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What? No. I totally didn't vanish into the cafe and forget to come out again, I swear.

I'm so lying.

but hey I'll bribe people with Valentine's goodies and such. That'll work right?

Anyone know the best place for the game tomorrow?

There's some creepy shit outside and to make matters worse my vigors ain't workin' like they should.

Bullets seem fine though.

Elizabeth

Stay inside.

I'm making it publicly known that I paid for the liquor I took from the store. It's not my fault that there was no one behind the counter to receive it. Must have been one hell of a bathroom break, I was there for a half-hour.

Day two of sobriety. It still sucks. Yesterday we cleaned out all the cupboards and ever since I've been opening and closing them like booze is magically going to appear.

I have support but it's one of the hardest things I've ever done and I'm only two fucking days in. It gets easier, right?

Getting on a long flight to France with Elizabeth. Honestly this feels like it's long over due.

Normally I try to stay out of the whole fashion thing when it comes to what other women are wearing, their bodies their business right? But pictures of this keep showing up on pinterest based on my interests and I just have to ask - why? What's the point of a long sleeve romper if it's going to be cut so that half your ass is hanging out of it?

If women want to wear it - good for them I just personally don't get it.

Christmas was good.
New Year's went well.

Much food was had. Much fun was had. And so on and so forth.

Anyone got some fun resolutions for the year?

Things that have happened since my last post:

• I built a snowman


• I got a Christmas present from no one


• I dreamed I went through puberty again


• I've lost part of my finger because of the dreams

I've been busy, to say the least. It's not a great idea to grow up alone in the Edwardian era. Pamphlets about puberty somehow forget to mention the messy bits and dream!me thought she was going to die. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

In positive news I'll be going to Paris soon and I can't wait! I've already got my bags packed and now I just have to wait. Which is hard, I've been waiting to go to Paris my whole life, I think.

Ice cream for breakfast! Completely acceptable, if only to show off the food porn in this really cute bowl. But if you're curious, no, I'm not seriously going to eat the pickles with it.

( image behind cut )

Obviously, it's safe to say that ice cream for breakfast isn't going to be the one responsible for making me fat in the next couple months. That's a blame that'll go right to Pete. Thanks, babe! Womb lease ends sometime in early June, but it'll probably be here faster than we think.

We're also not naming it after any of you assholes, so don't even suggest it.

I don't think I've ever had a Thanksgiving so nice. I watched a parade, there was lots of food, and now I'm researching jet engines.

Asami, I have something I need to show you, if you're reading tonight. It's incredible and it came from one of my dreams. I mean, I drew it here, but the idea was from a dream.

So I'm Neena and I'm new to this sort of group. I just got a smartphone and this is apparently one of the sites it recommends.

I'm a bartender. The best thing about where I work is we don't do anything for the holidays. No stupid costumes, no candy on the bar, and the old drunks don't think they're clever when they ask for 'tricks'. Everybody just wants to get wasted and go back to their lives.

I knew I skipped Halloween for a good reason this year.

I can't even lie, this has been one of the best months in awhile. Catering went without a hitch, food was delightful as usual, company was epic, I'm so glad I was part of the big day for one of my best friends.

I'm even taking a couple days off from the cafe to just relax. I'm just a happy person right now and not even this place is going to take that away from me. Give me your best shot, OC, I will punch you in the face so hard you forget you're in California.

See? I've got this month.

Halloween decorations, acquired.
Halloween snacks being decided upon


Cafe decorated? hell yes.

This ain't right.

I'm trying to avoid pumpkin anything until at least October. Seriously not going to cave on that. Cafe is pumpkin free until October when I shall begin pumpkin pie making. Though I am stocking up on recipes for Halloween. I'm looking forward to it. It's one of my favorite holidays.

Cindy
I have something for you. Not something I want to give you with the others around because there's a story to it.

Ugh, I'm in a funk. How do you get out of one? How do you make your funk defunct? (Besides puns.)

I need a new car.

So I guess after the world wasn't destroyed, and everyone in my dreamworld who died was miraculously resurrected (except for the douchecanoe responsible for the 'let's make you destroy the world' drama), killing two demonlords means this demonically created barrier keeping our specific continent away from the rest of the world is down. Every kingdom wants to send explorers out (probably to conquer, let's be real), and I'm just interested in going for magical studies.

Then a golden dragon decides to attack the port city the day everyone's launching off, a tsunami is accidentally created HOW DO I KEEP DOING THIS and everything's destroyed. To avoid blame I convinced my people to help me steal a ship and sail off.

And starve.

It seemed like a good idea, I guess. But the tsunami really was an accident.

On the bright side, there's pumpkin spice everything practically available, so it's time to indulge in 'basic bitch' tendencies.

Some days I just wonder why I even bother. Why I'm here. Why I haven't fled yet. Today? One of those days. Ugh.

Trying to describe this feeling. It's like.... I ain't in pain. Nothing is going wrong. Things are just normal.

There's somethin' off kilter with the world if things are just normal for me.

( gif behind cut )

I hate admitting that I'm wrong.

That's why I'm not quite admitting that I was wrong.

But I'm also admitting Zee might have been a little bit right.

I drank more than enough to put myself out of commission last night, there's no questioning that, but...I don't even know why I'm bothering to write this here, it's just an old bastard rambling on after something's rattled his cage...I mean, who the fuck even cares, right? What's the bloody point?

I had a dream. A real one, one that I remembered after waking up. That never happens. Hasn't happened for years. The booze made sure of that.

This morning, I woke up starving, and sweaty. And terrified.

I don't know what this is.

I don't know what it's for. I don't know what to do with it.

All I know is that everyone and their mother's got one, so now I've got one too. It feels wonderful to have my finger on the pulse of technology. I am a changed man.

I remember when phones had cables...

Said mornin' to my ... roommate, got punched in the face.

It's wonderful knowing a friend is safe. I could throw him a party every week for this one. That's one less worry I have in my life now.

First time in a long while that a day feels like it ain't bad.

I'm sure you lot have noticed the clear and sunny skies this morning. Hopefully all the missing things have been returned.

I don't post a lot on here, but Lina is was my girlfriend. She stopped the chaos and the storm from continuing but she didn't make it through.

I'll be putting together a memorial service for her, for next weekend. It'll be at [name of Indian restaurant] she would have wanted loads of food-- It's where we had our first date--. I'm renting it out for the whole day. If you knew her or were friends with her feel free to drop by. In lieu of flowers and things, she wanted any monetary contributions to go to the OC's magic guild.

( Private to Booker DeWitt )

( Private to Edward Elric )

What do you do when you're starving, have eaten literally everything in your apartment, and you're still fucking hungry?

I might not be the most patriotic person in the world but I made some July 4th goodies for the cafe. Lots of yummies ready to eat. So come, eat! I'll be open on the 4th, reduced staff so we might be a little slower. But I only put people on who wanted to work, so it worked out okay.

Booker, Cindy, Kitty, Lina, Pete, Garrus, if you're a friend: You.
I'll be cooking up food like woah for the 4th if anyone wants to pop by (Booker, you're pretty much expected since you live here) for foods - Cindy if you come by I'll be sure to have plenty of goods you can have too!

Ain't just the northwest getting power issues, mine keeps flickering.

I don't care what anyone says. These last few days have strangely been satisfying. I found slamming heads into pavement is a huge stress reliever. Thank goodness they aren't people who, you know, could have me arrested for slamming their heads into pavement. I might have issues.

but it was satisfying cleaning up around the Cafe.

I might not be a good person. Oops?

I don't usually post about stupid articles, but apparently a Taco Bell in Chicago is going to start serving alcohol.

The amount of relevance that is to my life right now is both hysterical and unreal.

I'd go to that Taco Bell...

Ever want something, and then when that thing actually turns out to be a possibility, you don't actually want it?

I feel vaguely accomplished. Made bacon wrapped pork loin for tonight's dinner. Scheduled time off from the cafe to get taken to Disney (this is a thing, right, sir? We are doing this?) and I actually, willingly, purchased a second bikini.

LINA BE PROUD OF ME.

Also whipped up Cheesecake Ice Cream.

shit, I got too stoned

That moment when you make an abundance of macaroni stuffed baked potatoes wrapped in bacon, and then you eat it. Like, all of it. I am, for once, genuinely concerned about my health but at the same time, regret nothing?

Does chewing on salad counter-act all that, or should I just not even try?

Do you ever feel, during the course of your dreams, as though you are watching a film of some kind? A horror film, for instance, wherein the hero is headed towards his inevitable doom, and no matter how you scream at him to watch his back, he never sees the monster lurking just behind him.

I feel as though my dreams are coming to exactly such a point.

Okay first of all, am I going to wake up with injuries after every freaking dream I have? Because that's totally not cool with me. Also definitely don't like those Cabal assholes for breaking into our home. I wanted to take them all out, but no, the Morrigan intervened.

But hey, my dreams left me my shiny badass gun, so I'll take that. I still want the motorcycle though. Do the dreams take requests for gifts because yeah, the motorcycle's definitely my request.

Think we picked a good time to go to Paris. Ain't sure I wanna go back until things get back to normal in Orange County.

Ain't sure shit ever gonna get back to normal.

But Paris is nice.

Laura K

Question.

I've got my passport all updated, and I even managed to get a passport picture that doesn't look horrible! The last time I'd gotten one was when I was a younger teen, and it's amazing to see them side by side and compare them. You never think about how a few years might change your looks since it happens so gradually, but there's the proof.

Also brushing up on my French. I haven't really had a good reason to use it since aramis-- lately, but I'm going to need it now! I'm really excited about this, I can't wait until next Wednesday!

"Feed a dog for three days and you get attached." I'm sure that could have been a thoughtful proverb if my dream!me didn't really butcher it.

I went through a cycle of the same dreams, over and over. First about a spell, then actual nightmares from the dream!self. Now there's a city I remember seeing destroyed resurrected with all its previously dead citizens in it. Also the diabolical little shit of a Hellmaster decided to possess Gourry, cover him in armor from head to toe, and then have us almost kill each other. And flare carrots, really?

Head, meet desk. I kind of preferred the dreams where I was stuck in a pink horse outfit for reasons.

This is why citizens of Orange County greet the morning with a cup of booze rather than a cup of joe most of the time.

There must be something terribly wrong with me. Every place I've gone to run an errand, I have encountered people who dress less than appropriate, and vocalized every single thing wrong with their ensemble.

Someone even threw their shoe at me. It was not a very pretty shoe, so I suppose they couldn't really consider it a lost...

I have a song stuck in my head from my Dreams. I can't be the only person this happens to.

Fine, Taylor Swift, you win. I know all the words to that one song and identify strongly with it.

Ugh, I hate when I bow to pop culture, but she's like some sort of adorable southern siren.

Coffee tastes the best when it's free. I suppose I should be grateful that this child trying to stick up our local convenience store was so incompetent. Robbing a store in broad daylight? Tsk, tsk. It really is amateur hour today.

On the bright side, overall crime seems to be calming down. Perhaps now our civil servants won't feel so overworked.

Zuko
That steak house of yours is doing quite well, isn't it? It's a shame about all that illegal activity happening in the basement.

Uuuugh, why are you so far away from me, Spring Break? February is the worst month because the only holiday it has is a crummy one, and then after that there's just nothing until Easter. I feel like we should hibernate or something.

OH. Also: I'm Doreen, I just joined this network, and I'm over at CSU Fullerton. Go Titans, or something. (Our mascot's name is Tuffy, I just looked it up. That's so not threatening.)

Is it too early to start planning the after party? Rogue's got moonshine in the works, will most likely cook for an entire army, and we can celebrate no one we liked died. This entire thing is worthy of alcohol indulgence. Probably won't take place for a week or two, but hey! Enough time to make it awesome.

Do us a favor, OC. Try not to lose your shit so we can enjoy some downtime, got it? I will put a goddamn hole in you otherwise.

Now, I usually don't mix candy with alcohol - blech - but I'm going to get my hands on these. Booze filled chocolates. This can either be really good or really gross, but I'm all for trying things at least once.

Punching muggers in the face is like free therapy!

Bacon is disgusting. I don't understand how people can eat this much of it.