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ask-de-writer · 4 years

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SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 60 of 83 : World of Sea

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SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 60 of 83

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

written 2007

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story? Read from the beginning. PART 1 is here

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“Oi’ve nae talked wit’ ‘im about t’ose times. Master Selked told m’ some, an’ the log provided t’e rest. Oi ‘ad little t’ do for over a Wotan as Oi wa’ recuperating. Oi had t’ practice readin’ yer writin’, so Oi read t’e log an’ ot’er books t’at ‘e’d collected.”

Kurin plied her chopsticks in silence for a bit, digesting this history behind things that had always been an unquestioned part of her life. Skye cocked her head and looked at Kurin’s platter questioningly. Kurin held out some roast on her chopsticks and Skye took it neatly.

Kurin looked across the table at Tanlin. “Barad collects books?” she asked incredulously.

“Aye, ‘e reads bot’ Common an’ Arrakan an’ can struggle t’rough Barant. ‘E ‘as books in all t’ree languages. Nine o’ t’em are about t’e Boren Current Wars.” She paused thoughtfully, “Actually, ten, i’ ye count Sula’s little manual.”

Kurin interrupted in surprise, “Sula wrote a book? She never said anything about it. Come to think, Darkistry mentioned it, too.”

Seriously, Tanlin replied, “Oi know wye Sula stayed quiet about ‘t. Oi’ve read ‘t. Darkistry’s probably t’e only one o’ us ‘oo actually understands it. Oi’d recommend t’at ye nae read ‘t, t’ough Oi willnae stop ye.” She paused and looked sympathetically at Kurin. “T’will show ye a side o’ Sula t’at ye willnae care for. Sula’s killed more people an’ sunk more ships t’an any ot’er person on Sea. ‘Er book’s a manual for t’e destruction o’ ships an’ fleets.

“Wit’out t’e knowledge in t’at book, we’d probably ‘ave sunk t’e Fauline. Wen Barad an’ Oi were in danger, t’e crew attacked wit’out ‘esitation. None o’ t’em wa’ ‘appy about ‘t but t’ey did ‘t anyway.”

Kurin realized that what she was hearing was not a boast. She already knew about her friend Sula’s war record — and how Sula felt about it. She digested the knowledge in silence.

The quiet stretched out into tension. At the last, Tanlin asked, “Wen’re ye goin’ t’ actually start reading? So far, ye’ve just leafed t’rough about eight Wohan’s wort’ o’ Log.”

Relieved to have something neutral to talk about, Kurin replied, “I have been reading, a bit slower than usual, actually. I didn’t want to miss anything. Barad has a fairly neat hand that’s usually easy to read.

“How come he gets so little from each indenture sale? Less than half, on average.”

Tanlin smiled in relief. “Oi’m glad t’at ye asked t’e quest’n in t’at way. A person ‘oo brokers indenture sales is entitled t’ nae more t’an ‘is legally defined costs plus ten percent o’ t’e balance o’ t’e sale.

“Indenture’s ‘ow t’e Arrakan fleet’s education system works. I’ Oi wonted t’ learn, say, boat buildin’, Oi’d sell ye m’ indenture. Basically, ye’d pay m’ in advance for t’e term o’ t’e indenture. Oi’d work for ye an’ ye’d teach m’ t’ make boats. Tis a twa way contract. T’e more I know goin’ in, t’e more m’ indenture’s wort’ t’ ye. Oi might sell m’ indenture at auction or Oi might approach a particular person or ship.”

“T’e Grandalor produced indentures ‘oo could all read, write an’ figure plus ‘avin’ a good foundation in a useful skill. T’e Arrakan fleet ships bid ‘igh prices for Grandalor indentures because t’ey were o’ t’e ‘ighest quality,” Tanlin finished proudly.

“So. . .the indenture is just a prepaid labor and education contract?” Kurin asked dubiously.

“Aye. Oi sold m’ ane indenture six times t’ earn m’ navigation an’ command skills. Oi earned enow from t’ose sales t’ buy a share in t’e Princamorn, t’e ship t’at Oi wa’ born on. Oi wa’ in a position t’ bid for a ca’taincy wen ane came open. I remember evert’in’ o’ t’e Arrakan fleet but t’e people.

“M’ diary wa’ among documents t’at were salvaged from t’e wreck. Barad saved ‘t for m’ an’ Oi’ve read ‘t over an’ over but ‘t only told m’ some names. T’ey’re only words in a book. M’ people’re still missing.” Tanlin looked a little downcast as she added, “Mecat says t’at t’ey’re gone forever.”

Kurin finished eating and went back to reading the log. Skye left the cabin the same way that she had come, pausing to close the port behind her. Before the sun had reached its nadir, Kurin had nearly finished the just over twenty-five Gatherings of Barad’s Captaincy. Using a candle lantern to add to the ghostly light of the low sun, she finished the log and began the Purser’s accounts.

What Kurin learned there amazed her. The Grandalor was a wealthy ship. A very wealthy ship indeed. Most of her wealth was held in accounts in the Arrakan fleet with large amounts on deposit in the Pallant and Daroff fleets. Less than a third of her wealth was aboard or on deposit with the Naral fleet.

Kurin fell asleep to the quiet, uncanny whistling song of a faraway Orca that had never stopped singing, all day.

Kurin awoke suddenly in the middle of the third Night Watch. The low arctic sun was coming fairly brightly through the port. She had fallen asleep while reading and was surrounded by an untidy nest of log books, accounts, a few diaries and other records.

It took a moment to pin down what had awakened her. The Orca song had become loud and clear. It was punctuated by the shushing splash of the whale breaching and rolling and the occasional splashing report of the multi-ton creature leaping and falling back to the sea. Kurin’s heart leaped in fear for those in the sickbay.

Kurin could see the quiet form of Captain Tanlin sleeping slumped in a stuffed chair. She felt a slight twinge of guilt at having fallen asleep in the Captain’s bunk as she slid silently out of bed. She stumbled over the sleeping form of Arnat, curled up on the floor beside the bunk. The commotion brought Tanlin to instant alertness. Arnat stretched.

“What’s the matter, Kurin?” he yawned.

“I hope, nothing. Perhaps much. The Orca is singing close by.”

“Mother!” Arnat called, heading immediately for the cabin door.

Tanlin was through it before he could get there. Kurin followed him through the passageways of the Grandalor to the sickbay as swiftly as she could.

Doctor Corin looked up from where he was working on Lenai. “I was about to send for you, Captain, and Arnat, too. We are losing her. I have killed her pain with Hag venom, so that she can talk. She is weak but lucid.

“I thought that she should have those that she cared about near to her at the end.”

“Well t’ought o’, Doctor Corin,” Tanlin responded and turned to the doctor’s aide. “Mikka, go get Barad, quickly. ‘E should be ‘ere, too.”

The soft, concerned voice of Lenai came clearly to them all, “Did we do it? Did Kurin come with us?”

Kurin stepped to the bedside, where Lenai could see her. “I came, Lenai. I am here because of you.”

A hand reached out from under the covers and grasped Kurin’s arm weakly. “Then it wasn’t a waste. When the big red haired man stabbed me I feared that my life was lost to no use. Save Arnat. See that he’s got a ship to call home, please?”

“I think that this ship will stay his home. I’ve been looking at your case and have agreed to be your advocate before the fleet.”

Lenai smiled. “I just wish that Arnat was here. I want to hold him one more time before I go to Iren’s halls.”

“He is here. Arnat, come over where you mother can see you.”

Arnat came, dry eyed but shaking, to his mother’s bedside. She reached out and took hold of his arm with one hand and wrapped the other about him. “Arnat, never fear the Orca’s song. I can hear it calling me to Iren’s halls. I won’t hurt there, and I will always love you.”

She relaxed, letting out a long breath. Her arms fell from him and hung limp.

Barad, who had come in only moments before, knelt at her bedside and crossed her arms over her chest. Tanlin joined him.

Barad said softly, “While there is a Grandalor, Arnat will have a ship that is his home. I have no children of my body but I will have Arnat as my own. He was one of the first to swear to us and the oath that we gave binds us. We have all chosen one name and to be of one blood.”

Tanlin said, “T’ere’re nae orphans in a Wide Wing rookery because all take care o’ t’e young toget’er. So we’ll care for Arnat. T’ere’ll be nae orphans on t’e Grandalor. Oi’ll log t’e order.”

Outside, the whale still sang but even to the untrained human ear, they could hear that it was a different song. A second voice and a third joined in. In moments whales were leaping and singing all about the ship.

In a corner of the sickbay, sitting on a bunk, Kurin was weeping. Another one dead. Another part of her life shattered.

The simple pride that she’d always had, that held her together when loneliness or fear of loss rose up, was in ruins in her heart. Longin born. So simple. So strong. So ruined by the events of the last few days.

Kurin wept for the young mother she’d tried to save. Dead for the crime of wanting to talk to her. Killed by the Longin. Kurin’s ship. Her home. A part of herself. Through tears Kurin saw Arnat being rocked in Tanlin’s arms and wished desperately that she was him. Safe. Held. Loved.

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS NEXT==>

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#SEA DRAGON’S GIFT #Part 60 of 83 #World of Sea #Written by De Writer

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gotatext · 4 years

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hllo ! i’m nora ( she / her, 24, gmt ) crawling back to this rp once more like the dirty sewer slug i am !! i just can’t get enough, baybeyyy ! u may remember me frm such roles as alma putnam, rory bergstrom, bridget matusiak or greta o’driscoll 2 name jst a few.... sure there were more over these long years, bt the show must go on.... this is mimi, she’s dogmatic, tenacious n single-minded 2 the point of recklessness, she doesn’t like handouts n she’s funding her degree through her onlyfans account n moaning abt shit on tiktok. we love 2 see it !! slam that like button n i’ll creep into ur DMs like the slippery worm i am OR u can discord me at that bitch carole baskin#8664. a humble pinterest.

『ALEXA DEMIE ❙ CIS-FEMALE 』 ⟿ looks like MIMI MARTÍNEZ is here for HER SOPHOMORE year as an ARCHITECTURE AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY student. SHE is 22 years old & known to be STRONG-WILLED, GOAL-ORIENTED, ARROGANT & EASILY BORED. They’re living in MORIS, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ nora. 24. gmt. she/her.

this is p embarassing but i actually originally wrote mimi for a discord rp based around love island asgjag dont laugh at me but it was so chaotic n someone deleted it w-out telling any of us so i lost her bio.... all her threads....e verythin.... it was mad. but anyway we startin from scratch w this intro so bare with

mimi is a really extra character so when trying to flesh her out i thot of the most extra thing i could do n made a colour coded mindmap with watercolour paints detailing her values, aesthetics and early life. shoot me

background: she grew up in a trailer home in boulder city, abt half an hour from vegas. her mom had worked in a vegas casino for most of her 20s but relocated to boulder city for a slower pace of life / lower crime rate when she started having kids. mimi has 2 older brothers n she’s the youngest. has that invulnerable younger sibling complex n basically thinks nothing can touch her. very confident in her own intelligence and her ability to get shit done

has mexican ancestry on her mom’s side. doesn’t know her dad. was raised with spanish catholic principals n found it all very stained glass windows and extra n that’s why she was kinda drawn to the decadence of vegas and all these massively high key aesthetics, like dia de les muertos was her fave thing growin up just bcos the pure feel of the festival and painting a sugar skull on her face n being able to party on the streets in a flower crown where everyone was kinda anonymous but together in this celebration

in boulder city her mom worked as a carer as there’s a lot of retirees there. mimi really resented the slow pace of life, longed for some fucking energy n life. she was a cheerleader in school but outside of school there wsn’t much to do except practise stunts and go on bike rides. occasionally they’d get dressed up and catch a bus to henderson, the next biggest city for them to get tht sweet night life

her teenage years consisted mostly of hanging around the renovated motel blocks used as housing projects n tanning by the pool. very florida project if you’ve seen that. she reminds me a lot of the mum in that. also she started working as an avon rep going door-to-door when she was 16 bcos she wanted to have her own income. like as young as 14 she’d decided she was smart enough to go to college but she didn’t have the money n her family didn’t really see it as a worthwhile thing, her mom was very like the mom from matilda “you chose books.... i chose looks!” which i think is where a lot of mimi’s more shallow / appearance-driven traits come from

wasn’t really ‘cool’ until high school. before that she was a bit of a lisa simpson type. won a spelling bee when she was 9. was in the mathletes squad in middle school. when she went from middle school to high school she started cheer and tried to reinvent herself basically. always been very concerned with social mobility and keen to socially climb, like when she enters a new situation she’ll find out who the alphas are and quickly try n befriend them

when she turned 18 she moved out and went to vegas despite her mom hating the idea bcos it was everything she’d tried to get her kids away from. she worked in the clubs there for several years as a shot girl, a table dancer, n eventually she started workin behind the bar in a strip club. in the club it ws really hard to resist becoming a dancer bcos of the sheer amount they made in tips. no one really pressured her into it she just eventually decided tht it was way more logical to do it while she was young n fit and had the stamina and ppl were willing to pay to see her body so she started taking pole fitness lessons. she also started working as a cam girl around this time

working in vegas strip clubs is basically whats paid for uni. like she didn’t go at 18 like most of her friends did bcos she didn’t have the money and she didn’t want to feel indebted to a college like she had to compete for her place and not put a toe out of line bcos she was on a scholarship. she was determined to pay her own way and it took 4 years of working really hard and saving n even tho she was working in vegas she basically never went out bcos every penny she had needed to go on uni n thts how we get to radcliffe baybeeyy

part 2 - interior / values / personality

values: the aesthetic !! literally loves the aesthetic so much. everything she owns is super embellished, she’s a pop socket gal, her dell laptop is covered in glitzy stickers, she always has acrylics n probs makes nail art videos on tiktok. really tuned into tiny details like painting a little hello kitty above her eye which translates into her degree when she’s doing small-scale mockups of town plans n stuff... she jst puts so much detail into them. ppl often get surprised when she tells them she does architecture but it makes so much sense bcos she grew up in a trailer park n was always thinking about ways the space could be more efficiently used, like she loves re-conceptualising neighbourhoods, definitely spent hours on sims as a kid. she also grew up near hoover dam n so loads of school trips they just took them there n she was like.... this is tight but it could be cooler.... where’s the passion....

massively into photography, has such a neat instagram feed like everything just compliments the tones in the next post like mMMM. idk if any of u know any architecture students but this is literally the one constant i can find…. like they all have super good instagrams feeds. is that bitch that will take 40 fake candids of u in a row at different angles to get u the perfect profile picture cos she understands the importance of marketing urself and having an online #brand

has wire rimmed glasses that she doesn’t need to see BUT they r like a magnifying glass for when she’s working with really small materials to do a mock up of an urban plan, and also just sometimes wears them for the aesthetic bc she’s such a pinterest bitch

assassination nation is such a big mood. literally the aesthetics of that and lily colson’s whole brand of feminism and nudity not being inherently sexual but at the same time wanting to profit off that bcos why the fuck shouldnt she use a corrupt system to her advantage is incredibly mimi

literally a human personification of a bratz doll both in attitude and fashion sense

somehow simultaneously gansey in the raven cycle AND elle woods in legally blonde? the two genders

values cont bc i started rambling: her independence and freedom. being the best at any given task she sets her mind to accomplish because she is unable to accept failure. social mobility. sexual liberation. interested in the psychology of sub-cultures and how ppl form groups and interact w each other and cult identities which is why she minors in anthropology. pro-choice. pro-weed legalisation. pro-sex worker rights. very activist.

aesthetics tht remind me of her: von dutch. a strappy cami top that says ‘please do not do coke in the bathroom’. low-waisted jeans that show off her belly button piercing. acrylic nails tapping against a heavily embellished second-hand dell laptop. heart shaped sunglasses in every colour. translucent stripper heels with barbie doll heads and plastic spiders in the heel. spraying champagne you cant afford all over the walls. narcotics in a heart shaped locket. an amazon wishlist full of lingerie linked on your tinder profile. sex tapes recorded on VCR. a religious devotion to waxing clinics. necking shots like you were born to do it.

she’s an enfj type which makes her pretty charismatic and confidence, like she has a fierce kind of energy to her, but she’s also super unwilling to accept criticism, dogmatic and can only really see her own way of thinking, quite ruthless when it comes 2 other ppls emotions despite having a poor control of her own and being prone to turbulence / throwin a bitch fit in the craft lab. easily bored. competitive. self-assured to the point of arrogance. forceful. adaptable. usually more rational than emotional but occasionally loses the ability to make rational decisions when blinded by a need for perfectionism.

very goal-oriented. money motivates her. money and clothes. she wants to look bomb while earning big bucks. when she gets her mind set on a project it literally consumes her she will forget to eat and sleep? i don’t know her. like when a final design project is due for architecture she’ll be up all night doing adderall and speed to keep her awake working on the placement of a single tree for ages cos its gotta be perfect

loves chaos. will spill your secrets and pretend it was an accident. will always be that gif of kim kardashian sipping her tea while drama unfolds around her. lives for the drama like that gifset of bratz when she comes running and gets her phone out to record a fight.

im makin her sound like a really bad person but hopefully she’ll be somewhat likeable she can be very charismatic and endearing and she’s naturally quite funny. also now she’s finally in college and doesn’t have to worry so much about money she actually allows herself to party n bcos she denied herself of it for so long she kinda makes up for it by going p wild like will be the girl climbing on to stage to crowd surf at gigs or doing a summersault off the bar and being escorted out by bouncers, thats the energy were looking at, pure dionysian hedonistic impulse

really gd at talking her way out of shit like parking fines. so good at being an ‘im baby’ girl and often dumbs herself down to figures of authority to appear less like a threatening ball-breaker and more like a confused fiat 500 girl who didn’t know red meant stop she thought it meant slow down

listens almost exclusively to female artists. has fergalicious on repeat when she does squats infront of the mirror n just the biggest fergie stan. also lana del rey’s whole vibe is massive mimi energy

ok ya thats all i have for now..... hopefully this is somewhat coherent and not just garbage.

#radintro #plot w me bitches #im fun n love quarantine sadness

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lightningenergy · 5 years

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Pokeshipping Week 2019 - Day 7: Engagement/Wedding

art & half the writing by @zdbztumble

⚡-⚡-⚡

"...You're sure this is enough food?" May asked, for the twelfth time that morning.

"Are you asking for the groom, or for you?" Mallow asked, rather sharply.

"... It could be both," May shrugged. “You don’t need to get so snippy about it.” Sure, she may have asked after the food twelve times now, but planning a wedding – especially Ash and Misty’s -- was a huge responsibility.

"Well, I'm sure.” Mallow sighed, a hand to her brow. “I've done the math, like, fifty-seven times. Which was annoying."

"Hmm... still, maybe we should've hired Brock and Cilan too..."

"May, there's enough!" Mallow finally snapped. "I've been working on it since that rehearsal dinner!"

"OK, OK, yeesh! So, food's ready... now what about..." May gazed around the open grounds of the Pallet Town shrine. The shrine was the largest one near Pallet Town (which wasn't saying much) with a small temple at the front. The shrine itself rested atop a cliff overlooking Pallet Beach, and a wide, open, grassy area spread out behind it. A few dozen empty chairs waited quietly. "Hey Dawn!” she called. “All the flowers are in place, right?"

"Just so!" Dawn hollered back, having set the last few in place. "Now relax! This isn't your wedding!"

"I just don't want Misty yelling at me!" May responded.

"We planned it together - she'll yell at me too!"

"We don't want her yelling at all!"

"And everything's perfect, so she won't!"

"How do you know she won't?"

"Because you two are eating up all the yells allowed at a single wedding," Drew deadpanned as he passed behind May, arms laden with laundry bags.

"Just like I'll be eating up all the food once I'm allowed to!" May shouted at him. "Geez, you try to be helpful and look where it gets ya..."

"I'm standing right here," Drew noted, dryly and quietly.

"I know!" May screamed, beaming. "Ooh, are those all the kimonos for the bridesmaids?"

"You know they are," Drew sighed. "You called me twice on the road after you sent me for them."

Screeching tires caught their attention, and they all turned to witness a car drift around the corner and come to a sudden, violent stop in a parking space.

"Tell me Daisy's not driving the car," Dawn groaned.

"Never again!" they heard Misty gasp. "I don't care how bad the traffic is in Cerulean City, you are never getting behind the wheel of a car with me in it!"

"Chill out, sis!" Daisy said with a wave of her hand. "We're all here, right?"

"And our make-up's totally ruined from sweating out your driving!" Lily snapped. She, Violet, Iris, Lana, Lillie, and Misty all filed out of the car in various states of distress; Daisy alone looked calm. The passengers were laden with laundry bags too, and Misty had a disheveled towel wrapped around her hair.

"Morning, sunshine," said May as she caught the bag Misty so unceremoniously tossed to her. "Let's say we get you all fixed up, huh?"

"That'd be nice," Misty grunted. "I don't want to be a bad mood once Ash gets here."

"So, like, Misty," Daisy began. "About your hair..."

"You three staying out of the way will help me not be in a bad mood," she growled, before softening slightly. "Please, Daisy. May and Dawn know what I want to do, and Iris and the other girls were the ones who prepped everything last night. I'm glad you're enthusiastic, but could you just help greet guests and look out for Ash?"

That didn’t leave the Waterflowers with much to do, though May suspected Misty wanted it that way. Besides the wedding party, the only people about were Drew, completing the last of the chores assigned him, the Waterflowers, and a very haggard and bleary-eyed Gary Oak leaning against a nearby pillar.

"Like, what happened to you?" Daisy asked derisively.

"Bachelor party. Hungover," he grunted. Even his own voice caused him to wince and put a hand to his temple.

Dawn, giggling, hurried over to her boyfriend and put her mouth very close to his ear. "SO IT HELPS IF YOU TALK IN A LOUD VOICE--"

"For the love of Arceus, babe!"

"Killer couple," Daisy muttered to May, who could only shrug.

A large truck came up the road, at a much slower, careful pace than Daisy’s car. ("At least, like, one person in this relationship knows how to drive," Violet sneered.) Tracey stepped out and hurried to help Professor Oak and Delia do the same.

"Hello, everyone!" Professor Oak greeted. He, and everyone in his party, were already dressed for the wedding. Oak and Tracey were in simple kimonos, red and teal respectively, while Delia was in a pink yukata with white trim. May approved of all their choices. "I hope everything's going swimmingly. We have a beautiful day for this - er, is everything alright, Gary?"

"HE'S HUNGOVER," answered Dawn. Gary doubled-over and shoved past his companion, head in his hands.

"Well, I hope no one else is in such a state at this wedding," Delia said sharply. "I've been waiting too long for this day!"

"I know, right?" Daisy squealed.

"Er – haven't Ash and Misty been waiting, too?" Tracey asked quietly.

"Details!"

Tracey shook his head and pulled a large container off the back of the truck. May watched with interest as he lugged it over to the designated spot to the left of the shrine, set aside for all of Ash and Misty’s Pokemon. With a few quick flicks of the locks and a release switch, Tracey had them all out on the field, though it was a rather tight fit.

("Screw this,") Charizard grunted. He yawned and flexed his wings in the afternoon sun. ("I'm watching from the skies.")

("I hear that.") Pidgeot, Noivern, and the other Flying-types followed him into the air, while Gyarados lead a few of the Water-types over the cliff and into the sea off Pallet Beach, where they still had a decent view of the hill.

"How many weddings do you think have this kind of attendance?" chuckled Iris.

"Tease later," Misty said. “Prepare now.” She took Iris by the shoulder, then Lana, Lillie, Dawn, and finally May, and started herding them to the women’s changing rooms.

"Make sure the groom gets cleaned up!" May hollered over her shoulder. “Misty’ll kill ‘im if he’s not!”

“Not funny, May!” Misty snapped.

“No sense of humor on the wedding day, I see,” May muttered to Dawn as they were hurried along.

-----

"Iris, this headdress is amazing!" Dawn gushed.

Iris beamed at the compliment. "I know my way around hair."

"And this shade of polish is perfect, Lana! Put that together with the flowers we picked out and the dress we made, and we - Misty? Are you OK? You look a little pale..."

"Just still shaken from my stupid sister's driving skills. I'll be okay, promise," Misty said. She cinched her bathrobe a little tighter around her and started pacing the room again. Noting everyone’s concerned looks, she added, "I want this, believe me."

"Oh, we might've figured that out ourselves," Lana giggled. She and the other girls were already dressed, in kimono-converted dresses of the same cut: May in red; Dawn in pink; Iris cream; Lillie white; and Lana blue. Misty's was the only one with a pattern: white with red trim with bubbles and flowers at the sleeves and hem. It sat atop a chair as its intended wearer paced and wrung her hands.

"It's finally happening," she said softly, to herself more than anyone else. "It's really, really happening!"

Dawn's Poke Gear started ringing: she quickly answered it. "Hello? ... Okay, thanks! Ash and everyone else got here!"

"Surprisingly? The least of my worries."

"It was at the top of our worries," May whispered.

"We'd better start getting you dressed," said Lillie. "We only have so much time before - "

"Before I'm MARRIED!" Misty jumped for joy and threw herself down on an empty chair. "Get to work, ladies!"

---

“Do we really need all this, Mom?”

“Ash Ketchum, this is your wedding! Of course we need all this! And don't think I'd let you go out and get married without me helping you get ready!"

"Mooom..." Ash protested, but he still wasn’t let up from the chair in his changing room. He hadn’t even been allowed to greet the few people at the shrine when he arrived; his mom, Brock, and Cilan shooed him inside right away. The two men were sitting in the corner: Brock in the ceremonial dress needed to conduct the ceremony; Cilan in a forest green kimono.

"This is the most important day of your life, young man," Delia insisted. "I want you to have a perfect time of it! Now let's see.. .your montsuki is clean... your hair needs a little bit of work... do you have on some clean -"

"MOM!"

("He does,") chirped Pikachu helpfully.

"Oh, Pikachu! Don't you look handsome in your own little kimono!"

As embarrassing as his mother's attention was, Ash couldn't help but feel a little insulted that his Pokemon was upstaging him.

("I got it made special,") said Pikachu, turning and posing. ("And Lopunny, er - she has a matching one...)

"Yeah, Dawn insisted that she get to do it," Ash muttered. "Everyone's got something they want out of this."

"Oh, sweetie." Delia pulled Ash in close and wrapped her arms around his head and shoulders. "What we want most of all is to see you and Misty happy, of course. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, though you all have a funny way of showing it..."

Delia smiled and kissed his forehead. "Alright... ceremony's due in a few hours, so let's get started."

It was amazing how long "a little bit of work" on his hair could take. Of course, forced rehearsal of his wedding vows, tearful anecdotes about Delia's own wedding, and relating stories to Cilan and the other groomsmen as they arrived (Clemont, Kiawe, and Sophocles, in sky blue, scarlet, and yellow kimonos, respectively) helped eat up the time. Then there was the shared attention of his future sisters-in-law...

"Daisy, if you don't let go, I'm gonna need my hair fixed again!" Ash protested. No matter how he squirmed, he couldn't get free of her grip.

"Aww...but then I could, like, do it right!" Daisy teased. "A bit more mussed up in the front, we can finally frost the tips..."

"NO! No, no, no! That's a veto, Daisy! This isn't the 90s anymore!"

"Y'know, that's what Tracy always says..."

Ash stood up and picked up his kimono. "Okay, I'm getting changed, so anyone not named Pikachu needs to leave."

("Why do I have to stay?!") the Pokemon protested.

"You're the Best Man."

("... Right.")

"He's so touchy sometimes," Daisy complained as they all filed out.

"Now, now," Delia chided gently. "He needs his space before the ceremony..."

Got that right, Ash thought as he shut the door behind them. He felt as fired up as he did before any Pokemon Battle - more fired up - but his mouth still felt awfully dry, and his head rather light. "You ready, Pikachu?"

Pikachu answered by leaping onto his shoulder and nuzzling his cheek. ("Of course. I'm ready to zap either of you at a moment's notice!")

"Comforting... alright, let's get myself into this thing..."

And a few minutes later, he found himself standing under the shrine, looking out at the crowd of people assembled for his wedding. Geez, I knew we invited a lot of people, but...

A good number of them were the extended relations of his friends and traveling companions: Dawn's mother, Cilan's brothers, representatives from Iris's village, and so on. There were Gym Leaders, Frontier Brains, and professors as well. Ash smiled and waved at Riley as he came in, dressed in the same blue suit as always.

There were a lot of Misty's friends - Casey, Marina, Sakura - and an assortment of Trainers they'd both known over the years. The front rows were reserved for close friends and family. Mallow was already seated, along with Drew, Gary, Miette, the Waterflowers, Professor Oak and Tracey, Professors Kukui and Burnett, Max and Mahri, Ritchie and Serena, and his mother.

Brock stood at the center of the shrine, with the groomsmen aligned behind him. Pikachu stood on Clemont's shoulder, beaming. Ash looked over at the bridesmaids: Lana, May, Dawn, and Iris all smiled and waved. He grinned back but quickly straightened up: the music was starting, which meant...

Bonnie scurried down the aisle in a fit of giggles. Azumarill and Rowlet, with matching floral crowns, came along either side of her as she slowly walked back up, tossing pink cherry blossom petals about. Ash was only vaguely aware of this, and cared even less. All his attention was on the fiery-haired woman in the white-and-red dress slowly following them, her hair wrapped up in a white gold headdress, a bouquet of roses in her hand, and a nervous smile playing at her lips.

Nothing else mattered. He only had eyes for Misty, watching as she slowly made her way up the aisle. Her eyes shone once she stopped next to him, and Ash was only vaguely aware of his own reddened face and Brock's light sobbing.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey yourself."

"Arceus I love you."

She winked. "I know. And you clean up nicely."

“My mom and your sisters had something to do with that,” Ash admitted, chuckling softly as he rubbed the back of his head.

“You still went through it for me.” She tugged lightly on the front of his montsuki before they both turned to face Brock and the shrine.

"D-d-dearly beloved," Brock choked out. Tears dripped down the sides of his face. "We are gathered here t-today to witness the joining of... of these two in h-h-holy m-matri - sniff - mony. If anyone has any reason these two should - should not be wed... please leave immediately."

Laughter rippled through-out the audience, and Brock seemed to relax a little. "Ahem... I've known these two for a long time, and I am very glad to be here for this special day... now, um... I guess we should start with the vows..."

At Cilan’s insistence, Ash had spent all of yesterday writing out vows, with the groomsmen insisting on proofreading. He wondered what they thought as his hands, instead of producing that worn piece of paper, fell gently on top of Misty’s around her bouquet.

"Misty... I had some stuff written, and I got a lot of input on it, and it was good and all... but it wasn't me. It wasn't us."

He was forced to pause briefly as another wave of laughter passed.

"You know all the best and worst stuff about me, and I know the best and worst stuff about you. We've dealt with it ever since we were kids, we managed to be friends - best friends - after meeting in such a crazy way. I mean, you caught me with a fishing rod."

More laughter.

"And you caught me with your heart a few years down the line. I know it took me a while, but...well, now that I'm here, I'm not leaving. Ever."

Misty closed her eyes and inhaled, then smiled. "Ash Ketchum... you are, without a doubt, the most stubborn, arrogant, foolhardy man I have ever known. You stole my bike, wrecked it, and argued with me over more idiotic things than I can count. And yet... there is no one on this earth I would rather have as my prince, my best friend... my soulmate. You want to be a Pokemon Champion, but never forget that you are my Champion. From then, now, and always... I am forever yours."

Several people, including Brock, could be heard blowing their noses.

"Th-the bride and groom will now exchange rings..." Brock sobbed.

One of the snifflers in the crowd, Pikachu had to wipe away his tears before he produced the wedding ring from his kimono's sleeves. True to form, Psyduck only made it out of his Poke Ball right at that moment, bawling uncontrollably as he handed Misty her ring.

Brock coughed and stomped his foot and even slapped himself to get under control. "Do you, Ash Ketchum, take Misty Waterflower to be your lawfully wedded -"

"Brock, didn't we kinda already do this part?" Ash asked quietly. He could hear Cilan and Kiawe's affronted gasps and see May and Dawn's furious looks, but Misty just giggled.

"Yes," Brock said rather firmly. "Do you, Ash Ketchum, take this woman--"

"Yes."

"... Okay." Brock turned to Misty. "Should I even ask?"

"You already know."

Brock sighed, but he was smiling. "Alright... by the power vested in me by the Region of Kanto... and the Internet guys... I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Now..." he started sobbing again. "You may... y-you may..."

Everyone else in the procession screamed with smiles and laughter, startling the couple: "JUST KISS ALREADY!!"

It was hard to tell which of them moved first. They both leapt at the other's lips as if it were the first time they'd ever kissed. For good measure, Ash wrapped his arms around Misty's waist, lifted her off her feet, and spun her around for the whole duration. It was too much. She started laughing and crying at once, and never stopped kissing him.

Everyone was applauding. Pikachu leapt onto Ash's head, laughing and cheering; May and Dawn collapsed into each other's arms, sobbing wildly; some people in the audience were cat-calling, though in a joyous manner.

Ash smiled up at his wife, eyes gleaming. "We did it."

"We did it," Misty whispered, and kissed him again. "We did it, we did it, we did it!!"

Out of one eye, Ash dared to look around at the crowd. Misty’s sisters were in hysterics; Serena and Ritchie were glancing from the shrine to each other with sheepish, blushing smiles; Bonnie was biting down on her hand in a failed effort to keep the waterworks at bay; Miette had a small and oddly sad smile; and Mom, Oak, Kukui, and Burnett were all beaming.

"OK, everyone!" Dawn disentangled herself from May and wiped most of the tears off her face. "That's the wedding - who's ready for the biggest and best reception ever?"

#pokemon #pokeshipping #pokeshipping week #pokeshipping week 2019 #ash ketchum #misty #fanfiction #zdbztumble

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zoemurph · 7 years

Text

to have a friend, chapter four: $80

on ao3 1 | 2 | 3

fun fact i actually finished this like.....tuesday at 4 am cause i died for a bit between like 10-1 and then couldnt sleep. i have edited it since then tho so i promise its not too much of a disaster!

warnings: implied past self harm, discussions of mental health, depression/depressive episodes, some suicidal thoughts. let me know if anything else needs to be tagged

enjoy!

From: Evan To: Connor Just go t home Hope things ar eok with yoru family

Connor stares at the texts for a few moments before he falls back onto his bed.

Who knows how his family is.

Actually, he knows. A fucking mess. That’s what his family is.

He can hear Zoe practicing in the room next to him, forgoing headphones and using her amp because she wants to piss him off more. Larry had slunk back to his office, and Connor was sure he did as soon as the opportunity presented itself. His mom is in the kitchen, probably aggressively cleaning dishes like a sparkling plate will fix her shattered family.

Connor stares at the ceiling.

Why did he think he could do any of this?

He lifts his phone and looks at the screen again. Evan is trying. Which is just ridiculous. Evan is trying with this family. What the fuck.

From: Connor To: Evan cool they never are but thanks i guess

He tosses his phone to the side and debates doing homework. There’s not really much of a debate — he’s not going to do it — but the fact that he considered it is probably worth something.

It’s not that late yet, which is frustrating. He wants to go to bed, but he’s also too high strung for that. Usually he’d be exhausted but—

Connor studies his ceiling.

He’d been angry. So angry. Burning and explosive. He had been on the edge of his rope and about to break— and then he’d been doused in a shock of cold water. He’d been standing outside the bathroom, insides blistering and turning to ash, and then he’d heard Evan’s unnatural breathing and all of that had just stopped. The fire was gone and he was left with only mild panic that made his mouth taste like metal and an icy chill of not knowing what to do or how to help.

Somehow, sitting on the floor of him and Zoe’s painfully childish bathroom with Evan had been the most real part of the night. It felt the most solid, most tangible. Handing Evan one of those silly cups his mom kept buying, their fingers brushing as Evan took it with shaking hands, that was the most grounded he had felt in days.

Fucking weird.

There’s a knock on his doorframe.

Connor sits up to see Cynthia standing there. “Oh. Hi.”

She smiles, sadly because that’s the only way she smiles nowadays, and takes a step into his room. “Did Evan leave?”

“Uh…yeah. It’s not like he could hide in my closet or anything.” They both look toward the disaster that is Connor’s closet. The doors won’t shut and clothes are piled up on the floor. There was a time where Connor liked things to be neat and orderly. Now he doesn’t have the energy. “He wasn’t feeling great.”

She makes a concerned noise.

“He, uh, gets sick really easily. He’ll probably be fine tomorrow.” Connor curses in his head. Better jot that down so he can tell Evan that Cynthia now thinks that his immune system is shitty. Because she’s probably going to shove all sorts of vitamins and health drinks at him the next time she sees him. If there’s a next time.

God there better not be a next time.

Cynthia sighs. “I’m sorry about tonight, sweetie.”

Connor shrugs and swings his legs off the side of the bed. “It’s not like it was going to be any different than usual.”

The expression on her face is so pained that Connor has to look away. He can’t even be mad at her. He’s pissed at Zoe for her snippy comments. He’s mad at Larry because he’s always mad at Larry. He’s upset with his mom— the most he can be upset with her for is for not trying harder to stop things from getting out of hand. But when has she ever been able to stop it once it started?

Mostly Connor is just mad at himself.

The only reason Evan was here was because he gets paid twenty dollars a week. It’s not like he has any other obligation to be here. Or to hang around Connor. If there was ever a chance that Evan would actually like Connor, that just went out the fucking window.

“Are you hungry?” Cynthia asks, softly. Not as forced as usual. Not as pressing. “You didn’t eat much.”

“I’m fine,” Connor mutters. He tugs off his sweatshirt and throws it on his desk chair. He tries not to notice her eyes going to his arms and then flicking away. “I’ll grab something if I can’t sleep.”

She sighs again. She does that a lot. Sighing. “Okay. Okay, just…” She steps forward and brushes hair away from Connor’s eyes. “Apologize to Evan for us, okay?”

“Why?” Connor asks bitterly. “Because we can be better?”

Cynthia doesn’t say anything. She just stands on her toes and presses a kiss to Connor’s cheek. “Sleep well, honey.”

Connor stands in the center of his room after she leaves. He hates not having a door. It’s like his entire life is out in the open for his entire family to see and judge. Which is some bullshit.

He looks around his room, open and exposed, and thinks that he should clean. Or something. He’s living in a dump.

Connor picks up a sweatshirt and stuffs a few books onto an overflowing bookshelf. Under papers from junior year that he just needs to throw out when he gets the chance, he finds a watercolor sketchbook.

He pauses with four old plastic water bottles in arm to flip through the sketchbook. It’s old as hell, he doesn’t even remember the last time he used watercolors. Or did any art that wasn’t just shitty sketches in his notebook when he didn’t feel like paying attention.

He looks over his shoulder at the light in the hallway.

Connor isn’t entirely sure where his watercolors are. Probably somewhere under the trash and clothing covering his floor. He looks from the watercolor sketchbook to his bed.

He dumps the water bottles in the space between his wall and his bed and starts digging. It takes him almost twenty five minutes to find his watercolor palette. It’s old and dusty, the red is cracked and the purple is almost gone because he always really liked using purple for some reason, but it’s usable.

It takes him a little longer to find brushes. He’s definitely missing some, but fuck it, he never actually knew what the different brushes were for. He just used whatever ones he felt like.

He washes out an old mug that was on his desk from god knows when in the bathroom and fills it with clean water, grabbing a roll of paper towels from the hallway closet. Then he pushes the clothes on his floor into a pile against the wall so he can sit on the floor, because there is no way in hell that he’s cleaning off his desk for this. He fishes his earbuds out of his backpack and plugs them into his phone, turning on some random music that he’ll let fade to into background noise and pulls his hair up into a really messy ponytail.

Connor can’t remember the last time he actually paid attention to art. He doodles a sketch that’s kind of messy but fine enough because it’s not like anyone is going to see this and then just goes for it. He doesn’t exactly remember how to do this, but he’s never been one for doing things the right way. There’s a reason he stopped taking art classes after freshman year. There’s something weirdly calming about the way the water spreads on the page and something familiar in the brushstrokes. Even when he fucks up and uses way too much water and he knows that the paper is going to be wavy and warped.

He puts down the paintbrush to skip a song on his phone. He has another text from Evan.

From: Evan To: Connor Im sorr y YOu should nt feel that way abou tyour family

Connor rolls his eyes. Evan really does try.

From: Connor To: Evan its whatever, im used to it mom says sorry about tonight. shes embarrassed but seriously dont worry about it

He skips through the songs until he finds one that feels right, slower and almost more gentle, he really needs to pick up better watercolors because he’s going to need that purple, before putting his phone back down on the floor next to him.

All things considered, this isn’t the worst piece Connor’s ever done. He studies it as he takes a sip from his mug.

He yanks the mug away from his mouth, gagging. He rubs his mouth with a grimace.

That was paint water.

Connor doesn’t really leave his room much over the next two days. He eats because his mom wants him to, he doesn’t talk to Zoe, and he argues with Larry and wishes he had a door to slam.

Then he sits on his floor and fills pages and pages of his sketchbook with shitty watercolor paintings.

He splashes colors across the pages, sometimes not even trying to create a coherent image. He just needs something to do.

He’s almost out of purple.

Connor waits by Evan’s locker Monday morning, folding and unfolding the twenty dollar bill in his pocket. Zoe needed to be early today for some band thing, so that means Connor is early which just sucks.

This school seriously needs a color palette that isn’t drab and depressing. Connor wears almost exclusively black, but fuck, tone down the gray.

“Oh! Hey, you’re…already here.”

Connor looks up from his phone. “Zoe,” he says. “Band shit. Fuck if I know.”

Evan nods slowly and then reaches for his lock.

“Wait.” Connor grabs Evan’s wrist.

Evan freezes, wide eyes darting to Connor. “W-what?”

Connor leans a little closer. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he whispers. Evan furrows his eyebrows. “My family is the fucking worst, you shouldn’t have to deal with that shit.”

“I-it’s fine!” Evan stutters. “I don’t— no this is. This is okay.” He slowly pulls his arm out of Connor’s grip.

Connor clenches his jaw and leans against the next locker. Evan doesn’t say anything as he opens his locker and starts taking out books. An unfairly loud part of Connor’s brain wonders if Evan is only doing this because he’s scared.

It’s not that far fetched.

“B-besides,” Evan adds, “Jared is— he’s already asking too many questions and if we just stopped now—”

Connor frowns. “He is?”

Evan gives him an exasperated look. “He hasn’t texted me about non homework things in forever and he’s just been sending me ‘is it a sex thing’ for a week.”

“Wow I hate him,” Connor says before he can stop himself.

Evan laughs in surprise.

“He’s a douche!”

Evan ducks his head. “He’s not the worst person ever, b-but he can be…himself.”

“And that’s pretty bad,” Connor mutters.

Evan pauses and then closes his locker. “Do— are you still okay with…with telling him?”

Connor shrugs. “Sounds like we have no choice.”

Evan tugs on the hem of his shirt. “Are you…free today?”

“I literally have no life or friends, Hansen,” Connor reminds him. “I’m always free.”

“Okay, right, okay.” Evan takes a short breath. “Can we— today?”

Connor stuffs his hands in his pockets. He hasn’t gotten harassed by Kleinman about this yet, but if they wait, the chances of that happening increase significantly. And if it’ll get Jared off Evan’s back— “Yeah sure. Where?”

“My place?” Evan asks. Connor pulls open the door to the stairwell. “I-if that works?”

“Sure thing.” Connor’s voice echoes uncomfortably loud for this conversation. “Better than being at home anyway.”

Evan glances back over his shoulder at Connor. “Are things…bad?” He says it slowly, like he’s not sure what word to choose.

“They’ve been worse,” Connor admits. “But it’s not a party.”

Evan stops at the stairs where Connor has to keep going down to get to chorus. “I’ll— I’ll text you? About the time?”

Connor nods. “Sounds good, Hansen. See you then.” He steps forward and hands Evan the twenty that has been floating around in his pocket for too long. “Forgot to pay you back for food last week,” he says when Evan’s eyes dart toward people walking past.

Evan gives him a half smile and takes the bill. “I-I told you it was fine. I can pay sometimes.”

Connor shrugs and turns toward the stairs. “Too late.”

—«·»—

From: Evan To: Connor Im s o s rry just ignore him or block him he grabbed my phon e Serious ly blockign him mihgt be the best opti n

From: Connor To: Evan ??????

Connor probably shouldn’t be texting in class, but the class is astronomy and also when has Connor ever given a fuck. He stares at Evan’s messages, trying to decode them while he waits for the lunch bell.

It turns out he doesn’t have to wait that long to figure out what they mean.

From: (522) 101-5414 To: nerd, emo sup fuckers

Connor doesn’t even have to ask who it is, he just tries not to groan and texts Evan.

From: Connor To: Evan seriously??

From: Evan To: Connor Im sorry !!! Hes being a d ick Also does like 3 work?

Connor huffs and glances to the clock. That’ll give him about an hour to kill after school before he can show up at Evan’s. Whatever, he’ll figure something out.

From: Connor To: Evan thats fine tell kleinman if hes being a dick i will hurt him

Evan’s response is almost immediate.

From: Evan To: Connor I wouldnt blame you but ma y be dotn hurt the one pe rson whos gonna knw about us

Connor snorts and puts away his phone. He’ll do his best, but only because Evan asked.

—«·»—

Connor texts Evan as he walks up to the house. The door is open before he can even knock. Evan looks slightly panicked, but also somewhat relieved. Connor lowers his hand from where he was about to knock.

“He here?”

Evan nods and grabs Connor’s sleeve, tugging him inside.

Connor takes off his boots while Evan rambles on about Jared being in his room and talking about something, summer camp? Maybe? And then there’s a tangent about cars? Connor isn’t sure but he puts down his boots, straightens, and puts a hand on Evan’s shoulder. “Breathe,” he interrupts. “You’re going to pass out and you really don’t want to leave Kleinman and I alone together.”

Evan takes a slow breath. “Right. Right. He’s… Come on.”

He shows Connor up the stairs, gesturing vaguely to a bathroom as he moves toward his room. Connor didn’t really notice how small Evan’s house is the last time he was here, but now he feels too large in it, like he’s taking up too much space. But it’s also comforting in a weird way, less empty space for thoughts to echo.

Jared spins around in Evan’s desk chair when Evan opens the door. “Man of the hour!” Jared announces, opening his arms in Connor’s direction.

Connor flips him off.

“Okay, rude. I can work with rude.”

“Jared,” Evan says warningly.

“I know, I know.” Jared spins back and forth a little in the chair. For some reason, Connor thinks giving him a chair that turns may have been a bad idea. “If I’m an ass you won’t give me pizza.”

Connor scoffs. “You bribed him?”

Evan shrugs helplessly. “I just— can we not talk about this?”

“Yeah,” Jared agrees. “I was promised juicy deets on whatever the fuck this is.” He motions between Connor and Evan. “Cause uh,” he laughs, “guys, what the shit?”

“We aren’t friends,” Connor says flatly.

Evan twists the hem of his shirt in his hands.

“Yeah no shit, Sherlock.” Jared grabs the arms of the chair and leans forward. “Wait this is a sex thing, isn’t it! Evan you said—”

“It’s not a sex thing!” Evan shouts. “It’s a—” He looks to Connor with wide eyes. “A…fake friend…thing?”

“Excuse me?”

Connor explains before Evan can flounder any more. “I give Evan twenty bucks a week to pretend to be my friend.”

Jared stares at them.

Evan shifts uncomfortably next to Connor. Connor kind of wants to leave, but Evan wants to do this, so…

Jared snorts. “Are you fucking serious?”

Evan cringes. “Y-yes?”

“This is—”

“We know, Kleinman,” Connor snaps. “But we need your help.”

Evan looks at Connor in surprise. ‘We do?’ he mouths to Connor. Connor nods. Spur of the moment thought, but he literally can’t keep dealing with Zoe bugging him about Evan. Who gives a shit if they never hung out together around school, even if that is a lie. He needs some sort of proof so she shuts up.

Jared spins slowly in his chair. “How so?”

“Evan said we emailed each other,” Connor says. “But my dad checks my email. So this email account would have to be ‘secret’.”

Jared raises his eyebrows. “That’s—”

“We know, Jared!” Evan interrupts. “C-can you just—” He glances toward Connor. “We need…emails from over the summer?” Connor nods. “Can you just, like, show me how to fake the timestamps o-or something?”

“Oh yeah, that’s super easy,” Jared says. He leans down and unzips the backpack leaning against the desk and pulls out a laptop. He opens the laptop and types something out. “Secret email account is very—”

Connor grits his teeth. “Just do it, Kleinman.”

“Yeah, yeah. Watch the monkey dance,” Jared mutters to himself. “That’s super fun.” He pauses. “If Evan gets twenty bucks a week for this, what do I get?”

“The gift of life.”

Evan shoots Connor a look.

“Awesome.” Jared types for another moment. “You know,” he says, “twenty bucks seems pretty cheap.”

“Are you trying to be difficult?” Connor grumbles.

“Always.”

“I-it’s fine,” Evan stutters. “Re-really, Jared?”

“I’m just saying,” Jared says with a shrug. “You should totally charge more for more complicated stuff. Twenty for faking friendship, forty for hanging out, sixty for being around the family.”

“What?!”

Connor glances to Evan out of the corner of his eye. Evan is protesting, but it’s not the worst idea. Especially after the dinner that Evan suffered through. Connor is going to have to ‘borrow’ more money from his parents’ wallets, but hey, at least it’s not for weed.

“I really fucking hate that I’m saying this,” Jared and Evan look over to Connor, “but that’s not a terrible plan.”

Jared smirks. “Nice.”

Evan gapes. “W-what?”

“If you spend a few hours dealing with my shitty family, that probably is worth more than saying hi to me in the hallway.” Connor crosses his arms. “I should probably pay you more when you have to deal with more bullshit.”

“N-no, that isn’t— you don’t have to—”

“Let him give you money, Evan.” Jared types rapidly on his laptop. “I’m making you two up a fucking price chart for reference.”

“Jared—”

“One condition,” Connor says. “If we’re doing this it’s only ten dollars a week, if that’s okay,” he directs the last part to Evan. “I’m not a goddamn millionaire.”

“Annoying but valid,” Jared says. “The weekly flat rate is ten dollars then, nonnegotiable.”

Evan sinks down into the other chair that someone had pulled up to the desk.

“I think the first step up is hanging out outside of school.” Jared glances to Connor.

Connor nods. “Three for outside, five for my house.”

“Do I get a say in this?” Evan asks weakly.

“Nope,” Jared says, popping the ‘p’. “If hanging out involves the fam, I say it’s an instant five more.”

“How about two added on to the location fee,” Connor argues.

Jared scoffs. “That’s three dollars, man.”

“Try to remember we’re high schoolers,” Connor says flatly.

Evan wimpers.

Jared pats Evan’s arm. “Okay. Extended family is another three. No arguing that one, extended family is bullshit. Twenty bucks flat for a sleepover. Like on top of the weekly ten.”

Evan’s eyes go wide. “What?! No!”

Jared looks to Connor.

Connor shrugs. “Fine.” He doesn’t think that will be relevant but whatever. If it gets written down it’s not the end of the world.

Jared smiles to himself and starts to type quickly.

“W-what are you doing?” Evan asks, leaning closer to try and get a look at the screen.

Jared elbows Evan away. “Shh I’m working.”

Connor raises his eyebrows.

“Aaaaaand…done.” Jared spins his laptop to show Connor.

Connor squints at the list Jared has made on the document.

This is the Worst Plan I’ve Ever Heard But Have Fun You Friendless Losers created by Jared Kleinman

$10 — weekly flat rate no matter what

—

Casual Shit:

$3 — hanging out outside of school $5 — hanging out at the Murphys’ (+$2 to location fee if it involves other Murphys) (+$3 more if it involves any extended family) $20 — sleepover

—

Romance Shit:

$25 — date $5 — hug $15 — kiss $200 — Full Boyfriend Package™

(FFBP™ decreases all things in this section by $10, except for dates, which drop to $20. No, you do not get paid for hugs, hugs are just free now. Congrats, you just paid two hundred fucking dollars for a free hug)

Connor rolls his eyes. “You’re fucking hilarious,” he deadpans.

Evan pales as he reads it once Jared has turned the screen toward him. “Uh…”

Jared snorts. “It’s called a joke, dude. Learn to take it.”

“J-just delete it,” Evan stammers. “That’s not— we were supposed to make emails.”

“Okay.” Jared highlights the romance section and deletes it. “It’s gone.”

Evan sighs. “Thank you.”

Jared does a keyboard shortcut. “And it’s back!”

“Jared!”

“Gone! And back!”

Evan’s ears turn pink. “S-seriously?”

Jared just wiggles his eyebrows and deletes it again. When he starts to hit undo, Connor leans forward and grabs the laptop out of his hands.

“Dude!”

“We aren’t fucking five,” Connor says. “Can you help us with these emails before my sister tries to call a fucking private detective on me or are you just going to be a dickhead?”

“That’s no way to talk to someone who’s helping you out,” Jared says. But he holds out his hand for the laptop, and when Connor gives it back, he spins around, puts the laptop on the desk, and opens a new tab.

Him and Connor set up a new email account and then Jared has Evan open up his own email. As Jared sets up faked emails that Evan and Connor will fill with mindless shit, Connor looks around Evan’s room.

There’s a window with two small succulents sitting on its windowsill. There are pictures scattered around the room in mismatched frames, a lot of Evan and a woman he assumes is his mother, more than a few of Evan and Jared when they were younger but less and less as they get older until there’s none, and one small picture of Evan with a man that looks vaguely like him that sits on the corner of Evan’s desk, a stack of books obscuring it slightly.

Connor remembers Evan saying something about his dad and looks away.

Evan’s room is much smaller than Connor’s. It’s cozier and cleaner, but still untidy. The books in Evan’s shelves are piled up and tipping over, there are a few sweatshirts draped around the room, and there’s a terrifying looking pile of papers on his nightstand.

“Yo,” Jared says, holding out his laptop to Connor. “Work out what you want these to say with Evan so I can finish this. While you do that I’m going to find some snacks.”

“We’re out,” Evan answers almost immediately from where he’s bent over his laptop.

“I’m going out to buy snacks,” Jared corrects. “See you in a bit, losers.”

Connor stares at the blank form that Jared has pulled up on the screen. How many of these things is he going to have to do and is this going to turn into a school assignment?

“It’s probably easier if one of us starts,” Evan murmurs. “And then we just go back and forth and respond to whatever the other says.”

“Like actual emails.”

Evan rolls his eyes. “Yeah, just faster.”

“Sure. Let’s keep the things that can mark when this shit got sent to a minimum, okay?” Connor’s summer is a blur. He spent probably too much of it high and another big majority of it just doing nothing. Looking back at it, it all just blends together into a mess of shitty and shittier.

Evan nods. “Mhm. I’ll start if you want.”

“Go wild.”

As Evan types, Connor clicks through the other tabs Jared has open. One for the email account, a few google searches, a coding thing Connor doesn’t understand, and the price list. Jared put the romance section back.

Connor makes a note on the document that just says ‘youre a dick’ and clicks back to the dauntingly blank form.

An hour later, Evan has finished his sixth email, Connor is typing out a shitty response, and Jared has shown up with enough chips to feed a small nation. They figure out how to space the emails they’ve already written and Jared gets to work on finishing up the ones they’ve got written.

“Should we do the whole summer?” Evan asks.

Connor shrugs. “I don��t care, Zoe will probably buy it with one or two.”

Jared spins back and forth as he adds all the timestamps. “Someone order a pizza, I’m dying.”

Evan checks the time. “Jared it’s only—”

“Yeah? And?”

“You just ate like an entire bag of chips.”

Jared looks up at Evan. “When has that ever stopped me from eating an entire pizza?”

Evan shakes his head. “W-whatever. The usual?”

Jared shoots him a finger gun as he types with one hand.

“I’ll go with,” Connor says. He follows Evan down to the kitchen to see another twenty dollar bill in the center of the table. “Want me to call it in?” he asks.

Evan nods. “Jared always gets a supreme. If he doesn’t finish he just brings it home.”

Fair, Connor would do the same if he cared more about eating. He can only handle so much of his mom’s cooking. Connor places the call and then waits with Evan at the table. “Does your mom have you get takeout a lot?” he asks, looking at the bill.

Evan follows his gaze. “Uh… I-I mean…yeah. She works all day at the hospital, she’s a nurse, a-and then takes night classes at the college,” he gestures vaguely toward the street and Connor assumes he means the community college that people who are ambitious like Alana Beck go to to take summer classes so they look more impressive to admissions, “so…she doesn’t really have ti-time to cook and I’m— I’m not very good at it,” Evan mumbles. “I can do…ramen? Um…mac n cheese. Instant stuff. Other than that I can make like…pasta and grilled cheese and that’s…sort of it. But she doesn’t have a lot of time to go to the grocery store and I, uh, don’t like going so. Takeout is…easier.”

Connor nods. “I get that. You can’t go wrong with ramen noodles. One day we’ll both be living off them,” he jokes.

Evan looks to him in surprise. He smiles a little. “Y-yeah, I guess that’s true.”

Connor suddenly realizes that he talked about the future casually. About college casually, because he can remember one time when he was little and sick and Larry made ramen noodles for him and Connor had decided that they were the best thing ever and Larry had ruffled his hair and said that he’d get sick of them when they were all he ate in college. It’s uncomfortable. It settles wrong inside him. Because outside of the context of that one quip, the future doesn’t feel real. It feels like some untouchable abstract concept.

Thinking about it makes his stomach turn and makes dark thoughts creep in from the corners of his mind.

He shakes them away and listens to Evan talk about how he’s ruined soup before. It’s better than thinking about a future that hardly exists, one that he’s ready to cut the string on at almost any given moment in time.

Evan buries his face in his hands as he tells Connor about the time Jared tried to make eggs in the microwave and almost set fire to the house. Connor laughs and pretends he’s okay.

When the pizza arrives, Connor pays the delivery person while Evan goes and gets Jared. It’s too early for dinner, but Jared doesn’t care and eats two slices before going upstairs to grab his laptop and then eats another. Evan eats breadsticks and lets Jared carry most of the conversation, about half of which is about how weird Connor eats his pizza.

Evan makes Connor take a slice of pizza back, because he ends up missing dinner at home, and Connor just rolls his eyes and takes the plastic tupperware and promises to give it back at some point. Evan shakes his head and tells him not to, because they have too much and they can never find lids that match. Connor figures he’ll just slip it back into a cabinet the next time he comes over.

Next time. Connor doesn’t think in next times. Weird.

#connor murphy #evan hansen #jared kleinman #deh #deh fanfic #my fics #to have a friend #welcome to Hell

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sabrerine911 · 7 years

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Little Darksiders 3 “fandom”long rant (sorry for the shitty grammar but its 4am here)

Goddamit its so depressing and infuriating to see the comments regarding Darksiders 3 posts,you can see people cheering or getting hyped,but it looks like the majority of the comments are assholes that have nothing better than to complain and insult the devs on how they are killing the franchise People bitching about fucking feminism(that isnt there),everyone that ACTUALLY fucking played the game and cared about the lore enough to not skip cutscenes knows she has been a horseman since the begining People bitching that they think Fury sucks and they should bring Back either War or Death cause they are cooler.(cause fuck the devs vision am i right!?) people bitching about fury’s (Ingame not cg trailer)face giving all sorts of insults on how ugly or how “too cartoony” it is(FUCKING REALLY? ). People bitching about boob armor or heels(darksiders chicks had boob armor and heels in both the previous games and nobody was bitchin about it back then,hell,war had freaking pectoral armor that made no sense whatsoever!And it was fucking FINE cause its a standard fantasy comic style game,never meant to be something progressive for political corectness or realistic armor praticality ) People bitching about the gameplay expecting it to be crazy fast like the second game and judging the pre alpha with more than just well though critics,alot of people say that the game is gonna be garbage,aparently people forgot the slower gameplay of the first one that got better and better the more upgrades we got,plus she will probably have tons of spells and secondary weapons People bitching about the devs ACTUALLY FOLLOWING THEIR VISION(doing a game for each horseman) cause they want to get to the fucking final chapter for the sake of story linearity.Do you have any idea how much lore we wouldnt have if that sitty decision was taken back in 2010?Do you have any idea how bad it would be to play a game with the 4 horsemen and have only one of them fully developed?We had fucking 20 hours to get invested in Wars character,and what the other’s best shot would be to impress us with looks and dialogue,im sorry but that would be just as bad as Wolverine was the main character in the X-men movies.And lets not get into how the mechanics wouldnt be advanced enough to give a game like that justice. People bitching that without Joe Mad the game is doomed!Labeling every artistic direction in the game “bad” and “uninspired” cause it didnt come out of Joe mad.People fucking bitched about Fury’s fucking redesign like it wasnt designed by Joe Mad himself!NOOO we dont have time to get informed,its better to complain about it,saves fucking time right? Let me be clear on this,Joe Mad is my favorite artist(along with Humberto Ramos) HE is one of the reasons I decided to become a comic book artist myself,HE is the reason I got into the Darksiders series.I litterally found it by googleing “joe madureira game” back in the day cause I heard he worked on a game.But saying that without his full involvment the game is gonna be garbage is UTTER BULLSHIT. First of all the game was made by the WHOLE team,not only him I remember a certain Avery Coleman(look him up) that was involved in the concept arts of the second with Joe. Secondly he not only approved the continuation of the game but he also gave his full support even by redesigning Fury himself and doing some general action concept arts from her,you hear that?FULL SUPPORT. The team wanted to make this game,to finish the story,that they LOVED,this is not a fucking cash grab,and they are not rushing it without considering the old games’ quality levels.It is gonna be different sure.War was slow and took down many enemies,Death was fast as hell and he took on armies,Fury will have a speed between the two and she will take down less enemies at once but Im sure she will still be a badass and considering that she will be taking down the Sins that had to be taken down by all 4 of the horsemen she will definetly prove her power. I understand the concern of people that it may not live up to expectations,but lets give it some time,there is still plenty of development to show.I personally am just happy that they sticked with their original vision,that they finally gave a game for fury,that they are doing their best with what they have. And I will support them 100 percent,so that they can conclude the series,so we can have a Strife game and a final chapter game with all 4 of them. To all the people that support this game I want to thank you for excisiting and letting your voice be heard on this awesome franchise.Have a good one everyone.

#darksiders #darksiders 2 #darksiders 3 #fandom #rant #art #joe mad #thq nordic #game #topic #fantasy #gufire games #fury #war #strife #death #darksiders fury #fans

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cutemoniic · 7 years

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i used to rlly like my history of art teach bc when last year i was homesick for two weeks almost she phoned my family and asked my mom how i was and expressed concern about me not attending school and i felt good! wow someone cares about me wow!!!! wow... only to later find out that she doesnt give a shit about students. she phones everyone that misses school for more than three days to tattle on their families. she genuinely thought that i had skipped school for two weeks and wanted to rat me out to my parents. which knew that i was home, sick as a dog.

aannnnnnd since then she became pretty manipulative and bossy overall??? she would trick us by saying that she wasnt going to do oral tests this particular day, make everyone come and not study and THEN do the oral test anyway and give and scold us if we told her that she told us that she wasn't going to and then oral test those people and put bad or low grades on them no matter what. she would make SIX PAGES LONG tests with topics we barely did and she would claim that she gave us papers about that and told us that one of us prolly lost them. if someone would be missing during a test she would first phone them and start SCREAMING like a banshee about ''''''their future scholastic careers'''''''' and humiliating them in front of the whole class because wow youve been called by the teacher???? lol m8. she would also phone their families. she uncovered two of our classmates that were ditching school and got them punished both. she also tried to phone another one of our classmates that was in the hospital with acid in their blood but the mother answered and she got herself chewed up in front of the whole classroom.

and today she reached my limit??? i had to do a test with another girl of my class. the 90% of our class is having fun in berlin for their last years trip, while me and three other classmates stayed behind. she told us to not miss school today bc we were gonna do her test, okay?? i get to school this morning, nobody is here, so the old janitors (theyre such sweethearts gdi) told me to just go home and that they would have told her that and no problem. i get home, i get back to bed to play pokemon in peace. its around 9:30am. my other classmates messages me saying that shes at school and if i was going to come for the test. i tell her that i came earlier and nobody was there, she tells me okay and stops messaging. 10:01am. she messages me again telling me that she met our teach while sneaking out of the school (there wasnt anyone either) and she held her back PHYSICALLY by HER FUCKING ARM and asked her where she was going. my classmate told her that she was gonna go home because there was just her and????? she says 'if you do that i will call your family. you will stay here' and she brought her to ANOTHER CLASSROOM SHE WAS TEACHING IN and she was FORCED to stay here. what the fuck. 10:30am, my classmate messages me and tells me that the teacher is going to call me and to be careful. i go like ?????? and a minute later my phone rings. i pick up because i was confused and curious and she starts SCREAMING LIKE A FUCKIGN BANSHEE TO GET MY ASS IN SCHOOL OR ELSE SHE WAS GOING TO PHONE MY HOUSE AND MAKE ME REPEAT THE YEAR. ofc i get into a panic attack, pick myself the fuck up and go to school because what????? the fuck can you do???????? 11:00am: i get to the classroom to this piece of absolute shit screaming that i HAD to do her test now, slams the door of the classroom shut loudly and starts making sounds with the desks by dragging them around. still screaming. and everyone who knows me also knows that loud, sudden noise makes me heavily panic. by this point i was literally TERRIFIED and shaking and when i got the test i had like. 20 minutes to scramble myself together before i had another panic attack. she pretended to ignore me until i started crying and at that point she went ''?????? anderson whats wrong?????'' LIKE SHE DIDN'T KNEW. she attempted to help me by trying to touch me, which honestly made me panic MORE. my other classmates was telling her not to touch me, that i was having a panic attack and to just NOT TOUCH ME. she kept trying to get to pat my head and reassured her that she dealt with little kids all the time and kept apologizing. after this i literally swunged my backpack on and RAN out of the class, stayed with the janitor lady and she even got mad at the teacher for wanting me to get back inside and finish the test. i got sent home and my mom got PISSED at this situation, and on monday shell have a talk with the principal. she has attempted to call me ALL DAY until i had to mute my phone (so if people message me on kik/etc ill be slower to respond unless im directly looking at my phone ngi) and she gave up for now. thats why im terrified of school and why i started disliking her subject. fuck her and everything she stands for!!!!!!! just fuck her

#;;ooc #negative ;;#its hella long jsyk its about a teacher and her bullshit

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helloboatmanspace-blog · 5 years

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iPhone May Not Be Worth The Money

Before launch, every person anticipated the apple iphone with uneasyness, and afterwards with wonderful reviews under its belt, the gizmo came to be the center of attention in todays sophisticated world. Whats amusing to me is that everybodies explaining just the benefits of the iPhone (probably since they wish to offer it to you). I believe the apple iphone is extremely cool, but is it worth the money or a rip-off? Thats what Im here to inform you.

One significant downside and complaint of the Apple apple iphone is its batterys life. Because of the modern features such as multi-touch technology, revolutionary sensors, and also nearly the exact same operating system as in the Mac, the battery is drained easily. Reality is Apple launched the iPhone prior to developing a top-tier battery.

iPhone exclusively utilizing AT&T s Edge is yet one more major grievance. The information network is slow compared to various other more established networks today. Apple has actually claimed this feature isnt a significant disadvantage, well, due to the fact that the device had been designed to be infamous regarding getting broadband link using Wi-Fi Hotspots. Just, the network is slower than what youre utilized to with your computer.

The iPhone doesnt sustain the advanced 3G technology for no specific factor. Its an enigma. MMS features arent even supplied in the iPhone. Neither are voice dialing or recording. This indicates that its just a dual-band smart phone.

Tackling messaging, there is no immediate messaging. Youll have to stick to ordinary and straightforward emails. This can be a drag in the business setup. As well as what makes issues worse, you angle copy as well as paste important data.

The apple iphone does not have a memory port at all. Apple declares there suffices built in memory, yet consumers today expect to have the attribute of exterior memory. For that reason, Bluetooth capabilities are weak an do not support documents transfers or A2DP. Once more I ask, what use does the apple iphone have for businessmen?

The Apple apple iphone is still the best portable phone on the market, however that doesnt mean theres not space for enhancement. Its feasible Apple is conserving the upgrades for the following enhancement of the apple iphone.

The iPhone has innovative functions as stated previously. Weve never ever seen anything like it, however is it in contrast worth the money? If you need the very best there is after that perhaps. Its a nice plaything however might not be as important as priced.

The gizmos value likewise depends upon what youll be using it for. If youre an entrepreneur, you could wish to stick to your existing PDA until the Apple apple iphone is upgraded. If youre seeking the most state-of-the-art, best plaything on the marketplace that you can utilize to surf the web anywhere (for entertainment objectives) it may be worth the investment for you.

Apple did fairly well with the iPhone. Note that this write-up is only concerning the drawbacks. Naturally, there are lots of advantages you should recognize before making a decision whether to get the iPhone.

Wait! Did I mention youre stuck with a two-year agreement if you purchase the apple iphone?

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viralhottopics · 7 years

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Gays Against Guns: can LGBTQ community curb the gun lobby?

After the Orlando nightclub shootings, Americas queer community has the gun lobby firmly in its sights. Can they succeed where so many have failed, asks Rupert Neate

Patty Sheehans biggest worries on 11 June 2016 were parking tickets, potholes and whether her latest artwork was a good enough likeness of her cat, Loui. The Orlando city commissioner had stayed up late painting Loui that muggy Saturday night.

Seven months later the portrait remains unfinished. Sheehan was woken by a phone call early the next morning telling her that a gunman armed with a military-style assault rifle had opened fire on clubbers at Pulse, an LGBT nightclub three miles from her door.

Within minutes, she was on the scene. Sheehan stood watch outside Pulse until 11pm, getting home to realise the blood-splattered pavement shed been standing on had been so hot that the soles of her feet had burned through her shoes. She had helped the 53 wounded and the families of the 49 people who lost their lives in less time than it took to read their names at the memorial service. She went back the next day at 4am, and the next, for two weeks. Emails about parking permits, recycling and other day-to-day concerns of a city commissioner were left to pile up in her inbox.

Gay protest group stages die-in against gun stock investments

Sheehan, who became the first out official in central Florida when she was elected in 2000, had a new mission: gun control. Potholes, regrettably, would have to wait. As a city official, gun control measures dont normally apply to me, she said. I frankly thought: Let the big guys in Washington deal with it, but when the Pulse attack happened it came to our streets. If DC cant do this, someone has got to do it. If it takes a little city commissioner in Orlando to say it, so be it.

Sheehan is part of a growing movement among gay people across America vowing to take on the gun death epidemic, following successful campaigns for marriage equality and the repeal of the governments Dont Ask Dont Tell policy, which prevented gay soldiers from serving their country openly.

Gays Against Guns (Gag) is a collective, based in New York City, that includes several veterans of Act Up, the activist group that forced President Reagan to respond to the Aids epidemic. It has begun a campaign of civil disobedience and direct action against gun companies and their supporters.

It devastated me: Patty Sheehan with clergyman Kelvin Cobaris (centre) and a local gay rights campaigner after the Pulse shooting. Photograph: Joe Burbank/AP

John Grauwiler, one of Gags three founders, makes for an unlikely activist. He is a muscled, 6ft, 46-year-old teacher and fitness fanatic who commutes on his beaten-up bike from his East Village apartment to his school in Brooklyn. Over Sunday brunch at NoHo B Bar, Grauwiler recalled the moment he heard the news about the Pulse attack in a text from his mother in New Jersey.

OMG, John, Im so sorry, her text read. He initially had no idea what she was referring to, but it became painfully clear when he scrolled through other texts and checked Facebook.

It devastated me, quite frankly, Grauwiler said. When Sandy Hook [the 2012 massacre of 20 children at a school in Connecticut] happened, it hit me as a teacher. With the Charleston church shooting [in which nine African-American parishioners were killed in 2015] it hit me as a black man. And now with Orlando, it hit me as a gay man, he said. I thought: Fuck it, lets do something!

Grauwiler, who teaches English in Brooklyns leafy Carroll Gardens neighbourhood, said he believes so strongly in the need for tougher gun control under a Donald Trump presidency that he is prepared to break the law to draw attention to it. He thinks direct action is the only way to achieve change. It has always worked, and it always will, he said. Lobbying has a value, but it tends to happen at a slower pace and behind closed doors.

Grauwiler didnt intend to become an activist, not now nor during the Aids crisis, when he was one of the youngest members of Act Up. I had come to the city in 1989 from Jersey City as an 18-year-old to live my life, he said. But, of course I heard about Aids, and people were dying. I thought I was going to die as well, and I had to do something. He went to his first Monday night Act Up organising meeting at the arts and architecture university Cooper Union. I belonged. I felt like I finally, somehow, had some control of my destiny, Grauwiler said. He helped by handing out clean needles to drug addicts in the then no-go Lower East Side.

Man with a message: John Grauwiler, one of the founders of Gays Against Guns. Photograph: Christopher Lane for the Observer

Now Grauwiler, with Gag co-founders Kevin Hertzog and Texas-born Brian Worth, runs his own organising meetings on Thursday nights at the Center, New Yorks LGBTQ community space in the West Village. At the slightly chaotic meetings, Gag members debate the best ways to end the corporate machine profiting from gun death.

Campaigns have included die-in protests that saw Gag members storm the Manhattan offices of money manager BlackRock, which is one of the biggest investors in gun companies, including Smith & Wesson. Dressed in white T-shirts cropped to display as much gym-honed bicep as possible and spray painted with the Gays Against Guns slogan, the protesters held placards stating: Gun$ sell. People die. $tock soars.

The protesters ranging in age from teenagers to people in their 80s gathered in Paley Park and marched towards BlackRocks headquarters. They were led by dozens of silent, white-veiled figures carrying placards with the names and faces of victims from Pulse and other massacres, including some of the 20 six- and seven-year-olds who had been at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.

After BlackRock refused to send anyone out to listen to their concerns, they performed a die-in in the foyer 12 people lying on the floor to represent the dozen people killed with weapons including a Smith & Wesson MP assault rifle at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012. Outside the office on 52nd Street protesters dropped blood red-dyed popcorn around white chalk-outlines of victims.

Our actions are in your face. Theyre very visceral with people screaming about death and demanding change, Grauwiler said. Theyre something the world will see.

Some of them are funny, too. Grauwiler and his Gaggers sing tongue-in-cheek Christmas carols adapted by Broadway performer and Gag member Mark Leydorf to draw attention to horrors of gun violence and the National Rifle Associations (NRA) influence. Gags version of Silent Night sung to Christmas shoppers at Rockefeller Center goes like this: Silent night. Holy night. Terrified until we died. This is life in the USA, where we worship the NRA.

Rock and a hard place: Gays Against Guns stage a protest at the Manhattan offices of BlackRock, massive investors in gun companies. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Gag also targets high-street brands that partner with the NRA, including car rental companies, Visa, and Wyndham Hotels. Grauwilers message to those firms: Its us or them. End your relationship with the death business or the LGBTQ community ends its relationship with you. According to a recent study, the combined annual disposable income of the LGBTQ community in the US is estimated at $917bn.

The numbers turning up at Gags weekly meetings have increased in the wake of Trumps victory, as, Grauwiler says, people are increasingly looking for a focus to direct their anger at after the reality TV stars election. The most recent Gag meeting lasted eight hours as members debated whether or not Gag should become Gat Gays Against Trump. It was decided that Gag would retain its focus on gun control, but the group has joined the wider protest movement picketing Trump Tower.

Gag the acronym was chosen knowingly secured a last-minute prime spot at the front of New York Citys Pride parade leading Grauwiler and the others to pull an all-nighter spray-painting banners demanding stricter gun control measures.

Like Grauwiler, Iraq war veteran and DC political consultant Jason Lindsay immediately started forming his own anti-gun campaign group on 12 June. While Gag is visceral and direct, Lindsays Pride Fund to End Gun Violence is taking a considered and targeted lobbying approach to help gay people and their allies elect candidates who will act on sensible gun policy reforms while championing LGBTQ safety and equality.

I was shocked to my stomach when I saw it on the news, Lindsay said from Dupont Circle, DCs historically gay but now yuppified neighbourhood. At the same time, it was just another example of the senseless epidemic of gun violence. But this was different in scale and it was incredibly personal for me, as it was an attack on my community.

Lindsay came out in rural North Carolina when he was 15, but he only felt comfortable telling his mother, and kept his life and feelings very private. The intense privacy would continue for years. At 18, he signed up as an army reservist serving for 14 years including a tour of Iraq in 2003 when the Dont Ask Dont Tell policy was still in force. I didnt tell anyone all of that time and no one found out, he said.

Hes less private now. Today he is leading a campaign on one of the most contentious issues in America, as a gay man with hundreds of LGBTQ supporters. Why do I think gays can change this? he asked. The gay community, and its allies, are an incredible force. These are people in high-powered positions across all walks of life. And we have won battles before. People thought marriage equality would never happen, thought that Dont Ask Dont Tell would never be repealed, he said. This is a new fight for the gay community, adding our incredible strength and political experience to the existing campaigns, and that will make a difference.

Lindsay is uniquely placed to take on this fight as a gay man working in politics who has fired military assault rifles similar to those used by the Pulse killer. These are weapons of war and have no place on American streets, he said. People in the military have to undergo enhanced safety training before using a gun like that. But in the civilian world, you can go into a store and take away a gun with no training.

Lindsay said the public are already onboard, but lawmakers are lagging behind public opinion because of their reliance on donations and support from the gun lobby and the NRA. Political polling since the Pulse shooting has consistently shown 90% of Americans support stricter background checks and 85% want to block suspected terrorists on the no-fly list from buying weapons.

The NRA, said Lindsay, is trying to distort the aim of the campaign. They are playing the fear factor, saying we want to take away peoples guns and repeal the second amendment [the right to bear arms]. We dont want to take away anyones guns.

In fact, many of Pride Funds board own guns and enjoy hunting or days at the shooting range. All we are advocating for is a review of assault weapon sales and access to high-capacity magazines. No one needs them, he said. They are designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible.

Barbara Poma the owner of Pulse, who created the club as a place welcoming anyone and everyone in memory of her gay brother John who died of Aids-related complications in 1991 carries, and her husband and son own, several firearms. She said the attack, which claimed the lives of several of her friends, hasnt changed her support of the second amendment. My life changed forever that night, all of our lives changed. But it hasnt changed my point of view on guns. The right to bear arms is a fundamental part of being American.

Patty Sheehan, who also serves on the Pride Fund board, has a handgun she bought after being threatened because of her sexuality and for campaigning for equality. Shes not going to give up her gun either, but vowed to continue to demand a ban on assault weapons even if it costs her job. She fears that when she comes up for re-election later this year the NRA which pumped millions of dollars into Trumps campaign will deploy its vast war chest against her. I am scared, I know it might cost me my job, but if I dont stand up and protect my community I cant do my job.

Sheehan, who is single and has devoted her life to public service, Loui and her urban chickens, said: Everything I do as an elected public official doesnt matter if its all shattered by gun violence. These kids at Pulse didnt sign up for the military, they went out to dance and got shot.