#oh and I've also been making up community service hours

[slayingfiction]

How I push through writing when I don't feel like writing.

Here are some of the techniques that I use to help me write more often or more consistantly when my laziness/depression/anxiety starts to take over.

I watch TV. I don't do it with the purpose of zoning out though. I watch something popular and well-liked such as the LOR or Harry Potter to get new ideas on how I can develop my story and apply their in-depth world-building ideas to help develop mine. Without plagarizing of course!!!!

Zoning out and daydreaming. As I have mentionned before, daydreaming is a huge part of my story outlining and world-building process. I'll stand in the shower, or take a walk and think about how my charcaters would act/react/behave in situations, mundane or not. Doing this gives me a better sense of my characters, and sometimes gives me ideas for scenes I use later on.

Work on writing related projects. These work well at keeping me distracted while still being productive on my writing goals. Example, I have one story I am working now, I made a new language (alphabet and numbers included) to include as a cool and fun component for the book. So, at times when I don't wan't to write, I continue creating the dictionary (very fun, 8/10 would recommend). Also, for the same book, my characters don't work off the Georigian calendar and 24 hour clock, so I've been working at creating a new calendar (harder than it seems, 2.5/10 dont recommend). These are side projects that help my story, without having to write.

Reading. You saw this one coming, I know. Reading is great, especially when you're editing, your writing style will unconsciously change to be more similar the author you were just reading. Also, most importantly, I'll be reading and think, "this story is really good, but you know what story I like even better? Mine." then change to writing.

This one is my biggest life saver!! I learnt about a year ago that sometimes I'll get bored of writing a story, and have difficulty keeping on track. That's why I finished my first book in 2016 and just started editing the first draft last week. The solution for me was to work on multiple projects at once, because it was much harder to be bored of multiple stories. I stick to 2, but will sometimes add a third. This is easy for me, because I have a list of over a dozen series I want to write. Don't abandon one project for another, use them as a distraction/ motivation for each other, so you're always furthering at least one project. I've never heard someone say, "oh no, i accidentally worked on this other writing project for three months instead of the other writing project I was doing. Dammit." No, we're just happy we have written something. Be sure to have well outlined story lines before starting, don't just start writing randomly or you'll reach a point where you don't know where to go from there.

Author/ writer projects. Maybe this is building a following, or community to share your projects and engage with. Tumblr, Insta, Reddit, whatever it is. My hope this year is to start up my website to offer publishing services (editing, graphic design, short writing courses) and build a following as a writer. (See what I did there? Never a bad time to self-promote ;) ) Having your own projects like this will help you in the future when you're going to try to publish and sell your books!

Talk with friends and a writing community. Never underestimate the passion that will burn inside you when talking about your story, or when others are talking about theirs. Surrounding yourself with a positive writing community can be the best thing for you as a writer.

Write or read (your story) every day. I'm not going to be one of those people that say you need to write 1000 words a day, that's a lot. But maybe try for 100? That could maybe only take 5 minutes, and at the end of the year that's still over 36 thousand words of a novel. Or just read your story, and I've always found it helped me get in the creative mood.

Make a playlist of songs that remind you of your characters, your story, or just puts you in the mood to write. Then play it ONLY when you're having trouble writing. Playing it while writing will not help, you'll get annoyed with the songs.

Just really can't do it today? That's okay, take a break. You deserve it. There's always tomorrow.

Does anyone else have ways they push themselves to keep writing? Let us know in the comments!

Happy Writing!

[ms-demeanor]

any tips for Adult Phone Calls? i've been putting some off and it's going to start costing me money if i don't Get It Together soon, but that pressure just makes it harder!! part of my issue is not knowing what The Script is and part of it is that i find real-time conversation as An Adult really daunting....

Yes!

Okay so a big part of my job is answering phone calls; I am a professional person who answers phone calls from people who would rather not have to call me and who are usually confused and upset by what is happening, which often has the potential to be expensive for them. It's a stressful call to make!

As a professional phone answerer, here are the things that help ME when people call:

Be able to describe the reason that you're calling and what you would like to do about it. This is a simple two-step giving basic background information and your desired outcome so that the person answering the phone can get the process started for you. Examples: "Hi, I'm a new patient referred by Doctor X; I'd like to make an appointment with Dr. Y." "Hi, I tried to use my credit card but it was rejected, I would like to know why." "Hi, I am calling about a late payment; I would like it removed from my record." "Hi, my sink is leaking and I'd like to schedule a visit for repair." "Hi, I think my computer has a virus, I'd like to bring it in to get checked out."

Call when you have some time. Don't call when you've only got five minutes to be on the phone, this could take a while and you will be less stressed if you call when you've got at least ten minutes to half an hour where you won't be interrupted. If you are less stressed, the person taking the call will be less stressed, and the whole process will work better.

Have any account/ticket/serial number/referral information handy. Pre-game the call in your head and think about any questions they might need to ask you, then gather the information they might need. Examples: If you're calling about something like a car or computer hardware, know the basics of make/model/age. If you're calling a financial institution or service provider, have your account number, verification information, etc. handy If you're calling a medical office you might want to have a list of medications as well as your insurance card available.

And here's some information that might make CALLERS more comfortable:

We're not mad at you for making the phone call; talking to you is our job. You're not bothering anyone or imposing on anyone's time. Please make the call instead of churning in panic for weeks or months; it's much easier to fix something or resolve an issue if it's addressed early than if you respond to it months down the line.

You can just say right off the bat that you're not sure about the call or that you don't know what's going on and you need help. You might want to say something like "Hi, I'm having an issue and I don't know the next steps to take to get it resolved; could you please help me?"

You can also just say something like "Hi, thanks for helping me; I'd like to let you know that I have a little trouble using the phone and may need to ask questions as we go or think for a second. Thanks for being patient with me, here's my issue."

There is like a zero percent chance that your call is going to be one of the more stressful things they do that day. The call is stressful for you, it is very routine for them, and they are used to everything from getting screamed at to trying to communicate in languages they don't speak to help callers.

Also: if you have not called this place before, feel free to call it with no plans to speak to anyone just to see how the phone system works. It may be an automated phone system and you can call and pre-navigate the options and take notes for when you're ready to call back, and you may be able to find out more of what the system will ask of you. If you get picked up by a person when you're not ready you can simply say "Oh, I'm sorry, I've got another call coming in, I'll call back, thank you" and hang up.

The Script for most Adult-type phone calls is "I am having X problem and I need help fixing it," and then requests for information and someone either providing a resolution for you issue or escalating it to the next step in the process.

It's hard to pre-plan a script without more details because some people you'll call will have a more difficult script than others (canceling cable, for instance, can be a hassle and there are people out there who have written specific instructions on how to do that) and some will be very easy (scheduling an appointment or opening an account can often be very simple!) but regardless of how difficult the specific script is you can ask for help along the way, and the process will be easier if you've done a little information gathering about your own needs/issues/desired resolution.

Good luck! Please don't let the phone scare you too much! People on the other end of the phone are usually quite happy to help.

If it's something really contentious like dealing with a collections agency, look up specific resource guides because that's where it pays to have a very specific idea in mind of how you're going to approach the problem.

[goldenpinof]

lmao now someone at tm has said the vip is cancelled which is clearly some poor customer service person who’s uninformed. this whole thing is a fucking disaster like could not be worse i fear. the venue said ticketmaster will give refunds for a portion of the ticket to get it back down to ga pricing and will communicate that soon. seems reliable but who knows. my hope is that at the least, everyone in this position is given silver vip perks for free so they at least get to interact with dnp and get the merch. it’ll never be a perfect solution bc dnp can only meet so many people but it’s the LEAST they can do even if it wasnt their fault tm fucked up so so badly

i have so many things to say about it but i'll try not to. Seattle, y'all.

i've seen two emails from the Ticketmaster manager and the venue's manager that say, "the VIP portion of the event has been cancelled" and "the VIP package portion of these orders will be cancelled". and the 1st one is probably just bad wording. which is confusing, but it's great that we have the 2nd email. there's also information about Silver VIPs having the same problem. which just says that Gold VIPs aren't gonna be downgraded to Silver. although, i don't see why.

because realistically, Ticketmaster can talk to dnp (not even to the venue, UTA or AEG, or their managers, dnp directly. if these 3 organizations + dnp IT managers can't come to a conclusion that every party is gonna be okay with) and try to solve this problem with them. Ticketmaster can't give us what we want themselves, but dnp surely can. and that is - at least Silver VIPs with preshow and VIP merch bundles. like, they are physically able to do this. it doesn't matter if there are 100 people at the preshow or 150 (edit: it would likely be 350 instead of 100. everything else still stands. making extra 300 VIP merch bundles is possible). they are all gonna be sitting there listening to dnp yap for 30-ish mins anyway. i understand why dnp can't make a pool of Gold VIPs bigger only because Ticketmaster fucked up. meeting people in person takes time and energy, even if in theory that could be done (a 2-hour meet and greet lmao), it would be harder for everyone involved. but Silver VIPs don't require anything extra from dnp or the venue. they are gonna be on stage anyway, so who the fuck cares if it's a little bit more people than they planned. these 2 added USA shows weren't planned either, and now they are making extra VIP bundles for them. so even that is not a problem. and before someone says, "safety issues and security", hire more people for 3 hours.

you know where i'm getting? it's a solvable problem, but only dnp can put pressure on the companies involved to solve it. if they only cared. because of course, AEG and the venue are gonna tell Ticketmaster to just quietly solve it themselves the way they can. but the thing is, they can't do it without upsetting dozens of people who were told they would meet dnp, get to the preshow, and have VIP merch. and now they don't get any of it at all. you see how fucked up the communication is and how easily Ticketmaster, dnp and us could meet in the middle with Silver VIPs? not even for free. "my hope is that at the least, everyone in this position is given silver vip perks for free so they at least get to interact with dnp and get the merch" i get why that would be very cool, but i don't think making it free has to be an option. downgrading Gold VIPs to Silver VIPs, and refunding only the m&g part would be more than enough. but they are not gonna fucking do it!!!! because communication is so freaking hard for companies and some people, that they rather die than propose a compromise and meet in the middle to solve a huge problem, if you ask me.

i'm not angry at dnp, btw. it should be Ticketmaster screaming, crying, throwing up trying to contact anyone they can to reach dnp, and solve this problem. oh, and there are commissions and shit, so Ticketmaster should be fined for this (and i fucking hope they are).

@danielhowell @amazingphil twitter is tagging you like crazy. i guess it's not enough.

[bearsinpotatosacks]

Saw this post and it inspired me to share my fic idea for Richie realising that he isn't alone and people do care for him. I might frame it as a 5 times people showed Richie he wasn't alone kind of thing. So here's Richie being ill and taken care of

Nat - Richie’s been under the weather for days. She’s not the only one who's noticed and she keeps trying to get to go home but he insists he's fine. Richie Jerimovich doesn't take sick days as he doesn't get sick he's never been able to there’s always been too many people relying on him. This is until he comes in very feverish, running solely on paracetamol and espresso until midway through service where Carmy forces him to 'calm down' as he looks like shit. He sits by the lockers to take a breather when he collapses. He wakes up a few minutes later with Nat & Ebra sitting next to him, someone gets him water and they insist on sending him home. Nat says she doesn’t trust him to drive home so drives him home, makes him something to eat, then rubs his back as he throws it up, then makes sure he goes to bed.

Tiff- She calls him when he wakes up, 14 hours later, shouting at him for not picking Eva up after ballet and for not answering his phone. Then he explains and she’s straight round with half a pharmacy's worth of supplies, Eva reluctantly with Frank so she doesn’t get ill, she helps him get into the shower, puts his clothes in the wash and generally looks after him. He insists that he'll be fine, that she, as his ex wife, doesn't have to. She reiterates that he's all the family she's got, and forces him to eat even when he throws it up after. He falls asleep on her lap, she covers him up in a blanket and leaves him to sleep.

Tina- Her and Sydney come over. They make more food, Sydney says she’s only there because he was disney+. Tina brings along a lot of home remedies she insists worked for her son, ginger, peppermint etc. He's at a very pathetic part of being ill, swaying when he stands, can't stand up, walking around with blankets on as a cape, pale and out of breath. She keeps him company for a few hours, even when he says she could get sick. When they go to leave, Syd sees how weak he is and doesn't have the heart to leave him there

Syd - I want to add for context, let's say this is post s3, I am unsure whether Syd is still working there but let's say this is after she takes Chef Adam's offer. She's on good terms with Richie & Tina, shaky terms with Nat & Marcus and no talking terms with Carmy. She’s also been kind of dating, kind of fucking Richie since part way through the month of services in episode 3, Doors. So her staying is a new step in their relationship, they binge watch Friends until he curls up on her lap. She makes him the plainest food ever, boiled vegetables and potatoes, and helps him stand up in the shower before cuddling him to sleep.

Carmy- As this is post s3, this is into Carmy’s "oh shit i've been acting like Chef David and need to sort out some shit" era. He's trying even though he no longer has Syd as his work partner, and his and Richie’s relationship is extremely fractured. So he turns up on Tuesday morning with Berzatto chicken soup that Mickey used to make when they were ill and is surprised to see Sydney there but forces all of those thoughts and urges down when he sees Richie shuffling in. There's some not-really-communicating communicating where Richie appreciates Carmy coming but won't say it, and Carmy feels bad for not being there, but also doesn't say it. He gives him the rest of the week off, heats up the soup, and leaves

[ninjastormhawkkat]

"Hold on a minute, some weird guy is staring at me. Probably some bum trying to get change off of me." Comments like that had ensured he would absolutely be relieved of guilt for what was to happen next. A smile spreads across the figure's facial features, revealing inhumanly sharp teeth glinting in the street lights. A hand quickly shot out, taking a hold of the rather obnoxious man. "What the hell are you doing-" A scream soon pierced the quietness of the night. It quickly became a horrendous gurgling noise. The cellphone in the man's hand had fallen in the process. Leaving the person on the other end to become worried and confused about what was happening to the man. It didn't take very long for the man to become completely still. The figure allows him to finally fall to the cement below, licking at his blood stained lips in satisfaction. "The night, it is still so young. I don't think I shall waste another minute on you." Like a ghost in the night, he had vanished. As if he were never there. Leaving only the grotesque mess he had made for others to find. Unknown to him, there was a witness to this who had seen the whole thing. Watching in complete and utter fear. The figure grinned, it was as if he were seeing the world through different eyes. The opportunities that awaited him. It sent a shiver of excitement up his spine. His thirst might have satiated but he wasn't satisfied with only that. Oh no. There was so much more he had in mind for this city. Just wait till morning until they discover his little surprise for all to see. It wasn't until hours later did he finally return to the house. Feeling pleased with himself. Carl shot up in bed, heart racing so fast within his chest. Calming down once realizing he was in bed with Matthew. It took the retired scientist to recognize his surroundings. "That's right.. we're at Gene's place." The dream he had woken up from was already fading from his memory. It was rather absurd, recalling what he could. He could've sworn the dream was incredibly vivid and felt so real. But the little bits of the dream that he did remember became fuzzy and distant in his mind. Carl wasn't as quiet as he thought. Matthew had woken up. "Love, are you okay?" His voice had brought Carl from his thoughts. "Matthew, dearest. I hadn't meant to wake you up." He frowned, feeling guilty as he wanted his husband to get as much rest as needed. "It's alright, I needed to get up early anyway. Don't feel bad, my darling. I'm worried about you, though.” He gave Matthew a smile. “It was just a dream. I was just startled from a dream. I don't even remember what happened in it anymore. I'll be fine.” Matthew pulled the other into his arms, holding him in such a comforting manner. Placing a loving kiss to Carl's forehead. “Even so, I've still got you.” The former scientist blushed. Matthew still had such an effect on him even after all this time. “Thank you, my love.” They had stayed like that for a good while. It wasn't until Carl noticed the time that he forced Matthew to get out of bed and to get ready for his community service. Though there was something that had been bothering Carl since waking up. He had not remembered going back to bed after his conversation with Gene last night. No matter how much he tried to, it just kept coming up blank to him. Carl sighed, he must've been that tired that he didn't remember. He was getting up there in age. “I could stay back. Margaret won't be very happy about it but I don't want to leave you if you're not okay.” Carl smiled once more. “I'm not going to be responsible for what she'd do if you tried. You're also expecting a new face there, aren't you?” Matthew looked surprised at that. He had completely forgotten about that. And Carl did make a point. Wincing at the thought of what Margaret might do if he actually did skip out on it. Though for Carl, it would've been absolutely worth it. Whatever punishment she'd dole out, he'd endure for his dearest husband. “Go get dressed now.” Matthew chuckled at that before doing as he said. Leaving Carl to this thoughts.

Carl still felt unsettled by the dream, it was like he was walking through a mist. Yet at the same time it was like someone or something was controlling his body and actions. The dream was scary, but also ludicrous. At one point Carl thought he saw someone who looked like his old narcissus ex boyfriend who he never thought about again until now. Carl just let out a sigh and shook his head. 'It was just a nightmare.' Carl reassured himself. He remembered how reading how the mind and senses can trick the body into thinking something is real when it isn't. His strange dream was just one of those cases. Carl decided to get out of bed and go downstairs. He was going to try and help his son and other son-in-law deal with this strange and frightening case of kidnapping. Carl pushed away the issue of the nightmare and headed downstairs, ignoring the feeling of dread in the back of his mind. Carl also did not pay attention to that fact that his mouth was no longer dry and that there was no glass cup on the nightstand when he got up that morning. Atomic Steele surveyed the area with caution and an intense gaze. He was going over the area looking for something out of the ordinary. Something that had bothered his friend and teammate Electric Blur. Something in this seemingly abandoned area affected Blur's powers. "I wasn't sure what just happened. It felt like I was suddenly communicating emotionally with a strange energy wave that was being transmitted from there. I felt uneasy and scared...but also sad for some reason." That is what Blur told Atomic when she came back to their hideout looking shaken and worried. She told him she never felt anything like that before, not even from the fallen B.E.A.W labs. Atomic Steele offered to check it out for her as the young heroine wasn't keen on returning to the spot. While Electric Blur was being comforted by her other teammates, Atomic followed the directions the heroine had given him to the location where she felt the strange and unsettling energy. What Atomic Steele found when he got there was a large but abandoned warehouse surrounded by an empty field. The area was surrounded by a rusted, wired fence. The place looked like it hadn't been used for years. Still, the normally brave yet brash young hero couldn't help but feel a child go up his spine. His gut and instincts telling him there is something dangerous here, something evil. Atomic Steele walked up to the doors of the warehouse. He grabbed at a rusted handle and tried opening it. To the hero's surprise and growing caution, the door easily unlocked. Atomic Steele took a deep breath and steadied his nerves. He then proceeded inside the warehouse in a slow pace, ready to discover what laid inside. "Oh hello there Matthew. Cutting it a bit close are we." Miss Dewey lightly teased the former villain as he just came into the library to start his community service. "Sorry about that Miss Dewey. I had some problems this morning but I'm here now." Matthew replied, feeling a bit embarrassed about cutting things close. He really didn't want to leave Carl and Gene alone during the family crisis that was happening but at the same time he really didn't want to test the limits of his second chance at freedom from prison. Miss Dewey gave the man a look of sympathy and concern. "You know, if there is a serious problem going on at home, I wouldn't mind helping you fill out some forms to request a temporary leave from your community service." The librarian offered. Matthew smiled in appreciation at her kind gesture. "Thank you Miss Dewey but I'll be alright." Matthew responded. "So has the new service worker arrived yet?", the former villain asked. Miss Dewey smiled and nodded. "Yes he is here. Matthew, allow me to introduce you to Frank Leigh." Matthew glanced over to the man Miss Dewey introduced. He looked to be a few years older than Victor but still younger than Matthew and Carl. He had dark hair and light, blueish gray eyes. The man gave a friendly wave to Matthew. "Hi nice to meet you." Frank spoke in a kind tone. @dualnaturedscientist

[cryptidsurveys]

Wednesday, August 7th, 2024.

Who will you be spending Christmas with this year? Depending on what day it falls on and what my schedule looks like at the time, I will most likely be spending it at the animal shelter. The rest of the day will be spent at home with my dad. I'm sure I'll do something with my mom to celebrate Christmas too, but not necessarily on the day-of.

What time do you usually go to sleep at night? I go to bed super early (like 7pm-8pm); however, it takes me a while to fall asleep, so unconsciousness happens sometime around 9pm. I also typically wake up during the night and it takes me a bit to get back to sleep. Going to bed so early is pretty much the only thing that even halfway guarantees that I'll get at least 7-8 hours of solid sleep. Unfortunately, going to bed later with the hope that I'll fall asleep faster or sleep more deeply just shrinks that available window of opportunity.

Did you go to high school with your current best friend? No, but we did meet during my high school years.

Have you ever wanted to be vegetarian or vegan? I have been vegan/vegetarian at different points in my life, but not currently.

Do you park your car in a garage, carport or just in a driveway? I park it in the driveway. There's no room in the other half of our garage, but even if there was…lmao, I'm afraid I would park in there and I wouldn't be able to back out again. New driver problems, I guess. ;D

Have you ever been a passenger in a semi-trailer truck? Yeah. In childhood. We broke down on the way back from a grocery shopping trip in another city and a semi driver gave us a ride back into town.

Have you felt sick today? No. Just tired, but a good, satisfying type of tired.

Whose was the last funeral you attended? It was for the father of a past partner, back in 2009.

Have you read The Hunger Games trilogy? I have.

How many times a week do you wash your hair? A bunch. Twice on animal shelter days because I shower before and after, then at least once during my two days off. Like, sometimes I'll skip showering on one of the days if all I'm doing is going grocery shopping, but if I'm feeling gross or have therapy or some other social activity later in the day, then I'll take one.

Do you need to wash your hair right now? I guess I don't need to because I showered last night, but I will be showering shortly because I need to get ready to go to therapy before too much longer.

Do you avoid using public restrooms? Not really.

What is your boss’ (or school principal’s) name? I'm not going to give their real names (I've been using aliases for animal shelter staff for the sake of anonymity, plausible deniability, or what have you), but they will be referred to in this blog as Leslie and Iris.

Have you seen any extended relatives in the last month? I haven't.

Do you like eggnog? Yeah.

Is there anything important you need to do today? Therapy, wash my bedding, make some art, and spend some time with my kitties (I can tell they miss me now that I'm gone more often). Oh, and because I don't know if I'll get a chance to take a survey within the next few days, I'll just talk about some upcoming stuff. I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow morning and I need to pick up a bunch of doughnuts to bring in on Friday. It might be Cassie's last day, so I want to have a little going away celebration with the people in cattery. It's also going to be one of our community service worker's last days, so we're going to sneakily invite him back there as well. Plus Darrel - can't forget Darrel. And I'm getting enough so that the dog staff can have some too because I don't want them to feel left out, especially not with how kind they've all been to me.

Who is the person you dislike the most? Okay, you know when you work with someone who drives you up the wall with their behavior/personality? Then you find out they might be leaving (it's still a case of I'll believe it when I see it)? And you're like…damn, I'm actually gonna miss you a little bit. Maybe you're not so bad after all. And what if the person who replaces you is even worse? (It's Alex, lmao.)

Do you take part in paying the bills for your household? Yeah.

Have you ever properly listened to classical music? Did you like it? I don't know what you mean by properly, but I basically always listen to classical music whenever I'm in the car. I do like it.

Do your parents know how to text? Yeah.

Do you text your parents often? Not that often. I text my dad when I'm on my way home from the shelter after full days (sometimes we get finished much later than expected), and I text my mom only very occasionally.

What letter does your middle name begin with? A.

Do your initials spell an actual word? HAT.

What will you do when this survey is over? I'm actually going to stop here and go take my shower. I'll finish this later in the day, so you'll have your answer then… OKAY. I'm back from therapy. It was cancelled due to a family emergency. I had a snack, made some art, and after this…I think I'm going to lie in bed and listen to something on YouTube until lunchtime.

Do you know anyone with celiac disease? I don't think so.

How many siblings do you have? Are they all full siblings? I have one sibling.

What’s the weather like today? Sunny and hot.

Have you ever eaten a cinnamon donut? I might have.

What is the longest relationship you’ve ever been in? A few years.

How many times a day do you brush your teeth? Twice.

How do you usually celebrate New Years? I don't really do anything. I don't even bother staying up until midnight.

Is the place that you’re in right now quiet or loud? What can you hear? It's a little bit loud due to the swamp cooler.

Do you currently have any alarms set? No.

How many cars can fit in your driveway? You could probably squish four in there if you wanted to.

Do you like whiskey? I don't like the taste of hard liquor in general. Then again, I don't drink it for the taste.

When was the last time you ate, and what did you have? I had Greek yogurt with fruit, cereal, and chocolate syrup.

[a-meowgician]

So, week one of being pursued by Team Cipher went well-ish. I have decided to name the suicune Comet. She doesn't bite me when I call her that, so that must mean she's fine with it. Oh, by the way, Comet is a she. I know because whenever I use gender-neutral or male pronouns for her, she bites me, but not when I use female ones. It seems some pokemon are sexless, but not genderless. We get along mostly fine, except for when she bites me to express displeasure with something, which seems to be the only emotion she ever has, other than battle-frenzy. She does seem to like headpats, but I genuinely can't tell if it's because she actually enjoys them, or if it's because it puts my hand within optimal biting distance. Incidentally, I happen to be typing this whole post with my right hand. I'm going to need to purify her soon if I want my other hand to survive.

In other news, I got arrested! Turns out, "Here you go, they're your problem now!" isn't a good defense for being caught snagging shadow pokemon in front of an Officer Jenny. Fortunately, I managed to convince her to call Professor Krane, and he cleared things up. Apparently, (overly simplified) by being nice to Comet, I'd gotten the purification process started. Unfortunately, I'm still on the hook for "encouraging dangerous and illegal behaviour" with my original post distributing the snagging app. I really should've seen that one coming.

Even worse, I've been sentenced to 80 hours of community service bringing down team Cipher. Apparently, they're convinced I'm some kind of battling prodigy. I'm really not, I'm just some schmuck who got lucky with a pokeball. I tried asking them to just put me in jail and leave the bringing down a team to someone qualified, but they would have none of it. So, here we are. I think I'm going to look at a guide online and get started building the stalliest team known to 'mon - if I have to suffer through 80 hours of battling, then I'm gonna make damn sure team cipher suffers too.

Also, some important news about the snagging app I distributed in my previous post: The exploits it used got patched, so as of yesterday, it won't work anymore. Props to whoever's in charge of pokesecurity at team Cipher, they work fast! That being said, the goons they sent after me thought this meant I couldn't snag their shadow pokemon - but of course I could! Do they think I've been sitting on my hands all week? Okay, maybe they have a point about my left hand, but I have another one! I won't be distributing the updated version though, both because I don't want to get even more hours of community service added to my sentence, and because I'm pretty sure that having a working example to look at helped team Cipher patch those holes in their security, and I'm done giving them freebies.

[dhaaruni]

Dhaaruni, I hope it's ok if I vent for a moment in your askbox but it just keeps angering me and like, given the various circumstances of my life, the thing that gets me about young women and girls these days wanting to be wives so their husband pays for everything and they magically hold zero cares in the world is like.... Have you ever even Been There? [1]

No extra money of your own because it's in a joint account so it's for Everyone or No One? Cleaning the house, doing the laundry, cooking meals, etc.--something you will be expected to do as the Unemployed Person! Even if "hubby" never says so explicitly I guarantee you he's been raised to anticipate some woman always being there to fulfill his needs and keep house--can only fill up so much of your time. For example, I can sweep and mop up half of a house and wash up a load of laundry in 2 hours. Wow! How efficient. Except gee, what to do next? The other half? Bake a loaf of bread or a batch of cookies? (I do enjoy baking and cooking but it's still work!) Another odd load of laundry? Oh wait. There's so many things to watch on streaming services! Books to read! Maybe I'll finish up my painting!! Except when do you feel justified to take time like that when a full time job is from 8 to 5, and you can get so much done is so little time? [2] [Wow, finally tumblr is cooperating with me! Last one!] Oh but wait! Childcare. Childcare is a whole new ballpark. Have fun communicating with a wee screeching thing for anything from hunger and thirst, to outside playtime, oh no the favorite blanket is missing, and so on. It's not frustrating or maddening at all! Bonus points if you find yourself hit in the head by any object the baby/toddler can throw at you, and no amount of, "No, we don't throw. That's not nice. That hurts." will stop it! You just have to take it and hope that someday it'll finally click before you're the one screaming and throwing things in the backyard. And that's one little piece of childcare! You have to factor in meal planning for picky tastes but also ensure a balanced diet lest you constipate or give them diarrhea to kingdom come! Blowouts and diapers so sodden with urine they explode just by removing clothes! Tantrums and when they realize they can't throw something at you, they will scream right in your ear! Etc.! (I know it's Controversial ig but David Lynch nailed it with Eraserhead. Parenthood is that messy and messed up, This Be the Verse, etc.) Like this is well and truly what makes me wonder about girls and women wanting this. It gets old. I'm not saying a job as a cashier or barista is gonna fulfill my life or wouldn't be as mind-numbingly soul crushing. But it would actually pay bills! It would be more than the paltry change I'm granted as a full time nanny right now! Yes, I work 10.5-12 hours a day and I'm way below the poverty line! But ig I ought to be happy bc childcare isn't real work somehow? Or that it's solely my money? Except I can't afford much of anything without risking overdraft hmm. Which ig is why minimum wage looks better where I'm at! Terrible, right? Because even that tiny sum is an improvement for me. Like I'm part of a long, long line of unemployed, unmarried, childless women being made into cheap and convenient childcare! So the return to tradwife bimbo whatever bullshit makes me livid constantly. I cried so many times reading The Feminine Mystique bc while Betty Friedan didn't write it with someone like me in mind--I got my degree! I've never wanted kids! Sure I never planned out future education or found employment in my field, but this wasn't my choice!--, I can relate all too well! And all these girls and women wanting to go back?? Please please please READ The Feminine Mystique! I don't know a single woman that would take my place much less choose to be a stay at home mom even if money wasn't an issue! Because shockingly if women are human beings, our lives don't end at motherhood and homemaking! Crazy concept, right?

You're completely right, and I think you'll appreciate this post from @mini-wrants with @sprinkledsalt's addition.

[astrabear]

15 questions, 15 tags

tagged by @ongreenergrasses. Not gonna tag 15 people, that's like 30% of all the people I follow.

Are you named after anyone? I have the name that my mother would have had, if my grandmother hadn't changed her mind at the last minute and given her a popular name instead. My mother always resented being one of many [name]s in her classes at school and was determined that if she had a daughter, she'd use this name.

When was the last time you cried? Man, I don't fuckin know. My dad died a year and a half ago, my stepfather died a few months ago, I've been unemployed and looking for work since December (just accepted an offer the other day, so that's cool), I visit my mom regularly and she's having a really hard time, and there was an ice storm a couple of weeks ago that left us without power for 36 hours and brought up a bunch of trauma from a debilitating storm two years ago. Also I have depression and anxiety. I can't be bothered to keep track of when or how often I cry, is what I'm saying. Sometime in the past week, probably.

Do you have kids? nope

Do you use sarcasm a lot? When joking with my roommate, yes. As part of general communication, I use it but I think not a lot?

What's the first thing you notice about people? Doesn't this depend on what's noticeable? Like if someone has blue hair, I'm gonna notice the blue hair first. Anything that stands out or seems unexpected - unusual hair color, tattoos, certain hair styles, size/height/other features that are at either end of the bell curve, dramatic clothes or accessories.

What's your eye color? Dark brown

Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings, definitely.

Any special talents? I notice and remember stuff about people, and I connect pieces of information. Someone once described it as my superpower. This makes me very good at giving gifts. Sometimes I have to keep it to myself in order to not sound creepy (because people aren't necessarily prepared for you to remember something they said in passing a year ago, and then connect it to something that someone else mentioned last week, and use that to infer something they had not yet told you.) I'm also bizarrely good at finding specific Old Guard fanfics.

Where were you born? Houston, Texas

What are your hobbies? I have had so many hobbies that I no longer currently practice. I want to get back into cooking and baking (as hobbies rather than just necessity). I write. I play the Sims. For a while I was using the Sims to make fanvids, but that's fallen away as the writing has picked up. I'd like to start drawing again. It's going to take some time to get back in shape enough to do it, but I'd love to one day take up weightlifting again.

Do you have any pets? I have two cats, Truffle and Tristan. They will be turning 4 in a couple of months. I adopted them in 2019 and I can't imagine getting through lockdown without them. I made up these song lyrics about them, back when "Bad Guy" was still a thing: So he's a buff guy Not got lots of fluff guy Likes to play real rough guy Tail always so puffed guy She's that smart type Take my things apart type Face a work of art type Got a loving heart type They are good cats Duh

What sports do you play/have you played? None. The only physical endeavor that I've ever been serious about was weightlifting, but never competitively.

How tall are you? 5'3, 160cm. I'm basically a hobbit.

Favorite subject in school? In high school, English. In college, probably history.

Dream job? Alas, there is no job out there that would include doing complex work in spreadsheets and databases, and coaching/mentoring other people, and doing some kind of problem solving/information and referral work that gives people immediate assistance. When I did social service type jobs, I felt like I wasn't getting enough mental stimulation, and now that I'm working more analytical jobs I miss the satisfaction of helping people. Oh well.

Like I said, I'm not going to tag 15 people. But I will tag @lazaefair, because you're my most recent follow so I know you the least well.

For cat pics, see below

Truffle, my perfect angel baby:

And Tristan, my little goblin boy:

[ofglories]

   technology! it made anything possible — from swift communication between parties to entertainment from streaming services, that of which he had a part in — it served everyone well. for the man that would never be traced easily however, he never had just one. or two, or even three; more than strictly necessary for his identities, while maintaining his secrecy, as those phones would also be swapped out consistently. so how does one reach out to the gentleman thief?

   it's unknown how'd they'd cross paths like this besides fate, as vast as the universe is and locked away the prince of contre'r gwaelod is, nary able to stretch his legs outside of the castle without being surrounded by knights. a chance encounter on the balcony and a request that the threw the land into chaos over the disappearance of their beloved prince — for about a week.

   and what a joyous week it was.

   "well, mon chéri," arsène said, poised along the balcony railing, amused by the increase in security down below by the sheer increase of knights circling the area. now if only they were wise enough to look up! "i believe it's time we part here, for now, to tell your people that you've made a safe return home. that would surely drive them to calm again, able to wave away the kidnapping soon after."

   he utters kidnapping in an amused matter, turning back around to face bors, gazing at the beauty that had joined him as company over the past week, able to amuse arsène well with wit and a hidden sass.

   "in my line of work, my number changes constantly that we can't exchange them here. and no worries of giving away of your own, as i've already gone to the steps to learn of it, safely kept that no one will be able to trace you to me. rather, here is a simple silver whistle. in the case of danger, or say to find some time away, whistle without stopping. i shall arrive shortly."

To be the prince of Cantre'r Gwaelod was to live almost every moment of one's life surrounded by guards. Especially when it came to being outside of the palace even considering the relative safety and peace that the orbital continent experienced day by day. And yet Bors had made it a personal challenge to slip away from the knights and the castle itself whenever possible. If only for a few hours each time due to inevitably being found again before long, usually by the knight captain and her unimpressed stare.

After all, what good was a prince who didn't get to know his people in person?

With that in mind, the unexpected and possibly fated meeting with the gentleman thief had of course ended in only one way. With the prince making a request that would have normally been unthinkable for anyone in his position to even consider.

"Will you steal me away for a while, my good thief?"

That Arsène had agreed hadn't been expected but had made Bors happier than he thought.

And now here they were on that very same balcony a week later, the soft silver glow of the night hiding them effectively from the patroling knights below.

"It's such a shame that we must part for now, but I understand." A week of being free to simply be himself was more than Bors could have asked for. Spending it with someone as unexpectedly entertaining and simply fun to spend time with as Arsène had turned out to be. Really, if only they could spend more time together. "I'll be sure to calm down the captain of the knights, I'm sure she'll understand once she's had time to yell at me for a while."

A small laugh, Bors shaking his head as he looked over the gentleman thief on his balcony.

"Oh?" The whistle was taken into his hands carefully, violet eyes examining the silver before the prince smiled. "So long as I blow on this without stopping, hm? Then I shall treasure it, Lord Arsène, though I do regret not being prepared to give you something in return at this time... Thank you, and know that our week together was a great deal of fun to me."

[moths-in-the-attic]

Angel for Earth by Angel of Earth

Chapter 3 - Apartment

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

One Week Earlier

"Knock, knock, Mamo-chan. I'm here." Usagi walked into Mamoru apartment.

"Hi, Usako." Mamoru was sitting at a desk in the living room typing.

"Whatcha doing?" She walks over to him and gives him a little kiss.

"I'm typing up an add for the paper. I need to get a room mate. The owner upped the rent again and that extra room's just going to waste."

"I don't want you to get a room mate! We wont get anymore time alone, and what if they find out your Tuxedo Mask?"

"I already checked around for other apartments. Do you know how hard it is to find a good apartment in Tokyo this time of year? As for the whole Tuxedo Mask thing, I'll just have to be careful. I have windows I can always jump out of." He took off his glasses and threw them on the table. "Writing this ad is harder than I thought."

Usagi walked behind him and started to rub his shoulders.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Present Day

"Move over, Ivy. Your hogging the bed. Why don't you turn into something small that doesn't take any space?" Terra rolled over on the bed, making more room for the dog.

The dog started turning into a glowing ball and started shrinking; the glow soon faded and there sat a small silver cat with the earth symbol on it head.

"There, is that better, Terri?"

"Perfect." Terra spread the newspaper out on the bed, "We have to find an apartment. I can't believe how many rat and roach infested places there are around here. And everything is so expensive."

"Why don't you just ask them to leave?"

"Because the place was such a dump to begin with. Besides I don't want to have to ask them to leave just because I want to live there. I don't want to make them lose their homes. Hey, here's one, but their looking for a room mate. Ivy, how do you feel about moving in with someone? It'll mean you can't talk as much."

"I don't care. The sooner we get out of this hotel the better."

~*~*~*~

Terra walks up to the door and knocks. A guy, about seventeen, with midnight black hair and dark blue eyes answers.

"Hi, my names Terra Rose Childs, and I'm here about the ad in the paper."

"Come on in. My name is Mamoru Chiba."

"I just got this feeling. Have we met before?"

"That's funny. I just got the same feeling. I don't think we've met."

They sat on the couch.

"Why don't you tell me a little about yourself."

"Well, I'm originally from Tokyo, but moved to the U.S. when I was four."

"How old are you?"

"I'm 15, almost 16, and in tenth grade. I'm going to Crossroads High."

"What about your family?"

"My adopted parents are back in the U.S. I'm here on an exchange program. The family I was suppose to be staying with had to back out last minute so I've been living in a hotel."

"What about activities?"

"I haven't had time to join anything yet, but it all depends on the season. I want to be part of the volleyball team, swim team, and softball team. For clubs I'm hoping to join the art club, cooking club, nature club and a community service club, if there is one. I also take part in the school plays. Outside of school activities I like to hike, bike, skate. I have a part time job up at the stables where I give ridding lessons and help take care of the animals."

Man, she's one busy girl. That will be good for Tuxedo Mask. And she seems so familiar, like I've know her all my life. Mamoru set his cup of coffee down then asked Terra a few more question before telling her about him.

They talked for hours. It seemed like they were best friends and had know each other forever. After a while Mamoru showed Terra around the apartment.

"You can have the room if you want it, that is if you can put up with me."

"Sure I would love to have the room. Oh, by the way, can I have a cat? She's house broken and doesn't make a mess."

"Sure. My girlfriend is over here all the time and always brings her cat." What Mamoru actually meant was that the cat tagged along to watch them, but he wasn't about to say that out loud.

"When can I move in?"

~*~*~*~

Two days later Terra moved most of her stuff into the apartment and spent the whole day working on her room. It drove Mamoru nuts trying to figure out what was going on in there because she kept the door shut.

The walls were sponged a silvery purple. A water bed sat up against the wall in a corner with a hope chest at the end and a night stand with a lamp sat next to the head of the bed.

In front of one window was a desk with a computer, and in one corner sat a stereo system with a cd rack full of different kinds of cds. An easel sat in front of another window with some canvas. Plants were all over the room, some even climbing up the walls and ceilings and pots of white roses were near the bed.

A white dresser sat near the walk-in closet. Pictures of far away places were on the walls and ceramic mystical creatures sat on things in the room.

"So what do you think, Mamoru-chan? It's almost all done."

"Looks like it took a lot of work, Terri-chan."

There was a knock at the door. Mamoru opened it and there stood a delivery guy.

"I have a delivery for Terra Rose Childs."

"That's me."

"Sign here, please." the delivery guy holds out a board and Terra signs. "Its downstairs we'll just have to unload it."

Terra runs downstairs to the delivery truck with Mamoru and the man in tow. "It's here! It's finally here!" she turns to the delivery guy with a deadly face and red eyes, "If its scratched, chipped, or broken I will make sure you pay. I'll make you wish were never born."

The delivery man looks pale, "Yes, miss."

The other delivery men start to wheel out a object that is covered with a tarp.

"It's here, it's here."

"Terri-chan, calm down. What can be so important?" Mamoru looks down into Terra's eyes and got a shock. Bright yellow eyes almost impossible to look at, "Hey Terri-chan your eyes are yellow. I could have sworn they were dark blue."

"Oh they are. My eyes change color usually when I get big waves of emotions. When there yellow I'm hyper, dark blue is calm, black is depression, red is anger, purple is love, dark green is when I'm jealous, and emerald green is when I have a urge to garden, ice blue is when I'm in kind of a cold mood, brown comes when I'm in between emotions and orange is kind-of-hyper, but mean mood. Usually my eyes are dark blue because its a family color, but my eyes only change with emotions that are very strong. My mother's eyes changed too."

Terra turned to the object and tore off the tarp to reveal a black Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Mamoru's mouth dropped open at the beauty of it.

She hugged it then started to inspect it for scratches. "All in one peace."

"You can drive?"

"Yeah. I was allowed to get my license early, because I was leaving for Japan and I only have a few more months until I'm sixteen.

"When is your birthday?"

"April 30th. I'm a Taurus, one of the signs most connected to the Earth."

~~~~~~~~~~~A Couple Hours Later~~~~~~~~~~~

KNOCK KNOCK

Terra answers the door.

"TERRA ROSE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" screamed Usagi

"I live here, Usagi-chan. So you must be the Usako that Mo-chan's been talking about." Terra moved out of the way for the steaming bunny. "He's in watching TV."

Usagi walked past Terra and into the living room where Mamoru was on the couch with a small silver kitten.

"I'll let you too talk, I'm going out for milk. I'll be back in half an hour." Terra grabbed her car keys and walked out the door."

"You didn't tell me that your room mate was a girl!"

"Usako, calm down, Terra is only a friend. She's like a little sister. Usagi you should trust me."

"You're right. I should trust you two. I just can't help rushing to conclusions sometimes. Terra and I have been really close these last two weeks and she seems like a sister to me, too.

"Your getting so mature, my Usako. I love you."

"I love you too, Mamo-chan." Usagi leaned up and kissed him.

The cat looked kind of annoyed and left room, going back into Terra's room.

"When did you get a cat?"

"I didn't. She's Terra's and her name is Ivy."

They started kissing again. The kisses started going deeper when the communicator started going off.

"Not again." groaned Mamoru.

~*~*~*~

"I am Sailor Moon!"

"And we're the Sailor Senshi," chimed in the rest of the senshi.

"And on behalf of the Moon we shall punish you.!

"Mars Fire Balls Charge!" Mars launched her fire ball at a water youma. "It's time for you to become vapor."

The youma easily dodged the attack.

Mercury was typing away on her mini computer trying to find the youma's weakness.

Jupiter was throwing thunder and Tuxedo Mask was throwing roses at the youma, but neither could seem to hit it.

Venus threw her love chain and smacked the youma in the face.

The youma started to shoot out random blast of high water pressure and hit both Chibi Moon and Sailor Moon.

The youma was just about to shoot hot water at the two when a small white rose landed in the mouth of the youma, plugging up its hole.

The senshi gasped and looked up at where the rose had come from.

In a tree stood Sailor Earth. "I'm the Earth's Guardian. I was chosen by Mother Earth to protect the small, and the life on this planet. You can't come in here and try to take over. I'm Sailor Earth. And you're going to pay for attacking my planet."

The youma tore the rose out of it's mouth. "You think you can destroy the Black Rose, little one? You can't! We are stronger than what we once were. You might have gotten rid of us once, but now we're back and stronger than ever!"

"The Black Rose is going down." Sailor Earth started her new attack. "LIFE SEED..."

A small shape of energy appeared in her hand, a gust of wind blew at her back. It blew her hair forward, but left the mask on. The wind also picked up the seed and then dived down right when it got to the youma. The seed fell on the ground.

The youma looked at it and started laughing. "Is that all you got, little girl?"

"DRAIN!" Sailor Earth whispered the last word.

Vines exploded out of the seed and wrapped themselves around the youma. The green vines started to glow and they began to suck the energy out of the youma.

The youma began to scream and shrink and shrivel, until it was nothing but a small dried up corpse.

"Return!"

The vines began to pull back into the seed. The seed was now the size of a baseball. It floated up off the ground and then landed in the palm of Sailor Earth.

A strong wind blew through the park again and hit the corpse turning it to dust.

Sailor Moon was the first to speak. "Who are you? What is your mission."

"I am Sailor Earth and my mission is to find the Princess, and protect her and find the Sailor Elements. At the same time I must protect the Earth."

"What princess are you looking for? The Moon Princess? Because if you are we already found her."

"I'm not looking for the Moon Princess."

"What did the youma mean by Black Rose, and you tried to get rid of it once?"

"It doesn't matter. You best stay out of this or you will get hurt."

"We protect the Earth too! Why don't you join us? Maybe we could help you."

"I won't join you. Nobody asked you to protect this planet, but since you did, you have my thanks. You couldn't help me."

"Sailor Earth, come along now." a large black lab with an earth symbol on its head appeared.

"This is my guardian, Ivy, and you better stay out of our way. I don't want to have to hurt you just for being in the way, but I will."

A white mist surrounded the senshi again and when it had lifted the girl and dog were gone.

~*~*~*~

Terra Rose walked into the arcade. "Hi Motoki. How are you today?"

"Oh hi, Terra. I'm fine. I wanted to talk to you more the other day, but I figured with all the girls there I couldn't get close."

She felt fluttery, like she could soar a million feet off the ground. Rosie girl, stop it. Remember what happened with the last guy? She felt tears sting her eyes but held back.

"Its really weird, Terra, but have we met before? I feel as if I've meet you before. Only I can't place it."

"Well I use to live in Japan, but I moved away when I was four."

Suddenly it hit him were he had meet Terra before. "Angel?" "OH MY WORD! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

She screamed and threw her arms around him.

[mythgrippa-blog]

Day 001 - establishing

Alrighty! Yesterday was productive if I had to say the least, I am glad when I talk to someone who gets my ideas, so I'm involved in the backend along with databases and anything devOps and AI related. My teammate is a stallion!!! I'm so glad there's someone who makes up for my coding skills, its very weird still, I USED TO BE ABLE TO CODE FOR HOURS AND HOURS... okay I think mostly because I used to program for hours either with Java or C++, and bare bone Javascript, so maybe web development wasn't my strong suit.

But I'm good at understanding and making designs for code, so I'm very involved in seeing the bigger picture and he'll just do the painting. Here's a screen shot of how our backend looks like, so I'm brush it up since its a bit of mess right now

I'm using drawio because lucid just wasn't working for me, I kept running out of shapes, I'd say lucid is good when it comes to making final designs but drawio has that technical feel I like.

RabbitMQ is just so sexy oh my goodness, it allows for simple and fast communication between services. Its free tier is enough for what I need.

I want to learn PostgreSQL so bad, but I can't because we're on a time crunch and we'll just switch to MySQL for each service using an SQL database, since there's going to be data replication across these services, to maintain synchronized data across all services, RabbitMQ comes in the rescue. I hope it can handle, but since we'll starting off with a relatively small userbase, I doubt we'll run into problems, but if it happens we run into issues, I think switching to Kafka might be better since it has like faster reads (thanks to fewer systemcalls within its architecture)

Firestore is very useful and easy to setup, that reliability is useful for our messaging and posting of images, and also Firebase storage as well, that's so cool!!! I'm still working on the designs

I'm still working on the schemas using drawsql website, the reason for the SQL is because its easier to model friendships, invitations, requests, way better than a NoSQL solution, I want to see what Neo4j can do but again I'm trying to keep things simple. I'll also switch to drawio for doing the ER diagrams because drawSQL has limits and I'm a cheapskate

I made use of freesqldatabase.com for a temporary online database we can quickly use, but this limits the choices for ORMs, since we're using NodeJS we can't make use of Prisma since it requires permissions/privileges that the website doesn't offer, but I'm working on making use of google cloud's free e2 instances to host the database, and if that works we finally have our development database!

I still haven't talked to my client, I'd rather someone from frontend do it, I hope they can finally start working together because I can't with this leadership biz! I am reading this leadership guide book, hopefully I learn something.

I've been also looking at buying some light novels for either rezero or overlord, boy boy boy which do I get??? I honestly don't know, but I"ll figure it out later. I can't wait to go a pawn shop and see what cheap board games I can buy, I'm so excited! But that will be a while.

Well my goals today are simple:

Finalize the schemas for the SQL databases and deploy the databases (or I can be cheap and deploy one instance and host 2 databases :D running two docker containers that have mysql on the same e2 instance and then mapping their default 3306 ports to two ports on the instance and then connecting globally! That's so brilliant I'm so cheap HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!)

Draw up class diagrams for each service, making use of proper design patterns to make the code more neat

Have a meeting with my guy again and see where we go from there

Thanks again for reading my whatever this is, but its really fun hopefully I don't burn out from writing this much so early

[thesnowflake18]

Me: "i'LL bE mOrE AcTiVe nOw"

Also me: *doesn't log on for two days-*

[mybigboots]

Following Orders

Let me put this as simple as possible: if you are in service to a dom, you follow orders.

In the last week, I have had two terrible "applicants" approach me for ownership. Now, I have been in the kink community for years. Since my late teens years, I know what I'm talking about. I was raised, I was refined, I am someone who understands protocol and service and that is what makes me a very good Dom. I'm not one of those idiots who has had no training and just woke up one day and said "hey, I feel like bossing guys around, gimmemunny". I am also not one to be cowed by the impatient mentality that flows around today people saying "I refuse to learn, I refuse to talk to those older than me, ew, they might be Old Guard and no one likes that, I don't need experience, let me just jump in". Bottom line: I've been at this a while. I know what I'm doing.

One boy approached me. I gave him an order. He had 24 hours to complete it, send me a simple email answering a question I asked him in detail: why did he want to be owned by me and what did he actually have to offer? Sounds simple.

Apparently not. 24 hours went by and no answer. Days later the response came in that they "got busy" and couldn't do it.

Yesterday morning, a horny boy suddenly started extolling on my social media messenger how they thought I was hot and wanted to be used and owned by me. They referred to themself as a lowly f*g and wanted to be degraded. They were also clearly more than horny, but likely pleasuring themselves as their messages were becoming steadily less grammatically correct, bad spelling, no punctuation, mix of caps and weird symbols. I ordered them to calm down and repeat certain phrases back to me. Tell me "I want to be owned, Sir." I got back "oh i wannna be owned such a bad buy gimme gimme please pleessee oh me oh wn me". I tried again and told them bluntly they had not done as I asked. Calm down, type it again. The second question, I have a task for you. Say "Please tell me the task, Sir." The response: "I think you know how bad i wanna do it". NO. In both of these cases, the boys were chastised and also dismissed. And before you all run at me with pitchforks saying I'm so demanding, THAT IS THE POINT. Before I hop on the phone and say "sure, come on over!" I need to know that a sub is actually of good enough quality. But then I won't get any sex, you say? I am not after sex. I can get sex, and without paying for it or begging either. What I am after is subservience, obedience, and loyalty. Neither of these boys could handle simple tasks, the simplest of them all. What would make me think that they would be any good at following orders? The first one clearly has no time for me and can't obey - to which I say, that's not entirely his fault. If one wishes to be property to a Master or Mistress, you must be ready for it. You must make time. You must look at your life and say, "I can do this now, and devote all the time needed." Not "sure, I can devote everything to you but only at 8 AM on a Monday morning for about 45 minutes before I go to work".

And yes, that one has happened. Guy even asked if he could bring his dog for company.

The first sub wasn't ready. One day maybe he will be. The second, though, was clearly just a horny pig who was trying to get off on our conversation. Does a Dominant appreciate a randy, raunchy boy? Of course we do. That's useful for controlling a sub's body and mind, allowing us to take adequate control, to link those urges to submission and subservience. A true Dominant knows how to use this to our advantage. But as for the sub, if that's all it is, just a short-breathed fumbling session, then they're no good to us.

What happens when they shoot a load while talking to us? A preliminary talk, nonetheless? They get bored. They sober up, so to speak, they stop thinking with their genitals and they realize that they have things to do, places to be, other options to pursue. As such I require subs to be in a clear headspace when talking to me, and what better way to investigate their obedience to me than by asking a few simple tasks? This one couldn't handle any of them, nor the final task "Do you have Whatsapp?" They said they'd be right back after they checked. Never returned. No loss.

Do not tell me I am demanding. I already know that. Comes with the territory of being a Top, vers or otherwise. Do not complain that I ask too much. There are odds you just aren't ready to answer. Do not beg me to get you off. A Dominant decides that, and if the sub isn't ready to hand over that privilege, this isn't what you're looking for. Finally - Do not fail to obey. A Dom and Sub relationship has the same thing as any other relationship: they are a relationship. In any relationship, your wife asks you fifty times to clean the living room and you sit on the couch and eat a bag of chips, why do you think she'll get mad and storm out of the room? It's only natural to be frustrated in a situation like this. But in a Dom and Sub relationship this is more important than a vanilla one (bless their little beige hearts), because it is built around an adherence to protocol, instruction, and give & take. If the orders and commands are ignored, it all falls apart. Forget all these rules you see scattered around, The Top 80 Rules For A F*g!!! How To BREAK The Slave's Spirit!!! The simple root of all of it is obedience. If there is none, there is nothing to build on. I am not talking about a dungeon play session where you just break out a flogger or cane, roar in the sub's face, and force them onto your boots in a slobbery display of remorse. I am talking about the relationship itself.

If you are sub, you obey. That's the simple step. (Note, for all you whiny bs-ers out there who want to start in with "but what if I caaaan't, but what if I don't like the order, but what if what if what if", kindly hush. In these situations you either explain, clearly and coherently, why there is an obstacle and work out with your Dom how it must be overcome, or you must try your hardest. If the request is unreasonable "go cut off your hand and bring it to me", then you have a different matter, and that's not obedience, that's abuse. And that is a different matter altogether, and you know it.) This has been yet another TED Talk.

Boggy Fryer, The Cape Cod Boot Boy

[the-real-tc]

Ch. 4 Bad Business: Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead

Author's Note: There will be more "Heartland magic" that's wholly unrealistic in this chapter as Amy works with Herring. (Just go with it, okay?)

There will also be more very uncomfortable stuff, so I reiterate the trigger warning and the abusive comments will not be tolerated piece.

Here's the next installment as the investigation into Val's death continues. More theories will be flying around again after this!

***

To the childless wife he gives a home, and gladdens her heart with children.

- Ps. 113

Chapter 4:

Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead

Tuesday, April 23

Hudson Funeral Home

Ashley Stanton slipped on a pair of sunglasses, ostensibly to shield her eyes from the bright sunshine as she stood outside the funeral home following the service for her mother. Several old high school acquaintances, family friends, some Briar Ridge clients, business associates, and members of the showjumping community lined up to express their condolences to the Stanton siblings.

Jesse Stanton, with his girlfriend Tessa draped on his arm, did most of the talking, for which Ashley was grateful. At this moment, she thought standing here and listening to the usual platitudes and expressions of sorrow to be almost intolerable. She longed for this part of the proceedings to be over, but people kept coming.

After what seemed like an eternity, the queue came to an end. Ashley realised she had not really recognized nearly half of the people who shook her hand, hugged her, or patted her arm, but she did remember Amy and Ty. Amy had offered a long embrace. That one felt authentic; after all, Amy knew what it was like to lose a mother. Jack Bartlett and Lisa Stillman had been right behind. Jack had spoken several words about Val during the service. He spoke more kind words about her again in the line; words that described the healthy, neighbourly respect they had eventually come to have for each other.

I never truly appreciated how much of a decent man he is, Ashley now thought. Oh, Mom... I can see why you had your eye on him.

With a pang of disappointment, it dawned on Ashley there was one person she had not seen. He probably didn't even come, she thought despondently, not after the way Mom drove him away... Or after the way I treated him.

However, the person she was thinking of was observing everything from a distance, waiting for the right time to approach.

"Are you okay?" Jesse asked, turning to his sister when she did not make a move to the town car.

"I'm fine," she replied distractedly. "I just need a minute."

"Okay," Jesse replied, giving her shoulder a slight squeeze. "We'll be in the car. Reception's in half an hour, though; don't be too long."

"I know," Ashley mumbled. "You two go on; I'll be there."

Jesse nodded. "All right. Let's go, Tessa," he said to his girlfriend, and the pair headed to the waiting vehicle.

Having seen this exchange, Caleb finally saw his opportunity. He turned to his wife. "I'll be right back, Cass. There's something I've gotta do."

Cassandra nodded, already having figured out exactly what was going on in her husband's mind. "Of course. I'll meet you back at the truck."

"Thanks, babe," he said, and strode towards his ex-wife.

Ashley's eyes went wide behind her dark lenses at the sight of this blond man she had once been head over heels in love with.

"I'm real sorry for your loss, Ash," Caleb said, taking her cold hands between his.

She allowed him this small gesture of consolation before gently pulling away; his genuine concern for her feelings was beginning to break through her resolve not to cry again.

"Thank you, Caleb," Ashley finally responded, dabbing at her red-rimmed eyes with an already damp tissue. "Coming from you, that means a lot."

"Aw, shoot," Caleb said with a wry, sad smile. "Val and I may have had our differences, but we buried the hatchet a while back."

She stared back at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. She admitted you were happy back when we were together. She was sorry for her role in our divorce. I honestly think she meant it."

Ashley blew out a shaky breath and shook her head at this revelation. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I let her come between us."

"Water under the bridge, Ash. You have your life with what's-his-name, and I have mine with Cass."

"You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"I'm divorced. Again." Ashley said, dropping her gaze.

"Oh," Caleb said. "I did kinda wonder why you were up here alone. I mean, a husband ought to be there to support his wife at a time like this, if you ask me. Sorry."

"It's all right. Anyway, I heard through the grapevine you're going to be a father," Ashley said, trying to force some brightness into her tone. "You must be very happy."

"Yes! Yes, I am," Caleb replied, a smile blossoming across his face despite the somber nature of the meeting. "Cass and I, well, we were trying a long time."

"Congratulations," Ashley said charitably.

"Thanks," he replied, making an effort to suppress his joy out of respect for her current pain. "Take care of yourself, Ash."

"I'll try," she managed to say, blinking away a new flood of tears.

"I guess I'll see you around," Caleb said, touching her shoulder gently before turning to leave. "'Bye."

***

The lavish funeral reception was held at Briar Ridge, complete with a caterer and tents so the attendees could be well fed and sheltered. Jack begged off attending this part of the day's proceedings; Lisa felt compelled to put in some face time, mostly because other members of the private investors' group decided it would be a good idea to show united support for Jesse and Ashley.

Lisa thought Jesse was putting up a brave front as she watched him interact with clients his mother had courted over the years.

More like glad-handing, she mused, watching as Jesse flashed toothy grins and enthusiastically shook hands with other would-be mourners. Lisa immediately rebuked herself for the uncharitable assessment. He's just been through a terrible loss, but he knows he can't be seen as falling apart—not that anyone would fault him if he did.

In fact, she remembered behaving in a similar fashion when her father, Matthew, passed away, leaving her to pick up the pieces at Fairfield. I also wanted to show I had the strength and positive attitude to take over when we lost Dad. I needed people to be confident Fairfield was in good hands with me at the helm.

She noticed Tanner Gunn was now in deep conversation with the Briar Ridge heir. Lisa caught snippets of their conversation, but eventually diverted her attention as she was starting to feel like a voyeur. Instead, her eyes fell on Ashley standing under one of the tents, looking as if this was the last place she wanted to be while her brother's girlfriend prattled on to her about something or other. The younger Stanton sibling seemed to be barely paying attention; Tessa was blissfully oblivious to this fact.

"It's so tragic," a new voice to Lisa's right caused her to turn in surprise.

"Oh, hi, Emma," Lisa said, recognizing Emma Fitzroy, one of the newer members of the investors' group. "Yes, it certainly is tragic."

"I wasn't the biggest Val Stanton fan, but you've got to admit she was a helluva businesswoman," Emma remarked. "I can't believe something like that could happen. I mean, getting shot while out riding a horse? It's crazy."

"It is," Lisa murmured, sucking in a breath as she recalled finding Val. Emma clearly had no idea of all the grisly details. She was at once grateful Chief Parker and Nadir Jutley had respected her request for privacy on that matter and kept her name out of the papers.

Emma was shaking her head pityingly. "Jesse Stanton really has his work cut out for him."

"Yep. He sure does," Lisa said vaguely, looking over at Ashley and Tessa, wondering if and when Jesse's girlfriend would figure out Ashley probably wanted to be left alone.

"Er, I'm sorry. I forgot you and Val were friends," Emma said, misinterpreting in Lisa's tone a veiled rebuke. "I probably shouldn't have said what I said."

"No, it's all right," Lisa commented, now turning her full attention to Emma. "If I'm honest, I wasn't the biggest Val Stanton fan, either."

"Oh? I'd just thought with you and your husband being her neighbours and long-time acquaintances and all..."

Hmm, she was paying attention to Jack's speech at the funeral, Lisa thought. Sharp lady. "You know, Val and I..." she began, then trailed off.

"Val and you...?" Emma pressed.

"Years ago," Lisa said, deciding to level with Emma, "Val tried to pursue Jack, despite knowing he and I were a serious item at the time."

Emma made a face, showing her disapproval. "Ow, that's terrible."

"It was," Lisa said, "but she eventually backed off when Jack wouldn't reciprocate her overtures, and when Jack and I finally got married."

"Wait, wasn't she seeing Dan Hartfield?" Emma asked.

"In recent times, yes, to my utter and complete surprise," Lisa responded.

"Oh? How's that?"

"Dan's my ex-husband," explained Lisa, "so that was a little... awkward, to say the least."

"Wow, that is pretty awkward," Emma commented. "I had no idea."

"But they actually seemed to enjoy each other's company, so who knows?"

"I saw Dan a little while ago at the hors d'oeuvres tables," Emma said. "He actually looked kinda morose."

"Maybe she meant more to him than he realised," Lisa said with sincerity. "Would you excuse me, Emma? I'd like to go talk with Ashley for a moment."

"Of course, Lisa," Emma said.

Lisa made her way over to the tent where Ashley was still being subjected to Tessa's chatter. It was a lame excuse, but she no longer wished to be talking about Dan and Val, and she did, in fact, have a message to deliver to Ashley that she had forgotten to give at the funeral home.

"Pardon me," she said, once she was close enough for Tessa to hear, not the least bit concerned she was interrupting. "I'd like to say a few words to Ashley."

A look of relief flashed across Ashley's face as Tessa's long-winded narrative was brought to a halt.

"Hello, Lisa," Ashley said, leaning in to accept a hug. "Thank you for coming."

"You're welcome. We didn't get a chance to speak for very long after the service, but I wanted to let you know my nephew, Ben, sends his condolences."

Ashley's face brightened a little at this. "Ben! Oh, tell him I send my thanks, Lisa. He was such a fun guy. I loved having him at Briar Ridge when he was here in Hudson."

"Have you kept up with riding at all?" Lisa asked, ignoring Tessa, who seemed peeved at being silenced. "I remember you and Ben were once fierce competitors on the circuit."

"No, I haven't," Ashley admitted with a sad shake of her head. "I retired from showjumping when I left Hudson. Law school was too demanding."

"I can imagine," Lisa said. "Ben had to give it up, too. But his horse, Red, sired Herring. Your mom was interested in buying Herring from me. It's why she was out at Lookout Point that day."

"Oh, Lisa," Ashley said in dismay, "I hope you don't think that any of this is your fault!"

"No, no," Lisa replied with a shake of her head, "but I am sorry for what happened."

"Lisa," Ashley said slowly, her face crumpling, "I—I know you were the one to find Mom..."

"I was," Lisa answered, trying to keep her voice even.

"I know the police said Mom was shot, but they won't give us any real details. Did you see anything? Anything at all?"

Tessa kept glancing between the two, looking like the unwelcome third party in a private conversation.

"I'm sorry, Ashley," Lisa said. "I told the police everything I saw, and aside from Herring and your mother, there was nothing else out there that I could see."

Tessa, sensing an opening, let out a "tut" sound and shook her head.

"Jesse's been thinking of hiring a private investigator, you know," she blurted out.

Ashley pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at her brother's girlfriend.

"Oh?" Lisa asked, looking now at the young woman with feigned interest.

"Yes," Tessa remarked smugly, finally glad to be noticed. "He thinks the police are dragging their feet. After all, why have they not named any suspects? It's been a week, and nothing concrete. It's ridiculous, don't you think, Lisa?"

"We haven't been formally introduced," Lisa now said with a tight-lipped smile, irritated Tessa had presumed immediate familiarity so as to call her by her first name.

"I'm Tessa. Tessa Haywood," the young woman said. "Jesse's girlfriend."

"And I'm Lisa Stillman," Lisa said.

"I know," Tessa said with a smile and a slight giggle. "Jesse mentioned your name to me after you and Jack spoke to him in the receiving line."

"What is it you do, Tessa?" asked Lisa.

"I'm an executive assistant," Tessa remarked with an air of superiority.

"Mm. That's nice," Lisa said.

"Yes," Tessa chatted on. "I work for a big firm in Calgary."

Good for you, Lisa wanted to say, but held her tongue. She remembered the days when "executive assistant" used to be "secretary", and coming from Tessa, the modern title sounded more pretentious than ever.

"Sounds like you're probably quite busy," Lisa commented politely.

"I am," Tessa giggled again as she glanced towards Jesse, who was still speaking with Tanner.

Busy, indeed, Lisa thought, guessing Tessa Haywood probably spent more time with the elder Stanton sibling in Hudson than anywhere near her "executive assistant" job in Calgary. Val could not have been too happy with this match, Lisa thought, considering how low-class Tessa seemed to be, despite her conventional beauty that would have turned many heads, and had obviously turned Jesse's.

Yup, she has "gold-digger" written all over, Lisa thought. It's only a matter of time before she sinks her claws totally into Jesse. I'll bet there's going to be a wedding announcement soon enough, at least once a respectable period of time has passed after the funeral, or not...

She turned back to Ashley, deciding Jesse's current and future marital status was really none of her business. "I don't want to take up any more of your time, but I do want you and Jesse to know that if there's anything you need from us, don't hesitate to reach out, okay?"

"Okay," Ashley said with a positive nod. "Thank you. Both you and Jack were always good friends to my mother. I actually won't be staying in town much longer, maybe just long enough to help Jesse take care of Mom's affairs, but she would be happy to know we have your support. So thanks, again."

"You're welcome," Lisa spoke with a sad smile, gently patting Ashley's shoulder. "Take care."

***

Following the funeral, Amy was back to work with Herring. She saddled Spartan just outside the barn in preparation for another round of desensitizing the other horse. Once again, Remi had risen to the occasion, as the recovering Herring responded well to her presence just as Sassy had responded positively to her.

The traumatized horse was no longer balking at either Amy or Ty when they approached his stall. That alone was an improvement, for which Amy was grateful. She massaged his forehead for a few moments while talking softly to him. When Herring seemed calm enough, Amy slipped a soft halter rope around Herring's muzzle and neck and then opened the stall gate. From the corner of the stall she had claimed for herself, Remi jumped to her feet, tail swishing expectantly.

"Okay, Herring," Amy whispered, imagining the horse could at least understand her gentle tone since he could not understand her actual words. "We're going to meet Spartan, now. Let's go."

She led him slowly outside the stable, hoping he would react well in Spartan's presence. As if on cue, Remi followed. Spartan stood patiently beside the open barn door. Once the black Quarter Horse entered Herring's field of vision, however, the chestnut horse stiffened. Amy felt the tension in the halter as Herring dug in his hooves and pulled back.

"Herring," Amy uttered, looking back at him. "Come on, you can do this."

Herring nickered and strained against the lead. Amy did not want to force anything this time, so she slackened the length and turned to stand in front of Herring to block his view of Spartan. She rubbed Herring's forehead again. "It's okay, boy. Spartan's not gonna hurt you."

Amy backed slowly away from Herring, drawing his lead with her as she did so. She took a quick glance behind her and stopped when her shoulder was about to touch Spartan's nose. In a quick motion, she turned and hoisted herself into the saddle, still keeping hold of Herring's lead.

To her relief, Herring did not react negatively to having Spartan in his field of vision again. Amy clicked her tongue and took Spartan's rein in her free hand.

"Let's go, Spartan," she commanded, directing him to turn. The horse complied immediately, clomping off to the left. Amy felt the tension increase in Herring's lead. He was still refusing to budge.

"Come on, Herring," she called. "We're moving, now."

The chestnut horse obstinately planted his hooves in the ground.

"Whoa," Amy called, directing Spartan to stop, which he did. She peered back at Herring, on the verge of disappointment that this next step in his therapy was not going as planned. Remi sat down nearby, thinking perhaps nothing was happening so she could take another rest period.

Herring angled his neck in the dog's direction, blinking at her as she panted. He's interested in Remi because he feels safe in her presence, Amy thought. Let's see if he's interested enough to follow where she leads.

"Remi: up!" Amy commanded. The dog hopped to her feet, her tail once again wagging expectantly. Herring's ears swiveled forward.

"Remi, go run!" Amy instructed, throwing her arm forward.

The dog took off across the yard towards the pond. Herring's head turned to watch Remi's flight. He nickered once, raised his right front hoof and pawed the air, as if trying to decide whether to go or stay.

"You want to follow your friend?" Amy asked Herring. "Let's go, then."

She urged Spartan to start walking in the direction Remi had taken. To her delight, Herring also began to move. It was slow at first, but Amy was okay with that sedate pace because it meant Herring was no longer fearful of being so near to another four-legged beast his size.

"Good, Herring," Amy said encouragingly as the walk continued. "Good boy."

When they finally reached the pond, Remi was waiting expectantly. Herring approached the canine and nuzzled her for a few seconds, which Remi patiently endured. Spartan took the opportunity to take a drink, and Herring followed suit. The two horses stood side-by-side on the shallow bank, quietly lapping at the water as if they had been lifelong stable-mates.

"Good boy, Herring," Amy said again, an irrepressible smile spreading across her face.

***

Next Day

Briar Ridge

"Mr. Stanton, thanks for meeting with us," Detective Toby Kavanaugh said, as he and Detective Constable Jennifer Patterson sat down opposite the younger man in what was once Val's private office.

"Anything to help the Hudson police get to the bottom of why I had to bury my mother yesterday," Jesse stated. "I'm concerned that the investigation is going nowhere."

Kavanaugh and Patterson exchanged a glance at Jesse's not-so-subtle dig at their effectiveness as investigators.

"As you're aware, we first theorized your mother could have been the victim of an unfortunate hunting accident," Kavanaugh began.

"Right," Jesse said. "And I also know you guys have come up with absolutely zilch on that one."

"And that leads us to the next logical line of investigating," Patterson said, "which is that this was a targeted attack."

"You mean murder," Jesse said.

"Yes," Kavanaugh said seriously. "Briar Ridge is a very successful operation, and your mother was among one of the wealthiest in Hudson. Can you think of any reason why anyone would want your mother dead? Any enemies she had you're aware of?"

Jesse tented his fingers under his chin reflectively. "As a matter of fact, Detective, I can think of several people who would want my mother dead."

"Oh?" Kavanaugh responded, surprised he was being so forthright. "Tell us more."

"My mother was indeed very successful, but she could rub people the wrong way," Jesse said. "I won't hide that fact from anyone. In fact, I butted heads with her myself."

"So you're placing yourself on the list of people who would want her dead, Mr. Stanton?" Patterson asked.

"Of course not," Jesse replied, "but I know how you cops think. I'm an obvious suspect, aren't I? After all, I was the last one to see her alive, right?"

"Right," Patterson said in agreement.

"But that doesn't mean I killed her, as you all know I was right here when she was shot by whatever lunatic did this," Jesse said. "I'm just putting it out there right now that despite suddenly being thrust into the role of head of the family business, I still have a lot to learn when it comes to running things around here. My mother was the reason the business expanded into the great success it's become. She had to rub people the wrong way. She had to play hardball, because it was the only way people were going to take her seriously after my dad died and left her in charge. Without her, it's going to be difficult living up to her standards and keeping things afloat here."

"Your mother had a will, I take it, Mr. Stanton?" Patterson asked.

"Yes, she did," Jesse replied. "And before you even ask, yes, she named me the legal heir."

"Was your sister, Ashley, happy with your mother's choice?"

Jesse shrugged at Patterson's question. "You'd have to ask her that. But if Ashley was ever interested in being part of the family business, moving away and studying law was a funny way of saying so."

"All right, let's talk more about those other people who rubbed your mother the wrong way," Kavanaugh said. "Anyone in particular we should be aware of?"

Jesse tented his fingers again. "I'm sure if you check your records, you'll find my mother had several unpleasant interactions with an activist group called 'Animals Have Rights Too'. In fact, she filed a restraining order against some of their members."

"That's fairly serious," Kavanaugh said. "Had they threatened your mother lately?"

"If they did, my mother didn't tell me," Jesse answered. "But I'd definitely check them out, if you're looking for suspects. You never know what those nutty people are capable of."

"If they did send recent threats to her, and you can find evidence of it, they'd be in violation of that restraining order," Patterson said. "It would be grounds for us to bring them in."

"I'd have to poke around her files," he said, gesturing around the neat stacks of folders, a computer, and several locked filing cabinets in the office.

"We would be able to search more efficiently than you would," Kavanaugh said.

"Come back with a warrant, and I'll let you conduct that search," Jesse said with a tight smile, cocking his head to the side.

"We will," Kavanaugh said.

"All right, let's move on. Your mother would have been considered a very wealthy widow," Patterson said. "Did you notice her receiving any undue attention from anyone after your father passed away? Any suitors whose interest seemed more fiscally motivated than romantic?"

Jesse scoffed. "I think you missed the part where I said my mother rubbed people the wrong way."

"That doesn't really answer my question," Patterson said.

"Okay, my mother and a man named Dan Hartfield seemed to be having something going lately, but he's probably just as rich as she was, so he definitely wasn't after her money."

"How long had they been seeing each other?" Patterson asked.

"Look, I don't think it was anything serious," Jesse said. "I didn't keep tabs on my mother's private life. But if I had to guess, I'd say it had been over a year or so."

"Anyone in your mother's past we should be looking into?" queried Kavanaugh. "Someone she jilted, perhaps?"

Jesse just shook his head and smirked. "No. After my father died, my mother put most of her energy into expanding Briar Ridge and ramping up operations, which didn't leave much to entertain requests from potential suitors. If anyone was doing any pursuing of a relationship, she was the one doing it."

"Oh?" Kavanaugh said. "How's that?"

"Okay, look, I really don't want to say anything, because gossip makes my skin crawl," Jesse said. "But there was a time when I think my mother was trying to start something with our widowed neighbour."

"Which widowed neighbour might that be?" asked Kavanaugh.

"Jack Bartlett over at Heartland ranch," Jesse replied. "He eventually remarried, but to be honest, I don't think his new wife was happy with the attention my mother had been paying him."

"And who's this 'new wife'?" Kavanaugh asked.

"Lisa Stillman."

"The same Lisa Stillman who discovered your mother's body?" Patterson asked.

"That's correct," Jesse answered.

"All right, thank you very much," Patterson said.

"Anything else, detectives?" asked Jesse.

"You've certainly given us some avenues of investigation," Kavanaugh replied. "We understand this is a difficult time for you, so we won't take any more of your time today. But if something else occurs to you that you didn't share today, please call us immediately."

"Thank you, Mr. Stanton," Patterson said as she and Kavanaugh stood. "You've been very helpful."

Both left their cards on the desk in front of Jesse.

"Anything I can do to help catch whoever did this to my mother," Jesse said, also rising from his seat. "I'll see you out."

***

Fairfield Stables

"Thank you for meeting with us for this follow-up interview, Ms. Stillman," Detective Kavanaugh said, as he sat opposite Lisa in her office. Detective Constable Patterson occupied a third seat.

"You're welcome," she said, looking at the two of them. "How can I help?"

"We know you discovered Val Stanton's body on the morning of the 15th at Lookout Point," Patterson said.

"That's correct," Lisa said, suppressing a shudder at the memory.

"How long would you say you knew Val Stanton?"

"I've probably known of her for close to thirty years," Lisa replied thoughtfully. "I mean, I was born in Hudson, but I didn't always live here, and neither did Val. She was from somewhere in Ontario, and I think she moved here when she married her late husband. I was at boarding school in France for much of my teen years, and I was in the 'States for close to ten years with my ex-husband before moving back. So I would say I was only acquainted with Val shortly before moving to the US, but definitely more so after my return."

"And how would you describe the nature of that acquaintance?" Kavanaugh asked.

"Uh, it was... Complicated," Lisa said honestly. "But in the end, I'd say we were mostly friendly."

"'Mostly friendly'?" Patterson repeated, lifting an eyebrow. "Would you care to elaborate on that?"

Lisa frowned. This was not the direction she was expecting this interview to take. "I don't want to speak ill of the dead," she said at length. "Val could be a shameless flirt, especially when it came to Jack, my husband."

"Val Stanton flirted openly with your husband? And how did he take those overtures?" asked Kavanaugh.

"He rebuffed her," Lisa said flatly. "She eventually got the message."

"Yet you still remained 'mostly friendly' with her," Patterson said skeptically. "How did you take those overtures?"

"Look, we were neighbours and we travelled in the same social and business circles," Lisa said, trying to explain. "Jack knew her as a neighbour for longer than I did. I wasn't pleased with how she fawned over my husband before and after I married him, but she knew there were lines that shouldn't be crossed, and to her credit, she never crossed them."

"Okay, let's shift gears a little," Kavanaugh said, deciding they had spent enough time on that angle. "Val Stanton was shot riding your horse, Ms. Stillman, isn't that right?"

"Yes. Yes, that's right," Lisa said, a pout pulling at her face as she failed to block the mental replay of finding Val and the traumatized Herring.

"Can we ask why she was riding your horse?"

"I told Chief Parker this already," Lisa said, thinking back to when the senior officer spoke with her about Herring's ownership at Lookout Point.

"That's fine," Kavanaugh said easily, "please tell us again."

"Val is—was—interested in buying Herring," Lisa responded.

"Didn't Val Stanton own plenty horses already?" asked Patterson.

"Of her own? Maybe," Lisa said reflectively. "Val buys—sorry, Val bought horses mainly to train them and sell them, not to ride them herself. She was long past the days of being in showjumping competition. But recreationally, she was interested in Herring for our club's hunter-jumper events. Our faux fox hunt club."

"And how long have you owned Herring?"

"From his birth," Lisa replied, growing more perturbed by the line of questioning. Surely these detectives did not think either she or the matter of Herring's ownership had anything to do with what happened to Val, did they? "Would you like to see his papers?"

Kavanaugh waved aside her question. "No, no. Just curious."

"Anything else, detectives?" Lisa asked.

"Not at this time, Ms. Stillman," Patterson said. "Thank you for your cooperation."

The two officers stood to leave. "We may have more questions for you later, Ms. Stillman," Kavanaugh said. "But if you think of anything else, or remember anything else about the morning you found Ms. Stanton that you think might be pertinent to our investigation, please call us immediately."

Kavanaugh and Patterson left their cards on Lisa's desk.

"I will," Lisa said, but wondered now how her answers must have sounded to the investigators.

You did nothing wrong, she thought to herself. You're not responsible for what happened out there to Val. They must know that, right?

***

Amy woke suddenly, seized by an intense, painful cramping sensation in her abdomen. She forced herself to take a deep breath and to exhale slowly, but felt no relief. This pain was unlike any she had experienced before. The day she had some severe cramping when pregnant with Lyndy to the point Cass recommended she get checked by a doctor played in her mind. This cramping was far worse, if that was possible. She flipped on her bedside lamp. Aghast, she noticed with a start she was spotting. Heavily.

Oh, no. This isn't good.

"Ty," Amy called out shakily. "Wake up. I think I need to go to the hospital."

Ty slowly stirred at the sound of his wife's voice. He thought he heard her moving about the loft.

"Amy?" he answered sleepily, reaching out to her side of the bed and coming up empty. He pulled himself up, squinting against the glare of the lamp.

"Amy?" he called out again when he did not see her.

"In the bathroom," she managed to articulate as another painful spasm caused her to double over. "Something's really wrong..."

Ty heard her agonized gasps, flipping his heart into overdrive. His feet hit the floor in an instant. Two seconds later he was at the open bathroom door, looking in on Amy. No longer was she merely spotting; his eyes were drawn immediately to a splash of red on the bathroom floor.

"You're hemorrhaging!" Ty exclaimed, forcing back the panic he could feel building up inside him like a geyser. "I'm calling an ambulance."

"Hurry," Amy groaned. I can't be miscarrying... please... I can't lose this baby...

***

One Week Later

They watched a dejected Ty leave for his shift at the vet clinic. Breakfast had been such an awkward affair. The young man's despair had still been so tangible, it was impossible to ignore, but impossible to address.

"I wish Amy would say something to him," Jack eventually huffed. "Anything."

"What do you expect her to say?" Lisa asked. "Jack, she's grieving. They're both upset. What she's just been through..."

"You can talk with her. Please?" Jack entreated, his eyes full of compassion.

With consternation she asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"She's shut Ty out. Lou isn't here right now, and I certainly have no words for her," he declared. "You've been where she is, Lis."

Despite Jack's imploring, Lisa agonized over what he was suggesting. "But—I'm—I'm not her mother," she protested. "God knows I've tried my best to make both Lou and Amy understand I never wanted to replace Marion—or their Grandma Lyndy."

"And they know that," Jack insisted, tenderly taking her face between his hands and locking his eyes on hers. "They know. But right now, Amy doesn't need Marion or Lyndy. She needs you. And she needs to hear your story."

Lisa broke the gaze first, struck by his sincerity, but nevertheless uncertain she could be of any genuine help. Her long-buried insecurities about her place in this family were resurfacing, and she was struggling to squelch them.

"At least think about it," Jack beseeched. "I'm worried about her. It's killin' me that there's nothing I can do, and it's killin' Ty, too."

"All right," Lisa relented. "I'll think about it."

"Thank you," he breathed with relief, knowing without a doubt Lisa would do more than think about it; she would act on it. He leaned down to kiss her, and she allowed him to hold her. It never failed that his embrace helped soothe worries and vanquish her fears as it did in that moment.

***

Lisa mounted the steps to the loft not without a heavy sense of trepidation. Nothing about the impending conversation was going to be easy, but the time had come to have it.

The blinds were all drawn; lights remained off. Lisa opened the baby gate and side-stepped a few scattered toys on the floor. In the dimness of the room, she tried to locate the person whom she had come to see.

"Hello, Amy?" Lisa called softly when she did not immediately see the younger woman.

A soft fluttering sound reached Lisa's ears, and the privacy curtain separating the bedroom from the rest of the living space drew back. Amy stepped forward hesitantly, directing her gaze toward her visitor with dull, clouded eyes. Wordlessly, she ambled out, dressed in a housecoat; hair in a messy ponytail. She did not bother to maintain eye contact.

"What did you want?" she asked in a voice that was a bare, monotone whisper.

"I wanted to see you," Lisa said, ignoring the lack of greeting and courtesy. "Thank you for letting me come. Please, sit down with me." She settled into the couch and encouraged Amy to join her by patting the space beside her.

Ignoring the invitation and making a pointed statement about personal space, Amy plopped down in a seat opposite Lisa, her arms wrapped protectively around her waist. Lisa sensed something very close to hostility emanating from Amy, as if she were just bristling at her mere presence. Lisa was not particularly troubled by that negative attitude. She was simply grateful Amy was open to having her here in the first place when she had seemingly shut herself off from everything and everyone else. It had been days since she had been down to the ranch house; a week since she had dealt with Herring; a week since the night the ambulance's ear-splitting wail had awoken them all.

In those ensuing days, Lisa and Jack had stepped in to mind Lyndy when Ty was at the vet clinic; in fact, Jack was minding the toddler right now. Georgie, bless her, had volunteered to handle some of the ranch chores that Tim did not have time to tackle.

How to begin? Lisa honestly did not know with certainty Amy's current frame of mind and heart, but she could guess her thoughts were a jumbled mess of guilt and possibly anger; her heart was probably in shreds. She took a steadying breath before speaking again, hoping Jack was right about her ability to bring Amy some kind of comfort and support in her crisis.

"Amy, I know how happy you and Ty were when you announced you were going to have another baby," she said slowly.

Amy flinched and a shudder raced through her frame. She sucked in a sharp breath and a shadow crossed her face at the mention of the word "baby".

"… And I want you to know I'm here for you, and I understand what you're go—"

"Just stop!" Amy exploded, her sudden, violent shift in emotion catching Lisa off-guard. Amy shot up to her feet, eyes ablaze; her usually lovely features deformed by an ugly scowl. "You don't understand, Lisa! How could you understand? You-you don't even have kids of your own!" She ducked her head and turned away from Lisa, yet remained rooted to the spot, lips quivering as she simmered in rage, arms now locked tightly over her chest.

Lisa regarded her serenely. While it pained her to hear those words, she placed no blame on Amy. "You're right, Amy," she said quietly. "I don't have kids of my own. At least, none that are living."

Amy started. Her eyes darted back to Lisa. "What do you mean 'none that are living'...?" Comprehension gradually dawned. "You—you had a miscarriage, too?!"

Lisa slowly held up all the fingers on her left hand and one more on her right hand.

Amy gawked as the number registered. "Six? You had six miscarriages? Oh, Lisa… Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried in horror, her indignation instantly forgotten. "I didn't mean—I…"

Lisa got up right then as a sobbing Amy rushed to her and fell into her arms.

"I'm so sorry, Lisa," she gasped again, her own personal misery spilling out along with self-recrimination.

"Shh," Lisa whispered, rubbing soothing circles into Amy's back. "It's okay, honey. You couldn't have known. It's okay."

Presently, Amy calmed down as the tears and sobs petered out. Lisa used her thumb to wipe some of the moisture away from Amy's face. They sat together on the couch, ready now to talk in earnest.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" Amy asked. It was not meant as an accusation, and she immediately regretted her tone. "I'm sorry; that came out wrong."

Lisa waved aside her worry. "Amy, honestly, it all happened a long time ago—obviously, when I was still married to Dan. It's just not the kind of thing people talked about. Even now, I think, there's still quite a bit of a stigma when it comes to miscarriage. It's not a happy subject. It gets awkward. People just want to avoid pain. And nobody wants to be the center of gossip."

Amy nodded in understanding. "I certainly don't want the whole town knowing and talking about it," she murmured, "especially after our very public announcement at Maggie's."

"But in this case, I think it was wrong of me not to have talked about this earlier with you, or with Lou, even… I guess I was reluctant to because I'm not your mother, and I've never wanted to take Marion or your Grandma Lyndy's place in this family," Lisa explained. "The opportunity to talk about such things never really presented itself, either."

"Does Grandpa know?"

"He knows," Lisa responded with a nod. "In fact, he's the one who thought I should speak with you."

"But, Lisa, six?" Amy sighed, closing her eyes to stave off a new flow of tears. "How did you stand it?! Just losing this one… it's horrible. I can't imagine…"

"It wasn't easy," Lisa admitted with a sad shake of her head. "But Dan and I—we had busy lives. We had our business to run. We were still in the 'States at the time, you know? I didn't have my family around. I mean, my sister and my parents knew, but they were here in Canada. So, I just put my head down and plowed forward because I didn't think I had another choice. In the long run, maybe it might have been better if I had talked to someone, maybe on a professional level, even, because our marriage didn't last. Partly because Dan had no idea how to support me in that situation, and later because my father got sick and I came back to Fairfield to care for him.

"If I'd brought those children to term, maybe things might have been different. But see, the kids I wasn't able to have with Dan—it's like they've all been restored to me because of Jack. I have children now, Amy: I have you and Lou; I have Lyndy and Katie, Georgie and Ty—you are all so much more than I ever dreamed I could have. Yes, I liked that life I had before I married Jack, but I love that my life includes all of you, now.

"And Amy, you have Ty. You still have Lyndy and the rest of us. You're not alone."

Amy leaned into Lisa. "Thank you," she murmured. "Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome," Lisa said, caressing her hair. "If you need to talk about this, you call me, okay? I'm here for you. Anytime."

"I will," Amy promised.

*** Chapter 5: Moving Target

[renaerys]

Okay I've got one: Prompt 15 with Reds. 🤣🤣🤣

15. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying, I just keep thinking about how good that mouth feels.”

Somehow they can make even breathing a competition.

Send me a prompt and some characters! Reminder that the challenge is to make everything SFW, so we're getting creative here.

List of prompts

xxx

“So, we’ve called the paramedics and they’re on their way, but until they arrive it’s up to us. Remember the acronym, kids: C-A-B. What’s the first thing you do?”

Aiyeesha Simpson, a gunner in the making destined for academic greatness and social ruin, raised her eager hand. “Find a flat surface to lay him down!”

“Correct.” Blossom took Brick by the shoulders and shoved him down to the floor. A gaggle of Girl Scouts gathered around him as he wheezed for air.

“Ow,” he said.

Blossom patted his chest. “Please choke more quietly.”

I will end you, he thought so loudly he hoped she could hear him through the murder in his eyes. There was community service, and then there was cruel and unusual punishment. When his required hours were up and his record expunged, he was going to write a very negative Yelp review of the local Townsville Girls Scouts of America chapter and tank this year’s cookie sales. Supremely annoying, outrageously petty, and totally legal. That would teach Blossom for sure.

“Place your hands here between the nipples.”

Some of the Cadette Girl Scouts giggled. To be fair, Blossom of all people saying the word nipples in reference to her former mortal enemy as she trained a room full of twelve-year-old girls in CPR using him as the dummy was a perfect storm of absurd and kinky that he did not see coming. And now he was giggling himself, because he was a teenaged boy who thought the word nipples was funny regardless of the very clear contextual cues, and that pubescent shame was on him, one hundred percent.

Blossom, an ancient and inconveniently attractive evil resurrected in a lab for the sole purpose of making his life miserable, did not appreciate his amusement. “Push hard at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute. Remember to put your bodyweight behind it, like this.”

Brick flexed, and Blossom pushed against his heart like she was trying to crush it in her hands. Once, twice, three times she administered compressions, and Brick’s eyes glowed red with impotent rage.

“Assist Blossom with her CPR lessons to her satisfaction, and we can forget this ever happened,” Mayor Bellum had promised Brick when he lost his temper and blew up an (empty) ambulance. Butch didn’t need his Super stomach pumped no matter how much he drank, so the ambulance and the four-figure bill that came with it were completely unnecessary. This defense did not convince the mayor, however.

The promise of the bill forgiven and his record cleared—and the deterrence of Aiyeesha Simpson filming the whole thing to upload to YouTube later—gave Brick the strength not to eye beam Blossom in front of the children.

“Okay, who wants to try chest compressions on the dummy?” Blossom offered to the girls.

You evil bitch, thought the aforementioned dummy.

After the third little girl properly placed her sticky, little girl hands between his nipples, Brick had had enough. “Hey, I’m still dying over here. Can we move on already? Jesus Christ.”

“Of course.” Blossom smiled, and she had never looked more terrifying.

Brick hoped Butch was suffering. He hoped he was hung over so bad he couldn’t piss standing up. He hoped Butch tried going online only to find that Brick had disconnected the Internet and cut him off from all his online games and porn because fuck Butch and his weak-ass stomach.

“Who knows what the next step is? Maybe someone other than Aiyeesha this time?”

None of the other girls seemed willing to stick their hands up. The carpet under Brick had scorched where his power leaked out in his building resentment for this entire situation. The smell of burned polyester just made him feel even more powerless to stop this.

“No? Okay, well, remember the acronym. A is for airway. You want to be careful about a possible neck injury, so gently lift the chin…”

Blossom’s hands were not sticky like the Girl Scouts’ hands, but they were cold where they touched his skin and forced his head back.

“Are the paramedics here yet?”

Brick got a tight fist in his short hair for that one, and he considered it a small victory. “No. Something about a shortage of ambulances, apparently.”

Biiiiiiiitch.

God, he was going to destroy her so bad.

“Once you’ve cleared the airway and confirmed there are no obstructions—”

“Then you kiss!”

Some girls picked up the giggling again. Blossom, ever the professional, cleared her throat. “Mouth to mouth is a life-saving procedure and not something I’d recommend doing to someone you plan to kiss.”

Wow, great advice.

Some girls still giggled and whispered to each other. Brick had a sinking feeling that this was only going to end with his embarrassment: everyone knew that the cold judgment of pre-pubescent girls was the absolute worst type of judgment a person could suffer.

“Are you gonna show us?”

“Well, I don’t think I need to show you all how to breathe—”

“It’s in the manual! You have to demonstrate every step.” Aiyeesha waved the CPR manual, and Brick realized his misjudgment. She was no vapid goody two-shoes in the making, but a future Honors Student with a secret, a Work Hard Party Harder, an Ivy League Early Decision candidate with all of senior spring semester to slack off because no one was ever going to touch her 4.3 GPA.

Aiyeesha beamed a winning smile at Brick, and it was as chilling as Blossom’s.

Jesus Christ, there are two of them.

True to form, Blossom had never been able to defy a good instructions manual. “I suppose if it says so in the manual…”

Locking lips with Blossom was not a big deal. He’d done it before when they were kids, and he could appreciate the irony of a gesture meant to save his life this time rather than end it. She didn’t even try to mess with him by using her ice breath, just went through the motions as described in the instructions. The girls were disappointed with the lack of hormonal fanfare of it all, which was probably for the best. Leave it to Blossom to make mouth to mouth the sexless, medical act it was literally intended to be. He was almost upset, because it felt like she’d won something here, which could only mean he’d lost.

Disappointed but more educated than they’d been when they’d arrived two hours ago, the Girl Scouts dispersed after the lesson, leaving Blossom and Brick to put away the equipment they’d used.

She held a dummy torso, and she was looking at him with that pinched, constipated look she got when she was about to say something especially snobby. Instead, she surprised him. “Brick, thanks for being mature about it. I can honestly say you surprised me.”

He stared at her.

“I’ll talk to Mayor Bellum. I’m sure you’ve done enough to meet your hours quota.”

He had not fulfilled even half of his required community service hours and they both knew it.

“So yeah, thanks. I can finish up here if you want to leave.”

Was she trying to get rid of him? Why?

“Brick? Why are you looking at me like that?”

When Blossom was winning, he was losing. That was simply the way of the world. So, if she was losing, it could only mean he was winning.

“Are you listening to me?”

Brick smiled in what he hoped was a cool, sexy way if he imagined looking at anyone but Blossom. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I just keep thinking about how good that mouth feels.”

Blossom stared. “I’m sorry?”

He would make her sorry.

“Yeah, you’re a great teacher. I could really feel your passion for demonstrating the lesson correctly. With your mouth.”

Her staring intensified. “Did you.”

“Oh, yeah.” He leaned his hip against the table like he’d seen in the movies. It worked for Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, and that guy had convinced Eva Green. Iconic. “I could really feel you trying to save me.”

Where was Aiyeesha with her phone to film this? There was so little he could do to rattle Blossom as they got older, and while the challenge delighted him, it was also exhausting being constantly a step behind her. Was this truly her demise? Had he won the Teenage Experience? Was this poetic justice for how she’d once killed him with a mere kiss, only to suffer the same fate in turn? He could have cackled. This was better than trolling the Girl Scouts of America reviews, although he might still do that because it was a genius idea and he had always indulged his own genius ideas when they came to him.

So infatuated was he with his own self-fellating digression that he was slow to react to Blossom sidling up to him. Her hand was still cold on his chin, and it sent a shiver down his spine. “Shall I save you again?”

Brick’s dignity drained with his blood, which was an unfortunate side-effect of being a teenaged boy that he would just have to suffer. But winning was about recognizing one’s weaknesses and working around them. He leaned into her personal space. “Please.”

He wasn’t sure who kissed who first, but it was happening and all he could think was I am better at this than you and I hate you and also Do that again. He tried holding her waist, and she fought back with her fingers in his hair. Not one to be deterred, Brick tried some tongue but pulled back when he tasted thirty degrees below zero. He immediately went back in because he could feel her superiority, her Got you, you horny idiot, but the joke was on her because he liked her cold, always had when it was hot as balls out and he’d make up any excuse to pick a fight with her just for the chance to cool off.

The Girl Scout troop leader walked in on them competitively making out in the classroom like it was an Olympic sport and put an end to things, leaving them at a frustrating draw for now. They said barely a word to each other when Brick glared at the troop leader so bad she flustered and didn’t even question them before running out of there with some excuse about getting the wrong room.

Later that evening, Brick caved and changed the Internet password back just so Butch would quit whining at him. He Googled kissing techniques and spent the next hour and a half watching YouTube videos and reading GQ articles about How to Please Her Like a Champion, because he was a champion and a winner and he was not going to lose to Blossom in this. Not a chance.

This had to be what they meant when they said kill with kindness.

“I’m going to end you,” he muttered to himself as he read about the top ten highest voted movie kissing scenes, which he would then stream and commit to memory in order to be fully armed and armored for the next time he encountered Blossom alone in a classroom. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe during their shared free period.

Truly, he had the most genius ideas.

xxx

If you enjoy my writing, check out more of my fics on AO3, link in my profile. I’m currently updating Trinity House and The Alchemy of Us. Thanks for reading!