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recurring-polynya · 4 years ago

Note

For the AU request, whichever one(s) you prefer (for RenRuki of course):

the X-Men universe

the Mafia/criminal underworld

the circus

as FBI agents (the X-Files world perhaps)

So, I got this ask, and I immediately wanted to go for X-Files, because I was hugely into X-Files when I was a tween/teen, and I think that my actual first published work of fanfic on the internet might actually be X-Files. (I didn’t even post it myself, I was like 12 and I didn’t have the internet at home, but a friend of mine posted it on Usenet for me, I have no idea whatever became of it). Anyway, I was going back and forth in my head who I wanted to be Mulder and who I wanted to be Scully, and then I got this ask:

@ulkoilla said:

I though the 10 would be full in about 1 microsecond so I didn’t even try :D This is maybe not AU enough for the purpose but I'd love to see your take on Bleach world where the shinigami work among humans as if they were in gigai -> they'll have to balance the supernatural, perhaps violent elements of their life with the modern day laws and such (like in Supernatural). Renji and Rukia have ofc gotten in trouble with the non-supernatural law (meet: Detective!Aizen?) and are on the run…

It suddenly occurred to me, What If: X-Files World, but Renruki are the cryptids. And it suddenly popped into my head exactly who I wanted to be Mulder. Anyway, I am sorry missrambler, if I messed it all up, I hope you like it anyway.

Also, I somehow thought that I would save myself some trouble by combining two prompts, but then it ended up… really long. (Forty! Eight! Hundred! Words! Go to Talks-Too-Much-Jail, Polynya!!)

PS: This takes place in D.C. because it’s X-Files and also because I am familiar with D.C. and I never get to write about places I know about. A half-smoke is a local delicacy that’s halfway between a hot dog and an Italian sausage. They are delicious.

Read on ao3 or ff.net

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Ichigo Kurosaki had known that an office with a view of the Smithsonian might be too much to ask, but he had not expected to take have to take two separate elevators down to sub-basement C, and walk past a storage room, two broom closets and a weird old vending machine full of brands of snacks he swore he hadn’t seen since he was a child.

Maybe Agent Inoue has a huge lab, he told himself. Maybe it needs to be 50 meters below ground because she collides large hadrons down here or so that her work can’t be picked up by spy satellites.

He had to turn sideways to get past a rack of wire shelves full of banker’s boxes, but there, on the other side was a door sporting a handwritten cardboard nameplate reading “Special Agent Orihime Inoue.”

“Come in!” a voice called inside, just as he raised his hand to knock on the door.

Ichigo blinked twice, and then went in.

The office was cluttered, mostly with more cardboard boxes, but books were also stacked precariously on top of boxes on top of books. The walls were plastered with maps and graphs and photographs of hazy blurs in front of staircases. There was a large poster showing a UFO, with the words “I WANT TO BELIEVE” in block caps below it.

A woman with long chestnut hair twisted up into a bun and held in place with three pencils was hunched over a metal box full of diodes and transistors and other things you would buy at Radio Shack. Or rather, that other people would buy at a Radio Shack. Ichigo had never set foot in a Radio Shack in his life.

“Er, good morning,” Ichigo said, as the woman looked up and blinked at him owlishly. “Agent Inoue? I’m Ichigo Kurosaki. I’ve been assigned to work with you.”

“To spy on me, you mean,” Agent Inoue corrected, cheerfully shaking his hand with great vigor.

Ichigo bristled. Yes, he had been directed to ‘provide additional documentation on Agent Inoue’s activities,’ but that hardly counted as spying. She was known to be somewhat scatterbrained, and having an organized person around would probably be a great benefit to her. “If you have any doubts about my qualifications or motivations--”

“Oh, don’t take it personally!” Inoue replied, slotting a lid onto her electronics project, and attacking it vigorously with a jeweler’s screwdriver. “Just because you’re a spy doesn’t mean you aren’t a nice person. Also, I read your file, you have a very interesting background! Degree in literature with a focus on folk legends. Teaching at the academy for the last few years while working on your book.” She took a momentary break from her screwing to fix him with her big, soft brown eyes. “Tell me, Agent Kurosaki, what do you think happens after you die?”

Ichigo froze. “I would be buried? Maybe there would be a funeral first?”

Inoue started laughing so hard that Ichigo was sure he caught a tiny, adorable snort. “Sorry, sorry! I wasn’t clear!” She sniffed, and wiped a tear from her eye. “Do you believe in continued existence after the death of the body? An afterlife, religion-based or otherwise? The existence of ectoplasm, cold spots, spirit photographs, EVP?”

“Are you talking about… ghosts?” Ichigo asked hesitantly.

“Yes!” Orihime replied with a nod. “Ghosts.”

“We-elll…” Ichigo drew out. “I believe that people believe they observe certain phenomena, as part of the cycle of grief and--”

“Just say ‘no’ if you don’t,” Inoue interrupted him.

“Er, no. I don’t.”

“That’s okay. Are you good at carrying heavy things?”

“Am I... I guess?”

“Perfect!” She shoved the box into his arms, and Ichigo’s knees almost buckled under the weight. “Let’s walk and talk, I want to go get a reading over near Franklin Square before 9 am. We’re gonna pass a really good half-smoke cart on the way, do you like half-smokes?”

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“Take a look at this,” Inoue said, her cheek half stuffed with sausage, jabbing a finger at the LED read-out of her mysterious box.

It was rather hard for Ichigo to see, because he was holding the box and the readout was on the other side, but he did his best to crane his neck around. “What am I looking at? The squiggles? I’m sorry, it looks like nothing to me.”

“Exactly right!” Inoue announced, waving her half smoke in the air. “Not a sniff of spiritual residue!”

Ichigo pressed his lips together. “Um… is that good?”

“It is interesting,” Inoue corrected. “Five days ago, a sixty-four year old woman had a heart attack while sitting in that bus shelter.” On every day since, I have been able to record EMF fluctuations, and on Sunday, I was able to get a voice recording that sounded like a woman reciting a grocery list. But this morning, nothing! Nada!”

“Well, uh, ghosts gotta move on eventually, right? Otherwise, just about everywhere would be haunted, right?” It’s not that Ichigo had suddenly started believing ghosts or anything, but there was something about Agent Inoue that just made you want to go along with her and see where all this panned out.

Inoue shot him a finger gun. “Or, they get moved along.” She shoved a folded paper map at him. “You can put that thing down.”

Ichigo eased the Spirit Detect-O 9000, or whatever it was called, to the grass and accepted her map. It was a street map of DC, meant for tourists, emphasizing all the local transit routes and popular attractions. There was also a great loop marked on it in orange highlighter, zig-zagging back and forth through the city. There was a little ‘x’ marked on Franklin Park, with “Tuesday, early morning” written in a bubbly hand.

“What is this?” Ichigo frowned. It didn’t seem to match up with any of the metro or bus lines. It didn’t even match with the sidewalks, it appeared to cut straight through large buildings like the convention center.

“As far as I can tell,” Inoue said, her brown eyes very solemn, “that is the patrol route of our local grim reaper.”

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“So I actually got interested in grim reapers,” Inoue explained, once they were back in the office, “while I was investigating violent ghost phenomena.” She was eating a bag of corn chips that she had gotten from that ancient vending machine by punching it and then shoving her own arm up the chute. (She’d gotten Ichigo a bag, too, but he was too afraid to eat them.)

Ichigo was sitting at a cluttered table that Inoue had told him “could be his desk.” Half of it was taken up by a large aquarium full of rocks and a water bowl, but no life forms that Ichigo could detect. The other half was covered with back issues of “Ghost Hunter Technology” magazine. “You mean like poltergeists?” he asked.

“Not exactly. Poltergeists are noisy, but they aren’t usually able to kill their targets.”

“Kill? Ghosts can’t kill people, aside from, like scaring them to death,” Ichigo scoffed. “I mean, folklorically speaking. As we established earlier, I am not a ghost-believer.”

Inoue tipped her head to the side. “They do, actually, it just tends to get blamed on something else.”

“By ghost-non-believers.”

“By everyone, really, and that’s what’s so strange.” Inoue pulled a fat binder from a stack of seemingly identical ones, and tossed it open in front of Ichigo. “Edison, New Jersey, 2014. An elderly woman dies ‘of a broken heart’ a week after her husband dies of cancer. Coincidentally, a telephone pole falls on her house the same night and rips a hole in her house.” She turned a page. “Norfolk, Virginia, 2017. A young woman dies in what the police rule as a suicide, despite the fact that she made a 911 call 48 hours previous, expressing fear of her ex-boyfriend. Three days later, the boyfriend is dead of mysterious causes. Coincidentally, his apartment complex suffered significant damages from ‘a wild cougar.’”

Ichigo squinted at the pictures. The walls of the building were scored with what did appear to be scratch marks. “Hell of a cougar.”

“Exactly! And I’ve got dozens of these historic cases. But about four months ago, I was able to investigate one myself-- a young man named Joe Wallace. He lives here in the city, over near Dupont Circle. Wallace had cut off his toxic dad years ago, and refused to visit him in the hospital as he was dying. Four days after his father’s death, a truck crashes into his house in the middle of the night and then drives away before the police can arrive.”

“And he died.”

“No!” Inoue held up one finger. “Scratches and bruises, but he doesn’t die!”

“Okay, great. So what does he remember?”

“He remembers a truck crashing into his house.”

Ichigo scratched his chin. “I am confused.”

“Look at this!” Inoue stabbed a finger at the pictures. “These are claw marks, not vehicular wreckage! There’s damage on the second story window! Wallace had scratches and defensive wounds, as if he had been fending off an animal! And look here, at the damage to the walls of the bedroom!”

“What am I looking at?” Ichigo asked, squinting at a photograph that looked like it had been blown up past the point of recognition.

“There were cuts and slashes in the walls and bedding as though someone had been fighting with a sword.”

“Like a Medieval Times sword? Was the guy a Medieval Times enthusiast?”

“More consistent with a katana. Do you like Medieval Times?”

“No one likes Medieval Times.”

“I like Medieval Times. You’ve probably never even been. But back to the ghost! Why would Wallace remember a truck crashing into his house, when nothing about the scene is consistent with that story?”

“He was...lying?”

“His memories were replaced.”

“His memories were replaced,” Ichigo echoed.

“Yes.”

“By… aliens?”

Orihime heaved a deep sigh. “By a grim reaper.”

“A grim reaper with a samurai sword.”

“How on earth did you come to this conclusion?”

Inoue raised one eyebrow. “Because when I placed him under hypnosis, Wallace didn’t remember anything about a truck. He did remember a monster with batwings and a mask made of bone and his dead father’s voice who tried to kill him, except that he was saved by a tall man dressed in black. The man had bright red hair and fought the monster with a sword that was also a whip and then he wiped Wallace’s memories.”

Ichigo stared at her. “You can hypnotize people?”

Inoue gave him a long-suffering face. Ichigo had the sudden flash that he was going to be seeing that face a lot in the days to come. “Yes, I am a certified hypnotist.” Inoue’s phone suddenly started playing “Tubular Bells”. “Oops, that’s an alarm. Come on, we have a meeting with some important people. Do you like diners?”

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Agent Inoue apparently did not care for public transit, but she walked very quickly. Ichigo was concentrating so hard on keeping up with her that he nearly collided with her back when she stopped very suddenly.

“You don’t mind if we make a quick stop, do we?” Inoue asked.

“You said the meeting was with important people.”

“Oh, don’t worry about them!” Inoue pursed her lips. “You see that bodega right there?”

They were in a part of downtown that was mostly mid-to-upscale restaurants and government buildings and FedExes. But sure enough, there was a dingy little bodega nestled between a Mexican-Indian fusion place and an Au Bon Pain, the windows stuffed with t-shirts from the last administration and a variety of cell phone chargers. The overhead sign read “Urahara Shop.”

“Y...eah…” Ichigo replied.

“That place is a hotbed of supernatural activity.”

“Is it?” Ichigo asked.

“I am almost positive that it is a supply point and meeting place for grim reapers, monster slayers, cryptids, alien hunters, and lycanthropes, but the owner is on to me.”

“I see,” Ichigo said levelly.

“Can you go in and pretend to be a customer? They have lots of good candy you can look through. Inoue dug in her purse and came up with a fiver. “Here. Buy a scratch ticket or something.”

“I’m not buying a scratch ticket, they’re a scam.”

“If the big guy is working the counter, he’ll glare at you until you buy something, so be prepared.”

As Ichigo pushed open the door, he realized he’d never actually agreed to any of this. Agent Inoue’s secret hypnosis powers, once again. Whatever. It was a bodega, there were a thousand of them in DC. They all had the same Nats t-shirts and coffee mugs with pictures of the Washington Monument on them. Ichigo pretended to be interested in a rack of comics. He tended to prefer indy comics over the big publishers himself, but even so, he didn’t recognize any of the books. Maybe they were by local authors.

Up at the front of the shop, a tiny, dark-haired woman was giving whatfor to the man behind the counter, a tall fellow with pale, straw-colored hair sticking out in tufts from under the saddest hat Ichigo had ever seen, a shapeless, battered bucket, striped green and white.

“Well, I can sell you a new battery for your phone, Miss Kuchiki, maybe that would help.”

“Not if it only lasts as long as the last one you sold me! I really need to get in touch with my partner, except that even if I could get my phone working again, his battery is probably dead because everything you sell is the same crap!”

“Ah, that’s too bad! You know, I think Mr. Abarai was in here a few days ago… I wasn’t in at the time, but Jinta said he came in, asking about…”

The man trailed off, and Ichigo glanced up to see the shopkeeper looking directly at him.

“...metrocards. But as you know, we don’t sell metrocards anymore.”

The woman made an aggravated noise. “You’re so useless! If I write him a damned note, will you give it to him if he comes in?”

“Oh, of course! Anything for you, Miss Kuchiki!”

The conversation trailed off as the woman hunched over the counter to angrily scratch out a note.

Ichigo stuffed the comic he was flipping through back on its rack. He skipped the enormous display of bedazzled flip-flops and started perusing the surprisingly extensive selection of gum.

“Here!” the woman finished and shoved her note at the shopkeeper. “You’re the worst, you know that?”

“Have a wonderful day!” the shopkeeper tootled, giving her a little finger wave.

Ichigo felt bad for the woman. “Er, excuse me?” he said as she passed.

She turned to scowl at him. For such a tiny person, she seemed to contain a remarkable amount of rage.

“Do you need to call someone? You can use my phone, if you’d like.” He held it out like an offering.

The woman blinked at him for a moment.

“I didn’t mean to be nosy! You were just kind of loud and you sounded worried about your, um, partner.”

“I’m not worried about him, I just need to find him.” Her face softened. “Thanks, Mister, but I can’t reach him on a regular phone. Don’t worry, I’ll track him down eventually.” She turned to leave, then stopped to jab an accusatory finger at Ichigo. “And that’s professional partner, not… you know! Whatever!” She stomped out.

What a strange, tiny person.

Ichigo selected a gum and walked up to the counter.

“Oooh, dragonberry lime, good choice!” the man trilled. “Anything else I can get you? Bottled water? Fanny pack? Spare phone battery?”

“I’ll pass,” Ichigo replied dryly.

“I imagine it’s against FBI policy to let a stranger use your cell phone,” the shopkeeper said sweetly.

Ichigo’s brows furrowed. “This is my personal phone. And how did you…?”

The man gave a chortling laugh that sent shivers down Ichigo’s spine. “Because headquarters is three blocks away and only an FBI agent would wear a suit that square.”

Ichigo took his change and his gum and shoved them both in his pocket. “Yeah, well, your hat sucks.”

The man laughed harder. “Doesn’t it, though?”

Once he was outside again, Ichigo handed Inoue the gum and her change. “The owner of that place is a creep.”

“The guy in the green and white hat?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s Urahara. You’re right, he’s the owner. Were there any other customers?”

“Just the short lady. You must have seen her come out. She was ripping Urahara a new one for some dodgy cell phone battery he sold her. I think she must have been NSA or something. She said she was trying to get ahold of her partner, but she needed a special phone.” As he said it, Ichigo realized it would be pretty odd for an NSA agent to be buying cell phone batteries from some shady bodega.

“No one came out,” Inoue replied.

“She definitely did! I heard the bell over the door ring.”

Inoue regarded Ichigo very seriously. “Agent Kurosaki. I was standing here the whole time. You were the only person who went in or out.” She looked at the gum. “Ooh! Dragonfruit lime! Do you want some?”

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They were late to the meeting.

Two men were waiting for them in the back corner booth. One of them had pinched, pointy features and piercing blue eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. His chin-length haircut was pretty dramatic, but not as dramatic as his pure white trench coat. A cup of black coffee sat on the faded Formica table in front of him, but it didn’t look like it had been touched.

His companion was an enormous, good-looking Latino who was shoveling pancakes into his face.

“Inoue,” the dramatic guy said. “Who’s this?”

“This is my new partner, Kurosaki,” Inoue replied. “Kurosaki, this is Uryuu Ishida,” she indicated the white trenchcoat guy, “and Chad,” Mr. Pancakes.

“Also known as the ‘Lone Archers,’” Ishida specified. “We are apolitical actors who are interested in revealing the truths that are regularly hidden from the general populace by secret forces that conspire within the machinery of the American government.”

“You can just call me Chad,” said Chad.

“Good morning!” the waitress said. “Can I get you folks anything?”

“Oh, yes! I’m getting mozzarella sticks! Do you like mozzarella sticks, Kurosaki? They’re so good here!”

“So’re the pancakes,” added Chad.

“I’ll just have a coffee,” Ichigo announced. He glanced at Ishida’s cup. “Black.”

“Double mozzarella sticks, please!” Inoue chorused. “And a cherry coke!” She leaned over to Ichigo and spoke out of the side of her mouth. “I’ll give you a mozzarella stick.”

“Do you want some pancake?” Chad offered to Ishida. “I never think to offer.”

Ishida waved him off with a hand. “Agent Inoue. At great personal peril, I was able to obtain a sample of the item we discussed.” He slid a small paper packet across the table. “There are two tablets inside, but one should be sufficient for your purposes.” Ishida leaned forward, his mouth set in a firm line. “I was cautioned very strongly against using this, unless one had a firm plan for handling the… consequences.”

“I understand,” Inoue replied, stuffing the envelope into her purse.

Ichigo wanted to ask more questions, but the conversation shifted very quickly to some USGS floodplain maps that Ishida wanted Inoue to obtain for him that were apparently not available from the public webportals, allegedly because of filesize. Ichigo could practically hear the air quotes around the word “filesize.”

“We’re going to look for Jersey Devils next weekend,” Chad explained, sounding pretty excited about it.

“There’s only one, Chad,” Ishida corrected. “It’s just ‘Jersey Devil.’”

“There could be more than one,” Chad shrugged.

Thirty minutes later, they departed. Inoue had an order of mozzarella sticks in her purse. Ichigo had an armload of backissues of the Lone Archers’ ‘zine, which was, conveniently enough, titled The Lone Archer. There was no doubt in his mind that at least Ishida was completely off his rocker. The jury was still out on Chad… he struck Ichigo as the sort of guy who just went along with Ishida’s nonsense because he was a good friend and also liked taking camping trips and doing layout for ‘zines.

“So what was that thing they gave you?” Ichigo pestered. The idea of that little paper packet had been burning a hole in his brain the entire time.

“You busy tonight?” Inoue asked, raising an eyebrow slyly. “Between 10 and 11?”

“What are we doing?” Ichigo asked cautiously, wondering if he would be able to charge his time.

“We’re going to try and attract an angry ghost.”

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“Are you… sure this is… a good idea?” Ichigo asked for the sixteenth time, as Inoue focused the thermal camera on him.

They were in an old, abandoned lot that had formerly served as a Metro service facility. It was pretty spooky all on its own, filled with train cars too dilapidated for salvage.

It was 10:25pm. Inoue had set up no less than 17 different pieces of ghost detection equipment. Ichigo was questioning his life choices.

“You told me you don’t believe in ghosts. If ghosts don’t exist, then what could possibly go wrong?” Inoue posed.

“Well… that’s true,” Ichigo granted. “And, for the record, I still do not believe in ghosts. But in the Pascal’s wager sense of things, I am considering the ramifications of what happens if there are ghosts that exist, regardless of my belief in them.”

“And?” Inoue asked.

“Well, you said that these ghosts have hurt and killed people before. It seems like trying to attract one without having any method of, um, fighting it, seems kind of… irresponsible?”

“Ah, but you see, I’ve specifically picked this time and location to coincide with the grim reaper patrol routes I’ve been mapping out. Our friendly neighborhood psychopomp ought to show up just on schedule to fight the angry ghost for us. We’re doing them a favor, as I see it.”

“How so?” Ichigo exclaimed.

“It’s not like we’re creating an angry ghost out of nowhere. We’re just attracting an existing one to our location. We’re saving the grim reaper the trouble of having to hunt it down.”

Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was it so difficult to argue with Inoue? Possibly because she was so incredibly earnest in all her beliefs, and all her arguments were in completely good faith, it’s just that her logic came from some other dimension. This woman has solved multiple, high-profile murders, including several that were ice cold, Ichigo reminded himself. So she’s quirky. I am sure I can learn a lot from her.

“Okay, everything is in place!” Inoue announced, placing her hand on her hips. “Go hide behind that pile of moldy seats!”

Inoue took Ichigo’s place at the center of her recording equipment. “Agent Orihime Inoue speaking,” she said, for posterity. “It is 10:28pm. I am crushing one tablet of a substance called ‘Hollow Bait.’” She crunched the little white tablet, which looked an awful lot like an Alka-Seltzer, between her fingers, and then made a flying leap for the rotting pile of damp, orange upholstery that Ichigo was crouched behind.

“So, just out of curiosity,” Ichigo started. “How long would we have to wait, theoretically, with nothing happening, before we would declare this a bust?”

Inoue pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Usually, I would give it about two hours, but if you’ve got somewhere to be, I don’t mind if you leave early. It is nice to have company for a change.”

“No, I don’t have anywhere else to be,” Ichigo replied. “I mean… sleeping, I guess.”

Inoue gave a charming little laugh. “I don’t sleep very well. And hunting for ghosts is more interesting than most of the stuff on Hulu.”

The way that she said it gave Ichigo the distinct impression that Inoue was, well, lonely. But that didn’t seem correct. She was weird, sure, but she was also friendly and talkative, and, er, well, she was extremely cute. Surely she had tons of friends.

“How’d you get into ghost hunting, anyway?” he tried to be conversational.

“Hmm,” Inoue hummed noncommittally. “Let’s just say there was an incident in my teen years, where my memories don’t match up to the property damage.”

Oh. Ichigo wondered if he should apologize, when suddenly, a cold chill ran down his spine and a sound like a roar echoed in his ears, except he didn’t actually hear anything. “Did you hear that?” he gasped.

“It’s the EMF detector,” Inoue nodded, scrambling for the reader and Ichigo realized he could hear a faint beeping.

“No, not the beeping, it was like a… a… scream…”

“You heard a scream?”

“I didn’t exactly…” Ichigo trailed off as he heard two more, coming from different directions. “There’s more than one. Monster screams. Not human screams.”

Inoue stared at him, eyes wide. “I don’t hear anything. Have you ever been tested for latent psychic ability?”

There was a sudden change in the air pressure, and a fetid, rotting smell, even worse than the Metro seats. Ichigo grabbed Inoue by the shoulders and rolled out of the way, just as the pile of junk they had been crouched behind compacted like it had been through a car crusher. Or smashed by a giant foot.

“Whoa!” Inoue exclaimed, trying to push Ichigo off of her so she could see what was going on.

Ichigo blinked through the night. He couldn’t see anything, but there was an area of space that looked thick and hazy, like it wasn’t refracting the harsh glow of the sodium street lights quite correctly.

“We have to get out of here,” Ichigo gasped.

“Can you see it?” Inoue asked, her eyes wide and excited.

“Not-- not really,” Ichigo replied, pulling at her arm. The air blurred, and Ichigo had the sense the thing was jumping at them. He could tell it was fast, but he couldn’t see it, he didn’t know what to--

“Howl, Zabimaru!”

It was both there and not quite there, a liquid blade made of glass and starlight, that snapped through the air at the invisible thing. The monster bellowed, and whipped around, charging at a dark figure standing atop one of the old Metro cars.

“Pick on someone your own size, ugly!” the man bellowed, and as Ichigo squinted, he realized that their savior was dressed all in black. He was tall, and his hair was pulled back in a spiky ponytail. It was bright red. He was also wearing sunglasses, even though it was the middle of the night. They were pushed up on top of his head, to be fair, but Ichigo had a feeling this detail would stick with him.

“You can see that guy, right?” Ichigo asked Inoue desperately. “The guy who’s fighting the ghost? The guy that looks just like the guy in your report?”

“There’s a guy?” Inoue asked. “No. Where is he? Can you usually see ghosts?”

“I don’t even believe in ghosts!”

“Well, maybe you don’t believe in them because you can see them and you don’t want to, did you ever think of that?”

“I don’t think now is the time to interrogate my personal traumas!”

Suddenly, there was another drop in pressure, and Ichigo had the sense of heavy breathing and sharp teeth. “Inoue. I think there’s another one.”

“Well, can you get the guy to come fight this one, too?”

“He seems busy,” Ichigo squeaked.

Something black flashed by his vision, and there was a loud crack and a sound of something screeching in pain. A second dark-clad person had arrived, landing softly on sandaled feet. There was the same unreality to her, a sense that she wasn’t entirely there, as well as a certain familiarity that Ichigo couldn’t place. Her sword was bright in the darkness, like moonlight reflecting on snow.

“Oi, there you are, you big dummy!” she shouted at the first man and Ichigo realized with a jolt that it was the angry woman from the bodega. “I’ve been looking for you for four days!”

“I had a problem with my gigai and maybe you should check your texts once in a while!” the tall guy shouted back. Ichigo refused to think of him as a grim reaper. A grim reaper would not wear sunglasses.

“My phone died!”

“Can we-- ow! -- discuss this later? I’m glad you’re okay, I missed you. Why are there so many Hollows in this train yard?”

“You’re such a sap! And the Hollows are here because some stupid humans got ahold of some Hollow bait.” The woman turned, and glared at Ichigo. Her eyes burned with blue flame, like the burner of a gas stove.

That would have been the last thing Ichigo remembered, if he had actually remembered it, or any of the things that came before it.

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Ichigo was sitting at his desk.

Inoue was sitting at her desk.

The sun was streaming in the window. The clock on Ichigo’s phone read 7:12am.

Inoue frowned. She examined a coffee cup on her desk. She took a hesitant sip, and then made a face. “Why are we here?” she wondered softly.

“I hate to pull an all-nighter,” Ichigo said, stretching, “but it sure does feel good to be caught up on paperwork!”

Inoue regarded him. “Kurosaki,” she said, “how long have you worked here?”

Ichigo frowned. “Well, I guess this is my second day.”

“Right. So… how much paperwork did you have to catch up on?”

Ichigo blinked. He very distinctively recalled working through the night-- his hand cramping, the incredibly spicy Thai food they’d ordered, Inoue’s seemingly infinite Boy Bands of the 90’s playlist. “I… was helping you, I guess?” Come to think of it, why was he filling out paperwork by hand, anyway? His laptop sat next to him, the lid closed. It wasn’t even plugged in.

Inoue’s fist slammed down onto her desk. “Gosh darnit! They wiped my memories again!!”

#wacky au requests #my writing #in my youth i shipped mulder and scully so hard #and now it's like...girl #you could do so much better #it is not possible to do better than gillian anderson

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nikibogwater · 5 years ago

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A Shot in the Dark: Chapter 3 (Author’s Commentary)

(Read the fic here)

General Notes:

The final chapter! I don’t have too many general notes for this one (though the passage-specific notes below the cut stretch on for miles--there was just a lot going on in this chapter lol). But I will say that this is my favorite chapter of the three. It’s what the previous two have been building up to, and it really is the “heart” of the story, so to speak. That, and I finally got to make Glitter Wings Nari canon to The Immortal Bonds! (picture below the cut) I genuinely teared up a little bit while writing a couple of these scenes. I don’t know if that means they are very good, or that I was just absolutely exhausted after cranking out the first two chapters, but maybe you can be the judge. Friendly reminder to go listen to the song “Protector” by City Wolf if you are so inclined. It was a huge part of what inspired this story, and now that all three parts are published, I feel like it perfectly captures the theme and feel of A Shot in the Dark as a whole.

Passage-Specific Notes:

“...Please, Nari, I would not be doing my duty as Douxie’s...as your friend if I let you run thoughtlessly into this kind of danger.”

Another small line of dialogue that means a lot to me. I didn’t see Archie as making the instant connection with Nari that Douxie did. I think it took him a while to see her as anything more than “Douxie’s Ward.” He was always kind to her and took care of her, but I think it took him until now to realize that he had grown to really love her as part of the family. So the fact that he corrects himself here reflects that realization. I think under normal circumstances, the moment Archie finds out Douxie is in trouble/hurting, he would dive headfirst into hell without a second thought in order to help his boy. But because Nari is now also under his protection--and more importantly, now that she also has a special place in his heart--Archie has to force himself to slow down and come up with a plan that will keep BOTH of his kids safe.

The phone rang once--twice--six times. Then it went to voicemail.

Nari lowered it with a look of pure dejection as Claire’s pre-recorded voice cheerfully told them to leave their message after the beep.

I felt like calling Claire for backup was the most sensible thing they could do in this situation--but I also needed Nari and Archie to take on Project Rescue Douxie by themselves, in order to reinforce the family bond these three have. The moment when they all reunite at the end wouldn’t have had the emotional impact I was angling for if there had been others present. So I had to pull a tiny plot contrivance and make Claire unavailable. I didn’t feel the need to explain why she doesn’t answer her phone (people miss calls all the time) but my personal theory was that she was taking a nice relaxing shower and couldn’t pick up the phone. (look, I need SOMEBODY in this story to be having a nice time lol).

“By Ambrosia’s Gleam...” Archie breathed. A pair of dazzlingly beautiful wings reflected every light of the city back at him as Nari folded and unfolded them experimentally. They were unlike anything the cat had ever seen in his long life, vibrantly colored with rich shades of green and gold, glittering like morning dew, yet delicate as a newly budding flower.

Anybody remember last week, when I said the Most Self-Indulgent part was yet to come? This was it lol. I don’t remember when I started imagining Nari with sparkly butterfly wings, but back in early October, I drew this:

and I have been absolutely enamored with the idea ever since (but also it was a convenient way to get them to the warehouse without having to go through the ordeal of walking/taking a taxi/busting out the flying boat). So yeah. Nari’s Glitter Wings are canon to The Immortal Bonds series now. I have spoken.

He had no idea how long he had been enduring Rivan’s torture. It may have only been a few minutes, or it may have been a few years. Hell, he was getting to the point where it felt like this excruciating ache in his bones had been there his whole life. He tried not to sob as Rivan slowly pulled his magic back to himself, the agony abating for just a short moment of sweet relief. Douxie sucked in gulps of air, desperate to replenish the oxygen that had been ripped from his lungs by his own screaming.

First time really writing whump, so that was...something (I was exhausted after just the one paragraph lol). I tried to keep it as vague as I could because I don’t want anybody coming to my fic expressly for a graphic torture scene and nothing else (I don’t do the hurt-no-comfort thing, and I don’t want anybody to use my fics as such). But putting Douxie through a bit of hell does make the ending SO much sweeter. And if he hadn’t been experiencing pain, Archie and Nari probably would have taken longer to decide to come to his rescue. But there is still a part of me that detests every letter of that paragraph.

The small dragon let out a roar of fury and leapt at Rivan, his form twisting and expanding into that of an enormous black panther. The two crashed together in a flurry of red sparks and tearing claws.

Archie turning into a black panther and going to town on Rivan is also a bit of self-indulgence. I just really love big cats, and black panthers especially are beautiful, mysterious, and powerful creatures that just SCREAM Magic and Otherworldliness to me. (also I really want to draw Panther!Archie now).

He slammed against the concrete with a yowl of pain that tore Douxie’s heart into a thousand pieces, and dropped to the floor, where he lay quivering and heaving.

That line right up there 👆 is the most heart-wrenchingly painful thing I have ever forced myself to write. 😥

Nari grabbed Douxie by the shoulders and pulled him upright. One of her hands reached around him and pressed against his heart, and he felt her aura slam into his. Instinctively, his soul opened, and he let her magic pour into him, filling his veins with the warmth of a hundred suns, wrapping around and tangling with his own magic so tightly that he could barely tell whose was whose. Nari’s voice filled his head, drowning out every sound in his ears, every thought in his mind. My magic is yours. Use it. He threw both of his hands out and felt power unlike anything he had ever known surge into his palms and explode out of his fingertips.

So this ties into a headcanon of mine that, while Nari’s magic isn’t well-suited to direct combat, she is able to augment Douxie’s powers. But this scene is also probably the culmination of every relationship-building moment I have ever written for these two. I established in A Moment to Breathe that to let someone interact with your aura in this way--to basically channel their magic directly into you--requires a great deal of trust. Douxie let Nari heal him in that story, but that was after she had asked permission to pour her magic into him. Here, she doesn’t have time to ask--she just has to go for it, and Douxie’s trust and familiarity with her is so intense at this point, that his response is to immediately surrender completely to her power. Not only that, he is so familiar with her magic, that he is able to use it himself--he combines it with his own power and casts a spell that Nari is likely unable to use herself. I intended this moment to be a representation of the way family relationships can shape and empower you. You carry elements of the people you love with you wherever you go; their influence, their stories, their love for you--it all helps shape you into the person you are. And these things are often so deeply intertwined with your own personality, that it becomes impossible to fully separate them.

They had risked everything--the fate of the world, even--to save him. He should have scolded them. But instead, Douxie suddenly found himself overwhelmed with the ridiculous urge to cry.

This was the reason I wrote Douxie in Distress--and also one of the reasons I wrote A Shot in the Dark at all. I wanted him to experience being stripped of everything that made him powerful--useful-- and then witness his family risking literally everything for him. Not for his powers, not for what he can do for them, but because they love him. This poor, sweet boy gives and gives and gives, and the world has done nothing but take from him, and I have said “ENOUGH.” I wanted the serotonin of seeing him realize that he is valued and cherished for himself, and BY THUNDER I WAS GOING TO GET IT EVEN IF I HAD TO WRITE 9000+ WORDS FOR IT.

She pulled back a moment later, roughly drying her face on her sleeve, and untied the black hoodie around her waist. She draped it around Douxie’s shoulders with her magic, and he sighed contentedly as the warm fabric settled around him. He slipped his arms into the sleeves and closed the garment around himself gratefully, giving Nari a tired, heartfelt smile.

I didn’t realize it when I initially drafted the story, but Douxie’s hoodie is actually a really nice visual representation of how he and Nari pass the role of caretaker/protector back and forth. Douxie is wearing it for the first half of the story, when he is acting as Nari’s guardian/brother. Shortly after he lends it to her though, he’s captured by Rivan, and Nari takes on the role of protector in turn. But yeah, originally it was just “Them trading the hoodie back and forth is pointlessly cute and I wanna do it.” (Poor Archie has to be the Adult 100% of the time. He doesn’t get a break).

Most of Douxie’s mornings began with the harsh, clattering sound of his phone vibrating and whistling next to his ear. But that Sunday morning began with a deliciously warm silence. Douxie’s eyes blinked open slowly, finding sunlight lazily shining through the windows. He was lying on his side, with Archie’s soft, familiar body tucked against his chest. A gentle warmth against his back told Douxie that Nari was curled up beside him, wrapped in her own little cocoon of blankets, her back against his. The ache in his bones was gone. He was nestled safely in the warmth and love of his small family, the world outside and all that occurred within it nothing more than a distant echo.

Wrapping his arms around Archie and pressing his back more firmly against Nari’s, Douxie closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

This final scene wasn’t actually in my original outline--originally, the story ended with the three of them beginning the long trek home together. But I felt that the story needed just a little extra time to savor in the happy ending. And so, it came full circle--ending just like it began, with the dawning of a new morning. I noticed that I spend a lot of time in this story comparing the mornings of different characters/days. I think that might have been a subconscious expression of my belief that every morning is the beginning of a new opportunity--to strengthen bonds, to do good in the world, to just live for another day. Douxie’s Saturday morning started off a little rougher than he wanted--he woke up early and had to rush around to get ready for a long day out on the town. And wouldn’t you know it, his Saturday ended pretty badly too (though I think he’s probably just grateful he got to go home in one piece haha). This Sunday morning plays out in the exact opposite way. It’s quiet, peaceful, unhurried, and full of hope. Douxie’s been through hell and back, but he survived long enough to see another beginning. And I think that’s the beautiful cycle that all human life follows. There’s pain in life, darkness and hopelessness, but if you can hold on, strengthened by the love of the people you hold dear, you will always find a new beginning waiting for you on the other side of the valley.

...And that’s it. Thank you to everyone for reading my work. Seeing everyone who enjoyed it, hearing from you guys in the comments, knowing that I was able to give someone a good story--it really does mean the world to me. So again, thanks for joining me, and I hope our paths cross again soon. 🤗✨

#fanfiction #author's commentary #the magical siblings #and their therapy cat #a shot in the dark #thanks for reading <3

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miguel-manbemel · 6 years ago

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Aspects & Fanfics Ep. 22: Honest Training

New entry of the fanfic inspired on Sanders Sides created by Thomas Sanders, Joan S. and the Foster Dawg team. I’m seriously considering changing the title of the fic. When I originally chose it, I really didn’t know what to title it, but now, as I publish in this blog more things other than the fic, maybe I should keep the title “Aspects & Fanfics” for the blog and get a new one specifically for the fic. Who knows, I haven’t made up my mind yet.

It’s mindblowing how the story has been evolving. When I created the first entry, I used it to portray my own Sanders Sides theories in the form of a fic. Then, as the story went on for 21 episodes, it slowly evolved into a story of adventure and fantasy. The evolution started because I didn’t see myself prepared enough to tackle the serious issues that the original series tackles. As Roman would say, fantasy worlds are my jam, and so I took my story over the fantasy territory. One thing that I’ve always been worried about, though, is if the episodes are too long. The longest one was 15820 words long, and the average length is of around 9000 words. Is that too much? Should I make the episodes shorter? I really don’t know. I’ve got the handicap of not being a native speaker of English, which means that sometimes I may write long texts that may have been shorter if I knew the right words.I apologize for that if it’s happened. This episode in particular is shorter than on average, around 4700 words. Not that I had this concern in mind, it just came out that way.

Okay, I leave you with the episode now. As usual, you can find the previous entries from this blog right here. I have updated all the previous entries to feature a short synopsis of the plot of the episode so that you can see what the story is about, somehow. This is the first time the synopsis will be featured on release. As usual, thank you to anyone reading, and until next time.

SYNOPSIS: After getting the Dark Master’s knowledge, Logan is ready to start teaching Thomas how to use his Light Master powers, and they all go to the Mind Palace to train him. Thomas must learn how to use his powers to separate Honesty from Deceit before it’s too late and he gets fully absorbed by Deceit and ceases to exist as a result.

WARNINGS: There’s a scene of prinxiety. Remus will make an appearance in the end card. He appears eating disgusting stuff and there are mentions to cockroaches.

EPISODE INDEX

[Thomas enters his apartment, his hair has a wet look]

THOMAS: Well, the photo shoot is finally made. Linda has been especially stubborn today. Excuse me while I take a shower. I need to take off the five gallons of hair gel I needed to make her stay on track. No, don’t gasp, today has been one of her good days. You don’t wanna see a pic of me in one of Linda’s bad days… [beat, looking at the camera] No, seriously, you don’t wanna see it… [beat, then a little anxious] Okay, I know you wanna see, but I don’t want you to see it, okay? Stop it!

[intro sequence]

[Thomas is wearing different, comfier clothes]

THOMAS: What is up, everybody? Nothing like a good shower to refresh and renew myself. Tonight I’ve got a plane to catch, so I packed yesterday, to be ready for this afternoon of training with Logan. I know it’s a rushed schedule, but Honesty can’t wait much longer. I must learn a way to save him before it’s too late. And I know what you’re gonna say, showers don’t give you extra energy. And you’re right, I’m tired, but nevertheless I’m ready to start. For Honesty, I must gather every bit of energy I’ve got left and be ready.

LOGAN: [rising up] I’m glad that you’re ready, Thomas, cause we’ve got work to do.

DECEIT: [rising up] I’m ready too, if you need me.

LOGAN: Yes, Deceit, we’re gonna need you and Honesty.

[Honesty appears]

HONESTY: Well, here I am, ready when you are.

ROMAN: [rising up] Can we watch the training session, Logan?

PATTON: [rising up with a cute glance at Logan] Pleeeease?

LOGAN: You don’t need to manipulate me with you’re adorableness tricks, Patton, you know they don’t work on me.

[Deceit smirks sarcastically]

LOGAN: [noticing Deceit’s sarcastic smirk, he clears his throat nervously] Besides… anyone is welcome to watch, as long as you don’t mess around.

VIRGIL: [rising up] I’ll take care of that, Logan. I’ll make sure you can train undisturbed.

ROMAN: And what are you planning to do to take care of that, Virge?

VIRGIL: I’ve got my methods.

ROMAN: Like what?

VIRGIL: Oh, you want some examples?

ROMAN: Yep.

VIRGIL: Okay… [to Patton] Dad, did you know I didn’t eat at all the whole day?

PATTON: What!? Not even breakfast!? Son, you must be starving! You should take more care of yourself! Thank God your pop is here to fix this issue. I’ll go make some quick sandwiches for ya! [sinks down] Back in a minute.

VIRGIL: And I’ll do that every time Patton gets too close to be a nuisance.

ROMAN: Well, that certainly works for Patton, but what about me?

VIRGIL: [smirks] Do you really wanna know?

ROMAN: Show me.

VIRGIL: If you happen to become a nuisance for the training, I just gotta do this…

[grabs Roman and kisses him]

ROMAN: [blushing with a smile] Okay, I’m convinced. Or maybe not… Can you give me another example for confirmation…?

THOMAS: Guys, if you don’t mind, we’ve got business to attend to here.

VIRGIL: You’re right, sorry.

PATTON: [rising up with a pile of sandwiches] I’m back! Here you are, Virge. All for you. Eat them all… [scolding voice] Right now!

VIRGIL: [looking at the pile of sandwiches, wondering how he’ll be able to eat them all] Okay, dad…

LOGAN: Okay, Virgil’s methods are a little [pulling out a vocab card] out of left field, but they seem to work, so you can come to the training.

PATTON: [rising his fist, happy] Yay!

THOMAS: Um… “come”? Are we going somewhere, Logan?

LOGAN: Yes, Thomas. I’ve created a training space in the Mind Palace so that we have more room for training. I wouldn’t want you to break your furniture by accident…

THOMAS: [concerned] Oh, okay…

LOGAN: Okay, if you’re ready, follow me, Thomas. You too, guys.

THOMAS: Okay.

[Everyone sinks down. Then they appear on what looks like a basketball court]

THOMAS: Why a basketball court?

LOGAN: It’s an open space as good as any. I would have chosen a soccer field because it’s bigger and outdoors, but I’m against stepping on grass, even if it’s specially intended for that. You know, save the forest and all… And anyway, any outdoors stuff in the Mind Palace is just an illusion, because everything’s inside you, so…

THOMAS: Okay, your class, your rules.

LOGAN: Okay, Thomas. Let’s begin. The first I want you to do is concentrate in yourself.

THOMAS: What do you mean?

LOGAN: Remember, long ago, when we were trying to rescue Deceit, when I told you you had to become one with his room? It’s something similar.

THOMAS: Like meditation?

LOGAN: Kind of, but this time, instead of becoming one with any room, you must become one with yourself.

THOMAS: I’m sorry, Logan, but I’m completely lost.

LOGAN: You’re right, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have jumped right into practice without getting the theory first. So…

[suddenly Thomas is sitting on a chair and there’s a huge whiteboard next to Logan with a complicated scheme drawn on it]

LOGAN: Okay, if you look carefully at this scheme and memorize all of it, you will learn the basics to start your training.

VIRGIL: Basics? You mean that all of that… is just the basics?

LOGAN: Of course it is. Becoming an expert would require a few dozens of these whiteboards, and that’s just an approximation.

VIRGIL: [biting his thumbnail] I… I think I’m getting heightened…

THOMAS: [anxious] Logan, are you serious? I’ve got a plane to catch tonight, and I have to leave home in less than five hours to get to the airport on time. I don’t have the time to study all of that. Isn’t there a way for you to give me a simpler explanation?

LOGAN: Okay, I concede that you may be right about our time constraint. So, I’ll give you a simpler explanation. Incomplete and not ideal, but sufficient enough.

THOMAS: Thank you.

LOGAN: We call you the Light Master, but that’s a little imprecise. Because you are much more than the Light Master. You are the whole Mind Palace itself and everything and everyone that lives inside. Are you following me?

THOMAS: Kind of…

LOGAN: We are all the Sanders Sides, and then there’s the Dark Master. While inside of you, we’re still each our own entity, tied to you, but with our own consciousness. But the Light Master and you have the same consciousness, your consciousness. Still with me?

THOMAS: Not sure…

LOGAN: Basically, the Light Master is within you. Like anyone of us, he’s his own entity, but unlike us, he only manifests through you.

THOMAS: Okay, this is where I start getting lost.

LOGAN: Summoning us is easy, you just call us and, if we’re not in autopilot, we hear you and we come. Got it?

THOMAS: Got it.

LOGAN: For the Light Master, however, it’s not that easy. If you want to summon his powers, you must learn to separate your human self from your Master self, learn to differentiate each and learn to control your Master self. It’s in a way as if you were two entities at the same time, your human self is awake and under your normal control, while your Master self lies dormant within you. You managed to wake him up by chance when you forced Romulus to split up, but you didn’t know how to control him, so you turned Roman into a Dark Side by accident. Got me?

THOMAS: So… the Light Master is different from me? Like a Side inside of me that can’t get out?

LOGAN: Kind of, but not exactly. The Light Master is an inseparable part of you, but it’s not all of you. It’s only a part of you that lies dormant and you need to learn how to wake it up. Understand?

THOMAS: I think so. And how do I wake that part of me up?

LOGAN: As I told you, you must follow the same method you did with Deceit’s room, but this time you must concentrate into yourself, trying to distinguish that Master part of you, identify it and make it surface.

THOMAS: And when it’s out? What will happen?

LOGAN: If you consciously wake it up, you should be able to control it. The first time it could be difficult, but with practice, you would be able to do it more naturally and easily.

THOMAS: Okay, so I start concentrating?

LOGAN: Yes. Are you ready for the first try?

THOMAS: I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter. We don’t have much time, so I must try, ready or not.

LOGAN: Okay, first of all, don’t be afraid, Thomas. Remember that this is a part of you and you can do this, okay?

THOMAS: Okay. Let’s go.

LOGAN: Okay, close your eyes, then.

[Thomas closes his eyes]

LOGAN: Try to empty your mind of each and any thoughts that could distract you. Whatever it is, it can wait. Now you must focus in yourself. Nothing exists, but yourself.

THOMAS: Okay…

LOGAN: When you reach that level of concentration, start focusing into yourself. Identify your day-to-day self, the normal Thomas Sanders that lives a normal life in the normal town of Gainesville, Florida. Then check everything inside you. You’ll be able to tell the difference between that part of you, and the other special part, a part that you hadn’t noticed before, but that you’ll be able to sense now. That’s the part where you must focus now. Can you sense it?

THOMAS: I think so… It’s weird…

LOGAN: Put the normal Thomas Sanders out of your focus, and concentrate solely on that part. You’ll see how it starts growing inside you. You may feel an overwhelming sensation, but don’t let it control you. It’s you who are in control, now and always. Don’t forget that. The Light Master self is at your service and not the opposite.

[A white aura starts glowing around Thomas’ body]

ROMAN: [in a low voice to Virgil and Patton] I’ve seen that kind of aura before. It’s the same aura that appeared around me when the Dark Master transformed me into a Light Side. I think Thomas is doing it.

[suddenly the aura disappears and Thomas shows a face of struggling, then he opens his eyes, with a slightly agitated breathing]

THOMAS: I lost it…

ROMAN: Wow, so close…

LOGAN: It’s okay, Thomas. No one asked you to do it on the first try.

THOMAS: It’s just that I felt as if that… thing, I don’t know how to call it, was starting to take me over, and I felt overwhelmed, as if I was drowning, I don’t know how to explain it, it was weird and unpleasant.

LOGAN: Yes, I thought it was that, that’s why I told you. You must keep in mind that you are always in charge. You may feel that sensation because you’re putting that part of yourself on the first line and your normal self steps back as a result, something you’re not accustomed to. But you can do this. Just as you have control over us, you also have control over your Light Master self. You just need to learn how to control it, and it won’t feel so unpleasant when you manage to do that. Are you ready for another try?

THOMAS: I don’t know…

PATTON: Come on kiddo, you can do this! We’re rooting for you!

[the rest of the Sides cheer too]

THOMAS: Thanks, guys… Okay, let’s try again.

[Thomas closes his eyes and starts concentrating again. In a shorter time than earlier, the aura manifests again]

ROMAN: Wow, it’s going really fast now…

[the aura starts growing and growing. Thomas shows an unpleasant face for some time, but after that he changes it for a determined face, then the aura is absorbed by Thomas’ body, and he opens his eyes. They’re now of a silver gray color]

THOMAS: I think I did it.

LOGAN: Well done, Thomas. How do you feel?

THOMAS: It’s a strange sensation. I feel like I could do so much more than before, as if all the limitations that hindered me had suddenly disappeared.

LOGAN: That’s because we’re in the Mind Palace, where in this state you can shape anything and anyone at your own will. But be careful, Thomas. Don’t get drunk with this power. You must only use it when the time is right.

THOMAS: Yes, I know, Logan. Okay, now what?

LOGAN: Now, we start training on how to split Deceit and Honesty back to how they were before.

THOMAS: I think I know what to do, somehow…

LOGAN: Yes, now that your Light Master self is awaken, you know what to do, but still, you need to practice before doing it for real. You don’t want to cause an accident during the split that wounds Deceit or Honesty, or something worse.

THOMAS: No, certainly not, but how do I practice?

[Logan makes the whiteboard disappear, and in its place, he invokes a manikin]

LOGAN: Deceit, could you come here and put your hand on the manikin, please?

DECEIT: Oh… okay.

[Deceit puts his hand on the manikin. Logan does the same. After some seconds, there’s a yellow flash and the manikin is dressed with a copy of Deceit’s outfit]

LOGAN: Thank you, Deceit. Okay, Thomas, this manikin has been infused with Deceit and Honesty’s essence, mixed as it is now. I want you to split this manikin in two parts. Not to cut it in half literally, but to create two manikins out of this one, separating Deceit’s and Honesty’s individual essences in each of the two new manikins, using only your Light Side powers. Do you think you can do it?

THOMAS: Okay, I’ll try.

[Thomas concentrates and the white aura reappears around him. Then he points at the manikin, and the aura flies to it. The manikin starts shaking, and a yellow glow surrounds it. Then Thomas starts struggling]

THOMAS: It’s… difficult. The two energies are too similar, I can barely distinguish them.

LOGAN: Concentrate harder, Thomas. You can do this.

[Thomas keeps concentrating, then the manikin blows up in a cloud of smoke. The aura disappears and Thomas starts panting. Patton and Virgil run to check on him. When the smoke vanishes, there are two manikins indeed, but they’re broken in pieces all over the ground]

DECEIT: Um… I suddenly don’t want to get out of here right now…

THOMAS: I’m sorry, guys, I failed… Gosh, what a mess of a Light Master I’m turning out to be…

LOGAN: Thomas, stop it. If you don’t start believing in yourself right at this moment, you’ll never make it. This takes a lot of strength, both of mind and of heart, but it also needs a good amount of faith. Faith in yourself and faith that you can do it.

THOMAS: Can I, though? I seriously doubt that I can.

LOGAN: Of course you can, Thomas. We have tried only once. This is only a matter of practice, concentration and faith. I believe in you, Thomas. You can do this, so start believing in yourself too. If not for you, for Honesty, and also for Roman and Virgil. We all depend on you. Gather all the strength that you have left and try again. And then again, and again. Because one thing is certain, you’re gonna do this. As my name is Logan Sanders, I’m not gonna let this be my first failure in teaching. Got it?

ROMAN: I do believe in you too, Thomas. If there’s one person in this world that can help me, that’s you. I would trust you with my life if need be, and I couldn’t be in better hands.

THOMAS: Roman…

VIRGIL: Roman speaks for all of us, Thomas.

PATTON: That’s right, kiddo.

HONESTY: Yes, this has only been a blooper in a rehearsal. When you get on stage and do it for real, you’ll get a standing ovation over your successful performance. You’ll see.

LOGAN: Stage? What stage? We’re doing this in a basketball court…

THOMAS: Guys, you’re gonna make me all emotional… Okay, I’ll try again.

[meanwhile, Logan has invoked away the pieces and invoked a new manikin and Deceit has already infused it with his essence again]

LOGAN: We’re ready here, Thomas. Now do your best.

[Virgil and Roman go back to their seats]

THOMAS: I’ll try.

LOGAN: Don’t try to do your best, Thomas, just do it. Put all your soul into this and all your guts, and do it.

THOMAS: Okay, I’ll do it.

[Thomas concentrates again. The aura appears again and Thomas projects it onto the manikin. The manikin starts shaking again and the yellow glow appears again surrounding it. Thomas starts struggling again]

DECEIT: You can do this…

HONESTY: Have faith.

PATTON: We’re rooting for you.

ROMAN: You’re capable of this and more.

VIRGIL: So much more…

LOGAN: So do it…

[The glow turns into a light so bright that the Sides have to turn back. After a few seconds, the light disappears and there are two manikins. One of them is dressed with Deceit clothes and the other with Honesty’s clothes]

LOGAN: Well done, Thomas.

THOMAS: I did it?

LOGAN: Of course you did it, like I knew you would.

[Thomas smiles and the Sides cheer]

LOGAN: Okay, enough cheering. The time has come. Are you ready, guys?

THOMAS: Wait, so soon? I thought this was a training session. I only managed to do it once.

LOGAN: There’s no time to waste, Thomas. Once you’ve managed to do it for the first time, you can manage to do it as many times as you want.

THOMAS: But what if…?

HONESTY: Logan is right. I don’t have much time left in this world. If I can’t be saved, I’d rather go with a blast, rather than disappear slowly and angstily. Besides, that’s not gonna happen, because you’re gonna do it, just like you did it before.

[Honesty disappears]

HONESTY: [speaking through Deceit’s body] Now go ahead and set me free, one way or another.

THOMAS: Don’t say that, Honesty.

HONESTY: Sorry, I’m Honesty. I’m allowed to express the way I feel without limitations. But don’t listen to me. I know you can do it.

LOGAN: [invoking the manikins away] Okay, Deceit, stand here, and don’t move a muscle.

DECEIT: [sighs] Here we go…

[Deceit goes where the manikins used to stand, he goes totally still and, after giving a quick anxious glance to the other Sides and Thomas, he closes his eyes]

LOGAN: Okay, Thomas, ready?

THOMAS: Ready.

LOGAN: Go.

[Thomas concentrates and the aura reappears. He projects the aura onto Deceit]

DECEIT: I’m feeling weird…

LOGAN: Don’t move…

[A yellow glow surrounds Deceit. This time, Thomas barely struggles, as if it was being easier than the other two times. Then the glow goes more intense, until Deceit is no longer seen. After a few moments, there’s a huge flash that, again, forces the other Sides to look back. After a while, the flash disappears. Deceit is there, but there’s no sign of Honesty]

DECEIT: I’m… I’m alive? But where is Honesty? I don’t feel him anymore. What has happened?

THOMAS: [scared] Oh, my gosh, don’t tell me that…

[a glow then appears next to Deceit. It is a yellow glow. It flickers to orange a couple of times while growing, but eventually stays yellow. After that, the glow disappears and Honesty appears there with his eyes closed]

DECEIT: Honesty? Are you okay?

[Honesty opens his eyes and looks around]

HONESTY: I… I think so… Did it work?

[Honesty slowly reaches a hand towards Deceit. He does the same. When the hands get close to touch, they both hesitate, but after a couple of seconds, they join their hands]

DECEIT: [happy] I can feel you!

HONESTY: [also happy] Me too. We both have a physical form again!

[Honesty and Deceit join in a hug and they both start crying. The other Sides join them. Thomas is there, with tears rolling down his cheeks]

LOGAN: Well done, Thomas. Now you have earned yourself the right to be called the Light Master.

HONESTY: Thomas, you saved me… Thank you… [runs to Thomas and hugs him] Thank you, thank you, thank you…

DECEIT: I always believed you could do it.

ROMAN: [smirks] Of course you did, who are we to judge anyway?

THOMAS: I’m so happy for you, guys. You wouldn’t get an idea.

DECEIT: It’s weird though. I think we’re separate in a different way than before. Because I still have all of Honesty’s memories, and weirdly enough, I can feel his thoughts right now, as if he was still inside of me.

HONESTY: Yeah, it happens the same with me. It’s like if I could read your mind right now.

DECEIT: It seems we’re still partly connected in a way. And I like it.

HONESTY: Me too.

LOGAN: Okay, now Thomas, it’s time for you to go back to the real world. You’ve got a plane to catch, remember? And you only have two hours left to get to the airport.

THOMAS: Oh, my goodness! I must go right now! [to the camera] Sorry for the abrupt goodbye, but until next time, take it easy, guys, gals and non binary pals! Peace out!

[end card]

[Remus is in his room, making what looks like pancakes. Roman appears]

ROMAN: Hi, Remus.

REMUS: Roman? What are you doing here?

ROMAN: What? Can’t I pay a visit to my brother from time to time?

REMUS: Well, you’re your own Side. Want some pancakes?

ROMAN: Maybe… What’s in them?

REMUS: Flour, eggs, butter, some baking powder, and, my secret ingredient to give them taste, just a few little crispity-crunchy fluffy cockroaches.

ROMAN: [disgusted] Uh… I think I’ll pass, thank you.

REMUS: As you wish, but they’re delicious with whipped shaving cream. And now, what is it? I don’t believe you’ve come here just to see me. What do you want?

ROMAN: I really don’t want anything from you. Except��

REMUS: [pulling out a purse] Okay, how much is it gonna be? But I warn you, I still haven’t got the check this month, so don’t overdo it.

ROMAN: It’s not that. Besides, why would I want money for? This is the Mind Palace. There’s no need to pay for things here.

REMUS: [putting the pancakes on a plate, he grabs a fork] Tell that to my landlord. Do you have any idea how much that castle’s rent costs?

ROMAN: I’m trying to be serious, Remus.

[Roman and Remus sit down at the table. Remus invokes a bottle of shaving cream and puts a bunch over the pancakes]

REMUS: Well, you should know me by now. I can’t be serious and I’m gonna say the first thing that comes through my head all the time. Now, go on, I’m listening, kind of.

ROMAN: The truth is… lately…

[Roman hesitates]

REMUS: Spit it out already!

ROMAN: …I feel lonely.

[Remus looks at Roman with a face of surprise. Obviously he didn’t expect to hear that from Roman and it caught him off guard]

REMUS: How… how is that so? You’ve got a husband and lots of friends. You’ve got a whole world of your own creation, even a family you created for yourself. How can anyone feel lonely with all of that?

ROMAN: You’re right, I’ve got a world I made myself. And I do have a lot of friends and a husband who loves me. But since I turned into a Dark Side, I can only see the other Sides for a couple of hours each day, and they can only spend brief minutes in my room, all for their own security. The rest of the day, I’m forced to stay alone in my room or wander around Sandersia. I could go visit my brother Roland and Ira in the castle, and I did see them a couple of times, but he’s a busy ruler. I don’t wanna be a burden to him and I keep my policy of not meddling in Sandersian life. So, I chose to stay alone, if that makes any sense.

REMUS: You overvalue things making sense. [eating his pancakes with whipped shaving cream, speaking while munching with his mouth open, bits of the pancakes fall everywhere] I don’t look for anything making sense, and look at me, I didn’t turn out so bad, did I?

[Remus swallows his food, then burps loudly with his mouth wide open. The smell of the shaving cream’s perfume reaches Roman’s nose and he smells it]

ROMAN: [beat, trying to keep a neutral face] Well… it could have been worse.

REMUS: [giggles] Yeah, you’re right. So, you feel lonely. What does that have to do with me?

ROMAN: Well, you’re my brother after all, and at this moment… you’re the only family I have left who will not be endangered by my presence.

REMUS: And so, you only come to me when everybody else is out of your reach. That’s not very complimentary. Not that I look for compliments, but still…

ROMAN: I know, and I’m sorry. There are lots of things I’ve done wrong with you. I’ll understand if you ask me to leave.

REMUS: I never said that. But it’s true that you’ve done lots of things wrong with me. And this is all quite funny if you see it through my perspective. What you’re going through is not even a thousandth part of what I’ve been going through all these years alone in the island. I could have tried to do like you and make myself some companions, but the first years I wasn’t strong enough to summon anything or anyone bigger than a coconut. Remember the size of the black cauldron, it wasn’t big enough to cook one serving of blood pudding. And by the time I got strength to summon bigger things, I had already got accustomed to my loneliness. I didn’t need anyone in my life anymore. [looking at Roman right in the eye with a reproachful look] Well… almost anyone. I needed you, my big brother, in my life, and you weren’t there for me.

ROMAN: [guilty] Yeah… You’re totally right, and you said it yourself the last time. This is a karmic punishment. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the brother you needed. And I know I don’t have a right to ask you for your company when I denied my company to you for so many years. To be honest, I took a lot of time to come here, because… I feared how you would react. I don’t mean that I thought you would go on a rampage again, but… I thought that you were going to reject me and throw me away from your room, and you would have had all the right to do so.

REMUS: I would never throw you away, Roman. Especially now.

ROMAN: What do you mean?

REMUS: Now that you’re going through this, you can understand what I went through better than anyone else, and I think that makes our bond closer than ever. Besides, how could I get you to compensate me for all these years if I threw you away? My needs haven’t changed a bit. I still need my big brother in my life. So you better give me the company you denied from me in the past, Roman. I’ll use my mace to make you stay with me if I have to.

ROMAN: [emotional] I will… Thank you, brother.

REMUS: Is it weird that I enjoy you calling me like that? I’m genuinely asking, because I don’t understand this weird heartwarming stuff.

[Roman makes a gesture to go hug Remus, but he stops]

REMUS: What’s wrong?

ROMAN: Could you… clean your sash a little bit? You’re all covered with pancakes and shaving cream…

REMUS: Oh, come on, Roman, just get carried away for once in your life!

[Remus hugs Roman, who shrugs and hugs Remus back]

ROMAN: Okay…

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #logan sanders #deceit sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #sympathetic deceit #sympathetic remus #sanders sides fic #fanfic #sanders sides fanfic #prinxiety #romantic prinxiety #aspects and fanfics

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superbbirbfics · 6 years ago

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Past projects, current projects, and the future.

Hello lovelies!

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted anything here. That being said, the number of followers I have here is such a small fraction of the interaction I get on the actual fanfiction sites, which is to be expected, but I wanted to post this update somewhere, and well, this is really the only place I can.

I have never really talked about why Beecon University got put on hold, and I kind of dropped off the face of the Earth for a while after only two chapters of there’s no time like the present. I have a lot of excuses, but to be quite honest, it’s incredibly personal, and while I feel that I owe somewhat of an explanation, it’s just very difficult to put it into words and put it out there in a post like this.

Which is why I’ve decided to tell it through a fic, or at least, a part of what’s happened over the last, god, two years at this point.

I’ve been working on a fic for NANOWRIMO, and I’ve poured my heart and soul into it. It’s different than anything I’ve posted or written (I have been writing for years before I started publishing). It’s personal, it’s complex, it’s something directly tied to the story of myself and the last few years of my life. It isn’t word for word, nor is every aspect of the story 100% what’s happened to me, but it’s my explanation to my readers, and it’s my attempt to heal.

The direction in which the story goes is not entirely the direction that my life has taken - this is a bumbleby fic, but there hasn’t been another person in my life to help me heal. It’s just been me and my cat trying to figure out where to go from here.

While it mirrors my own story, some aspects of both my story and the story we know from cannon or other fics have been altered to fit together better, to tell a different version of a familiar story while still helping myself heal. The two stories don’t require much altering, honestly, they are already very similar. It’s honestly a little scary how similar they are. Yet, there is some. Familiar patterns and characters might be slightly off or OOC, but that’s a very calculated decision wherever it appears.

Given the really intense nature of the fic, and the emotional toll it’s taken on me to write (healing through trauma by writing about that trauma is both great and exhausting), I’ve decided that for myself, NANOWRIMO will extend to 2 months. I’m giving myself until December 31st to finish the fic, which I already have planned out to the end, and I’m on track to do so, if not well before that date, just not close to November 30th. I needed to hold myself accountable in some way, so this post is my way of doing so, to make sure I put in the effort to get this fic done, knowing that people are expecting it.

I hope to one day return to Beecon University, and I’d like to pick back up on there’s no time like the present once this fic is done, but I don’t make any promises there. I don’t know where my mindset will be once this fic is done. I just hope that this new fic will be able to explain my reasoning for my departure and my hesitance to continue working on Beecon University in a better way than I think I ever could in a format like this.

I do not know exactly when I will start uploading chapters. In my mind, I want to start publishing right now, but I also know that this may be something I want to wait to finish before beginning to publish. It’s so personal and I want to make sure every part of it is exactly how I want it before I publish. I want to perfect the balance of my story and the story of the bees. At the same time, I know that if I hit a roadblock, I tend to have difficulty in moving past it without having waiting readers online. We’ll see what I decide, and when.

I do have a title for this new fic, and how long it’s going to be. I’ll give you that information here and now, but as it’s not done yet, there is a strong possibility that stuff like number of chapters can go up or down a few numbers.

The fic takes place over the course of a single year, and is another College AU, although very different from Beecon University in many, many ways. Similar to Two For One, it is a hybrid-real-world-Remnant AU, without hunters/huntresses or Grimm, but includes Faunus and the names of places in Remnant slotted into locations around the US.

The fic is broken up into 4 parts, 17 chapters. Each part has 4 chapters, except for part 2, which has 5. Like previously stated, this is subject to to change, but that is the plan right now.

The goal is a minimum of 50,000 words, as is the goal for NANOWRIMO, but for me, the goal is more about completing the fic in two months than whether or not that is an exact number of words I hit. I’m about 3/4ths of the way done of the first part and have a little under 9000 words right now. We’ll see where I end up in the coming weeks.

Last, but not least, I reveal the title of this fic to you all. I am excited to continue writing, publish whenever I may, and see what you all think. Love you all, see you all again soon! <3

...

i don’t care where you’ve been, how many miles (i still love you)

#superbbirb #superbbirbfics #update #i don't care where you've been

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wherespacepooh · 7 years ago

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Continues with Wings | Day 1 Master post (ongoing update) + Post-show QA

Master post to be from article snippets, videos from TV shows, and fan repos. To be ongoingly updated. Behind the break, after post-show QA.

Since all 3 days will be broadcast, I won’t make the master post too long and I’ll try to focus on things that might not be captured in the broadcast. But trans+subs when they come, okay? :) – gladi

Post-show QA

Translated by gladi. Feel free. Images don’t belong to me. Source: https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2018/04/13/0011161959.shtml

[Translator notes: The questions and answers are fully translated as published, but do note that Daily posted them as key points, rather than a word-for-word transcription]

Q: The first ever show you produced has concluded A: Partly, it is also talk-driven, but each and every one of (those who performed today) is a truly great skater, and I am overjoyed with the fact that they graced the show that I was kindly allowed to produce with their presence. [They] are also generously skating to programs of special meaning to me, et cetera, and to me, as both a member of the show and as an audience, I think that is incredibly appealing.

Q: The condition of your foot? A: Firstly, for 3 weeks after the Olympics… if you include the period during the Olympics, I’ve been resting for just under 4 weeks. As a result, I’m in even better condition than I was before the Olympics, and I’m getting to the state where, for my spins and steps, it not only doesn’t hurt, it also doesn’t hinder. So in terms of the phase of rehabilitation, I am doing steps and spins on the ice, and stamina training.

Q: When did you start rehabilitation? A: It’s after 3 weeks of repose, so… around the end of March.

Q: When do you think you’ll begin to jump? What about your participation in the next season? A: Regarding competitions in the next season, after the Olympics had ended, I brought up phrases such as “sense of accomplishment” and “happiness” far more, and I was saying something like I don’t know what I’ll do, but currently in terms of motivation, I do want to compete. About the Loop, Lutz and the Flip, [all three of which] use the right foot a lot in the jumping, I’m not even going through the motions of those jumps [at the moment]. I’ve decided to not touch them at all.

Q: About the decision to skate today. A: Before the Pyeongchang Olympics, there were few different parts that hurt when I skate and I’m going through the steps one by one. But, this time, upon returning to the ice after a period of rest, when I realized that it didn’t hurt going through my steps, nor was I feeling any pain when I tried to start to spin, I was kindly allowed to produce this show. And so, having performed since I was very young, “during this period, I was looking up to these skaters!” or “I had been inheriting these things [from those skaters]” – I wanted people to see this, so I thought, I’ll skate.

Q: Programs for next season? A: For the next programs, I haven’t yet decided on the music or anything, but I’ve made a firm decision in my mind to participate in competitions, so I must get started as soon as possible right now – is what I’m thinking. The motivation for doing competitions – how I might be able to create programs that would bring me victory – such considerations used to be part of the thought process, but hereafter, I would like to more honestly [face] my own feelings, and really consider songs that I want to take on, or programs that I want to show, while choosing my music and also doing my choreography.

Q: [By] participation, [you mean] beginning from the Grand Prix Series? A: That’s what I’m thinking at present. But in regards to the Loop, Flip and Lutz – at the current state I haven’t been doing them at all, so I don’t know how it would feel when I do them, or if I would feel pain then. As such, I must think this over with that also in mind, but in terms of how I personally feel right now, I’m thinking that I would like to attend as many competitions as possible and bring my own performance.

Q: Is what you performed here related to your programs next season? A: With feelings of gratitude in my heart toward all the teachers who’ve taught me thus far, I was kindly allowed to skate to my old programs. As I was approaching these old programs, I took care not to make it too much like my current style. The way I express myself is different from before, and I do think you can say that I have grown on the technical front, but I thought I really didn't want to show that off. I watch old clips of myself over and over again. In the end, skating with the image of my old self in mind – and my body might have internalized this [along the way] but – “The breadth of my expression has expanded.” That was what I thought after being given the chance [to revisit old programs] this time, so for myself going forward – it's weird to say "from myself to myself,” but I think that it will be of great impact to me.

Master Post (ongoing)

9000 in attendance [1]

Before the start of the show, music from Hanyu’s programs over the years played in the background as the audience came in

Before each skater performed, a different VTR introduced the special bond between the skater and Yuzuru, with Yuzuru’s own comments

Questions from Twitter [article from Hochi]

Q: There wasn’t a sense of insecurity (approaching the Olympics while injured)?

Q: Did you change your choreography of the Short Program for the Olympics?

Kids’ Questions Corner [article from Hochi]

[video link] Q: What is something you treasure? A: Pooh-san tissue case

[video link] Q: I am practicing figure skating with Hanyu-senshu as my goal. When you were in fourth grade like me, what training were you doing? I am training the Double Salchow right now, so please see my form” and jumped on ground. A: Since you can do it on land, you can do it! Double Salchow! Q: I don’t have (enough) power in my legs... A: Is that so? It looked fine to me! With jumps, it’s all about timing, you know. For example, doing it while counting 1-2-3 in your head. You can think a little bit in this direction.”

Video message from Stephane Lambiel

Footage of Stephane watching Yuzuru’s programs during his visit to Cricket (during summer off-season) [cr. hofburgmay@twi]

“See you soon”

Video message from Javier Fernandez

“You’ve recovered from your injury already, perhaps? You said [you were] ‘happy about Javi’s medal.’ That was also a wonderful moment for me. We were really good rivals. I always support Yuzu!” [cr. gototaisuke@twi] (EN > JP > EN alert...)

Yuzuru performed 3 programs sans jumps

The performances came as a major surprise even to the media, as the original plan was for him to sit out the skating parts, and he indeed sat out the opening, opting to move his hands in tandem with the other skaters on ice instead

“From Russia with Love” (2004-06)

Choreographed by Tsuzuki Shoichiro, who officially coached him between Grade 2 and 6 of elementary school. After he moved to Yokohama following the closing down of the Sendai rink, he continued to coach Yuzuru remotely, and Yuzuru and his mother visited him every weekend. Tsuzuki was indispensable to the building up of Yuzuru’s jumps and instilled in Yuzuru his love for the Axel.

[04 Japanese Novice B Winner] – The person ruffling Yuzuru’s hair at the end was Tsuzuki. The only fancam available of the performance.

“Zigeunerweisen” (2010-11)

Senior debut program

Johnny Weir, also participating in this show, was the designer of this costume [video, making of]. He is one of the two figure skating heroes that Yuzuru would always mention growing up

“Ballade No.1″ (2014-16, 2017-18)

Choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle, also present at the show

Yuzuru promises this will be the only time you get to see him skate to Ballade in the Zigeunerweisen costume... :P

#yuzuru hanyu #continues with wings #fstranslations #2018 #CiONTU #his own words

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anonymousereporters-blog · 7 years ago

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THE KING IS SHAKEN: VOTES ON STAKE !

In the art of gaining national trust ahead of the upcoming December presidential elections President Joseph Kabila seems to be living up to his promises made last month concerning the local miners’ payments.

Our sources have word that as of Monday this week the miners representatives where in close handshakes with the president’s circle and relative. It is believed that a few households on the 9000 have started receiving the long awaited payment for their minerals in the president’s custody. It is not yet clear how many households where paid and how much was received.

However the critics and the opposition have already started questioning the source of the money used in the payments, “that is not your money to spend; your trying to bribe the people buying their sympathy using government funds illegally for your own benefits and dealings” word from the opposition camp of critics.

Our sources revealed that the pressure imposed on Kabila is too much that he had to make the move in anticipation that the attention on his business would shift away let him and his relative smuggle out the blocked tons of the countries precious metals now under tight over look by the ministry.

Month after month, new revelations show that the Congolese mines continue to be plundered by a coalition of unethical miners and corrupt local officials which bizarrely remain in office.

Congo is endowed with mineral riches but there is little trickling down for the people. One of the reasons is that companies do not pay to the state treasury or to the state-owned company Gécamines what they should in terms of taxes or dividends. And examples abound. Last January, two reports were published on two subsidiaries of the Swiss-based giant global trader Glencore. Action pour la défense des droits humains (ADDH), set up by the lawyer Daudet Kitwa Kalume, which specialises in mining governance expressed concern about the lack of profitability at the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) joint venture set up by Glencore’s subsidiary, Katanga Mining and Gécamines. Accordingly, KCC borrowed money from other companies of the Glencore Group, at rates excessively high rates, in total contradiction with the Congolese Mining Code provisions.

ADDH also highlights a US $ 22.1 million gap between the amount of the tax on profits for 2014, which was declared to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) by KCC and the figure which appears in this company’s accounts. ADDH also deplores the transfer by KCC of $ 880 million of royalties owed to Gécamines to the Cayman Islands-based Africa Horizon Investment Ltd, which is a subsidiary of the Israeli tycoon Dan Gertler’s Fleurette Group, following a bizarre agreement between Glencore, Fleurette and Gécamines. Likewise, ADDH blames Gécamines’ passivity to defend its own interest namely for failing to ask for the payment of a $ 15 m. entry fee for 2013 and of a $ 9.45 m. lease for the 2009-2014 period, both owed by KCC.

Parallel mining office

Simultaneously, another NGO called Initiative pour la Bonne Gouvernance et Droits Humains (IBGDH) published a report wondering why the Mutanda Mining (Mumi) company, 69% owned by Glencore and 31% by Fleurette, curiously lacked financial records. IBGDH calls for the payment by Mumi of $ 115 m. of unpaid taxes to the Congolese Treasury. The authors of the report also consider that Gécamines’s sale of its stake Mumi in 2011 to an offshore company called Rowny Assets Ltd, owned by Gertler’s family, without a prior assessment of the value of these assets, represented a net loss of $ 225 m. in terms of uncashed royalties and entry fees.

Glencore itself seemed to realize in early 2017, that its relationship with Gertler’s companies could be detrimental for its reputation after revelations during the last quarter of 2016 by U.S. officials that Gertler’s business partner, the U.S. based hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC acknowledged participating in the bribing of Congolese officials. Gertler denied any wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged so far. Yet, on the 13 February 2017, Glencore announced it had agreed to a $960 million deal with Dan Gertler’s Fleurette Group to buy out his holdings in Mutanda Mining, the world’s biggest cobalt mine, and in Katanga Mining Ltd. The governance of the state-owned company Gécamines is a serious matter of concern for the New York-based Natural Resources Governance Institute (NRGI) which suspects the national miner to have become a de facto parallel mining office, which awards concessions to companies without allowing anybody to check whether or they make the lowest bids or come up with the best technical capacity to develop projects. Furthermore, the NRGI report points out that Gécamines increased since 2008, the number of exploitation permits it owns from 38 to 73, well beyond the ceiling of 50 permits which is imposed by the Mining Code of 2002.

Moreover, there are suspicions that in Gécamines is also acting as an arm of the Kabila family interests. The Belgian daily Le Soir revealed in October 2016 several transactions which were detrimental to Gécaminesbut benefitted to the Kabila family. A former executive of the BGFI Bank, Jean-Jacques Lumumba, told the Belgian paper that Gécamines was given a US $ 30 million credit line and repaid twice the interest of US $ 2.7 m. owed for this service. Coincidently, BGFI DRC is 40 % owned by Joseph Kabila’s own sister, Gloria Mteyu and the Bank’s CEO is Kabila’s adopted brother, Francis Selemani Mtwale. A copperbelt-based political group called the Katanguese Patriots(PAKAR) reported in December 2016 that only $ 13 million of this BGFI loan were spent for the purchase of mining equipments by Gécamineswhose President, Albert Yuma Mulindi is the only person to know what happened with the rest of the money.

Kabila’s network

Curiously, despite the poor performances of Gécamines whose 2016 output was a miserable 11 000 tonnes of copper, below the 24,000 tonnes target for the year, representing barely one percent of the country’s output, Albert Yuma remains in office. In fact, it’s an open secret, in the copperbelt capital, Lubumbashi that there is only one explanation for the Yuma’s permanence since 2011 at the helm of Gécamines. Yuma’s links with the Kabila family are close. Coincidently, although no formal agreement has been struck with Gécamines, three of its mines are currently exploited by diggers who are forced by soldiers to sell their products below market prices, to a company called Acacia, according to a French consulting firm Sofreco report to the World Bank.

Acacia is majority owned by president Joseph Kabila’s own sister, Jaynet while their younger brother Masengo, Joseph Kabila’s 16-year-old daughter, Sifa, and his financial assistant, Emmanuel Adrupiako, are the other shareholders based on corporate records from September 2014, according to a Bloomberg story published by mid- December, with the support of the « Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reporting ». The need to protect these opaque deals is widely in Kinshasa as one of the reasons why Joseph Kabila is so much willing to stay in office after the expiration of his second and last presidential term, on the 19 December 2016.

According to Bloomberg, thousands of documents reveal the existence of a 70 companies network established by the Kabila, which spreads its tentacles from United States to Panama and even to the tax haven of Niue, in the Pacific. “His wife, his children and eight of his brothers and sisters are controlling more than 120 mining permits “ to exploit gold, diamond, copper, cobalt and other minerals, says the Bloomberg report which points out that two companies of the network are controlling diamond concessions which stretch over more than 700 km along the Angolan border. One of them is called Osifal after the names of Joseph Kabila’s spouse, Olive Lembe and of their children, Sifa and Laurent-Désiré. A fish rots from the head down.

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legaltune · 7 years ago

Text

11th Circuit’s LabMD Decision has Implications Outside of Just Privacy

LabMD v FTC Decision Practitioners have been waiting for quite some time for the 11th Circuit’s decision in the LabMD case. LabMD, Inc. v. Fed. Trade Comm’n, No. 16-16-270 (11th Cir. June 6, 2018). In particular, there was a great deal of interest as to how the court might resolve the issue of whether the “substantial injury” requirement under the unfairness prong of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act was satisfied by a data breach in 2008 involving approximately 9000 consumers and with little evidence of actual consumer monetary injury.

Well, the 11th Circuit published its decision this week but the issue regarding the meaning of “substantial injury” will have to wait for another day as the Court declined to address that question, instead ruling that the Federal Trade Commission’s order as drafted is unenforceable. In doing so, the 11th Circuit likely surprised a lot of folks and created a great deal of uncertainty regarding FTC orders in general.

The Court noted that for the most part the FTC’s complaint against LabMD was premised not upon certain affirmative acts taken by the company but rather by their failure to act in particular ways. In other words, the company had been negligent in establishing a reasonable data security program. The Court assumed for the sake of argument that the FTC could base an unfairness complaint upon a negligent failure to act but then went on to find the order unenforceable because the order set forth an indefinite “reasonableness” standard with respect to the Company’s future obligations in establishing data security measures. The relevant order language read as follows:

[T]he respondent shall … establish and implement, and thereafter maintain, a comprehensive information security program that is reasonably designed to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of personal information collected from or about consumers … Such program … shall contain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to respondent’s size and complexity, the nature and scope of respondent’s activities, and the sensitivity of the personal information collected from or about consumers …

The Court felt that this language was too vague and did not provide specific enough guidance as to what conduct was required of the Company lest it be subject to monetary penalties for violation of the order. The Court noted, by way of example, that the FTC could go to court and argue that the order had been violated because the Company had failed to implement “x” policy. The Company could produce an expert who would testify that “x” was not reasonably necessary to insure adequate data security and the Commission might well produce an expert who would argue that “x” was necessary. The Court argued that a finding in favor of the Commission in this type of scenario would essentially entail modifying the order so as to specifically require “x” and that such post hoc order modification was not permissible.

We don’t want to wade into the issue of whether the 11th Circuit got this issue right, and there are obviously lots of issues this ruling presents for other Commission privacy issues, but there are other areas outside of privacy where the 11th Circuit’s ruling could create complications for the Commission. For example, the Commission’s advertising substantiation doctrine is built upon the idea of a “reasonable basis” and that requirement is often written into Commission orders that require substantiation that experts in the field would believe to be adequate. This language, of course, begins to sound a lot like the language in LabMD that the 11th Circuit objected to.

Almost a decade ago, partially in response to decisions like those in Lane Labs, the Commission began providing more specificity in its substantiation orders, setting forth, for example, exactly how many and what type of clinical trials would be required. In this situation, the Commission was not reacting to courts finding that its orders were too vague to be enforceable but rather that an order’s “reasonableness” requirement could be too easily satisfied by a company putting forth a qualified expert to assert that its single study involving some type of animal was sufficient.

In recent years, however, the Commission has backed away from this approach, reacting in part to criticism by courts and commentators that putting such language in orders was too rigid and lacked the flexibility provided by the reasonable basis standard. Is the LabMD decision now going to force the Commission back in the other direction, particularly if companies begin mounting similar challenges to substantiation consent orders? No doubt the Commission must feel a bit like Goldilocks in search of that bed that is neither too small nor too big but exactly just right.

11th Circuit’s LabMD Decision has Implications Outside of Just Privacy syndicated from https://legaltune.wordpress.com/

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riichardwilson · 5 years ago

Text

Building An E-Commerce Site With October CMS And Shopaholic

About The Author

Leonardo Losoviz is a freelance developer and writer, with an ongoing quest to integrate innovative paradigms (Serverless PHP, server-side components, GraphQL) … More about Leonardo …

The Laravel-powered October CMS enables to extend the functionality of the application through the use of plugins. In this article, we will learn how to create an e-commerce site through one of October’s most popular plugins, Shopaholic.

October CMS is flourishing: With over 9000 stars in its GitHub repo, 2000 forks and 300 contributors, it is becoming a major force in the CMS space. It won the popular vote as the Best Flat-File CMS from 2018, new plugins are published on its marketplace almost daily (covering most of the developer needs), and its network of partners is expanding worldwide. Let’s see what it is all about.

Built in PHP and powered by Laravel (one of the most powerful and developer-friendly PHP frameworks), October CMS is a free open-source Content Management System (CMS). It benefits from Laravel’s clean code and sound architecture to provide a great developer experience, over which it adds simple and flexible CMS functionality to provide a great user experience. This combination makes it possible to launch new projects in a matter of minutes, without having to build the project from scratch. Due to all these features, October can minimize the costs of developing and maintaining websites, making it particularly valuable to businesses and digital agencies.

Yet, in spite of its power, October CMS is very easy to use. Since its inception, October has strived to be “as simple as possible, but not simpler”. For this reason, it is based on one of the simplest stacks for the web: PHP to render HTML, plus CSS and JS assets. In the words of its creators, October’s mission is to prove that “web development is not rocket science”.

In this article, we will do a tour around October CMS: We will first see how to install it, then check some of its coding and usability features in a bit more detail, and finally get our hands dirty implementing an e-commerce website through one of its most popular plugins, Shopaholic.

Recommended YouTube Channel

Are you looking to learn more about e-commerce development? You can do so with the help of live streams that explain the main aspects of the development process based on the Shopaholic platform for October CMS. Watch →

Installing October CMS

Since October CMS runs on PHP, it requires to have a web server running on the computer (if we don’t have one yet, MAMP can provide one for free, allowing to choose between Apache and Nginx, and it works for both Windows and macOS) and a MySQL server to store the database (which can also be provided by MAMP).

The installation through October’s wizard doesn’t take more than a few minutes: We create a new MySQL database, download and unpack the installer files to our target directory for the website (which must be granted writing permission, and which must be set as document root in the web server for the chosen domain, such as localhost), and then invoke the script file from the web browser. From that moment on the wizard takes over, guiding us through the installation process. The wizard will:

Validate if the web server satisfies all the requirements (at least PHP 7.0, and others):

System check (Large preview)

Ask for database and site configuration values, and user credentials:

Configuration (Large preview)

Ask how to set-up the site: From scratch, already installing a specific theme, or using our own existing project (from which our chosen theme and plugins can be automatically installed):

Initial setup (Large preview)

Next, we click on “Install!”, and in a few seconds (depending on our Internet connection speed) the website will be installed and ready to use:

Site installed (Large preview)

In this case, I chose to install it from scratch, under http://localhost. Browsing to this URL on the browser, we can encounter the October starter demo theme:

Browsing the starter demo theme (Large preview)

Navigating to http://localhost/backend (unless we changed this URL during the installation process) we can log into the administration panel:

Browsing the admin panel (Large preview)

Finally, we delete the installer files from the folder. And voilà, in just a few minutes we have a fully functioning site (well, we still need to enhance it with plugins… we will do that in a while).

Alternatively, we can also install October from the command-line interface, by executing:

$ curl -s https://octobercms.com/api/installer | php

This method is faster (it can take as little as 10 seconds to install) because it doesn’t require to input the database configuration. Hence, it is particularly useful for setting-up October CMS as a flat-file system, i.e. a CMS fully set-up through files stored in the local disk, and without a database.

Installing October CMS through the CLI takes no time. (Large preview)

Templating System

October CMS has a robust templating system to implement layouts, re-use chunks of code and enable dynamic functionality. Its most important elements are the following ones:

Pages are the most basic structure for storing content. These are readily available, since they are shipped as part of the core (blog posts, on the other hand, must be installed through a plugin). Pages are based on Twig, which is a modern template engine for PHP (devised by the creators of Symfony), and compiled to plain optimized PHP code, so they execute very fast.

Partials contain reusable chunks of code that can be used all throughout the website, as to avoid duplicating code on the different pages or layouts. They are particularly useful for navigation menus, testimonials, calls to action, and other common elements.

Layouts define the scaffolding, or structure, of the page. They define the <html> and <body> HTML elements, and are useful for creating the frame of the site, including the header, footer and sidebars. The actual content in the body is injected by the page.

Components are the mechanism to extend functionality in October CMS. Any page, partial or layout can have attached any number of components, which are most commonly provided through plugins, and which are fully configurable. In addition to rendering HTML code on the page, components can also provide services, such as form validation, security check-up, control of user permissions, or others.

Configuring a component attached to a page. (Large preview)

These elements are all implemented through files living in the website’s folder in the local hard drive. As such, it is possible to edit them not only through October CMS’ built-in editor, but also from the developer’s preferred text editor (Sublime, VS Code, PHPStorm, etc).

We can edit elements either through the October CMS’ built-in editor or in an external text editor. (Large preview)

Similarly, the October CMS project can be perfectly managed through any version control system, and it can be easily adapted to any existing workflows. For instance, a project can be set-up through continuous integration, deploying it automatically to the server after new code is pushed to the Git repo.

October can be easily managed with Git. (Large preview)

October CMS Marketplace

October CMS has a marketplace for themes (which allow to change the site’s look and feel) and plugins (which allow to extend the site’s functionalities), providing both free and paid offerings. By providing themes which can be used to quickly establish and then configure the design of the site, and plugins each of which implements some required functionality for the site, the marketplace ultimately leads to lower costs for creating our projects and reduced time to launch them.

The marketplace has been getting bigger! Following October’s growing popularity, its marketplace has received a constant stream of new offerings: It currently boasts 915 plugins, comprising most of the functionalities required for our websites (blogging, SEO Company, e-commerce, analytics, email, galleries, maps, security, social, user management, and others), and 150+ themes. Both themes and plugins can be submitted to the marketplace by any independent 3rd party developer, company or agency, and they must adhere to quality guidelines, which ensures that they are performant and secure.

Creating An E-Commerce Site Through Shopaholic

Let’s get our hands dirty and implement a real-life use case: An e-commerce website! For this, we will install Shopaholic, the most popular plugin to add e-commerce functionality to October CMS, and the free theme Bootstrap theme for Shopaholic to quickly bootstrap the site (which will be made to look like this demo site). Shopaholic is ideal for our needs because it provides a comprehensive e-commerce solution, which includes an ecosystem of extensions (both free and paid ones) to further enhance it. In addition, we can install the core experience for free and only make a one-time payment for the extensions that we need, which will be cheaper than using cloud solutions which have a recurring fee to use. And finally, because we are the full owners of our own on-premise e-commerce website, we can customize it as much as we need to and we own all the data, which is not possible with cloud solutions.

Because of the October marketplace dependency management system, we need only install the theme (the Shopaholic plugin is added as a dependency). Let’s proceed to install the theme then: Inside the October CMS admin, we click in the “Front-end theme” section in the Settings, and then click on “Find more themes”:

Front-end theme manager. (Large preview)

Then, we search for theme “Bootstrap theme for Shopaholic” and, upon clicking on the result in the dropdown, it will install the theme and all its dependencies. Once installed, we go back to the Front-end theme manager page and click on the Activate button on the new theme:

Activating the new theme. (Large preview)

After installing the theme and plugins, we will notice a new element “Catalog” on the top menu bar. Clicking on it, we can manage the items in our e-commerce catalog, namely products, categories and brands (these are the core elements; other elements, such as coupons, can be added through extensions). Initially, our catalog will be empty:

Catalog comprising products, categories and brands. (Large preview)

Let’s fill it up with some data. We can either create the items one by one or, quite conveniently, import data through CSV and XML files (which allows us to manage a large set of records with Excel or other tools). In our case, since we are creating a demo site for testing purposes, let’s install plugin Fake Data for Shopaholic which provides large sets of mock data and an easy way to import these records to the system. To do this, follow these steps:

Head to Settings => Updates & Plugins in October CMS backend, and install plugin “Fake Data for Shopaholic”.

Head to Dashboard, and click on Manage widgets and then Add widget.

Select widget “Fake data for Shopaholic”, and click on Add.

In the newly added widget, clicking on Generate under section “Generate fake data ” will run the process to import the fake data.

The last step will ask how many times should the insertion be repeated (as to create bulk and be able to test the performance of the site when loading many records) and which data set (clothes or sneakers):

Generating fake data through Laravel’s artisan command. (Large preview)

After running this process, our catalog will look better stocked:

Catalog with some mock data. (Large preview)

The next step is to create some promotions. To do this, we click on Promotions on the top menu, then on the Create button, and fill the required information. Once each promotion is created, we must edit it again to add products to it. After creating a few of them, our promotion list will look like this:

Creating some promotions. (Large preview)

Now that we have some data, we can finish customizing how our front page will look like. For that, we go to section Settings => Front-end theme => Customize and we complete the information for all tabs (Header, Footer, Social, Main slider, Index page). Once this is ready, our e-commerce site will now be ready:

Our e-commerce site is ready! (Large preview)

Clicking on a product, we can see how its page looks like:

Product page. (Large preview)

Auditing The Speed And Reliability Of The E-Commerce Solution

Because we want to sell our products, speed and a good SEO Company are mandatory, so let’s make an audit using Google Chrome’s Lighthouse on the product page to make sure it runs fast and that it will score high with search engines. Running the audit against the live demo site, it returns the following report:

Lighthouse report of the product page. (Large preview)

Equally important is that the site can withstand heavy load, so that if our product becomes successful and attracts plenty of traffic the server doesn’t crash. For this, we can use the Load Impact tool to run a load test. Running the test using 50 virtual users for 12 minutes against the live demo site (which is hosted on DigitalOcean with a droplet configuration of Standard 2CPU/4 GB RAM) produced the following results:

LoadImpact report of a test load using 50 virtual users during 12 minutes. (Large preview)

As can be seen, the website was able to sustain an acceptable response time throughout the load test, giving us the confidence that we can trust the e-commerce plugin when we need it the most: When it’s time to sell the product.

Finally, we can also feel confident of the reliability of the software, since it is covered by unit tests.

Adding Extensions To Shopaholic

So far so good. However, as it can be seen on the screenshots from our website, there is still no way for the visitor to buy a product. Let’s add this functionality by installing the following free extensions for Shopaholic: Orders, to allow to add products to a cart and make orders, and Omnipay, to process the payment. (For the other Shopaholic extensions, if they are not free and authored by LOVATA, you can use coupon “WELCOME” to get a 50% discount the first time you buy them.) To install these extensions, we head to Settings => Updates & Plugins, search for the plugin names, and click on the results to have them installed.

Searching for ‘Shopaholic’ displays its plugins. (Large preview)

Once installed, we will see a new item Orders in the top navigation, where all orders will be stored, and items Payment methods and Shipping types in the Settings page, to configure the payment gateways (card, cash, etc) and how to deliver the product (by post, etc). We configure these and load again the product page. Now it shows an “Add to cart” button, allowing the user to place an order:

Product page with cart enabled. (Large preview)

After adding several items to the cart, we can proceed to the check-out and complete the order:

Completing the order. (Large preview)

Once the user submits the order, the inventory will be automatically taken care of, updating the number of items for each product in stock, and we will receive an email informing us of the new order (if configured to do so). In section Orders on the admin panel, we can find all the information for the order (products sold, buyer information, method of payment and total, and others), and we can complete the transaction.

All the information from the order is here. (Large preview)

The basic work is done: In barely a few hours we managed to have a fully functional e-commerce sith with October CMS and Shopaholic.

Creating Our Own Extension

If none of the several extensions to Shopaholic on the October marketplace provides the functionality needed, we can also create our own extensions.

To do this, if you are comfortable with Object-Oriented Programming and PHP and, more specifically, with Laravel, then you are ready to do it. The documentation explains how to add an extension, step by step. For instance, following this tutorial, with barely a few lines of code we can add a custom field “rating” to our products:

Adding a custom field to the product. (Large preview)

We can then retrieve the new “rating” field from the product and display it in the product template:

Displaying a custom field in the product page. (Large preview)

Extending Shopaholic is not difficult and enables us to fully implement our own e-commerce requirements, and personalize the site to suit our brand.

Conclusion

October CMS is a great candidate for building powerful sites in a very simple manner (showing that “web development is not rocket science”). It delivers the great developer experience granted by Laravel, and its marketplace (which is growing daily) provides a large number of ready-to-use themes and plugins, allowing us to build websites very quickly. One such plugin is Shopaholic, which converts the site into a full-fledged e-commerce platform.

Because of these reasons, building a site with October can be very cost-effective. As a result, it has gained some reputation (by winning the popular vote as best flat-file CMS from 2018) and has increasingly become a tool of choice for businesses and digital agencies crafting sites for their clients.

To find out more from the October community, be welcome to join the October CMS Slack workspace, which is where the creators of themes and plugins published in the marketplace hang out, so you can conveniently chat with them to get their help and advice.

Give October a try (it’s free!), and let us know how it goes.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/building-an-e-commerce-site-with-october-cms-and-shopaholic/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/612281391220162560

0 notes

scpie · 5 years ago

Text

Building An E-Commerce Site With October CMS And Shopaholic

About The Author

Leonardo Losoviz is a freelance developer and writer, with an ongoing quest to integrate innovative paradigms (Serverless PHP, server-side components, GraphQL) … More about Leonardo …

Recommended YouTube Channel

Installing October CMS

Validate if the web server satisfies all the requirements (at least PHP 7.0, and others):

System check (Large preview)

Ask for database and site configuration values, and user credentials:

Configuration (Large preview)

Ask how to set-up the site: From scratch, already installing a specific theme, or using our own existing project (from which our chosen theme and plugins can be automatically installed):

Initial setup (Large preview)

Next, we click on “Install!”, and in a few seconds (depending on our Internet connection speed) the website will be installed and ready to use:

Site installed (Large preview)

In this case, I chose to install it from scratch, under http://localhost. Browsing to this URL on the browser, we can encounter the October starter demo theme:

Browsing the starter demo theme (Large preview)

Navigating to http://localhost/backend (unless we changed this URL during the installation process) we can log into the administration panel:

Browsing the admin panel (Large preview)

Alternatively, we can also install October from the command-line interface, by executing:

$ curl -s https://octobercms.com/api/installer | php

Installing October CMS through the CLI takes no time. (Large preview)

Templating System

October CMS has a robust templating system to implement layouts, re-use chunks of code and enable dynamic functionality. Its most important elements are the following ones:

Configuring a component attached to a page. (Large preview)

We can edit elements either through the October CMS’ built-in editor or in an external text editor. (Large preview)

October can be easily managed with Git. (Large preview)

October CMS Marketplace

Creating An E-Commerce Site Through Shopaholic

Front-end theme manager. (Large preview)

Activating the new theme. (Large preview)

Catalog comprising products, categories and brands. (Large preview)

Head to Settings => Updates & Plugins in October CMS backend, and install plugin “Fake Data for Shopaholic”.

Head to Dashboard, and click on Manage widgets and then Add widget.

Select widget “Fake data for Shopaholic”, and click on Add.

In the newly added widget, clicking on Generate under section “Generate fake data ” will run the process to import the fake data.

Generating fake data through Laravel’s artisan command. (Large preview)

After running this process, our catalog will look better stocked:

Catalog with some mock data. (Large preview)

Creating some promotions. (Large preview)

Our e-commerce site is ready! (Large preview)

Clicking on a product, we can see how its page looks like:

Product page. (Large preview)

Auditing The Speed And Reliability Of The E-Commerce Solution

Lighthouse report of the product page. (Large preview)

LoadImpact report of a test load using 50 virtual users during 12 minutes. (Large preview)

Finally, we can also feel confident of the reliability of the software, since it is covered by unit tests.

Adding Extensions To Shopaholic

Searching for ‘Shopaholic’ displays its plugins. (Large preview)

Product page with cart enabled. (Large preview)

After adding several items to the cart, we can proceed to the check-out and complete the order:

Completing the order. (Large preview)

All the information from the order is here. (Large preview)

The basic work is done: In barely a few hours we managed to have a fully functional e-commerce sith with October CMS and Shopaholic.

Creating Our Own Extension

If none of the several extensions to Shopaholic on the October marketplace provides the functionality needed, we can also create our own extensions.

Adding a custom field to the product. (Large preview)

We can then retrieve the new “rating” field from the product and display it in the product template:

Displaying a custom field in the product page. (Large preview)

Extending Shopaholic is not difficult and enables us to fully implement our own e-commerce requirements, and personalize the site to suit our brand.

Conclusion

Give October a try (it’s free!), and let us know how it goes.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/building-an-e-commerce-site-with-october-cms-and-shopaholic/

0 notes

laurelkrugerr · 5 years ago

Text

Building An E-Commerce Site With October CMS And Shopaholic

About The Author

Leonardo Losoviz is a freelance developer and writer, with an ongoing quest to integrate innovative paradigms (Serverless PHP, server-side components, GraphQL) … More about Leonardo …

Recommended YouTube Channel

Installing October CMS

Validate if the web server satisfies all the requirements (at least PHP 7.0, and others):

System check (Large preview)

Ask for database and site configuration values, and user credentials:

Configuration (Large preview)

Ask how to set-up the site: From scratch, already installing a specific theme, or using our own existing project (from which our chosen theme and plugins can be automatically installed):

Initial setup (Large preview)

Next, we click on “Install!”, and in a few seconds (depending on our Internet connection speed) the website will be installed and ready to use:

Site installed (Large preview)

In this case, I chose to install it from scratch, under http://localhost. Browsing to this URL on the browser, we can encounter the October starter demo theme:

Browsing the starter demo theme (Large preview)

Navigating to http://localhost/backend (unless we changed this URL during the installation process) we can log into the administration panel:

Browsing the admin panel (Large preview)

Alternatively, we can also install October from the command-line interface, by executing:

$ curl -s https://octobercms.com/api/installer | php

Installing October CMS through the CLI takes no time. (Large preview)

Templating System

October CMS has a robust templating system to implement layouts, re-use chunks of code and enable dynamic functionality. Its most important elements are the following ones:

Configuring a component attached to a page. (Large preview)

We can edit elements either through the October CMS’ built-in editor or in an external text editor. (Large preview)

October can be easily managed with Git. (Large preview)

October CMS Marketplace

Creating An E-Commerce Site Through Shopaholic

Front-end theme manager. (Large preview)

Activating the new theme. (Large preview)

Catalog comprising products, categories and brands. (Large preview)

Head to Settings => Updates & Plugins in October CMS backend, and install plugin “Fake Data for Shopaholic”.

Head to Dashboard, and click on Manage widgets and then Add widget.

Select widget “Fake data for Shopaholic”, and click on Add.

In the newly added widget, clicking on Generate under section “Generate fake data ” will run the process to import the fake data.

Generating fake data through Laravel’s artisan command. (Large preview)

After running this process, our catalog will look better stocked:

Catalog with some mock data. (Large preview)

Creating some promotions. (Large preview)

Our e-commerce site is ready! (Large preview)

Clicking on a product, we can see how its page looks like:

Product page. (Large preview)

Auditing The Speed And Reliability Of The E-Commerce Solution

Lighthouse report of the product page. (Large preview)

LoadImpact report of a test load using 50 virtual users during 12 minutes. (Large preview)

Finally, we can also feel confident of the reliability of the software, since it is covered by unit tests.

Adding Extensions To Shopaholic

Searching for ‘Shopaholic’ displays its plugins. (Large preview)

Product page with cart enabled. (Large preview)

After adding several items to the cart, we can proceed to the check-out and complete the order:

Completing the order. (Large preview)

All the information from the order is here. (Large preview)

The basic work is done: In barely a few hours we managed to have a fully functional e-commerce sith with October CMS and Shopaholic.

Creating Our Own Extension

If none of the several extensions to Shopaholic on the October marketplace provides the functionality needed, we can also create our own extensions.

Adding a custom field to the product. (Large preview)

We can then retrieve the new “rating” field from the product and display it in the product template:

Displaying a custom field in the product page. (Large preview)

Extending Shopaholic is not difficult and enables us to fully implement our own e-commerce requirements, and personalize the site to suit our brand.

Conclusion

Give October a try (it’s free!), and let us know how it goes.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/building-an-e-commerce-site-with-october-cms-and-shopaholic/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/03/building-e-commerce-site-with-october.html

0 notes

douglassmiith · 5 years ago

Text

Building An E-Commerce Site With October CMS And Shopaholic

About The Author

Leonardo Losoviz is a freelance developer and writer, with an ongoing quest to integrate innovative paradigms (Serverless PHP, server-side components, GraphQL) … More about Leonardo …

Recommended YouTube Channel

Installing October CMS

Validate if the web server satisfies all the requirements (at least PHP 7.0, and others):

System check (Large preview)

Ask for database and site configuration values, and user credentials:

Configuration (Large preview)

Ask how to set-up the site: From scratch, already installing a specific theme, or using our own existing project (from which our chosen theme and plugins can be automatically installed):

Initial setup (Large preview)

Next, we click on “Install!”, and in a few seconds (depending on our Internet connection speed) the website will be installed and ready to use:

Site installed (Large preview)

In this case, I chose to install it from scratch, under http://localhost. Browsing to this URL on the browser, we can encounter the October starter demo theme:

Browsing the starter demo theme (Large preview)

Navigating to http://localhost/backend (unless we changed this URL during the installation process) we can log into the administration panel:

Browsing the admin panel (Large preview)

Alternatively, we can also install October from the command-line interface, by executing:

$ curl -s https://octobercms.com/api/installer | php

Installing October CMS through the CLI takes no time. (Large preview)

Templating System

October CMS has a robust templating system to implement layouts, re-use chunks of code and enable dynamic functionality. Its most important elements are the following ones:

Configuring a component attached to a page. (Large preview)

We can edit elements either through the October CMS’ built-in editor or in an external text editor. (Large preview)

October can be easily managed with Git. (Large preview)

October CMS Marketplace

Creating An E-Commerce Site Through Shopaholic

Front-end theme manager. (Large preview)

Activating the new theme. (Large preview)

Catalog comprising products, categories and brands. (Large preview)

Head to Settings => Updates & Plugins in October CMS backend, and install plugin “Fake Data for Shopaholic”.

Head to Dashboard, and click on Manage widgets and then Add widget.

Select widget “Fake data for Shopaholic”, and click on Add.

In the newly added widget, clicking on Generate under section “Generate fake data ” will run the process to import the fake data.

Generating fake data through Laravel’s artisan command. (Large preview)

After running this process, our catalog will look better stocked:

Catalog with some mock data. (Large preview)

Creating some promotions. (Large preview)

Our e-commerce site is ready! (Large preview)

Clicking on a product, we can see how its page looks like:

Product page. (Large preview)

Auditing The Speed And Reliability Of The E-Commerce Solution

Lighthouse report of the product page. (Large preview)

LoadImpact report of a test load using 50 virtual users during 12 minutes. (Large preview)

Finally, we can also feel confident of the reliability of the software, since it is covered by unit tests.

Adding Extensions To Shopaholic

Searching for ‘Shopaholic’ displays its plugins. (Large preview)

Product page with cart enabled. (Large preview)

After adding several items to the cart, we can proceed to the check-out and complete the order:

Completing the order. (Large preview)

All the information from the order is here. (Large preview)

The basic work is done: In barely a few hours we managed to have a fully functional e-commerce sith with October CMS and Shopaholic.

Creating Our Own Extension

If none of the several extensions to Shopaholic on the October marketplace provides the functionality needed, we can also create our own extensions.

Adding a custom field to the product. (Large preview)

We can then retrieve the new “rating” field from the product and display it in the product template:

Displaying a custom field in the product page. (Large preview)

Extending Shopaholic is not difficult and enables us to fully implement our own e-commerce requirements, and personalize the site to suit our brand.

Conclusion

Give October a try (it’s free!), and let us know how it goes.

(ra, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

Via http://www.scpie.org/building-an-e-commerce-site-with-october-cms-and-shopaholic/

source https://scpie.weebly.com/blog/building-an-e-commerce-site-with-october-cms-and-shopaholic

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