Summary: 25-year-old Robin Gates(she/they) is a timid small business owner in the small town of Camden, Maine, who has just found out they have been accepted into this years craft festival! Viola (she/her) is a 23-year-old music producer/songwriter who is a bit of a night owl. This unlikely duo meets for the first time late one night at a local bar in town. Convinced this is a one-time occurrence, they part ways going about their regular routines until one fateful Sunday morningâŚ
Characters: original characters
Authors note: Hey all!! This is my first time writing in a while so any constructive criticisms are welcome, just donât make me cry lol. This a simple cute romance between two polar opposites! Do they have more in common than they think? Or is Robin just chasing the highs of one fateful night? Find out for yourself!
âFinally!â Robin sighed as she locked the front door of her quaint shop, âRobins Nestâ. The building was made mostly of red brick, with a multitude of apartments above. The storefront was on the first floor, painted white with a vibrant green trim around the large windows that consumed most of the wall. Robin took a step back and smiled, peering into the window at all of their various creations before turning on her heel and starting towards her car that was parked out front.
They slid their hand across the deep blue of the hood, lightly grazing the ornament that sat atop it and reminiscing about when she had first gotten it. The SUV was the same age as her and wore a gray stripe from the grill to the bed. The aggressive knobby tires sat about four inches below the body which was perfect for taking the rural dirt roads it had been kept on for the greater half of its life. It was a beautiful American-made car that had been Robin's pride and joy before starting their business.
As Robin climbed into the driver's seat they glanced into their mirror and saw the cotton candy clouds stirring above an orange sky. It was just past 6:30 pm in late August, still warm, and yet the wind brought an autumn Breeze off the bay and into town.
âThe night is coming earlier and earlierâ she thought to herself as she drove off of Elm St and towards home.
ONCE home they swung the door open and began their nightly routine. Socks, Robin's small grey and white cat, had come to greet her as she prepared dinner for them both, meowing with a certain impatience for food.
âOkay, okay, here you go girl. No need for the dramatics.â Robin placed down a plate full of wet cat food and socks immediately dug in, meowing with a mouthful. Robin then sat at the table with her dinner and a glass of red wine. They opened their laptop, skimming through numerous emails from clients and partnerships while shoveling chicken alfredo into their mouth, when an email named âOctoberFest Craft Show 2023â froze them. Robin put down the fork and took a large gulp of her wine, crossing her fingers as she opened the email.
Her eyes lit up like fireworks as she beamed with excitement, setting the glass down before jumping out of her chair and dancing in celebration. âWe did it! We did it! Socks Baby," Robin exclaimed, scooping her cat into her arms, âWe're going to have a booth in this year's craft show!â
Socks growled at being taken away from the ground and jumped out of Robin's arms, to their dismay. Frowning at the now sprawled-out socks, Robin closed their laptop and chugged the rest of her wine. âThis calls for a celebration! Plus, we're closed tomorrow so I may as well go out!â Robin declared, rushing to clean up from dinner before hurrying to get ready.
AT last, Robin had pulled into the parking lot for âThe Last Outpostâ which was a well-known bar in her town. As they leapt out of the car and onto the pavement they could already hear live music flowing out from the building. It was nearly 8 pm now and it had gotten chillier than before. Robin wore a layered black skirt that came barely past her knees and an oversized honey-brown sweater that slipped off her shoulders, exposing her collarbone as well as the black bralette strap settled there. Her hair was split dyed; half of it was a dark chestnut brown and half ash blonde. They had the top half of their hair held up by a clip while the lower half was flowing down their back. Her makeup was light, accentuating her natural beauty and calling attention to her forest green eyes that contrasted her olive skin. Normally she would have worn her glasses, but instead opted for contacts, to not risk losing them. After all, she was here to celebrate.
The door opened gracefully as she floated through the room, catching the eyes of many that she passed, before settling at the bar. She smiled at the bartender as he poured her two shots of honey whiskey as per her request. Robin took them both, one in each hand before turning to the room and holding them out.
âTo hard work, success, and preservation!â She said loudly and mostly to herself. She earned a few glasses raised in return before turning back to the bar with satisfaction, asking for another round of shots. Bars were normally not her thing as she prefers the company of her cat over strangers, but this victory has been one that she had worked for ages to get into, as most businesses participating have done so throughout generations and knew each other very well.
She looked around the room full of people, most of whom were focused on the singer sitting onstage in the far corner of the bar, and let out a light sigh before turning back to the bar, pretending to watch the game playing on the TV above her.
Although she had a great win to be proud of, she silently wished for someone to celebrate with and thought of her sister Elsie, who was currently studying overseas. The music had come to an end, and the main band was setting up to perform when a stranger wearing a black jacket took the seat next to them. Robin glanced to her left and found it to be a tall woman with deep brown skin and pink braids, half falling to her shoulders, while the other half was pulled into two buns. She wore blue sunglasses although it was far past any time to do so, and had multiple piercings. The woman quickly turned to Robin's direction, looking past her to the bartender, but stopped when she noticed Robin's gaze.
âLike what you see short stuff?â She teased as she leaned closer. The woman had a low voice that was sweet like honey and caused Robin's face to flush as she noticed the distance between them change.
âI-Iâm sorry, I didnât mean to stare,â Robin stammered, âyour hair is-, I like the color.â The woman scanned Robin's face and smiled, leaning back into her seat with a glass of dark liquor now in her hand. Robin looked to the glass and then to the bartender who was adjacent to her right before letting out a short, nervous laugh and asked, âA shot of rum, Bumbu please.â She meant to drink away the embarrassing interaction.
âMake that two,â the woman chimed in before looking back at Robin, âI'm Viola, you?â Robin blinked, not quite registering the name, and only now realizing how many shots she had taken already.
âThe names Robinâ she replied with a bit more of her accent poking through. Robin's cheeks were now a bit too rosy to be just her makeup, and she cursed herself internally for having done back-to-back shots.
âNice to meet you, Robin, Your accent is quite charmingâ Viola grinned, faking a British accent at the end. Robin smiled and picked up the shot that was placed in front of her, holding it up to Viola.
âCheers to my success, Violaâ Robin winked as the glasses clinked together with a newfound confidence, or rather lack of shame. Viola returned the gesture by downing the shot, a sour expression forming moments after.
Robin giggled at her and teased, âWhat's wrong, Canât handle a little rum?â Before ushering the bartender over to pour another two. Viola's expression turned to something of a challenging look and before they knew it the pair was going shot for shot, laughing and talking nonsense to one another, their volume gradually increasing. The night pressed on and soon enough the bartender announced the last call. Robin looked at the clock in alarm as it was nearing 2 a.m. before staring at Viola's features a bit more intently, and shamelessly. âShe really is quite beautiful, indeedâ Robin muttered unknowingly.
A smirk rose upon Viola's flushed face, it was clear she heard the remark. âDo you wish to do something about it then, love?â she whispered, making a lighthearted poke at her accent, as she had done for the better half of the night. Viola then leaned in close enough to Robin's face to make the smaller girl squirm in her seat, her face bright red with a mixture of drunkenness and embarrassment.
Then, in one swift movement, Robin grabbed ahold of Viola's chin and pulled her close enough to feel their breaths intermingle. Robin hesitated for a moment, looking at Viola's soft, plump lips before turning and darting for the bathroom. Her face had gone pale and it was clear to her what was about to occur.
âUh- Robin?!â Viola yelled, but didnât go after her.
âOoh shit-â Robin slurred as the stall door swung open, half stumbling to the ground, âbleurgh-!â She had just barely made it in time and was weak from the sudden occurrence. Once Robin was sure she was done, she stumbled out of the bathroom and into the main room. She looked to the bartender who wore a pitiful expression, then to the empty room before her. Her heart sank before slowly making her way to the bar, carelessly handing the bartender her card.
He responded by handing the card back, âEverything has been paid for, darling. Will you be alright?â Robin simply smiled and took the card without a word, slowly walking to her car where she promptly locked herself in for the night.
The soil testing equipment on Curiosity makes a buzzing noise and the pitch of the noise changes depending on what part of an experiment Curiosity is performing, this is the way Curiosity sings to itself.
So some of the finest minds currently alive decided to take incredibly expensive important scientific equipment and mess with it until they worked out how to move in just the right way to sing Happy Birthday, then someone made a cake on Curiosityâs birthday and took it into Mission control so that a room full of brilliant scientists and engineers could throw a birthday party for a non-autonomous robot 225 million kilometres away and listen to it sing the first ever song sung on Mars*, which was Happy Birthday.
This isnât a sad story, this a happy story about the ridiculousness of humans and the way we love things. We built a little robot and called it Curiosity and flung it into the star to go and explore places we canât get to because itâs name is in our nature and then just because we could, we taught it how to sing.
Thatâs not sad, thatâs awesome.
*this is different from the first song ever played on mars (Reach For The Stars by Will.I.Am) which happened the year before, singing is different from playing
guys this is part of history now. legislative and cultural history. there will be law students and cultural anthropologists alike debating this video and itâs aftereffects in the future and that is fucking wild
I read that capsaicin makes your mouth feel like it's burning because it increases your nerve sensitivity to heat, and menthol works by doing the same thing to cold
So if I eat a habanero pepper and then chew a bunch of breath mints they'll each other out and I'll be fine
Fun fact! The nerve endings for "ouch too hot" and "ouch too cold" are different! Which means that they can both be activated at once, without cancelling out. Rip OP.
Israel is a 21st century example of an apartheid regime that has displaced millions of Afro and Arab-Palestinians who have fled discrimination, disenfranchisement, and ethnic cleansing at the hands of the settler-colonial government. đľđ¸
sick of other trans people looking like a deer in the headlights when reminded that amabs can be nb too. there are really still people in our own community who think a nonbinary person is like. a woman wearing jeans
i've had people treat me visibly different after hearing my voice or seeing my face as if i'm some sort of predator or interloper. this attitude towards amab trans people especially nonbinary people really paints a picture of what the lgbt community thinks of gender in general
