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whats-the-story-tc · 4 years

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21st of April, 2020

"The One with the Fairy Tale"

(Pssst! If I were you, I'd read this post first before starting this new one!)

I cannot believe this is my life.

A couple minutes before the 8 AM rush hour, a Google Classroom notification from V arrived. Then another. Someone likes a spam, I thought, before opening the first one.

Sigh of relief. It was only the essay I'd already sent her. On to the next one, the detailed info on what we were covering today. The play on the table is both figuratively and literally a fairy tale. V, pretty critical of the play and its character work itself, made sure to bring one particular monologue to our attention, which tackles a rather difficult topic in a pretty simple play about love and longing — human mortality. "(It's my particular favourite, too, but don't let that influence you.)" She wrote after explaining what it was. The last paragraph though, now that was something else. "For those of you interested in an A level (here you imagine me looking at certain people)" she began, and my eyes widened as I read it. Sure, there are literature buffs in both classes, but... I can't help but think it was first and foremost an indirect to me. I mean, I'm probably the biggest nerd out of all of us, and she's always looking at me anyways... I want to dream big and say she wanted me to see it most. I mean, it's a link to an incredibly long essay. The situation speaks for itself.

"Look at this silence," V said as she entered our server at around 11 AM. Once she was here, we (as in all of us) started chatting about the break and quarantine. "It has been Sunday for two months." I declared, V immediately continuing the thought: "That part of Sunday, no less, where the line between the previous week and the next one blurs." Couldn't have said it better myself.

As V spoke about the story, I just leaned back on my bed, letting myself get immersed in the explanation and the sound of her voice while trying to imagine everything. After a while, it all started sounding like the plot of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute — especially when V said that our protagonists, a human boy and a fairy girl, both had companions of the same sex along the way. And as soon as she said those companions are actually married, I waited for her to take a tiny break in speaking and said "How surprising." According to Bookworm Friend, she laughed, but I couldn't hear it clearly because someone made a noise. Then she said "Obviously..." and basically shaded the whole plot line, though I don't remember the rest of the sentence. And guess what she brought up immediately? That's right. The Magic Flute. I was floored! "That's what I was thinking, too!" I chimed in immediately. She took the words out of my mouth! And, soon as I said that, I got a text from Bandana Friend.

BanF: "Wow the twinning"

It's official, folks. Even from a distance, V and I are sharing a braincell.

Serious shit went down in class, including pointing out some... very suggestive imagery that caught us all off-guard because the thing she mentioned isn't inherently suggestive, but okay, V, you do you. (Obviously, I'm not going into detail here, nor sharing the conversation Bandana Friend and I had here because... this is simply not the platform.)

But what I can share is a really funny bit that caused a bit of a pandemonium in the separate class chat none of our teachers are in. You see, about half an hour into class, The Boyfriend sneezes with what is probably the volume of a medium-sized family house collapsing. About five seconds of absolute comical silence follows, then we just hear V saying "Sorry. I'm sorry." before carrying on. All this caused quite the stir, featuring texts like:

BanF: "The whole house just quaked"

and

Classmate: "Jesus who was this 😂😂"

Classmate: "Tell me it wasn't [V]"

S: "No, her man"

Classmate: "Good heavens I thought it was her 😂😂"

and

S: "I laughed so hard that I thank God I was on mute"

So yeah. That's on that. Bit later, with the words mentioned here, V ended class, and there I was, on Cloud 9, dancing around my room and humming Disney songs from the sudden serotonin charge. That was probably the moment I decided to read the play V spoke about. You see, she didn't assign it because the wording is quite difficult (the text is quite old) and students usually struggle with it, but she said that we wouldn't lose anything by reading it, if we wanted to. And thus it happened that I sat down on my balcony at around 5 PM with the first chapter open on my phone, ready to read.

I knew she'd be right. I trust her opinion and my reading comprehension skill suffers at the stake of my absolute inability to concentrate for longer than 10 seconds. But guys. Some of the longer sections I had to go over at least three times before I understood what was going on! An hour or so must've passed when I read the last line of the first chapter, and the butterflies in my stomach took flight. It was time to text V about it. It was my original plan, anyway. Figure out how right she was, then tell her about it. I was already incredibly nervous, trying to stick to what I'd planned on writing. My fingers typed on autopilot and as soon as I was done, I could barely believe I was actually going through with this. But alas, you only live once, carpe that fucking diem. One big breath. Two biiiiig breaths.

Send.

S: "Well, Miss, I'm not saying you were right about the text of [the play], but I've only read Chapter 1 and I'm already doubting if I even speak [my native tongue]... 😅"

I immediately tossed the phone on my bed and ran away panicking. What will she say? How will she react to seeing it's me again? What does she think? Am I funny enough? Am I bothering her? When will she reply?

Half a minute later (!!!), I see the icon of The Platform That Shall Not Be Named on my screen. No. No. No. Nonononononono. I picked the phone up and unlocked it with a shaking hand. I was not prepared for what I was about to read.

V: "Hahaha, well, babydoll...You do. You're just not used to [the old-timey wording]."

I only had the time to sink to my knees, eyes wide, lips agape, when the next message followed.

V: "Though, once you're already through it, I'm curious about your opinion on the play's stageability. 😄 (given such a word exists)"

You bet your asses all air left my lungs. Not only did she call me babydoll again, now in a way that I could forever remind myself of it, but she basically just prompted another conversation! She wants to talk to me again! And I'll have you reminded, V's basically trusting my judgement based on the scriptbook I showed her at the dawn of time, that she'd never actually seen in action! I wonder what I did to earn all this trust...

S: "I'll see at the end and tell you :)"

V: "Alright :))"

Then, all brave from the double smiley, I had a really stupid and impulsive thought. (Don't yell.) Me being the little shit that I am, I googled stageability and took a screenshot of no results having been found. I took a screenshot, cropped it and sent it to V, my head being completely empty as I did. I acted purely from gut feeling.

S: "Tough luck this time, it seems😄"

V: "i thought so!"

(I can only hope she took it as a joke. But, the way I know her, she probably understood. Still, the me of right now, exactly two days and two minutes later, wouldn't do it.)

And this is where it ended. This is where I ended. My hands, my legs, even my lips were trembling as I tried to process the sudden load of emotion overcoming me. What did I just do. What did we do. What happened here. All this just echoed in my head, and I went ahead and texted every friend I wanted to tell in all caps.

BanF: "WOAAHHHH"

BanF: "you guys have really warmed up to each other"

Even now, as I was typing, I got the chills just thinking about this conversation. If it wasn't for the 'Miss' and my use of formal pronouns in the very first text, it would've just felt like two friends, who happen to both love literature, talking. And this really warms my heart, because there's this fantastic woman, who I genuinely think is one of the best influences on my life and... she just likes me for me. She immediately answers when she can, comes off genuinely happy to talk to me, prompts another thing I can tell her about and all but tells me that my opinion matters to her. Because this is her. I'm almost convinced that I will never hear her outright say that she likes me or she's proud of me, but, should I have any doubts, she does everything to let me know. I just misunderstand her sometimes, not knowing where to look.

When I tell you all this still doesn't feel real...

~ S ♡

[Every story I share here, no matter how specific I get with my wording, depicts actual events from my own life.]

#tc #tcc #teacher crush community #female tc #female teacher crush

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lgcjaehwa · 4 years

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word count: 447

When Jaehwa receives a little care basket, imagine the happiness. This is her first time getting sponsored and heck, she will do her very best to promote these gifts. To kick start her day, she put on her Nike hoodie and packs a few of the stuff into her bag before making her way to the practice room. She sets up her camera like how she did for her first vlive ㅡ taking a short snippet of her practicing in the hoodie. The camera fast forwarded into the next scene where it is time for her break.

“Hello all! I’ve decided to make a title for my vlive recordings. Its kind of lame and embarrassing though.” She sat on the ground with the camera on the stool. “The title is ‘Jaehwa and the camcorder!’ Ah, why do I feel awkward..” a shy chuckle slips through her lips as she covers her face before dragging them down across her cheeks. “Anyway, welcome to another episode of Jaehwa and the camcorder! I’ve just finished practicing so I’m currently on my break,” she unpacks the stuff from her bag. “You guys should really try this Haribo Goldbear Jelly I swear they are just yummy. I’ll try to attempt catching a jelly bear with my mouth.” Tossing a red gummy into the air, she nearly misses it with her mouth, a surprised expression forms after. “This is the first time I actually caught a gummy, after so many tries! Oh my god.” A hand covers her mouth as she quickly chew the rest of the gummy while letting out another chuckle. Jaehwa hold up the Vita 500 bottle, ready for another dumb antic of hers. “Time to have something delicious to drink.” Exerting a bit of strength around the cap, she twists it while making a random noise, the sound of a can opening, ‘pssst- chok- ahh~’ and taking a loud slurp after. “How’s my imitation? Do I pass the casting for a beverage CF?”

The scene got cut, showing the dorm’s bathroom with Jaehwa dress in an over sized t-shirt with her hair in a messy bun. “My usual night routine is simple, cleansing foam and toner. On some occasions, I’ll apply serum and mask. Today I’ll be using a few Innisfree face products, my favorite green tea series!” The video speeds up as she washes her face and apply all the necessary products, finishing her routine with a sleeping mask.

She spread her Vivalon Weighted Blanket across her bed, crawling underneath it with the camera beside her pillow. “Its 2am now guys and I’ll be going to bed. Good night, I’ll see you in my dreams!” The screen switches off.

#lgc:futuredreams #[ managed to find choerry holding a haribo goldbear jelly omg fate ]#{ *. solo .* }

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dramaplustautology · 6 years

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Office Flowers

Summary: A highschool student gets lost in the big scary Rose Towers, and has to talk his way through a misunderstanding that landed him a job.

But that’s not really important and there’s no reason to think too hard, it’s just most of the Rose characters in an Office AU for fun and not serious drama! Was an experiment with a genderbent Ty so apologies if the pronouns get mixed up a bit.

How did Ty end up in the Rose Corporation’s main lobby? Why was he hiding behind the couches in the sitting area with only his briefs to uphold is honor? That’s not important. This was a school day, there was no time for thinking about something stupid like that.

His life hinged on streaking as fast as he could during peak morning hours and diving into the nearest taxi without anyone snapping a pic of his face.

“Come on, come on.” Ty gritted his teeth, waiting for the sea of uniformed office workers to part. Oh god, security was already patrolling the doors, probably armed to the teeth with tasers. Nah, the lobby was built in front of the main skyscraper with a ceiling made of glass and shaped like a dang rose. They probably had taser batons.

It was over.

“Pssst!”

Or not.

“Hi there,” A kind face was leaning over the back of the couch, dropping his winter coat over Ty’s shoulders. “Crazy part last night, right?”

“Mmhmm, I didn’t make it home.” Ty made a sheepish smile at his savior.

“Well, no need to go,” The guy smiled back, putting the brakes on the hope spot and Ty’s poor heart. “I have an extra suit in my car. Let me get it for you!”

The swell guy was named Sam, and he told Ty that there was no need to “Ty” the tie while winking a lot.

“Before I got the job, I practiced with a tie for hours,” Sam was comparing two identical blue ties to see which fit Ty’s neck better. It took slightly less time than brushing Ty’s hair and apologizing over how his clothes hugged Ty too tight. “It’s a real shame only having to fix one every morning.”

“Cute.” Ty teased, flustering Sam into a sweet shade of pink.

“W-wow, thanks,” Sam stammered, deftly tying the Ty around his neck and smoothing out his white collar. “I usually get coffee splashed when I mention that.”

“Is that why you have an extra suit ready?” Ty asked, following Sam out of the lobby bathroom. He was nice but as soon as he was at his desk, Ty had to bounce. Hopefully, he could gently break into Sam’s car and return the suit the next day.

“Yeah, but I don’t mind ironing two sets of clothes,” Sam began leading Ty to the elevators, melding into the throng of employees. “So, which department do you work for?”

“You tell me,” Ty glanced at a huge TV hanging from the ceiling, spouting the Rose’s motto; “Helping you helping yourself.” What the hell did that mean? “C-cause I’m a new hire! I’m barely even sure what we do here.” He said quickly, noticing Sam pale.

Eyes darting from one end of the lobby to the other, Sam whispered “But not a cop, right?”

Yikes.

“You know, I love working here! We get along really well! Haha wow, so much harmony, we’re practically a temple.” Sam forced a loud laugh as they passed the security desk and no further.

An entire wall of meat decked out in more Velcro lined armor than an actual cop blocked the pair’s way, tapping a very large baton on the palm of his huge hand.

“Chief of Security Sofist!” Sam exclaimed, shoulders high and shivering.

“Welcome to the Rose Towers,” Sofist leaned down towards them both. “You know why I’m saying that?”

“Because your largest muscle is your heart?” Ty smirked, grabbing Sam’s arm and started to circumvent the behemoth.

“Don’t be smart. Smart is evil!” He turned, stopping them with a jagged glare. “I’ve never seen your face before, and I have every spindly spectacle on file. Why don’t you step behind the desk and we can have a chat?”

Ty would have kept being smart but Sam was shoved into him and another suit just had to walk in between them and Sofist.

“Keep up the good work, hill-billy.” Theano sneered, tossing a plastic cup of coffee over his shoulder and it landed, overturned on Sofist’s head like a party hat.

The coffee on his face evaporated instantly as Sofist’s face went red with rage. Leaping over the security desk, Bradley hugged Sofist by the waist and dug his heels into the floor with all his might to keep the bull from charging.

“No, not Theano! Remember last time!” Bradley hissed desperately, just about elbowed in the head by Sofists’ flailing arms. “Akanthus is over there! Calm down!”

Looking over to where Bradley was staring, Ty saw Akanthus standing ten twenty feet away. Running his hand over the front of his helmet, he made a beleaguered sigh and returned to his morning routine without another word.

“Time to go!” Ty slung an arm around Sam’s shoulder and hurried him to the elevators while Sofist was too busy blinded by red.

Stuffing themselves into a packed elevator, Ty watched Sam jab the button to the fourth floor when the other passengers were headed to level fifty and over.

“Which is your stop?” Sam asked.

“Er, I’m not sure. I’m the new hire, remember?” Ty struggled to come up with a generic office job and ignored the sound of rolling eyes from the rest of the peanut gallery. “Uuu the new secretary!”

A collective gasp filled the cramped elevator and suddenly, Ty’s new co-workers were pressing themselves against the walls to give him more space.

“Really? Oh my god! And you don’t know where you’re supposed to go?” Sam exclaimed, jabbing the button to the top most floor. “Don’t worry, Ty! I got you!”

They weren’t even past the first floor and Ty was feeling a fatal case of vertigo.

By the time the elevator was nearing the top, the rest of the occupants had filed out and Sam had changed Ty’s soft blue tie to a serious navy.

“I can’t believe this, my clothes! On the CEO’s secretary,” Sam hummed, fussing over a clip he fastened to Ty’s suit cuff. “No wonder you’re so out of it. You must have partied real hard when you heard you landed the job.”

“It was amazing,” Ty was sweating, wondering if he could punch the emergency breaks without getting arrested later. Thank god for Sam letting him borrow his vanilla deodorant. “So weird, huh? How we didn’t run into each other during the party?”

“Ehem,” Sam lowered his voice. “I didn’t actually go, they would have thrown me in the dumpster if I did.”

Distracted by Sam’s sad confession, Ty nearly jumped out of his skin when the bell rang for floor ninety-nine.

“This is so exciting.” Sam ushered Ty out of the elevator to the receptionist’ desk. Behind him was a long hall lined with rooms fitted with wall-sized frosted windows. At the very end was nothing but plaster and detailed blue wallpaper framing a polished black wooden door, all business.

“This is Ty,” Sam patted his shoulder, smiling at the receptionist with the very familiar red hair. “They were just hired as the CEO’s Secretary.”

Amadeus fingers hovered over his computer’s keyboard, glancing between Ty’s blood-drained cheeks and a photo of his daughter next to the papermache vase she made.

“You’re thirty minutes early,” He steepled his fingers and leaned back in the expensive, posture-righting office chair. “Good, Jaania will be happy to see you.”

His mercy was torture, and Ty forced a grateful grin and a bow of his head, wishing Amadeus would lop it off and end it all.

“Good luck!” Sam gave Ty a hug, upgrading their relationship to best friends on the spot, and gently pushed him towards the execution chamber.

With nervous eels writhing in his stomach, Ty steadily walked by the rooms of the Rose’s elite until he had his hand on a silver knob.

“Hope you can still make it to babysitting tomorrow night.” Amadeus called after them.

“Juggling babysitting too? Wow!” Sam gasped, and Ty squeezed his eyes shut, heading on through.

He practically stepped into the fourth dimension; the room was a vacuum that devoured all sound in its sterile white walls and black marble floor. The CEO’s desk was made of a warm brown wood that felt alien in its surroundings, on top of a fluffy white rug the decorator must have had a lot of fun with. Behind the desk was a wall made of glass, overlooking the tops of the low hanging louds and the endless blue that melded with the CEO’s hair.

Ty would have heard his own heart trying to escape the situation if it weren’t for the CEO’s typing echoing in the barren office.

Staring for what could have been either a minute or thirty years, Ty’s mouth opened and closed, with nothing coming out of it.

Jaania didn’t care.

“G’morning!” Ty managed, hand halfway up to giving Miss. Miss-Me a salute and then thinking better of it. “Sir Ma’am Jaania? I’m the new secretary you hired.”

Jaania still didn’t care.

Tap tap tapping against her white keyboard, she kept her eyes trained on the computer screen for another eternity, like she was waiting for Ty’s sweat to pool on her fancy floor.

“I don’t time for this.” Jaania finally spoke, grabbing a clipboard and holding it out to her left.

Scurrying like he would get shot for letting Jaania’s arm hang there for more than a moment, Ty took the clipboard and held in his panting.

“The convention is less than two weeks away and we need more partners, but I need more time for better things to do.”

Having no idea about any of what Jaania was saying, Ty nodded his head, making mhmm noises. He flipped through the papers on the clipboard and was further confused.

“My last personal secretary set up a meeting with the head of Sandsea Silks in—“She checked her silver wristwatch. “—two minutes, and was fired too late,” Jaania continued to type five pages per minute. “I can’t be there and if you can get them to sign, consider your trial period over.”

“Wh—“

“Two rooms down on the right,” Jaania snapped her fingers and pointed to the door. “Go.”

Barely stopping himself from swearing and getting thrown out the building then and there, Ty scurried out of the stifling room and back into the scary hall.

Here it was, the perfect time to escape!

“This way.” Amadeus was waiting for him, holding the door open to certain Doom.

It would have been nice to have a grenade hiding in his mouth but Ty, facing down and old ‘friend,’ winked and patted his clipboard twice.

Not moved in the slightest, Amadeus slammed the door shut between Ty when he shuffled into the long conference room.

At the end of the glass table, a man with a black comb over and spectacles the size of thumbnails sat reading documents on his tablet. He glanced up at Ty with dull eyes, expecting a boy a third his age to breathe some life into him.

By his polished shoes was a briefcase that would do well as a blunt weapon. For a long while, Ty estimated how hard he’d need to hit, how fast the person watching the security feed would run, and if he could survive a seventy-story fall.

Then, the man rubbed the dark bags under his gray eyes. It made Ty consider the rest of him.

For a meeting with the Rose’s head and their secretary, you’d think it would be someone just as important with their own secretary and maybe a team of lawyers to supervise the exchange.

Unless, they thought they were more important than they were.

“Are you the secretary?”

“Hmm yes. It will only be me today,” The man said, placing the briefcase on the table and opening it to reveal and ungodly stack of papers stuffed inside. Despite that, he spoke like he was going to go through the motions until they reached ‘no.’ “Can we begin?”

That was a lot of paperwork, which meant this guy knew enough to run things without his boss.

Ready to make one huge gamble, Ty walked over and shoved the briefcase to the carpet.

“Excuse me?” Comb-over was about to stand among his fluttering papers but Ty shoved him back into his seat.

“Do you think you can do your employer’s job?” Ty questioned. He took out his wallet, which was no longer warmed in his briefs thank-you-very-much-Sam, and threw a few styled calling cards on the table in front of his client.

“What is the meaning of this?” He demanded, losing his tablet to Ty’s gloved hands, no longer warmed by his briefs either. Laugh at that as much as you like, they were still black and Comb-over stopped breathing at the sight. The array of business cards made him give a sharp gasp.

“Let me rephrase that. Do you think you can do a better job than your employer?” Ty asked, bringing up a few news articles for Comb-over’s perusal. “Better yet, if they were gone, are you the only one who knows enough to keep Sandsea Silks running?”

Pressing his lips together, Comb-over gripped the arms of his chair and thought hard.

“I would say so.”

“For an easy slide into the position, nothing on your hands and no prints on the net, how much would you pay?”

“Um…”

“Guestimate for me,” Ty sat himself on the table, crossing his legs. “Can’t be under three million though.”

“Ten million.” Comb-over hissed, teeth gritted and nails digging drawing blood from his palms.

“Oh shoot, I didn’t think it’d be this e—“ Ty was interrupted by Comb-over’s hands slamming on the table.

“Twenty.”

Obviously, the promotion was worth more than the paycheck. Or maybe, judging by the man’s heaving chest, it was personal.

Not that Ty cared.

Picking up the gold business card, Ty called up the number.

“Hello, Cutesy.” He chimed cheerily the moment his call was taken.

“How did you get this number?” The woman on the other end demanded. “I told you that if I ever saw you again, I’d strangle you with your own spine.”

“Twenty million,” Ty grinned and the threats stopped as he handed the tablet over to let Comb-over see. “Circe did these ones.”

The greedy glint in the man’s eyes grew and he began signing the documents on Ty’s clipboard without reading the fine print.

Sofist and that Akanthus guy were waiting outside.

“There he is!” Sofist stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.

“Here I am! The secretary,” Ty stepped forward too, nose just barely touching Sofist’s wide chest. “With all the necessary documents.” He flipped through the papers on his clipboard, letting them cascade with the sweet sound of approval.

All three of them had to make way for Comb-over to march his victory parade to the elevators.

“A pleasure doing business with you!” He grinned, more alive than on the day he was born. Waving good-bye to them, he hummed a joyous tune and Akanthus turned to Sofist.

“Buh!” Was all Sofist could manage before Akanthus returned to his own office.

“Next time, cry wolf when you have one broken under your arm.” He said, slamming the door.

Seething next to Ty’s wolfish grin, Sofist continued to ball use ruefully unused fists and muttered insults under this breath next to Ty’s wolfish grin.

This was it, the grail of youth! The golden ticket snatched out of some other poor sucker’s pauper hands! In a dog eat dog world, Ty had suddenly found himself in a position where he could skip school and skip being thrown on the streets until he was thirty.

If winging it was this easy, then Ty could handle the rest. Just wait till his Baby Belle heard about this!

“Why are you still here?” Akanthus opened the door, the horns on his helmet clipping on the steel frame as Ty and Sofist straightened their postures. Rather than face more shame, Sofist bit down and pushed past Ty, giving him an opening to take something of the Security Head’s. “Secretary Melonie, was it?” Akanthus’ attention fell to Ty. “Jaania is pleased with your work.”

Nice, nice! He’ll deal with Mel when the time comes.

“She expects you to succeed with the rest of the list.” Akanthus finished, closing the door again.

Slapping the clipboard on his thigh, Ty groaned until it became a full snarl and almost tossed the clipboard through Akanthus’ window.

Grumbling, Ty stormed down the hall, passing the receptionist on his way to an elevator.

“See you later, daddio.” Ty tossed his way.

“No.” Amadeus stated, continuing his work.

The long elevator ride had actually cleared Ty’s mind of the useless worries and needless stress. You can’t waste time worrying and doing nothing. At least do something you can handle and get the edge off there.

Besides, that meeting took way longer than Ty thought. Probably the adrenaline making him think a mile a minute but it was already lunch.

“Your mom still pack your lunch, Sam?” One of the security guards shoved Ty’s new best friend to the floor, nearly braining him on the edge of an uncaring bystander’s cubicle. He didn’t have to but the guard stomped on Sam’s lunch and headed back to his patrol.

Glum, Sam made sure his squashed sandwich and orange slices stayed in their plastic baggy and tried to pick himself up.

“Is this why you thought I was a cop?” Ty asked, offering to help him.

“Hey you’re back!” Sam practically jumped to his feet, stopping short of hopping up and down. “How did it go? You’re staying around, right? Thanks for coming by!”

“Yeah, I was waiting for you.” Ty said, seating himself back at the desk next to Sam’s. The desk’s occupant didn’t bother at another attempt to make the CEO’s secretary move. Ty was higher on the ladder than them and he at least sat in a way that let them see the screen.

“Uh…” Sam stared at Ty and his booster seat, a little flustered at Ty wrapping and arm around their shoulder, hugging them snug to the crook of his shoulder.

“No thoughts on the whole cop thing?” Ty woke him back up.

“I actually used to go to highschool with Vince,” He said, sitting down. Ty had to strain to hear him among the ringing phones and beeping photocopy machines. “I was even on the same lacrosse team as him but you know, they didn’t want a twig messing up their games. As you can see—“Sam took the flattened, juice drenched sandwich out of his baggy. “—it didn’t stop when I got sent back to the books. Still, I don’t want to be that guy that causes trouble y’know?” He took a bite of his meal, and it honestly wasn’t horrible. “There might be an investigation, we all have to it down in separate rooms to talk again, lots of stuff that’ll make work harder.” Sam sighed, lighting up a bit when Ty placed a coffee can on his desk.

“Let me take care of that,” Ty said, grabbing the plastic baggy. “Jeez, but it’s bad enough that you think the police would get involved?”

“I’m fine! Really!” Sam protested, not at all convincing. “He doesn’t bother me when I’m at my desk.”

An eraser made an arch over the cubicles and struck Sam in the forehead.

“Ouch!” Sam rubbed the spot, realizing the eraser had been covered in wet black marker, and that he had made a big smudge on his face. “Not usually.”

“Ahuh,” Ty said, taking out the walky he had grabbed off Sofist up on the top floor. “You listening in on this frequency? I know you are and I hope you heard.” He said, shoving the walky back into his pocket. Sam was out of his seat, reaching desperately for it but Ty kept him at bay by pressed a tissue to his forehead. Two birds, one ball.

“Why did you do that?” Sam demanded.

“Why did you show me where I needed to go when you knew it was going to make you late?” Ty asked, patting the top of his booster seat’s head as thanks for telling him. “Friends watch out for each other.”

“But—“

“And I need your help again,” Ty cut him off, already diverting Sam’s attention. “Have a sip of that coffee, you’re going to need to be awake.”

“Oh, okay!” He opened the can and downed half of it as Ty continued to talk.

“Me and the person who hired me had a bit of a falling out. Now, it would have been fine if we never saw each other again but they got something I need,” Ty drummed his fingers on his booster seat’s arm. “I have a list of contacts but no line of contact. Raven over at human relations told me about how the person who hired me, Hansa, stepped down from a top position to help the sprouts grow from the bottom.

“Hansa’s really nice, she has an office with Yasimi in the back,” Sam struggled to swallow the bitter drink. Ty should have gone for the au lait version. “What happened between you two? I’ve never seen her get mad before.”

“Well, when Hansa told me about how there weren’t going to be any problems with me getting hired, I said “as far as I can see!” by accident.” Ty shrugged, pretending to be sheepish.

“Wait,” Sam paused for a moment, really thinking about what that meant before his eyes went wide. “No, she’s not going to be mad about that!”

“But, I’m mad about that! I didn’t even know she was blind. The eye scars looked like a fashion statement to me,” Ty was lying through his pearly whites, professionally dipping into his guilty sigh. “I need to get access to the right channels to talk to our partners but I don’t want to make thinks awkward, y’know?” Leaning back over the arm of the office chair and squishing his booster seat’s mouse hand, Ty did another dramatic sigh. “If only I could sneak in, take a look at what I needed, all without having to have that hard talk. I can’t believe I’m putting my job on the line cause can’t talk right.”

Sam scratched his chin.

“I did need some clarification with some of the files I’m handling,” Sam nodded. “Maybe I could get her out of the room for a bit.”

Ty leaped on to Sam’s lap and the office chair slid down the alley of cubicles.

“You’re the best!” He squished Sam’s cheeks until he began to laugh.

Though Hansa could work just fine without needing to see the screen, her tools all made to fit her needs perfectly, Yasimi was around to catch any bugs that got in the way. She wasn’t about to leave Hansa alone with Sam and his one hundred questions fitted into a single sentence.

The two were leaving their office because Sam couldn’t understand their advice from just words and Ty watched them from behind the corner down the hall.

“Anyone listening in on this frequency? I actually don’t know how these things work.” Ty said into the walkie.

It crackled back “Just me now.”

So the thing with Vince bullying their clients did matter.

“Great, I think we left off on the wrong foot this morning. The stuff with Vince taken aside, I’m thinking you were all hired because of this specific thing I saw on the news last year.”

“Maybe.”

What did Sofist mean by “Maybe,” of course the Rose hired him because of last year’s scary mess.

“Not a lot’s happened in a year. They might need a reminder.”

With that, Ty put the walkie away and spotted his target: an unassuming guy at a desk that jumped every time his computer made a noise.

Blowing up Sam’s plastic baggy, Ty snuck it next to his ear, and slapped his hand down. The loud pop made the little man screech and tore out of his seat.

Some people heard the pop, everyone heard the scream, and everyone jumped to conclusions.

Papers went flying and so did a few keyboards. People stampeded down the aisles of cubicles, trampling each other when they weren’t scrambling under their desks. In less than a second, office workers were banging on the elevator doors, rolling down the stairs, or throwing chairs at the bullet-proof windows.

Ty slunk back to the corner of the hall and let the chaos unfolded.

Three floors below, Bradley swiveled his chair to face Sofist.

“We should clear it up.”

“No,” The edge of Sofist’s mouth angled up ever so slightly. “Let the pencil-pushers get some exercise.”

Peeking around his corner, Ty spotted Sam running towards him and reached out his arm.

“Hurry! I see them coming!” Ty yelled and Sam ran faster. He jumped into Ty’s arms and Vince, who Ty had seen behind him trying to make sense of what was happening, heard the secretary and got his baton out. It sparked with electricity, and he stepped around the corner, swooping down on the nearest movement.

Yasimi caught his wrist just as the alarms and sprinklers went off.

“Why did we stop?” Hansa asked, holding on to Yasimi’s shoulder.

“To get one big idiot fired.” Yasimi hissed as Vince steadily grew smaller.

“Hey let’s all calm down now, it was an accident.” Sam tried to soothe the situation and Ty left them to sort it out, slipping past them, and stealing Vince’s handcuffs on his way towards Hansa’s office.

Good news, there weren’t any sprinklers in her office. A safety violation for sure but Ty hadn’t counted on someone getting worked up enough to pull the fire alarm.

Bad news, even in a state of emergency, Hansa had taken the care to sign out of her computer.

“Are you kidding?” Ty tugged on his hair.

“Let me take care of that.” A nice lady with long black hair slick from the sprinkler water, dressed in a gray pencil skirt she quite hated, nudged beside Ty and began typing in the password.

The sign in screen gave way to rows of shortcuts and the lady jabbed a USB into the port, quickly taking what she needed.

“Mind opening this one?” Ty pointed to a folder holding the list of names he needed.

“Depends on who’s asking.” The lady glanced at him.

“I’m Ty, I don’t plan to be here for more than a few years. Definitely don’t plan to remember this.”

“I’m Melonie, I don’t plan to be here in the next five minutes.” Melonie, if that was her real name, opened the folder for Ty.

“Nice meeting you, and thanks for the help.” Ty grabbed the papers that were spat out of the printer.

“Same.” Melonie said, taking her USB and sprinting out of the room, and out of sight.

On the phone in an office, his office actually, Ty chatted up an old friend while Sam toweled himself off across from his desk.

“That’s fourteen out of seventeen names we can hit,” Ty and his buddy laughed over the shared realization. “But nah, I won’t bother you with all of them. You still need business and I only need one of them to make a big enough contribution and get the other shaking.”

“He needed a break from that lady anyways,” The other guy laughed. “The appointment’s for seven o’clock so I suggest you take the car I’m sending you in ten minutes.”

Holding his hand over the receiver, Ty glanced at Sam wringing out his white dress shirt. There was an ink stain on the edges he stuffed into his pants when he had the shirt on. Embarrassed, he smiled back at Ty.

“Sam’s going to do great, I promise. See you.” Ty hung up and heard a knocking on his door.

“I’ll get that,” Sam got up and opened the door to Amadeus who stared at him with stone dead eyes. “Is that for Ty?” He noticed the fancy suit on the clothes hanger Amadeus had dangling from his outstretched arm.

“Baby Belle’s fast!” Ty exclaimed, waving at Amadeus. The man threw the clothes into Sam’s face and slammed the door on him. “And those are for you.”

“I can’t accept these!” Sam marveled at the gray, on the verge of silver, coat and pants ensemble. “These look like they’re worth three times my rent.”

“Belle’s going to be so happy you said that but if you won’t take that as a gift from a friend to a friend, can you accept them as a way to get this super important job done?” Ty clapped his hands together, batting his eyelashes pleadingly at Sam.

Pressing his lips together, Sam wrinkled his nose and struggled to piece the puzzle.

“Are you sending me to meet those super important people on your list?” His breathing sped and he fell back into his chair. “I’m just a regular guy! I’m going to let you down!”

“Uh-uh, you’re going to take the sedan down from to their estate, ring their doorbell, and smile at the lady expecting you,” Ty leaned over his desk and pinched his cheek. “You know how confident I am in you? I’m not even going to tell you what you’re supposed to be doing there. You’re going to be yourself and it’s going to be the best.”

“What?” Sam’s head almost exploded.

“My buddy’s waiting for you downstairs and he’ll take care of you from there.” Ty grinned, tapping a tune on his lap.

“H-how much time do I have to pull myself together?” Sam stammered, rubbing his straining neck.

“Oh, five.”

“Five?” Same blinked.

“Four.”

Positively giggling, Ty chased after Sam on his office chair as he charging down the hall with his new suit. Diving into the elevator, Sam started praying and watched his new friend wave him off.

“You hear that, Amy?” The elevator bell rang as Ty turned to the receptionist, who did his best to keep eye-contact to a bare minimum. “That’s the sound of me and you about to share lunch breaks until you retire.”

Non-plussed, Amadeus dialed a number into his phone and the landline in Ty’s office started to ring. It rang until Amadeus was greeted by voicemail.

“Do you have any idea of what your job entails?” Amadeus asked the voicemail. “Without any softhearts like that Neron character helping you, I’ll be happy to see your bloated corpse floating in the water.”

Ty gasped, eyes shining.

“You do care, Amy.” He blew a kiss towards Amadeus and slid back to his office in search of Neron’s phone number, leaving Amy to grieve over his new circumstances.

Sitting cushy in his seat, Ty read over the notes Neron had been kind enough to jot up for him.

“I would be more upset if I didn’t think whoever wanted to work directly under Jaania would be less honest than a stranger that sneaked into the building.” Neron had said, promising more to come tomorrow.

“So if you don’t want us to press assault charges against your family, and let the facts in the civil case leak to the press, I’ll be expecting that big donation come tomorrow,” Ty talked on his phone, happy with good news for once. “Don’t forget to convince all your friends what a good business decision it is to invest in the Rose!”

Hearing thundering footsteps approach his door, Ty hung up and waited.

“AAAAAAAAH!” Sam burst into the office, looking like he got mauled by a pack of dogs without teeth. His suit was disheveled and torn in places that would get him arrested on the street.

He looked to the desk and yelled again.

“Akanthus, Sir! Am I in the wrong office?” Sam coughed, trying to rub the lipstick stains off his neck and cheeks.

“No, he just needed to use my computer.” Ty scuttled over on his office chair, giving Sam a big hug while minding the bit marks on his tummy.

“W-why?” Sam scratched his messy hair, still way out of it.

Jaania’s second had dozed for a moment, and his helmet had smashed his computer. Was he going to call IT and get it fixed? That meant letting Zadd up here.

“Akanthus, sir?” Sam stammered, but Akanthus said nothing, pouring coffee directly into the opening in his helmet.

“Look at you.” Ty opened Sam’s shirt when he noticed a bit of marker peeking out from his collar.

“What happened? What did they write on me?” Sam frantically scratched at his clothes.

“You got the wife’s number and the daughter’s, woof!” Ty patted his back. “Congratulations, Sam! Your love life is now the healthiest in the building.”

They thought Akanthus snorted at that but didn’t know for sure.

“How about you and me grab a few bottles Friday night, and pop them on a job well done?” Ty winked, tracing a heart around the phone numbers. “I’ll call my girlfriend and you can bring your new friends too.”

“Secretary Melonie?” Akanthus spoke, shocking Sam out of his fifth emotional crisis of the day. He glanced at Ty quizzically.

“Ty is short for Melonie.” Ty shrugged and Akanthus didn’t bother looking up from his work.

“If you’re done wasting time, get to preparing the event. Catering, decoration, stay-at-home parent things, it doesn’t matter. Jaania should have sent you the details along with and a query to which of you account to link to the payroll.”

“Would that be by email?” Ty hesitated, gripping Sam by his lapels tightly. “I didn’t happen to get new any mail.”

“Any contact information errors should be seen to immediately, though I doubt this was a mistake on Jaania’s part.”

“Why her?” Ty chanced.

“Jaania handles her assistant’s information personally.”

Dear lord.

No! No, it was still fine! Did Jaania look at Ty when he was in her office? Nah, she and Cosplay King sitting at his desk were too busy secretly funding overseas criminal syndicates.

There was still time to fix this!

“Hang tight, Sam. I’ll be right back. Just need to head to the bathroom.” Ty left for Jaania’s office, knowing she was in a meeting because he was the Secretary.

Sam winced at the door closing behind Ty, too afraid to turn around.

“Why does it smell like candles and olive oil in here?” Akanthus tsked as Sam quickly wiped the remains off his skin.

Already at the door to Jaania’s office, Ty was ready to get into her computer and change all of Melonie’s contact information, banking info, and resume to his own. Miss. Miss Me would think she had hallucinated the entire mix up before Ty got several years in jail for identity fraud.

Evidently, Ty wasn’t the only one prying at Jaania’s schedule for nefarious reasons.

“Who the hell are you?” Ty gaped at the man snooping through Jaania’s computer, her spare glasses resting on his nose. “Wait a minute, aren’t you that Theano guy?”

Rolling with his mistake, Theano sat back in the CEO’s chair and leaned his elbows on the arms.

“That’s CEO Theano to you.” He pointed a pen at Ty.

“You know what? I don’t have time for this.” Ty grabbed the back of the office chair Theano had stolen and shoved it towards the nearest door.

“That’s a closet! Don’t you dare--” Shoving the pompous man into the closet stuffed full of designer coats Jaania probably wore when she stepped on her enemies, Ty used the stolen cuffs to tangle around the closet’s handles.

“Welcome back, Jaania!” Ty pretended Miss. Miss Me had returned and it worked like a charm. Theano clammed up and Ty sprinted back out the hall to get another chair.

Changing the info could be done during the next meeting. Jaania returning and not finding her chair was missing sounded like an immediate slight that would get Ty tossed out the window, one limb at a time. Any slight, really.

“Thanks, Amy!” Ty grabbed Amadeus’ chair right as he was about to sit down. The man went legs up and Ty was so sad he couldn’t stick around to laugh, even if it meant also getting tossed out of the window, one limb at a time.

He rode the chair all the way back into Jaania’s office, slid it behind her desk, and Jaania leaned over the backrest.

“Take a seat, won’t you?” The CEO motioned to the chair, which might as well have been electric, on the other side of her desk.

His entire upper body drained of blood, Ty quietly stepped around the desk and slumped in the stiff wooden grave.

“Perhaps I should say that my employees are all idiots who can’t see a screaming lie when it’s dancing in front of their noses,” Jaania said, sitting in her new chair and deciding she quite liked it. Behind Ty’s head, the CEO saw Amadeus dejectedly close the door to her office. “But they aren’t idiots. Not all of them.”

Saying nothing, not even breathing, Ty cradled his head in his hands.

“With our partners secured for sponsoring the convention, I suppose this entire debacle wasn’t a loss.” Jaania reached for her phone and the sounds of her finger dialing up a number made Ty deaf.

Time stretched painfully on as Ty wondered how much his parents were going to laugh at him when he used his one phone call from his new cell. He wondered how hard Belle was going to dump him and how loudly she would say that she hated him. Maybe he should punch out his ear drums in advance.

“I’d like to enquire about the work experience program at your institution. I understand that he’s in his senior year?” Jaania’s words suddenly broke through Ty’s despaired stupor. “Weekdays after school from four to two should suffice.”

“As in four in the afternoon to two in the morning?” Ty raised his head and Jaania covered the receiver.

“Would you rather I call the authorities?”

Fair.

Once the arrangements were finalized, Jaania considered Ty like a lion considered a hogtied gazelle.

“If I let you go, I lose a potential for a better than average handler of my mundane affairs. You, on the other hand, won’t leave the building. Do we have an understanding?”

Swallowing, Ty nodded.

“What’s next on my schedule?” Jaania asked.

“The last secretary made this appointment with Amityvale Pharmaceuticals, starting in ten minutes.”

“Your advice?”

Letting out a deep breath, Ty said “Don’t waste energy growing flowers on graves.”

Seeing that her glasses were missing, Jaania opted for white-framed sunglasses.

“I’ll be skipping to visiting the labs. Get the necessary documents on the shelf and follow me there.” Standing, Jaania’s heels clicked on the marble as she headed out to the hall. The moment Ty was able to breathe again, he did five laps around the room.

Whistling a jaunty tune, he grabbed the files from their respective boxes, and listened to the banging coming from inside the closet.

“I don’t have the keys, but since I’m having such a charitable day, I’ll tell security you had an accident and handcuffed the closet shut behind you. I’m sure they saw you on their cameras.”

“When security finds me, I’ll—“Theano paused. “Right. Security.”

With that taken care of, Ty thought of the opportunities. So many of them! Ones in the building, and the ones Melonie probably had waiting for him too. Sure, a lot of them could hit literal dead ends, but Ty could keep walking.

“Sam!” He called to his waiting friend, stepping out of the office and into the garden.

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kinoronpa · 6 years

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pssst.. kiwi,, what is your screen size on mobile? i,, need it for one of the things i'm making you! ^^ - miki

Its about 2560 x 2560!~-Mod kiyo

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omgnsfwisnsfw-blog · 5 years

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12: Sea Dog

“I feel like we have had this conversation before, McGuire. But why go through all of this to just piss it down our legs for a little play?” “Cuz it’d save us some fuckin’ time and trouble, that’s why. Plus, let’s be honest with ourselves. We’d be doin’ the world a favor.” “Oh, you’re right. It would save us time alright because we’d be shot to shit by the lawmen who post themselves right inside.” “Details, details,” he tugged at the brim of his hat, and tapped the ash from his cigar into the air,“Fine. We’ll play nice.” Church just nodded. He had kept his eyes on the path in front of him. In the distance he could start to see the outlines of buildings on either side that surrounded the main thoroughfare. The two horse stagecoach was unwieldy to drive because it was painstakingly recreated to look just like theirs. It’s body was completely made of steel and it lacked the charm of the carriages one would see carrying someone of importance. Their cargo hold was empty. And there were only two of them. One was a tall drink of water in a bafflingly unruffled pearl-grey outfit that, much to his partner’s consternation, wasn’t picking up a speck of dust. Also unarmed. The other was smaller and slighter and certainly grungier, all in black, with a long duster, a pair of bandoliers across his chest, and a face-obscuring hat that seemed at least a size too big. A pair of long barreled revolvers hung off either side of his belt. John Bishop Church and … “You never told me your first name. We’ve been scheming this ordeal for quite some time. Now I was just trying to be polite because I don’t like being spied on in the bushes either. No problem with it. Partner is a partner.”  He seemed hesitant, then sighed, “You’re right. Fair’s fair. Hold this a second,” he handed his cigar over and reached up with both hands, removing his low-slung black hat and shaking out an uneven mop of red hair, revealing a face that wasn’t really masculine at all. She huffed, “It’s Michelle.” Church raised the cigar to his lips, took two brief inhales, and blew smoke out of his nostrils, “Nice to meet you. But you may be misunderstanding me and that isn’t on the account of how you think,” he handed the cigar back to him, “I have a feeling that God’s got himself a sense of humor and all of this is just your way of balancing the scales to something of your liking. So how about you put that hat back on, McGuire, otherwise sun’s likely to bake you good.” He did, and took his cigar back to boot. Somehow he looked more at ease than before, like letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, “Thanks, partner.” John had just handed Mike’s luggage over to her before snatching up his matching black rolling case. Mike had insisted that his gym bag, which he carried onto the flight with him, was not enough for the nearly three week excursion from the United States. It made him feel uncomfortable at first to break away from minimizing his footprint but more times often then not, Mike was right. She just seemed to know how to convey what to do next and even through the peaks and valleys he trusted her judgment. No one in his life, before or after, seemed to break through the glass like she could. All she had to do is put a gentle hand on his shoulder and every obstacle put in their way fell by the wayside. In the literal sense even because every stop and change in the near thirteen hour transcontinental flight would have grated on his nerves if it weren’t for Mike. They were just moments from the exit of the terminal. One last line. “Okay. Passport? Good, awesome. Bags? Fuckin’ A. We’re good. We’re super fuckin’ good. I looked over that dictionary you loaned me, I think I can maybe say at least mandatory shit, y’know, hello, goodbye, thanks, where’s the crapper. Oh my fuckin’ baby Jesus I’m like vibrating right now. You got anything you wanna do? I think I saw some shit in the guidebook. Aw geez, we should probably check into the hotel first, huh?” John simply nodded, “I think freshening up would be nice,” he was out of his comfort zone as there was no opportunity in this long trip to shower, “I think in all of the excitement, you booked just one room. I can get my own.” “Huh? Aw, shit,” she tapped her chin, and then shook her head, “nah. If you’re good with it, I don’t mind. Pretty sure it’s a double, anyway. Save us both a couple bucks.” “Can I have the bed near the window?” “Yeah. You can even man the AC. Maybe not in tundra mode, though?” If there is one thing they seemed to still butt heads on, but never in a mean-spirited way, is the temperature of the room. John conceded that when you shared a space that compromises needed to be made,“Sure.” “Next in line!” “You ready?” “Yeah, I’m ready.” Church pulled up on the reins and the pair of chestnut horses clambered to a stop adjacent to a wooden platform. They were now in front of the tall wooden door of the brick building that served as this town’s bank. They were on schedule and they were expected. He stepped off the driver’s side. It was very busy this afternoon. All the folks going about their business and they were paying them no attention. But they could. At any moment. Especially with McGuire fidgeting with the iron in his holster. “Remember who we are.” “Right, right,” he willed himself to take his hand away from the gun. The taller man took the lead and entered the bank - followed by McGuire. The interior of the bank was well lit by a chandelier hanging above them. Directly in front of them were half a dozen people in line to conduct business with the two tellers. Those bank employees were behind metal bars with a small opening to take and receive business. In front of an obviously repurposed jailed cell was a rather obese man propped up in a chair. The guard, most likely a deputy because of the shiny badge tacked to the front of his leather vest, had a shotgun laid across his lap. “Pssst,” McGuire leaned over, his voice barely audible, “Just one tubby fuck. I could make this real easy.” And back to him in a whispered tone, “Easy as this?” John retrieved a folded piece of paper from his front vest pocket. “What’s that? How’s that gonna be easier than one pow-pow right to the melon?” Church walked to the reclined man, “Afternoon.” The big man, previously in a daze, snapped to attention, “Who are you?” And he eyed them both up and down, “Line’s that way.” “Oh, we aren’t customers. We are here for a scheduled pick up,” John handed over the paper. The deputy looked over the sheet with a suspecting eye, “You Garcia’s boys?” “Most certainly.” There was a long uncomfortable pause and then the big man and all of his heft stood up, “You,” he pointed at McGuire but addressed his concern to Church, “What’s got you all jittery?” “No worries, sir. My friend hasn’t taken his tonic today. We’re on a tight schedule. No time to waste. You know all about that, don’t you?” Before McGuire could retort, Church stepped lightly on the toe of his boot. The rotund man looked back at the sheet, “You’re early.” “Isn't that a blessing,” John proclaimed, “We’re making great time!” McGuire suddenly muttered, “Pow-pow…” “Excuse me?” “That’s the new tonic he uses. It’s a miracle worker if I say so myself. Even makes you more potent for the ladies if you catch my drift.” At this point, the deputy must have read the letter a dozen times over before he looked up one more time at them, “Alright,” and handed the letter back over. He snatched the key ring from a hook on his belt and turned to the locked cell door, “You know I had a cousin who was all twitchy like your friend. Donkey kicked him in the head one day. Never was too smart to begin with.” “Oh my. Well, we will be out of your way in just moments.” Church tipped his hat at the fellow and stepped into the cell. McGuire stepped past him into the cell as well surveying all of its contents. The shelves at the far end of the cell were packed with stacks of paper money of various denominations, open crates full of silver coins, and various valuable pieces of jewelry. McGuire lightly nudged Church with an elbow to the side and whispered, “Jesus Mary and fucking Joseph. Look at all of that loot.” “It’s not ours.” “You are really no fun sometimes.” Church knelt down in front of the shelves and pulled out two crates. They each had a pair of cherries painted on them. He peaked inside each and then shoved one of them back into its spot. With a grunt of effort, he lifted the crate up into arms and stood up right. “Hey, what about the other one? Look at all this stuff. This fucker don’t need both crates, we can take a little extra.” John shook his head, “The other one’s worthless.” “It is? What, it’s empty?” “Might as well be. Fool’s gold.” “Pfff. Idiot. Alright, let’s vamoose.” They walked past the armed guard, “Have yourself a wonderful day, friend.” And they were out of the bank with ease. After all, they’re a pair of hired couriers and they just completed their pick up. McGuire hurried ahead and opened up the steel hatch of the stagecoach’s cargo hold. Church slid the box in and closed it up, “Whew, see? Effortless. Now let’s get on the road.” “Church?” “Yeah?” Church turned around slowly and realized that an identical two horse steel stagecoach that also had a pair of cherries painted on its side had just stopped behind theirs. The real couriers. And they see these two imposters. One yelled, “Where the fuck do you two think you’re going?” McGuire, quick as a cat, drew onto them both barrels, “My turn!” Mike underhand tossed the cellphone to John and he grabbed it out of the air. He fiddled with the camera on the touch screen as Mike stood at the foot of stairs leading up to the Victory Square obelisk. She flashed between a couple of goofy poses before John took the snapshot on a wave. They moved up towards the base of the monument where they observed the ‘the eternal flame’. “Alright, sweet. Hey, c’mere, let’s both do one. Hey! Hey, you there, dude with the hat!” she flagged over a passing individual, “you mind snapping a pic of us real quick? Cool, thanks.” Whoever this person seemed to be, he looked to be local, because he spoke the language. Well, one of them. After John and Mike huddled together for the impromptu photographer, he said, “поздравления!” In fact, they had been hearing that a lot as they walked around the different spots in this central area of Minsk. Actually, for the last few days to be honest as they hit up various tourist spots, museums, and local restaurants. “Why does everybody keep sayin’ that, d’you think? You got any idea what it means? My Russian ain’t near that good.” John shrugged but was already flipping through his translation dictionary to find something that began with that distinct ‘poz…’. He wasn’t sure but finally found something that fit the context of the tone of their voices, “I think they’re saying congratulations.” “Congrats, huh? Wow. Wonder what for. On being the awesomest tag team on the fuckin’ planet? Or maybe just being awesome in general? I dunno.” John shook his head, “So this,” he motioned behind him, “is meant to commemorate the Soviet victories in World War 2. We walked through the museum earlier under all of this. But also,” John hesitated, “And I was just going to let it be but all of these locations - it’s a tradition for newly weds to be photographed at them.” Mike paused, looking somewhat agape for a second before bursting out into a rather merry sounding peal of laughter.  “Really? No kiddin’? Heh, I gotta tell my dad. Whelp, I guess I could’ve done a whole lot worse for myself,” she gave him an affectionate cuff on the shoulder, still snickering in amusement. “That’s alright,” John returned the laughter with a slight curve of his mouth which Mike learned to be his version of an outright belly busting guffaw nowadays. He turned to the flame, “But I guess this is a fitting symbol of that commitment, isn’t it?” He felt a twinge at the notion of that idea. Did he really understand the idea of what that traditionally entailed? Or was it just what he would have gone through? He gave and gave and gave and never once was it reciprocated. That doesn’t seem right. He was only sure that he rushed into the idea of it because it was an opportunity that he could play the part of what society expected of him. John’s gaze got lost in the dancing hypnotic movement of the flames and a reassuring touch to his arm startled him. “Hey,” she looked up at him, still smiling, “this’ a pretty good setting. You wanna do the thing while we’re here?” There was a moment where he could feel himself approaching that gate with the padlock on it. He could go inside to get away from this feeling. It frustrated him that for months now he had lived in relative peace and one insignificant thing in the grand scheme of things brought back a rush of these thoughts. They had plagued him for so long and his only respite was inaccessible. John looked down at his partner. That barrier was her doing. The singular instance where someone was able to cut through all of this muddle and deliver one clear message, “Everything is going to be alright,” he mumbled softly, but then directly to her, “Yeah, sure.” “Yeah,” she concurred softly. She didn’t know why, it was almost automatic, “Everything’s gonna be okay.” She reached out slightly toward him, but instead reached into her bag for the trusty selfie stick, “Say hey, EWC faithful! It’s ya boys, NSFW, and here we are in gorgeous Minsk. Belarus, you’ve been abso-fuckin’-lutely lovely. We’ve had a great time this week in all your interesting museums, and gardens, and your balls-out awesome lookin’ library, but now? It’s almost time for Da Bidness.” “I think I could stay there for days,” John admitted. Mike couldn’t avoid a fond chuckle, but moved on, “So. Cherry Garcia an’ Cap’n Kangaroo. One lazy puss with no nuts, and one morally schizophrenic pirate. What can we say about these chuckleheads that we ain’t fuckin’ said already?” As if he were seemingly having a different conversation, “I don’t get it.” “Morally schizophrenic, y’know, he can’t seem t’ decide if he’s an asshole or— oh, y’meant somethin’ else. What is it y’don’t get, partner?” “I’m supposed to be sympathetic to his plight. A good man forced into doing bad things. That sound about right?” “Yup. Poor keelhauled pirate, boo hoo,” Mike rubbed at her eyes, milking the fake tear act for all it was worth.   “The thing is, it doesn’t make sense. On the surface, it seems to be made apparently clear that this is all against his will. That this unscrupulous man has him, as you would say, by the short hairs. He wants to solicit these feelings. He wants that ‘why, captain, why’ sentiment. He wipes away his transgressions with a wave of his hand. He excuses the assault of a man he called a friend as a business transaction. He is the unwilling conduit of one man’s petty revenge fantasy.” He steps forward. Mike willingly gives way. “Morgan Darkwater. This is not how this works. You do not get to break and bloody a man in that manner that you did and write it off as your master’s will. Morgan Darkwater. Loyal dog. Man’s best friend. Mangy cur - begging for scraps from under the table. Unwilling partner, right? That gleam in your eye as you took hold of the tag champ championship says otherwise. Your expedition’s goal is capture more gold, yes? This is your latest gain. It may not be official but possession is 9/10ths of the law for your kind,” he paused, “Morgan. Darkwater. You will protest and you resist but at the end of the day, you will do your owner’s bidding. Sit. Lay down. Attack, Morgan Darkwater. You could have refused. A real pirate would let no piece of paper bind his soul — but you’re false. Strip away the costume, the ship, and the vernacular, and you’re another opportunist jumping at any chance to put yourself over.” Mike gave a low whistle, “Yep. You’re definitely givin’ a whole new meaning to the term ‘sea dog’, ain’cha? Sea dog run, sea dog fetch. Church here is totally right. If what you did t’ Nostalgia wasn’t malicious, it was fuckin’ cold and frankly that’s kinda worse.” “You can not, you will not claim the moral high ground as you stand before us. Monday night, Morgan Darkwater, we are the will of the people. You hear them, don’t you? They still want to love you. But there is a hesitation in their reaction. There is a thought that runs through their minds: just who is this man? You could turn it around. You could still make things right. You won’t though. Because your belly is full so it doesn’t matter that he just rubbed your nose in the mess you made. Bad dog, he says. Even a vagabond like you knows that you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. You stand before us an imposing force but you don’t seem to understand what you’ve really gotten yourself into. This is tag team wrestling. And Mike and I - are a tag team.” Mike held up two fingers, lowering one as she spoke, “Two in fucking one. One team, one unit. Everything I do in that fuckin’ ring benefits him, and what he does benefits me. I trust him with my fuckin’ safety an’ I’ll do my fuckin’ damnedest to ensure his. There’s nothin’ we can’t do together, an’ there’s nothin’ we won’t do to have each other’s backs. Can you two numbnuts say the same? Cuz from the looks’a things, coercion- if that’s actually a thing here- don’t make for good partnerships.” John nodded, “We don’t have the resume that you two have but you know what? Sometimes that doesn’t seem to matter,” John hesitated in his next words because he still felt reservations about the aftermath but in the eyes of the public he knew this to be true, “On paper a man who had done virtually nothing in this business versus a woman who had done it all. NSFW has said it plenty of times now. This isn’t about redemption. We are taking what was ours. The television championship. That’s pretty nice. There is a magnificent history behind this and I am honored to now be a part of that legacy but I guess NSFW and Morgan Darkwater have something in common. Not the lack of conviction. No, that desire to become champion. As I said to Ruthann, to become a champion is in part self-actualization. Those championships you tarnish as every day passes, those are ours.” “And one day or another, probably sooner than you’d fuckin’ like, we’re coming to get ‘em. And No Shit, them’s Fighting Words.” “There’s no need for this,” Church exclaimed, “This is all a big misunderstanding.” People started to gather around the commotion. Two identical stagecoaches. Four folks in an old fashioned stand off. McGuire had handed a revolver to Church and even though he knew he wouldn’t pull that trigger at least the guy had it pointed at one of the other drivers. “Bullshit,” one of them said, “You got our payload. You robbin’ the wrong people, boys.” “And your partner just called me a hoople-headed son a bitch. Nobody talks about my momma like that,” the other said. “This was after you said my friend here has soft lips,” Church corrected. “An’ the back’a your head’s gonna be paintin’ the saloon wall ‘afore you ever find out if that’s true,”he sneered, one eye twitching under the brim of his hat. “No. No. We don’t have to see anyone’s grey matter today, McGuire. You see, I think,” he chuckled, “I think something got twisted up, isn’t that right?” Still seething, trigger finger still itchy, McGuire slowly lowered his iron, but seemed to have every intention of raising it again at the slightest provocation. His eyes flicked to his partner as if to convey this fact, “Prolly weren’t no grey matter in that melon to splatter anyways.” The bank door flies open and the fat deputy stepped out from his lazy post, “What in the hell is going on here?” “Oh! Deputy, sir. You’re witnessing some confusion between honest businessmen,” Church brings out the forged letter, “See, now I know there is a huge misunderstanding. Sirs, if you will, what is your purpose here?” “Two crates yielding bars of gold. Owners Robert Garcia. Hey, Mitchell, what’s that other guy’s name? Real surly fella. Dresses all funny.” “Darkwater, he says,” Mitch remembered. “See. Ours is much the same but well, as the deputy can attest to, we’ve been contracted as you know for an amendment to the deal,” Church unlatched the back of the stagecoach and tapped on the wooden crate,“You see, your boss and ours, he had himself a change of heart when he realized that this very item in our possession was not the genuine article. Isn’t that right, my lawful friend?” The deputy nodded, “Pick up one crate of fool’s gold. To be disposed of at the courier’s discretion.” “And here it is. This illusion of wealth is right here safe and sound. Imagine the horror if you fulfilled your outdated mandate." The two drivers concurred that it wouldn’t be a profitable venture. Their guns lowered. The deputy’s shotgun lowered. Church’s borrowed piece of iron lowered. And eventually, with an audible reaction of disgust, so did McGuire’s. The crowd dispersed from the deflated conflict. “Another great day on God’s green earth, isn’t it, McGuire?” “Yep. Shinier’n a greenhorn’s spurs. Let’s get goin’, ‘m sure Garcia’s itchin’ to get rid’a this stuff,” he masked his obvious disappointment with a charming grin. Moments later, they were back on the road. Church had handed the revolver back to McGuire real glad that he didn’t have to pull the trigger. More happy that McGuire didn’t. Every bullet used in that gun made an impact that there was no real idea of the cost until it was too late. They made sure to circle around the buildings and go back the way they came. “Diversion or not. My feeling is that they’ve just found out that we played an awful mean trick on them.”   “Serves ‘em right for bein’ fuckin’ rubes,” he spat on the ground, and pushed a stray lock of red back under his hat, “But it worked. You got a right fuckin’ silver tongue in your head, Church. Cost me a bit of fun but I reckon it made everything easier in the long run.” “Being dead isn’t fun, McGuire.” “Hey now, for all you know the fuckin’ afterlife’s a goddamn hoot,” he smirked, then sighed, “I’m a gunslinger. I sling fuckin’ guns. But you… maybe you ain’t put together that way. Probably for the best. World might be better of with more people like you than me.” “You could always stop straddling that fence and come on over,” Church hitched the reins so the horses picked up the pace on the dirt path, “You already possess most of the virtues you pretend to abscond.” “Maybe. I kinda like it on this fence though. Nice view.” Church laughed a little, “Nicer over here. Not asking you to not be you. We already settled that. Asking you to maybe like being you. That’s the struggle, isn’t it? Easier said than done but it is what it is. When we started, I had a feeling we were worlds apart but here we are. Right now, not just in the physical sense, but right next to each other. Got each other’s backs. Concerned for each other’s well being and what not. Isn’t going to matter if you can never come to terms and strip away that bluster and bravado when its just between two honest folks. That’s a wall and I know all about those. They don’t have no place in this world. It’s meant to be free and so are we. Free to be who we really should be. You understand, McGuire?” He sat stubbornly, arms folded, for a moment. Just a moment. Then, with only a grain of hesitation, he tilted his hat back, revealing their face in earnest, “Yeah. I get you.”

#archive

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clapcreative · 6 years

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Best Practices for Exercising Mobile Web Design in 2018

After the launch of the iPhone, the demand for building separate websites for separate devices increased tenfold. Though there was nothing complicated (in fact, it was comparatively easier) if you see this from the development perspective, it doesn’t come with its own set of drawbacks.

For e.g. having to promote and maintain separate sites for SEO rankings was a lot of work, not to mention the maintenance costs that come with it. Also, since mobile phones and tablets come in all screen sizes, creating websites for each and every one of them was next to impossible. So, there has to be a better way to deal with the situation, right?

Thankfully, web designer Ethan Marcotte came up with a brilliant concept of ‘responsive design’ back in 2010, a concept which calls for building fluid and flexible layouts that can adapt to almost any screen size. Since then, the mobile device ownerships have exploded as compared to the traditional PCs and a major part of the credit goes to the responsive web design which ensures users have a great viewing experience regardless of the screen size.

Nowadays, creating a website is nothing more than a child’s play, however, assuming that optimization for mobile browsing happens automatically after you finish creating your website is actually childish (pssst, avoid it at all costs). So, if you have made up your mind to go mobile, at least do it correctly. For starters, understand these facts well enough,

The site visitors will always access your site in all situations (even if in a hurry).

Small screen size greatly alters the way users interact with your web content, no matter how mobile-friendly site you make, it won’t be convenient enough when compared to full-screen

The key here is to keep the mobile content clear and succinct but not at the cost of its quality. Moving on, I have presented 6 of the best mobile web design practices in this article for you to follow if providing an appealing and enjoyable content is your top priority as a site owner.

1)Homepage and navigation

There are a few points to keep in mind while considering homepage and navigation for your ‘mobile-friendly’ site such as-

Keeping calls to action above the fold.

Making it easier for users to get back at the main page.

Keep your menus short and easily accessible.

Avoid unnecessary promotions as much as possible.

2)Create ‘responsive’ content

Space is always at a premium when it comes to viewing content on smaller screen sizes. However, some common mistake rookies make at this point is trying to squish all the content to the mobile screen that was originally meant for the desktop.

But you can avoid this by keeping in mind the different screen sizes from the very start and re-evaluating the existing content (based on their usefulness) accordingly. Next step involves narrowing down the essential content to the point where it becomes easily digestible and crafting concise and to-the-point content out of it.

3)Visible site search

Never ever try to hide the search box in a menu as this is one of the first things users’ lookout for when they want information. While searching too, users generally lack the patience to scan through multiple pages for their desired info, so make browsing easy for your users by including misspelling corrections, suggesting related queries, auto-completing queries etc. You can further ease their browsing journey by placing filters above search results.

4)Fluid images and video

One of the biggest benefits of using fluid images and videos for your mobile-friendly website is that they are non-negotiable for responsive design, not only in terms of design but cropping as well. Some such ways are –

Rendering images based on room availability in HTML container.

Crop images on smaller screens to retain their impact.

Use Scalar Vector Graphics to change resolution based on image paths rather than pixels.

5)Declutter your site

If clutter is bad for your desktop then it is worse for your mobile where you don’t even have much screen space, to begin with. Every button, image, icon that you add makes the screen that much complicated and in turn, clutter your interface while overloading your users with too much information.

When designing your website for mobile, try to get rid of anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. In this way, by reducing clutter you will significantly improve comprehension.

6)‘Touch-friendly’ design

Though featuring concise content and scaling down your website for different screen sizes is important, it isn’t enough for implementing a ‘touch-friendly’ design which requires the design to be navigated with person’s (clumsy) fingers.

Provide large and descriptive buttons for easy click and bump up the font sizes accordingly (at least 16 px).

Completely avoid pop-up boxes and certain effects that cannot be translated easily to mobile devices.

Closing Thoughts:

Responsive web design isn’t just a matter of choice anymore since Google has recently prioritized the mobile-viewing experience of any site into its SEO algorithm but has become an essential element to include if you wish to see your site in search results.

Original Source: https://www.clapcreative.com/best-practices-for-exercising-mobile-web-design-in-2018/

#mobile web design #web design

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connorrenwick · 6 years

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2017 Gift Guide: Tech

There’s a good chance someone in your life has one or two tech gifts on their holiday wish list. The good news is there’s a dizzying array of items merging technology with smart design to choose from now, whether it’s for the home theater enthusiast, the brainiac whiz kid, the budding audiophile, or the aesthete first adopter. We’ve been check-marking tech designs all year for this end of the year gift guide – so, here’s our design-friendly picks to entertain, educate, nourish, and even decorate the home all with technology integral to the experience.

Gantri 3D Printed Table Lamp \\\ starting at $148 A few months ago we spotlighted the emergence of this San Francisco-based company for their intriguing 3D printing and on-demand manufacturing platform. Their catalog of wildly futuristic dimmable LED accent, area, and task lamps has since grown into a tempting selection of shapes and purposes, perfect to gift the person who lights up your life. For the futurist aesthete.

DOIY Le Videpoche \\\ $41 Having a place to drop all the contents of your pockets at the end of the day could mean the difference between always knowing where your phone, wallet, and keys are or having to purchase one of these. Now if they only would make this with wireless charging built into the tray for the new iPhone X… For the perpetually organized (or forever forgetful).

TRNTBL \\\ $499 It’s the first wireless turntable designed to play nice with two of our favorite streaming audio tools right out of the box – Spotify and Sonos. Every deck is hand assembled in either creme or black, and is equipped to identify every record played on its platter, generating a playlist to keep or share via Spotify. It’s the best of both worlds: the sound of analog with the convenience of wireless streaming. For the vinyl lover who already owns Sonos speakers.

JLA M1 \\\ $995 The best technologies lay low, stay invisible until you need their service. That’s why we think this speaker disguised as a side table equipped with an 8″ ultra-low distortion woofer and a 1-1/8″ optimized silk dome tweeter inside a minimalist modern housing is almost a two-for-one bargain. For the audiophile who believes speakers should be heard, not seen.

ANICORN Series 000 Watch \\\ $410 Elegant. The fashionable combination of grey and rose gold adorning the latest Series 000 Watch is a refreshing revamp of a watch formerly available in various shades of black. Beyond the new sophisticated finish, the triple-zero model still comes equipped to keep time accurately via automatic Japanese movement. Three concentric discs turn with every second, minute and hour. The Series 000 is also imprinted with the Swiss font Numeral designed by Dinamos, is water resistant with a 5 ATM rating, protected by an anti-reflective sapphire crystal glass, and operates without a battery. But we’ll admit it, we want it for its looks, not its time-keeping dependability. For the horologist with a thing for typography.

Rylo 360-Degree Camera \\\ $499 Don’t let its small size fool you, this mighty bit of imaging equipment is capable of capturing big, seamless, and immersive 360-degree 4K video through its pair of 208-degree f2.8 lenses. An image stabilization system smooths the frosting, removing bumps and shakes for buttery smooth video playback of action. A gamut of iOS app-based controls invites further experimentation, offering a variety of different editing and focus modes, including subject locking and variable speed playback. It’s also manufactured with a confident heft that promises it can take a ding or two without even noticing. For the adventurer who wants to see the bigger picture in life.

Xbox One X \\\ $499+ The Frame 43” \\\ $1299 We’ve already waxed poetic about The Frame, Samsung’s television designed to double up as a 4K, ultra high definition digital art platform, but we’re excited about this smaller 43″ option because it seems an ideal pairing for the new XBox One X, the most powerful gaming console available today. The +X console is more than capable of showcasing all the merits of 4K resolution HDR technology: games run faster, smoother, brighter, with vivid clarity, yet they’ve somehow reduced the physical size in comparison to its previous incarnation. The combination of power, resolution, and compact size makes the tandem a pretty compelling home entertainment system for the bedroom, den, or home office. For the art lover who with a strong affinity for the artistry of gaming.

Optoma UHD60 4K Projector \\\ $1999 We’ve tested and owned several HD projectors (including a couple of Optoma models) throughout the years, but nothing so gloriously satisfying as this even clearer and brighter 4K UHD 2160p resolution DLP UHD projector. It’s simply badass, for the lack of better words honestly reflecting our opinion. Whether watching movies through Apple TV or XBox, streaming Netflix series, playing video games, or even playing Drawful across a 92″ screen with friends, the pictures put out from the UHD60 never disappoints. It’s the closest we’ll get to an IMAX experience in our modest sized living room. For the cinephile who wants an execeptional picture at a reasonable price.

Nanit Baby Monitor \\\ $364 My friends just welcomed a newborn into their lives, so they seemed ideal candidates to test the Nanit. A few days after handing over the monitor, they emailed back with the following: “Nanit now and forever! The quality is light years ahead of our old video monitor. I used to have to stare at our child for a solid five minutes to detect breathing (as a new mom, you are constantly checking in on their breathing). With Nanit, you can ZOOM IN. The area that the camera covers is also really cool – an overhead shot lets you see so much more than we previously could. It even does a synopsis of the day and night via timelapse video so I can get a snapshot of it all. So not only is it informative, it’s really fun to watch.” For the parents whose favorite channel is BabyTV (aka every parent).

Nespresso Expert \\\ $329 We’re all about the ritual of grinding our own whole beans for a cup of Aeropress or Chemex brewed coffee. But we recognize many drinkers appreciate the convenience and ease of capsule systems. If so, the neo-Art Deco industrial design of this latest Nespresso coffee brewing machine is the most pleasing expression of drop-press-and-brew coffee. A pair of simple dial controls offers satisfying clicks with every turn, allowing users to dial in temperature and intensity with an old audiophile equipment-like feel. The Bluetooth app-connected controls aren’t necessary, but offers a cool additional way to customize a cup of espresso with a swipe and a tap. Pssst, you can always switch to refillable capsules to pack with your favorite local roasts too. For the coffee drinker looking for an elegant and compact design, and who wants to stop drinking from the gross communal carafe in the break room.

Sneakers \\\ $16 + Hex Calibre Sneaker Backpack \\\ $149 They’re calling this new 320 page tome dedicated to the business of sneaker design the “new sneaker bible”, its pages packed with photos and insight about the culture of collectible kicks. Pack a copy inside the dual compartment backpack from one of our favorite tech carry-all accessories maker, Hex and you’ve got business up top, party down below. For the commuter and sneaker freak who wants to carry their laptop and sneakers everywhere they go.

CARY42 \\\ $3029 With just 50 of these portable retro gaming systems slated to be made, these arcade in a box are likely to become an offbeat rare collectible amongst gamers rather than a realistic gift idea. But by chance you’re a hardcore Street Fighter II devotee, this solid American walnut case with a 12″ LCD screen flanked by two 10w stereo speakers and loaded with 100 classic game titles should make it clear you’re always ready to 1-up. For the rich gamer who just has to HADOUKEN at any given moment.

Kano Pixel Kit \\\ $79 I gave a Kano Pixel Kit to my neighbor’s daughter, and a few hours later her mom texted me back a video of her child having what appeared to be the time of her life exploring light and sound. The secret to everything Kano designs is the intuitive features that make learning a byproduct of curiosity and play. The Pixel Kit’s miniature screen is comprised of giant LED pixels capable of reproducing a spectrum of 16 million colors, and programmable using an easy block-based coding language…simple enough for Luddite parents to understand, complex enough for children to want to master. For the kid who doesn’t want to just play games, but code the next Minecraft one day.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/2017-gift-guide-tech/

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