#this is gonna go expired before we can sell it

[kisaxiii]

.

[blu-oo]

Buggy was Roger’s good luck charm

So I’ve had a headcanon for a while now concerning Buggy and his place on Roger’s crew. It’s no secret that both fans and characters within the One Piece world will look at Buggy and go “How/Why the fuck were you on Roger’s crew?” Hard to say definitively whether or not Buggy actually has good luck considering the absolute hell he has to go through in order to face plant into his power/status, but you still can’t argue that he gains things he is 100% undeserving of lol. Oda’s trolling aside, let’s say that his failing upwards IS purely a result of him having his luck stats set to fucking max with a few buffs tacked on. We can even make this more fun and say the reason Buggy’s luck is so paradoxical is BECAUSE his luck goes to others instead of being reserved for himself (either that or the only reason “failure” is tacked onto this is because Buggy is a jackass and karma doesn’t sleep on her prettiest degenerates). I can see this going down a few different ways:

Maybe they were on an island along the grand line and came across a vendor selling good luck tokens. An ornate looking box catches Roger’s eye, and the vendor starts gushing about how it’s their most “luckiest item” and that it’s very VERY much worth the hefty price tag. It’s also most definitely “a worthwhile investment, trust me! It’ll all pay off in the end!” Whatever that means. Roger’s gut feeling doesn’t need to be told twice, so he buys it. This could be a moment similar to Shanks where they take the box back to the ship only for “SURPRISE! CHEST BABY!” :D to happen again. Roger is no longer allowed to go shopping/haul treasure back to the ship without Rayleigh’s stink eye supervision.

Maybe there’s something similar to the Sabaody slave market where he’s being explicitly advertised as a good luck charm. The person selling him shows off his luck by playing simple tricks (like using cards and gambling with onlookers. Look, if you’re gonna try to sell someone's luck, ya might as well make an extra buck while doing so. And hey, this just proves his good luck charm is working). While the seller is distracted, Roger easily sidels up and eyes Buggy’s mean mug. He asks if Buggy is actually lucky and gets a rudely gestured affirmative. “Great!” He says before yanking the kid up and running off laughing. Rayleigh: what the fuck is that. Roger, tankard in one hand, clown child in the other: a beer.

Maybe Roger just happens upon Buggy and and witnesses his luck in action. Sees how instant karma comes to collect after some pompous jerk spits and belittles little Buggy and immediately he’s shamed and humiliated in front of a bunch of people (in addition to Buggy pit pocketing him in retaliation). He witnesses a merchant make snide and haughty remarks and refuses to sell to Buggy because he’s a visible street rat and then immediately afterwards a flock of rabid seagulls dive bomb his stall and peck at his toupee (a piece of bread is flung and lands right before Buggy’s nose). A group of older teens beating the snot out of buggy and stealing whatever he gained that day only to then immediately run into Roger? Well. Etc. etc. etc. Roger sees all this and more and at this point he decides to take Buggy along just because of how hilarious this all is (Buggy’s eventual love for Roger and therefore his luck beginning to include Roger was just an added bonus).

And since this is such a loose concept (and ignoring that Roger was a D so the following woulda happened anyways lol) we can even say that his luck to Roger is the reason for all the success at the end of his career lol. Edd war? Buggy. Living past his initial expiration date? Buggy. Making it to laugh tale? Buggy, except wait- things didn’t go 100% to plan with that one, huh 🤔🤔🤔🤔 and guess who wasn’t there 🤨🤨🤨🤨 im playing or am i

GASP. OR MAYBE HE HAS ABSOLUTE SHIT LUCK AND HE SAPS THAT SHIT OUTTA EVERYONE AROUND HIM EXPLAINING WHY THEY ALWAYS SOMEHOW LOSE OUT IN SOME WAY INSTEAD OF HIM—

[huntingingoodwill]

an adult dinner party (m.m.)

masterlist

desc: when your attempts to help out marcus with a dinner party go south, he swoops in to save the day. not all heroes wear capes. some of them wear aprons.

a/n: a fluffy fic for the @happypedrohours charcuterie writing challenge based on the prompt poppy seed crackers w/ marcus m!!!

“Poppy seed crackers. Like the stuff they make opium from?” Marcus said, squinting at the ingredients list printed on the back of the box.

“I’m sure they’re not selling expiring opium at the grocery store clearance section.” You laughed, the words already sounding doubtful as they left your mouth. Would they sell opium at the grocery store?

“What’s opium?” Missy said, looking extremely bored as she lounged in the shopping cart.

“Google it.” You said, words overlapping with Marcus’ as he said, “You don’t need to know.”

“Whatever it is, it’s bad for you.” The two of you said in unison.

“Are we having opium at the dinner party?” Missy asked.

“Nah.” Marcus said, ruffling her hair. “Doubt that’d go down well with the other parents.”

You felt the box of crackers crinkle beneath your tense knuckles at the mention of the other parents.

As a member of the Parents’ Association at Missy’s school, it was Marcus’ turn to host a dinner for them tonight. You were determined to cook a feast to end all feasts for him, but you were definitely feeling the pressure.

“You’re gonna crush them.” He chuckled, extracting the crackers from your iron grip and tossing them to Missy, who caught them and placed them next to her in the cart.

“I just really want to help you make a good impression. I want to put on the perfect Adult Dinner Party.” You placed special emphasis on the last three words, aspirational ideas of sophisticated conversation over aperitifs flashing through your mind.

“Adult? Like X-rated?” Marcus grinned, killing your images of civilised chatter and hors d’oeuvres served on silver platters. His smile was illuminated by his phone as he skimmed over the frantic grocery list you had sent him, full of typos and vague ingredients.

“What’s ‘MEAT THE COLD KIND’?” he said, pointing at the words that flashed across his screen.

“I feel like ‘MEAT THE COLD KIND’ is pretty explanatory.” You said, drifting towards the cold cuts, tossing some prosciutto into the cart before steering towards the self-checkout area.

As you packed your groceries away, you watched as Marcus aimed the scanner at Missy, red lights flashing over her frame.

“Nothing.” She said, staring at the till where, naturally, no product registered. “Guess I’m worthless.” She joked.

“You’re priceless.” He corrected, turning the scanner on you. “And so are you.”

You rolled your eyes at his corniness, melting into his touch as he reached to cup your face in his large, warm hands, thumbs skimming the lines of your cheekbones.

“You’ll be fine tonight. Everything will be okay.” He mumbled, pressing a kiss to your forehead and pointedly ignoring Missy’s pleas for the both of you to get a room.

“I’ll be fine.” You repeated, taking a deep breath that seemed to usher out all the anxiety that lingered in your body. “Everything will be okay.”

“Everything is NOT okay!” You wailed later that evening, flying into Marcus’ arms as soon as he came into the kitchen. You had only ushered him out of the kitchen an hour earlier to get him to set the dining table and clean up some of the everyday clutter accrued in the living room, but it was already apparent that things weren’t turning out as you hoped.

“What’s wrong?” He frowned, holding you tight in his embrace.

“Turns about, despite my hopes and delusions, I am not Julia Child.” You groaned into the crook of his neck. “I can’t even fold the meat elegantly.” You said, gesturing at the haphazard ribbons of prosciutto splayed out on the charcuterie board.

“Can meat be folded elegantly?” Marcus said, arching an eyebrow.

“Don’t ask me! I wouldn’t know!” You threw your hands up in the air, sardonic words dripping in frustration.

He smiled, the image of calm amidst a kitchen that looked like a tornado had ripped through it, before using his thumb to swipe some flour off your cheek.

“That’s from the Beef Wellington.” You sighed.

“Honey, I’ve always loved your ambition.” He smiled, planting his hands on your shoulders.

“I think the parents of the association would love elegant prosciutto more than my ambition.”

He opened his mouth to protest, the shrill ring of the oven timer interrupting him.

“Help me get the Wellington, please.” You said, carving slices out of a block of cheese spotted with blue mould for the charcuterie board.

“Um, is the Wellington supposed to be so… pale?”

You dropped the knife, panic beginning to swell in your chest.

“How pale are we talking?”

“A grain of rice in a snowstorm?”

You dashed toward the oven, the swell of panic burgeoning into a wave of horror that crashed over you as you saw Marcus holding a Wellington encased with completely raw dough.

You stuck your hand in the oven, letting out a defeated wail.

“It’s not even on! It’s so cold in there, an ice cube would get goosebumps.”

You flopped onto the tiled kitchen floor, staring at the ceiling in defeat.

“You win, Adult Dinner Party. I surrender.” You breathed, exhausted.

“Mr and Mrs McCartney are here.” Missy said, appearing in the kitchen’s entryway.

“HELP!” You cried.

“Missy, stall them outside for a little. I’ll bring them in in a second.” Marcus sat down next to you as soon as Missy made a beeline for the door, smoothing stray hairs away from your face.

“Just go upstairs and get ready. I’ll handle it.” He soothed.

“Are you sure?” You sniffed.

“I’m sure. I can’t undercook the charcuterie board, can I? Charcuterie is French for ‘slap it on a wooden block and call it a day’.”

“I think Duolingo is lying to you.” You said, the smile returning to your face. He always knew how to do that.

“Maybe.” He smiled, offering you his arm and bringing you to your feet, the movement making a strange crunching noise that prompted the both of you to look at the floor.

You had managed to knock the box of crackers off the counter during your earlier flurry of movement, and he had stepped on them, reducing them to little crumbs that sprayed across the tile.

“Those crackers are driving me crazy.” You sighed.

“Same.” Marcus sighed, taking a peek out of the window to watch as Mr and Mrs McCartney pretended to listen to Missy tell an animated story out on the porch.

He ushered you toward the stairs.

“You’ll be okay?” You said, shooting an anxious look over your shoulder.

“I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.” He said, his calming voice washing over you with a wave of relief.

“Thank you.” You whispered, turning to give him a parting kiss.

It was only 20 minutes later when you descended the stairs, greeted by a crowd of elegant parents, nibbling on charcuterie and cocktails made out of the week old carton of orange juice that had been sitting in the fridge, and the dregs of whatever liquor Marcus could find in the kitchen cupboard.

“You look amazing.” Marcus said, reaching for your hand, staring at you with a glint of awe in his eye, even if all you did was freshen up as quick as you could and thrown on whatever nice old thing was hanging in the closet.

“You are amazing.” You whispered, pulling him into the kitchen, poppy seed crumbs still underfoot.

“So are you.” He grinned, warm palms travelling over your sides and finding their place on your hips.

“The meat was folded very elegantly, and the poppy seed crackers were scarcely missed.” You muttered, lips upturning as your hand skimmed the front of his shirt, travelling up his chest to fix his tie. “I love you. You’re perfect.”

“You’re pretty wonderful yourself.” He chuckled. “Wellington’s in the fridge for tomorrow’s dinner and the pizza delivery guy said he’ll be here in five minutes. Is it the X-rated pizza party you were hoping for?”

You rolled your eyes, smacking him playfully on the arm.

“It’s Adult Dinner Party.” You corrected. “And yes, it’s everything I hoped for and more.”

Stealing a moment away from the party, the mild chatter continuing outside the door, your lips met in the middle of the kitchen, holding each other tight amongst powdery spills of flour, cracked eggshells and poppy seed cracker crumbs. The perfect embrace in the most imperfect of places.

[speaknowworldtour]

“i tell you that i think i’m falling back in love with you” // “who’s gonna stop us from waltzing back into rekindled flames if we know the steps anyway”

“stitching ‘we were just kids, babe’. i said ‘i don’t mind it takes time’”// “and you said you’d come and get me but you were 25 and the shelf life of those fantasies has expired”

“starry eyes sparking up my darkest night” // “i thought i was better safe than starry eyed”

“your touch bought forth an incandescent glow” // “i felt aglow like this never before and never since”

“i’d die for you in the same way, if i first saw your face in the 1500s off in a foreign land… we would’ve been timeless” // “if you know it in one glimpse, it’s legendary”

“and when we go crashing down we come back every time” // “never quite buried”

“you paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain” // “you lowdown boy you stand up guy”

“but it lies and it lies and it lies a million little times” // “you said i’m the love of your life about a million times”

“clear blue water high tide came and bought you in” // “who’s gonna tell me the truth when you blew in with the winds of fate”

“for a moment i was heaven-struck” // “and told me i reformed you”

“your integrity makes me seem small. you paint dreamscapes on the wall.” // “when your impressionist paintings of heaven turned out to be fakes”

“if you never looked my way i would’ve stayed on my knees and i damn sure never would’ve danced with the devil” // “well you took me to hell too”

“and all at once you are the one i have been waiting for” // “and all at once the ink bleeds”

“forever is the sweetest con” // “a conman sells a fool a get love quick scheme”

“you showed me colours you know i can’t see with anyone else” // “but i felt a hole like this never before and ever since”

“i like shiny things but i’d marry you with paper rings” // “and i wouldn’t marry me either” // “give you my wild give you a child” // “you shit talked me under the table talking rings and talking cradles”

“you would’ve been the one if you were a better man” // “i wish i could unrecall how we almost had it all”

“but if he’s a ghost then i can be a phantom” // “dancing phantoms on the terrace” // “my beloved ghost and me sitting in a tree d-y-i-n-g” // “can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses”

“it must be counterfeit. i think there’s been a glitch” // “i can’t get out of bed cause something counterfeit’s dead”

“in my defence i have none, for digging up the grace another time” // “should’ve let it stay buried”

“the coward claimed he was a lion” // “you said i needed a brave man then proceeded to play him”

“i’m combing through the braids of lies” // “was any of it true?”

“you see me in hindsight tangled up with you all night burning it down” // “our field of dreams engulfed in fire your arsons match your somber eyes”

“and i’m never gonna love again” // “and i’ll still see it until i die you’re the loss of my life”

[slotumn]

Some additional thoughts on a post I made before, on how to make Deer and Leicester eviler™:

On top of profitting off of selling weapons and supplies during the war, Leicester can absolutely use that position to sabotage the other two factions even more. Like, in addition to "make them fight each other to death (and make money off of it)" As in, they can purposefully sell shittier quality weapons and supplies to the other two, while keeping all the better ones for themselves. Adrestia and Faerghus may be able to act finnicky at first because they can produce their own... but what happens as the war goes on for longer and they both keep bleeding money and people and production capabilities? Leicester can literally go "yeah we're gonna sell you shitty weapons and expired food and you're gonna buy it because there are no other options."

Even scummier if at first Leicester does do quality control if only to make sure their products are competitive with the domestically produced Adrestian and Faerghan products, then over the years the quality lowers while the prices get higher. The popular resentment for Leicester in other regions would be through the roof even (especially) if they win lmao

And speaking of resentment, following from the above it would be great if Byleth has to rein in and beat the Leicester nobles' ass to maintain the unity as much as they have to crush anyone trying to revolt under Adrestian/Faerghan banner. There's absolutely no way the greedy Leicester nobles who profiteered off war wouldn't try to divide up and exploit the rest of the continent as their colony once they win, and Byleth would have to fight for their life to stop that from happening, even if (or especially because) Leicester was their ally in the war.

I just generally like the idea of postwar rebuilding in Fódlan being even more difficult and a headache than just winning battles in the war, no matter who wins; everything's not magically better, people are bitter and hateful and that doesn't automatically go away, as a matter of fact the repercussions will probably hang around for the next few generations, and nobody is fully satisfied with anything, but they still have to do it because the other option is eternal kill-or-be-killed animal kingdom shit. Byleth, who grew up a mercenary in those exact conditions even before the war, would definitely be committed to rebuilding.

...Also all this really makes Claude sound like even more of an asshole for just taking off to Almyra right after the war ends huh (he's my fave)

But honestly, Almyra, a neighboring nation that's presumably stronger than the newly united Fódlan militarily and economically, not deciding to invade and take over right after is already a ridiculously nice scenario compared to what tends to happen in real life lol. And if Almyra gives Fódlan economic support and good trade terms to help with the rebuilding, without severe internal meddling in exchange even, Fódlan will have to be Almyra's staunch ally for the next few centuries at least! Plus aside from the direct threat by Almyra being gone, having a bigger stronger country as your ally is a good deterrence for places like Sreng or Brigid invading in a "hit 'em while they're down (so they can't attack us again)" way.

(However I'd fully support a non-recruited Petra attacking Fódlan post-VW to warn them they shouldn't try anything funny to Brigid again lmao. Also I think Petra should try to annex Albinea post-war just to have more shores to launch attacks/counterattacks from + be able to exert more economic pressure on Fódlan as needed since Dominic trades with Albinea. Morality of it aside, it could be a decent political strategy)

That aside, I don't actually see Fódlan-Almyra normalization going something like

Almyra: Sorry about invading and shit

Fódlan: I forgive you it's cool let's start over

or even

Fódlan: Sorry we were extremely uncommunicative and called you guys savages without trying to get to know you, we were prejudiced.

Almyra: Honestly we called you guys savages too and kept invading, we're sorry too. There now it's even, we can start over as friends now!

It probably goes more like

Fódlan: thank you sooooo much for the money and help big bwother almywa :333 we will never try to act like hot shit in front of you or call you bad names again :33333

Almyra: Haha no prob. You're gonna send us lots of troops and money if we ever get in a war too, right?

Fódlan: yes yes anything you say big bwo almywa :3333

Like regardless of how personally friendly and on equal terms the monarchs are, or whether Fódlan manages to get strong enough in the future that it doesn't need to do that towards Almyra anymore, this is probably the angle they'd have to go for when it comes to the politics of it lmao.

First one would probably be seen as humiliating to Almyra (why the fuck are they apologizing when they haven't lost/what makes Fódlan think they're in the high position to be "granting forgiveness"), second one would probably make Almyrans and Fódlanis mad (again, "why are we apologizing, we haven't done anything wrong!"), third one is... like yeah it's probably embarrassing for the Fódlanis but that's diplomacy and international politics when you're a weak country just getting up from the shambles of war.

Tl;dr once again Golden Deer and Leicester deserve to be eviller, postwar rebuilding should bust Byleth's balls (metaphorical or literal), and Petra should get to threaten and intimidate Fódlan juuuust a little.

[cosmica-galaxy]

That last ask about the disadvantages of a human dropping into Nevada and the ramifications on their health got me thinking.

It’s been partially confirmed that grunts can eat inorganic matter in order to survive (i.e. shoe-eating bandits). They ALL aren’t starving to death sonthey must be doimg something right.

So in all these player/reader stories I’m just wondering “How the hell are they even alive”, because humans need all sorts of vitamins and nutrition just to get up in the morning. Nevada is quite barren, so unless they’re dining on grunts 24/7 I don’t see how they would be able to live off of grunt food if 99.9% of it is non-organic.

That’s without even mentioning medication. A lot of people take prescribed drugs every day for various medical reasons, including some long-term medications for treating life-altering illnesses. It’s never a good idea to cold turkey, and the withdrawal can be dangerous if the lack of it doesn’t kill you first. If a player had to, say, take a specific drug every morning so their brain didn’t jump out of their skull, well that’s really gonna suck for them won’t it? Nevada isn’t exactly well equipped for chronic illness when the average life expectancy is fifteen days or less. Not saying none of these things can be resolved with enough dedication, just that it would certainly make life a hell of a lot harder for any humans getting pulled into Nevada.

Now it’s one in the morning and I am very tired, hopefully this makes sense when I submit it otherwise I’m gonna sound delirious. Good day’m.

These are also very reasonable and realistic concerns when talking about a human wondering around the wilds of Nevada. I would like to say that humans are verrrry...domesticated. We don't really survive well away from our natural settlements or environments. I mean, imagine if you had to go scavenging for food instead of going to your local grocery store or your fridge! Also, I bet a lot of people haven't been in gun fights or have been shot at. The shock of the situation would send lots of humans through a loop. Humans are used to normalcy and safety. We don't go on missions to get food, we merely go out and get what we need or go eat. Grunts are at a stage in time where their whole world has collapsed and survival of the fittest is no joke. It's not just medications either. Some humans have physical needs for asthma, diabetes, and numerous other things. PLUS, the whole "grunts being able to eat inorganic items to survive" would make humans ALSO on that list. I have stated before that humans would most likely be considered prey in Nevada and that's not a joke. For example, when Burger Gil's was in operation, they mention that Burger Gil's got the meat from a supply plant that grows meat. But that was BEFORE the fall. After the fall, cannibalism has become scarily commonplace. So much so, that there's several factions dedicated to eating other Nevadeans. (Bandits AND Vampires feed on the populace) That means that grunts would have no trouble deciding to eat a human, as it would be a typical choice. The only few things I know Nevada has is meat, bread, and sodas of some kind. (Along with whatever Chef Pava is selling.) I don't even know how Nevada has bread, since there are no known wheat farms. There are no animals, not even horses to ride on. That means there's no fruit and no veggies. No vitamins and no minerals ESSENTIAL to prevent a human's health from declining. If the poor human doesn't starve to death first, they may even die of thirst later on. The only time they would be able to get a drink is from a miraculous intact soda machine or the rain that periodically falls from the sky. Both which may expose them to expired goods or dirty water. If you're a Player, you may just be able to survive. Especially if we're talking about Salty's AU. But if you're a REGULAR human, you are going to be in a WORLD of hurt. Just surviving the illnesses you can get, the limited options you would have, the general discomfort of an apocalyptic world that's filled with murderous faceless creatures that would LOVE to eat you sounds like an absolute nightmare.

[goodcastlegazette]

Quali-tea Competition

Fandom: World’s Beyond Number

Characters: Ame, Suvi and Ursulon

Tags: coffee shop au(but there’s tea in it), silly times

Ame has some new menu choices in mind. Suvi is not having it. How on earth to resolve this?

Read it on Ao3 here!

Fic under the cut:

“Just. Try it.”

“No.” Suvi dropped the word from her mouth, as a simple, firm fact. Her expression was neutral, but there was an intensity behind her eyes. There was no backing down, no give. Her arms were crossed, and she shifted her weight slightly as if to brace herself.

Ame propped her arms on the table, squinting and leaning forward. Suvi knew she could circumvent Ame’s pushing for a time, but it had just expired. “Just. One.”

“No.”

“Suvi-!”

“Ame!”

“Guys!” Eursulon tipped his chair back upright, rubbing his temples. “You’ve been doing this for an hour.”

“I agree, it’s unreasonable not to consider one drink,” said Ame, looking first to him and then back at Suvi, pointedly holding up a finger. “C’mon, please?”

Suvi didn’t even glance at the wide variety of teas on two hastily shoved together dining tables before her, boxes thoughtfully sorted by color, flavor and effect. Her tone slipped, and she dropped the cool exterior to put a slight whine at the end of her words. “No! You know I hate it. It is bad garbage water. You know this.”

“Maaybe you just haven’t found one you’ve liked yet,” Ame retorted. “You’ve really only had green-”

“And! This is a coffee place,” Suvi interjected, motioning to the shop behind her. “Why on earth would we sell this? People come here for the good shit.”

“Grandma Wren thinks so,” grumbled Ame, folding her own arms and heaving a sigh. The two were locked in a standoff in the empty Witch’s Brew Café, a delightful, warm space filled with antique furniture and framed pressed flowers on the cedar wood walls. Delicate lights were strung along the beams, and it was filled with the smell of coffee, herbs, and the delicious pastries in the display case. Suvi and Ame wore blue and red aprons respectively, where Eursulon got to wear green. He was still wearing his glamor, but Suvi could tell he was scratching one of his furry tufts near his ears, blowing a raspberry in slight annoyance and boredom. It had been…a slow day so far, and Ame had decided to offer up the new product samples for them to try.

“Not. Gonna. Happen.”

“But-”

“Nope.”

“Suvi-”

“Mm-mm.” Suvi darted behind the counter, grabbing the mop from the corner. “We have much more pressing responsibilities.”

“Suvi, my esteemed colleague and friend,” said Eurselon, standing up from his chair. “There is no one here.”

“And?”

Eursulon chuckled through his words, which stopped as Suvi shoved it into his hand. “It’s on the list, gotta get it done.”

“That’s only a suggestion-”

“No no,” said Ame, a sudden shift entering her tone. “Suvi is right, we do need to keep up with the store.”

Suvi raised her eyebrows. “I am- of course I am.” She stood up a little straighter. “We can get it done in like, ten minutes.”

“Well, you could probably do it faster. I mean, we’ve all seen you work - quick, clean, beautifully efficient.” Ame was nodding along, her eyes glancing between her friends as her eyes began to light up mischievously. “I think you could outsweep the whole block, honestly-”

“Where is this going?” Suvi said suspiciously.

“With your obvious skills,” said Ame, gesturing at Suvi, “You could obviously beast us in a competition.”

Eursulon opened his mouth, eyes furrowed. “Us? I don’t-”

“You are using my competitiveness against me.” Suvi’s eyes narrowed. “I- It’s working. Why?”

“We each take half of the store, with us taking the bathrooms. If you win, I will handle every single basic cappuccino customer that comes in, asking for very specific specifications, which I know you hate, for a month.” Ame leaned over the counter, which was proving difficult due to her height. She managed to keep a smile off her face. “And if I win, you have to try my choice of tea, right now, and drink the entire thing.”

“Done.” Should I have agreed to that? Suvi raced forwards immediately, grabbing a broom and heading to the front to begin sweeping furiously. She saw that Ame and Eursulon were stumbling over each other, sorting different materials, and smirked. Nahh, I got this.

Immediately she was so in the zone everything else fell away. She swept with precise, sharp movements, wiped counters rapidly in large circles. She even beat Team Ame to the punch for the mop bucket, moving in clear strokes across the floor. She stood filled with pride at her work, mop in hand, and turned to announce her victory. That was until she saw that the two of them had one, already cleared their side and the bathrooms(minus mopping), and two, she forgot about a vitally important step. Her gaze turned to the tall, floor to ceiling windows, and she done knew she had fucked up.

Ame ran past her, cheerily snatching the mop from her hands. “I’ll take that!” It snapped Suvi back to reality, and she raced to grab the cloth and spray bottle, and oh fuck where’s the ladder-?

“Done!” Eursulon lifted Ame onto his shoulders, who pumped her fists in the air with a look of triumph. Suvi couldn’t find the words, her shoulders slumping. “Team Tea-Time wins!”

“Do not despair, sister,” said Eursulon teasingly, letting Ame drop down and placing a hand on her shoulder. “It will be over quickly and painlessly.”

“You. You did this to me,” said Suvi darkly, although there was no real fight behind it. “I-you hate cleaning!”

“Ahh, but I hated sitting and listening to you two bicker endlessly more.” His smile turned into a yawn as he stretched. “Now I can go back to enjoying a peaceful afternoon.”

“Un-believeable.” Suvi defeatedly plopped in her chair, hearing Ame start the kettle. “I think you’ve killed me. I think I’ve just died. Am I here? Can you see me?”

It seemed like forever, but soon Ame returned with a steaming cup of amber liquid, set gently on a little plate. Suvi had to admit, it smelled…actually okay? There seemed to be a sharp mixture of spices, and a few berries that had been thrown in. If it had been coffee, she would have been salivating. “I present to you, Ame’s Blend.”

“Ame’s Blend?” she said, looking up at her friend standing with her hands behind her back. “Are you going to be sad if I hate it?”

“No no, if you don’t like it you don’t like it.” Ame gave a small, earnest smile. “I just want you to try it. And finish, according to the rules.

“Yeah…the rules.” Suvi let out a sigh, and amusement crept into her features. She also was touched that Ame wanted to make her something special, and if she was being honest, looking at her genuine and open expression she couldn’t have ever said she hated it. She turned her gaze back to the tea and stared it down, trying not to pull a face. She tentatively raised it to her lips, taking a sip.

Suvi never forgave her for making it taste good. She would never convert to tea, espresso was her one true love. But just for a moment, a split second, Suvi told Ame, to her friend’s delight, that she was right.

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1079: Tech Trio's Homecoming (Sonic X Crash Bandicoot)

1:34 p.m. Insode the Babylon Rogues' Air Blimp......

After a hard of month of traveling across the Babylonian Ruins to search for it's prized treasure and nearly escaping every traps and encounters the place itself has to offer, the Tech Trio retreated themselves inside the air blimp as they examine the golden, red jewels eyed statue inside a test tube.

Tails: The Divined Guardian of Babylon......(Grabs his Chin) Who or whatever made this statue sure made it live up to it's name sake....

Coco: I know, right? So buff and bulking.....(Turns to Wave) You really think it's alright to put in it here for the time being?

Wave: Given everything we've been through to try and it get, I'm not taking any chances of examining it carelessly. ('Sigh') But here's hoping it's more useful than a magic carpet I suppose.....

Coco: (Eyes Widened a Bit) Wait, you guys owned a magic carpet at one point?

Wave: Yeah, back when Me, Tails, and our respective crew competed in one of Eggman's Grand Prix a long while back.

Tails: Aside from it's rich fabric, it functions exactly the same as how most Extreme Gears would usually work.

Wave: Yeah. (Crosses her Arms in Uncertainty) Buuut......

Flashback to an Unknown Desert....

Storm cheers happily as he flies the Magic Carpet around in the air as his two teammate, Jet and Wave, test it's performance in a far distance.

The process itself went smoothly for approximately twenty five minutes until the mystic gear abruptly stops working in midair causing the albatross to fall face down onto the sandy landscape.

'THUD'

Storm: (inside his Body Inprinted Hole) Owwwwwwwwwwwww......

Jet and Wave look at each other for a brief second before turning back to their clipboards and wrote down the results of the test, deeming the magic carpet as an unfortunate failure.

End of Flashback

Wave: ('Sigh') Turns out even flying magical carpets can have an expire date, given it was made hundreds of centuries ago....So naturally, we had to store it inside.....(Presents Tails and Coco a Door with a Sign That Says the Words.....) the Hall of Failures.

Coco: (Raised an Eyebrow in Confusion) You guys have a room dedicated to all the failed projects you made?

Wave: Yeeeeeup. (Rolls her Eyes) And believe it or not we have tons of them too. I would give you twerps the tour around the place, but-

The sound of the door opening up is heard as Storm walks out of the Hall of Failures Room sniffling and wiping away the remaining tears he has left across his face.

Wave: (Glares at her Co-Work) Storm! What the hell were you in there? You know Jey is only one allowed to go in there.

Storm: I know! ('Sniff') I just.....('Sniff') I wanted to visit Carpy one last time....('Sniff ') For ole time sake.....

Tails/Coco: (Raised an Eyebrow in Confusion) Carpy?

Wave: (Sighs While Pinching the Back of Her Beak) Oh God you gave it name....I..

Storm: (Glares at Wave) Of course, I gave it a name, WAVE! ('Sniff') And Carpy's not an it, he's a boy!

Wave: Storm, this is getting ridiculous! We gave it-

Storm: Him!

Wave: IT! A fair test run and was deemed a failure. Let it go already!

Storm: (Tearfully Points at Wave) EASY FOR YOU TO SAY! At least you have those two snot nose brats to rely on!

Tails: Hey.

Coco: (Places her Habds on her Hips Wothna Glare of her Own) Rude.

Storm: I HAVE NO OOOOONNNNNE!! (Burst Out Crying as He Runs Away to his Room)

Wave: (Facepalms Herself While Groaning in Pure Annoyance) Let's get out of here already before our brain cells rapidly decreases by more of his stupidity.....

Tails/Coco): 'Kay.

Moments Later in Smash Town........

Coco: (Lets Out a Relaxed Sigh as She Stretches her Arms Up While Waking to the Smash Mansion's Gates Along With Tails and Wave) Home at last.....And here I thought our treasure hunting journey would take longer for us to get here.

Wave: I'm glad it didn't. That statue better be worth in the long run or I swear to God, I'm gonna sell it for cash. Our shopping day is in order.

Tails: Ain't that the truth....

Coco: (Happily Wraps her Arm Around her Best Bud's Shoulder) So Tails~ How's it feel to travel with us for the first time?~

Wave: And your first time not playing the sidekick role for once? (Gently Ruffles the Top of Tails' Head With a Smirk om her Face)

Tails: (Chuckles Ticklishly by the Hair Ruffling) I was never Sonic's sidekick. (Playfully Swipes Wave l's Habd Away From his Head) At least not recently. (Smiles Softly) And trip itself was fun despite everything we've been through. We should do this again sometime.

Coco: Definitely!~ If that's okay with Wave of course.

Wave: (Grabs her Chin) It's gonna take a while to look for another treasure location. (Smiles a Little) But I'll be sure to keep you twerps updated if I find something interesti- What the heck is that?

Coco and Tails looks up at the sky to see something that caught Wave's caught.

Coco: (Places the Side of her See on the Forehead to Have a Closer Look) It....looks like a flying pink....medium size fireball or something?

Tails: Whatever it is, it looks like it's....(Eyes Slowly Begins to Widened in Fear) about to head down towards us RIGHT NOW-

As predicted and before anyone could try to predict what is happening right now, the flying pink light flies down and manages to swoop Tails off the ground he was standing on as the two goes back up into the clear blue skies before stopping midair. It didn't take long for the two tailed fox to find out that the pink light itself turns out to be a new yet very familiar face staring straight at him.

Tails: A....Amy!?

Amy: (Smiles Brightly) Tails!~ (Happily Hugs Tails in her Arms) You're back home!~

Tails: (Still Surprised by Amy's New Look) Yeah.....(Immediately Comes Back to Reality as He Shakes his Head a Little) B-But wait. You can turn Super now!?

Amy: (Giggles Softly) Yep!~ It's kind a funny story behind that actually which I will more than happy to tell you later. (Gives Tails a Sisterly Like Glare on her Face) Right now, I wanna know why you haven't called Sonic and I for a half a month!

Tails: IIIIIIIII.....(Slowly Shrugs with an Awkward Smile on his Face) Kinda forgot to charged it a couple of nights ago?.....

Amy raised an eyebrow in silence.

Tails: I'm not getting off the hook for that one, aren't I-

Amy: Miles Tails Prower, I cannot believe you!!

Tails: ('Sighs in Defeat') Well, that's answers my question effortlessly.

As Amy begins to scold Tails while continuing to hover in the air, the rest of the Tech Crew is still standing on the ground, staring at the two of them.

Coco: Biggest guess I'm gonna make here, but.......Was that pink fireball Amy this entire time?

?????: Yep.

Coco gets startled and Wave close to her as she shortly turns to see Sonic the Hedgehog standing right next to the two of them with his signature grin on his face..

Sonic: 'Sup.

Wave: (Rolls her Eyes) As unpredictably fast as ever I see.....

Coco: (Lets Outs a Sigh of Relief as She Gets Off of Wave) No kidding. (Points Up at the Flying Pink Hedgehog in the Sky) Is that really Amy Up there?

Sonic: Yep again. (Puts Both of his Knuckles on his Hips) Not to brag or anything, but I just so happened to teach her how to go Super in a past few days of your absence~

Coco: Really now? Neat.

Wave: I thought only you and that Shadow guy can tap into that transformation.

Sonic: Nah, there's some folks I know who could do that too. Tails, Knuckles, Silver, even Big and Froggy went Super at once point

................................................................

Big (In Golden Fur): Froggy and I are the hope of the entire Mobius.

Froggy: Ribbit.

Big: (Charges Himself Up as He's Hovering Himself and Froggy the Air) HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

....................................................................

Sonic: It was a pretty crazy turn of events that happened on that day......But let's forget all about that noise and focus on something much more cooler.

Sonic reveals a Fire Flower from behind his back and eats it in one bite before a wall of fire suddenly appears around his entire body, with a bit of a loud booming noise to boot causing the two girls to get started and quickly hold each other in fear. The sudden flames dies down shortly after as the once Blue Blur reveals himself have a blazing red fur and yellow shiny eyes.

Sonic: (Puts on a Very Cocky Smirk on his Face) Ladies, prepare to feast your eyes on the one and only.....(Does a Top Spinning Break Dance Bfore Introducing Himself as......) Fire Sonic!.......

'A Bit of Silence'

Sonic: Or was it Blazing Sonic.......Inferno Sonic maybe?.....('Sigh') The name's still a work in process.....(Grins Again) But yeah. I have a fire form now.

Wave: (Completely Flabbergasted) H-H-How!?

Coco: (Eyes Widened in Complete Shock) I thought that Fire Flower was only used as a Flamethrower!

Sonic: Yeah, in the Smash Tournament. But out here, it could instant make you a pyromaster, no problem. My Pop's movie is about to be out in a few days, so I figured a snag one of these flowers from out the item storage and take this form out for a spin or two.....or whenever the transformation wears off.

Wave: Well, in the meantime, do you mind if we go to a clear area for a few test runs? I kinda wanna see what you and your girlfriend can do in your equally unique forms.

Coco: Yeah, same! Also.....(Twirls the Front of Her Hair Around a Bit Shyly) Do you mind if I see how those Chaos Emerald of yours work? I promise I won't use them recklessly.

Sonic: Alright, but I have to teach you guys how Chaos powers works. I'm not a huge expert of it myself, but-

Mario/Peach: (From Inside the Smash Mansion) SOOOOOOONICCCCC!

Mario: Why is the Item Storage Room open!?

Peach: And WHERE are all the Chaos Emeralds!?

Sonic: (Eyes Widened in Fear) Shoot, they're on to us. (Turns Back to the Girls) Let's get out of here and fast. (Looks Up at Amy) Ames! Come down here quickly! We're heading to...(Turns to Wave) Where are we going?

Wave: Desert? I guess?

Sonic: (Turns Back to Amy) Desert! We're going to the desert!

Amy: 'Kay!~ (Hovers Down to the Ground While Still Holding Tails in her Arms) We'll continue this discussion later, young man.

Tails: (Sighs While Rolling his Eyes) Yes, ma'am.....

@keyenuta

@cyber-wildcat

@albion-93

@bestpony666

@ma-lemons

@caleb13frede

@taiils2

[i-am-hoo-iyam]

It’s the one peice au againnnnnn! Part two to my story (tldr part one papyrus saw a drowning person it wasn’t a drowning person it was a seal but he himself drowned ‘saving’ the seal and had to be rescued. He scared the he’ll out of his brother who thought he died. And blue wants to keep the deal as a pet and cash asked how much he could sell it for)

Blue comes out of sans room. “ so sans and papyrus are all chill now it’s ok to go talk to them sans promises to not throw any more swords at anyone and that I just caught him in a bad moment earlier. Anyways… I was gonna show him squishy! Hey where’d he go?” Red sighed. “Squishy ate a fish I fed him and then jumped back in the water on his own. Because he was a WILD ANIMAL. Look though! You can see him and his happy little friends at the happy little island razz is gonna park us at while we help happy little sans feel better after that happy little accident”. Blue started beaming as the sarcasm had flown right over his happy little head.

Stretch got out a fishing rod. “Here blue if you really want we can catch some fish to feed the seals. But I doubt they will eat from our hands so we should leave them on the beach for them to find. And red, take your attitude and shove it up your (butt). Sans is crying rn and papyrus is in medical need and CASH NO STOP NO CARCHONG THE SEALS EITH OUR ONLY GLOD FISHING NET never mind I’m goin back to my room.” Stretch wa socerwhelmed by all that was happening and retreated.

They anchored while their captain got better and razz came on deck for some fresh air as he was feeling a little dizzy. Blue jumped. “RAZZ WHEN WAS THE LAST TOME YOU ATE LR SLEPT? Cmon let’s go raid the kitchen and get you some food”. “Nah I’m fine.” “Cinimon! Does this dude look fine?” Cinimon looked over from where he was trying to bait a fishing rod. “He looks fine to me”. “Never mind everyone aways looks fine to you all he time”.

Blue helped cimnon bait the hook and cast the line. “Ok razz I’m gonna catch some fish and bear is gonna cook them and I’m gonna MAKE YOU EAT THEM”. “IM FINE” his stomach growled. “You are not.” Razz stormed off to his room and ran into bear who grabbed him and placed him back on the deck. “Not untill after you eat. Dinner should be in an hour depending on how lucky our fishermen are”.

Blue reeled in a tin can. Cash polished it up and got rid of the dent. “ hmm this is an antique limited edition can from a product that stopped selling years ago ( it was a regular can and had the date from a month ago carved in the side as the expiration). Yes yes this can is worth a lot of money”. He squirreled it away in his pockets.

Cinimon lost the bait and had to get a new one. Blue tried again and caught the back of his own pants. Cash took the rod and cast in the wrong spot and sent the line ashore and they had to drag it back. Cinimon inquired about blues pants. “Oh they’re somewhere in the ocean! Don’t worry I still have the pair with the hole in the knee!” Cash made blue go in his room and put them on before anyone else saw him.

Cash tried again and caught a board from the side of the ship after insisting the line was fighting so hard cuz it was ‘a big one’. Blue ran into reds room. ‘You ever heard of knockin?” “AHGTHPTHTHERESAPLANKMISSINGITCAMELOOSEANDTHEWATERSCOMINGINAND WEREALLGONNADIEANDIGIVEUPONFISHING”. “WHOA slow down. Hey the floor isn’t centered. Did you say a plank got loose? I better go patch the hole right away.”

Red went below deck and fixed the hole and brought the fish back from where it got in. “Well the ships a better fisher than you oafs! Here bear go prepare this one for razz hey where did he go? You idiots Gimmie that rod!” Red snatched the rod and cast it. “Hey how come I fished a pair of pants?” Blue got exited “ oh THOSE ARE MINE can I have them back”? “ ok but wah them before you wear them”.

Red cast again. “Lookie here! A nice ( insert saltwater fish here)! A big one too! And that, boys, is how you catch a fish.” Red cast again. Sans finally came out of his room. “Any Luck?” Blue hugged him “are you feeling any better? You were all out of sorts so we anchored on the island full of seals!” Cinimon chimed in “we had a lot of luck! First I got a rare limited edition can! Cash! Show him our find! And then I lost the bait! And then we caught blues pants! Then cash had a go and he was the luckiest he caught the entire island! After that he caught the ship! Red didn’t think that was a lucky catch. And then red caught two fish and a pair of pants!”

[perpetual-fool]

Copyright isn't fixable, minor gripe.

Presumably, you're upset about preserving works, or maybe fanfiction/fan projects getting shut down. (Tangentially related: Japan does not have fair use, you can't fix that either.)

First, copyright. It comes from a time when copying was hard, the point of it is to restrict who can make copies, and it is a consequence of monetizing by selling those copies. It used to expire after a period of time, now it effectively doesn't. That's in part because lawmakers have been persuaded to extend it, and probably in part due to the rapid development of technology making certain mediums obsolete before the work becomes public domain.

Point one, copyright reform probably isn't gonna happen because money. Companies can make more money (and have more influence on law) by sitting on properties, if only by shutting down potential competition. And there's no money to be made by releasing properties or by instituting some kind of responsibility to preserve works.

Point two, the solution is not copyright. Fundamentally, the only way copying would be allowed is if the money is coming from somewhere else. Like an artist gets paid to make the work, and after it's published it's free. And you may not be able to enforce your copyright without an army of lawyers in the first place. So I think the actual solution is monetization via a commission or patron model, published as open source/open hardware/public domain/copyleft.

For instance, AM2R, what the fuck were you thinking? Of course Nintendo is going to shut you down. All you had to do was give things new names and a different coat of paint. We could have had a whole series of Shmetroid games with Séamus Orion and you would have been legally in the clear. probably.

Support free works or accept a future where your fridge has to be activated with an always-online subscription service.

[jiminysjournal]

So, I’m gonna do reviews of The Twilight Zone, as I watch it.

I’ve seen a handful of episodes from the original run, and I’ve seen the Peele series.  But, recently, I’ve started from the beginning.  Well, not quite the beginning; I started with episode 1, but I DO plan to watch “The Time Element,” the concept pilot from Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.

I decided this about six episodes in, so, here we go.  This one’s gonna be a long post, so I’m keeping the reviews under the cut.

The TLDRs:

101 "Where Is Everybody?"

A solid start the series.  And one that’s certainly an interesting watch in a post-outbreak world.

102 "One for the Angels"

Wow.  WiE may have been a solid start, but this one is just…chef’s kiss.

103 "Mr. Denton on Doomsday"

A story about gun violence in 1959?  Dang, Rod, you really WERE ahead of your time. It was good a good one.

104 "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine"

I never noticed how much Allison Janney looks like Ida Lupino, before.  Although, come to think of it, this may be the first thing I’ve actually seen Lupino in. This was a pretty good episode.

105 "Walking Distance"

Time travel episode!  Pre-Opie Ron Howard!  Inflation!  Wait…

An interesting twist on what could've just been a BttF.

106 "Escape Clause"

Wow, if I had a nickel for every TZ episode in which a character played by an actor also known for his role as the Mad Hatter makes a sketchy deal to cheat death, I’d have two nickels.  Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

Something had to be the first stinker.

101 "Where Is Everybody?"

A solid start the series.  And one that’s certainly an interesting watch in a post-outbreak world.

Honestly, when I was watching, I kept waiting for atom bomb sirens.  I honestly thought Mike had wandered, amnesiatic, onto a test site.  One he was working on.  Hell, a mannequin even showed up, at one point.  So, I was genuinely surprised, when it turned out to be an isolation chamber-induced hallucination.

Naturally, this raises a few questions:

Why are still sending him into space, if they had to pull him out?

Why are they sending him alone?  I know Apollo 11’s still ten years away, but seriously!?  Setting aside they isolation stress, what if another problem happens?  They can’t just have one guy up there for, I guess, twenty days!

One thing that’s cool: That’s Courthouse Square.  From Back to the Future.  Imagine George McFly tuning into this episode, while in college, and seeing a backlot strongly resembling his own hometown in this episode.  And now, of course, I’m wondering if, in the BttF universe, George ever wrote any TZ episodes.

102 "One for the Angels"

Wow.  WiE may have been a solid start, but this one is just…chef’s kiss.

Ed Wynn really surprised me with his performance, too, in a non-comedic role (turns out, the same year, he played Albert Dussel in The Diary of Anne Frank, which earned him an Oscar nod).  A good thing, too, because so much of this episode is riding on it.  In-universe, no less.

Make no mistake, the goofy Uncle Albert DOES come through.  And, it’s got to.  Lewis sells toys and even gives them away to children.  And the kids love him.  It’s never presented as anything sus, as it would on other shows, today.  To Lewis, these are the grandchildren he never had.

Of course, from the moment Death greets him in his apartment, you know exactly where this is going.  Lewis’ expiration date is coming, and he’s gonna make a pitch to put it off.  So, of course, he makes a pitch.  For a pitch.  And you just know it’s gonna be one of the kids who takes his place.  So, Maggie stops by, narratively deciding her fate.

And, the rest of this episode is Lewis making his literal pitch for the angels.  One specific angel.  The angel of death.  And, that’s all that matters.  His entire goal, from then on, is to convince Death to take himself, instead of this little girl.

And, you know what?  Death is rooting for him.  You can see it in his face.  And, yeah.  He’s gonna let Lewis take his briefcase to Heaven.  Because, why not?

103 "Mr. Denton on Doomsday"

A story about gun violence in 1959?  Dang, Rod, you really WERE ahead of your time.

Although having Fate as a central character right after an episode with Death may seem a bit repetitive, the two stories do such different things with the characters that it’s not.  And, thank goodness for that; it would’ve felt stale (more on that in a later review).

So, yeah.  Al buys a potion that makes him the fastest gun in the West, and so does his opponent.  And they end up shooting eachother’s trigger hands.  And they’re thankful for it.  And, that’s the story.  It was good.

Incidentally, this is the first period episode of TZ.  And, there won’t be a truly future-set episode, until episode 7 (the next one on my watchlist).  We get a time travel story in two episodes (and the concept pilot one might’ve been, as well), though.

104 "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine"

I never noticed how much Allison Janney looks like Ida Lupino, before.  Although, come to think of it, this may be the first thing I’ve actually seen Lupino in.

This is an interesting one.  A story about a once-big star yearning for the olden days.  Barbara Jean wants her comeback.  She’s offered a big role, but she won’t play any mothers.  I think the exec even said the character was 40.  Lupino was just 41, when this aired, and I think her character is implied to be in her sixties.

Unfortunately, the story frames it more as a Barbara Jean problem than a Hollywood sexism problem.  Otherwise, this was a pretty good episode.

I think it’s also the first to not offer an explanation for the strange goings-on.  Unless “The Time Element” didn’t, either.  16mm is preceded by stories featuring isolation-induced hallucinations and two supernatural beings.  In this one, she just enters her film-land.  And that’s it.  Sometimes, we don’t need an explanation.

Also, I wonder if some of the footage in the episode is archived footage of Lupino in other roles.  Side question: Was the main character intentionally named after Marilyn Monroe?  If so, YIKES, that did not age well, particularly if one considers the ending an allegory for suicide.

This is also the first time I found myself drawing comparison to a Peele-era TZ episode: “Downtime” almost feels like a spiritual sequel to this episode.  Obviously, it’s not one-to-one, by I do wonder if Peele was influenced by this episode when writing it.

105 "Walking Distance"

Time travel episode!  Pre-Opie Ron Howard!  Inflation!  Wait…

So, at first, I thought this was gonna be a full BttF.  Martin (!) has to bring his parents together, so he doesn’t cease to exist.  Instead, he ends up in his own childhood. Which is an interesting twist.  It’s surprising how long it takes him to notice, though.

And, it’s not just that he’s stuck in the past.  He had to go to the past to remember who he is.  But, ya gotta wonder: What if he had ended up stuck?  What if he had to take the slow path back?

Ultimately, however, that doesn’t happen, and he ends up having to go back to the future, so to speak.  Incidentally, another no-explanation story.  He just walked into his childhood.  And walked back.  Sadly, due to the time limit, we don’t get to see any era differences beyond the soda shoppe.

106 "Escape Clause"

Wow, if I had a nickel for every TZ episode in which a character played by an actor also known for his role as the Mad Hatter makes a sketchy deal to cheat death, I’d have two nickels.  Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

This episode shares its title with the third Santa Clause movie, and it’s about as good.  Look.  284 episodes, a concept pilot, two “album” movies (totaling six parts), a book of 19 short stories, 176 audio dramas, and a ride — they’re not all gonna be winners.  Something had to be the first stinker.

Learning that this one was third in the production order certainly explains things.  Watching it, it certainly felt like a first draft of OftA (which was eighth, production-wise).  And, as a result, I couldn’t help but compare this one to it.

The problem is…Walter gets immortality, and he spends the rest of the episode thrill-seeking.  Here I was, hoping for a “Who wants to live forever?” plot, and I get NOTHING.  No old age makeup, when he looks in the mirror.  No speculation about the then-future.  NOTHING!

Then!  When he turns himself in for his wife’s death, if he’s trying to get the Chair, why doesn’t he wave his right to a lawyer?  Maybe, that wasn’t a thing in 1959; I wasn’t alive, then.  And, to top it all off, you would think a thrill-seeker like him would attempt a prison break.  What’s he gonna do?  Get shot and killed?  But, no.  He just…ends the deal.

If anything, this is a story that maybe should’ve been shelved for S4, when they were doing hour-longs.  Because, there’s so much lost potential, and just five productions later, they’d be making a better version, anyway.

The one saving grace is the cast.  ESPECIALLY Thomas Gomez, who is just FULLY chewing the scenery as the Devil.  He gave a Bobby Carlyle Rumpelstiltskin-type flair to the role that I just love.  And the smoking stamp?  Such a nice touch.  His first scene (not so much the second; see above) was just perfect.

[kyetalksshit]

I'm actually so weirded out but struggling to figure out if this is an opportunity for me??

I've been so tuned in with my spirit team lately and was trying to get my car situation settled without a gap in having a car. I need to renew my license but in nc because it's a California license, and then get a new car from a dealership across the street from my job. I was then gonna let my car loan company repo their car. It was supposed to be nice and smooth right?

Well on Tuesday night I went to go visit my friend Jen for the first time in months, at her new apartment in high point. We did some INTENSE spellwork and I called in some favors, including the car situation.

And then on Wednesday, we left the apartment at 330pm so I could take her to work and head home (and renew my license the NEXT DAY on Thursday), but my car was just Gone.

It was a mess - I was simultaneously having a panic attack and feeling a bubble of calm in my gut. I was flabbergasted at the timing - right after successful spellwork (we checked in on the energies and everything went great so???) and the ONE DAY I was almost 3 hours from home. 😭 I thought it was stolen at first, filed a report, etc but found out on Thursday it was repossessed. How they found me I'm not sure, the insurance lady said sometimes they'll contract out tow trucks to just drive around and pick up whatever cars they can find on their roster so it may have been that. But again such crazy timing.

My friend Remi came and picked me up which almost made me cry lol and we ate at Jen's bar before heading home.

Anyway, I wasn't able to get my license renewed on Thursday because I couldn't get there until like 130pm after all the phone calls and stuff, and the dmv had no availability. So I'm going to go on Monday morning before work and pray to my gods that it works out.

I also asked for money, for my taxes to come back early so I don't have to wait until next Friday (my next paycheck), and straight up 10 minutes later it showed up in my bank account. My friend sent me $100 completely unprompted????? I cashed out $25 from a site that usually takes the full 5 business days and it was in my account in 30 minutes????

So as long as I get my license on Monday (because it's illegal to drive on an expired license and also I assumed you needed a VALID license to buy a car), the plan is to drive straight to the car lot across from work and pick up a car. There are a few there for $500 down and they don't check credit and repos are ok so it will work out. I've also heard good things about that place from the people at my job who have gotten cars with them.

But now my roommate?? Who is a used car dealer (with admittedly mixed reviews on Facebook marketplace at least) is so?? Frantic to help me??? He wants to find a car at an auction for like 2K for me, take the 500 down, and charge me 100 a week until it's paid off. And he keeps saying "you live with me, I'm not gonna sell you a car that doesn't run".

And I'm just so confused and conflicted because like. My team WOULD do something like this lmao but at the same time I cannot stand him??? He's a terrible roommate and keeps the place so disgusting that I bought a mini fridge and microwave so my "kitchen" is entirely in my room. I only go downstairs (where he is 24/7) to take my dog outside or to leave the house. He's loud, he's messy, he complains about tufts of my dog's hair building up over the course of a week but leaves literal garbage all over the floor and has been sleeping in the living room even though he has a bedroom with a whole bed?? I've slung some evil eye his way (mostly not on purpose but he's pissed me off countless times in just the 2 months I've been here, and the only times I've slung any on purpose it was to get him to take his company outside or to be quiet) and want to move out as soon as my car situation is settled. But also he doesn't want to charge me interest because apparently it's against his religion?? So it would be paid off in like 3 months-ish and then I wouldn't have to worry about a repo again? And it IS weirdly serendipitous that he owns a car dealership.

The problem is that my personal issues with him and disdain for seeing him at all means that I'd rather not have any ties to him and I immediately was like fuck no. But on the other hand it WOULD be a good deal honestly as long as the car was actually decent. So idfk man.

Time for divination I guess? I told him I need to talk to my parents about it but I've been soured against my parents for the moment tbh lol so what I really meant was "let me talk to my gods (two of who DO assume parental roles hahaha so ig it's not that far off) and my friends and my tarot cards" lol

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 22 April 1954

Two unknowns today, though both artists are chart regulars. At least one of the songs has a particulary interesting title that could be a Western theme, especially since it's by Frankie Laine... let's see!

The Kid's Last Fight - Frankie Laine (peaked at No. 3)

Not a Western theme! It sounds like it, but it's a boxing song. You don't get many of those, do you? It feels like a very old-fashioned thing, somehow - do we get boxing songs now? I certainly can't think of any.

It's a story song, and a melodramatic one, at that, all about a fighter, Kid McCoy, in a fight against the wonderfully-named Tiger Wilson. These are not real boxers, but I had to check, the names sound so perfect!

Before we get there, though, there's a pianola, apparently. Which was a self-playing automatic piano. I don't know if you can hear that specifically in the sound of it, or if a person playing it would sound the same. But if it is, it does lend the whole track a music-hall vibe. It achieves what Winifred Atwell is also aiming for, but without the off-kilter slant. Charming enough.

It also makes this a bit of a throwback track, fitting for a song about a fight in "the summer of ninty-three". It's slightly jazzy, and slightly nostalgic, and the drama does feel like the sort of thing you'd see in a silent film.

The Kid goes to his fight, with his girl, Bess, in the front row, urging him on because "we need that little bungalow, / Oh, you've just gotta win tonight". It's an oddly specific motivation, but it drives the Kid on, and Frankie gets involved with a driving chorus of "come on, Kid!"

But, then, a twist! The Kid's ill and has a fever "to the very bone". He's also against a particularly unpleasant opponent, the Tiger, who in true villainous fashion declares that "I'm gonna take the fight and take your woman too" which drives the Kid wild, helping him win the fight.

Unfortunately, in true melodramatic fashion, this is too much for the fever, and he promptly expires as we hear that "'Twas the fever that won the fight". There's talk of how "the champ is climbin' through th egolden ropes / Of the big ring up in the sky" and that's that.

It's an oddly amusing ending, or maybe that's just me. I don't know, I'm not getting pathos from this, and I'm not sure I'm meant to? It's not a novelty song, per se, but Frankie's just having a lot of fun with it all. It's playing with tragic storytelling conventions, but it's too much of a knees-up to really sell it as a genuinely sad story, and setting it in a cartooney version of the gay 90s doesn't exactly help matters.

Tenderly - Nat King Cole (10)

This is a slower, more dignified affair, a slightly jazzy, soft tune, interpreted by Nat King Cole with his usual warm gentleness. It's nice, very pleasant.

It's apparently a bit of a standard, and had really been popularised seven years before Nat's version, with a recording done by Sarah Vaughan, who I can see doing a good job of this, too. It's also become a Latin jazz favourite since then, apparently. Still, Nat manages to make it his own well enough here.

We start with a lush instrumental introduction that's all sweeping, rising strings, and then a horn cutting through it all, and some tinkling flutes. It's very cinematic, leading into the first verse starting. Nat's voice is, as ever, very smooth.

The lyrics paint a picture of a landscape that mimics Nat's interactions, as "The evening breeze caressed the trees tenderly / The trembling trees embraced the breeze tenderly" or as "The shore was kissed by sea and mist tenderly". It all provides a romantic backdrop for him and his lover also falling in love, and it's a smart move to lavish more description on the landscape than the two lovers.

We then get a beautiful piano solo, with a slow, steady drum underneath, fading into a sort of quiet, soft ending. It's the sort of ending that's understated, but very classy, and the flutes at the end are really lovely, going to unexpected places and then sweeping into a final string chord to end.

Its overall effect is also quite sleepy, and I could imagine a quiet, nocturnal version of this playing in the background of a dark, romantic scene in an artsy kind of film.

I like both of these songs, but I don't think I'll go out of my way to re-listen to them much in future. They're fine, but not stunners in the same way as some of the previous songs have been. Still, I have a definite favourite, and it's the one that has left me in a lovely dozy mood.

Favourite song of the bunch: Tenderly

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] I think we all probably know that this is the painting of the mona lisa well it's a picture of the painting of the mona lisa and this is probably the most famous painting of all time painted by probably the most famous painter of all time leonardo da vinci now something you Probably don't know because i just found this out myself but we can legally and ethically steal this picture of the mona lisa sell it and make money and i know that sounds like way too good to be true but i promise you this is 100 real and legit and in this video i'm Gonna explain why it's actually real and why it works how we can actually do this the right way and make money and i'm going to be showing you how to do all of that completely step by step so if you want to learn about that and see how you Can make money completely for free from home with doing very little work make sure to watch this entire video and with that being said let's get started what's going on thomas garrett's here and like i said in the intro i'm going to show you how we can use famous pictures or Pictures of famous paintings and sell them online and make money completely legally and ethically now the first question you probably have is like how do you do that or you might be like oh you're lying you can't just take pictures online and sell them and that's True kind of right like for example we couldn't go to google and take pictures of wonder woman or the hulk or spider-man and just upload them and sell them online right like if we click on this image here you can see right here this poster art copyright is believed to Belong to the distributor of the film warner brothers obviously right however copyright doesn't last forever you may not know this but it only lasts for 70 years after the artist passes away okay and then at that point it goes into what's called the public domain and its copyright has expired and the public Domain means literally there is zero copyright you can use it completely free you can sell it you can edit it you can do whatever you want with it and that's legal and ethical but before we actually start selling these images online i have to show you how to find more than just a Mona lisa on the public domain so there's really i mean there's plenty of ways but i'd say there's three of the the best ways and number one is wikipedia number two is raw pixel and number three is free dash images.com and me personally i feel like raw pixel Puts it together in the easiest way to browse so that's what we're going to use in this video but the other two options are great and feel free to use those if you'd like but once you're on rawpixel.com you literally just go right here to public domain and then they sort it in Different categories by like all public domain or like the name of the artist so like vincent van gogh right like he's probably the only other artist i know their name of but he has a ton of great paintings so you could just click here literally as you can see right here it's public Domain free cc0 image that's copyright zero like there's zero copyright so it's in the public domain so you don't have to pay or anything you can literally just free download and then just make sure to create your free account i'm going to sign into mine quick and i'll Be right back all right so after you're logged in or after you create your account you just hit free download and then you get your image right here okay so this is literally a famous vincent van gogh painting right here all right pretty dope but now to actually sell This painting or picture there's two ways to do it okay so the first way is on etsy the second way is on redbubble okay so i think etsy's great i personally just don't have any experience with etsy all right if you want to use etsy you can do it but for This video we're going to be using redbubble specifically so basically create your free account for this as well and then once you're signed in you go right to your little

profile right here and you hit add new work so right here you go upload new work you're gonna Go to your downloads right here and then we have our vincent van gogh painting and while it's downloading or uploading we could title it so we could do uh what's it called let's take the actual image name right here vincent van gogh's starry night let's just literally take The title all right like you don't have to make it complicated and then just paste that in you could probably take out the famous landscape painting and then you could do like updated 2021 hd image or something like that just to give them another reason to get it and Then for the tags you'd probably want to do vincent van gogh famous painting you separate them by commas like it said um i don't know starry night over the rhone fine art okay so that's good for the description what i would suggest personally is going and looking at other Pieces of this art on redbubble and seeing what other people are writing and then just kind of using that as like inspiration and writing your own so i'm just gonna say this is vincent van gogh's i'll just copy and paste that right there but the important part is it Prints it on all of these different things like clothing and all these different things some of them are going to be enabled some are going to be disabled i personally would disable most of them i mean you can keep whatever enabled that you want like some of these Look good and people might order them but the most important one is down here i'll show you it's right here prints cards and posters because if you hit edit right here and you click the second box that's where you can get the framed art and the canvases and that's what People are most likely to purchase when it's a painting like this you know what i mean because that just makes the most sense i'm not saying people wouldn't order the other stuff but just know that that's gonna be the main thing so then if you took any off of here like if you Didn't want cards or the metal print whatever you want just make sure you apply the changes and i personally would keep the markup what they have it at or you could try and undercut people by lowering it a little bit but i wouldn't raise it too much okay and just in case You're wondering like how do you actually get that money for that markup basically when someone purchases one of these from your shop which you'll see in a second redbubble prints your image on whatever is purchased ships it out for you and they give you a cut of the Profit okay so it's a really simple business model it's called print on demand so i just wanted to clear that up if you were confused at all about that but then once you've got all that set you just scroll down to the bottom of the page for media right here you can Select up to two right so it's a digital art and photography and then default product in your shop optimize so they choose it who can view your work you want it public and is this mature condit content no it's not okay so i have the rights to sell this product and then Save work and then you just gotta wait for this to process and then this is the page it goes to once it's all done processing you can click view right here and it will take you to all the different products that you now have for that design and if you just literally Click on one this is the product page that redbubble uses okay so you can add it to cart and that's how you can actually sell it through redbubble and again if you look at how many different options you have here it's kind of a lot so that's why i was saying i would Probably take most of them off like i said these are the main ones the canvas the art those are the ones that look super dope but when it comes to actually making money from redbubble the best part is you can literally just upload the designs and you can start making Sales because if we go to similar web right here it's a chrome extension they get 30 million monthly visitors

to their website okay people browsing and wanting to purchase designs just like this but there are a couple things you can do to really multiply the amount of money You're making the first way would be creating like an instagram account or a pinterest account and really creating content around whatever type of art you're uploading to redbubble and directing those people to your product pages for that specific design but that's really a more longer term play And definitely takes some more work so an easier way in my opinion would be to do one or both of these next two things first you can take this image that we uploaded and you can change it a little bit whether that means change the colors or if you're really good at like Photoshop and it was like a different drawing or 3d image you could like move the arms around or make it if it's like a skeleton for example or a person you could have them in a different position that's different from all the other ones because again this is public domain you Can edit these however you want but the easier way of those two i'll show you it'll take like 30 seconds okay so this is a free website called canva if you don't have an account you can create a free account but literally if we go to Create a design and you want to hit edit photo right here and you want to upload this one and it might be too big because this is yeah so this is too big in size so what you would do is you want to just take the next size down right here so It's less pixels basically which is not a problem at all so now if we use the new image create design edit photo this one should work and it's working okay so just hit edit photo and literally all you got to do is click on the image and hit edit image so there's A couple things you can do you can use filters and you can literally like look at that how much it changes you know what i mean there's some pretty cool filters like that one's dope right you can double click on it too and raise the Intensity if you want by the way or what you can do is you can go back and go to none right so that's what it looks like without it you go back you can adjust the brightness and contrast on its own so if you want it brighter a little more Contrast a little more saturation right or again you can put those all back to zero then you can do the photogenic right and kind of do it like that that just completely changes the image into something completely new and it takes 30 seconds literally okay so then you would Just download the image as a png download and then you would upload it to redbubble like that and the second way is something you could combined with this like i said and it's super simple but it's just going to google and typing in art added to public domain in 2021 or Maybe you want to do 2022 and really try and be the very first person to upload something but even stuff added in 2021 there's not going to be as many people who have added stuff like that to redbubble and etsy but if you look up mona lisa on redbubble and etsy there's Going to be hundreds or maybe thousands of people using that whereas if you go right here maybe the cover illustration of the great gatsby is something that there won't be a lot of but that's something maybe a lot of people want you know what i mean so definitely just do Some research on new stuff being added to public domain because being early or first on something can really make you a lot of money but at the end of the day all of these strategies they're really focused on earning small commissions or small profit from print on demand and There's nothing wrong with that this is a good way to earn some extra money on the side but something that can earn you a full-time income and has been able to provide me with income like i've never seen in my life and allowed me to quit My job and truly just have freedom in my life is with affiliate marketing but more specifically with high ticket affiliate marketing and if you want

to learn more about that you can click the first link down below in the description that's my number one recommendation and that's the one program that changed my Life but if that's your first time ever hearing about affiliate marketing or even high ticket affiliate marketing i have a video right here you can watch where i go much more in depth i talk about the program and all of that so i highly suggest checking that video out And that's all i got see on the next video [ad_2] #Copy #Pictures #Money #FREE #Selling #LEGALLY For More Interesting Article Visit : https://mycyberbase.com/

[marthfador]

lrt: not to be this bitch but like, it’s all gonna depend on your location and the type of place you’re going to but most food banks I know of depend on donations. If they get fresh stuff, it’s usually because there was a food drive or there’s actually people that do what they can to donate when they can. There’s also folks that give from their gardens- I went once and there was a whole PILE of fresh potatoes from someone who grew a whole lot! Fresh!

The thing is, when it comes to donations, if it’s gonna be from a store chances are it’s gonna be expired or else damaged in some way. When I first started working at my store, we opened and dumped out all the expired stuff as we threw it away so nobody would try to grab it from the dumpster and bring it back in for refunds. (Sounds like a long shot but you may be surprised.)

It was a few months before someone managed to contact a church that ran a food bank that would take in the items we could’ve donated instead of throwing out. They come in periodically to pick up the boxes and boxes and boxes of items that we have been putting aside because they were expired, they were damaged, something was missing, etc etc. All the little rules that keep us from selling them. Sooooooo..... What, you bitch because these things are thrown away en masse but then you also bitch because they’re being donated to people that would otherwise starve? “Umm these places are throwing out all this food-” all expired, old, cold, damaged, etc. Yet when they’re donated you bitch about that too so what exactly are you expecting to happen here?

I'm not saying that you can't be angry because there's not often fresh things. I'm not saying that it's unfair that you're usually gonna be stuck with the expired and damaged goods. I'm saying that it's fucking dumb to complain about damaged goods being thrown away only to turn around and complain about being donated damaged goods in the same breath.

[slafkovskys]

hi i saw that you were taking requests would it be possible for you to write a part 2 to the prompt 7 angst with jack hughes

here’s part one

eleven days.

eleven days had passed since you had last spoken to jack.

during those eleven days, his side of the bed had grown ice-cold, the box of cereal you kept stocked in your pantry specifically because he loved it had expired, and you had had a lot of time to think. a little too much time, in your opinion.

the boxes that were stacked up in every room of your apartment stood as a constant reminder of what was happening and what needed to be done. your lease expired in just under a week and it was too late to sign another one, your landlord had rather rudely informed you when you had called two days into this radio silence.

quinn had offered you one of the empty bedrooms in the house that he and jack had bought a few months prior, but you had vehemently opposed that idea, citing you didn’t want to be his glorified house sitter while he was in vancouver. that and the fact that even in the short amount of time that they had had it, you had amassed countless memories in the space, almost all of them with jack.

“where do you want these?” luke asks, freeing you from your thoughts. you turn your attention to the youngest hughes, whose balancing a stack of bowls that just so happened to be extremely breakable.

you open your mouth to scold him, but his mother beats you to it, quickly crossing the room to her son to take some of the bowls out of his hands, “luke, please be careful.”

“sorry, y/n,” he mumbles, face flushed as he follows ellen to where the box was sitting on the counter.

you hear your front door being pushed open and quinn rounds the corner with jim in tow, both of their arms filled with cardboard boxes because you severely underestimated how many you would need. you push yourself away from your perch on the counter and sigh, “thank you guys so much. what do i owe you?”

“it was like twenty bucks, y/n,” quinn smiles, grabbing for one of the bottles of water, “i’m not gonna miss it.”

“big hopes for that new contract, eh? haven’t even put the pen to paper,” luke teases and jim stifles a laugh. “can we order a pizza or something? i’m starving.”

“don’t you start training next week? pizza’s not great for ya, lukey,” you chirp, already reaching for your phone.

“hey, y/n?” quinn calls as you search for the number of the pizza place just down the street, “can i talk to you? outside?”

“sure?” the confusion is evident in your voice as you shove your phone in the pocket of your shorts and follow him out onto the patio. he leans against the railing and you join him, pulling the sleeves of your sweatshirt down to cover your hands, “is everything okay?”

“yeah, it’s just,” he sighs, rubbing his hands over his face before looking at you, “jack wants to talk to you.”

you raise an eyebrow, “he couldn’t tell me himself?”

“he figures that you blocked him. from what i understand, he didn’t even try,” he chuckles as he shakes his head, looking out across the street, “and today is-”

“i know what today is, quinn,” you nod, not needing him to say it. it had been on your mind all day, taking up residence somewhere far away where you had pushed it. packing up your apartment under so much uncertainty was not how you had planned to spend the day, but that was just how it had happened. “is he at the house?”

“yeah,” he pauses, “do you need me to go with you?”

“we don’t need a mediator quinn, but thank you,” you send him a soft smile and open your arms. you wrap them tightly around him and smile as he does the same to you, “for everything.”

you couldn’t put enough emphasis on how sorry you were that you had to leave, using the excuse of one of your friends having an emergency as your ticket out. you were sure that his parents weren’t buying what you were selling and that ellen would likely wear quinn down as soon as you left, but you tried not to think about it as you pulled the door to your apartment closed behind you.

the drive to jack’s was simple, twelve minutes exactly because you didn’t have to stop for a single light and the after-work traffic had pretty much died down. you pull your car beside jack’s and sigh, sitting there for a minute while you gather your thoughts.

lights illuminate the front porch and as you inch closer to the door, you notice the trail of flower petals that make a path into the house. you push open the door and call inside, “jack?”

“just follow the flowers!” you hear him shout and you obey, following the trail of petals down the hall, through the kitchen, and out to the backyard. you step out onto the and take a deep breath when you lay your eyes on jack for the first time in nearly two weeks. he has a bouquet of your favorite flowers in his hands and a shy smile on his lips, “hi.”

“hi,” you mumble, pulling the sliding door closed behind you. you take a step towards him and let your eyes wander around the deck, “what’s all this?”

“i mean, putting up with me for two years? that deserves some sort of celebration,” he responds, meeting you in the middle to hand over the bouquet, “happy anniversary, y/n.”

“i-” you take the flowers from him and sigh, “i don’t know what you want me to say, jack.”

his face falls and he shoves his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, “you don’t like it?”

jack wasn’t a very romantic guy, so this? this was definitely him going out of his way, that was for certain. fairy lights had been wrapped around the entirety of the deck and the bean bag chairs from the game room had been dragged out to the center of the platform. behind them sat the projector which was already turned on and on the back of the house was the title screen of the movie jack had taken you to see on your first date just waiting to be unpaused.

“jack, did you think that i would forget about everything just because you did all of this?” he opens his mouth to speak, but closes it almost immediately after. you nod your head at his silent answer, “just because it’s our anniversary, doesn’t mean that we’re okay. we still have to talk about what happened.”

“i know,” he sighs, “do you wanna sit down so that we can talk?”

you let him take the flowers from your hand and watch as he carefully drops them into a vase. his hand rests on the small of your back as he walks you over to the beanbag chairs and you drop down into one, accepting the glass of wine he hands you. you take a sip and let your head rest on the back of the chair, staring up into the gleaming stars above you, “i’m not apologizing.”

“i don’t expect you to. i was the one that was out of line. the way that i acted was unacceptable and i see that. it’s just-” he pauses and you let your head roll to the side so that can watch him. he wasn’t staring at you, focusing instead on your fingers wrapped around the stem of your wine glass. his jaw was scruffy and his hair looked longer than when you had last seen him. his fingers twitch in his lap like they always do when he’s nervous and you can’t help but to reach out for him, curling your fingers around his and squeezing as an attempt to comfort him. “i’m younger than you, y/n. i knew that when we got together. you, you have your shit figured out. you’ve got your degree, you’ve got a job. you’re fully prepared to move halfway across the country for some twenty-year-old who doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.

“i know about you and quinn and i swear to god it doesn’t bother me. i know that whatever went on between the two of you is over and doesn’t concern me in the slightest, but it really got to me that night. you can have anyone that you want. you can have someone who can be around more, who can do nice things for you. i missed out on a lot of things that were important to you because of road trips and like i said, i’m just a kid. you deserve someone bet-”

“you better not be trying to break up with me,” you raise a threatening eyebrow, “because i won’t let you.”

he looks hurt as he utters his next sentence, successfully shattering your heart, “i don’t want to break up with you, but i don’t think i can be everything that you need, y/n.”

“jack,” you say, reaching over to set your glass down so that you wouldn’t spill it, “i mean this in the nicest way possible, but you have no idea what i need. if i didn’t want to be with you, i wouldn’t be. that’s what happened between me and quinn, we decided we were better off as friends. i don’t feel that way about you at all. i love you so much. i wouldn’t even consider moving to new jersey if i didn’t. you have made me rearrange my entire life and i couldn’t be happier.”

“y/n-”

“it’s my turn, jack,” you watch as he visibly swallows the lump in his throat before nodding, starting to play with your fingers as you continue, “if you really do want to break up, if that’s genuinely what your heart wants, i’ll do that because i want you to be happy but i promise you that it’s the last thing that i want. you know what i do want? everything we talked about over the last year: that road-trip to jersey in a couple of days, decor shopping, adopting a dog, getting to go to every home game and cheer you on in person, kissing you goodnight and telling you how much i love you at night beside you and not over the phone. that’s what i want, jack. not nothing at all. i don’t want us to be over.”

“i don’t want that either,” he mumbles, letting his eyes connect with yours. “i don’t want this to be the end.”

“then don’t let it be.”

he looks at you for a moment, letting his eyes drift down to your lips. you grin, leaning forward and pressing them to his. his hand slides over your hip and pulls you closer while you wrap your arms around his neck. he pulls away for a breath and rests his forehead against yours, “i really am sorry. there was no excuse for the way that i acted.”

“you’re forgiven, jack. it’s in the past now,” you plant a kiss to the corner of his mouth as you twirl a piece of his hair around your finger, “i can think of one way that you can make it up to me, though.”

he raises his eyebrows suggestively, letting his hands slide down a little lower than your waist, “oh yeah? how’s that, baby?”

“a haircut.”