

Source: https://cigarlounge.crownhumidors.com/cigar-humidifier-a-guide-to-cigar-oasis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cigar-humidifier-a-guide-to-cigar-oasis

from Crown Humidors Cigar Lounge Blog https://crownhumidors.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/cigar-humidifier-a-guide-to-cigar-oasis/

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cigarloungecom · 4 years

Text

Cigar Humidifier – A guide to Cigar Oasis

Cigar Oasis Cigar Humidifier are the best collaborators to maintain the ideal humidity level and cigar care in humidors with the storage capacity of 75 cigars up to 10000 cigars. Cigar Oasis has four models with different features. But it can be difficult and confusing to find which one is best or what should buy? This is a complete guide for you to overcome this problem and to help you find the best product by explaining the basic functionality and working’s of the different Cigar Oasis models.

How does the Cigar Oasis Cigar Humidifier Works:

Things you must know before buying Cigar Oasis Humidifier:

To get the best results from the use of a cigar oasis humidifier, you should have a complete understanding of the answers to the following questions.

You will be able to make a better decision about which the model of the cigar oasis humidifier will be worth paying for you in the future with these questions in mind. Do you need to leave your humidor unattended for a few days or a week? Do your humidor is placed near the power supply or away from it? Do you want to monitor your humidor with the internet using your smartphone? Are you able to sacrifice your cigar storage space to place the cigar oasis humidifiers in the humidor? Will you be satisfied by spending your amount to buy the cigar oasis humidifier unit for the preservation of your precious cigar collection in with ideal humidity?

The measurements of Humidor:

The measurement will be taken in cubic meters no matter what kind of humidor are you using, either it is a desktop humidor, cabinet humidor or display humidor. Use a ruler and measure the height and width of your humidor including the lid area. If you are having a small humidor then you will take measurements in inches and if you are having a large humidor then you will take measurements in feet, it will be easier. For converting your inches and feet measurements into the cubic meters you will use the following formulas. The formula of conversion for measurement in inches: L x W x H = Cubic Feet The formula of conversion for measurement in inches: L x W x H = Cubic inches/ 1728 = Cubic Feet Here the cubic inches are divided with 1728 because it is the number of cubic inches in cubic feet.

Which model of Cigar Oasis Humidifier should I buy?

After learning all the knowledge about the cigar oasis humidifiers and the size of the humidor now you need to figure out the most appropriate size and model of the humidor that can meet best with your demands. The chart and the following steps given below can assist you to find the best cigar oasis unit for you. Check which maximum cubic feet are compatible with the measurement of your humidor The Cigar Oasis humidifiers are attached normally with the lid of the humidor. So check from the dimensions about the suitable size available inside the lid of your humidor to attach the humidifier. Decide which features you either want to have in your humidifier or not.

The four models of Cigar Oasis Humidifiers:

youtube

Cigar Oasis Ultra Humidifier

youtube

Cigar Oasis Excel 3.0 Humidifier

youtube

Cigar Oasis Plus 3.0 Humidifier

youtube

Cigar Oasis Magna Humidifier

What is the purpose of Cigar Oasis Cigar Humidifier wifi feature?:

As you know wifi is the source of connecting with the internet, now let’s explore the wifi feature in the cigar oasis humidifier. The world has developed a lot and people like to use smart gadgets for getting the best result is less time and effort consumption. The cigar oasis humidifiers are embedded with the wifi feature by keeping this theory in mind. With the help of enabling the wifi turn on the option, you can connect your humidor with your smartphone and you will be able to monitor the internal temperature, humidity level and water level in the cartridges of the humidifier no matter where ever you are. You can also make any changes in the humidifier setting. A new cigar oasis humidifiers wifi module has a yearly subscription so you only need to renew your subscription after a year. With this subscription, you are notified with message and email if your humidor needs your attention ever so this could help you to fix the problem as soon as possible with the minimal or no losses.

What is the use of rechargeable power source in cigar oasis humidifiers:

When you are going somewhere with your humidor for a short duration of time.

When your humidor is placed far away from the power supply.

When you have some power supply voltage issues.

What is new in the redesigned Cigar Oasis humidifiers

Optional wifi module

Make you able to do any changes if required in the settings of your humidifier with few touches on your smartphone even when you are away from your humidor.

Rechargeable batteries

You can use them during traveling or when you have some power loss issues as a backup.

Optional text alerts

The humidifiers give you warning alerts through messages or emails for low battery, low water level or low humidity level.

Advanced feature about temperature and humidity display

The humidifier can give you the maximum, minimum or average humidity level of the past three days.

Micro USB connections

The connections of cigar oasis humidifiers are plugged in strongly at the correct place and they will not disconnect easily.

Frequently asked questions:

Here are some FAQ’s asked by people normally before buying the cigar oasis humidifiers.

Either I need to drill a hole in my humidor or I can attach it directly? Absolutely not. You don’t need to drill any hole in your humidor. There is a paper split thin cord with the cigar oasis humidifiers that can directly attach with the wall of the humidor and you can quickly provide the power source to your humidifier. Are the sound of fans inside the cigar oasis humidifiers are loud? No, the sound is not loud at all. As the fan of humidifiers only turn on when the humidity level drops from the preset level so it needs to turn on for a very short time with almost no sound noise. Do I need to buy new cartridges or I can refill the same one? Yes, you can refill the same cartridges three times but only with the distilled water. After refilling it, wait for a few minutes to settle the water level and then reattach it with the unit. Can I place my cigar oasis humidifiers anywhere in the humidor? If you are using cigar oasis excel or cigar oasis plus then you can easily place it anywhere with the wall or sides of the humidor. it won’t make any kind of water leakages but if you are using cigar oasis ultra or manga then you must need to attach it with the lid of the humidifier. Is the humidity level fixed at 70%? When you buy a new cigar oasis humidifier, it comes with the humidity level preset at 70% but you can change it between 55% to 80% according to your requirement. How much power does the cigar oasis humidifier require to operate? It just needs the power supply of 100mA (milliamps) and that is very less. Does the cigar oasis humidifier heat the humidor? No, it doesn’t heat the humidor because it requires very small power and the fun turn on for short time duration when required. Do cigar oasis humidifiers have a warranty? Yes, all the models of cigar oasis humidifiers come with a warranty of one year. For more details about it, you can contact the cigar oasis website.

The post Cigar Humidifier – A guide to Cigar Oasis appeared first on Crown Humidors Cigar Lounge.

from Crown Humidors Cigar Lounge https://cigarlounge.crownhumidors.com/cigar-humidifier-a-guide-to-cigar-oasis/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cigar-humidifier-a-guide-to-cigar-oasis

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atdoor6 · 2 years

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Which is the best mobile repair near me

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solennxmadec · 5 years

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J2 gets a dose of Solenn

Parties: Solenn Madec and Javan Floch

Location: J2 Bar & Restaurant

Summary: Solenn gets interviewed for her third official job.

@theresponsiblefloch

Solenn smoothed a hand over her freshly trimmed dark hair and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. Then she turned, laughing as she nearly bumped into the other person. "Sorry! Oh goodness. I should really just watch where I'm going. How are you?"

When Jadon had told Javan about the resume he'd gotten for a new bartender, Javan had to meet the woman in person. Technically she had passed the more important interview by talking with Jadon, but they always made hiring decisions together since Javan dealt with the billing. Offering the woman a charming smile, he mentally started his list of impressions. "I'm doing well. How are you doing today? It's Solenn right?"

"That's me, Sir. And I know you are. The infamous Javan Floch. Did your brother mention I dropped off my resume? I was here about two weeks ago so thought I would pop in and follow up." Solenn replied with a professional nod.

He tilted his head in acknowledgement of his identity. "He did mention it, so I'm glad I have a chance to talk to you. Do you want a drink or something to eat while we chat?"

"Fantastic. I know J2 is a banging place so I wasn't sure if he had the chance." Solenn replied with a warm smile, "I would love a sparkling water Sir. Thank you so much. I'd love a chance to speak to you further but if you're in the midst of something, Sir, I can wait until you are available."

He had to grin at that. "I'd agree with that. Pick a seat, I'll join you with the sparkling water." He slipped behind the bar and grabbed a sparkling water for her and a lemon water for him before sliding into the seat across from her. "So, I looked through your resume and its fairly impressive. What is it about J2 that makes you want to work here?"

"Thank you Sir." Solenn returned, before making her way to a table and sliding into a seat gracefully. "Thank you Sir. I do like to be impressive. And busy. So, I am looking for a move upward so to speak. J2 is an incredible establishment. The best of the best. The only thing you're missing is the very best back up bartender any fine establishment could have. Me. Obviously."

He had to appreciate confidence like that as he took a quick sip of his drink. "Fair enough. We are the best, and as such, we're a pretty tight crew. Every person here needs to be able to work with everyone else and count on everyone else. So what would you bring to the team we've got here?"

"Good. That's what I like. I am hardworking, likeable, and scrupulously honest. I am a fast learner and can mix nearly anything. J2 does have a unique bar menu and learning the food alcohol pairings will be a fun challenge. I recognize that there is a certain image to the J2, but I think I bring something fun and unique, all of my own."

He had to admit, she had good answers to his questions. She brought up a lot of the traditional concerns, but it didn't feel so pat as to be answers she had memorized from their website. He meant it about them being close. But trusting his instincts, he thought she would work fine. "In that case, why are you looking to be a backup bartender instead of a full time one?"

“I also have other work, most particularly as a makeup artist at the National Theatre. I do the matinee performances and I love the challenge of it. I would love to be at the J2. I think the work would be interesting and provide a fresh challenge. The bar I currently tend at is being renovated and then sold. I would prefer to have already earned my stripes here so to speak before that happens. That way you know I am reliable and hardworking before I start asking for more hours or to cover for others when they have something come up.”

With that answer, Javan finally allowed himself to relax as he leaned against the table. "All right, I'm impressed. You have good answers, good energy, and you impressed Jadon or he wouldn't have passed your resume on to me in the first place. Here at J2, Jadon runs the bar. I help out when needed as I can do it all, but that's his domain. I manage the business side and pick out the food menu. As an on call bartender, we'll need to start with the hours you're available which also determines your break patterns. Brush up on your tourist knowledge of the city as those are the biggest repeat questions beyond 'what should I drink.' Any questions to start?"

Solenn gasped, "Really? I have the job? Oh my god! This is wonderful!" She exclaimed and then laughed, "Okay okay ... I'll be cool now. I'll bring in my proper information for whomever handles payroll. I'll also submit my current schedule. May I come in ahead of time, to familiarize myself with where things are in the bar? You don't have to pay me for it, I just hate to look like I'm fumbling in front of the customers. I always think that's a bad impression. Does Jadon have a list of the speciality suppliers you guys use? Oh ... and is there a recommended list of current menu and alcohol pairings that I could read? How far ahead of time is that prepared? Do you have a lot of specials? Do you have an old copy of the menu I can take home?" The questions poured out of her and then she stopped, "Sorry, I should give you a chance to answer. I'm just excited."

Javan tried to bite his tongue on the laugh that wanted to spill out, but he wasn't sure he quite managed it. Still, her reaction confirmed the initial impulse. She wanted this job, she would work at it, and she had the spunk to fit in with the rest of the team. "I handle payroll, but Jadon and I coordinate on scheduling. One of the core rules here is that worked time is paid time. Once you submit your schedule, we will coordinate on a good time for you to come in to run through a basic training on our bar and our systems. Jadon does have a list of his suppliers, but you'll have to coordinate with him on getting it. We do have a recommended list of our staples and their alcohol pairings, but the specials will be marked on the day when they are decided as we leave that generally to either my discretion or the discretion of our chef Andre. I do have an old copy of the menu that I can get you before you leave if you like, but we also have it available on our website. Any other questions to start?"

"Ahh ... okay." Her cheeks warmed a little, "As you wish Sir. I'm just really excited about this opportunity. Thank you so much. Oh ... one last question. Are bar tips shared with the kitchen? Or do you separate food and bar? I've never worked anywhere with a kitchen and wasn't sure how that was split up." Solenn asked seriously. If that was the case, she knew the kitchen would be pleased with her addition to the team. She always did well in tips at any location she had worked.

"I don't mind the enthusiasm. But I'm never going to ask you to do work that benefits me without being compensated for it. Food and bar tips are typically separated here, but that is something that changes across different locations so its a fair question. Welcome to J2 Solenn." He reached across the table so he could shake her hand, sealing the deal for him even if they hadn't gone through the paperwork portion of the process.

"Okay then. Thank you so much." She reached up and took his hand, shaking it firmly. She wanted to jump up and down and scream for joy. But she had to be cool. God it was hard work. "I'll drop off everything tomorrow, if that's okay? Then we can get started. Thank you again. I am honestly so happy to be part of the team. I promise you will not regret hiring me."

"I live in the apartment above, so if you don't see me here, you can either hand it to Jadon or slide it under the door. We should have everything processed and your training set up within the next few days." He didn't believe in wasting any time when it came to new employees, and he wanted to capitalize on Solenn's obvious excitement. "I look forward to seeing how you work."

"Thank you again Sir. I am really thrilled. I promise you will not regret taking a chance on me." Solenn replied before practically bouncing out of the J2. She was beyond thrilled. She headed home to gather up the paperwork and document her schedule so that she could drop it off first thing the next morning on her way to the theatre. What a wonderful day!!

#javan - i've heard he is finger lickin good or was that his food?#discord para

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galivantingg · 5 years

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Behind Those Eyes

Chapter 7

A few months later and things had settled. Pluto and Met were working seamlessly together, and the others were well on their way to earning their place here. Ang and Mazus had worked out the few kinks they had at the beginning; Ang can be a bit too much to handle sometimes and Mazus had to be around him a lot. Oracle was being extremely cryptic towards Phoenix, which means he has seen nothing further than them partnering together. Today was one of those days, like the calm before the storm. I relished in it, wanting to see some action. I had been busy with school lately, and the Director had made me Second Respondent when he caught me with my notes coming back from a patrol.

"Hey Chameleon," I heard from behind me. I tuned to see Starbright and Starlight standing behind me.

"Hey guys," I said, frowning at their weird expressions. "What's up?"

Starbright stepped forward. "Light and I were wondering if you could train with us? We wanted to go up against a similar body type to Heathen, especially after last week."

Last week Bright and Light were the first respondents to Heathen, one of the villains who has been a thorn in our side. He had a tendency to evade capture, which made all of us extremely annoyed. He'd pop up, switch people from their religion to his, which was himself, then manage to escape.

He annoyed me.

I smiled. "Of course, the better everyone works together the more likely we'll be able to finally capture him. Lemme just get Waya to give me Heathen's powers for an hour or two; I'll meet you in the training room."

They nodded and headed off, and I turned to walk towards Waya's room. Hopefully he'd be in there. I knocked on the door, and a minute later it swung open, revealing my older friend.

"I need you to give me Heathen's powers for a couple hours," His face dropped. He hated doing this, since when he tried it a few years ago and it didn't exactly go to plan. He only does it in certain conditions, and for certain people. Me being one of those people.

"Cammie why," he asked standing aside so I could walk into his room.

"Starbright and Starlight want to go against Heathen again, they came the closest last week and they want to see if they can come close again." He groaned, and I knew I had won. I grinned.

"Ditto," he whispered, touching the centre of my forehead. I got tingles all over, way less than the lightning, and I felt a shift. My own powers had a similar feel, except now my body was changing without me asking it to. My hands and feet got bigger, and legs and arms stretched out. I felt something new, something different inside of me. It was like my powers were being squished down, and enveloped by something else. The something else, I discovered, was Heathen's power. It was strange, like I would tell exactly what faith Waya believed in just by looking at him.

He regarded me with cautious eyes. "You're a Wiccan," I stated. I hadn't known this before, but now that I think about it, it makes sense. There was something else there, in my powers. It wasn't as if I could just tell what his faith is, it was like I was in his head and could change his thinking. Suddenly I felt sick. Heathen needed to be locked up. This type of power shouldn't be allowed to roam free.

"Okay, I don't need to tell you not to use these powers foolishly, judging by your face." Waya said, less cautious after my expression of disgust. "Try not to touch anybody you might instead get their powers. Your body has all of his muscle memory, so you'll be able to fight like him. It's okay if someone touches you, and if you use your body to block attacks, but be very cautious. Keep Heathen in your mind, everything about him."

I nodded, and bounced up and down on my toes a little. I smiled at him and walked out of his room, turning back when he called my name.

"And remember, whatever damage you take, he'll take."

I left his room, heading towards the Pit. The Pit, I'm so glad you were wondering, is an actual pit. It is. It's located in the training room, or floor, and is the best place for sparring. I had also named the Pit. As I was walking, the alarm went off. I raced to the Briefing room and burst in, spotting Geronimo sitting in front of the board.

"Who is it?" I asked, leaning over her shoulder to see. She glanced at me and did a double take, practically leaping from her seat and taking up a defensive position. Ah, right. I'm not me, I'm Heathen.

"How did you get from the Coliseum to here so fast?" She asked, glaring at me.

I rolled my eyes. "It's Cammie, Mo." Her shoulders relaxed at the sound of my nickname for her.

"It's Heathen, actually," she said, pulling the chair underneath her and turning back to the computer. "He just popped up in Met and Pluto's area. They're on their way to engaging, and asked for backup." I turned from the board and sprouted wings from my back, shaking them a bit.

"I'm heading over, tell the others." Geronimo nodded and turned to the door, where other members of the Agency were spilling through. I pushed my way out of the doorway and set off, trying to get there as quickly as possible. I took the entrance closest to me, a doorway behind the fridge, and shot off into the sky. I climbed higher and higher, spotting the Coliseum to my right. I took off, pumping my wings and streamlining my body as much as possible, entering a dive.

I pulled up short of where my coworkers were, watching for a moment Met and Pluto tag teaming Heathen. It was something special watching them. They moved together so gracefully, winding around each other and covering each other's back. I shook my head, and landed beside Met.

"The others are coming, but for now it's just me. Houdini should be here with Waya shortly." As I said this we heard a sucking noise not far off and spotted Houdini and Waya ducking behind a car. Pluto made a run for where Met and I were, but Heathen spotted him. He picked up something from beside him which was probably sharp and heavy, and lobbed it at Pluto. In a panic, I reached out a pulled Pluto towards me, sparing him whatever nasty toy Heathen has brought along.

As soon as I touched Pluto I felt my body tingle, and Waya's words came back to me in a rush. Well damn. Pluto looked at me in shock, and I tried to gather the words for an explanation. "Waya, word of command," I said. He nodded mutely, apparently understanding why he was staring at a carbon copy of himself. Down to the powers. Wait a second, down to the powers. I lifted up my hands and imagined something cold gathering there, and these small patches of snow showed up. "Huh," I said, staring at the pure white snow. "Well I've got to admit, this is pretty cool."

With that, we stood, and charged at Heathen, taking him by surprise. Met blasted him in the middle, Pluto and I taking a side. I'll admit I may have gotten a bit carried away with this new power. I could faintly head Waya yelling my name behind me, but I was too focused on the ice coming out of my hands, radiating off of my body. Freezing Met.

Wait, back up. Freezing Met? His skin turned a pale blue tint, and Pluto could only stare in horror as Met's body slowly started to become covered in ice. He yelled, and suddenly this massive blast of heat rolled off him, straight towards me. I raised my hands up instinctively to protect my face, and I could feel the blisters form. My skin burning. It was not fun. Not fun at all.

I screamed out in pain, and I dimly heard someone else scream. Then I passed out.

. . .

I woke up in my bed. My hands were heavily bandaged and my throat was dry. Legion was sitting in a chair next to my bed, his head in his hands, his shoulders rising and falling steadily with each breath. "Hey," I rasped out, drawing his attention.

"Cammie I swear to God you never get to use Ditto again." Waya spoke up from the corner. I looked up at my ceiling, swallowing roughly.

"Yeah that's probably fair," Legion got up and grabbed my water, helping my drink it. "Thanks Kev," I smiled at him. I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked between the two. "How's Pluto?"

Legion looked down, and Waya answered me. "Geronimo patched you two up as much as she could, but Pluto isn't as lucky as you. He needs his hands for his powers, and they aren't working as well anymore. We're not sure if he can reliably use his powers any more."

I looked down. This was my fault. I shouldn't have charged in as Pluto, wielding powers I didn't know how to use. "What about Heathen, tell me we at least got him?"

"Yeah, but his left side is thawing out," Legion muttered.

Also my fault. I hurt two people, even if one is a villain, I still feel guilty. I stood up, pushing my covers back. "I'm going to see Pluto," I announced. It wasn't a question. I needed to talk with him, find out how he's holding up, let him know how sorry I am. I needed to fix this. I stood up and walked out of my room, unravelling the bandages as I went. I took a deep breath in and felt the warmth spread from my core up my torso down my arms and into my hands. The skin healed over, and I flexed my hands, checking that they still worked.

I walked to the other hall, and stopped a few steps from Pluto's room. His door was open. "Hey," I said softly, standing in the doorway. He glanced up at me and immediately dropped his head back into his hands. "Can I come in?" He nodded slightly and I sat near him on his bed. I gathered myself, trying to find the right words. "Those hands aren't looking too good, can I see them?" He moved his hands closer to me but still kept his head down.

I took hold of them gently, then took a deep breath before pushing my magic- because that's the only word I know can describe it- into his hands. The warmth flowed from my core into his hands, leaving the faint feeling of spring humming through my veins. At this he looked up. For a few minutes all he could do is stare at his burned hands slowly repairing the damaged cells.

"How-" he started, slightly choking on his words. "How are you doing that? I thought only Geronimo could heal?"

"Did you know that shape shifting didn't run in my family?" I asked instead, trying my hardest not to let my emotions consume me.

He nodded his head and mumbled a yes, not really paying attention, before snapping his head up to stare at me. "Wait what?"

I hummed. "Yeah, my family gift is healing. I didn't become a shapeshifter until a few years ago." More like a decade, but he doesn't need to know that.

"Wait wait wait, back up." He said shaking his head. "You said didn't. What do you mean by that?"

"Have you heard the rumours about the Director and I?" I asked, avoiding eye contact. I was still holding his hands. The magic continuously flowed through me to him, smoothing over rough skin, turning it from that gruesome pink to its natural light brown colour.

He frowned. "Yeah Met has said your arguments are legendary. But he never told me why you guys can't get along."

"That's because he's the reason I'm a shapeshifter and my whole family is dead." He stared at me, unable to find a response to that bombshell. I took that as an invitation to continue talking. "Before all of this, I had a family. I had a mom and a dad and a little sister and brother. We lived in the city. We had a good life, we were happy. I used to sit out on the roof, wrapped up in my mom's favourite clothes and blanket, just staring at the stars. One night a storm blew in, looking like it was searching for something. It was moving way too fast, and stopped near me. Then the lightning came."

"It was the worst pain I have ever felt. My house caught on fire and the roof collapsed. I was trapped under wood and brick, my body convulsing and smoke filling my lungs." I almost succumbed to the memory, I could almost taste to smoke. "The last thing I remember before passing out was my family's dying screams." I sighed and sat up straighter, finally letting go of Pluto's hands. "I woke up months later with tubes covering my body, blind and alone and in pain. The only thing that saved me was my healing."

I was silent for a while, remembering blackness, then light, light so bright I didn't know I was blind. Then everything went dark again. I remembered pain, slowly waking me up, covering every inch of skin all the way down to my bones.

"What does this have to do with the Director?" Pluto asked, his voice slightly raw. I glanced up at him, and noticed the horror on his face. I looked away, knowing that I would soon cry.

"Years later when he and his Scientist found me, they explained that the lightning was one of their experiments. That made it so much worse," my voice shook. "I came to the Agency, but I made it clear that he owed me four life debts; he can't make me do anything at all. He may be the Director, but I am in charge of him."

"What were your sibling's names," he asked quietly, leaning his shoulder against mine. He was a physical person too, just like me, just like my brother and sister.

I smiled softly, tears pricking my eyes. "Demeter and-" I paused, my voice wavering. "Demeter and Hades," I finished. I could no longer hold back my tears. They drip silently down my face, blurring my vision.

"That's why you made that expression when I chose my name," he realised. I thought I had hidden it, but it was no use. My family had a tradition of naming their children after Greek gods, and even their Roman version brought tears to my eyes. They were so young when they died. So so young. It wasn't fair.

"I was filled with so much anger, so much hate," I managed to choke out. Pluto lifted his arm and wrapped it around my back. "I took it out on the Director, within reason, and it made me clam up around everyone in the Agency. I was just enraged, all the time, until I woke up this morning." I looked at him through watery eyes. "Jacob I am so sorry that I acted recklessly, I knew you would get hurt and I didn't stop to think about it. I just knew that there was someone I could take my anger out on."

He nodded, rubbing my back comfortingly. "It's fine, Cammie, I understand. And you healed me. Just please, don't act so recklessly again. We all love you and want the best for you, we don't want to lose you." My face crumpled at that, and I buried my head in his shoulder sobbing. He hugged me tight, and we stayed like that until I calmed down, taking deep ragged breaths.

"So how do you know my name," he demanded. Uh oh.

#writeblr #new writeblr #story #superhero #powers #super powers #writeblogging #writers on tumblr

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njmaidservices-blog · 5 years

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NJ Maid Services

New Jersey Maid Services provides top-tier cleaning service you won’t find anywhere else

When you effectively communicate with your professional cleaners it’s a lot easier to get the quality cleaning you want. This article discusses how to talk to your cleaner so you get the best professional cleaning for your home.

These days it seems that everyone is so busy with working, taking care of kids, running kids back and forth to sports games and extra curricular activities that there is no time left to clean the house. If your house is a mess because you just don't have time to clean it or just don't want to clean it then maybe you should call NJ Maid Services.

When it comes to hiring and working with a professional cleaning service for residential cleaning or office cleaning, communication is the most important part. Clear communication will help you get the excellent New Jersey Cleaning Services you want and make it easier for your professional cleaners to do the job right.

Make a Cleaning List

This does two things. First, it helps you understand exactly what you want from a professional cleaning service. Do you only need professional cleaning service once a month or more often? Are any rooms off limits or do certain areas need special attention? If it’s your first time hiring a professional cleaner, having a comprehensive cleaning list can make communicating with them a lot easier. A list of cleaning requirements can also help you assess if you’re getting the service you expect.

Interview Each Cleaning Service

At NJ Maid Service, we suggest you research professional cleaning services in your area before trying one or two out. Read the reviews from other customers and ask friends around town for a referral. Then, once you’ve picked a service that looks good, give them a call and set up an interview.

Letting new people into your home is a big step, so making sure that you like and trust your cleaners is just as important as the quality of service they provide. This is also a good time to share your cleaning list to make sure your needs and their services align. Talk to them about their process, ask any and all questions you have and listen carefully to their answers. If they are friendly and accommodating, you may want to give them a trial run.

Pick Up in Advance

To help your professional cleaner do the best job possible, they need room to clean. If your home is messy – toys left out, stacks of mail on the table, clothes on the floor – it’s harder for cleaners to do a good job and often takes longer, which may cost you extra.

But if your house is tidy, it allows your professional New Jersey house cleaner to focus on the cleaning tasks you hired them for. (Note: this doesn’t mean you need to clean and scrub your home beforehand – just do some basic organizing).

Communicate with Your Cleaner

On the first visit, you may want to walk through your home with your cleaner to show them around and discuss areas you want them to focus on. If you can’t be home while your cleaner is there, it’s okay to leave notes for them about specific areas that need extra attention or any special instructions. You can also leave a note about cleaning priorities for that day if certain rooms (the laundry room or bedroom, for example) are driving you nuts.

You should also talk to the service itself. If you liked a cleaner, you can request that person again. In fact, the more often a cleaner cleans your home, the more efficient and effective they will be.

Review the Cleaning and Give Feedback

When your cleaner is finished, go through your home and see how they did. Make note of anything you are happy with and anything that wasn’t cleaned the way you wanted or expected.

You can either call the service to leave feedback or talk to your cleaner directly the next time they come to your home. Remember to be kind and polite. Most of the time, if a cleaning job isn’t done the way you want, it can be usually be solved by a short conversation. Communication and feedback are key.

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When to Hire a Professional House Cleaner

Some homeowners and renters in New Jersey see hiring a professional cleaner as a needless expense. With the best intentions they think, “I can manage my own”. But life tends to get in the way of routine cleaning. The costs of not cleaning your home regularly can add up to increased stress, a less healthy living environment and even financial strain as things like furniture, rugs and floors need to be repaired or replaced more often.

It’s no secret that routine cleaning is important for the long-term health of your home, but sometimes it’s hard to slow down, take a step back, and really consider when you need help. Here are four scenarios to consider that can help you decide whether it’s time to hire a professional cleaning service for routine cleaning or just some extra help every few months. And don’t forget that professional cleaning is more affordable than you think!

Not Enough Time to Clean

Let’s face it. Time is probably the number-one reason we don’t clean as often as we would like. Full-time jobs, raising a family, and busy social schedule all require a lot of time. At the end of the day you may be too exhausted to clean and weekends seem to fly by before you get a chance to pick up a mop. If you find that you want to clean your home but always feel guilty about not having the time and energy to do it, then it’s time to hire some professional cleaning help.

It’s Been a Long Time Between Cleanings

If you haven’t deeply cleaned your home in a while (weeks or even months), and haven’t been able to do basic cleaning maintenance regularly, it can be a daunting prospect to get started. But dirt, dust, pet fur and everything else don’t stop accumulating and can cause problems for your home and belongings over time.

The solution is simple though! Most cleaners offer deep cleaning services to help you get back on track. They know how to do a deep clean on your home that will have it looking like new.

You’re Hosting a Special Event

Remember what Grandma said about making a great first impression? A clean home is a great way to impress relatives coming to visit or the guests of a holiday party you are throwing. Hiring a professional house cleaner can give you an added boost of confidence that will help make your special event a success.

Special Circumstances

Some cleaning jobs are too big or too complicated to handle on your own. Post-construction cleaning after a new addition to your home or dealing with the aftermath of a flooded basement are both good examples of special circumstances where a professional house cleaner is a great idea. Professional cleaners have specialized knowledge of cleaning situations like this. Save yourself time, energy and leave complex or difficult cleaning tasks to the professionals.

Cleaners need to understand your likes and dislikes, the layout and materials of your home, and figure out the best way to clean your particular space. Talking to your cleaner is the best way to get what you want. That’s why we wrote an article on how to communicate with your professional cleaner.

Now, let’s get to it.

Research & References

Opening up your home to someone new is a big deal, so you want to make sure you get the best, most reliable cleaning service possible on your first try. The best way to do this is to get references from trusted friends and family and to read real customer reviews.

This will help you make a list of your top local cleaning services in New Jersey, so you can check them out in detail. Visit their websites, call them up, and even interview them in person. When you are considering your first time with a professional cleaner, you want to make sure you feel good about inviting them to your home.

Individual or Licensed Cleaning Provider?

Choosing an individual cleaner may seem attractive at first. They often charge a little less than a company (but not always) and rely entirely on their reputation and referrals to get new work. This means they will be diligent and trustworthy. Of course, individual cleaners can also get sick and miss a cleaning session, forget supplies, or may not have insurance, which are all risks you need to consider.

On the other hand, a professional cleaning company like New Jersey Maid Services work together as a team (even if you only need one cleaner) and have the resources to handle all your cleaning needs. If your normal cleaner is sick one day, you’ll have the option of going with a backup if you don’t want to reschedule.

Services & Costs

Before hiring a professional cleaner for the first time, have a straightforward conversation about specific cleaning services and costs. You’ll want to understand what you’re getting and how much you’ll pay before saying yes. NJ Cleaning Company offer cleaning packages or flat rates, which can make professional cleaning very affordable. If you go this route or want to create a custom cleaning plan, make sure you know exactly what services you’re getting.

For example, if you sign up for regular cleaning service but expect things like interior oven cleaning (which is usually a deep cleaning job) you may feel let down. This can be avoided by agreeing to all the details ahead of time.

Staying Home the First Time

It takes time to build trust, even if you find a reputable professional cleaner. Many homeowners and renters like to stay home during their first professional cleaning. They can keep an eye on things and show the new cleaner around. This is actually a good thing, as you may want to talk specifics with your cleaner and they may have questions about cleaning certain areas, objects, etc.

Evaluation & Feedback

After your first professional cleaning, take some time to review the work. Don’t wait to provide feedback until the next visit. Give them a call and let them know what you thought, if they missed anything and what they did well. All this feedback will help your cleaners do their job better and give you the best cleaning service for your needs.

Navigate to this website for getting more information related to New Jersey Maid Services.

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inky-thoughts · 7 years

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How to Organize a Zine 101

Hey guys!

Since I'm almost through with my very first zine that I organised myself, I just realised how many mistakes you can make without even knowing, and I learned so much within the last few months where a lot was kind of trial and error. So I thought, you guys might like to learn more about this, and I could share my experiences and newly gained knowledge! Maybe this helps if you are looking into organising your own first zine.

If you have any tips and tricks yourself you'd like to share, let me know, I’m excited to hear about them!

I am going to go through the different steps and phases that you should take into consideration, so this might get a small series of some sort? I hope you're up for this.

Also a small disclaimer:

I'm mostly talking about fanzines that have multiple contributors, and it will focus more on artists/illustrators and writers as that is where my experience lies. I have contributed on several free e-zines as well as a printed charity zine, and now have organised my first printed for-profit zine as well.

Phase 1: The Planning

This might sound really obvious and maybe silly, but there are quite a few things that you should take into consideration before just starting a project that might overwhelm you easily. Don't already head off and create a twitter account before you haven't sat down and thought about these questions first!

First of all, you should think about the zine itself:

What topic/theme should it have?

If it is a fanzine: What ships/characters/... should be the focus?

What format does your zine have (printed/e-zine/both)?

What should be included in the zine? (Illustrations, comics, writing, photographs, ... all of them?)

How many contributors/pieces do you want in your finished zine? (especially important for printed zines)

Do you want to have additional merch, e.g. bookmarks, stickers, charms, postcards, ... , that people can purchase with your zine in a bundle?

How are the specs (how many pieces per creator/how long is one piece especially for writers)?

Is it a for-profit, charity, or free zine?

After you now have a vague idea of what you want, you need to think about competition as well if you're not having a free online zine.

How big is the fandom/target group of the specific zine you want to make?

How old are they and how likely are they to spend money on your zine?

Are there only a few, but very dedicated fans?

How many contributors can you gather from the fandom? How is the general quality of fanworks?

Are there other zines that are similar or maybe with the same topic/theme/focus and what sets your zine apart from them?

Are there other zines going around at roughly the same time with the same target group, and should you perhaps wait a little so people can afford your zine again?

Is it a thriving fandom on the rise or has activity already peaked? If no fanzine: Is your theme at the pulse of time, or has some accute relevance to a lot of people?

Especially on tumblr, there are a few blogs entirely dedicated to zines and specifically fanzines. If tagged accordingly, they'll reblog all kinds of posts about a zine, but mostly Call for Submission, Zine Schedules, and Preorder Announcements (we will talk about these later on.) It is really helpful to check those out, sometimes there are even blogs solely about one fandom's projects, so it gets watered down even more. You can also test waters through polls etc. if you have a loyal followership that might just buy your stuff because it has you in or on it. However, I don't really find those very reliable.

The next questions are mainly about the doablity of the zine for you:

If there is any kind of production costs, do you have funds to cover them if the zine doesn't sell well enough?

Do you have anyone you can trust/are friends with who is also enthusiastic about your topic that they can help you?

How do you want to split work? How much do you want to contribute to the zine yourself?

Are you ready to make the commitment to dedicate basically every free minute of your life for the next 6+ month on this project? Are you in a relatively steady environment where you don't need to handle moving, changing jobs, schools, whatever at any point during your zine work?

I highly recommend you to at least have one other person to do the organisation with you, preferrably are two or even more.

Please do not underestimate the workload you'll get, even if it doesn't seem much at first, you will write so many e-mails because you need to get back to your contributors for one thing or another, you need to make sure the files are all correct, if you have writers you need beta-reading while also putting the zine together and finding a good printing service and making sure everyone is on time. For the last 6 months, this zine was basically my job, because it is just that, just without a clear salary, or none at all.

The next thing is kind of working out a schedule, with the rough stages/phases zine creations usually have.

Application/Gathering Contributors You have the option between public applications where people just send in portfolios and you pick from those, or you invite contributors you think are interested in the zine and you would like to have in it. Sometimes, there are zines that do both, but it's rather rare. There are some zines (usually free e-zines) that accept literally everyone who applies, and while it creates an opportunity for lesser known creators and beginners to gain a little exposure and experience, it doesn't necessarily mean that the overall quality of content is consistent and what you want to hold in your hands. I had applications open for a bit more than a month since I was very eager and didn't establish any kind of excitement or build-up thereof until finally applications open, but generally it's very common to have a full month to gather applications. The minimum should be 2 weeks, though. Also, don't let yourself be blinded by the sheer amount of applicants, especially in smaller fandoms, top tier creators are rather rare and everyone tries to get into a zine about something they love.

Curating Contributors If you don't have an Invite Only zine, you'll have a very busy time ahead now: You need to look through hundred or more applications and filter who is a fit for your zine, and who is not. Bear in mind that you aren't only looking for quality of work, but also which creator's style fits your zine best. Especially if you have several disciplines in your zine (e.g. illustrations and writing), I only can recommend to split the work load according to your speciality. That way you work faster and more efficient. Give yourself at least 2 weeks, the bigger/more popular the fandom, the longer it probably will take.

Sending Acceptance/Refusal E-Mails After you chose your pick, you'll need to let people know who's in, and who is not. I would advise to send out acceptance letters first, since there will be first dropouts immediately after you finally agreed on them. As soon as you got everyone to confirm their participation, take those who barely didn't make it and put them in for pinch-hitters. You will be surprised how many you'll probably need along the way. After they confirmed that yes, they'll be pinch-hitters, send out the rejection e-mails. I consider it curtesy to send them because as applicant, you really want to know where you're standing. Calculate roughly 1-2 weeks for the e-mails because things just tend to drag along and people need a long time to respond.

Confirmations This usually only applies if you offer people to make collaborations. They need to be able to check out who else is in the zine, who is up for collaboration, whose style suits them best to collab with, test the waters with each other, and usually should come up with an idea, so again 1-2 weeks would be needed for that. However, if you have got your contributors confirmed and just need the backup and refusal mails, just set those deadlines parallel.

1st Draft Depending on how much you're already asking for, you might want them 1-2 weeks after the rejection mails went out (if you really just want to know what kind of ideas people got), or up to a month if you want first sketches/summaries. The first draft is also helpful to see if two people got the same idea, and you can steer people a little bit into the "right direction."

2nd Draft Usually this is where at least 50-75% of the work should be done if you don't take a 3rd draft. Most common are 2 Drafts and the endproduct. Give people at least a month between 1st and 2nd Draft.

Final Draft This is when the finished pieces should be due. Depending on the time of the year, the contributors might be under a lot of stress, so set this deadline roughly 1 month after the 2nd Draft. You will be stressed, everyone else will be stressed, so give yourself the time you need. Also listen to your contributors and observe if there are a lot not cutting a deadline, then maybe push them back for another 1-2 weeks. It will make everyone more relaxed.

Touch-up Phase Especially with writers, you'll need at least 2 weeks to touch up the final draft they submitted.

Buffer Time (don't write that into the official schedule but definitely calculate with it) There will always be unexpected events that will require buffer times. You also will need time to put the zine together if you didn't work on designing the file beforehand while everyone else was creating. Still, you'll need to fix some things and polish the whole thing. Minimum buffer should be 1-2 weeks.

Contributor Preorders With printed zines, it is curtesy to give every contributor a printed copy of the zine for free with them only paying for shipping & handling. This kind of established itself as compensation for their work that usually ends up to be for free as most zines are either for charity or barely cover their production costs. To know who of your contributors even wants a copy, you should give them roughly 2-3 weeks to preorder. Having those exclusive orders helps you to divide between contributors and the regular costumer if you hold both at the same storefront.

Previews (+ Proofs) Before you're launching public preorders, dedicate at least 1 week to previews to get everyone hyped up. Contributors and the "official" zine site post excerps of zine pieces so people get an idea of what the feel of the zine is. If you already got proofs/samples printed until then, post pictures of those, too! If you don't post the link to the shop yet, there definitely wouldn't be a problem to have the previews start at the same time as the contributor preorders. That way, contributors also have the chance to get a glimpse at their peer's works.

Public Preorders Depending on how eager people are for your zine, you can leave preorders relatively short, but no less than 2 weeks if you don't get an insane amount of orders within the first couple of days. People must be able to check out prices and get their paycheck before preorders close again. Some zines have a stacked preorder system where the first X orders are cheaper, and then there will be leftovers or a second phase of preorders after the first bulk has been shipped. However, this doesn't happen very often. If you don't have a hugely popular zine or are cutting way too close to any important deadlines, consider having 3-4 weeks of preorders.

Production As soon as you got your numbers from the preorders, RUN AND PURCHASE EVERYTHING. Depending on where you get your zines printed (also don't forget the optional merch on this!), you can be ready to go within a week or even more than a month. Calculating with roughly 3 weeks if you're getting your stuff from mostly national level is a good rule of thumb, however shit happens all the time anyway, so to be safe use 4-8 weeks. Let your customers know immediately if there are any delays that weren't planned.

Shipping Depending on how many orders you've got, shipping can be a hassle and most likely will take up one week or longer. Since domestic shipping is fastest, ship international orders first, that way customers don't have the feeling that they're forgotten.

E-Zine Currently, a common trend is to first get the physical copies sold, and then sell e-zines to gather more money and cover leftover production costs of the printed zine. Especially international customers and college students prefer e-zines because of the incredibly high shipping rates around the globe. E-zines aren't linked to any production at all after you got the file put together, so if you set up your storefront with the download, everyone simply downloads it. You can have those open as you like, common is anything between 1-3 month and even a whole year. If no money is involved at all, a lot of zines just exist as a permanent free download in a dropbox or other cloud, so this is the least complicated process.

Conventions Really, it's not necessary to put this up in the schedule, but thinking about it might be helpful. If you have a physical zine, you and some contributors might want to sell it on conventions, so offering them to buy a bulk to a smaller rate can be helpful to spread the zine's exposure. We handled this with "buying on commission" - mainly the contributor only pays for the printing costs + shipping, and later will pay part of the profit back to you. Especially with international contributors, be aware of the longer shipping time. Also reprints might take their time. I personally made it a rule to order the reprints 3 months before the con, and reprints can be made up until one year, but really, you don't need to do this.

After you've got your rough schedule, I would advise you to already gather information on how to produce and spread the finished zine. This also helps to know how much you should have in your backup fund for the zine.

For physical zines/merch

Check out printing services! compare prices and quality as well as product range, and find out how long production takes

Find an online storefront where you want to sell it if you don't have one yet

Research on conventions and fairs where you might sell the zine

Learn about shipping rates and which company is suited best for your purpose

For e-zines

Research on your options:

If it's free, what cloud-service are you most comfortable with?

Find a dowload hosting platform you're comfortable with that also lets you charge per download

Is a round-mailing an option? if yes, do your research on online storefronts as well.

Advertising + Web Presence

This is basically finding your social media where you want to spread the word and store all the information of your zine. It is common for a zine with multiple contributors and mods to have its own web presence.

Tumblr and twitter are very popular for this as tumblr basically is a quick-for-setup homepage where you can spread information incredibly fast if you get to the right people, you have the option to answer questions people have regarding your zine, and twitter is nice and handy to keep applicants and potential customers updated. Also think about where you've got a large following and can advertise the zine yourself. Twitter/tumblr is not required, but most definitely helpful.

If you yourself aren't very known or popular, try to get more influencial people interested in participating, or simply promoting your zine. It definitely helps to have a larger audience. Also find out about the tags used by largely popular zines, and what you can learn from them. Learn how the fanproject blogs filter content they might reblog.

Things you also shouldn't underestimate is affiliations! If there is a zine/project with a largely similar forcus and theme, try to get on their better side, and help each other out. They might be your competition, but if you schedule your zine in a clever way, you won't need to worry about this at all since preorder phase won't overlap at all. They might help you advertise your zine while you do the same for them.

There are also forums on zines and fanzines, but I think nowadays it's rare that you'll go viral through those. I personally don't have any experience with those, so if anyone has, I'm happy to hear about it!

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#inky rambles #zines #fanzines #fandom zines #fan zines #how to organize a zine 101 #long post #advice #art advice

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