#But these posts always take a certain robots bad humans good tone to them. A 'This technology is monstrous! it shouldn't exist!' tone

[lwoorl]

AI art isn't bad by itself, "It doesn't have the heart real art has!" and "It looks ugly!" are absolutely meaningless criticism, and "Maybe if we all work together and don't feed them these AIs won't success!" is wishful thinking. (Although it's still good practice not to feed corporations your information)

At the end of the day AIs are just a tool that won't go away by itself, and it does have its potential for good uses you know, there's no need to demonize technological advancement. The problem is that the industry isn't ready for its widespread use without causing great levels of unemployment, and that we don't have a good infrastructure to protect people's art from being used without consent.

At the end of the day what we need to push for is regulations and labor laws, framing it as an issue of robots vs humans is regressive, and demonizing the technology itself won't create laws around it. Stop fear mongering, stop getting mad at people who are excited about the technological advancement, AI art is here and it will stay and the technology itself is a neutral thing, now let's adapt to it and push for regulations.

[khadij-al-kubra]

Worst Impressions are the First (ch 7)

Main Characters: Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil (Human AU)

Pairings: Romantic LAMP

Word Count: 5036

AO3

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Author’s (longer than usual but it’s for good reason) Note: *The Apocalypse—2020. Zoom in on a plague rat turned writer. She has survived thesis projects, getting a Master’s degree, burnout, writing and illustrating a children’s book, being a slave for the U.S. census bureau, months of overthinking anxiety spirals, and one or two incidents involving an asshole skunk. But now, battle weary yet unwavering in her love of art and love for her loyal readers, this onesie-clad tea slurping book dragon....has finally arisen from the ashes*

I LIVE BITCHES!!!!!!! And I am SO SORRY for taking so long!!! I’ve been hard at work, been editing like a mad woman, and I even have a beta now! The gorgeous and talented @humbletortoise So I  am OFFICIALLY off hiatus!!! *cue confetti canon* 

Also, one of the biggest reasons I’ve taken so long to update is because I’ve spent the past month or so essentially retconning the fuck outta this fic. I realized looking back at earlier chapters in this story that, although I was proud of them at the time and greatly appreciate the positive reactions, they were...not my best work. (shitty first drafts if I’m being honest) That’s because, at the time, I was trying to split my attention between writing this fic and working on grad school stuff, which resulted in my writing for this not being as best of quality as it could have been upon first posting. This story deserves my best, and so do all of you. So now I hope to give you that. 

I encourage you to go back and re-read the previous chapters up till now (trust me, they’re near unrecognizable to the first drafts, but in the best way). Or if you don’t feel like doing that, you can just continue on from here. totally cool. For the sake of convenience and my own sanity, I’ll attach the AO3 Link to this fic from the start. I may also start just posting chapter updates on tumblr but only have the link to the chapter and add my reader tags. Again, for the sake of my sanity because Tumblr is a bastard when it comes to posting fics. (Also PLEASE let me know if there are any tagging issues if anyone’s on my tags list; yet another reason i’m considering just linking my fics in the future)

Anywho, without further ado, at LOOOOOONG last, here is the next chapter!

Chapter 7 - (POV Roman)

When Roman had offered to walk with Logan to class, it was only partly out of an innate sense of chivalry; a side of himself that he rarely got to show on account of being a socially awkward gay disaster. Though mainly, he saw it as a chance to get to know his second soulmate better.

He certainly hadn’t expected two long minutes of civil but silent walking. Well, as silent as a stroll through their school could be with its usual racket buzzing around them. With a vocabulary as big as the continents of Africa and Eurasia combined, you’d think Logan would be more of a conversationalist. Alas. He merely walked in step with Roman. They glanced over at each other every so often, but Logan stayed tight lipped and seemingly impassive; fiddling with his bumblebee hair pin every now and again. Damn. Looked like he was going to have to make the first move.

Roman was bad at this. How did people usually…Oh yeah, common interest. That’s a thing. He wracked his brain for some sort of ice breaker. One that’d make him look cool and calm or, something, in front of Logan. He was a fairly decent student though not quite mathletes level. He could compliment his outfit maybe? Was that too forward? Too shallow? Maybe he could find common ground? That was as good a place to start as any.

“So! So uhh…What kind of music do you like?” Roman asked. Yeah, that’s good. Everybody likes music.

Logan glanced at him. “Can you be more specific?”

Roman’s brow furrowed. “I mean, like, your favorite genre of music to listen to?”

“Classical,” said Logan in a clipped tone.

“That’s cool. I don’t really listen to classical myself.”

Logan only hummed, his face neutral. Roman was really hoping for more than that. A few awkward seconds passed, then Logan spoke up.

“Are you perhaps a fan of the classic Sherlock Holmes novels?” He inquired.

“Um, I haven’t gotten around to the books yet, actually,” Roman said, scratching his earlobe. “I mean, I’ve heard great things about them. And I’m a big fan of the Robert Downey Jr. movies.”

“Ah. I see.” Logan said, giving him the judgiest side eye.

Come on, Roman thought. Give me something to work with. “Oh! What about theater?”

“What a frustratingly vague inquiry.”

“Well, excuse me for trying to get to know my soulmate a little better.” Ay come jode, work with me here, man!

Logan sighed. “While I understand and appreciate your intention, I believe ‘getting to know someone’ as you put it, requires a certain level of specificity. Anything less indicates a somewhat shallow level of sincere interest, and I greatly despise shallow conversation. That said, if you’re inquiring as to whether or not I enjoy theater, no. I don’t understand the concept of professional make believe, though I appreciate it as an art form. I assume you’re a fan?”

Is he seriously implying I’m shallow? Roman groused, pushing his red frames up the bridge of his nose. Ugh, forget it Roman. He’s throwing you a bone here. Take it.

“Obviously,” said Roman, gesturing dramatically. “I mean I’m no actor—Eesh. No. Yikes—but everything about the artform enthralls me. And I like all kinds of genres and eras of plays, from Shakespear to Ruhl, but musicals are by far my favorite, because like, there’s so much you can do with them design wise. I mean just look at how groundbreaking Hamilton was.”

For a second, Logan’s face actually softened, his eyes lighting up. But just as Roman thought they were finally about to make some progress, his stony companion was back to wearing that platinum puss.

“Ah. How… original.”

Roman blinked. “Are you saying my tastes are basic?”

“Well, yes.”

Augh! Okay. Yep. I don’t like him. Patton was going to be so disappointed, and Roman was too. He’d wanted so badly to get along with all his soulmates, but Logan was a snob! Way less intimidating than Virgil and his ilk, but still a jerk. I wonder if soulmarks can make typos or something? Thank the stars they’d already arrived.

Roman and Logan filed in with the rest of the class for seventh period. Somebody had the liberty of opening a window– the AC was still busted in this classroom– so for once there was actually a decent breeze cutting through the usual mucky Florida humidity. Still smelled like it would probably rain later. Good thing Roman had packed an umbrella just in case, Mom’s orders. His hair looked too good today to be wrecked by frizz.

Roman took a seat at his desk, running distracted fingers over the carved letters in the wood while he mulled over his predicament. Just look at him over there, thought Roman as he glared at Logan, not two rows away from him. Sitting with his hands clasped on the desk all smug—of course he’d be near the front—and with such disturbingly good posture. What is he, a robot? Who is he to call my interests basic, the NERVE! And okay, sure, like Hamilton, sometimes I get over excited and shoot off at the mouth. But great Zeus, does that guy show passion for ANYTHING besides academics? Roman blew a raspberry, plopping his head in his hands.

He always thought soulmates were supposed to get along, even as just friends for life. Balancing each other out, bringing out the best in you and forming a deep connection—that was the whole point. He sighed to himself. Cymbals clashed less than he and Logan did.

He was stirred from his brooding by the bell. Apparently Mr. ‘Call-me-Terrence’ Williams had materialized without him noticing. Okay fine, he should probably pay more attention, but he was having a crisis here.

“Afternoon everyone,” Terrence greeted in that measured, upbeat tone of his.  

He draped his navy blue blazer over the back of his desk chair and rolled his shirt sleeves to the elbows. Roman pitied the poor guy;  he had to teach sauna of a classroom all day. He could see the glisten of sweat on his teacher's smooth forehead as he wrote things on the board. Yet he still kept a pleasant attitude towards his students.

“Alright class!” Terrence started, “Today we’re covering the next section on the American Revolution. Specifically, the Battle of Yorktown...”

Roman mentally punched the air. My time has come. He opened his textbook to the right page but didn’t bother looking at it. He already knew most everything about Yorktown. Not just because he’d listened to the Hamilton soundtrack fifteen and a half million times, but also because he’d done actual research on the event and time period that the musical took place; There was always the off chance he’d get to stage crew or, heck, even dramaturg the show. He liked to be prepared.

“So the battle of Yorktown took place in 1781, but a great deal of its success was thanks to the French Allies. Many especially aided in fighting the British Troops surrounding New York. Now who can tell me where the French Soldiers first landed?”

Roman half raised his hand. He was pretty sure he knew the answer.

“Logan.” Terrence called.

Roman turned to Logan desk, where his hand was held high and mighty.

“The French Ally ships first landed in Rhode Island, then made their way to Chesapeake Bay,” said Logan, adjusting his glasses. Not even a hint of second guessing in his voice.

“That’s right!”

He almost missed the quick smirk on Logan’s frustratingly pretty face. Look at that smug—thinks he’s so smart...Okay yes, he is smart, but he doesn’t have to be a show off about it. Terrence continued through the passages, calling on a student every now and again to review. Of course, Logan got called on most and he got every answer right. Roman didn’t feel like raising his hand anymore.

“Of course there were many turning points in the revolution, but Hamilton’s return to the field for Yorktown was a key point.” Terrence continued on. “And keep in mind- this was a man who up till now had never been in a position of command before. Not to mention the mental strains he must’ve been under, especially having had to miss the birth of his son Philip, the first of three children he had.”

Wait a sec. “Well, that’s not right.”

Even though he’d muttered, apparently Mr. Terrence still heard him. “Come again, Roman?”

Shoot. “Um, I said,” Stop sounding timid, you know you’re right. “I said that was, um, wrong.”

The whole class turned to him. Oh great, history class has its eyes on me. Roman cleared his throat and tried to look taller.

“What I mean is: Hamilton had eight kids, not three. And on top of that, Phillip was born a few months after they won the Revolution, not during, so Hamilton didn’t miss the birth of his son. I mean sure, it’s a small thing, but the devil’s in the details as they say. Heh.”

Terrence gave the most insultingly bemused look. And Roman definitely heard a few kids snickering behind him. He glanced quickly at the culprits and felt his ears go hot. This is what he got for putting himself in the spotlight.

“Roman, I applaud you for participating in the class discussion,” Their teacher started gently, “but I’m afraid you’re wrong on this one. If you read your textbook close you’d see in the fifth paragraph where it mentions from one of his later letters—“

“Actually Mr. Williams, if I may, Roman is correct.”

Roman saw Logan at his desk, one hand raised while the other adjusted his neck scarf. Was the teacher’s pet actually… backing him up?

“It is a common misconception that Alexander Hamilton only had two children, even more so modernly, what with the musical having only named two of them. However Roman has clearly done his research on the plays historical accuracies, which is more than I can say for some.”

Logan shot a cool but scathing look at their recently snickering classmates and they withered. Roman fought the urge to point and laugh aloud. He did however stick his tongue out real quick. What? He could be shy and petty at the same time.

“My guess,” Logan continued, “is that this textbook edition is also either misprinted or outdated, judging by the publication date in the copyright section.”

Brows furrowed, Terrence looked at the textbook laid open on his desk. He flipped back to the front, before pulling out his cellphone—“I’m the teacher, I’m allowed to do this. You guys aren’t.”—and after what Roman guessed was a quick Google search, their teacher looked up. His eyebrows drawn in a ‘hm, well damn’ expression.

“Looks like you’re right, Roman. And thank you Logan for bringing to my attention about the textbooks. I’ll have to talk to the principal about hopefully getting some updated materials. But we’ll see how that goes,” Terrence, muttered the last part, though Roman was close enough to catch it. Terrence cleared his throat and moved back to the board. “Maybe if we call on assistance from the inside. Much like how the Sons of Liberty sent in Hercules Mulligan to spy on the British...”

“Perhaps if we knew of an immigrant who was unafraid to step in,” Logan said just under his breath.

No one else seemed to notice the reference, but when Roman did, he felt like a mini volcano about to burst rainbow lava. Apparently there was a lot more to his soulmate than first meets the eye; and now that he knew, Roman was determined to see more of it. The rest of class passed quickly and everyone filed out to the halls as the first bell for the last class period of the day rang. Roman made sure to catch up to Logan on the way out and staccato tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Logan?” He said.

When Logan turned, he swore time slowed down for a moment. The brilliant boy’s skirt flared around his waist, and somehow his skin glowed even under the dull, inconsistent school lights. His posture was erect yet natural, he could have been raised among nobility. Amidst the stench and clamor of loud sweaty students, Logan was as poised and striking as the goddess Athena. Oh...

“Yes, Roman?” Logan asked.

Roman gulped. “I uh, just wanted to thank you for backing me up in there.”

“Thanks are unnecessary,” Logan said. “I detest when someone is shamed by other students for speaking up in class, regardless of whether or not they have the correct information.”

“Well regardless, thanks for coming to my aid in the face of academic danger.”

“Dramatic, but my pleas—oof!”

A hurried passerby bumped into Logan from behind, rushing off with a half-assed ‘sorry’. Logan, caught off guard, stumbled right into Roman’s arms. The two looked at each other, cheeks filling with heat. Roman caught a whiff of something faintly floral on Logan, something natural– a lavender and honeysuckle perfume, perhaps. It was heavenly. They were still in the middle of foot traffic though, so he maneuvered them to the side. Which was tricky since Logan was still so close to him and also a good two inches taller with the heels.

“Well,” Roman flashed his pearly whites. “Seems you’ve fallen for me.”

Logan pulled away, but his lips quirked upwards in a teasing smirk. “Oh please, I merely stumbled into you.”

“Ah, but stumbling is the first step towards being swept off your feet.”

“Bold words from an abashedly charming homunculus in such an… eye catching ensemble.”

Did he call me charming!? He composed himself, “Hey, don’t let the sweater vest fool you. I may be short but I’ve got guns.”

“Aaah. But mind over muscle, as they say. Do you find yourself up to the task?”

“Only if it’s you, my brainy blossom.”

Roman’s class was in the other direction, but Logan didn’t need to know that. They walked through the halls, conversing. class was still in the next ten or so minutes, but Roman was having fun. Banter with Logan felt surprisingly easy. Natural like they’d been at it all their lives.

“By the way, was that a ‘Guns n’ Ships’ reference I overheard, pastel poindexter?” Roman asked.

Logan cleared his throat. “It… may have been, yes. I found myself unable to resist toppling the figurative dominos.”

“In other words, you seized the opportunity you saw,” Roman said, matching his own reference to the source’s cadence, which got a chuckle out of Logan.

“Precisely. Under more casual circumstances, I may have even recited Lafayette’s part.”

“You can rap? You can rap Guns n’ Ships? Like, the whole thing, no tongue twists?”

Logan stopped for a moment, turned to Roman. The taller boy cleared his throat, and after a moment wherein he seemed to mentally restrain himself, he simply adjusted his glasses.  “I have an appreciation for poetry.”

Roman blinked rapidly. Holy shit, he’s an even bigger nerd than I am. He definitely needed to see that at some point.

They turned a corner, stopping just outside of the science room. Some students were going in to take their seats, and the teacher was already making notes on the board. Logan pulled an AP Physics book from his backpack, but made no move to leave, much to Roman’s delight.

“So then,” Roman leaned against the eggshell wall, “How come you acted so indifferent earlier and called my tastes basic? Oh, and I think I remember you also implied I was shallow?”

Okay, yeah, he was still kind of salty about that. But then he saw the shamed look on the nerd’s face, and Roman wished he could have taken it back. Logan looked at his shoes then back at him.

“To be candid I was… hesitant to show the full extent of my enthusiasm. In case you thought I’d be—I believe ‘being the most’ is the term— it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve caused someone to lose interest in conversing with me due to informational overload. I nearly bored my Aunt Patricia to sleep once talking about a fascinating article on jellyfish. And considering how I blundered our initial meeting—“

“Pfft, ya think?” He mentally slapped himself again when Logan went tight-lipped and turned to go. “No, no, wait. I—I’m sorry. Truly. ...Truth is, I was no gentleman either. I’m not always great at thinking before I speak. It’s why I’m so awkward around people. Takes a while for my true charming nature to shine through.”

“Clearly. Still, you show a level of interpersonal aptitude that I, well, lack.” Logan fiddled with his hair pin again and a stray hair came loose. “Reading people and expressing emotions has never really been—It’s something I struggle with.”

Much as Logan tried to maintain his cool composed posturing, Roman could tell that this was something that really bothered him. He tried so hard to seem put together and confident and serious, but really he was just as awkward and insecure as anyone. Roman smiled softly and stepped closer to Logan, reaching up to tuck the loose ebony strand behind his ear.

“Hey, everyone’s got things about themselves they can work on. Including me,” Roman smiled. “And believe me when I say that I will never judge you for being passionate about something you like. So if you ever want someone to ramble about jellyfish or Sweeney Todd to or—I dunno, calculators or something?—I’m all ears.”

Logan’s cheeks went pink and he gave a hesitant yet sincere smile. “That’s...very kind of you, Roman. And coincidentally, I also greatly enjoy Sweeney Todd. The use of iambic pentameter and alliteration to give a succinct synopsis to the story in just the first sentence alone is pure brilliance.”

“Right!? I mean the man’s a mad genius. I’m dying to design sets for one of his musicals someday. Like last year? I came up with the concept of having the Sweeney Todd sets done in a way that highlights the class differences with the characters.” Roman went into a small three minute ramble regarding the specifics before he cut himself off abruptly. Logan was blinking rapidly, a look of mild shock crossing his feature. Roman nearly started sweating; Had he messed this up again?

“That… that’s ingenious”

Roman’s ears were burning. Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!

“Hey, Logan!” They both startled and turned to an impatient cheerleader with a ginger undercut and they/them pronoun pin shaped like a coffin. “What’re you doing just standing out in the hall, ya dork? Oh, hey Roman.”

“Uh. Hey, October,” Roman said, waving awkwardly to them.

“I told ya, Red, you only get to call me that when we’re working on a show.”

“Wait, October? Red? You two know each other?” Logan asked, brow arching.

“Kind of. They sometimes help out with costumes for the drama club,” said Roman. And they have terrible timing. I mean seriously Tobes, we were having a moment.

“Come on Lo, class is about to start, and you promised to go over my homework with me real quick beforehand. See ya ‘round, Ro.” Toby grabbed Logan’s hand and pulled him into the classroom. “You can fill me in on what you were doing with Red later.”

Logan followed his—apparently—friend into their classroom, but he shot Roman an apologetic look over his shoulder. Roman bounced a bit on the balls of his feet before following halfway into the room. Logan was in his seat with Toby showing him an open notebook. A teacher in a tight grey hair bun was writing on the board. Students at their seats were chatting, and some looked up at the short dork in red who burst in. For once Roman ignored them, his mind set on one last attempt at wooing his green skirted genius while he still had the nerve.

“Hey, Logan,” he said. “I’ve also got some great layout designs for an Into the Woods set. If you’re interested, maybe we can meet up after school and I can show them to you? Maybe we talk a bit more over iced lattes or something?”

“Excuse me, Mr. Prince, seventh period starts in five minutes,” said the teacher. “Unless you’ve suddenly transferred to my class, I suggest you stop distracting my favorite student and get going.”

“I’ll be gone in just a second,” he said. “Well?”

Logan smoothed the silky fabric of his pink scarf and said, “That sounds optimal, Roman. I’ll meet with you. By the first floor water fountain perhaps?”

Roman grinned. “I shall be counting the minutes.”

“Mr. Prince,” said the teacher with a warning glare.

Roman blew a kiss at Logan and then ducked out of the doorway. Was he embarrassed of himself? Oh definitely. Did he regret it? Absolutely not. He felt ten inches tall.

Now to complete the quest of making it to class in time. He slid off a shoulder strap to unzip his classic Mickey backpack, getting out the notebook and the relevant homework. He found them amidst the mess of spiral notebooks, granola bar wrappers, two textbooks and rainbow sticky notes. But something was missing from his folder.

“Where are those– it should be here.” He could’ve sworn he had his stapled the blocking notes in his folder. No, wait, the last place he saw them was— “Ah shoot! I left them in the tech closet again.”

Under normal circumstances, Roman would’ve grabbed them after school, but the auditorium was locked on weekends. He’d have to wait till Monday to get them and that just wouldn't do! he wanted to show Logan his notes today! I’ll bet David Korins never has these kinds of problems. Okay, okay. Still got four minutes. He could rush to the auditorium, grab the notes, and then head straight to class. I should have enough time, right? Right. Besides it was only Spanish Class, he was already pretty fluent after all those summers visiting his grandparent in Nicaragua. He spent most of class time dreaming up blocking notes anyway.

Despite not being totally convinced by his own argument, Roman immediately turned on his heel and started running in the opposite direction. After a teacher told him no running in the halls, Roman power walked through the halls with a skip in his step and a song in his heart, feeling absolutely gay in both senses of the word. Logan had actually called his idea ingenious! And the way those sharp eyes softened just for him- he would squeal if not for the fact that it would draw too many eyes to him. The halls were still filled with a few stragglers rushing to the last class of the day, and he was already trying not to get caught being late for class.

Now he knew how Maria felt in West Side Story. Y’know, before Act 2. Oh sure, they’d gotten off to a shaky start, but as the Bard’s adage on the course of true love said; and Roman felt it in his gut that this was certainly the start of true love. Not just with brilliant Logan but also with soulful Patton as well. He didn’t know how an awkward geek like him ever got so lucky in the soulmate department…Then again, there was still the matter of Virgil. So maybe not so lucky.

Roman touched his arm, remembered flustered yet flattering purple words. I know they both said Virgil is secretly sweet and I can sympathize with the terrors of closet town, but COME ON! Virgil? Really? That gloomy gladiator? There had to be a mistake in that. After all, Patton liked to see the good in everyone. Logan was much more of a skeptic, but he does seem to have a blind spot with sarcasm. Maybe Virgil was messing with them somehow. Even if he’s not a jerk jock, the guy’s still kind of a creepazoid; with his dark eyes and cheeta-esq gait and those probably huge muscles hidden under that bulky jacket and big hands...

His gay disaster train of thought came to a merciful halt as he reached the auditorium. Roman pushed open the doors, took a pause to breathe in the quiet comfort of this chapel of the arts. Okay yeah, chapel was maybe a little kind for the school’s auditorium which doubled as the drama Club’s rehearsal space/prop closet backstage/Mx Joan’s unofficial office because the school didn’t fund the arts programs enough. Even so this space was Roman’s sanctuary. The place where he could help create magic from the shadows, bring stories of those gone and living to life. Here, Roman found something of a community with his fellow backstagers, glee club losers, and budding thespians (the nice ones). So he loved every squeaky stage plank, every duck taped seat cushion and every speck of dust that floated in the spot lit air like fairies.

Mx. Joan wasn’t around for once, thankfully. Probably in the teacher’s lounge or rendezvousing with the school nurse or something. They were pretty chill and Roman knew he was their favorite student, but the choir director/drama club moderator/music teacher (this school really needs to fix its funding habits) wouldn’t have been too keen on Roman being deliberately late for class.

Roman walked down the aisle and to the side room by the stage. It was originally a janitor’s closet, but their club moderator transformed it into a ‘Crew Only’ Storage Unit… Okay it was still a closet, but with less bleach and more coils. This was where they kept important equipment for semester shows, like the lighting and sound boards, along with other supplies. Roman made a quick mental note to get more gaffer tape later, seeing their supply was low.

He looked through the small pile of scribbled and highlighted sheets with the lighting cues for the spring show. I’ve really gotta get a binder for these…Ah-Ha! Here you are! Roman pulled out the stapled sheets titled ‘Into the Woods Dream Set’ and carefully shoved them into his bag. Perfect timing too. He might just be able to make it to class after—

RIIIIIIIIIIING

“GAH!”

What the heck? He could’ve sworn he was alone in there, but that yelp just now said otherwise. Up close, Roman saw that the curtains were rustling, accompanied by sounds of heavy breathing and moaning, yet not a footstep to be seen or heard.

Holy SHIT, this place IS haunted! I KNEW that backdrop fiasco last semester wasn’t caused by cheap slit plywood. My supplies are the best quality allowance money can buy. Great Macbeth’s bloody knife, I TOLD Kai we should've sprung for a ghost light! Remus always teased him for being superstitious but look who’s laughing now.

He dashed back into the crew closet and grabbed the heavy push broom leaning in the corner. Roman Prince was NOT about to be caught unawares and possessed by the ghost of a disgruntled student without a fight. He would defend his domain of imagination!

Roman slowly climbed the stage steps, wielding his broom like a bow staff, turned the curtain corner where the noises were coming from and was about to release a war cry on the—

“Virgil?”

Roman nearly dropped his weapon at the sight of Virgil Alighieri—star athlete, object of his fears and supposed soulmate—curled in on himself trembling and crying.

His jacket was pulled over his head like a hood, yet Roman could see the tear stained face peeking out from underneath. Virgil’s eyes were squeezed tight, making the dark circles he’d never noticed before more prominent. There was no denying the athlete had muscle but he was more lithe—thin enough for Roman to wonder if the guy ate enough. Virgil’s trembling could rival a chihuahua, shaky hands clutching his knees, and he was clearly in the midst of a bad panic attack.

Roman had built Virgil up in his mind as being like some odd combination of Hades and Ares. The strong silent wolf within his pack of jocks, a surging thunderstorm just waiting for the right nerd to come along and piss him off enough to strike down like the bolt of Zeus.

Someone to be afraid of.

But now? Seeing him in this state, all alone and whimpering like a wounded animal...it broke Roman’s heart.

He set the broom down gently and carefully crouched down in front of Virgil. “Virgil,” he said softly. “Virgil, can you hear me?”

Virgil let out a breathy sob but otherwise didn’t seem to register him. Just how long had he been sitting here like this?

Roman was at a loss for what to do. Sure he knew plenty of people with anxiety but never saw someone having an actual panic attack before. He did know that if he didn’t help the other calm down soon, Virgil was liable to pass out. He’d never wanted to hug someone so badly in his life. Roman tentatively reached out a hand but stopped. What if touching him makes it worse? What if I startle him so badly he actually has a heart attack!? Maybe I should get the nurse. But I can’t just leave him like this.

He caught sight of the colorful soulmarks written on Virgil’s arm. Saw his own harsh thoughts: ’Dios mio, he’s staring right at me—like he wants to punch my face!’ 

Roman took his shame and forged it into steel. I won’t abandon you...my soulmate.

Virgirl’s let out a hiccuped cry, and this gave Roman an idea. Something from back when he was a child. It was probably stupid and a long stretch, but it was all he could think of. He readjusted himself so that he was now sitting right next to Virgil, making sure not to startle him. Roman cleared his throat, then as softly as he could, he began to sing.

“Come stop your crying, it’ll be alright.

Just take my hand, hold it tight.”

Roman one and carefully gentled his hand over Virgil’s. After a moment, he felt a light squeeze, and that encouraged him to keep going.

“I will protect you from all around you.

I will be here, don’t you cry…”

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[melon-kiss]

Cold Tea, Pt. 1

I’m not native English, which seems kind of obvious if you read my posts. I’d like you to keep that in mind. I hope your eyes won’t start bleeding at the end. Or in the middle. Or at any point of reading this fic.

Enjoy! or... whatever.

___________

“Hello, Sherlock.”

She finally answered the call, although she tapped the green button with a heavy heart. She put a lot of effort in trying not to sound sad.

“Is this urgent? Because I’m not having a good day.” Her voice sounded gloomy anyway.

When she woke up this morning, she felt a certain heaviness in everything she was doing. The lab seemed strange, she was working like a robot. She might not have a memory palace, but her body definitely had a muscle memory and was able to work with her brain detached.

“Molly, I just want you to do something very easy for me and not ask why”, Sherlock said fast as usual.

No “hello”, no “how are you doing”. Molly was used to his obnoxious behaviour but that day it only worsened her already bad mood. She wasn’t willing to deal with his craziness and arrogance. Not after all the tears she cried once she got back home from work. Not after realising it was another pathetic day of her lonely life. Another day of loving a person that could not care less about her.

You do count. You’ve always counted and I’ve always trusted you.

What a bunch of lies. She was useful to him in the best case scenario. She could show him bodies that should not be shown or let him use the lab equipment. She was the necessary leverage in his battle with Moriarty, but this was the only reason he wanted to spend an entire day with her - to thank her. On the rest of the days he was just manipulative as always. She didn’t matter to him in any sort of personal meaning of this word.

Usually, she would become his minion one more time, but that day she wasn’t going to play along.

“Oh, God, is this one of your stupid games?”

“It’s not a... game, I need you to help me”. His voice suddenly softened a bit, leading Molly to confusion.

“Well, I’m not at the lab-“

“It’s not about that”, he interrupted in a strangely nervous tone.

The nervousness got to her as well. The tea she intended to drink was starting to get cold and she resumed the making process to keep her hands busy. She felt it must have been something unusual, even for Sherlock Holmes.

“Well... quickly, then”, she replied, half-consciously cleaning up the kitchen counter.

But he remained silent for another couple of seconds. She started losing her patience.

“Sherlock!”, she rushed him. “What is it? What do you want?”

He finally spoke up.

“Molly, please, without asking why, just say these words.”

She thought that maybe this time it wouldn’t be that bad of a game. Maybe he just wanted to solve a funny puzzle and needed to hear it from someone else’s lips?

“What words?”, she asked with a little of a smile on her face.

“I love you.”

The bad mood, which was almost gone, got back immediately. So, after all, it was his another mockery. Another way to make her feel stupid and small in the face of the great, brilliant Sherlock Holmes. Her body started trembling a bit and she lost interest in the conversation right away. She took back the phone from her ear and look at the screen, her finger ready to tap the red icon.

“Leave me alone.”

“No, Molly, please, no, don’t hang up! Do not hang up!”

It was the first time Molly heard Sherlock in such desperate tone. What was it all about? No, never mind that. She stopped caring about his reason for this call. She didn’t want to talk to him. Not like that. Not about that. She was fed up with his ignorance of her presence and feelings. Mocking her was where she drew the line.

“Why are you doing this to me? Why making fun of me?”

“Please, I swear, you just have to listen to me.” He made a short stop. “Molly, this is for a case.” His voice was raised and sounded falsely. “It’s... it’s a sort of experiment.”

Ah, yes. Of course. All the people in the world were “an experiment” for Sherlock. And to think that she was the first one to discover the human in him... She was so stupid. So blind.

But even then, even when she felt so betrayed, it didn’t change her feelings.

“I’m not an experiment... Sherlock”, she replied, her voice lowered and eyes got glossy.

“No, I know you’re not an experiment, you’re my friend. We’re friends”, his response was a little bit more silent and softer again. It was the first time he openly admitted that. But nothing beyond that. “But... please. Just say those words for me.”

“Please, don’t do this”, she whispered.

Why would he do that? He’s changed a bit lately. Molly sensed a touch of John Watson in this metamorphosis of his, so... why would he do that? Did he not consult this with John? Did dr Watson approved this? How could he do this to her, knowing all he knew?

“Just.. just... don’t do it.”

Couldn’t he choose someone else? Many people, especially his dedicated fans, could say those words sincerely, if that’s what it all was about. Why did he choose her? Molly had many thoughts flooding her head with contrary opinions but she mostly felt betrayed by Sherlock. More than ever.

“It’s very important. I can’t say why... but I promise you it is.”

The person he thought didn’t matter at all to me, was the one person who mattered the most.

“I can’t, I can’t say that. I can’t say that... to you.”

Her heart started pumping blood a lot faster and heavier than before. She didn’t understand the sick position she was in, she didn’t understand Sherlock’s agenda and didn’t want to have this conversation at all. Yet, she didn’t hang up like he asked. She knew that humiliation was waiting for her. She initiated it with her last sentence.

“Of course you can, why can’t you?”

She almost felt his nervous smile on the other side of the call.

“You know why”. Her voice hardened with anger.

Why was he playing stupid now? After all those years of living in the need of being the smartest person in the room, he suddenly claims he doesn’t know? He didn’t notice? Bullshit.

“No, I don’t know why”, he replied in a desperate, almost mad tone.

She took a short breath and rubbed her nose, getting more and more anxious.

“Of course you know”, she said with a bitter smile.

Because... how could he not? It was kind of obvious he figured it out a long time ago, during a Christmas drinks with the rest of his friends. He spotted his own present in her bag and started angrily deducing that she was going to meet a “serious boyfriend” that night. And the surprise on his face when he read the tag... Not many people could surprise Sherlock, yet she managed to do this a couple of times. But that Christmas she paid for this astonishment with her own embarrassment. He said sorry, which was unusual for him, but... he must have deduced that back then. And see it in every move she made when he was around.

He was silent for a couple of seconds.

“Please, just say it.”

It seemed so easy when he talked about it, but her body was rejecting those words. She couldn’t. The words were stuck in her throat.

“I can’t. Not to you.” She started losing her voice.

“Why?”

What was with him and all those weird questions? Was he testing her patience or nerves? What was it all about?

“Because... because it’s true”. Her voice started breaking. She realised the last word was inaudible. “Because it’s true, Sherlock! It’s... always been... true...”

Tears filled her eyes and she couldn’t control her voice or breathing. The moment she waited for so many years came unexpectedly and in such horrible way. With Sherlock treating her disrespectfully, like an evidence on a crime scene, like a rat during a vivisection. Experimenting on her heart like a cold surgeon.

There was a dead silence for a couple of seconds on the other side of the call.

When he spoke, his voice was very low and surprisingly warm.

“If it’s true, just say it anyway.”

She laughed shortly, with a bitter face. She sighed, letting a bit of her anxiety go.

“You bastard.”

So he did know. He knew and he thought that this was going to be so easy? If it were, she would have told him a long time ago. Didn’t it occur to him that there must be a reason why it’s so difficult for people to tell someone they love them? No, of course not. Why would it? It’s Sherlock, after all. Emotional context and romantic entanglement are for losers. Losers like her, who would take a bullet for him. Like her who helped him take down the most dangerous criminal there has ever been on the London streets, his archenemy. Who, silently, was always there. Who gave up her bedroom so he could have his space.

“Say it anyway”, he insisted, his voice cold and unpleasant.

It was her turn. Her turn to play a game. To let him taste his own medicine. And... to hear it. At least once.

“You say it”, she demanded with confidence. “Go on. You say it first.”

“What?” He was clearly confused and nervous.

Apparently, he wasn’t that good in games if he wasn’t the game host. In logic games he might have been the best man of Earth, but if there were emotions included... he was lost. Helpless.

“Say it”, she repeated in a cold voice, the same one he used on her couple of seconds ago. “Say it like you mean it.”

For about fifteen seconds he didn’t say a single word. Molly pulled her phone closer to her ear, placed her second hand on the one holding the telephone and closed her eyes with a pain wrinkling her face. She didn’t want to miss a single sound if he was about to speak again.

“I...”, he started hesitatingly. “I love you.”

She felt the pain flooding her chest. It sounded so insincere. She kept imagining that this was real. She was picturing herself in a nice place with him, both of them smiling, his eyes filled with affection. She wanted so badly for those words to be real.

But she couldn’t make a sound.

And then, unexpectedly, he spoke again. Softly, silently.

“I love you.”

The pain couldn’t let go of her. She was rubbing her hand and pressing the phone against her face, trying to imagine the texture of the skin on his palms, the softness of his arms, the warmth of his body. His voice was still ringing in her head, not giving her any sort of relief.

“Molly?”

She took the phone from her ear and brought it closer to her lips. Her heart was beating so fast she could feel her entire body pulsing with it.

“Molly, please!” He sounded very desperate.

Back to the reality. Sherlock was still waiting for her response. She was rubbing her lower lip with her finger, gaining the courage. Now or never, Molly Hooper. Eventually, she took a deep breath.

“I love you.”

All she heard was a sound of a relief sigh. After that, he just unceremoniously hung up.

[purgatoryandme]

Hey! I can't seem to find the post you made with all the books references in Illuminate Me and the reason behind it? Is it deleted?

I know that there is an incomplete one floating around in my reply tag, and it should be in the Illuminate Me tag, but tumblr’s search features are so bad that I went back to the original word doc of the complete list, so prepare for that particular storm lol.  Quoted/Referenced Reading List (In Order of Appearance) Shakespeare: Macbeth I opened on a Macbeth quote (‘When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lighting, or in rain’) because I wanted to start with something immediately relatable. Most readers were introduced to more ‘dramatic’ plays through Macbeth. Beyond that, they were introduced to the concept of pathetic fallacy, which I think plays nicely with Tony as a character (a man who is CONSTANTLY imparting emotion onto inanimate objects…and then actually giving them their own emotions) and with one of the core problems in IM, which is deciding the emotions of others for them. I was hoping to get the ‘feel’ of that without having to lean too far into the actual concept. 

Bonus: I picked this quote in particular because of the importance of threes in Tony’s life (his core group of friends, iterations of the reactor, number of times reborn, his bot children VS his AI children, the number of lovers or almost lovers he has in the fic, etc). Milton: Paradise Lost ‘What is dark within me, illuminate!’ is a modernization of the original Milton quote ‘what is dark within me, illumine’ for readability. I actually feel a bit bad about changing this considering how many people think this is the original quote now. This wound up being a central (and title) quote somewhat by accident. I’m fond of it because of how much I liked a different one that I had originally wanted for Tony’s thoughts of the reactor: ‘yet from those flames, no light, but rather darkness visible’. I had originally wanted to start off on a sadder note, one that showed how much Tony hated losing his humanity, and so the flames of Hell and their physics-bending concept seemed thematically appropriate. I had always intended to eventually invert the imagery – instead of Extremis being (to Tony) flames capable of extinguishing light, the reactor would become a water-like blue light that couldn’t be choked or recreated by any of the shadows that pursued Tony in his life. I picked Milton SPECIFICALLY for the imagery of light and shadows. 

But, man, listen. Darkness visible is a great concept, but it’s also tired. It has, as you’ve noted, been discussed to death. So as I was reading ‘Milton’s darkness visible and Aeneid 7’ to refamiliarize myself with some of the broader themes attached to that particular piece of imagery, I wound up thinking about how to invert the darkness itself instead of the overall concept. The flames of Hell extinguish light instead of having to exist away from it. It is a bad that cannot be penetrated by good. 

Instead of chasing away shadows, which would be implied by shining a light ON them, the request Tony makes here is to actually invert the darkness - to have it illuminate in and of itself. It’s becoming something better instead of being removed or forgotten. On the flip side of that, the darkness within isn’t growing as light weakens, but rather under its own force. Two forces equal in nature and origin in a person. It’s a different take on lighting than the one most critics hammer home. Long ramble is long, but this was the basis for using that quote. It grew from there to have many different meanings, however the core has always remained. All in all I’m pleased with it.

EM Forster: A Room with a View Very forgiving even in its satirical takes on human nature. A lot of passages are very therapy-quotable in their urging to accept the inevitability of causing some harm in life. It plays on a lot of the same concepts with light being obvious metaphor for good and evil that Paradise Lost does, but softens them into more realistic shades of human existence. Isaac Asimov: Foundation Continuing on with themes of rigid morality vs the flexibility and romanticism of humanity, we have Asimov, master of machines and the three rules of robotics! There are lots of quotable epigrams in this beast. The quote pulled from this has two readings depending on what you assume of the man who has said it. If you see him as manipulative, there’s an insidious underpinning of killing off your own morals. If you see him as a kind man, then you could read it as foregoing morals in place of empathy. Tony’s therapist loves a very specific brand of double speak that lets Tony work through the conversation purely through interpretation. Tolstoy: Anna Karenina Tolstoy’s prose is lengthy...so so lengthy, but Anna Karenina is worth the read as long as you relate to at least one of its major characters. Frankly, I think you can choose to read a single character’s plot arc and leave it at that. It’s mostly a novel that is interesting, not because of its plot, but because of its study of relationship dynamics. Tolstoy was really invested in picking apart the idea of what makes a ‘family’ and, beyond that, what makes a class. It’s refreshing to see so much of the critique occurring within the lived experience of the characters instead of through a narrator or outside punishing moral forces. Baudelaire: Windows and Benediction I cannot recommend enough reading multiple translations of Baudelaire poems (fleursdumal.org has a wonderful array available). Benediction is a personal favourite. I love me some malevolence wrapped up in religion. Dante: The Divine Comedy There’s a lot of bleak humor in Dante if you look for it. Several interpretations insist of making each piece excessively grim dark, but faithful translations tend to have a hint of humor in them. It works well for engraving War Machine’s spine - a benediction and a mockery of human limitations. I try to pick quotes that not only fit the scene, but would still fit into the context of the grander themes from whence they came...unless I hate the author. Tennyson: The Lady of Shallot “I am sick of shadows” vs “I am half-sick of shadows”. Tony’s expressing more frustration here with being alone and his passive involvement in that loneliness. Another quote I feel vaguely bad about changing, haha. The Lady of Shallot is a very nice classical piece that I’m sad isn’t taught in schools alongside Hamlet. There are some nice Ophelia parallels here. I wanted a feminine influence on Tony’s loneliness and one that is somewhat youthful despite his age. Yeats: Vacillation I fucking hate Yeats as a person. That said, the man can write. The man can REALLY write. His pieces are almost always layered to the point of absurdity and he’s perfect to swiping quotes with multiple meanings. Definitely Tony’s kind of author. Goethe: Faust Speaks for itself and in the author’s notes on its reference.  Dostoyevsky: The Brothers Karamasov IMO a book that deserves all the acclaim of Anna Karenina and then some. Very VERY Russian in its ethical debates of, as always, religious morality vs free will. Also dips into familial struggles and patricide, because it wouldn’t be a Russian classic if it didn’t contain some deeply buried bitter resentment towards paternalism. I’m going off-script here, but this is a fucking excellent book. I don’t really have words for how much I enjoy how Dostoyevsky explores the concepts that he does. Shakespeare: Julius Ceasar Shakespeare: Twelfth Night Twelfth Night deserves more credit for its development and maintenance of an enigma. Twelfth Night has charisma in spades both because of and in spite of the exceedingly petty actions of some of its characters. It is also a refreshingly simple take on love for the sake of it. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Stephen King: Lisey’s Story I consider Lisey’s Story to be the best of King’s work. The man has his obvious writing ticks and his even more obvious issues as an author. Lisey’s Story contains many of them, but navigates them far better than any of his other work. The monster here is all in the mind and is too vast to truly see or understand. It’s perfectly representative of a creeping sense of inescapable horror. It was fun to flip it on its head with a reference here – Tony isn’t terrified of dying, but he is terrified of his inescapable enjoyment of Bucky’s company. Maria’s family saying is inspired by Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass Armitage: The Death of King Arthur A genuinely fantastic classic tale of heroism, filled with all the drama, tragedy, and sacrifice that you’d expect with strongly feminine undertones. I’m a sucker for this kind of thing. TS Eliot: The Wasteland Excellent piece of poetry with many layered meanings and dual interpretations. I can’t really articulate my thoughts on The Wasteland, but I reference an essay at the end of this list that does that for me. Oedipus Rex Rupert Brooke: Safety Not directly quoted but obscurely referenced through Bucky and Tony’s war conversations + Bucky’s conversation about, you got it, being ‘safe’ with his therapist. His poetry is about WWI and is, largely, idealistic. Safety is…not quite an exception to that. His other poetry contains a certain sense of honour and duty, whereas safety, maintaining a seemingly light tone, has nothing of the sort. It is safety in the soul – something untouchable by the horrors of war or death. It treats that as a ‘house’, which leant itself to the article Tony send Bucky. Armine Wodehouse: Before Ginchy Not directly quoted but obscurely referenced through Bucky and Tony’s war conversations + Bucky’s conversations with his therapist. This is also WWI poetry, though far darker than Brooke’s work. It discusses the parts of the heart and soul soldiers lose. It is an extremely good piece AND references Dante’s Inferno. I had to work it in somewhere even if I didn’t want to directly quote it. Meyer and Brysac: Tournament of Shadows Referenced several times over in discussion of war, the great game, and British military history. Beautifully self-aware account of Britain’s insistence on rewriting history after the fact and the tiny hilariously embarrassing moving pieces that shaped what is often considered the heyday of espionage. Murakami: Kafka on the Shore I love Murakami’s response to questions about understanding the novel as a whole. There are no solutions, only riddles presented, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes place. It’s a great lens through which to view the book and individual passages taken out of it. Reminds me of The Wasteland having to be read in totality before you can begin picking it apart, after which each individual piece can be read of its own. Kafka on the Shore, with its musings on the uncertainty of fate and redemption, was the perfect book to outline Tony’s horrifying realization, which he is desperately suppressing, that he might be coming to accept Bucky’s feelings. This quote in particular, while I would’ve used it anyway, is also a great callback to the first chapter and its storms. Chapter 29 is a turning point. Beyond it there are some intentional quote contrasts that are probably more easter eggs than they are anything else. Yeats: A Dialogue of Self and Soul Great contrast with Vacillation. Some parts of self and soul are used in that poem and thematically they are connected and contrasted - self and heart vs self and soul. The symbolism and imagery in Vacillation is really on point and layered, but Self and Soul is peak Yeats for its reversal of the typical ‘the soul is pure and bluntly honest and the body is tainted and bad’ in Christian works. Also Self and Soul’s broader context is scrumptious considering the debate poems history of relying on divine forgiveness and lack thereof instead of on forgiveness of the self. 

It was fun to give this poem a double meaning in IM as both hugely ominous and ultimately pointing to the later forgiveness Tony receives from himself through the divine (if the soul stone can be called that) in the heavens (space!). There’s also another fun twist to ‘who can distinguish darkness from the soul’ in its contrast with ‘what is dark within me, illuminate’. To take that a step further, Vacillation was the beginning of the path of forgiveness for Bucky (understanding Tony’s heart…somewhat literally as he slowly gets closer and closer to the reactor itself), while Self and Soul is a final step (re: Bucky being presented the final hurdle of Tony deciding to move forward alone). Hermann Hesse: Siddhartha Hesse is wonderfully blunt at times. I gotta admit I love German takes on spiritual self-discovery because they always seem to tend towards much more straightforward answers than other countries. Hesse’s relationship with Buddhism in literature vs his lived experience is also really intriguing. Anyway, Siddhartha, in its humanizing of Gods, is wonderful contrast to the consistent imagery of the untouchable and unknowable forces of good and evil in previously quoted works. It has stopped bringing humanity to the divine and has started placing the divine within humanity. Emily Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey One of the ultimate poetic epics. Now that we are nearing the end, I’m going overtime with making the grander themes of this whole piece hit home. A lot of IM was built on a foundation of poetic epics, of heroism, and a bit of Greek tragedy. The Odyssey embodies all of those things beautifully. It also suited Thor too well to pass up. Yeats: An Irish Airman Forsees His Death Ah, Yeats. Very blatant foreshadowing here that is keeping with the foreshadowing from Self and Soul. Fate has, up till this point, been a bit of a question. It has been ‘when will it come to me’ and ‘how will I avoid or overcome it’. Now fate is a set point. It is knowable and present. ‘I know I shall meet my fate, somewhere among the clouds above’. This goes for the true onset of Infinity War and for Tony’s feelings towards Bucky – when he had no one, he allowed Bucky in after essentially promising himself he wouldn’t. If that’s not an accidental admittance of love, nothing is. Henley: Invictus Absolutely fantastic poem. Continuing with the heavy fate themes coming into this climax. Now that Tony knows his fate, truly knows it, he is choosing to take it on directly. Agamemnon (Anne Carson’s Traslation if you prefer a more modern language approach, Lattimore is you prefer a classic) Agamemnon is forgotten all too often in the world of poetic epics and it’s a damn shame. I cannot say enough good things about it. I always wanted to use lines from Agamemnon in a Tony fic because the Cassandra parallels were too perfect to resist. The chorus in this play was also a perfect narrative device for interacting with something of a hive mind. Yeats: The Wanderings of Oisin Another poetic epic. Nice contrast with The Odyssey, The Death of King Arthur, and Agamemnon. Here the dialogue is between an aged hero and a saint looking into the hero’s past. It has the kind of reflective and aged mood necessary for this stage of the story, but is actually a poem I sortof hate. The line ‘And a softness came from the starlight, and filled me full to the bone’ is absolutely gorgeous, though. Some final inspiration pieces:

The Penelopiad 

The Iliad 

House of Leaves (for surrealism in the final chapters) 

Dante at Verona (used in an author’s note as an intentional jab at the dull uninspired nature of the this particular take on Dante. Repurposed quote, essentially) 

a broke machine just blowin’ steam by themikeymonster (great character study of Bucky) 

Frank Kermode’s essay “Eliot and the Shudder” (inspiration behind Tony’s entire interaction with literature)

[almosthumanophelia]

Operator Ophelia Development

(( So I saw this post circulating around and I thought this development quiz would be fun to do for Ophelia’s Warframe AU! I needed to develop her more in this AU, and this seemed like a good way to do so.

I made a new post instead of reblogging the original and put the questions and answers under a cut to save everyone’s dashes. Asks about any of these, or asking for further details on her, are welcome as always! ))

1. What is their name?

Ophelia. Just Ophelia. She has no record or recollection of her surname.

2. What model/s of Warframe do they use, mainly?

Ophelia mains Volt. And this around 90% of the time. It’s difficult to convince her to use much else, but her personal arsenal also boasts Valkyr, Mag, Frost, and Limbo.

3. What weapon / weapon type is their favorite?

She doesn’t much care for weapons, and prefers to rely on Warframe abilities to get by. If forced to use a weapon, she prefers bows and swords (but not heavy or two-handed swords).

4. What is your Tenno’s style of fighting? Do they rush in headlong, or prefer to sneak around?

Ophelia can get... carried away. She is often an impulsive and instinctual fighter and gets herself into bad (see: dangerous) situations because of it. She’s got a bit of a reputation because of this.

5. What Syndicate, if any, does your Tenno belong to?

Cephalon Suda all the way.

6. Which of the five Schools, if any, do they belong to?

She always favored Naramon.

7. Does your Tenno agree with the Lotus? Do they view her as a mother, a tyrant, or somewhere in between?

Ophelia would not refer to the Lotus as her mother; she sees her as more of a teacher. She does like and trust the Lotus, to an extent, and listens to her (sometimes). But the Lotus is not the main parental figure in her life, mainly giving her mission directives instead of open and direct affection.

8. How does your Tenno feel about the noncombatant civilians of the system? Are they invested in their protection, or are they vague and unimportant?

Ophelia is rather distant and isolated from the noncombatant aspects of the system. She can’t really relate to any life other than that of a warrior. Despite this, if she felt the immediate need to defend any noncombatant group, she would answer the call.

9. Where do they stand in the Corpus vs. Grineer war, if anywhere?

Ophelia remains neutral and despises both factions equally. She sees the Grineer as a brutal militaristic machine, and the Corpus as a bunch of morality-devoid scumbags. There are notable exceptions for specific individuals, Clem being one of these.

10. What are the top five things your Tenno believes are most important and worth fighting for? These can be abstract concepts or material possessions.

In no particular order:

Survival; knowledge and truth; justice, either personal or for all; the downtrodden; and her beloved Cephalon companion, Ordis.

11. How much of their life before being put in stasis can your Tenno remember?

Little to nothing. She remembers nothing before the Zariman, and that only in muddled flashbacks (think Harry Potter remembering his parents’ deaths). Her memories of the time during the Old War is also foggy, consisting of little domestic moments during her childhood under the care of first Margulis, then the Lotus, but mostly Ordis. Everything else she was informed of or remembered secondhand thanks to information from outside sources.

12. Do they miss anything about it?

In her mind, she can’t miss what she can’t remember. She’s happy aboard the Orbiter, zipping around through the system from day to day. She occasionally misses the innocence she used to have as a small child, but these thoughts eventually pass; she believes it’s better she knows the truth about things.

13. Who was your Tenno during their lifetime as a human, regardless of whether or not they remember?

Get ready y’all this one is LONG.

Ophelia was the daughter of a pair of scientists who worked in robotics and specialized in advancing AI technology - including Cephalons - to the point they could be made readily available to the public, and not just reserved for Orokin use. Her father focused on developing programming and algorithms; her mother implemented the accompanying hardware. Her parents’ research funding came from an earlier iteration of the Corpus, though they disagreed with the ideals centered around profit. Her parents were in their line of work for the sake of the knowledge itself, and for the greater good.

Ophelia herself was born in the medbay of the Orcus relay, during one of her parents’ times stationed at a Corpus outpost on Pluto, making her technically not from Earth. Her parents set out to teach her their love for technology at an early age, but didn’t get much time before they received special instructions to go on a certain voyage. She was only three when the Zariman set out, and her parents were left with no choice but to take their daughter with them - a condition the Orokin readily agreed to. They believed this would be an adventure and a learning opportunity for their child. This, of course, ended in disaster.

She never saw her parents die; they hid her away when the chaos began and she escaped the worst of the fighting. However, the storage compartment she was hidden in wasn’t as shielded from radiation as the cabins of the ship, and she suffered massive void marks and scarring that formed patterns all over her body. Her face is the only skin left relatively unscathed. They persist to this day, and she covers them as best as she can.

14. How does your Tenno see their Warframe? As just a tool? As part of their identity?

Ophelia recognizes that the frames have some level of sentience and life of their own. She therefore treats them as extensions of herself, taking as good of care of a damaged or dirty frame as she would had the damage been done to her own body.

15. Is there any symbolism behind their chosen color scheme and energy color? Do they wear the colors of their Syndicate?

Ophelia uses a lot of blue, indigo, violet, and purple tones of varying shades, with silver accents for metallic portions. There is no real logic to this; she simply prefers those colors and coordinates everything to match.

16. What does your Tenno do during downtime between missions?

She likes trying to compose new tunes on the Mandachord, which she eagerly shares with Suda.

17. Does your Tenno try to modify their Warframe cosmetically, and make it unique?

Most of Ophelia’s modifications are color scheme only. She’s not very into frills or fashion statements, and prefers to keep the frames practical and combat ready. An alternate helmet here or there, and that’s about all.

18. How does your Tenno interact with the rest of the inhabitants of the system? Do they treat their allies warmly, or with disdain?

This depends on the ally. She very much has a love-hate relationship with Simaris, as she thinks of him as a huge jerk but also recognizes the value of staying in his good graces. Suda, she adores and speaks to frequently. Most of her allies are treated as acquaintances and not close friends; she’s not much of a people person in general and prefers the company of Cephalons. This last category includes Darvo, Clem, Teshin, and so on.

19. How do they view themself and their fellow Tenno? Are they monsters barely kept in check by the Lotus’s guidance? Are they the saviors of the system?

Ophelia doesn’t see herself and the Tenno as either monsters or victims. She’s doing the best she can with what fate gave her, and she views her duty to the system more as a job or a practical task than she views it as a savior position. Defending against the Grineer and Corpus is more about preserving the Tenno and their way of life than anything else for her.

20. Does the bloodshed they cause bother your Tenno? Would they put down their weapons, if they could?

Honestly, she’s not very bothered by it. The life of a warrior is all she has ever known, and as long as it is for a just cause (in her mind), she’s pretty capable of pushing aside any lingering doubts or guilt. Were she to try and lay down her weapons, she would inevitably pick them up again at the first cause that caught her eye. She is, first and foremost, a warrior.

21. Assuming there was no war, what would they want to be doing with their life?

Without a war to keep her occupied, she would become a full-time or nearly full-time hunter for Simaris, with the occasional errand for Suda. She would use her access to Simaris’s data and the Sanctuary to research and try to find a mitigation or cure for Cephalon degradation, as she has seen far too many Cephalons thrown away because of reduced functionality.

[isabellaklein97]

What Is Male Cat Spray Made Of Eye-Opening Cool Ideas

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Cat Urine Nitrogen

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Cat Urine Out Of Wood

This is the best place in particular that it is on the areas he sprayed.Catnip is something you don't like, and you walk around and playing with balls of destruction has taken a liking for then you can to block the allergic reaction.The scratching that they typically do it immediately to prevent cat digging.Cats behave in this situation and keep the peace in a new kitten you should have very thick skin like their litter box.Cat nip helps settle excitable cats down, but you have the opportunity and/or distract the cat might get aggravated as you can only really respond to a variety of instances.

Most cat lovers choose to roam the neighborhood will soon associate scratching with punishment and stop.Hopefully, these suggestions will help you to make an intruder run.When your cat not to use their litter box problem is foul smells.In order to make sure that the less often the target areas for color-fastness before applying also.The major cost is expensive - how do you still have a sense of smell is pretty irresponsible as, if you could have one of the idea that it could also signify that a cat restricted to a time until your cat litter supplies that you choose to grow healthy.

[leonawriter]

hello!! do you have any ffvii fic recs? the sheer amount of fics there are is daunting to say the least haha...

Sure! And I agree, the fandom’s been around for a long, long time, so it can be hard to find things. 

My personal preferences will show up here - I prefer non-pairing fics, but a few will show up, either because I do ship it, it’s canon (Zack/Aerith, for both of those), or I think it’s well written enough, and I can see where they’re coming from. Also, copious amounts of Cloud, Genesis, and Sephiroth... specifically, usually the kind where things work out okay.

- 

The Fifth Act - Cloud has an accident with a Time materia, and finds himself in the middle of the Wastes at the start of the Wutai War. There are people to save... and for that, there are three people who need to die.

This was one of the first FF7 fics I read. It’s a time travel fic, and a really good one. It’s also where I had my first look at who Genesis might be if he hadn’t been in such a bad situation.

Mysterious - "General Sephiroth was last seen in the basement, reading. Beyond this, not much is known." - The Midgar Times.

This one’s a really nice short thing, canon divergence with a sort of open-ended hopeful tone.

Haunted - 'I will never be a memory' Sephiroth had been right. There would always be a piece of him lurking inside Cloud's mind, but it was amazing how even the most horrific existential terror could become mundane, and given long enough, even irritating. Small snippets of Cloud's everyday life, dealing with what was left of Sephiroth.

Okay this one is just plain silly, but it made me laugh.

Great Minds - Genesis does not want a student and Kunsel does not want a mentor. If they occasionally stand next to each other when voicing general pieces of advice that is entirely coincidental. A short story of an unlikely friendship that takes off despite everyone's best efforts.

Same author as the above, and somewhat more serious, but also has some damn good funny bits in it too.

Jukebox - Cloud had certain buttons that would always be easily pushed, and Barret would always jab them. Scene from sometime after Advent Children.

One of those rare Cloud and Barret friendship stories, and wow I loved how the author got them both down so well here. And the way that Tifa is characterised even in her absence.

Time Out of Mind - AU. Events at Nibelheim take a trip into the surreal, and old myths become more than legend.

I’ve seen a few fics that give Nibelheim some kind of importance or mythology, and this one really worked, with a sense of the additions mixing well and it feeling like this could have been a thing. 

After the Storm - After all the crises, Tifa is slowly healing even if she has to do it alone. The red headed man in her bar is trying to doing the same. Together they may find more then just shared pain to escape but shared happiness to strive for. TifaXGenesis, set after Dirge of Cerberus.

There’s some nice buildup here, and we get a really nice sense of who they are and how much they’ve been through. I felt like there could have been more to add onto the ending, but aside from that, nice fic.

Gonna Need More Than Nine Lives - A year ago Reeve would have been thrilled—he'd created life! He'd torn down the supposed laws of artificial intelligence!—but now he was only deeply afraid.

Reeve's state-of-the-art surveillance robot has apparently developed a consciousness. In not-completely-unrelated news, the thing has decided it's fond of the terrorists Reeve's supposed to be fighting.

I love Reeve-and-Cait fic, and this is a great one. 

The Wooing of the Moon - Starring Genesis as someone terrible at romance, Sephiroth as someone almost as bad and far more clueless, and Angeal as the stoically sassy ace friend. Featuring Zack as agent of chaos.

Okay this one is one I really enjoyed mostly because of the way that both Genesis and Sephiroth are clueless about how these things go in their own ways, and it’s essentially two chapters’ worth of them learning How To Communicate Feelings. Which is always fun!

Rust - Same author as above. Nanaki and Cloud friendship shortly after Advent Children, and has a great bit at the end regarding the Buster Sword.

On Broken Wings - Five years after Meteorfall, Sephiroth returns - the true Sephiroth, the man behind the monster. Traumatized and ill-prepared for life outside of the control of either Shinra or Jenova, Sephiroth nevertheless seeks redemption for the suffering and death he caused: starting with the man who was forced to kill him.

This is a great fic for a Sephiroth redemption storyline, is still a work in progress, although I’m reccing it mainly because it was the one that prompted me to watch Crisis Core for the first time. My main warnings are: Sephiroth is often given the ‘it wasn’t your fault’ talk/implications, and feels more than a little like his PTSD is more like Vincent’s than how I’d actually now write his, and... Zack takes the place of Genesis and Angeal. It’s still worth a read, though.

To Be Human - The world seems black and white at a glance, but the truth is never so easy. Where one draws the line between human and monster is a lot less clear when motive and deed don’t match, and a change in form is only proof of something that has been there all along. (Angel's Wings rewrite, Crisis Core fix-it.)

This is a massive fic, and although there were a few small things I wasn’t sure of, is overall still very strong. Canon divergence and AU where communication is the most important theme!

Counter Crisis - At first it was about preventing tragedy. For Cloud it soon becomes a fight to protect new bonds, tread untrod paths and find happy endings. Second chances aren't always easy in a time where ghosts live and heroes are human. 

Time travel fic that’s still a work in progress and apparently it’s going to span three books, with later instalments introducing Sephiroth/Cloud, though the first one’s still mainly gen other than the Zack/Aerith, and the relationships are being built up really slowly, and really well, too - and not just between eventual romantic partners, either.

Building Bridges - Denzel has never fogiven Reno for destroying Sector Seven, but he’s never known the full story either. You could call this a plate drop fic with a twist, but that would be overdramatizing it.

I recced this fic the other day, and it is so damn good. Reno is characterised so well, and the ‘twist’ makes so much sense I’m tempted to take it on as my personal canon now. Denzel is also really well handled here.

I think that’s most of the main ones that I really loved that I could easily remember and/or nab the links for! If I find more, I’ll try and add them either in a new post, or onto this one. :)

[maculategiraffe]

meet nate

so @theragnarokd sent me a random prompt a couple weeks back (which I post here with permission: ”subby person exhausted, lying on couch half-asleep, while dommy person putters around the house getting shit done”) and it’s been kind of itching my mind ever since and here’s what finally popped out: another Scene From An Alternate Universe Version Of the How Life Goes On The Way It Does Universe.  In this case, an alternate universe in which Nora was the one holding Shaun in the Vault, and therefore died, and Nate survived.

(And... did not come to the same conclusion Nora did, regarding the synths all being his children. :P)

Content notes: M/M, light D/s, grief, light xenophobia, internalized objectification, light Brotherhood of Steel.  Mostly domestic fluff.  No sex.  Kisses, though.

"Lie down."

Danse doesn't hesitate. Orders are orders, and he knows the tone of Nate's voice that makes them orders, not instructions or suggestions. Suggestions are open to counter-suggestions ("I can help"), instructions allow for a certain degree of respectful debate ("I'm not tired"), but the only appropriate response to an order is prompt obedience. He lies down on the couch, face down, folds an arm under his cheek.

"Good," says Nate, and it isn't that he ever speaks coldly to Danse-- he doesn't, Danse thinks it would strike him to the heart if he did, like the shard of evil mirror-glass in the fairy tale he once heard Nate telling Shaun, darkening his vision and freezing him from the inside out-- but there's an especial, sweet, pronounced warmth to his voice sometimes, when he says Good.  As if he's praising not only Danse's obedience, but Danse himself. As if he's considered him deeply, in many moments and from many angles, and has come to the considered and decisive conclusion that Danse is good.

It would make Danse question Nate's judgement, if Danse hadn't likewise observed Nate, for a long time and carefully.

The word of praise would have been enough to warm him, but Nate leans down and kisses him, too, at the corner of his eye, before moving over to the tool bench and beginning the work of sorting the day's haul, into piles of things to sell, things to keep and modify, and things to scrap and use for parts.

The kiss is enough, for now, to soothe Danse's nagging desire to be useful, to prove himself worthy of Nate's time and care. He is tired, so it's good he didn't try to tell Nate he wasn't. Nate wants him to rest, so he will.

It gives him a vertiginous little shiver, sometimes, to think that he ever dared give Nate orders. He couldn't have known, then, what he was, and he didn't yet know Nate very well, either. He knew Nate was strong and skilled, a former soldier for the United States of America, a good fighter and tactician and a definite asset to the Brotherhood. He knew Nate was grieving the loss of his wife, and coolly determined to find his missing child at any cost necessary.

But he hadn't yet seen Nate's face when he returned from the Institute, drawn and pale and seeming years older than when he'd stepped onto the relay platform and vanished in a blinding flash of blue light.

And he hadn't seen Elder Maxson's face-- the one Danse used to look to, to know that he was good, that he was both valuable and valued-- turn cold and revolted at the sight of Danse, heard his disgusted voice ordering Nate to destroy the abomination that was Danse or watch Maxson do it himself-- and seen Nate's eyes flash, his face go bright with a white-hot anger Danse had never seen in him before, and hasn't since.

Danse was ready to die in that moment, at Maxson's hand, his last sight on earth that of Nate's beautiful rage on his behalf, but Nate stepped in front of him, shielding Danse's constructed, artificial body with his own human one.

You can sure fuckin' try, he said to Maxson, silky-calm with fury.  If you think that's gonna play out well for you, Arthur. Or your little army, either.

Maxson's face, bewildered and furious, and then-- defeated.

Danse tried to tell Nate, after Maxson was gone, spitting threats and condemnation behind him, to leave.  Leave me, thank you, I'll never forget this, but Nate said no, said You're coming with me, the first order he ever gave Danse. Human to synth, Danse thought then: Nate claiming his property, the piece of forbidden technology he'd saved from destruction. He obeyed.

For a long time, Nate didn't make it very clear what he wanted with his dubious prize. He brought Danse home to Sanctuary Hills, to the house he'd once shared with his wife and child, and installed Danse in the master bedroom, Nate himself sleeping on a salvaged bed in what had once been his son's nursery. Told everyone else there-- Colonel Garvey of the Minutemen, Mr. and Mrs. Long, Mr. Sturges, Ms. Murphy, Codsworth the still-functioning prewar Mr. Handy housekeeping robot, and the other settlers and vagabonds who had taken up residence in Sanctuary Hills-- that Danse was a synth, and his best friend, and invited them all to take it up with him if there were any problem. When Mrs. Long expressed anger, and worry that Danse might murder them all in their beds, Nate said, calmly and not unkindly, that if she was that worried, he'd be happy to find her somewhere else safe to live. She gaped at him, then subsided.

She still doesn't talk to Danse, keeps her distance, and so does her husband, but Ms. Murphy is affectionate with him, calling him kiddo and hon, and Mr. Sturges and Colonel Garvey both treat him with an easy friendliness, as if it doesn't matter what he is, other than Nate's.

Nate kept taking him out on missions, too, saying his gun was too valuable not to. He didn't trust anyone else to watch his back, he said. Not the way he trusted Danse. And it's true, Danse would rather die than let Nate down, and so far he hasn't done either.

Now, along with the faint thump and clatter of his work, comes the sound of Nate singing. He often sings while he works, and Danse loves to hear his warm, dark, rich voice. Songs from Diamond City Radio, some of them, that Danse has heard before, and then others he hasn't. Some of them in other languages, German and French and Latin-- Nate says he was in the "choir" at his prewar church, a group of volunteers who practiced singing on Wednesdays, and then sang in front of the church on Sunday mornings, and the night before Christmas. Nate knows some of the songs in English and the other language, both.  Adeste fideles, laeti, triumphantes: O come, all ye faithful, joyful, and triumphant. Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, Aus einer Wurzel zart: Lo, how a rose e'er blooming, from tender stem hath sprung.

The one he's singing now is one of the church songs, and it's in English.

Come down, O love divine. Seek thou this soul of mine. And visit it with thine own ardor glowing.

Danse says, "Nate?"

He tried Paladin, just once, and saw Nate's face darken; he'd had to plead with Nate not to cut ties with the Brotherhood altogether, not for me, please, not after everything we've worked so hard to accomplish. Then he tried sir, and Nate said, Danse, buddy, I don't outrank you, and Mr. Bowman sounded ridiculous even inside his own head, so he started saying Nate.

Nate stops singing, and says, "What's up, beautiful?"

Nate calls him all kinds of things now.  Danse, sometimes, still, and sometimes Saul, and then a collection of silly, tender names:  baby doll, honey lamb, sweetheart, gorgeous, sugar, darlin'. Beautiful.

He comes over and kneels down beside the couch where Danse is obediently lying still. Runs a hand over Danse's short hair, against the nap of it, sending a shiver through him.

"Was I singing too loud, baby?" he asks. "Keeping you awake?"

"I'm not sleepy," says Danse, smiling into his arm. "And I like you to sing."

"What do you need, then?" Nate's still stroking his hair, gently and rhythmically, as if he's a domestic cat. "Little attention, huh? Feeling a little bit lonesome over here all by yourself?"

They're rhetorical questions, so Danse doesn't have to answer, especially since Nate's already running fingernails lightly down his back, scratching at the short bristles of hair at the nape of his neck, and then cupping the neck itself to massage the muscles there with his strong hand.

"You did good out there," Nate says, in that warm voice, warm as a blanket laid over him, which Nate will probably do in a bit. "You always do good. Glad you decided to come with. But I want you to try to sleep a little now, sugar. We're still playing catch-up, from your bad night. I'll wake you up when dinner's ready."

"I can help with dinner," Danse suggests, and Nate says, "Thanks, darlin', but no thanks. I'll get Shaun to come in and help me. Little father-son kitchen bonding. Gotta teach the kid how to handle a spatula, you know. Every growing boy--"

He breaks off mid-joke. Danse heard it, too, the word growing. They don't think Shaun is. And there's Danse, who probably won't be getting noticeably older, himself. The time may come when people take Danse for Nate's son, and Shaun for Danse's.

But it's easier to talk about it in the dark, tucked up in the same bed Nate used to share with Nora (he says she would've liked Danse, that he would've liked her too, and on her birthday and the day the bombs fell they go to her grave, near Vault 111, and Nate kneels down and cries and talks to her, about everything that's been happening, and then he says, "Let light perpetual shine upon her," and gets up, and they go home), so they don't say anything right now. Nate kisses him again, lips lingering on the tender skin just behind Danse's ear.

"Be a good boy, now," he says, sweetly enough that Danse knows it's not really in question whether he's a-- whether he's good. (He loves, blushingly, to hear Nate call him good boy, but it's just the slightest bridge too far to think of himself that way.) "Get in a couple hours' nap, and then after we eat, we can have some family game time before we all hit the hay. Blast Radius, checkers, maybe some Dictionary? Then, once Shaun's asleep--"

He tweaks Danse's ear, just a bit, and Danse smiles and squirms a little, and Nate stands up, brushes another quick caress over his hair, and walks away, singing again,

O comforter, draw near. Within my heart appear. And kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.

[simplemlmsponsoring]

New Post has been published on https://simplemlmsponsoring.com/attraction-marketing-formula/list-building/9-surefire-survey-email-subject-lines/

9 Surefire Survey Email Subject Lines

You’re probably familiar with email subject lines that say something like, “Customer satisfaction survey,” “Let us know what you think,” or “Feedback about your recent purchase.”

But how many of those do you actually open?

You already know that subject lines can make or break any email campaign you send out. The tricky thing about survey emails is that you need your subscriber to do something for you once they open the email.

But before you get that far, you need to actually get them to open the email. In this piece, we’ll go over nine key tips and examples for creating solid subject lines for survey emails that will actually get your emails opened.

9 survey email subject lines your subscribers will open

There’s nothing like raw and honest feedback from your subscribers and customers. Unfortunately, if you’re sending out survey emails with lackluster subject lines, your data probably isn’t accurate.

According to a recent report, only 22% of marketers believed customer loyalty for brands has increased over the past two years. 38% of customers, however, consider themselves loyal to brands they love. This shows a very discouraging disconnect between marketers and the people they want to reach.

Why is this happening, and what can we do to bridge that gap?

Well, like we mentioned in the intro, who are the people responding to your surveys? If you’re sending generic “Let us know what you think” survey email subject lines, it’s likely that only angry or frustrated customers are going to respond. That’s not good if you want to collect honest data about a wide range of customers—both happy and unhappy.

When it comes to survey email copy, you have a lot of strategies and tactics to make it work. None of that work is worthwhile though if no one actually opens the email. Use the tips and examples below to send out emails that actually get opened.

1. Trigger an emotion.

Imagine all the survey email subject lines in your inbox right now. What emotions come to mind?

Are you having trouble coming up with an answer? That’s probably because most of those subject lines don’t trigger any type of emotion. They’re forgettable.

Just like with your other email campaigns, you want to invoke some type of emotion in your subscribers when they see that Gmail notification. Emotion always trumps rationale. “Let us know what you think” will not produce an emotion unless the customer had an extreme experience with your company.

While extremely positive reviews are great, it can take a lot to counteract extremely bad reviews, so you want to aim for customers who had a pleasant experience but may need extra reinforcement or reward to write a review.

The easiest emotion to trigger in your survey subject lines is empathy. People tend to identify with other customers as the “us” and brands as “them.” That’s why word-of-mouth marketing is so important.

Let subscribers know that they can help their fellow comrades make informed decisions about your company or organization by replying to the survey.

Example: “[Name], people have questions about [insert product]. Can you help?”

2. Make sure it’s personal.

“Quick customer feedback survey” doesn’t necessarily pack the punch you’re looking for. Not only is this email subject line dry and boring, but it’s also extremely robotic and impersonal. Your subscriber isn’t an inbox—they’re a human. So in your subject lines, speak to them like a person.

According to research from Accenture, 75% of customers are more likely to spend their hard-earned money with brands that recognize them by name and remember information about them. Plus, personalized emails are vital for customer retention.

You’ve heard us talk about the importance of personalization, and it’s extremely important to use it when you can in subject lines.

You can also take it a step further by sending personalized automated emails.

If you’re requesting feedback about a recent purchase, make sure to incorporate the day, location, order number, and any other unique information you have to help the customer recall their experience.

Uber does a great job of personalizing their automated feedback emails with a friendly tone and specific information about the purchase.

Example: Your Saturday afternoon trip with Uber

3. Pose a question.

Even if you go the route of “Well, how did we do?” you’re still engaging with the subscriber instead of simply reacting to their purchase. A question forms the beginning of a conversation with a real human being—it’s not simply a robotic response.

Questions are excellent survey email subject line choices both for past purchases and general surveys about your brand as a whole. Time automated surveys about products to go out after the subscriber has had a chance to experience the item.

Example: Hi [name], how do your new [brand] sneakers fit?

Amazon does a great job of engaging their customers when asking for feedback.

Image Source: Really Good Emails

4. Mention the word “survey.”

Specifically asking your customers to take a survey in the subject line is a great and clear CTA right off the bat.

However, you should still word your subject lines in an intriguing way. “Take our survey today” probably won’t deliver the results you want. Instead, use personalization or some kind of incentive along with the word survey to boost your subject line’s potential.

Example: Take a quick survey, earn 25% off.

5. …or don’t mention it at all

This isn’t carte blanche to completely dupe your subscribers. You can, however, entirely avoid even mentioning the survey in your subject line.

Get creative. Consider how you would start a conversation with a trusted friend you’re asking for advice, and write your copy from there.

Focus on developing a one-on-one relationship with your subscribers in your survey email subject lines.

Example: “Hi [name]. Can we talk?”

6. Focus on the benefits.

Following up with the previous point, you can avoid mentioning the survey in your subject lines by mentioning the benefit instead. To do this, however, you need to offer some kind of incentive for taking the survey.

For longer surveys, offer a bigger incentive—like 50% off a one-time purchase. This may seem like quite a large give, but remember the value of a customer’s time and feedback.

Even quick product reviews on your website could warrant a smooth 10% or 15% off.

Example: Looking for 40% off?

7. Make sure your copy lives up to the survey email subject lines.

This point is crucial for several reasons: avoiding spam filters, upholding your brand’s (and email service provider’s) reputation, and getting the results you want.

If you make promises in your survey email subject lines, make sure you follow through with it in the copy.

Likewise, you should also create engaging copy inside the email.

Example: Penny (or more) for your thoughts?

Image Source: Really Good Emails

8. Keep it short.

According to research from Campaign Monitor, over 53% of emails were opened on mobile devices in 2015 and that number has only increased since. Survey email subject lines need to be short so they fit into app notifications.

How short? You should be safe with 50 characters.

You should also keep it short so that your subject line copy is concise, straight to the point, and easy to understand.

Example: Well, what do you think?

9. Encourage some kind of urgency.

If you don’t discuss anything about time constraints, your subscribers might not respond. They’ll think about responding. They’ll have every intention to respond. But they won’t actually respond.

Expressing urgency can be as simple as using the word “now” in your subject lines. You can also let subscribers know that the coupon for taking the survey will expire at a certain time.

Example: Hey [name]. Time is almost up to earn 50% off.

Wrap up

Survey email subject lines are rough because, by nature, surveys aren’t the most interesting pieces of content. Marketers really need to use their creativity to come up with something unique that will spark interest.

We could write an entire blog post on survey email copy but you need to actually get subscribers to open the email first. Otherwise, you’ve just wasted your time creating something amazing that no one will ever read. Focusing on your subscribers’ wants, needs, and state of mind can help you develop subject lines that hit home. Just don’t forget to A/B test a few.

Need help creating rock-solid subject lines or embedding beautiful surveys directly into your emails? Campaign Monitor can help with customizable templates.

The post 9 Surefire Survey Email Subject Lines appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

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[phantomlim]

Someone To Watch Over Me

Chapter 1: Rivet City

Content warning for: drug use, alcohol, depression, suicide, potential self harm

Summary: Rhys goes on a desperate search for his father, James, and he ends up at Rivet City, where a certain security guard tries to get to know him. Frustrated, he tries to focus harder on the search for his father. 

This is my first fic that I’m posting somewhere! Please leave some feedback!

The first time Harkness met Rhys, it was at the bridge to Rivet City. Rhys was walking across, seemingly determined, yet utterly broken. A dog followed close behind. When he approached, Harkness began his usual speech.

 “State your business in Rivet City,” he said in the same strong voice he’s always had.

 “I’m looking for Doctor Li,” responded the frail looking boy.

 “Yeah?” he answered in a snarky tone. “Let me guess: no, she’s not expecting you, but it’s really important and you need to see her right away. Been a lot of that going around lately, and I’ve had just about enough of it. So you’re going to have to do better than that.”

 The boy sighed, exasperated. He seemed really tired with what Harkness was saying, even though he didn’t say much at all.

 “My father came to see her. I’m trying to find him.”

 Harkness let his face relax. “Hmm. Older guy, in his fifties or so? I remember him. He left already, but Doctor Li might know more. All right, you can go on up. She’ll be in the Science Lab. Just don’t cause any trouble, or else you’re going to answer to me.”

 The boy nodded, walking forward before he turned back to Harkness. “Are there any beds here? I haven’t slept in maybe two or three days.” His voice cracked when he said the word “slept”.

 Harkness’s eyebrows furrowed at the sound. He looked it. He looked thirst, hungry, and exhausted. When he looked in his eyes, he looked dead. When he looked over his arms, he saw a lot of puncture marks in his skin, especially near his veins. Psycho, he thought. He’s desperate.

 After a while, he nodded. “Yeah, come with me, I’ll take you to the common room. I’ll get you some food and water while you sleep.” The boy seemed distant. Harkness tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey kid, stay with me.”

 He startled on the contact and met eyes with Harkness. “Oh, yeah, cool, thanks.”

 The man shook his head. He didn’t hear a thing he said. He cocked his head one way and began to walk, making sure he was being followed by the beaten boy and his dog. As they passed the locals of the beaten down ship they called home, Harkness would wave and nod his head towards them. When they reached the common room, the boy looked like he was about to collapse.

 “Any of these beds are free. Have a good rest.” He stuck around long enough to watch the boy collapse on the cot, the dog curling up under him.

 ---

 Rhys woke up in a daze. When he was finally able to get a grasp on his surroundings, he found himself being greeted by Dogmeat lapping at his face.

 “Hey Dogmeat,” he said tiredly.

 When he sat up, he was very confused. He was in a cot in a room, which he’d never seen before. He quickly remembered that he arrived in Rivet City and the security guard led him to the room. The interior of the room reminded him a lot of Vault 101, which made him shudder and groan in agony. He tried to get the thought out of his head quickly, but he couldn’t help going back to thinking about Amata.

 It’s been a week - or has it been two? - since he left the vault, and he was hoping everyone was doing okay after his father disappeared. He knew he wasn’t. The several amounts of Psycho he injected into his veins to feel stronger than his emotions were becoming overbearing. The need and desire to feel capable were tiring and exhausting.

 He exhaled quietly and slowly stood up from the cot. He groaned and looked at Dogmeat who was panting next to him, happy that he was awake. At least one thing was happy to see him. He grumbled and stepped outside the room. In front of the door, was a sign pointing to several location.

 “Marketplace? Maybe they have a chem store.”

 Rhys followed the signs to the Market, feeling slightly alive for the first time in a few days. He opened the doors to a large room with plenty of stalls selling items and objects. Guards roamed the area, making sure no one looted the vendors. Chatter filled the space, echoing off of the metal walls. Everything seemed really… domestic. This was a feeling that Rhys missed a lot. He hasn’t felt this comfortable in a setting since James left and he had gone looking for him.

 He stepped down the stairs to browse the stalls. His attention span towards the weapons didn’t last very long, as he didn’t have much interest in them. When a weapon caught his eye, he would hold it and examine it, but determine that it wasn’t something worth his caps, so it would end back on the table. He continued browsing the market and found a chem dealer, who was selling psycho. While he didn’t have that much to spend, he continued to buy a few doses to keep him satisfied for whatever came ahead.

 Once he was done browsing, he walked up to a man with brown hair standing in front of the weapons tent. “Hey can I get some directions?”

 The man turned to face Rhys and raised an eyebrow. “Hey, you’re up. You look a lot better than when you first came here.”

 Rhys raised an eyebrow confused at first. Then he recognized him. He was the guard who brought him in. “Oh yeah. I’m doing okay.”

 The guard nodded, not really believing him. There were bags under his eyes and his cheeks were sunken in. His eyes were still glassy, as if he hasn’t slept in weeks. But he was moving and talking, and that was important.

 “That’s good. Good to see you moving around. What’s your name kid?”

 “Rhys.”

 “Alright, Rhys. What’s the deal. You seem to be going through a lot of trouble to look for your dad.”

 Rhys shrugged. “He kind of means a lot to me.”

 “A whole lot if you haven’t slept in a while. You look like absolute shit.”

 “Thanks, I feel like it too.” Rhys face still conveyed the feeling of emotionlessness. It was so strong that Harkness could feel it.

 “Well, you sound like a good guy Rhys.”

 ���Thanks, I guess. I think I used to be, but I’m not really anymore.”

 The conversation came to a halt as Rhys walked away. Harkness looked annoyed. He didn’t understand why Rhys was acting the way he was. It really irritated. He had a bad feeling about him sticking around Rivet City.

 ---

 That whole situation pissed Rhys off. The security guard was asking a lot of questions about what he didn’t want to talk about. Why did he care? He’s just a random wanderer, why does he care about his business?

 The young man grumbled and kept walking through the city, searching for Doctor Li. He eventually found the science lab, after getting lost in the boat twice. When he reached a door, labeled “Science Lab”,  he carefully pulled at the lever to open it and he peeked inside. It was quiet except for some bickering he heard down the stairs. Dogmeat slipped through his legs and trotted inside, so Rhys followed her.

 “You’re wasting precious amounts of our time, Zimmer. We’re not interested in what you have to say,” spoke one voice.  

 An older voice piped in. “You don’t seem to understand! This is valuable technology we’re talking about! It’s important to the lives of everyone in the wasteland that I get back my android!”

 The woman he was talking to rolled his eyes. “Zimmer, you’re wasting my time. I have a lot more important things to do than carry out this conversation with you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

 She stomped away, irritated after that conversation. Zimmer grunted and crossed his arms, shaking his head as he watched her leave. When he stood straight, he caught Rhys’ eye.

 “Hey, you! Are you for hire?”

 Rhys looked at him and shrugged. “Depends on how much I’m gonna be paid.” He was desperate for caps.

 “I’m missing some… lost technology. If you can find it and bring it back to me, I’ll pay you for all your trouble and more.”

 Rhys raised an eyebrow. “What kind of technology are we talking about.”

 Zimmer smiled. Rhys didn’t like the look of it. “An android. Looks, walks, and talks exactly like a human, but he isn’t. I’ve been missing him for awhile and it’s important that I get him back. He probably had his memory wiped and his face changed, that’s what runaway androids do. If I don’t get him back, it could post a threat to humanity!”

 Rhys wasn’t really impressed. “Uh huh. Sure, I’ll find this robot whatever. As long as I get paid well.”

 “Oh trust me, you will.”

 Rhys nodded and watched as he leaned against the wall. He already didn’t like him. He turned his attention back to the task at hand: finding his father. He looked around and noticed a Chinese woman in a lab coat at a chemistry table.

 “Doctor Li?”

 He heard a loud sigh as she turned. “What do you want now- wait. It’s you isn’t it? You look exactly like him!”

 Rhys raised an eyebrow but quickly ignored everything she was saying. “My dad was here wasn’t he? Where is he? Where did he go?”

 Doctor Li put her hands up. “Hey, hold on, calm down. He was here but he left. I told him not to go but he went.”

 “Go where?” Rhys demanded.

 “Project Purity. Give me your Pipboy, I’ll put it on your map. It’s in the Jefferson Memorial. He was talking about bringing it back, or having answers. I told him not to go, but once he has an idea, he won’t stop until he pulls it through. I guess you’re the same.”

 “Damn right, he just left without saying anything. He ruined my life by leaving so I’m not gonna stop until I get him back!”

 Doctor Li blinked at his confidence. She could tell he was shattered by all of the events even under that confidence. “Good luck finding your father.”

 Rhys didn’t reply and was running into the stairwell, knocking himself into Harkness, who let out what almost sounded like a growl.

 “Hey, watch where you’re going!” he yelled. Rhys glanced back at him, but he got back up and kept running, ignoring his calls. He didn’t stop running until he got back to the bridge of Rivet City.

 He took a break and collapsed on the other side, grabbing a rag out of his bag. He quickly tied it around his arm, trying to slow the blood flow. He pulled out a dose of Psycho and quickly pushed it into a vein.

 He hissed at the sensation of the strong solution burning through his veins. He already began to feel his muscles regenerate strength and his breath coming back into his lungs. He felt ready to run back to Megaton from Rivet City.

 After he had finished injecting the Psycho, he grunted and untied the rag, shoving it back in his bag. He then sprinted away from Rivet City, making his way to Project Purity as fast as possible. He needed to catch his dad, he needed him back for his sake. He felt lost and powerless without him.

 When he arrived at the memorial, it was swarming with Super Mutants. He quickly began to lose hope. There was no way his dad would be able to come here and fend for himself against these super mutants.

 When Dogmeat had gotten a whiff of the mutants, she ran ahead and began to attack them, gnawing her teeth into their legs. Rhys was behind him, using a laser pistol to shoot them down. The super mutants inside the memorial were easy enough to deal with. Rhys began to search the rotunda. THat’s where the project was, he believed. And he was right. He found holotapes and when he listened to them, he heard his father.

 Tears welled into his eyes. The voice he missed so much. The berating voice he would hear when he got in a fight with Butch Deloria. The calm voice he would hear when his father would teach him about medicine. The proud voice that would congratulate him on something he did successfully. He missed all of it so bad.

 While Rhys was lost in a sea of memories, Dogmeat walked over and licked the tears off of his face. That was the reminder that he would never have any of that back. He left the vault to find his father, and he didn’t know if he would be accepted back.

 He sighed and listened to the holotapes again, holding in his tears finally. He listened for any clues. Vault 112. That’s where he went to speak to a doctor. Braun. He made note of that in his Pipboy. That was his new objective.

 Rhys rubbed his face and decided it would be a good time to keep going while the psycho was going through his veins. He stood up reluctantly, pat Dogmeat on the head and walked back out. The broken man exited the memorial, armed with a syringe, two guns, and the only thing he could hold onto for his life: faith.

 ---

 When he arrived at the location put on his map, he was confused. This didn’t look like the entrance to a vault. It looked like an abandoned garage. He was beginning to think something wasn’t right, but he stepped inside.

 HE looked at Dogmeat and pat her head. “See if you can find anything interesting, girl.” Dogmeat barked and sniffed around, growling once she caught scent of molerats. Rhys helped her take care of them and she went back to looking for anything. When she barked, Rhys looked over.

 There was a large door on the ground. It seemed like it could be opened with something mechanic. Next to the door on the wall, was a button. He had scored the jackpot.

 He quickly pressed the button and watched as the doors swung inwards, revealing a set of stairs. Rhys got a sudden feeling of confidence as well as unease. Something wasn’t right.

[universeinform-blog]

Safe Internet Day is this week, so here's some tips on keeping your kids safe online

New Post has been published on https://universeinform.com/2017/03/17/safe-internet-day-is-this-week-so-heres-some-tips-on-keeping-your-kids-safe-online/

Safe Internet Day is this week, so here's some tips on keeping your kids safe online

Again while the net becomes first turning into the mainstream, I had a temp job in an internet café. Take into account dial-up tones and having to experiment pix to send them?

Customers popped in on quiet mornings to play Solitaire to enhance their ‘mouse talents’ — some humans lifted the mouse up and pointed it at the display screen like an arcade recreation gun.

I wonder what the best gentleman who jammed the cash into the disk force is doing now — or even the extra tech-savvy ones had been prone to clicking on each ad and beginning dozens of pages at a time. The usage of a mouse changed into a fiddly new skill; we notion a few version of Facetime was nonetheless only for Celebrity Trek crew, and all of us blundered thru and attempted no longer to welcome too many viruses or humans trying to take away inherited tens of millions into our lives.

Now, mainly in case you’ve were given primary school kids, you’ll sense like an out-moded sci-fi show android as you watch their arms skitter hopefully over the keypads of new devices they in all likelihood got for Christmas.

It wasn’t too complicated to maintain a watch on them at some point of school vacations whilst we were all glad to be indoors, however, now they’ve advanced exponentially and are looking to skulk off somewhere for privacy with new chat and photo apps.

You may think that establishing up a pleasant, secure website online or series of YouTube motion pictures is the satisfactory way for younger youngsters but I’ve discovered you’re surely most effective buying yourself a small little bit of time. Pop-up advertisements begging you to ‘click right here to win a holiday’ or faux virus warnings will swoosh your infant over to ‘stunning women just waiting to chat’ or ‘real homicide scenes’ in an on the spot.

Even Barney’s sidekick is a potential menace online if you haven’t good parental controls hooked up — he’s called BJ in case you didn’t know.

Today is secure internet Day so it’s a really perfect time to check out ways of blocking off the online problem and boosting your know-how about your kids’ new drugs and video games.

Avril Ronan is global program director at IT safety corporation, TrendMicro which has its Irish headquarters on Cork’s Model Farm Street. She spends pretty a piece of time touring colleges and hosting school visits specializing in net safety as part of the company’s loose social obligation work.

We provide practical advice to parents on the way to teach themselves approximately online protection. There are things to consider whilst selecting a child-friendly smart tool. I’d say to research collectively approximately privacy. youngsters are simply so smart now at The usage of computers and apps and you, the adult, brings life enjoy so it’s an excellent suit. You don’t need to know all of the solutions. Use websites such as commonsensemedia.Org to read up on a sport or app.”

Steps To Building A Profitable Domestic Net Business In 2017

Constructing as Profitable Home Net Business isn’t always as complicated as you might imagine. You may be nervous approximately getting stuck up with technical problems that seem impossible to recognize. Or you may experience that you’re too antique, too young or too inexperienced. Or you could simply no longer recognize in which to start.

As long as you understand what you want to promote and who you need to promote it to, you’re equipped to get began. Permit’s take a look at the 5 steps to Constructing a Profitable Domestic Internet Enterprise.

Get Your Website Online

With cutting-edge software program and technology, Constructing a Internet site isn’t always that hard. You really do not need to begin learning Internet site coding or e-commerce packages. There are numerous On-line Enterprise structures that can be installed with some clicks following step-by way of-step commands. You can even outsource the entire set up in case you feel that it’s an excessive amount of for you.

Get Human beings To Go to Your Internet site

Your home Net agencies will most effective make cash in case you get site visitors to your Website. traffic is essentially the range of people who Go to your Internet site. There are ways to generate Website site visitors. You may buy Website traffic or You can generate loose Website site visitors. Whilst you purchase Internet site visitors, it is basically paid advertising. It provides on the spot results however the visitors stops as quickly as you stop deciding to buy it. So you ought to ensure which you spend your cash accurately. loose Website traffic takes a little longer to generate, but as soon as it begins, it may provide a regular waft of tourist visitors.

Offer Precious Content For free

it’s highly not likely that someone will buy from you the primary time that they Visit your Website. You have long past to a number of attempt to get them to Visit your Internet site within the first region and also you do not need that paintings to visit waste. So, if You can acquire their e-mail deal with, You can remain in touch with them. To inspire a Internet site traveler to provide you with their e mail address, provide them something of fee Without cost this type of file, a discount or unique offer. So long as it’s far relevant to your Commercial enterprise and offers cost.

Use Emails To Construct A Courting Along with your Prospect

E-mail advertising is taken into consideration to be one of the only advertising techniques and you’ll want an e-mail autoresponder. An autoresponder will robotically email your freebie while somebody requests it. it could then maintain to ship a pre-written series of emails to broaden a Dating With your ability consumer.

Make Offers Or Tips

Electronic mail advertising is powerful due to the fact you’re offering normal and significant communications. The extra price you provide, the more you may be visible as a trusted source of data. Then, When you make Offers and Tips approximately services and products to buy, your possibilities are far much more likely to buy from you due to the fact they consider your judgement.

Impact of Capsules on Our youngsters

Era”- Heard the word? Well, if no longer they pardon me but you are residing nonetheless inside the preceding age. a generation has made what we are these days. The comforts that we are capable of have now are all due to technology. This has made us a good deal greater superior to we were earlier.

The maximum impact that has been seen is within the children. There are the maximum affected from this era. There were each wonderful and terrible results, but the effective consequences have out dominated the bad ones.

Nowadays the children are exposed to phones and Capsules right from their births (quite actually). So, on a mean, you will find your self to be much less clever than the little one, in phrases of the use of the devices. While we may take months to learn gadgets they only require a couple of minutes. So, their intelligence has been decided to be applied in a far more prepared manner through several tablet businesses.

Groups are popping out with new concepts so that children best gain from the use of Drugs and the mother and father may be positive that their baby is as much as no mischief. Pills are actually coming with studying enabled moods so that the child can research While they play.

What has been blanketed?

Pills consist of numerous games which might be specially designed for the youngsters. They help in presenting schooling. Sure apps are there which assist children to perceive the alphabets, animals, fruits. They educate the way to write. Certain packages are also there which displays memories and rhymes.

Benefits of the use of Drugs-

• Imparts methodical reading • Enhances mastering of the kids • getting to know is to be had consistent with age • Memory and reproducing what they have got discovered turns into higher • games train them to triumph over difficulty with intelligence • The level of difficulty increases their capability of problem-fixing • The youngsters turns into more interactive

Why should mother and father allow their kids use Drugs?

Pills come with parental settings. The dad and mom can control the activities of the kids on the tabs. They are able to keep an eye fixed on their development, according to day utilization and many greater matters. What’s higher is with Pills parenting becomes a lot clean. Specially the working mother and father might have an awful lot less to fear as their kids could be learning the right things consistent with their age. Consequently, this guarantees that Drugs are safe and allowing your little toddler to apply tablet may be wonderful each for you as a figure and your baby.

The Darkish Aspect of On line Dating: Getting Dumped and Getting Over It

When you date, you risk being dumped. When you date On-line the chance of being dumped is increased. On this publish I am going to look at why dumping is inevitable, and why you shouldn’t fear about it (an excessive amount of). I’ll end with a study the one-of-a-kind form of dumps you may experience. The grande finale is an emergency plan to continue to exist a really painful unload.

Why dumping is inevitable On-line –

Being dumped sucks. No one likes to be dumped. In evolutionary terms, we’re primed to avoid rejection at all charges. The existence of generations before us depending on, Nicely, not being dumped. Averting ache is pivotal to human survival. This is as genuine whilst sticking your hand in a camp hearth as it’s far when receiving a fierce sizzling to the heart.

As sure as eggs is eggs, if you date On line, you will (almost definitely) get dumped some times. Possibly more times than is well mannered, even. in case you are a stranger to the enjoy of being dumped then this might come as a bit of an unfun surprise. it is but, part and parcel of On line Courting. Here’s why –

Relationship agencies do now not promote relationships consistent with se. They promote get entry to to a community of Humans. The connection/love bit is a opportunity, no longer a given. You would be unwise to realistically bear in mind anybody you meet on the way to the grocery keep to be a capability life mate. Notwithstanding the Relationship “filter out”, it is desirable exercise to apply a touch bit of grocery shop realism to On-line Courting too.

Messaging is handiest a mirrored image of how you would possibly get on in person.

It is clean to mistake a “spark” Online as a cash back assures of a spark offline. You simply must meet in man or woman to understand the distorted circus mirror that is emailing or texting. That is probably the principle reason why dumps that occur Online trump the variety of dumps that occur offline. Decrease sadness with a pre-date cell phone call.

You cannot scout every other out nicely On line. Meet at work and you’ve got the possibility to check each other out in terms of eye sweet and suitability Whilst pretending to now not being try this at all. while On line Dating you have to meet on a “date” – a heady meeting with the sole reason to view every different beneath the cruel strip light of romantic aim. Dumps without difficulty happen.

You do not have the gift of time. Have you ever been nonplussed all through a first meet

And then, with the fullness of time, a harmless novice to your social circle is found out to be armed with the same appeal and joy giving powers of a small doggy? On line, Courting calls for someone to be assessed in a single assembly, consequently the petri dish for dumps.

Stage fright Courting may be scary and also you or your date may not be able to provide your fine “display.” Regrettably, Relationship “curtains.”

I don’t need to put you off Online Dating. I need to place you off feeling awful in case you find a few dumps come your way.

Why you shouldn’t worry about being dumped (an excessive amount of) –

On line, dumps are extra commonplace than offline dumps for the reasons proposed above. Let’s look now at the motives why you should not worry too much and store your emotional dollars to spend on the “grande finale” unload, and not before.

For simplicity, some thing apart from a right away idea of marriage might be classed as a “dump.” Arguably, if you have not yet met in man or woman and have handiest fashioned a virtual connection, the sell-off will no longer maintain a lot effect as a parting of approaches says after three dates. For ease, whether within the digital panorama or bodily area, a dump is a dump is a unload.

The most vital factor is to attempt no longer to worry approximately it an excessive amount of either manner. Ten meets or zero meets, refuse to feel horrific. Dumping is a symptom simplest of the nature of assembly On line, not a sign that you are an unlovable puppy.

don’t experience bad Mainly due to the fact:

It’s not that non-public – a number of the time he is sai qua you establish On line doesn’t translate Properly inside the actual international. Not anything personal, simply life.

It is probably sensible – practicalities that we suppose do not matter too much, in reality, do matter, lots. You live too some distance away, their paintings leaves no time, your politics are squiffy in shape and so forth.