Lêxï HðwårÐ (
thisislife) wrote in
deercountry2022-09-17 11:32 am
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Welcome to the Satellite of Love!
Who: Lexi Howard and customers
What: Grand Opening!
When: late September
Where: Satellite of Love Used Books and Comics
Prompts to follow in comments!
What: Grand Opening!
When: late September
Where: Satellite of Love Used Books and Comics
Prompts to follow in comments!
no subject
Lexi hoped so, too, but she honestly wondered if maybe they liked themselves like that? Even as sad as she personally considered it. She wanted to define herself on her own terms and the things her sister and parents were caught up in would make that impossible.
And that made her give an evil smile. "You're gonna regret that. I love shitty movies. There's this one called 'Roller Gator' I keep meaning to check out and the guy who did 'Birdemic' put out another movie. Be afraid. Be very afraid!" And she tries for an evil laugh, but it mostly sounds like she's trying to gargle while choking.
Those movies were supposedly among the worst ever made. They were plenty scary (that someone wrote it, directed it, acted it, and got paid for it) movies to choose from!
"It's okay, really. After all, all I did was show up at the reception and only have eyes for you."
Which was entirely true. She loved getting to dance with Luz as much as she could and Luz had been wearing a very dapper suit!
"...in a good way or a bad way? I mean, he can't be all bad, I saw him make that post looking for dates for that---jeez, I'm terrible with ages. How old was the girl?"
Oodles of hugs and kisses?
"I'll have to queue it up the next time you come over. I'd like to know what they're saying."
no subject
It was certainly something Luz knew that Lexi would be thinking about, but that was sometimes how people were. What was more, Luz figured Lexi would come to terms with it on her own now that she was away from it all.
"Is that a threat? Because I have to warn you, I LOVE hate watching things, especially if it's with my girlfriend! I'm game!"
And Luz couldn't help but tap her forehead to Lexi's. "That was such a cute laugh!"
Well now Luz is just beaming quietly to herself. "That is the cutest way to ignore my friends I've ever heard. You're so sweet!"
Luz meant every word, and yes, she would LOVE that Lexi admired the suit!
"In a Reaper way. He's a pain in my butt like that. He's also much nicer than he says he is. Just never ever tell him that."
Luz chuckled. "Oh, she's about twelve, thirteen, but that's not the only obstacle Ahiru has, TRUST me."
Being a duck playing a human, after all, had its drawbacks.
Yes. Oodles a oodles.
"No problem! Say, you don't happen to know any German, do you?"
no subject
She was trying. So far she's stuck at "maybe they want to be that way?" Which isn't exactly a happy ending for them, liver failure, jail, and shitty boyfriends never were, but she knows that she can't control their actions. Not really.
"I know! Isn't hatewatching the best! I did that with at least half of Game of Thrones, nearly all of True Blood, and a vast number of Christsploitation movies! And I'm Jewish, watching drek like 'God's Not Dead' made me even happier to be one. So, yeah, hatewatching needs to be a thing on the regular."
"Really? Cute? Nah, you're the cute one." She will die on that hill.
And Lexi giggles and looks a little awkward. But not a lot, she'll stand by what she said. "Well...you make me wanna be sweet, so we're even."
It was an awesome suit and she wants to see it again.
"I assume impalement might result if I did? And twelve, thirteen...? Isn't that kinda young to want to start dating? I mean, I didn't...until I was here! Actually, no, she shouldn't take cues from my awkward self."
Yes, that would make things tricky? Said person would have to have a house with no cats. No batcats, no cat Omens, no nothing.
"None, really. Other than [she mangles the pronunciation of] weizenbier? 'Cause it's the only kind of beer I can drink without wanting to barf"
no subject
Nope, not at all. Luz was starting to learn one of the hardest things about growing up was accepting that you could lapse into bad habits at any time, and you had to do your best to try and improve yourself where you could. It wasn't easy, and both old and young people could easily find themselves falling back to what was familiar.
"Oh wow, that IS pretty impressive! I don't know if even I could take some of those myself! I mean, mom definitely wouldn't let me watch GOT, and I hear True Blood started out interesting! You definitely have a core watching strength I lack!"
Which wasn't surprising considering Luz had started out in Deerington at fourteen and then had to deal with bad things as she aged. Not really much time to get acquainted with television, let alone hate movies.
"I'll accept I'm cute ONLY when you accept you have a cute laugh," Luz said sternly, sticking out her tongue, "no exceptions."
Luz just grinned. "It comes naturally then. Sure, I'll buy that."
Oh no, no. Luz is not a girl who will do that so easily, not when she could find something NEW to wow her girlfriend in!
"It's Reaper, so I think he'll stick with intimidation. I don't think you're quite bad enough to need impalement! As for Ahiru dating, I think it's more that he's trying to get her used to the idea of it being a thing she could indulge in. Let's say that Ahiru is kind of sheltered there."
Which was about as much as she imagined she could say about it.
What did Ahiru think about cats? Luz would have to ask her later.
"Haha, of course it would be about beer!" Luz couldn't help laughing, shaking her head. "I meant more for music! Sometimes I so like hearing something foreign to my ears!"
(CW: underage drinking)
"After they get past the books, GOT is a mess of gargantuan proportions. I might have stolen one or three of mother's bottles of zinfandel to cope with watching what I was seeing for the last few. Which was a complete and utter betrayal of Martin's characters, often during the same episode! And True Blood is only fit for hatewatching, believe me."
And Lexi laughed. "Okay, okay. I have a cute laugh. And you have a cute everything else, so there!"
"...damn. I will do my best to stand my ground, then. Isn't that the best way to handle such beings, to stay firm in one's convictions? Right? Please say right. And thirteen, that's plenty of time to get puppy love on someone, to get all aflutter about someone else. But. Sheltering her won't do her any good. What if she's caught by something with none of her roommates? If she's too sheltered, she won't be able to stand up to what matters."
Cats were adorable, sweet, and cute and no one would convince Lexi otherwise.
"Ohhhh," Lexi granted, chuckling embarrassedly. "Music is a much better analogy than booze."
Re: (CW: underage drinking)
Besides, as she had come to understand, the things that made people "under the influence" would sort of happen on its own anyway.
"Mom made a mention that they got kind of rape happy, so that put me off of it. I only vaguely knew what she meant at the time, but once I DID know? I kept my distance. But knowing that the writing also betrayed the artistic intent is sure to keep me far away!"
She'd take her word for it on True Blood. If Luz wanted to watch something good with vampires, there was quiet a lot she could choose from.
Luz chuckled. "A cute everything? News to me!"
She was glowing, don't listen Lexi.
"Lexi, just show him the you that I know. I think you're perfect like you are, and he'll see it too. But standing firm will help."
Luz snickered. "Ahiru?! No, that won't happen. Ahiru's situation is kinda complicated, and she'd probably the one complicating it most. I can see why Reaper's trying to help her there. She could really use the push."
Luz would be sympathetic with Ahiru but ultimately did agree with Lexi on that matter.
"Right, and there's plenty of cool German music out there! Lot's of cool eighties stuff, and I hear that some band from the 90's, Rammstein, is supposed to be pretty good too!"
Re: (CW: underage drinking)
It did. It was surreal listening to her mom trying to coax Rue into Narcotics Anonymous given that the few times they'd managed to talk their mom into Alcoholics Anonymous, she'd dragged her feet, then resented the meetings and the people in them, then quit.
"Yeah, rape happy and for some reason they completely missed that the entire point of Jaime's arc in the books was taking him away from Cersei and into becoming his own man, defining himself for a change instead of letting Cersei define and control him. So. Fucking. Angry."
She'd rather read about vampires, herself. TV never seemed to get them right.
"Well, it shouldn't be! Cute everything! And you're just gonna have to live with that."
Luz's glow could probably serve as an energy source for all of Trench.
"Okay. Firm. I can do that. I hope?" And she also hopes that she looks more confident than she feels.
"She's really shy or something?"
Lexi was one to talk, given that she did her best to suffer Trench on her own and tried to avoid letting anyone in too far. Except for Luz. She trusted Luz completley.
"Didn't Rammstein have a song on the soundtrack for 'The Matrix?'"
<--Am I projecting with Rammstein? Just a lil' bit.
She'd admit to Lexi she didn't get the draw to alcohol, but wouldn't begrudge Lexi's own involvement with it. She trusted her girlfriend to practice control over it when she needed to.
"Ooh, no kidding? It sounds like the how really went off the rails there. But then, mom wouldn't have ever let me watch then, and now I guess I lost the interest. It sure would be weird if someone from that world wound up here though."
Yes. Wouldn't it.
"Oh, I do. It's such a pain. Every day I wake up and look at myself and go 'You're too cute today Luz. You need to tone it down. Save some cute for other people!'"
She was joking, obviously. There was always plenty of cute to go around, so long as baby animals continued to be born.
"Actually, she's a bit outgoing, considering her situation, but I can't really get into more than that. You'd probably need to ask her yourself there."
Luz knew that Ahiru had secrets she needed to keep to herself, and that was a pretty big one.
"Yup, the one they're most famous for, Du Hast! But their first album was pretty darn rocking too!"
If only you knew German Luz. You would then know how inappropriate they were, though just right for your age range.
no subject
So one wine cooler was more than enough, thanks.
"That's putting it mildly. And it would, I'd be like holy crap, I know everything about you, but you know nothing about me. Unless somehow what me and everyone else was going through somehow was entertainment where they were from. Awkward!"
And that makes Lexi laugh, grinning broadly. "I dunno, I'm okay with you being a cute hoarder. Hoard all of the cute that you want!"
Even if she did hoard cute, baby animals would still be cute. it was a law.
"Oh. Well, I guess I could try? I'm just not good at reaching out, some of the time. Okay, a lot of the time. But, I'm getting better at it?" She hoped. At least she thought so.
"The only German I know is the one JFK messed up on, saying that he was a jelly donut, not a Berliner like he'd meant to say."
no subject
Luz would, of course, trust that Lexi wouldn't go overboard.
"That would be a pretty mature show, from what you told me. Definitely going to be streaming, right? But if you were a show, pretty sure I'd be watching you while other people would be all about the other plots."
Luz may have loved drama, but she also had an appreciation for characters that were supposedly just supporting characters with their own issues.
"Ahem. We're dating now, Lexi, so you get to have some of that hoarded cute at your place too."
Oh, without question.
"Lexi, you'll probably be popping over to my place now and again, right? You can totally meet Ahiru and Luca there! I'm sure Ahiru would love to make a new friend!"
Luz giggled. "Is that what he said? I never knew that! It's pretty funny! 'I am a pastry!' And the Germans are probably looking at each other like, 'Um, ok, cool, my guy?'"
no subject
Honestly, she was just as happy sticking with iced tea or the flavored seltzer. She wished more of her sister's friends would be and the less said about Rue, the better.
"Yeah, it would have to be Netflix or something. And come with every trigger warning imaginable. It's honestly a miracle I'm as sane as everyone else, at least when compared to them."
Hers was probably that of being in Cassie's shadow all the time and not being confident to make friends on her own terms.
"Are you sure? I mean, Mewnos and Nosferatmew, of course they need their cute rations and I'm willing to share."
"Okay. Okay. If you think I'm ready to meet the family, I'll be there.
And Lexi laughed, grinning. "I don't know! That's the urban legend, though, and it's a pretty funny one, too!"
no subject
Luz knew the perfect drink to introduce to her girlfriend, because she'd grown up drinking it herself! A little Morir soñando and the two of them would have a pretty great date beverage to share!
"I'd watch! I mean, now that I'm older anyway. No way would I have been allowed to do that before I wound up world hopping. I was fourteen then!"
Luz was pretty happy that Lexi had managed to keep her sanity! She found her days feeling pretty good with her around!
"I think we'll all have plenty of cute to dole out."
And then some.
"Of course you are! I'm willing to bet that Reaper won't be anywhere near as menacing as he keeps saying he will be anyway."
She hoped. Don't scare her girlfriend, Reaper!
"It is! I'd like to think we had a funny president who meant well, and not the, uh, unfunny one that we had last I checked."
no subject
Lexi would appreciate that very much. All she would need would be to translate it! And having the perfect date night drink with Luz was far more important and dear to her than the occasional wine cooler.
And Lexi grinned. "Well, I kinda hope that there isn't anything about us? Most of us are kind of messy. Which some people like, but it's way too much effort and emotional for my taste."
Being with Luz made Lexi feel...not invincible. No one was that in Trench. But capable of facing her fears as long as she loves Luz and Luz loves her back.
Lexi grinned even more broadly and called up to Nosferatmew and Mewnos. "Hear that, babies? Your cute rations are going to be taken care of!" In response, the batkittens fly down to nudge Lexi on the forehead and shoulders. That makes her laugh. "Yes, yes, feeding time is soon enough, just be a little more patient, okay?" Which seemed to placate the batkittens.
"Has he...heard about me? 'Cause I'm a little scared of menacing, period."
"Oh my God, you're not kidding. 2020 can't come fast enough. I...should be old enough to vote? I hope so, anyway. Even if I'm not, I'm phone banking the fuck out of whomever gets nominated to go against the Cheeto"
no subject
If Lexi wanted a translation for the drink, she'd probably be a little impressed. Even Luz liked it: it gave an air of something almost ethereal, and in actuality it was a very pleasant drink!
"Oh, I hear you. No one likes to have all of their dirty laundry aired for everyone to see, of course. And its gotta really be awful to live through."
After all, you might be able to feel for a character going through a heartbreaking situation, but how much worse was it when it was actually you?
Luz would have been pretty surprised at the "non-invincible" part until Lexi explained it. Luz was a girl who clung to her happiness as much as she could, because the things that were bad tended to hit her more than she'd realize.
"Aww, are the babies hungry? We should feed them soon! I don't wanna keep them waiting!"
Luz had a tendency to dote on her animal companions, with mixed results, but they were all spoiled a little bit.
"I told him about you of course. Don't be surprised if you see him soon."
Luz couldn't exactly say "You don't have to be worried," because she knew Reaper wouldn't want that. He LIKED being menacing.
"I hear you. It was getting pretty scary with him around, making the rest of the world angry and making us the laughing stock of, well, everyone. I'm a little concerned with the types of things he could make happen."
no subject
She would be trying to remember her high school Spanish to remember and translate the words and would fail miserably. But, hey, if they're ever in need of a bathroom and they're in the middle of some Pthumerian bullshit, she can ask!
"...yeah. I dunno, I wanted to show something of what it was like to have my family as a family. But now I wonder if that's smart or not." And after a pause, during which Lexi closed her eyes and released a long breath. "It's probably not smart."
Especially since she wants to hear what was going on with Cassie from Cassie.
She still believes that they're stronger together than they are apart. That if there's some awful Trench bullshit, they can survive it together. And with their relationship undented. Maybe that was naïve of Lexi, but she couldn't help hoping beyond hope that the two of them would escape any unnecessary trauma.
"Yes, they're hungry. Geez, I feel like a new mom trying to breastfeed in Barnes & Noble," she says as she crooked her head to the side, enough room for Nosferatmew and Mewnos to latch on. Both of whom eagerly do, purring loudly.
Lexi was also the type to spoil them. Orille had his little space on the middle-floor register, happily rooting around in shredded copies of Fifty Shades of Grey and well. allowing her batkittens to feed in public?.
Lexi breathed in and released a long sigh. "Oh. Good. Well, uh. I'll try to be prepared?"
"I'm flat-out terrified. Even my mom is, and she lived through the Reagan and the Cold War.. Now let's see if we can keep her sobered up to go door-to-door." And almost as an afterthought, "Cassie doesn't care. If it won't make her pores look smaller or her curls look more bouncy, she doesn't really give a fuck."
no subject
Luz would be happy to tell her that the translation is "to die while dreaming" and that the drink is specific to Dominicans! She just hoped she'd be able to make it as good as her Mami did back home.
"If it's something you don't think would show them favorably, you might want to hold off on it. After all, it's not like they'd be able to show up to defend themselves."
Luz would be just as hopeful that this would be the case too, but as Lexi would find out, Luz couldn't keep herself out of trouble.
"Hey, you don't have to do that alone, you know."
Luz put her arm around her girlfriend and nicked her neck slightly for the cats to feed on.
They were both very doting parents. Hopefully this was not enough to put people off.
"You'll be fine, Lexi! You're...you're perfect, ok?"
She sighed. "Well I guess that means it's up to us to keep fighting then, right? I don't see myself wanting to let someone like that making the world worse. We have enough problems."
no subject
That's a pretty amazing name, one which implies something really, really great.
"Yeah. I--I wouldn't put it on here. It wouldn't be fair. And I'm definitely offering to let people read it ahead of time, so if there's something they have a problem with, they can say so and I'll rewrite."
Trouble seemed to stalk the residents of Trench like a slasher movie villain. He might not get you yet, but it was there and often unavoidable in the end. No Final Girl was going to make it out of here.
And the batcats set to feeding happily, both purring loudly. The cats were cute enough and common enough that people shouldn't find it too weird.
That made Lexi blush. "...perfect, huh?"
Lexi reached over to give Luz's hand a squeeze. "We can do this. We can stop him and then hope that what was done can be undone."
no subject
The name seemed to almost give the drink a sort of ambrosia kind of feel to it!
"You know, maybe when you get the urge, you might want to write about something different. Think about it: you're here, and you've already seen so much go on, right? Why not take some of those situations and infuse them with some of the types of situations that we have to deal with here?"
Oh, that was for sure, and if there was someone who was notoriously bad at staying out of trouble, it was Luz.
To Luz it was just another activity involving petting kitties! Just...vampiric ones that took some of your blood!
"Oh yeah. You can totally trust me on that."
Luz sighed. "Well, assuming that if we go back, would even be at the same time? We still don't know what happens when we, uh, 'rejoin the flock in the ocean' and what not."
no subject
"Maybe? I've got a setting for horror the likes of which Stephen King can only dream about. A cast of characters who are all interesting, traumatized, or both. There are lots of people here who could be the main characters all by themselves and this whole thing is out of Lovecraft, except deleting the awful racism."
Lexi tended to be cautious by nature, which was why she seemed to make it out of most things relatively intact?
And who didn't love petting kitties? Petting kitties was the closest thing to Heaven on...well, Trench.
"I know. It's...there are too many variables. I'd try to calculate them all out, but it would probably be some crazy 'Good Will Hunting' math problem covering walls," she said in an attempt at a joke.
no subject
"Oh sure, and if you were to write something like that, I'd be the first person in line to read it! Also, thanks for saying that, I hear way too many nerds try to talk about Lovecraft without mentioning the racist stuff, as if that part was ok to look over."
It certainly wasn't for Luz: if anything, it was a monster that ruined the art of otherwise talented people. The moment you took a person and made them an "other," you were forgetting anything that would make your book appeal to the disenchanted.
Luz was sure that the only way you could get her to stop petting kitties was to have her dead. It would be the only way.
"Better not to think about it! If it ever happens, we'll be confident in knowing we'll be better people and do our best to outvote the crazy in our communities."
no subject
"I know, right? I mean, there's 'product of their time' and there's...that. Which was crazy racist even for then. The concepts were good, the writing was so-so, and the racism makes me want to travel back in time to smack him upside the head a time or twenty."
It still seemed like that was the case, given authors like Orson Scott Card's assholishness about LGBTQ people. The shitty thing was, she'd liked Ender's Game, but couldn't enjoy it again after hearing about how incredibly homophobic he was. (gay marriage as a reason for another civil war? seriously? seriously?) She'd since sold all of his books which she'd had at a yard sale.
Lexi would come back from the dead just so she could pet cats.
"I sure hope so. Crossed fingers and knocking on wood!"
I SO relate to Lexi here about OSC. I loved Enders Game.
"From what I hear, he was already a weird guy anyway, but throw some racism into the mix and you have basically a nineteen hundreds version of Edgar Allan Poe, but with racism."
Not that Edgar Allan didn't have his own problematic issues. Still, Luz was inclined to agree with Lexi in general about authors who seemed to be cool and then wound up being much less cooler than their actual works, which made Luz give up any that infringed on limiting anyone's freedom.
Luz agreed with that sentiment!
"Yeah! Assuming we ever leave here!"
Luz knew there was the whole "squid" thing to think about.
but Woody Allen and Roman Polanski can still go to Hell
"Yeah, you're not lying. At least Poe--no, he was problematic in his own way, too, didn't he marry his teenage cousin? Or at least want to? But at the same time, if all 'problematic' authors are erased, what are we gonna be left with? Maybe sometimes we need to engage with what makes an author a filmmaker a whatever while keeping the fact that they have feet of clay in mind, anyway. It's probably not healthy to devote so much time to a single creator in like. An idolizing way, anyway."
"We're going to leave here. Eventually. In our own sweet time. And...I'd like to end up where you are. Instead of where I was. If. That's okay?"
She hated thinking about the squid thing. As far as Lexi was concerned, it was a non-starter.
They can, though I'll admit I actually like Polanski's films more...he is still awful.
"He absolutely did, and that is just not cool in so many ways, even if his own life got pretty tragic in other ways. You have a point though: authors are shaped a bit by the world they live in, and in the end, they're all just people. Some of them though? I know enough not to fund them being awful people. If they're dead and gone, that could work. But you have a point there: you should be able to like a work, or body of work without putting the author on a pedestal. In the end, they're just people."
Luz winced, wondering how true that would be, and put her hands in Lexi's.
"I have no idea what would happen if we went back: if we'd even go back the same age, and last I checked, I was stranded in a magical demon world. I kind of wonder how that would go with the both of us."
In other words, Luz wouldn't stress if there was an after: what they had now, without complications (to an extent)? She cherished and was grateful for.
the only Polanski film I like is "Rosemary's Baby" and I STILL have to tell myself that he's a POS
"Yeah. It's easier to be a little more lenient when it comes to authors who are already dead, depending on whom was earning money from their great-great however many grandchildren were. Or if a book was already public use because the copywrite expired. But, yeah. They're people, formed by their times. It's probably not a good idea to put anyone on a pedestal because that's a great way to be disappointed when they don't live up to what we would like for them to."
Lexi gave Luz's hands a squeeze and tried to look confident.
"Well, if I survived East Highland, I can survive a magical demon world. No problem." Also including Trench in the equation.
Luz was more than cherished, she was loved. It was still hard to actually say love since most of those she'd loved had disappointed her in the end, but she didn't want Luz to be one of them. She didn't think she would be? She trusted Luz more than anyone else.
He also did a good yet fucked up version of Macbeth too. Very screwed up.
...hmm. I do like fucked up Shakespeare.
Prepare yourself for naked ladies and a war scene with rape...I watched this in 12th grade:/
eeek! eeek! /crosses their fingers that their boss doesn't see this
Yeah, Polanski didn't hold back there. Woof.
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