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aemxnd · 3 months

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sliding doors | aemond targaryen x dornish!reader (modern au) part i

Today is your first day in the London grind — how bad can it be?

WARNINGS: sexual assault, tension, angst, mentions of our lord and saviour Oberyn Martell (I know, that’d upset me too), mentions of death, sleazy men, sassy men.

WORDS: 2.1k

A/N: Anybody looking for a slow-burning love story with mystery and intrigue? I gotchu. Part I of maaaany.

Moving to London was a necessary evil.

You couldn’t spend your entire life slaving away at a minimum wage job in rural Dorne forever, or maybe that was your family’s indoctrination talking. Move to London and seek out fame, fortune or both, they had prescribed.

You weren’t truly ready for life in the big city, but being headhunted by a prestigious company days earlier had forced your hand. Several frantic late-night social media searches suggested women your age would kill to work there, although you’d have to admit you hadn’t heard of them until their name slipped into your inbox. No interview required, simply start on Monday.

Their generous salary offer sealed the deal above all else.

Your friends foretold that the worst aspect of London life would be the commute. Stifling, deafening rush hour Tubes and the unpredictable weather above ground would be a culture shock for a country girl, but you felt somewhat compelled to prove them wrong. Dornish women weren’t short of confidence, strength and stubbornness, and you weren’t about to disobey the order of things for the sake of a move to the city.

You promised yourself you would give it a try. Two weeks should do it. If you weren’t convinced by the end of the fortnight, you’d simply pack up and leave on the next train home.

“The next station is Highgarden,” the familiar metallic voice boomed throughout the train, startling you from your daze. Your eyes widened, forcing yourself to focus on your surroundings and contemplate the next stage of your journey into the unknown. Affirmations you’d scrolled through on TikTok the night before ticked through your mind. I am good enough because they hired me, you assured yourself, or at the very least the voice in your mind.

Instinctively gazing down at your handbag resting on the floor between your feet, you swallowed hard and gazed at your black stiletto heels as if willing them to move autonomously.

Up until this moment, the London experience hadn’t phased you. But now, anxiety rising, the thought of navigating the morning rush hour on the Tube paralysed you before you’d even left your seat, an oasis of calm before the storm.

“Change here for the Searoad line,” the voice snapped again, forcing you to squeeze your eyes shut as the train began to brake to a halt.

Eyes firmly closed, you reached out blindly to grab your bag and hauled yourself to your feet with blind determination.

No sooner had the seat’s scratchy pile left the back of your dress pants, than a new sensation appeared against your backside. A hand, grasping at the curve of your behind, desperately clawing at your flesh. Your eyes darted open, staring into the middle distance between advertising posters and the carousel of train tunnel walls flickering past the windows.

You froze solid, unable to compute the unexpected feeling. Why was someone touching you, grabbing you? Were you imagining it? Was it a simple mistake and they meant to hold onto a handrail instead?

You couldn’t bring yourself to turn around and face them, not yet. Your body instinctively snapped bolt upright to escape their clutch, but the hand remained fixed to your curve, gripping tighter as your body straightened out.

Let go, you cried out only in your mind, the words refusing to roll off your tongue with your mouth clamped shut in fear. Let go of me.

Where was your usual attitude? What happened to your usual bark and bite? Why had your trademark fighting talk abandoned you when you needed it most? Dornish women weren’t raised to turn a blind eye.

The indignity of it all had you raise your drawbridge and barricade the gates.

The shock had stolen your identity.

You suddenly lurched forward, the offending hand slipping from your body as a crude slap denoted their limb had dropped into their lap. Hurriedly slinging your bag over your arm, you stumbled aside to reach the train doors and forced yourself to focus your gaze down to your own feet, conscious of tripping over the feet of the other commuters on your escape route.

Other passengers followed, smart shoes and trainers gathering around yours as you approached the door. A misty kaleidoscope hazed the corners of your vision, fear stealing your breath from your lungs as you realised that one of them may be your assailant. You cursed yourself for not looking at what they were wearing or even what they looked like, now you would never be able to identify them.

“Leaving so soon?” A sneering male voice dripped like poison in your ear, followed by a contented hum as a hand grasped your backside again. “We were just getting started, pretty girl.”

A wave of acidic bile rose up into your throat, burning your airways and forcing you to swallow harshly. Clutching at your handbag, your nails carved crescent dips into the leather as your grip tightened with every passing second.

Where’s your fight, kid? A distant echo of your uncle Oberyn’s words the first time you conceded defeat in a childish quarrel with your younger sister. Stand up for yourself!

It’s now or never.

Spinning around on your heels to again release yourself from their grip, you turned to face them. Your gaze fixed upon a tall man with long, golden hair and a bushy beard to match. His eyes were piercing, half-squinting as he observed you, clocking every inch of your face, analysing your reaction. The familiar scent of alcohol pricked your nose as he breathed.

“Look here, asshole, what’s your problem?” You snapped, an electric pulse bringing your attitude to the surface as you raised a hand to jab a finger toward his face. “Just because you can’t get some at home, you think you’re a big man trying it on the Roseroad line before you jerk off in your cubicle all day?”

The carriage fell eerily silent, passengers holding their breath as if waiting for disaster to strike.

Your rural upbringing never suitably briefed you on women’s public safety. You were exclusively educated on defending yourself in any situation, but news reports from city life suggested it wasn’t always a wise move to confront attackers, least of all to humiliate them in front of a packed commuter train.

The red mist had descended and you already regretted snapping back.

The faint notes of a chuckle burst through the stony silence, someone who tried to stifle their amusement but failed miserably. All eyes darted over to the source of the sound only to find a lithe, blonde man unsuccessfully concealing his guilt with a wry smile cinching the corner of his lips. His gaze was fixed to the floor, blissfully unaware that he had attracted the attention of the carriage.

One man’s response on the train quelled the rage inside you, dousing the fire in your chest. Releasing a sigh of relief, it felt as if your ordeal was over. With the attention of the entire carriage on the situation, a calming sense of security washed over you.

Swishing your head back to face the offender at your side, you found nothing but unfamiliar faces. In the aftermath of your outburst, he’d sidled his way through the crowd without you noticing.

Another sigh escaped you.

The train ground to a halt and its doors swooshed open with an unforgiving pace, slicing through the atmosphere in the carriage as passengers clamoured onto the platform.

“Mind the gap between the train and the platform,” came the disembodied announcement, prompting you to rush forward and drop to the platform as if instinct took over.

As soon as both feet met the concrete, another sigh came forth and you stood still. Gazing up at the bright lights leading the way toward platforms, lifts and exits, you drank in the gleaming scenery as the crowds bustled past you.

Affording yourself time to breathe on the platform, you stayed stationary, passengers dipping and diving around you until the fateful train departed beside you and left you alone in silence.

“You should be more careful,” came a man’s voice from behind you, startling you from your daze.

You turned to face the source and found the chuckling man from the carriage, his poker-straight silver hair framing his pale face and tumbling over his shoulders like a waterfall.

Your focus fell on his eyes - one blue, one purple - he was looking down on the train, they certainly weren’t visible before. But they glistened in the fluorescent lighting like precious gems. His expression was blank, neither reassuring nor stern. Simply unreadable.

“Yeah, I figured that,” you sassed, stepping toward him while tucking your hands in your coat pockets. “Thank you for… whatever that was, Mr…”

“Targaryen,” he proffered without a thought, his countenance still giving away zero emotion. “No matter, it seems you can handle yourself without anyone’s assistance. But it doesn’t always pay to confront people in London, your Dornish ways will make you a target here.”

You shook your head in disbelief. Was it that obvious you weren’t from around here? You glanced down at your outfit, wondering if this was a fashion-related remark. Do London women not usually dress so formal?

As you looked back up, the man paced toward you, but almost as if he aimed to walk right through you.

“Your attitude is a dead giveaway,” he muttered as he passed, striding along the platform and disappearing down a side corridor.

Drawing your bottom lip between your teeth as the silence on the platform deafened, the gravity of his words hit you. Perhaps you should have bitten your tongue, moved on, left the carriage without a word. What if your assailant travelled your way every morning at the same time? What if he had plans for you tomorrow morning?

You swallowed thickly, contemplating a call to the police that might cease your concerns altogether. Or it might also make you even more of a target, as the man so eloquently labelled you.

Suddenly, approaching footsteps and a stream of new commuters brought you back to your senses.

“Oh fuck,” you exclaimed to yourself, instantly aware that you would be late for your first day if you spent any longer on the platform. Gripping your handbag and swallowing your trepidation, you scurried in the man’s direction and headed into the unknown.

———

As first days go, yours was remarkably unremarkable. Introductions and office training blended into insignificance, often finding yourself drifting off into a daydream of your home. To you, the arid deserts of Dorne represented comfort, sand dunes whisking away every care you could possibly have in the world. Far from the blocky industrial landscape of the big city, where nothing works unless it’s digitised.

Your lunch break arrived all too late for your attention span, hurriedly retreating to the company’s enclosed garden to touch some perfectly manicured grass.

A buzz in your pocket signalled a notification’s arrival and you prized your phone free from its confines for the first time all day.

A local news article emerged in front of your eyes, blocks of text blurring beneath the headline:

Murder probe after death of man, 44, in Monday morning rush hour

You sucked in your cheeks. After all, that could have been you if your attacker had been less forgiving.

Scrolling down, the subheading read:

Police launch murder enquiry after man’s body found on tracks at Highgarden station

Your brows knitted together as you scrolled further, this time to a photo of a man with long, golden hair and a bushy beard to match.

Your attacker.

Your heart sank as you read on, one hand firing to clasp your mouth.

The Metropolitan police were called to Highgarden Underground Station after reports of a person struck by a train in the morning rush hour.

The man has been identified as 44-year-old Jason Lannister, Director of Casterly Rock Plc, which is widely reported as Highgarden’s most profitable enterprise and Lannister’s net worth reported as £2.9 billion.

Suddenly, it felt as if a train had also struck you. Not only was your attacker a billionaire, but also the director of the company you now worked for. Tears began to well in your eyes as your mind scurried around for answers — if he was as wealthy as they suggested, why was he taking the Tube that morning? Why would he attack his own employee?

A tidal wave of bile rose into your throat for the second time that day. Clenching your eyes shut for a moment, you forced them open to scan the article’s last paragraph:

With the death being treated as suspicious, the Metropolitan Police are appealing for witnesses that may have seen Mr Lannister this morning.

#aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen #hotd #ewan mitchell fanfiction #ewan mitchell #prince aemond #house of the dragon #house of the dragon fanfiction #ewan mitchell imagines #aemond targaryen fanfiction

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plotwholls · 2 years

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Okay so I’ve literally been searching for two days to find this post, but I can’t, so if anyone can find me the post about the League trying to figure out how crazy Amity is, PLEASE send it my way bc jfc I hate not crediting people and this is going to GRATE ON MY NERVES. Anyway.

Basic premise is that the JL sees the town goes “uh,,, that’s sus” and decides that they can’t just bust in and try and figure out if they’re crazy. So. In order to be better accepted, what do they do?

Well, they make the worst possible decision that they didn’t know was dumb: they sent a shrink.

The principal cleared her throat. “And… you’re here to apply for our, uh… what did you say?”

“The school counsel—”

“Ah yes! That!”

Dinah tried to keep her expression neutral while she internally chanted “whatthefuck whatthefuck whattheffffuuuuuuccccckkkkkkkkkk—”

The principal seemed to chew on her apprehension for a minute before giving Dinah a wavering smile and rubber stamping it. “…You can start next Friday.”

“But it’s Saturday…? I can start Mon—”

“Thatwon’tbe—!” She cleared her throat, her smile tight, as if that could conceal her prior panic. “That… won’t be… necessary, Dr. Lance.” Principal Ishiyama gestured towards the door. “Besides. We’ll need the time to— fix up your office!”

Dinah smiled and nodded, but she noted to herself as she walked out of the reception how Ishiyama rushed to her secretary to begin whispering furiously.

Dinah saw how she was scared.

Dinah paused on the front steps, digging her phone out of her slacks’ pocket. She scrolled through her contacts for a moment before finally hitting call. She pressed the phone between her ear and shoulder as she started digging through her purse for her keys. As soon as it picked up, she announced, “Hey, babe! I got the job! I’m on the front steps of my new workplace!” She sing-songed. Oliver took the hint. “Oh? What the hell happened in forty minutes that has you calling me before you’re even in the car? Actually… wouldn’t it be twenty? Fifteen? Commute’s… what, twenty-five minutes? Still can’t believe Bat’s is putting you up in this shack—”

Dinah slipped into the drivers seat, shut and locked the car and switched her phone to the other ear. “Ishiyama was scared of me.”

“…What?” Oliver laughed a bit. “Darling, don’t get me wrong, you’re terrifying, and I love every inch of you for it, but… those are Canary vibes you’re talking about….”

Dinah turned the ignition, foot pressed hard on the breaks. “Then explain to me why I’m starting next Friday even though I told her that I was ready to start Monday— or why she jumped out of her skin when I tried to shake her hand? How about how she caved the moment I confirmed I was going for the counselor position and gave it to me without further questioning?”

Oliver got a bit more serious. “And you’re sure you were reigning in the Resting Bitch Face?”

Dinah rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m very sure that I was masking my ass off— and you know how good I am at that!”

“I know, hun,” Oliver soothes (it works, much to Dinah’s chargin and battered ego). “It’s worked on Superman and Batman. You caught your own Autism. Your mask is great, babe. Still prefer your murder vibes, though.”

Dinah grinned, her heart feeling achy and cheeks warm. “Well, yeah, that’s why I let you be my boyfriend.”

“And I thank God everyday you knocked some sense into my dumb ass— how about you go get us some safe foods and I’ll pull out the case packs again— we’ll try and figure out what’s going on, alright?”

Dinah smiled softly, her grip on the steering wheel softening, too. “Yeah, alright— when’s Roy gonna get here?” Dinah checked over her shoulder as she threw on her blinker. She turned back. “He should be up to date on anything we find.”

“He’s getting in later tonight,” Oliver told her, “and he’ll have already of eaten, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

Dinah smiled. “You’re so awesome.”

“I’ll try not to get a big head, but given how often you give out praise, that’s gonna be hard….”

Dinah laughed at the overly dramatic woe. She loved that about him— how he made her laugh like she was six again. “Okay, okay— I need to go, I’m driving— text me anything you want. Ask Roy, too.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll get started on the files, too, alright? Because that wasn’t ego stroking; she shouldn’t have been scared unless she knew who you were and she did something horrible.”

Dinah smiled like she was chocolate under a heat lamp. “Okay.” God, she hopes he can’t hear her freaking heart eyes.

“Okay,” He laughs. “I’m gonna go. I still have a sofa to get through this door.”

She laughs as she takes her turn. “Alright— be safe.”

“You, too. Love you.”

“Not quite there yet,” She tells him, still melting, “but I think I’m getting there.”

“Take all the time in the universe. Bye.”

“Bye.” God, that man makes her soft. Dinah screams a little in the back of her throat, wanting to thrash a bit (but that’s dangerous, so she’ll settle on the screaming).

(She’s going to need to send Batman a gift basket for this— a way for her to bond with her boyfriend’s son, make him feel validated, and let her manage some distance from her relationship to try and figure her head out? He’s getting a basket like none other. She’s gonna dig up Grandma’s cookie-brownie recipe and make him a butt-ton. And then she’s going to send the recipe to Agent A. …and so maybe she’s going to slip in a book on autism (because there’s no way he’s neurotypical) in there, too, but who’s gonna know, huh?)

Dinah floated through parking, and starting her walk to the store, but the floating quickly shifted into a mask as phones started going off in waves— all of them with the same ringtone, which would make others (strangers, from what she could tell) lean over to look at their neighbor’s phones once they realized it wasn’t theirs.

…And slowly, one by one, they began to turn to her. Dinah saw a lot of things on their faces. She faked a happy little twirl to get a look behind her, too.

Fear. Trepidation. Horror.

The most common one was what most would call a “threat,” but Dinah had always been one for specific language, and these looks weren’t threats.

They were promises.

They were swears upon their loved ones’ graves and everything they held dear.

They were telling her a very simple story with a very stony set of the face: “fuck this up, and you won’t live to fuck it up again. We won’t let you.”

Most importantly, it gave up that tiny little detail that made the puzzle fit. With a slightly more real (if more feral) grin, Dinah did a happy little job as she finally stepped into the store. It was such a simple little word, especially with a three letter modifier tacked in front, but it told her so, so much. It said, “We won’t let you….”

“Not again.”

#danny phantom #dp x dc #oliver queen #dinah lance #black canary #batman

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celestial-robots · 2 years

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Finding Equinox

A Sun & Moon X Reader Story

Chapter One: Dawn of a New Day

Word Count: 6363

Summary: You have a new job at the famous Fazbear Mega Pizzaplex! Surely this will be a normal retail job. Unfortunately, that notion is quickly disproved, as you find yourself severely underqualified for the position Fazbear put you in. But on the bright side, the sun-themed animatronic in the Daycare is nice.

Author’s Note: I’ve been talking about this fic for a while, now’s the time to post it. I’ve never written an X Reader fic before—heck, I’ve only used self-inserts a handful of times before. But I’ve been inspired by a lot of good fics I’ve seen centered around Sun and Moon, and I wanted to throw my had in the ring ^-^ This is going to be a longer series with a bit of a slow burn on the romance part. I mean, you gotta get to know the guys before you date them, right? I hope you all enjoy it, I’ve had a lot of fun writing this :D

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Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex. It sounded like something out of a children’s show. Some place where the characters would hang out in between going to school classes and fighting supervillains...or something. But no. It was a real place, a massive building that was a cross between a mall, a theme park, and a robotics lab.

It was also the site of your new job.

Honestly, you hadn’t expected them to actually look at your online application. Fazbear was notorious for using robots whenever possible, and you’d heard all about the Mega Pizzaplex’s STAFF bots. You weren’t really sure why they were hiring in the first place if the STAFF was oh-so amazing. But you needed a job to pay rent on your brand-new apartment, and your current one sucked. At least the Pizzaplex was willing to pay more than minimum wage. Surprisingly.

So, when they emailed you back with congratulations on getting the job, you snatched it up. Sure, it would mean commuting to the Pizzaplex outside of the city five days a week, but you liked driving. And you would be lying if you said you weren’t fascinated by working for the Fazbear Entertainment. The company that spawned a million ghost stories—not to mention multiple genuinely scary horror games. The legend appealed to you, as terrible as the rumors were.

Your first shift was on Monday, starting at 3pm. A decent enough time. It took a solid forty minutes to drive out to the Pizzaplex, though, and you weren’t sure if there’d be trouble getting in, so you left at 1:40. Luckily, the massive building—seriously, this was probably bigger than your college campus had been—had an employee parking lot nearby. You found a decent spot, then gathered your items for the day.

The email you’d gotten from Fazbear Entertainment said you were allowed to bring or wear whatever you wanted, as long as you acknowledged that Fazbear Entertainment wasn’t responsible for lost or damaged items. And you’d done your research on the Mega Pizzaplex shortly after getting the job. In accordance with your research, you put together a little Survival Pack:

Work uniform. It was really just a T-shirt with a logo on the front and back that read “Fazbear Entertainment Mega Pizzaplex Employee.”

Company-issued FazWatch. It had been sent to you in the mail along with the shirt, and looked a lot like some of the novelty toys that Fazbear sold. That wasn’t going to be confusing at all. But apparently it gave you security clearance.

Headphones. Connected to your phone via Bluetooth, so you could listen to music or a podcast while you worked, and hopefully drown out the sound of the large crowds that went in and out of the Pizzaplex each day.

Charger and portable battery. Headphones wouldn’t be much good if your phone died.

Sunglasses. Looking at the promotional pictures on the website, you knew that there would be bright light galore inside the building. And you would prefer to not have to stare at those for your entire shift. The pair you brought today were especially big, with round lenses that covered almost the entire upper half of your face.

Face mask. Just in case you needed to dull some strong smells or avoid breathing in any sort of particles.

Zip-up hoodie. Allowed the logo on the T-shirt to be seen. You hadn’t been sure if the Pizzaplex would be too warm or too cold, so you brought this just in case of the latter.

Backpack with packed lunch. Sure, the email said that food would be provided for you, but you’d been screwed over by messages like that before, so you brought something just in case.

With these powers combined, you gained the Ultimate Ability: Getting Customers to Leave You Alone Unless You Approached Them First.

Walking in through the front entrance was easy. The logo on your T-shirt allowed you to skip the massive lines. You strolled right in through the glass doors...and stopped short. Wow. This place was...really, really cool. And funnily enough, looked a lot like the pictures on the website. You’d been half-expecting some Expectations Vs. Reality shit, but no. On the surface at least, this place was incredible.

Also very, very loud, and very, very bright. You mentally patted yourself on the back for thinking of your Survival Pack. You glanced around, unsure where to go, before calling one of the elevators. The email said to go to the atrium when you arrived. So, one short elevator ride later, you stepped out onto the center balcony, overlooking the massive neon-lit expanse of the Pizzaplex.

“Hello New Employee.”

You jumped at the sound of a robotic voice behind you. Spinning around, you saw one of those patented STAFF bots: simple robots with painted-on facial features and wheels for feet. “We are glad to have you here as part of the Fazbear family,” the voice continued. “Take a map.” The bot held out a folded sheet of paper in one of its clamp-like hands.

“Uh...suuuure.” You took the offered map. Surprisingly, your FazWatch beeped. You glanced at it and saw a notification, telling you that a map of the Mega Pizzaplex had been added. “Huh.” You looked back at the map in your hands. Yep, it was paper, alright. How did it connect with the watch? Or did the bot do that?

“Your company-issued Freddy FazWatch will alert you to any tasks you have to complete on your shift,” the STAFF bot said. “All tasks must be completed before ending your workday. New tasks can and will be assigned at any point during your shift. These tasks may include janitorial services, transport of goods from storage using the utility tunnels, animatronic maintenance and repair—”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“—and upkeep of devices such as arcade cabinets, musical equipment, and any internal systems of the Mega Pizzaplex. Remember to smile, you are the face of Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex.”

“Wait a minute, what was that second-to-last one?” you asked. But it was too late. The STAFF bot had already rolled away, and was hounding the incoming customers to “take a map.” You almost pursued it, but decided against it. The bot probably wasn’t programmed to do anything more than give you that introduction and map.

Still...was that really it? You weren’t going to have any training or anything? Were you even going to meet your supervisor? Did you have a supervisor? You stand there, confused, for a good few minutes, looking down at the atrium and getting in the way of incoming families. Well...guess you would have to make do.

You shuffle off to the side, pass through a few doors, and somehow end up in a gift shop full of kids asking their parents for plushies. Another STAFF bot behind the counter seemed to be handling the transactions, thank god. You’d manned the register before in other jobs, and it always made you feel awkward. Well, nobody was looking for you, so you take a moment to pull out your phone and put on your most energetic music, cranking up the volume until only the loudest of children’s screams pierced the barrier of sound. Then, you decided to check out this FazWatch.

The interface was easy enough to figure out. You had a tab for tasks, a tab for the map, and a tab to remind you of your schedule. It seemed you had a fifteen-minute break scheduled for six o’clock. You could also clock in and out from this tab. Right now, it was 2:50, so you tapped the “Clock In” button. Nothing wrong with being early, right? There was also a gear icon in the bottom left for settings, and a lock icon in the bottom right that told you your security level. It was Level Four...which seemed a little high for what the job description was, but you weren’t going to complain.

Now. Onto the tasks. Cleaning the glass in Rockstar Row...fixing a STAFF bot that some kids messed with...restocking the ice cream parlor in Bonnie Bowl with new ingredients...and a few other things. Most of it didn’t sound too hard, but you were a little worried about that STAFF bot. Sure, Fazbear liked to brag about how their animatronics were extremely advanced yet simple to use, but you didn’t think you were qualified to work on anything robotic-related. You hadn’t even taken any math classes in college.

Well. Better get to it. If that STAFF bot from before was right, new tasks could show up at any moment. You shouldn’t let them pile up.

Sure enough, all the tasks you’d been assigned were simple to figure out. The biggest obstacle in your way was navigating the damn Pizzaplex. The Faz-map on the FazWatch was Faz-awful. Terribly low resolution. This company was worth billions of dollars, but it couldn’t spare ten bucks for the map. And the paper map you’d been handed only showed areas customers were allowed to be in, it was no help for the employee-only parts. But once you figured out where you were going, it was just a bunch of manual labor. Even the broken STAFF bot only had its wheels jammed. Jabbing about with a screwdriver fixed it right away.

Sooner than you thought, six o’clock approached, and with it, your fifteen-minute break. You were pleasantly surprised to see that you’d already completed all your assigned tasks. Maybe you could take a longer-than-mandated break. If you were really lucky, you might even be able to just chill for the rest of your shift.

You looked around. Your last task had been fixing a machine in customer service. Apparently a teenager stuck a magnet on it and completely broke it. Honestly, you hadn’t been sure what to do, so you just turned the machine off and on again. Surprisingly, it worked. Hopefully. You’d hate to make some other human worker—of which you had seen none the whole day—fix it. Now, you were standing near the elevators in the lobby, staring up at the massive golden Freddy statue. Customers were standing around, waiting for the elevators to arrive. A few little kids were looking at you, probably wondering why this strange person was wearing sunglasses indoors.

Alright. Logically, you should take your break in the break room. That would be great...if you knew where one was. In the three hours you’d been wandering around the Pizzaplex doing menial tasks, you hadn’t seen anything even like a break room in any of the employee-only areas. So...that left you at a loss.

A loud noise pierced the sound barrier you’d set up with your headphones. You jumped and glanced around. One of the kids waiting for the elevator was screaming and pulling against his mom, apparently scared of getting in the moving metal box. A few other customers were watching the scene. Some of them noticed you staring and stared right back. You quickly looked away, feeling irrationally guilty.

Ah, screw the break room. You just needed a place that was quiet and empty of customers so you could eat your lunch (dinner?) without any unexpected noises or staring families.

You looked around for an area without any people. Obviously, the lobby and main atrium were a no-go. What else was there? Gift shop, lost and found, daycare—daycare?

Partly out of curiosity, partly out of noticing nobody was heading that direction, you walked over to the big garage door. It opened on its own, doing that thing where the doors recognize your security level and let you in accordingly. You ducked under before it fully opened.

You found yourself in a long, wide hallway. The floor was a pattern of purple colors, while the ceiling resembled a night sky full of stars. There was a series of planters with palm trees—probably fake—and various decals on the brick walls. One was a rainbow logo with an arrow pointing further down the hall, reading “Superstar Daycare Pick-Up.”

While you could have sat on one of the planters to eat your lunch, you headed further down the long, wide hallway, wanting to see if there’s a better place at the end. You glanced around at the wall decals. They seemed to be advertisements for some sort of...candy? Sunnydrop Energizing Candy and Moondrop Sleepy-Time Candy, each featuring cartoon mascots styled after the sun and moon respectively. It was pretty cute, actually, but you couldn’t help but wonder what made this candy “energizing” and “sleepy.”

Drugs?

No, probably not.

But honestly given the rumors surrounding Fazbear Entertainment and child endangerment, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear they were putting something weird in the candies. Maybe too much of something that’s regulated for good reason.

The hallway ended in another one of those garage doors, decorated with a sun and moon motif. This also opened automatically, and you were immediately greeted by a pair of golden statues. Kind of like the one in the lobby, but much smaller. And instead of depicting any of the headlining Glamrock animatronics, these are replicas of some sort of...sun and moon...things. With puffy pants. Oh, wait. They were probably the same characters on the candy advertisements. Duh.

You stepped further into the room. There were a few tables and chairs here, and you took off your backpack in anticipation of sitting down for what must have been the first time in three hours. But before you did, you looked around some more. The area overlooked a larger playplace, walled in and with netting covering the top. You stared down at it. Looked pretty nice, honestly. You would have loved something like this as a little kid. But where was the entrance? There was a slide up here that leads down into the playplace (labelled “Slide Into Fun!”) but that doesn’t help with getting out.

Still holding your backpack, you pushed through the turnstiles and walk down the stairs to what must be the ground floor. More tables down here, sweet. And an oversized pair of wooden double doors. Good. That solved that mystery. With your curiosity satisfied, you sat down at one of the tables and pulled out your lunch.

You ate peacefully, unbothered by any customers or tasks, completely content to sit here and avoid the possibility of being stared at. Your music blared in your ears, so you turned it down a bit, since it didn’t need to be as loud in this quieter area.

While you sat there, you wondered if you’d ever get to meet any of those famous animatronics Fazbear was known for. They’d been completely absent so far; you hadn’t even seen them in their rooms when you cleaned the glass on Rockstar Row. Strange. You knew the Pizzaplex had closed for a while about a month ago—something that was heavily complained about on social media. The official excuse was “maintenance” and “upgrading systems,” but it had all been very vague. Even the email you got upon hiring hadn’t said much. It was very mysterious. Maybe something happened during that time it was closed, something that put the animatronics out of commission, but Fazbear decided to reopen without the animatronics anyway. You wouldn’t be surprised.

Once you were finished, you checked the time on your phone—surprisingly, the FazWatch didn’t have a space for the time. 6:08. Huh. Speed-eating, hell yeah. Now, with some time to kill before your break ended, you put your lunch bag away and stood up.

Movement flickered in the corner of your eyes.

Your head whipped towards it. Where did that come from? Was it...inside the playplace?

You approached the wall cautiously, peering through the glass at the play area. At some point during your break, someone had shown up inside there. Or...maybe it would be more accurate to say something. Your wondering about the animatronics must have called to the universe, because now there was one only twenty feet away from you.

The animatronic had its back turned to you, but you recognized the design immediately. It was the same as the golden statue on the floor above. Tall, with long limbs and a circular disc of a head, triangular metal bits jotting out from the side to imitate sunrays. Puffy striped pants and frills around the waist and neck made it look like a clown or jester. Currently, the animatronic was fussing with a stack of toy barrels, bent over and carefully nudging them. Which was a little strange. The barrels were already perfectly stacked.

For a moment, you just watched, intrigued. This wasn’t like any other Fazbear animatronics you’d seen pictures of. It was much thinner and lacked an animal theme, but also...well, its colors were a bit duller than you were expecting. Especially for something themed around the sun. You would have expected bright colors, like the candy advertisements, but instead it was all pale yellows and grays, with darker reds and oranges in the pants and frills. Maybe all the animatronics weren’t quite as colorful as their ads depicted.

As you continued to stare, the animatronic stood up straight, putting its hands on its hips and nodding. It spun around...and immediately stopped when it caught sight of you through the glass wall.

“Oh. Uh...” You were once again surprised by the inaccuracy of the decals on the walls. Yes, the animatronic had a sun for a face, divided in half with one half looking like a crescent moon. But unlike the ads, the animatronic’s eyes were just blank white. No pupils to be seen. It was a little unsettling, but you got over it. Slowly, you raised a hand and waved. “Hi,” you say, feeling awkward.

To your surprise, the sun animatronic immediately jumped into the air and began waving back enthusiastically. It followed this up with several excited gestures, even doing a little dance where it hopped back and forth on its feet. You couldn’t help but smile; something about this was endearing. But as the animatronic continued to gesture, you realized it was probably talking to you.

“Oh! Hang on.” You dug into your pocket, pausing your music on your phone and taking off your headphones. Now you could hear ambient music playing from overhead speakers: a catchy, bouncy tune that was fitting for a daycare. “What were you saying?” you asked.

The animatronic had paused for a bit while you rooted around in your pockets, but once it had your attention again it instantly resumed its excitement, waving its hands back and forth and rotating its face—rotating its face?! Yep, surprisingly, that circular plate of a head could rotate all the way around. That was kind of cool. You wondered how it worked. But, sadly, you still couldn’t hear anything. Was this glass soundproof?

You glanced at the big wooden double doors, but then hesitated. Pulling out your phone again, you watched the time change from 6:11 to 6:12. Then you checked the FazWatch on your wrist. No new tasks had shown up...You wouldn’t have any work to do until one appeared. And that might be a while. You considered it...and then muttered “Why not?” under your breath and walked over to the doors.

Unlike the garage doors leading to the daycare area, these wooden ones didn’t open automatically upon your approach. For a moment, you worried that your security level wasn’t high enough. But then you grab the handle of one of the doors and pull, and it opened without resistance. Well...without much resistance, at least. It was still a very big door, and you grunted with exertion as you gradually pulled it open.

The moment there was enough space, you slipped through, letting the door slowly shut behind you. You coughed, waving your hand in front of your face as dust floated through the air, and then pulled on your emergency face mask. Good thing you’d thought to bring that. The overhead music was even louder inside the playplace, looping along, echoing through the completely empty area.

Well. Almost completely empty.

“Hello new friend!” The sun animatronic from earlier appeared in front of you, grabbing your upper arms and lifting you off your feet. “It’s so good to meet you!”

“Holy shit!” you yelped.

“Sorry!” The animatronic instantly let go, and you fell to the floor, jolting at the one-foot drop. It backed up a bit. “It’s just so exciting to see someone new!” Even as it continued to talk, it couldn’t stay still, bouncing on its feet and fidgeting with its hands. “We can color, play hide and seek, order pizza and eat until we can’t anymore! It’ll be so much fun!”

“I—okay, uh, yeah.” You reached up and massaged the spot on your arm where the animatronic grabbed you. Its grip hadn’t been too tight, but the metal hands made it feel much worse. “Uh...Who are you, by the way?”

“My name is Sun!” The animatronic said cheerfully. “But you can call me Sunny or Sunshine or whatever else you want! And what’s your name, new friend?”

You gave it—him?—you’re going to go with him—your name, and then moved on. “Yeah, I, uh...I’m glad to meet you, too, dude. I-I just started working here. I, uh...haven’t seen any other animatronics yet.”

“Oh, it’s your first day?” Sun gasped, despite not having the breath to do it properly. “And I’m the first one you’ve met? I’m so honored! A-are you here to help reopen the daycare?!”

“Um...nnno.” Sun instantly deflated. Guilt curled around your stomach. "S-sorry. I didn’t even know we had a daycare until now. I just kinda wandered in ‘cause I didn’t see anyone else heading over here. Uh...but! It’s really cool that we have one!” You put a happy spin in your voice, trying to cheer Sun up. Though you weren’t sure if it’ll work on an animatronic...

It worked. Sun perked up. “It is really cool! The Superstar Daycare is the bestest place for all the little ones to play and have fun!”

“Yeah, it looks nice.” Though, now that you were actually in the daycare...you noticed just how empty it is. There was quite a bit of dust in the air, and a visible layer of it over on a nearby desk. And besides the occasional stack of toy barrels, there was nothing on the ground. You gave Sun another look. Close up, you realized that his colors aren’t naturally dull. Instead, the paint on his body was chipped and faded, covered in a layer of grime. What did he say? ‘Are you here to help reopen the daycare’? How long has this place been closed?

“Of course it looks nice! I keep everything nice and orderly!” Sun stood to the side, holding his arms out in a ‘Look at this!’ gesture, indicating the entire playplace. “See?”

“Yeah, I saw you messing with some of these barrels through the glass,” you said.

“Yep! It’s important that everything’s just right! Very important, ho ho ho!” Sun laughed. “Oh, but where are my manners? What would you like to do, new friend? I-I have puppets, and paints, and all sorts of supplies!”

“Well...” You checked your FazWatch. No new tasks had shown up, but... “Um. Sun. You know I’m...on the clock right now, right? That means I might have to leave to do something at any moment, and eventually I need to clock out and go home...”

“Oh.” Again, Sun’s posture slumped a little. “No, I...I know, new friend. I-I just thought I’d offer.” He tapped his fingertips together, looking down at the ground. “You don’t have to stay, but if you want to, we can do anything you want! I-I promise it’ll be fun! But it’s up to you.”

Even though his expression didn’t change from a smile the whole time he talked, he looked and sounded so dejected that you immediately felt bad. Could an animatronic feel sadness or was it just a programmed response? Well, either way, your heart was too soft to just ignore him. “Hey, I didn’t say I was going to go right now,” you said, giving him a smile. “I have some free time to hang out.”

“Really?!” Sun looked up. “Oh wow! That’s great news, friend!” He jumped into the air, arms outstretched towards the sky in excitement, and landed with a solid thump! “We’re going to have so much fun! What do you want to do? I can go get some toys—oh, you’re probably a little old for them, though. I also have arts and crafts supplies, like fingerpaint and glitter glue! Or we can play games! I know a lot of different ones!”

“Um...yeah, sure, I’m down for some arts and crafts,” you said. “But nothing too messy. Do you have, like, markers or colored pencils or something?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. I’ll go check!” With that, Sun spun around—quite literally, his torso and head rotating 180 degrees before his legs caught up with the spin—and skipped off. He was gone before you could even say anything.

You blinked in surprise. What? Where did he even go? “Uhh...okay, then. I guess that’s how superheroes do it.”

With nothing to do but wait, you give the playplace another look, walking around some of the play structures. There was a ball pit. Sweet. Part of you was tempted to jump right in, but there could be anything hidden in there, bugs or worse. If you were a kid, though, you wouldn’t have hesitated. The play structures themselves were pretty sturdy, despite the daycare being closed for god knows how long. It would probably be a bit cramped for an adult like you, but again, as a kid you would be all over them. Stacks of toy barrels were all over, which you avoided touching due to how concerned Sun was over keeping things orderly.

Other than all that, the only thing of note in the daycare was the big desk by the wooden door. You wandered back over, stepping behind it. The dust on the surface looked even thicker up close, though there were areas that weren’t as dusty. Most notably around a small Freddy Fazbear head that looked like it was supposed to hold something. That was a little weird...why that specifically? And not something like the computers or drawers?

“Oh, new friend? I-I don’t think you’re supposed to be behind there.”

You looked up. Sun had returned, carrying a big plastic box and a stack of plain white paper in his arms. He was standing some distance away from the desk, bouncing in a more...anxious way than before. “I’m not? Why not?” you asked. “I’m staff.” You pointed at your shirt for emphasis.

“W-well, um...” Sun paused. “It’s...just for security! And I don’t think you’re security, you would have a different uniform if you were.” He laughed, but it sounded a bit strained.

You raised an eyebrow. “For security? Really?”

“Yep.” Sun’s bouncing grew faster, his mechanical joints making a clacking—and jingling?—sound. “And we don’t really need the desk, anyway! We can just sit on the floor and draw!”

“The floor’s soft,” you pointed out, glancing down at the mats that covered every surface.

“We can use the box!” He shook the box he was holding. Something inside clattered against the plastic sides. “If we just...stay out here.”

You stepped out from behind the desk, noticing the way Sun stopped bouncing the moment you did. Something behind there was making him nervous. There was no doubt about it. “Are...you okay?” you ask slowly.

“What do you mean, friend?”

“I mean, like, do you have deskophobia or something?” You raised your hands. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not gonna go back there if you don’t want. I just want to...be sure. That everything’s good here.”

“Oh!” Sun sounded pleasantly surprised. “Thank you for your concern, friend! No, I’m not afraid of the desk. I’m just...not allowed to go back there. A-and we can’t spend time together if you’re hiding behind the desk!”

“Huh. Okay, then.” You nodded, but there was clearly something more going on. Sun was scared of you being behind the desk. Was there something back there that he didn’t like? Well...this wasn’t the time to bring it up. You didn’t want to give a robot a panic attack. “Alright, we’ll just sit down here then.” You lowered yourself to the floor, sitting on the soft mats.

“Alrighty!” Sun sat down across from you, folding his long legs and setting the plastic box and paper in between the two of you. He took the lid off the box, revealing its contents: a mismatched assortment of markers, pencils, and crayons, colors and brands all mixed together.

“We’ll have to dump these out if we’re going to use the box as a table,” you said.

“That’s okay, as long as we clean it all up after!” Sun didn’t hesitate to tip the box over, spilling coloring supplies all over the floor. “Here, you can use this! I’ll use the lid.”

“Okay, if you insist.” You laughed a little, doing your best to keep the various supplies from rolling too far away.

Silence fell for a while as you’re quickly sucked into drawing. It had been a while since you’d drawn for fun, outside of an art class. It was nice to doodle whatever you wanted. Sun was quiet as well, except for a slight jingling sound that you soon realized came from bells tied on ribbons around his wrists. He went through a lot more paper than you did, only spending five or ten minutes on each page.

Eventually, you noticed he wasn’t coloring anymore. You looked up and saw his face leaning over you, looking at your own drawing. “Oh fuck!” you gasped, surprised. “When did you get here?!”

“Um, friend, I-I was nice about it before but language like that really shouldn’t be used in the daycare,” Sun said.

“Even when there’s nobody else here?” you muttered under your breath.

“Even then!”

“Oh. I-I didn’t realize you could hear that.” Great, now you’re embarrassed about sassing the daycare animatronic. “Anyway, uh. Sorry. You just surprised me, leaning so close.”

Sun immediately leaned back, quick enough that you were mildly surprised he didn’t fall over backwards. “Oh I’m so sorry! I should have realized. I just wanted to get a better look at your art. You’re a very good artist, friend! That’s a wonderful drawing!”

“Haha. Thanks, dude.” Your face grew a little warm. That sounded like the sort of compliment someone would give a little kid during crafts time in school. But hey, Sun was probably programmed for interacting with small children, so you didn’t pay it much mind. It sounded genuine coming from him, not condescending like it might coming from another adult. “It’s just doodling.”

“If that’s just doodling than your other art must be amazing!” Sun leaned a bit forward again. “I really like this one.” He pointed at a drawing of a flower you’d done in one corner of the paper. “And this one!” Now he pointed at a sketch of a person, smiling and waving in another corner.

“Daw, stop it, Sun. You’re so sweet.” You laughed a little bit. “I’m just practicing poses and colors and stuff.”

Before Sun could say anything else, an intercom overhead crackled to life. “It is now seven o’clock. The Superstar Daycare is officially closed,” said the familiar voice of the announcer. “The Daycare lights will be turning off in five hours. Have a wonderful day here at the Freddy Fazbear Mega Pizzaplex.”

“Seven o’clock? Really?” Surprised, you checked the time. Seven o’clock indeed. You’d been sitting here for forty-five minutes. It hadn’t felt like that long at all. More importantly... “Wait, isn’t the daycare already closed? I mean, hadn’t it been closed for a while? What’s up with the announcer?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, friend,” Sun said. “That always happens at this time! It’s just a scheduled thing! Yes, the daycare has been...closed for a while...but it might open again soon! You have to be prepared. A-and don’t worry about the lights going off! They don’t turn off anymore.”

“I...wasn’t really all that worried about the lights turning off, but thanks,” you said slowly. “My shift ends in two hours, anyway, so I wouldn’t be here long enough even if they did.”

“Good!” Sun sounded oddly...relieved? “The lights have to stay on.” His peppy voice suddenly became very serious. “On. On.”

“Okay, okay. You’re really serious about that, aren’t you?”

“It’s very important,” Sun added, still in that grim tone.

You blinked, confused. You’re about to ask him why it was important when you’re interrupted by a quiet ping! sound, followed by a voice coming from your wrist that said, “New task added!”

“Huh?” You lifted up your arm, looking at the FazWatch. Indeed, a new task had just appeared. A few machines in the East Arcade had run out of tickets and needed refilling. “Oh shi—shoot.” You stand up, only now realizing the pins and needles in your legs. “I have to go.”

“Already?” Sun stood up as well, much more fluidly than you did. “But you haven’t been here that long!”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” You bent over and started putting the coloring supplies back into their box. “But you know what they day. Duty calls, and all that. Call of duty. Call of Duty Shooter Man.”

Sun’s face rotates a bit to the side, perhaps confused by your last remark. “Well, do you have to go right now? We can keep coloring! Or if you want, we can do something else!”

“It’s tempting, but I really shouldn’t.” You sighed.

Suddenly, Sun reached forward and grabbed your arm. “A-are you sure? I have more crafts supplies! I-I can go find them!”

“Jeez, dude, be careful with the grabbing!” You pulled your arm away, discreetly looking down at the spot where he grabbed you to check if it left a mark. Luckily, it didn’t.

“I’m sorry!” Sun retracted his arm, stepping backwards. “I-I’m really sorry.” He put his hands behind his back, as if to show that he wasn’t going to try again. “Heh. O-of course, you probably have...very important technician things to do. Go ahead. Sorry.”

“...wait, what?” You weren’t sure if you heard him right. “What do you mean ‘technician things’?”

“Well...because you’re an animatronic technician,” Sun said.

“I’m a what?!”

Your shout echoed in the empty daycare, but you didn’t care much about your volume at the moment. You weren’t supposed to be a technician! You weren’t remotely qualified for that! That wasn’t even the job you’d applied for! How in the Fazfuck were you a technician?!

“Did you...not know that, friend?” Sun asked hesitantly. “I-I mean, it’s possible that you were incorrectly entered as one in the database! Or that my scan was wrong!”

“Your scan?” you asked absentmindedly, more concerned with the whole technician thing.

“We automatically scan any face we see!” Sun said proudly. “That way we can identify a child’s registered guardian and also any staff members with their information in the company database!”

“Right. Okay, that makes sense.” You looked down at the FazWatch again. “Oh my god, is that why my security level is so high? Because it thinks I’m supposed to work on the animatronics? Ffffffrick. Frick, man.”

“Friend, are you...alright?” Sun asked. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No. Thanks for offering, though.” You rubbed your eyes, suddenly feeling tired, and pulled off your face mask. “I’m just...going to go.”

Sun said nothing. When you looked up again, he was staring at you, perfectly still with his shoulders hunched. He seemed tense.

“I’ll come back,” you reassured him. “If not after I take care of this, then tomorrow. I have another shift at the same time, I can stop by to visit.”

“Promise?” Sun asked.

“Promise,” you said, smiling.

“Oh that’s great, friend!” Sun clapped his hands together, the motion accompanied by jingling bells and metallic clanking sounds. “I’ll be prepared next time! Oh! Do you want to take your drawings with you?” He bent over, carefully picking up your arts projects from the floor and holding them out for you.

“Sure.” You took the offered pieces of paper. “Thanks, Sun.” After a moment’s pause, you turn around and head back to the big wooden doors. “Well. I’ll see you later, then.”

“See you later, friend!” Sun waved cheerfully as you pushed the door open and headed out.

Unfortunately, you were not able to return to the daycare before the end of your shift. After you’d refilled the arcade machines with tickets, two more tasks had appeared, instructing you to fix the lights in El Chip’s and clean a whole crowd of STAFF bots that had been attacked with cake at a kid’s birthday party. And after that, the tasks kept coming. You barely managed to finish them all before it was time to clock out at nine o’clock.

You wanted to stop by the daycare before heading home—which surprised you. Sun had really made a strong impression, for you to already be attached. But it was going to be a long drive back, and to be honest, walking around late at night made you pretty anxious. Even if it was just a short way from your car to your apartment. You didn’t want it to be any later than it already was.

Still, you felt bad just leaving. So you quickly ran back to the daycare area, stopping by just long enough to peer through the glass walls into the playplace. Sure enough, Sun was there, fussing with the stack of toy barrels again. He quickly caught sight of you and waved. You waved back, then pointed to the side, indicating you were leaving. It was hard to tell from this height, up by the “Slide Into Fun!” slide, but it almost looked like Sun’s shoulders slumped. Was he disappointed? Well shit, now you just felt worse. You waved harder, then slowly backed away and disappeared.

You’d make it up to him tomorrow.

#fnaf security breach #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #fnaf daycare attendant #x reader #y/n #sundrop #moondrop #findingequinoxfic

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50centexecutivembaclass · 7 months

Text

The wage increase and yet it still more work for us to do as a city it's not much but it is a start I know most of aspire to be millionaires and billionaires so the minimum wage is nothing to them but it say a lot about a city when they can pay the correct salary to employees and people like myself that deserve the better salary the tax cuts the better job environment and happier people to work around and yes I need the more money on my paycheck for a better quality of life , for myself and in the neighborhoods I got to live in and it is only going to get better with more restrictive things in our life getting put away and passing away to a much better and brighter days in full prosperity for all of us with our elected officials in the driver's seat of our leadership .

Tax cuts to help the everyday person keep more of their check in their pockets cut the tax rates in New York City by 4 percent I see it as New York State taxes % 8.82 to % 4 percent and business tax cuts to create more jobs the wages did increase which is very good but with the taxes on my check and how much they take out of my earnings it is like I'm still making that $ 11 dollars or in some case it is like we still making $ 6 . 25 dollars an hour in an expensive city like New York City so technically it is like we are as employees are still making $ 10 dollars an hour instead of that $ 6 dollar increase that was implemented by me I proposed it and it went through the wage increase

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-minimumwage/new-yorks-cuomo-signs-two-tier-minimum-wage-law-in-push-for-state-wide-15-hour-idUSKCN0X11Y1In

New York, the minimum wage rises to $15 per hour from its current $9 by the end of 2018 for most businesses in New York City. Commuter counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester will reach $15 by the end of 2021, while the rest of the state will reach $12.50 by the end of 2020.

Apr 4, 2016What is the Raise the Wage Act 2023?

The Raise the Wage Act of 2023 would gradually raise the minimum wage to $17 by 2028 and give roughly 28 million Americans a long-overdue raise.Jul 25, 2023What was the minimum wage in New York City in 2017?General Minimum Wage Rate Schedule

Location 12/31/16 12/31/17NYC - Big Employers (of 11 or more)

$11.00 $13.00NYC - Small Employers (10 or less) $10.50 $12.00Long Island & Westchester $10.00 $11.00

Remainder of New York State Workers $9.70 $10.40January 1, 2024

What did minimum wage go up to in New York State?New York Enacts Increases to State Minimum Wage

Effective Date New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County Remainder of New York State

Current Minimum Wage $15/hour $14.20/hour

January 1, 2024 $16/hour $15/hour

January 1, 2025 $16.50/hour $15.50/hour

January 1, 2026 $17/hour $16/hour

May 16, 2023What city had the highest minimum wage?West Hollywood

West Hollywood now has nation's highest minimum wage

The city now requires businesses to pay workers at least $19.08. Previously, the minimum wage was $17 for employers with 50 employees or fewer and $17.50 for employers with at least 50 employees.

The rate was $18.35 for hotel employers.Jul 3, 2023Which states minimum wage is going up in 2023?State and locality midyear minimum wage rates are increasing in California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, and Oregon. The wage increases in all but Connecticut and Florida will take effect on July 1, 2023.Jun 9, 2023

What city in the US has the highest minimum wage in 2023?

SeattleMinimum wage workers in Seattle earn the most.No city in our study has a higher statutory minimum wage than Seattle, where minimum wage workers earn $18.69 an hour. But Seattle is also among the highest cost-of-living cities in our study.Jan 18, 2023

Proposing A

Wage increase of $ 22 - $ 23 dollars an hour for jobs not excluding any workers for any companies but Including :

Fire safety directors

Security guards

Librarians Library pages

Hotel concierges

Delivery service

Construction workers

Fed Ex workers

UPS workers

Ready Willing and able with free vocational grants from access vr programs they should hire vocational rehabilitation counselors and job developers finding permanent housing and permanent job placement after the clients training Stock Clerks and cashier's at major stores like Gristedes , C Town , met foods , Burlington coat factory wage increase for all warehousing and factory workers jack pallet and forklift training for people with no experience and a starting salary at $ 17 - 19 $ dollars an hour and it increase with more time on the job how about the first year at that base salary of $ 17 - 19 $ dollars and on the even of that year the employee gets an raise of $ 2 dollars more on their check and other financial incentives as cash allocation from their check for newly place employee mutual fund packages besides with other benefits that said company is offering this helps to place that company on the stock market because of the huge huge employee buy in it is like employers investing in their employees their stores and company .Educational requirements for jobs posted is less than a high school diploma but the job candidate has to be in a vocational program or GED preparation course half or full time hours .Civil service jobs and exams posted weekly . Sales professional salary plus commission on sales and stock options for mutual funds packages as bonuses with an wage increase to $ 19 dollars to $ 21 dollars an hour .Newly added benefits to a job description benefits an employer on jobs posted give to their employees an employer get to hold back cash or take money out of an employees check to put towards a mutual funds stock fund option to help that client make more money as a second job the mutual funds stock option is packaged to help the employees money make more money for them talk about overtime whew and at the same time that local market and store owner can put his company on the stock market and give out public shares thus in the end making it a good investment a regular place of shopping in a family like environment it is like getting to know your deli clerk , butcher , bakery attendant again only this time you are making money with the people you are spending money with Think about it that in turns build better communities better stores customer relationships safer neighborhoods and the beautifying of economically depressed environments more money for your kids college tuition school supplies newer roads being built leading to and from better neighborhoods and businesses and this is a future that we all as fellow New Yorkers can build together

Let's Make New York great again

Added benefits

Jobs and job growth

Wage increase

Stock options

Infrastructure

What is the living wage in NYC 2023? As of April 1, 2023, the following living wage rate and health benefit supplement apply: Living Wage Rate: $15.00. PLEASE NOTE: As of December 31, 2018, the New York State Minimum Wage exceeds the Living Wage Rate. Accordingly, the applicable Minimum Wage is set as the Living Wage Rate.

Is minimum wage going up in NY 2023? As part of the state's 2023-2024 budget deal, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law an increase to New York's minimum wage. In fact, the minimum wage will increase to $17.00 per hour for most New York State employers by Jan.May 18, 2023

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artemiseamoon · 2 years

Note

Hey, Arte! Can I request “wishing” and “diary” with Zach Wellison? I don’t have a preference about f! or GN!reader, but some romance would be lovely 💚 thank you

Coffee & Journal entries

Zach Wellison x GN reader

An: I am more than happy to create a romantic drabble for you 💕 enjoy (ps: I miss Zach so this is perfect)

Words: 726

Warnings: none

Prompts: wishing + diary

When you think about journals or diaries, you think about your youth. It’s a habit that gave you comfort for many years and fell to the side in adulthood.

A year ago when you met Zach, you started jotting down things in a notebook again; making it some sort of adult version of a diary. You’d fill it with little poems, observations, sketches and other things that popped into your mind.

This little notebook, with its hard cover and soft ribbon soon became one of your key accessories. And for the first time since high school, you wrote about a boy, you wrote about Zach Wellison.

Working the early morning shift at the coffee shop wasn't ideal, but it worked best for your schedule at the time. Each Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, you’d wake at the same time, take the same commute, and serve familiar faces.

Then one day, toward the end of your shift, he walked in. The very cute, quiet, kind of broody guy in a flannel shirt. The moment his soft brown eyes landed on you, you felt butterflies in your stomach. Your cheeks warmed instantly.

“Good morning, what would you like?” You asked.

“Coffee. Black.” He looked around the cafe, you can tell he was a little anxious. The afternoon sunlight streaming from the window casts a spotlight on him, and you could see his hair is a nice shade of chocolate brown.

“Sure, what size?”

He looked at you for a moment, like he’s thinking about what you said. “Smallest you have.”

“Coming right up, what’s your name?”

“Uh, Zach.” he shifted his backpack to his other shoulder.

Zach stood off to the side and waited for his coffee. You noticed how observant he remained, watching everything. When you handed him his coffee, Zach thanked you and left the cafe.

That was just the first of many interactions. It took time, but over a few weeks, Zach began talking to you a little more and more. He even mentioned one time how you had a friendly smile and calming energy. His ‘hi’s’and ‘thanks yous’ soon turned to ‘hey, how are you’ and brief chats about little things.

What you didn’t know at the time was Zach only came in when you were working, even if he wanted coffee on the other days. He could give or take the coffee, he was only coming there for you.

After everything he’s gone through, it's been so long since he’s had something so comforting in his life. He liked talking to you, seeing your smile, hearing your voice. Though he was very thankful for his new job and getting a change to work, you were the highlight of his week.

It wasn’t until three months later, after your first encounter, that Zach worked up the confidence to ask you out. Even the way he asked, it was almost like he expected a no. When you said yes, his beautiful brown eyes lit up and his face brightened with a heart warming smile.

That's how it started. You and Zach.

Long before he walked into the cafe you were wishing for love, for companionship, to find your person; and Zach is it. Now, a year later, you've made a warm home with each other and love him more and more each day. You still work at the cafe but instead of waking up alone you wake up with him next to you, looking angelic in his sleep.

In the mornings you now find premade meals for your day and little notes on the containers. Some days, you and Zach are like passing ships in the night, especially as he’s moved up the ranks in the restaurant. But Zach is attentive, loving, doting. And he always tried to make up for lost time with dates, home cooked meals and more.

You know one day you’ll leave the coffee shop. But even when that day comes, you’ll always be thankful it gave your Zach. You’ll always remember it as the place where cupid finally remembered your wish.

You’ll remember it as the place that inspired you to scribble a boy's name on paper like a teen would; a dreamy spell on paper. Your wish came true, and you barely use the dairy anymore, but you keep in a safe place and think back on it fondly.

More Zach

More GN / reader unspecified works

More June Drabbles

#zach wellison #GN reader #Zach Wellison x GN reader #Zach Wellison fluff #artes june drabbles

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insanelydeadlybookcollector · 8 months

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903 The One With The Pediatrician

Monica's feeling so guilty that she literally can't face him.

Chandler follows her, which physically lets her know that he's listening, that he's not hurt and is instead interested and trying to understand the change in thinking. I love that he says "what happened to you can't live without me four days a week?" because there's no narcissism or arrogance in that line. Earlier, when she said it to him, Monica insisted he was the most important person in her life and she'd follow him anywhere, but he hasn't let that get to his head. (He's matured, not that he ever really let something like that get to his head in earlier seasons, but he did gloat and preen, not that statements like that happened much in his life before).

Also, that's a Seinfeld reference. "And weekdays always go by fast. Friday we're leaving. So it's like two days really. It's one day. Half a day, really. I mean you subtract showers and meals, it's like twenty minutes. It will go by like that." Thing is, when you put it like that, four days a week isn't all that long. Not when you know they call each other all the time there too. But it forgets that they're trying to have a baby - and with only three days a week together, that makes things harder. And that Chandler has to travel to get to Tulsa, it's not a little commute, it's 2 hours, 59 minutes from gate to gate and can involve a layover that makes it take longer. He's going to be exhausted and losing sleep - if he wants to work on Monday he's got to leave while it's still dark or stay at work late to get in his 9-5 work day equivalent. He's got to do that twice a week, travelling at night a lot of the time. And when he is home, his time is just as divided, catching up with everyone, dinners as a group, playing with Emma, ball games and laundry (both types).

And then they want to make a baby, when he's that jetlagged? Sure, the sex is going to be hot, but also might not happen given all that exhaustion. Let alone her, starting a new job, perfecting recipes, getting to know the staff, making a name for herself with the critics. That's going to mean long hours and hard work too. They're sacrificing a lot for Monica to work in New York at her dream job; time together, the family they desperately want, time with their friends, a pay rise (Tulsa comped Chandler a house and car in the suburbs which he ended up turning down to live in a hotel four days a week so Tulsa never felt like home, where instead of earning his paycheck and not having to pay a mortgage or rent, (although it did sound like they had every intention of returning to New York, possibly by renting out apartment 20 and returning to it in a year after Tulsa, but that may have not been the case. Therefore, they could have used that opportunity to save loads of money for a house of their own by the time they came back).

#friends season nine #friends tv #f.r.i.e.n.d.s #mondler #chandler and monica #monica and chandler #chandler x monica #monica x chandler #monica geller and chandler bing #chandler bing #monica bing #chandler bing and monica geller #monica geller x chandler bing #chandler bing x monica geller bing #chandler bing x monica geller #monica geller #monica geller bing

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restforthe-burdenedsoul · 1 year

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Probably not the last school post but I really need to make a decision and true to overthinking fashion, I’m probably going to spend my entire weekend grappling with this decision.

I think I’m leaning toward taking a break. I need to know by Monday.

The rest of this is just processing.

The video I posted yesterday really resonated with me. Elyse said “the right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing”

I think, at times, I tend to really gaslight myself spiritually (the traumatized 90s church kids get it haha). We’re taught “God won’t give us anything we can’t handle.” But I’m also realizing (through school since it’s a Christian university and we do devotionals every week) that God also gives us discernment and wisdom.

Everything seemed to be lining up so perfectly for school. I was supposed to start in 2021, but the program shut down. It ended up that 2021 was one of my worst years of life (there was literally something traumatic that happened every month), I got transferred to a school with a really great curriculum set up, we ended up moving into a two bedroom so I could have separation from work, my job moved me closer to home which cut down on commute time, I got a pay raise which would help with the costs of school. It just so happened that all of this was happening around the time school started. So it felt “right”, it felt “God ordained.”

Looking back in this very moment, maybe it wasn’t for the purpose of school. Maybe it wasn’t for the purpose of anything in particular. Maybe it fell into place for wedding planning and the wedding, maybe it was an opportunity to work on my physical and mental health. Whatever it was, I focused on school and have been forcing myself to keep pushing because “this is where God wants me to be”

Elyse also said that sometimes you have to say no when the timing isn’t right not because of fear or imposter syndrome, but because of your limits at this time.

I think I struggle with this part the most, but I feel more affirmed looking at it this way. I’ve struggled with the “why” do I want to leave. I’m very hard on myself and I feel a lot of guilt and pressure from my parents. Their thoughts become my thoughts. Is it because I’m lazy? Because I want to do nothing after work? Because I’m afraid of the internship? Because I’d rather go out with friends? Am I incapable? But it’s none of that.

I know I am 100% capable of finishing grad school. I’ve proven through 4 classes now that I am capable. It can’t be laziness or else I’d never turn things in. Not only am I able to do the assignments, I’m getting all A’s. My lowest grade so far was a 96% and that’s because I skipped doing an assignment because I just had too many things going on to do it. Fear is not what is holding me back.

“An opportunity that seems perfect can swallow you whole and spit you back out and take a lot more from your life than it will give to you”

THIS. When I weight the pros and cons of each decision, there are way more cons of leaving. But when I put them on a weighted scale, the pros of leaving wins by a landslide. I think the reasons I’m leaving have more value than the reasons I’d be staying. My mental and physical health need to be a priority because that’s what gives me the strength to do life. I think that maybe I needed a hard push from life to understand that. Even my sleep schedule is crucial because sleep is what helps regulate our moods, maintain our physical health, process memories and retain learning, and probably so many other things. The fact that I am getting 4-5 hours of poor sleep a night Could be reason enough to pause. I really only say that because I’m still trying to adjust to this new work county and learning how to set forth boundaries on my time. Therefore I’m just not sleeping when I have to leave my house at 630 in the morning for a meeting an hour away, etc.

At this point, school seems to be taking more than its giving. Again, I put so much pressure on myself to be perfect. Perfection in this situation is continuing to get all A’s, graduate on track, be at every work meeting no matter how late I went to sleep, be there for every family function, be available any time a friend wants to spend time. That’s…not humanly possible. I think that no matter when I’m in school, there will always be something I have to sacrifice and unfortunately that tends to be friends and family. But with time, I think I can adjust work expectations and school expectations. I think if I work on my mental health, I will be more capable of balancing all of these things. If I am in better physical health (I’m talking about menstrual/hormonal issues, my weight, my sleep) I will be more capable of balancing everything.

Right now, I feel like school is taking everything from me. I’ve been having a lot of flashbacks again of my first marriage (I don’t understand why, other than I think when I’m stressed, it reminds me of the stress I felt back then) and taking it out on M. This isn’t okay. I’m also having a lot of emotions resurfacing from undergrad - that same feeling of loss of control, hopelessness, pressure. These things almost broke me. And my biggest fear is that if I don’t get a handle on my mental health, I may not be so lucky next time.

But then there’s that other side of this where I feel so dramatic. Like I’m making a big deal out of nothing. That I’m romanticizing this break. I have 11 more months to go. Why can’t I just do it? But I think my mental health is important enough for this break. I have to make changes in my life, for real this time. And I think I finally have tangible motivation and goals to help me succeed.

#journeytomsw #mentalhealthawareness #mental health #masters of social work

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ahiddenpath · 1 year

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Nanowrimo 2022: COMPLETE

I COMPLETED NANOWRIMO 2022 YAAAAAAY! I’m going to write a bit about how it went beneath the cut! I’ll post a final nanowrimo draft snippet separately.

Nanowrimo 2022 Recap

This has been an interesting Nanowrimo... I was between my old job and my next one, which starts on Monday 11/28, for three weeks, which means that, in a way, I was in probably the best position I’ve ever been in for Nanowrimo (I’ve participated in and won Nanowrimo every year since 2008, except for 2011, which I skipped because Skyrim came out, lol!).

However... Well, from the last week of September through the first week of November, I was scrambling to do an intense, three interview application process for my new job, including presenting, in a short period of time. I was slammed and the busiest I’ve probably ever been, trying to get the new job, do all of my work at my demanding old job while trying not to make it obvious that I was attending a bunch of interviews, and then trying to navigate closing up and leaving the old job while doing a bunch of online paperwork for the new one.

It was a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

I was just thinking of the last time I took a staycation, how I accomplished so many creative things and had fresh energy for projects. For most of this break, I basically focused on... breathing? Being? It’s hard to explain, but I spent most of the days like I had nothing to do and nowhere to be, like my job was just to... exist (and Nanowrimo, obviously)? I’ve genuinely never done that in my life. I can’t tell you if I enjoyed it or not, or even if I think it was “good” for me, but I don’t think I had much choice in the matter, regardless. It’s just sort of... What my brain and my body did.

So, I guess I had a lot of time for Nano... But I was able to do exactly zero planning for it, and I didn’t have that rush of Nanowrimo energy that made last year so easy, even working full time and commuting at my crazy job. Things got really challenging this last week, because I was out of ideas and, more pressingly, because there was a death in my husband’s family. I’ve known his grandfather since I was 14 (nearly 20 years now), so... Well, it was sad, and I tried to support my husband and his family, although I never know what to do or say in those situations.

I guess what I’m saying is that I have complex feelings about this Nano, lol! As usual, I wouldn’t say I’m proud or happy; the task is done, that’s all. I’d love to think about what I’ll do next, but understandably, my focus is taken by the new job starting on Monday.

Hopefully this doesn’t sound negative or like a downer; I don’t mean it that way. I just have a lot on my emotional/mental plate right now, and it’s important to acknowledge that to myself, I think.

But! There are 50,000 more words of my fanfic, Puits d’Amour, coming up! Please look forward to it!

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo2022 #nanowrimo 2022 #hidden's life

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highdefinitions · 1 year

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I was just wondering if you are going to continue the "and so it goes" series? I absolutely loved the first two chapters!

PSA: anyone that reads and so it goes should probably read this to just get the feel of what i've been feeling!!! sorry if it's long but i've wanted to talk about some things and just haven't really known how to go about it.

to actually answer your question, i will be posting chapter four on monday. i'll continue to post what i have on mondays until i don't have anything pre-written to post.

okay so i'm not angry at you per se but the more i see this question the more slightly annoyed i get. i'm not going at you, anon, but i am going to use your ask to talk about some things.

so far with and so it goes, i have chapters one through three posted. after that, i have up to chapter twelve completed and maybe a third of chapter 13 written. at this point, right now, i don't know if i will finish it. i feel too far removed in a way (i started this fic before i had ever even created a tumblr and was just going to write it for the hell of it). this fic has been up in the air for probably a little more than a year now and got shoved to the side by other projects (sparrowverse, the dead don't die, other writing i've posted) and now that i've tried to go back to it, it's hard. i write differently, the story is a little lost on me, i don't like it as much. it's difficult as a writer to just write when i don't particularly feel 100% involved in the project or entirely like it anymore. i posted it because i thought people would like it, but it seems that a large number of you do not. which might be another factor playing into this that makes me feel even less motivated.

as for the question of when are you going to update again, i've seen it many times. and i just don't know why. since i've announced and so it goes, i've been updating it weekly. i've posted a new chapter every monday since i've started actually posting it, and i cannot seem to understand the fact that people are already asking me when the next one is coming. pre-written or not, one chapter a week is pretty damn good to me. overloading and posting everything at once is silly to me and asking for even more questions like this while i try and cram to write the next chapter. you guys do have to remember that i have a life. i work two jobs, go to college full time, i have animals that need multiple hours of attention each week, as well as all the commuting i do to jobs and work and just general life activities. it's sometimes stressful and i don't like to create that added pressure on myself with writing. i do this to relax. and quite frankly, i do not owe anyone but myself anything pertaining to my writing.

with this being said, i appreciate everyone's excitement surrounding one of my fics. i love that you love what i'm writing, but i am an anxious person. i overthink and i put pressure on myself to be something i cannot physically be. i can't crank out writing like some people can, i'm too critical of myself. if i don't think it's good, it's not going anywhere. i am my own biggest critic and there's been times where i have deleted entire chapters just to rewrite them. i don't have that ability to sometimes just say, it is what it is when it comes to writing.

and it might sound like i'm saying i don't enjoy gvf anymore. of course, i do. i love their music and the boys and i'm so excited for their new album. it's just writing that doesn't particularly excite me anymore. and i might very well circle back to writing them again in the future. it happens. i go through cycles with what i enjoy writing and who i enjoy writing about. even right now i have other projects that i'm working on that i'm happy to write.

this might even lead to more questions, so if you actually read this, and do have other questions for me, don't hesitate to ask me. i want you guys to understand and make sure you don't feel like i'm abandoning ship. please ask if there's something you want to know

#percy’s asks #and so it goes

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lone-rhapsodist · 2 years

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I can't sleep, so I thought I might as well write something down. There have been a lot of changes in my life lately and they have had a bit of an impact on the project, as well as, well, everything else. I have moved in with my girlfriend, my commute has gotten longer, I have been trying to settle down and establish some work-life balance but it's been hit and miss so far.

The project has been okay. Lots of lovely conversations with my collaborator, but it's been slow, mainly because I'm finding it so hard to focus and write. However, the conversations have been very promising and there's definitely something to build on for the future. Also yes, it's 'collaborator' in the singular now, sadly, but it's okay. We work well together, so I don't mind -- as I said, I'm quite happy with how things have been going!

I feel like I've had a bit of a revelation tonight, and that is that I should start treating this more as a job and less as a "let's see what happens" kind of thing. Mind you, I don't want it to become a job as in "we need to get the reports ready by Monday for the presentation on the budget" or whatever, but I would like it to be more regular, and I think treating it as a daily habit rather than a "wait for inspiration" kind of thing might help.

It is also kind of true that this is, to an extent, an extension of my job. I mean, without giving away too much about myself, I do work in the sort of job where I am effectively divulgating the subject and getting more adepts, I mean, more people interested in it. I was rereading some of my past posts earlier (as I said, I can't sleep) and I noticed I once used 'school' to refer to my job. So yeah, my cover is pretty much off. I am a teacher. Surprise!

And as I expose you, reader, to such a shocking revelation, I realise that my desire to reveal my identity is actually part of a much bigger need to share more about myself and my life. I don't know how to say it, but essentially, I have not been well lately. I have been feeling quite depressed because of work, and it's been having an impact on pretty much everything else in my life. At times, I have wanted to write about this on here, but the fear surrounding the mortifying ordeal of being known has prevented me from doing so, and for good reason.

Lately, however, I have been focussing more on taking care of myself first, and I have realised that the need to share whatever is going on in your life with others can also be seen an act of self-care. So, as part of my aspiration to work more regularly on the project, I think I should also start blogging more regularly in general. I mean, since my job and my project are so clearly interconnected, it simply follows that I should not feel ashamed to talk about things that are going on my life, insofar as they are relevant to the project and its progress, or interesting and worth sharing, or even just entertaining.

I mean, as you can tell from the length of this post, I have a certain facility with writing about my thoughts and the like, and so I am sure that doing more of this will help with my other project-related writing too. Heck, I have been writing poetry lately, and even that has been helpful somehow! So, I am sure this will be useful too, sharing my thoughts and what not. Also, this type of writing ties in well with some reading I have been doing lately about the history of the essay -- I am thinking in particular of Montaigne. I would like to write something about this at some point. And I would like to share my poetry too, if I feel so inclined.

Furthermore, I do hope that another benefit of this new habit of daily writing, as well as more work on the project, will be shorter posts, because monster posts such as this one are really not ideal for something like Tumblr. I mean, as much as I love to just word-vomit on the page, I must confess, it is kind of a struggle to write this stuff -- I mean, my thumbs are already hurting from all the typing. And if it's hard for me to write it, it must be impossible for you to read it. So yeah, I do hope that more frequent updates will result in shorter, more readable posts, more engagement, more interaction... and most importantly, progress. But we'll see.

I've got to get up for work in about two and a half hours, so I should probably try to get some sleep now. Thank you for making it through this, you're amazing! Bye-bye for now, stay tuned, and take care!

#lone-rhapsodist #work #school #project #classics #personal #writing #blogging

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michael-yagoobian · 2 years

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Illogical Reasoning Chapter 1: Migraines

Summary: Nina and Will Holmes have lived in Beacon Hills, California, for a little over a year by the start of their sophomore year of high school. In their time in the small town, Beacon Hills has always been quiet and boring. On the first day of school, the lower half of a Jane Doe is found in the woods; a Jane Doe that only Nina and Will seem to believe was murdered. Per their mother Imogen’s pleas, the twins agree to stick to the sidelines and let the police do their job, but it’s hard to do when every new development drags them closer and closer to the center of this case.

Hospital walls were something that Nina was familiar with by now, no matter which country she was in. To the detriment of her mother’s wallet, that meant the Beacon Hills Hospital was a second home to the teenager when her migraines became too much to handle. That morning, Nina and her mother were visiting that second home for the third time in one month after she had fainted in the kitchen and hit her forehead on the counter.

Melissa McCall flipped through notes on a clipboard. “Has your period been regular since we put you on birth control?” At the end of her first year of high school, Nina’s doctors wanted to test the theory that her migraines were hormonal, and she was given the pill. At Melissa’s question, Nina pursed her lips and remained silent. The older woman stared at her, unimpressed. “How many have you missed?”

“They’re tedious,” Nina replied.

With a light chuckle, Melissa shook her head. “I hear ya, sister. I know there haven’t been any documented health issues around skipping your period too much, but there haven’t been many long-term studies, either. It could be why you’ve been having more migraines this month. No more skipping. Got it?”

“Got it.” Nina sighed and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the familiar stab behind her brow. “Are you sure I can’t go to school today?” It was the first day of her second year at Beacon Hills High School, and she only had three afternoon classes after she commuted to Berkeley for the morning.

Melissa bit the side of her cheek and checked the clipboard again. “You don’t have a concussion, but I really think you should get some rest now, when your high school classes are starting easy. Berkeley started two weeks ago, right? How’s that going?”

She enjoyed her classes so far. Animal physiology was going to be easy considering she worked at the vet clinic, game theory was sure to be simple, and psychology of myth was her for-fun choice. The concept of the supernatural had always seemed far-fetched to her, and learning about how people created mythical creatures and stories would be interesting.

Nina’s mother was sitting in the hospital waiting area when Melissa and Nina walked out. Imogen Holmes immediately stood, rushing over to Nina. “How are you feeling, Darling?” Imogen asked, brushing the hair around her stitches back.

“They gave me pain meds, so fine.”

“I filed a prescription for the pharmacy down the road, so that should be ready in about ten minutes,” Melissa explained. “No concussion, but just to be safe I don’t want her driving this week, and you should come back next Monday so we can check up on you. Does that work?”

Imogen nodded. “Yes, thank you so much, Mel. Does Nina need to take today off of school?”

The nurse gave Nina a pointed look. “I think it would be best, but it’s ultimately Nina’s choice. If you do go to school today, say hi to Scott for me.”

~~~

“You fainted? Why the hell are you here?” Once Nina arrived at the school after missing her college classes, Danny had immediately joined her side, walking her down to her locker as the other students stared at the line of stitches on her temple.

“I didn’t get hurt, it looks worse than it actually is. Besides, if the birth control doesn’t work, I’m going to keep missing classes anyways. I don’t want to have to play catch-up for the first day.”

Danny shrugged, remembering her attendance record during their freshman year. “I heard Will almost hit someone in the parking lot this morning.”

She groaned, rolling her eyes. “I swear, he drives horribly just to make a point.” Her twin notoriously hated driving. Not just in America, either. He’d been awful at it back in England as well. That morning, Nina almost thought that he was going to faint when their mother handed him the car keys. If Will ended up making so much as a dent in the car, she would kill him.

At Nina’s locker, Lydia and Jackson were so kind to detach their mouths from one another to notice Nina and Danny approaching. A brunette that Nina didn’t recognize stood awkwardly to the side, doing her best to look anywhere but at the couple.

“What’s with the head wound?” Jackson asked, sneering at the stitches as soon as he saw her.

“It’s the new trend, would you like one to match?” Nina opened her locker door, conveniently hitting Jackson’s shoulder with it and forcing him out of the way. He responded with a lackluster ‘hah’ as she put her things away and got what she needed.

Lydia hummed, reaching up and brushing the hair around her stitches. “Come on, I’ll fix your hair so you can hide it. Allison?” Lydia turned to the brunette, who had been gawking at Nina’s injury while clutching the handle of her bag. Lydia grabbed both girls’ hands and dragged them to the restroom, leaving Jackson and Danny to talk about lacrosse tryouts. As soon as they were inside the empty restroom, Lydia spun on Nina, hands flying to her hair. “Are you alright? Did you faint again?”

“This morning. At least I don’t have a concussion,” Nina huffed. While she couldn’t turn her head, she panned her eyes over to look at Allison. “I’m Nina, by the way.”

She gave her a hesitant smile. “Allison. Do you, uh… faint a lot?”

Lydia turned Nina’s head, forcing her to look at the wall instead of Allison. “Not really. I have chronic migraines, it’s very rare for them to make me faint. What’s Washington like? I’ve never been.”

“How’d you know that?” Allison asked, her eyes wide as Lydia merely rolled hers.

“You have three different pins from the area. I’m assuming you lived there, or were you just travelling? Ow!” She hissed in pain and glared at Lydia, who muttered an unsympathetic ‘oops’ as she tugged at her hair.

“Both. My family moves around a lot. I liked Washington. That’s also really cool, that you noticed.” She was still awkward, but getting slightly more comfortable as the conversation progressed.

“See? She appreciates it,” Nina grumbled, her head moving as Lydia turned it once more.

Lydia only snorted. “Statistically, someone has to.” She finished her work and patted Nina’s head, turning to Allison. “Don’t mind her, she’s a know-it-all.”

“I still don’t understand how that’s an insult.” Nina assessed her new hairstyle in the mirror. It wasn’t horrible. “Thanks. Could I have a ride home after school? I’m not allowed to drive for the rest of the week.”

“Fine. If you don’t have a concussion now, being in the same car as Will when he's driving will definitely give you one.”

“Who’s Will?”

“Nina’s hot and annoying twin brother.”

Nina gagged. “He is not hot. He is annoying, though.”

“Whatever you say, Darling.” The three left the bathroom as it got closer to the starting time for class. “Are you coming to the party on Friday?”

“I would rather give myself a concussion.”

~~~

At the end of the school day, Nina and Will were both on their way to the lacrosse scrimmage. Her brother was being especially difficult ever since she’d told him he would have to find a ride or drive himself for the rest of the week. “Nurse McCall only suggested you don’t drive, she didn’t say you couldn’t. The last time I had to drive us home from school, the sheriff thought I was drunk.”

“And he let you off with a warning when he realized you’re just stupid,” Nina countered, opening the last door that led to the field. Early fall had her dressed in a light sweater, while the native Californians all sported hats and gloves to battle the cold. Will wore a denim jacket, one that Lydia would inevitably ask to borrow in an attempt to make Jackson jealous.

Will scoffed beside her as they walked across the field to the bleachers. “It’s hardly my fault. It’s not like we ever needed to drive in London.”

“And yet, I manage just fine.” She climbed up the seats and sat next to Lydia, Will sitting one seat below. “Any new people?”

Lydia, who was too preoccupied with the asses of the players to see any new faces or even register Nina’s question, only hummed in response. “I think they’re about to start,” Allison said to her with a smile. Her eyes flicked down to Will, who was pulling out a blue folder. “Hi, are you—”

“Yes.” Will looked up at Nina and opened the folder. “Who are your bets this year?” Last year, the twins made a rather lucrative business in betting on the players and games. They’d even gotten Coach Finstock in on it, not that the school board needed to be aware of that.

Nina glared at him. “Will, this is Allison. Allison, Will. She’s new.”

“Lovely. Bets?”

Allison laughed in disbelief. “Wow, Nina and Lydia were right. You are annoying.” Will only scoffed as Nina and Lydia laughed, handing Nina the spreadsheet as she quickly filled in her top players. Danny, Jackson, and Sanders. As she handed it back over to Will, Allison spoke again and pointed out into the field. “Who is that?”

“Number?” Will asked, quickly making a list of jersey numbers and the players.

“Eleven.”

Will snorted. “Bad choice. McCall was on the bench all last year.” The player in question was heading to the goal. Nina assumed Finstock put him there instead of Danny to possibly boost morale.

Rolling her eyes, Nina slapped Will on the back of the head. “That isn’t what she meant, idiot.” He turned and glared at her but Nina ignored him, looking at Allison instead. “His name is Scott McCall. I work with him. He’s nice, but Will’s right. Rubbish at lacrosse.”

As if on cue, Finstock blew his whistle, and Scott covered the sides of his helmet. Sanders, the first in line, took a shot at the goal. Just because Scott was on goal didn’t mean Sanders was going to go easy on him. The ball sailed through the air, unceremoniously nailing Scott right in the face. “See?” Will nodded to Scott, who was getting up from the ground. The next person in line didn’t wait for Scott to get ready as he threw the next ball, but just as it was about to fly past him and into the goal, Scott adjusted the goalie stick and caught the ball. He also caught the next three, with as much precision as Danny. “Huh. Never mind.”

Nina’s brow furrowed. Scott, the same guy that caused Nina and Deaton to put up a sign that said “___ days since last accident” due to him knocking things over, was playing like a pro. After that initial fumble with the whistle. Nina was more sensitive to sounds when her migraines got bad, but not to that extent.

There was a pause as Jackson cut to the front of the line. “Twenty says Jackson doesn’t make it,” Nina said, nudging Will’s shoulder with her knee. Lydia spun around to glare at her, to which Nina only shrugged. “If you’d like to take the bet to support him, by all means.”

“Yeah, Martin. Be a good girlfriend. We all know the money will be coming out of Jackson’s wallet, anyway.” Will sent Lydia an innocent smile as her glare focused on him.

Lydia pursed her lips, looking out onto the field as Jackson got ready. “Fine,” She huffed. “Put me down on your stupid spreadsheet.”

Will laughed, making a point of lifting his pen high in the air before scribbling out Lydia and Nina’s bet. “Yes, Ma’am.”

On the field, Jackson began running at the goal. Bobbing and weaving as though there were other players against him — Nina was tempted to roll her eyes at the dramatics — until he sprung up and swung the stick, sending the ball on path to the goal. It would have made it if anyone else had been goalie. Scott spun his net to the opposite side of where it had been, and the ball landed perfectly.

Everyone cheered, Lydia included, who actually stood to scream in support for the guy that beat her boyfriend and ousted twenty bucks. It was just to get back at Jackson, naturally, as she shoved the money in Nina’s hand as soon as she sat back down. “Not a word from either of you,” She ordered, staring out into the field.

~~~

At the tail end of her shift, Nina was in the process of sanitizing the examination table by the time Scott bothered to show up. “Don’t tell me being the new star of the lacross team means you’re going to start showing up late,” She mused, leaving the room and peeling her gloves off. Scott was cutting it close, but it wouldn’t have mattered even if he did get there late, as Will wasn’t there to pick Nina up yet.

Scott smiled at her apologetically. “Sorry, Nina. I lost my inhaler in the woods last night, I was busy looking for it.”

She paused from logging out of the computer to stare up at Scott. “Did you intend to tell me that you were in the woods around the same time the police found half of a body?”

His eyes widened, jaw dropping slightly. “I— I lost it before. I wasn’t looking for the body, or anything! I was just… in the woods. At night.”

“Isn’t that reassuring.” Nina stared at him for a beat, then rolled her eyes and stepped back once she was done with the computer, allowing Scott to log on. “Well, congratulations on finding her. I suggest investing the reward money in therapy.”

Tossing her backpack over her shoulder, Nina took her phone out and sent a quick text to Will, asking where the hell he was. “How did you know I found it— her?”

“Mud and blood on the shoes.” He looked down at his shoes, his eyes widening in realization. “I’m choosing to be optimistic and assume you only found her instead of being the one who murdered her.”

Scott’s head shot up from the computer screen to stare at her. “What? I just— what do you mean, murdered? She wasn’t murdered, I was att— I think she was just attacked, I heard a wolf when I was out there.”

Nina only snorted. “No, you didn’t.” Finally, Will pulled up to the clinic, parking over a line instead of in between them.

“I know what I heard—”

“The only wolves in this part of California are at the zoo, Scott. And none of them have somehow escaped in the past twenty-four hours.” She went to the door, pausing as she remembered the other thing on her mind. “Are you on drugs?” Nina asked, watching Scott’s reaction.

Scott only stared at her in confusion, his brow furrowed. “No. What do you mean?”

He didn’t appear to be lying. Scott had always been a bad liar anyway, not that he tried to very often. “Just checking. Try your best not to make a habit of traipsing the woods at night.”

Shaking his head, Scott huffed out a laugh and wished Nina a good night as she left the clinic.

~~~

For Nina’s “for-fun” pick of her college courses, Psychology of Myth was taking up a lot more of her time than she thought. They’d been in class for two weeks, one week longer than her high school, and she had a five page paper due on Sunday night. In honor of it being a full moon Friday, her professor decided to have the students write about werewolves. Nina’s thesis was on clinical lycanthropy and if it came from the myth, or vice versa. It was an opinion piece, but it still required academic sources and full citations. During the two hours she’d been at the public library, Nina had successfully written an outline and gathered enough sources, requiring every book in the mythology and folklore section related to werewolves. It was a larger section than she imagined the Beacon Hills Public Library would have, but at least it saved her the trouble of making Will drive all the way back to Berkeley.

While she was writing, Stiles Stilinski had entered the library and was staring at an empty shelf when Nina noticed and called him over. He sat across from her at the same table, taking the first book that was closest to him, and started flipping through.

It took about ten seconds before he finally got bored and looked up at her. “So, uh… Did you hear about the body?”

Nina spared him a glance, her eyebrow raised as she halted her typing. Who hadn’t? “The same body that Scott accidentally revealed you two had found?” She continued typing as he froze in the corner of her eye.

“He told you that?”

“No,” Nina answered, unable to help the small smile that crept up on her lips as she continued with her paper. “He told me that he found it, after he had accidentally revealed he was in the Preserve at the time.”

“So how’d you know I was there?”

This was too easy. Nina leveled him with an unimpressed look. “You just confirmed it.” He visibly deflated, guilty. “Why are you asking me about the body?”

Stiles looked around before leaning forward, forgetting that he had just confessed to searching for half of a dead woman. “Scott told me that you had said something about her being murdered. My dad said the medical examiner is leaning towards animal attack, since they found wolf fibers on the body. I wanted to know why you thought it was a murder.”

It was comforting to know the medical examiner was an idiot. Nina rolled her eyes. “What animal has the ability to slice someone in half? And wolf fibers? I just told Scott the other day that there are no wolves in this part of California. Furthermore, even if there were, wolves don’t hunt for sport. Why wouldn’t it have eaten at least part of her? Who the hell is the medical examiner?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Someone in San Francisco. Where did you get that information? It’s all classified.”

“Why would I tell the son of the sheriff? No offense.”

Stiles sighed, shrugging. “None taken. So, it was definitely murder?”

“Unless your father has extra classified information to prove otherwise,” She paused from typing to look back at Stiles with a smirk. “Or, It was a werewolf.” That one word seemed to set Stiles off, as he jumped in his seat and nearly fell to the ground, knocking a few books off of their shared table. The people surrounding the area turned to look. “Jesus, I was kidding! You don’t actually believe in werewolves, do you?”

“No!” The library patrons continued glaring at his outburst. “Uh, I mean, no,” He repeated. Gathering the books that had fallen to the floor and clutching them to his chest. “Is it alright if I take these? I have to go right now.”

What the hell was wrong with him? Nina watched him and nodded. “Yeah, I’m done with them.” Thinking that was the end of the conversation, she put her entire focus on her paper.

However, Stiles still stood at the table. “Hey, uh… I’ve been meaning to ask… does Lydia ever talk about me?”

There it was. The inevitable segue in conversation that came every time a boy talked to her. Nina rolled her eyes and refused to look at him. “Walk away, Stilinski.”

“Yep, absolutely.” To his credit, Stiles didn’t persist, immediately leaving her alone.

~~~

The following Monday, Nina found Scott and Stiles whispering quietly at the former’s locker. “Hey, Scott—”

“If you’re going to try and convince me to play the game for your and Will’s stupid betting pool, I don’t want to hear it,” Scott cut her off, already looking at her like she was an annoyance.

She did not have the time or energy for that. Sneering, Nina rested her hand on her hip. “I was going to ask you if you could cover my shift next Thursday. I have a group project and that’s the only time everyone else is available to meet.”

Scott let out a guilty sigh. “Right. Yeah, Nina, I can do that. Sorry.”

“Whatever.” Nina pulled her phone out and sent a quick text to Deaton, confirming the scheduling change. “Lydia did try to enlist me to convince you to play, but I told her if she didn’t shut up about it I’d dislocate your shoulder. Then both star players would be out of commission.”

Stiles’s brow furrowed. “You can dislocate a shoulder?”

“Would you like a demonstration?”

“I’m good, but that’s really thoughtful of you to offer.”

Nina sent Stiles a mock-innocent smile. “I’m nothing if not charitable. See you later, Scott.”

About to walk away, Scott reached out and grabbed her arm. “Wait! You, uh… you were right. About it being a murder. Be careful, okay?”

While Nina never usually cared about the context when people told her she was right, this case made her suspicious. “How do you know it’s a murder? What happened?”

Scott looked over at Stiles, who was shaking his head furiously. “It’s Derek Hale. We don’t have proof yet, but—”

“Derek Hale? He gave Allison a ride home from Lydia’s party. She said he was nice, just quiet.” She decided not to divulge that Allison was currently mad at her because Nina had said it was stupid for her to get in the car with an adult male stranger. She stood by it, but she wasn’t going to get into it with her coworker and his friend. “If he killed that woman, why would he scope out a high school party if he didn’t intend to hurt Allison?” Nina folded her arms over her chest, lifting her hand to bite down on her thumb nail. There could be countless reasons, given that nothing was known about the surviving Hales after the fire, save for the one that was still in a coma.

Scott merely shrugged. “I don’t know, just be careful.”

It was believable, as Scott didn’t know a lot. “Why do you think it’s him?”

“We can’t tell you,” Stiles cut in. “If Derek Hale offers you a ride home, just say no.”

Nina tilted her head to the side. “Really? After Allison’s review, I was thinking of hiring him as my personal chauffeur.”

Stiles mirrored her expression, also tilting his head. “Well, don’t do that.”

“Nina, seriously, just be careful,” Scott sighed, repeating the sentiment for the third time in their interaction.

“I’ll try my best,” She drawled, turning and walking away.

~~~

The first game of the season always had the highest turnout. It was one of Nina’s least favorite things about attending the games, but it also meant the highest cash turnout. “Jackson cornered me earlier today,” Will muttered to Nina as she sat down next to him on the bleachers. “He said that he’s telling all of the other players not to pass to McCall, so everyone that’s bet on him is about to lose out. I’m changing my bets before the game, do you want me to change yours as well?”

After Jackson’s injury, Nina and Will had both replaced him with Scott as their top three. It looked like Jackson was now retaliating against the threat to his status. Nina huffed in distaste. “No, if the both of us win big, people will throw a fit about us cheating. I’ll keep Danny, Scott, and Sanders.”

“If you insist.”

Eventually, Allison joined the twins with her father, and then Lydia sat down with them as well after threatening Scott. Not long after that, the ref blew the whistle, starting the game. Nina closed her eyes as the sharp noise reminded her of the headache she’d had all day, and put in her earplugs along with quickly swallowing some pain medication. The ear plugs only muffled the noise, so she could still hear everything around her. That included the shocked sounds when Jackson checked Scott, sending him to the ground as Jackson scooped up the ball and made the first goal of the game.

“Oh, that piece of shit!” Nina cursed, ignoring the mother that turned to glare at her as she covered her small child’s ears. Everyone else in the stands was cheering at the win, save for Nina and Will, the latter scribbling down the details of the goal.

The game continued, and at the start of the final quarter, they were down two points. The players gathered in their assigned spots, and Scott was hunched over when the ref went to check on him.

“Which one is Scott again?” Chris Argent asked.

“Eleven,” Will answered.

“Otherwise known as the only one who hasn’t caught a single ball this entire game,” Lydia continued.

Nina rolled her eyes. “It’s hardly his fault no one’s been passing to him. Plus, he’s also been the only victim of in-team violence.” Lydia hummed nonchalantly, and Nina turned around to glare at her friend. “If we lose this game because of your boyfriend’s one-sided dick measuring contest, I will kill him painfully and slowly.”

“If we lose this game because of my boyfriend’s one-sided dick measuring contest, I will kill him,” Lydia agreed with a smile. “But for now, Scott’s the only player hunched over on the field.”

“I hope he’s okay,” Allison muttered, her eyes trained on Scott.

“I hope we’re okay,” Lydia replied. “We need to win this.” With that, she stood, lifting another sign and forcing Allison to hold it with her.

The referee signaled the start of the final quarter, and the force of the two players starting with the ball sent it straight up in the air. Scott, no longer hunched over, used the shoulder of an opposing team member to launch himself in the air and catch the ball. Everyone yelled, including Nina, whose headache only worsened because of it. She found it to be worth it as Scott weaved between everyone on the other team, scoring a goal and only putting them one away from tying.

Another miracle occurred as the opposing team passed Scott the ball, and he scored once again. It was hard to tell from the distance, but it looked like he had ripped through the goalie’s net. Once he got the final and winning goal, the initial joy Nina had felt was now shifting to confusion. How did Scott do all of those gymnastics with asthma?

#stiles stilinski x oc #stiles stilinski x reader #teen wolf #teen wolf oc #teen wolf reader insert #Stiles Stilinski #scott mccall #lydia martin #allison argent #jackson whittemore

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kalux-sims · 2 years

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Tag me if you can

I was tagged by @curiousb

Rules: Tag 9 people you would like to know/catch up with. (Dunno if I'll do 9. Or any?)

Last song: "Silver" by Echo & The Bunnymen. I had to check my phone, but this is one of my favorites. They're a favorite in general.

Last movie: Hmm. Doctor Strange: Multiverse Of Madness? That's the last movie I went to. I can't remember if we've watched one at home since. If we did, it was probably also MCU.

Currently watching: I was gonna start season 2 of P-Valley, but I felt sick and went right to bed instead. My partner and I have been rewatching Better Call Saul, while we grump that the new season is not on Netflix yet. We're also keeping up with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ms. Marvel, The Boys (erg...not loving this season), and maybe something else I'm forgetting? We both have ADHD, so the tv is on most of the time, especially if we're both home. (@curiousb I tried to get my partner to watch Killing Eve with me, but they're not that interested in it. I still need to finish the last season. And I wish Prehistoric Planet wasn't on Apple. It's basically the only service we don't have. Erg. Darren Naish worked on it, and I'm a big fan of him.)

Currently reading: Oh...um...I don't really read lately. I know how bad that sounds, but I'm dyslexic and I haven't had the attention span for audiobooks in a while. I'll get back to them someday. I wanna "read" Fuzz by Mary Roach, for sure.

Current obsession: My BIG pride project, which I hope to launch...um....Monday? Somewhere around then. I really hope. Podcasts are kind of an evergreen obsession too. I have a dull job and a long-ish commute, so I listen to 50-ish hours of podcasts per week. I'm listening to Maximum Film as I write this.

I'm gonna tag...hmm.... @moyokeansimblr did you do this yet? I feel like everyone has! No pressure, of course. And anyone else who wants to, go for it!

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3nbyblogg3r · 1 year

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Finding Belonging

Hello to my first follower! I hope you enjoy the blog, and I apologize in advance for the sporadic uploads *nervous laugh*.

I am starting T on Monday and I am so excited. Hopefully this will make this meat suit feel more like home. I start my new job on Thursday. Next week is a lot of new starts. Hopefully they will all be for the better. I am excited and nervous about starting T and about the new job. I am going to be among people like me at my new job. There is another nonbinary person and a trans person at my new job. It gets so tiring being the only trans person at work. I used to work with someone at my current job, what seems like ages ago, who is trans. I miss him. It is just a special kind of connection T4T relationships (of all kinds) have. I feel like the new job is going to be good for me, as is the T. I am just a creature of habit and forming a new one is always hard. The new job also offers a new opportunity for me. I can be assertive in my decision making and lead my team. I can make it a vow to correct every single person who misgenders me. I haven't really made an effort with customers at this job to correct them. It's always hard and you would think they would notice my pronoun pin (they usually don't). I will miss the regulars here. I am so temped to just tell them all where I am going so I can keep seeing them, since I will be in the same industry. I don't want to out myself as leaving though since only my bosses here know. Oh well. I doubt many people will miss me here anyway.

Next week is going to be interesting, but I know I will make it through. I will learn the new commute and the new people at my new store. I already have a friend who is working over there. The raise, the union job, the support from my team and from the company... it outweighs the 40 minuet car drive and the first day jitters. Better things are yet to come.

#nonbinary #lgbtq #trans #transisbeautiful #transition #new job anxiety

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missconducters · 3 months

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Sofia sighed as she closed her laptop. It was official. The money was in a Swiss bank account under a fake name. A distant but generous relative of Sofia's who would leave her millions of dollars in cash.

At least, that's what the feds would be told.

"Did you hear? Ted's getting a divorce."

"Ted? In accounting? No way. Do you know why?"

"No clue, but the poor guy looks devastated lately. I heard he's falling behind in his work, too."

"Gosh, that's terrible. Maybe we should take him out after work some day this week. Cheer him up, yeah?"

Sofia glanced over her shoulder at the two women gossiping in the break room. They shamelessly acted as if she wasn't in the room with them, but that didn't bother her. After all, she had no interest in making friends or socializing. She was there for one thing, and these women had just handed it to her on a silver platter.

She simply stood up, using her napkin to dab away the crumbs at the corner of her mouth. The women continued their chats as Sofia silently left the room, plans of her next heist dancing around in her head.

For a moment, Sofia considered looking at job listings. This was the fifth job she quit in four years. She needed something new, right? Another place to work. Another target with profits hidden behind a sloppily thrown together security system, just begging to be stolen.

...

Another job. Another work orientation. Another set of demanding bosses and annoying coworkers. Another commute to a dull, depressing office building. Another day slaving away at a pointless career, selling hours of her life she'd never get back.

And all for what? More money? Sofia already had money. Lots of it. Her obscenely large penthouse was a testament to that. Of course, none of her finances were acquired legally, but who cares?

Sofia pinched the bridge of her nose and hung her head low as her glasses slid off her face.

Clatter.

Her glasses bounced off her desk and onto the hardwood floor, the echo reverberating across the room. Sun had long set by now, and Sofia hadn't bothered to turn on the lights. The city's bright lights illuminated her penthouse slightly, the long shadows cast on the floor seemed to accent how empty it was in there.

Her apartment was spotless as always, thanks to the housekeeping services that came every Tuesday and Thursday.

... Or was it Mondays and Wednesdays? If you asked Sofia, she would have no idea. It didn't matter to her. All she knew was that she paid people to keep it clean. The details were irrelevant.

Instead of bending down to pick up her glasses, Sofia merely slumped lower in her chair. She hadn't thought about what life would be like once she was actually rich. Her first heist was to push the limits of her luck and just see if she could do it. The rush she felt was indescribable. It was probably the first time in her life that she felt alive. Truly alive.

She became addicted to that feeling, thieving whatever she could. With every new job she started, she managed to embezzle god knows how many dollars from them and pin the crime on someone else.

But just as suddenly as it came, the rush went away.

No matter how much she stole, that feeling never came back to her. Embezzlement became mundane to her. It was boring. The outcome was always the same. She would get away with it in the end anyway, right?

"Whatever." She groaned loudly as she reached out for her phone. Looks like this would be another evening wasted, scrolling through social media until she fell asleep. Just as she did yesterday evening, and the evening before that, and the evening before that...

What a bore.

It wasn't like people posted anything that was particularly interesting to Sofia, anyway. Her feed was mostly filled with insufferably vain influencers, all vying for her attention in the form of likes and comments.

"Ugh." She sneered in disgust as she watched a video of a street magician doing some kind of dance, if it could even be called that.

"This shit should affect your credit score." She commented before scrolling away to the next video.

"Get ready with me to go on a first date!" The blonde influencer perked, her hair perfectly slicked back and face covered with the "no makeup" makeup look, presumably so she could pretend that she was naturally that pretty.

"I hope you get stood up."

And so the evening continued, Sofia leaving a trail of spiteful comments on every video she watched. The bright lights from her phone flashing across her deadpan expression.

Her attention was caught by the next video-- a news report featuring a familiar face.

"A former hedge fund accountant faces several years in prison after he’s accused of stealing millions of dollars from the firm he worked at."

"Ted Arlen, 52, is charged with a single count of felony embezzlement. Prosecutors say he's currently going through a divorce with his wife, the stress of which drove him to steal over $50 million dollars from his workplace."

Sofia barely took a second glance at the story. Of course Ted got arrested. Sofia was the one to make sure that the poor, lonely divorcee was listed as the last one to access their company's financial data before she stole it all. It was all part of her plan, and it worked out perfectly. Again.

It was such a bore, honestly. Her whole life, she'd always been extremely lucky. She never had to try at anything; she always succeeded. At this point, she half-wished she would get caught.

Feeling herself get more irritable, she curled up into a tight ball, hugging her knees underneath her chin. She shut her eyes tight, purposefully trying to block out her surroundings.

Just what the fuck was she supposed to do with all this money? She had already spent millions on her penthouse, countless sports cars, designer goods-- all things that were supposed to make people happy.

So why did she still feel so empty?

She let out a long sigh as she contemplated her plans moving forward. Getting a new job was pointless. She hated working. She hated people. And at this point, she was starting to hate money. But what else was she supposed to do with her life?

Shaking her head as if to physically dispel her thoughts from her mind, she bent down to pick up her glasses and walked over to the window to look at the street below.

At 50 stories up, the people on the street looked like no more than ants. She couldn't make out their expressions or specific actions, but she could tell that they were having fun.

Lovers going on dates. Workers coming home to their devoted families. Friends meeting at bars for drinks. Families making a trip to the park.

An indescribable emotion swelled within Sofia as she tightened the grip on her phone. Turning around, Sofia was of the mind that she would just to to bed early. After all, such troublesome thoughts and feelings wouldn't be able to bother her when she was asleep.

But as she headed to her bedroom, the emotion she felt began to spill over and before she knew it, she had hurled her phone at the window. Hard.

The loud shatter of glass told her that something had broken. Either her phone or the window. Maybe both. She didn't care. Her breathing now ragged and frenzied, she had become someone unrecognizable as she tried to push down this unknown emotion deep into her heart.

Most people would call this feeling "jealousy".

If Sofia had sat down to think about it, maybe she would come to the same conclusion. But instead, she chose to ignore it. Now filled with contempt, Sofia shot dirty glances around the room. Everything she had stole, everything that she had bought, it was all for nothing. It was an absolute and utter waste.

Just like her life.

The hate and anger in her heart continued to grow and consume her, sucking all of her thoughts in like a black hole. There was nothing left in her mind anymore than the desire to just say "fuck it" and leave it all behind.

Pausing slightly, she suddenly came to the realization that that was something she could do. She sure as hell wasn't going to get another job, but that didn't mean she had to stay in this hellhole, either. She had no obligations to anybody or anything. She could choose to walk out right now and there would be no consequences.

And so, without a second thought, she did. Not even bothering to look back, she stormed out of her penthouse, slamming the door behind her. She was so sick of that fucking place and swore to never go back.

It can go to hell, for all I care. She spat venomously. I hope this place burns to the ground.

Sofia wasn't sure how long she walked. It didn't seem that far to her, but she suspected the anger in her mind had clouded her judgment. All she knew now was that she was exhausted and somewhere far away from home.

Not that it mattered. She meant it when she decided to leave her life behind. She wasn't sure where she was going to go next, but it sure as hell wouldn't be home.

Her legs buckled from underneath her as she processed just how tired she really was. Palms skidding across the pavement in an attempt to catch herself, she swore under her breath as she felt the sting of broken skin shoot up her arms.

"Damn it." She examined her hands gingerly as she swept away the small pieces of gravel embedded in her skin. Her hands were bleeding slightly, but she decided to ignore it. It would stop on its own eventually.

Letting out a deep sigh, she looked around at her surroundings for a bit before deciding to lay flat on the disgusting, grimy sidewalk. It was hard, uncomfortable, and she's pretty sure her hair was getting caught in a wad of gum someone had spat out earlier-- but it didn't matter. Despite it all, she couldn't help but feel a sense of newfound freedom in her actions.

She closed her eyes, the rumbling of the subway underneath her lulling her to sleep. Maybe it was just the spite speaking, but Sofia managed to convince herself that the sidewalk was just as comfortable as her bed at home. Maybe even more comfortable.

Sofia rolled over onto her side, and a sharp pain in her scalp told her that her hair was definitely caught in that gum. She reached behind her and harshly yanked her hair forward, the force of which peeled the gum straight off the concrete. She was pretty sure that it was still in her hair, but she didn't give it a second thought. After all, she couldn't feel it. So why did it matter?

As she danced closer and closer towards slumber, she began to wonder what she should do tomorrow. Then she realized there was only one thing to do.

Whatever the hell she wanted.

#sofia

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