#Thank you for being patient!!! I’ve gotten questions about commissions for years and I always feel bad turning ppl down who are interested | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sad-sweet-cowboah · 5 years

Text

It Started With A Skeleton

The final commission! @writingandsins asked for Arthur beginning to fall for an archaeologist!reader. I wrote it in a way to seem like a random encounter like in the game. Thank you for being patient with me and enjoy!

The bright sun beamed down in between the thick green leaves, brightening up spots of the forest floor. Smoothing out the rolled paper upon the rock in front of you. The familiar shape of New Hanover was the only thing you recognized as you tried to make heads or tail of this map. It seemed hastily drawn, ink spots scattered here and there. Were they marking specific locations, or was it just the carelessness of the maker?

You sighed in frustration, standing up straight to closer observe your surroundings. You’d just come from Annesburg, your pockets three dollars lighter for having to purchase the map from some smooth talker outside of the gunsmith. He’d mentioned an ancient burial site nearby, and offered to share the location. Excitement overtaking you, you’d quickly agreed and paid the man. After handing you the map and pointing you west, you mounted your horse and began to head out into the forest. An hour had passed, and with vague instructions and no knowledge of the pathways, you’d stopped to try and regain your bearings.

Though now, it seemed as if he was just making a fool of you.

You groaned, swearing out loud and stomping over to your horse, who stopped grazing to look at you with interest. “Sorry boy, gotta head back.”

“You alright, miss?” a voice called from behind you.

A jolt of surprise shot through you, quickly erasing the assumption of you being alone out here. You hadn’t heard anyone coming by. Turning around, a man on horseback appeared in your view. He was standing just a few yards away, stopped in the middle of the path. The sun caught the barrel of a rifle along his back, glinting brightly. Underneath the worn black hat, his face showed slight concern.

“I’m fine,” you answered, albeit somewhat warily. “Just a little lost is all.”

“Where are ya tryin’ to go?” he asked, his drawl strong unlike the folks from around here.

“I…” you hesitated, wondering if it was a good idea to share this information, lest he decided to find it before you and plunder to his heart’s content. However, this forest proved larger and more complex than you expected, and you weren’t even sure how to find your way back to civilization. “Yes, actually! There’s supposedly an ancient burial around ‘round here somewhere. Some silver-tongued fool gave me this map for three dollars and told me to head out here. But I’m beginning to think he led me on a wild goose chase.”

The man approached closer, twitching his fingers toward you. You passed him the map, and he studied it for mere seconds before scoffing, passing it back to you. “Yeah, he fooled ya alright. Looks like he drew it in five minutes. Ain’t even worth a cent.”

“Perfect.” you sighed heavily.

“I might know the place you’re talkin’ ‘bout,” the man continued. “It’s a little ways north of here.”

Excitement immediately replaced the disappointment. “You know where it is?” you gasped. “Can you take me?”

He gave a small shrug. “Sure, ain’t got nothin’ else to do.”

Smiling widely, you turned back toward your horse and mounted quickly. He began to walk forward, and you slipped in behind him. He urged his horse into a slow lope and you did the same, moving at a good pace down the path.

“You don’t know how much I appreciate this, Mister,” you spoke out to him. “I would have been wandering this forest forever if you hadn’t come along.”

“I’m sure you woulda found it sooner or later,” he responded. “Why’re you lookin’ for it in the first place?”

“I’m an archaeologist, I study artifacts and sites from ancient civilizations,” you explained. “That burial site from what I hear is remnants of Viking inhabitants.”

“Vikings, huh?” he slowed to be in pace with you, your horses cantering side to side. “Out here?”

You nodded with enthusiasm. “May sound strange, but there’s tons of evidence that they came here hundreds years ago! I’ve found helmets and tools here and there, but this is the first lead I’ve gotten about a tomb.”

The man gave a soft hum. “Ya know, y’oughta be careful out here in these woods,” he said, gazing out into the distance. “Some of the folk out here ain’t too friendly. Snatch ya up if you ain’t careful.”

You gave him a strange look. “I hope you don’t mean yourself.”

He gave a humorless laugh in response. “Nah, I ain’t the type. The ones I’m talkin’ about, they’re called Murfrees. They ain’t right in the head, act more like feral animals than people. Not the smartest, but they’re sneaky.”

Your eyes widened. “And you’d know from experience?”

“’Course, had to fight ‘em off out here on more than one occasion. And I’d hate to see ‘em come up on some poor unsuspectin’ fools out here.”

A shiver coursed through your body, horrified to even think of such a thing to happen to you. Over the years you’d come across some questionable people, though always managed to get through the day unharmed. “Well, then I’m glad to have run into you, Mister…”

“Arthur Morgan.” He answered your unasked question.

---

The two of you chatted nonchalantly for the next ten minutes, although it had been mostly you speaking more about the Vikings, and other ancient artifacts you’d found. Arthur was mostly silent, only commenting every once in a while on your explorations.

Eventually he slowed his horse down to a walk. You had followed suit, your eyes in search for the prize.

“Here,” he motioned directly ahead, pointing to an in-ground structure that had a few open trenches branching out. “I believe that’s what you’re lookin’ for.”

Hastily you hopped off your horse, hurrying forward to get a better view. You halted at the foot of much worn stone steps, leading down into the center of the site. Even from here, you could spot the unmistakable alabaster color of old bones. You slowly stepped down into the trench, taking care of where you put your feet. Some of it was overgrown, roots had snaked their way through the cracks.

As you grew closer, it was apparent that there were more than one set of bones here. In the center of everything was a stone slab with a full skeleton lay across it, in remarkably good condition despite being exposed to hundreds of years’ worth of weather, elements, and possible animal tampering. Meanwhile others were placed around the base of the slab, femurs, detached torsos, skulls stacked neatly. You had to wonder why.

Objectively, it appeared to be a burial site for multiple people. However, there could be more to the story depending on what else lurked here. You dug into your satchel, producing a worn journal to record your findings. You could call yourself a decent artist, if rough sketches could be considered as such. Regardless, without a camera, it was the easiest way to keep track of your discoveries.

“Wonder who they were.” Arthur’s voice startled you, in your excitement you’d nearly forgotten about his presence.

You turned around to face him, he was standing just a few feet away. “From what I see here, it might have been a mass grave.” You answered.

He didn’t answer, although stepped forward to observe. He walked around the slab, studying the remains. He paused and bent down as if to retrieve something.

“Wait, don’t disturb anything!” you warned him.

He stood up straight, holding what looked like a hatchet in his hand. “Thought you’d like to look at this.” He held it out.

You blinked in surprise. How long had this sat here and went unnoticed by this area’s inhabitants? You reached out for it and grasped it carefully. It was surprisingly heavy and sturdy. “Amazing this is still in good condition,” you remarked. “And that nobody took it yet.”

“Guess it’s here for you to find.” Arthur noted with a small smile.

You smiled back at him. “Maybe so.” You put it down to sketch it out.

You took a few more minutes to explore this little find, discovering that it had five branching trenches shaped somewhat like a star. Some of them were closed off with a ceiling, natural and carved out from the earth. You made sure to sketch every angle, noting every piece of information that you could.

Meanwhile, Arthur stood just a few feet away. You were surprised he hadn’t left yet, perhaps he was keeping watch in case one of the Murfree people he mentioned might be lurking around somewhere. Either way, you were too drawn in to really notice the surroundings.

You even caught him staring at your journal as you drew, probably intrigued by it.

Some more time had passed and you finished your last sketch. You stood above the structure, marveling its ancient beauty. Satisfied with your recordings, you placed your journal back into your satchel. You were thankful you were able to find this place, even after being swindled and losing money for it.

Arthur’s footsteps alerted you, and you turned to smile at him as he sidled up next to you. “Y’ get everything?” he asked.

“Oh yes,” you expressed with delight. “This is the most comprehensive find I’ve had in a while! The others in New York won’t believe this!”

“New York?” he repeated with bewilderment. “And you came out here?”

“My work takes me many places, Arthur,” you said proudly. “Though my colleagues would rather have me serving them beer and biscuits. I work three times as hard as them, you know. No respect for the women in this field.”

He made a soft noise, shaking his head as if to agree with you. “Can’t say many men are smart, then.”

Your smile widened at his comment. “Arthur, thank you again for taking me here, and watching over me. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“Ain’t nothin’,” he said nonchalantly, turning his gaze downward. It only occurred to you then he was fidgeting with something in his hands. As you opened your mouth to ask, he held it up. “By the way, I found this down there. Thought you should have it.”

It was a comb, off white in color and carved with an intricate design. It too was obviously of Viking origin, given the designs of the animals that wrapped around the handle, looping to form holes for holding. It was beautiful.

It left you breathless. “Arthur-” you began. “That’s …”

“I know, I shouldn’t have taken it,” he said with a slightly sheepish tone. “Jus’ seemed to be a shame to leave it down there, for no one to admire.”

You reached out and gingerly took it, holding it flat in your hand. It was an unorthodox gesture, especially from someone you’d just met earlier that day. “Well…thank you.”

A full smile appeared on his lips then, the first you’d seen today. “You’re welcome.”

---

It’d been three days since coming upon the burial site.

Since then, you’d left Annesburg to travel further west, arriving in a little town called Valentine. You settled into a hotel room, copying over your original notes onto paper, as well as refining your sketches to appear clean. You’d soon sent them into the mail, hoping your colleagues would take you more seriously.

You were also on a limited amount of time, having just a few more days before traveling back home.

You adventure didn’t stop there, however. Originally coming here to collect more leads on possible sites, which ended up to be drier than a summer well, you focused on other means. Mulling around this town has proved to be fruitful, as you’d took the time to acquire an odd job here and there to replenish the money you’d spent in the past few days.

The comb you had carefully bundled up into a rag and placed in a small pocket of your satchel, although you admittedly taken it out more than once to appreciate its beauty. You’d sketched it out with everything else, along with the man who gave it to you.

That one, you kept to yourself.

He’d crossed your mind more than once. He’d been the first to not give you an odd look when expressing your interests, or make an offhand comment on how you would make a better housewife. A man like that was certainly a rarity, and you hoped you’d cross paths once more before returning home.

Tonight, you decided to have some relaxation and wandered into the more popular saloon in town. It was expectedly busy; the smell of tobacco and alcohol nearly burned your nostrils as you found a place to sit off to the side.

Despite the rowdiness of the crowd, you were thankful to have gone unnoticed. You sat quietly, sipping a beer whilst observing the drunken tomfoolery that took place around you. People watching entertained you sometimes.

Out of the corner of your eye, the doors swung open to reveal another patron stepping in. Paying little attention to it, your vision wandering to a young harlot pulling a stumbling man up the stairs.

“Miss Y/N?”

You turned your head in surprise, knowing you did not give your name to anyone in here. This however wasn’t some stranger, instead you were looking into the blue eyes of Arthur Morgan.

“Arthur!” you greeted with slight confusion. It were as if the heavens above had heard your prior thoughts. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Likewise,” he replied, pulling back an empty chair to sit at your table. “Ain’t you supposed to be out, lookin’ for more, eh, Viking burial grounds?”

You smiled at him. “Archaeology doesn’t take every facet of my life, you know. I like to take breaks too.”

He chuckled at your response. “Weren’t implyin’ that it was,” he shifted in his chair. “Actually, I’m glad I ran into ya.”

Cheeks burning, you took a swig of beer to hide your surprise. “You are? Why is that?”

“Just wonderin’ ‘bout what else you’ve found. I’d like to see, ‘less it’s private.” He responded.

You raised your eyebrows in surprise. This had to be the first time that anyone was interested in your work, even your fellow colleagues. “You really want to see?” You asked, a tight feeling of disbelief looming in your stomach.

He nodded. “Ya seem so passionate ‘bout it, got me curious is all.”

You couldn’t help but to beam at him, your chest swelling with excitement. Thankfully, you had your journal with you. Digging it out of your satchel, you lay it across the table and flipped open to the first page, containing sketches of various Indian arrow heads you’d found in your home state. “This was just a little after the beginning of my career…” you began, dragging your fingers lightly across the sketch lines, recalling vividly your amazement when you’d unearthed them.

Time wore on and you’d gone through the pages, you’d noticed a slight glimmer in Arthur’s eyes as he studied your drawings. Every once in a while, you could have sworn he was staring at you, yet every time your eyes turned to meet his, he’d swiftly turn his gaze back down to the journal.

You’d eventually reached the most recent section, closing the journal back up as you know he’d already seen that. Placing it back into your bag, you gave Arthur a sweet smile. “What did you think?”

Arthur leaned back, a slight look of awe on his face when he looked at you. “You got quite the collection, Miss Y/N. I’ve been ‘round and ain’t seen half the stuff you have.”

A small giggle escaped your lips. “You just have to know where to look.”

“Guess so,” he groaned as he stretched out. “You stayin’ here?”

You nodded. “Just for the next few days. I’m hoping to find one more site before I get back to New York.”

“Well, I dunno ‘bout other places, ‘sides the one we just went to.” Arthur responded.

“That’s okay, Arthur,” you reached over to pat his arm. “Your help the other day was more than enough. Can’t expect you to escort me to another, if there is one around.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t mind.” he shrugged, a small smile tugging at his lips.

You tucked your head down in hopes to hide the blush that flared on your cheeks. “Well, aren’t you generous, Mr. Morgan?” you said with a lighthearted tone. “Would you mind escorting me to the hotel, then?” you asked, peering back up to him.

Another shrug rolled his shoulders. “Sure.” He replied, his smile turning soft.

Gathering your belongings, you’d marched out of the saloon with Arthur behind you, leaving the drunken chatter behind to a quiet night. It was certainly late; the moon high in the sky and nearly no one outside. The lights from the adjacent buildings have long been extinguished. The distant chirping of crickets and a faint train whistle set a lovely ambience.

Even though the hotel was just down the way, Arthur kept by your side, walking to avoid treading through mud and horse manure. He was certainly a gentleman, uniquely apart from anyone else you’d met out here. It’d only taken a moment of walking before reaching the front steps of the hotel, the orange light flickering as a greeting.

Stepping onto the wooden steps, you turned to face Arthur once again. “Thank you, Arthur.”

He tilted his head in a small nod. “You’re welcome, Miss Y/N.”

As your gazes met, a pang of emotion hit you as you realized you barely even knew this man. He’d been so kind to you and interested in your work, yet he’d never shared a single mention of his personal life. He didn’t have to, given the circumstances in which you two met. However, you would be boarding a train back to New York in a few days’ time, and you highly doubt he’d come up that far.

Regardless, you still wanted to keep in contact.

Reaching for your journal once again, you tore out a page and hastily scribbled an address onto the paper. You held it out to him, noting his look of confusion. “Write to me, please,” you murmured to him. “If you find another site.” You quickly added.

Arthur took the paper slowly, holding it out to read it for a moment before folding it neatly and tucking it into his own satchel. “I’ll be sure to do so.” He responded, giving you the same smile as before.

#Arthur Morgan #Arthur Morgan x reader #$10 writing commission

121 notes · View notes

thewritewolf · 5 years

Text

Eating Habits Chapter 3: Worry

A month into Marinette’s first semester at university, Adrien works a shift at the bakery before meeting Marinette for a date at their favorite restaurant.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3. My ko-fi.

“...And that’s the best technique for kneading the bread, son! Any questions?”

Adrien felt Tom’s gaze on him as he worked the dough, his tongue sticking out a little as he concentrated. The past few shifts at the bakery had been very enlightening. Mostly for figuring out how Tom became so big and strong - the giant sacks of flour and the constant kneading of dough had already starting wearing Adrien down. And he’d had years of superheroics to toughen him up!

“No, I think I’ve got it this time.” Adrien glanced at the lumpy, slightly burnt excuse of a loaf of bread that he’d made earlier that day. “...Right?”

A giant hand patted him on the back. “I’m sure, son. You’re doing much better this time around.” After they’d set it aside to let it rise, Tom dusted off his hands. “It’s good of you to want to learn to cook. It’s a skill that everyone should have.”

They each picked up a platter of freshly baked croissants and walked out to the front of the bakery. The midday rush had just run its course and most of the shelves had been picked clean. It was the ideal time for them to restock with the lack of customers.

Sabine patted him on the shoulder as he passed. “Thank you for helping, sweetheart. It’s always wonderful having you around the bakery.”

“Aw, really?” Even after all these years, it was difficult to fully grasp sometimes - adults that actually enjoyed his company!

“Of course, son!” Tom laughed. “Heck, we were worried we’d be seeing you a lot less now that our little cupcake has moved out.”

Adrien smiled as he restocked the macaroons. “You won’t be getting rid of me that easily!”

“That’s great to hear.” Tom moved swiftly between display cases, much faster than Adrien was plodding along. “We’ll be needing all the help we can get around here.”

“Why’s that?”

“The bakery has been doing wonderfully,” Sabine said. “In fact…” She looked at Tom meaningfully.

The large baker’s eyes lit up. “In fact, we were even considering opening a second location.” They both glanced at Adrien. “It won’t be anytime soon, of course, but…”

“...But it’s certainly something to consider,” Sabine finished. “And we can’t be in multiple places at once, so we’d need extra help.”

Adrien wasn’t dense. Well, he wasn’t as dense as he used to be. He understood what they were getting at, but he still wasn’t sure about anything. Any thoughts about careers or education or businesses… that was all still in the air. Would he continue modeling? Would he pursue one of the many hobbies he’d be forced to collect during his lycee years? Who knows?

So, for now, he dodged the question by changing it to everyone’s favorite topic.

“Have you guys spoken with Marinette much recently?”

If they noticed his blatant evasion, they didn’t mention it.

“She tries to come over for dinner during the weekends,” Sabine said. “But other than that, no.”

“We aren’t that surprised, though.” Tom tucked the empty platter under his arm and leaned against the counter. “She always was the sort to throw herself into something with all her heart. Whenever we do get a chance to talk, she goes on about all the projects she’s working on.”

“And the organizations she’s joined?,” Adrien prodded.

“Not to mention how she’s become the head of some of them.” Sabine smiled proudly. “Our little girl was always a natural born leader. Even if she sometimes had a crisis of confidence, she always managed to find a way.”

Adrien smiled slyly as he finished stacking fresh baked goods. They were proud of her for being a leader, but they didn’t even know the half of it. Marinette lead more than classes and student bodies - she inspired the city and lead superheroes into battle. Adrien knew that he, at least, would follow her wherever she led.

And today, that meant letting her choose the venue of their date for today. He pulled out his phone. Still two hours to go, but…

“Do you mind if I clock out now? I’m meeting Marinette for dinner.”

“Of course, son. You’ve done more than enough for today..” As Adrien set one foot outside the store, Tom yelled after him, “I’ll let you know how your bread turns out, too. Say hello to her from us!”

Adrien flashed them a smile. “Don’t worry, I will!”

-------------

A shower, a change of clothes, and a kwami feeding later and Adrien was out the door of his apartment and heading for a nice little Italian restaurant that they both loved.

He’d been looking forward to this for days now. Finding the time for a date had proven to be very tricky ever since Marinette had started university. Not that he blamed her. He wasn’t sure about all of what university entailed, especially for a design student, but he knew that she wouldn’t leave him hanging intentionally. And he was patient. He was more than willing to wait for a date, just like when he’d tried to get that first date with her all those years ago.

His pleasant memories were disrupted by a jarring sight. Marinette was waiting for him, but there was a certain… dimmed quality to her, if that made sense. She was less vibrant. Paler. She’d done amazing work covering it up with make up, but he’d spent his entire life around the finest makeup artists in the business. Even if he hadn't see through it, there was an exhaustion in her eyes that no amount of concealer can hide.

Adrien pulled out the seat opposite her, his hand immediately reaching for hers. Her forced smile flickered and faded when she saw the worried expression on his face. She sighed.

“Yeah, I know. The semester has been a bitch.”

“But… you’re only a month in, bugaboo!” His eyebrows scrunched together in concern. “Are things really that tough over there?” He looked into her eyes. “Is there any way I can help?”

A smile - real, this time - lit up her face. “That’s very sweet of you to offer, but no. I don’t think there is.” She sighed. “Unless you want to spend a few hours holding fabrics for me, but even then-”

“Tonight? Sure, I can do that.”

“Kitty, I know you want to help, but this’ll be pretty boring.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But at least I’ll be with you, right? That’ll at least make things go a little faster.”

“I…” She bit her lower lip, a little bit of the light returning to her eyes. “Thanks. I’d actually really love the company.”

He took her hand and squeezed it. “Me too. Now,” he raised an eyebrow, “would I be right in assuming you’ve gotten so caught up in work that you haven’t been eating?”

Marinette rolled her eyes and took back her hand. “Now you’re sounding like Tikki. I promise I’m eating, Adrien. It might not be three course meals, but it keeps me going.” She distracted herself by looking at the menu again. As if she would be ordering anything but her favorite.

Adrien took the opportunity to look her over again. He was reminded of the times during summer photo shoots when his normally strict diet became even more restrictive. The way he thinned out might have looked good on the camera as he modeled swimsuits, but he remembered how awful he felt during that time. It wasn’t healthy when he did it back then, and it wasn’t any better for his girlfriend now.

Maybe it was just a transitionary period. Maybe once she had a grip on her new workload, her eating habits would return to normal. But for now, something needed to be done.

While he was plotting, the waiter arrived for their orders. While Marinette asked for her usual of arrabbiata pasta, Adrien ordered two plates of his meal, plus extra appetizers. It earned him a strange look from Marinette, but he had a plan.

They chatted over their dinner. Mostly it was Adrien letting Marinette talk - about commissions, about classes, about the other students, whatever was weighing on her mind. He asked questions when he could to keep her going, offered advice whenever he could. It was gradual, but he could see the weight slowly lifting from her shoulders as she unloaded on him. It warmed his heart to see her start to come alive again.

But eventually, their meals were eaten. Marinette shot another curious look at his second plate, which had gone completely untouched. The mystery was solved when Adrien asked for it to be boxed up.

As they walked out of the restaurant, she asked in a teasing tone, “Don’t trust me to feed you while you’re over?”

Adrien chuckled. “This,” he tapped the box, “is for you, lovebug. I want to be sure you’ll at least have one good meal after I leave.” He winked at her. “Besides, we both know I’ll be the one cooking breakfast tomorrow.”

“It’s not my fault you get up at sunrise like some sort of monster,” she grumbled, but he could see her fighting down a smile. Adrien couldn’t cook much, but breakfast was something he had down pat.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. “You’re welcome.”

-----------------

They got to her apartment and Adrien was surprised to notice that it wasn’t much different than when he had helped her unpack. It was as if she gave up on decorating partway through and her projects had taken over. And given that they moved her in not long before the school year started, that might very well have been the case.

They were barely in the door when Marinette let her hair down.

“Make yourself at home, sunshine. I’m going to slip out of this dress and into some pajamas.”

Adrien opened her refrigerator to stash the leftovers away and waited for the door to Marinette’s room to close. Once he heard the click, he opened up her purse and revealed a tiny red kwami.

Tikki blinked up at him in bemusement, a macaroon halfway to her mouth. “Um… hello, Adrien. How can I help you?”

“I can promise you Dupain-Cheng cookies if you give me the information I need.”

The kwami’s eyes widened as a calculating look passed over her face. Plagg may have been the more gluttonous of the two, but Tikki had her weaknesses. And there really wasn’t any better baked goods anywhere else.

Tikki floated out of the purse and glanced back at Marinette’s room. “You better ask quick, then.”

“Has she been eating?”

“Barely,” Tikki rolled her eyes. “If you can get her to eat more, please do. She skips meals all the time to get work done.”

“Is she taking on too much?”

Tikki shrugged. “You know how she gets. It’s a lot, but she is used to dealing with a lot.”

He’ll count that as a definite ‘maybe’ then. “How about-” Marinette’s bedroom door creaked open and Tikki flew away. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Not something reassuring, but at least now he had a sense of what he was dealing with. He walked around the couch and sifted through Marinette’s DVDs.

“Want to watch a movie while we work, bugaboo?”

Marinette sighed, a content smile on her face as she relaxed in her baggy sweater and yoga pants. “I would love to, kitty.”

-----------------

Saturday morning and Alya was already frustrated with Marinette’s apartment as she trudged up three flights of stairs. Granted, it wasn’t nearly as taxing as half the things she did as Rena Rouge, but it was the principle of the matter.

It was as she was angrily trudging up the stairs that she nearly collided with someone going the opposite direction. She managed to keep her grasp on her phone. Years of hanging out around Marinette had made sure that reflex was deeply instilled. After a quick second to confirm that she hadn’t dropped anything, she looked up at the person she’d nearly been bowled over by.

“Well, if it isn’t centerfold himself!” A wide grin crossed her face. “How’re you doing? Did you make a nocturnal visit, hm?” She waggled her eyebrows.

As hoped, Adrien blushed. “No- Well, I mean, yes, I did come over last night, but that’s not- we didn’t-”

She chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder. “Relax, sunshine. I’m teasing. Care to give me the news on what’s up with our favorite girl?”

Alya listened to Adrien as a frown slowly deepened on her face. It sounded a lot like half a dozen times Marinette had started to get too caught up in something before. Her work for Kitty Section. The many events she’d pulled off as class president for years. The weeks following Hawkmoth’s reveal. Compared to those times, this wasn’t that bad… yet. But knowing Marinette, they’d need to nip this in the bud before it blossomed into a big problem.

“...You see why I’m worried, right? It might not be serious now, but if this is how she keeps going for her entire college education…” He trailed off, nervously stepping from one foot to the other as he watched Alya.

“I get what you mean. I’ll see if I can talk some sense into her, but you know how she can be…”

Adrien seemed crestfallen. “Yeah, I know.”

“Still, thanks for the update. Don’t worry, I’m sure this is just her getting used to these big changes. See ya, later, hot shot.” Alya squeezed his arm reassuringly as they passed, already forming a game plan. She knocked on her best friend’s door.

Marinette answered. “Alya!” She smiled and wrapped her up in a hug. “I didn’t realize you’d be here so early.”

Alya smirked as she followed Marinette into her apartment. “Is that why I passed your lover in the halls? Should I give you a little warning so you can sneak him out earlier?”

Much like her boyfriend before her, Marinette blushed in embarrassment. “Alya…” she whined.

“You two are too easy,” Alya said with a snicker. She took the opportunity to put her nosy journalist skills to good work as Marinette returned to the piece she was working on.

The breakfast on the table - mostly untouched - definitely had Adrien’s hallmarks on it. The boy only knew how to make like three dishes well. All three were breakfast foods and she suspected some hairbrained advice from her boyfriend was to blame for that. She frowned when she saw that only a few bites had been taken out of it.

“Your breakfast is gonna get cold, M.”

Marinette groaned. “Now you’re sounding like Adrien. It’ll still be there when I’m done with this, I promise. I just need to-”

“Just need to have breakfast before your best friend force feeds it to you? Couldn’t agree more, M.” Alya put on a sickly sweet smile and Marinette dragged herself over to the counter. Alya joined her and sipped at the coffee she’d picked up on her way. “Now, what’s going on in Marinette land?”

While Marinette told her about a few tickets Jagged Stone had sent her for the Parisian concert, Alya dutifully listened. She had started mentally juggling her schedule to let her spend more time with Marinette. Alya was not one to let her friends suffer alone.

#Miraculous Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Adrienette #post reveal #Sabine Cheng #Tom Dupain #Alya Cesaire #Tikki #ml fanfiction #my writing #Eating Habits #The Lucky One series

37 notes · View notes

themysteryshack · 6 years

Text

See You Next Summer...

I think there’s only one other time that I’ve ever posted on this blog out-of-character. But now here I am: Lil’ ol’ Jessica, the one who conjured up this goofy blog six whole years ago.

Alas, I am just one small frog, with many big voices. Taking on every character on one askblog was probably a bit over-ambitious--I actually did that because in the beginning, I couldn’t draw worth squat and felt that if I used screenshots, including every character was this blog’s only saving grace.

Yet, Gravity Falls granted me characters so strong and rich and vibrant that it was like...they were speaking for me. Not me for them.

I started this blog on August 8th, 2013. Gideon Rises had just aired a week prior, and I was unfathomably hooked on this awesome little show...with no fandom whatsoever. Before season 2, the Gravity Falls community on Tumblr was almost non-existent. Heck, that’s the only reason I got the URL “themysteryshack.” So honestly, I thought this blog was a fun little shindig I’d keep up for a week or two as writing practice, and then send off into the void of animated obscurity. (Fun fact: I tried running a Tangled askblog in 2011...We don’t talk about that Tangled askblog).

But yet, that is far from what happened.

Out of nowhere, Gravity Falls exploded in popularity. What had started as people asking Dipper and Mabel’s favorite video game now turned into requests for life advice, for comfort, for help. As this surmounted, I was terrified that I would never be able to give you guys adequate advice--I was just one girl voicing a bunch of cartoon characters! Yet, you guys’ encouragement and love...It was overwhelming. It still is.

I read so many of you guys’ tags, and so, so many of your messages. I teared up over your kind words tonight. Thank you, thank you so much. To many, an askblog seems like nothing, but TheMysteryShack...This honestly made me who I am.

I met the love of my life through this blog, in its early days, no less. We chatted for years via fan mail before asking each other out--immediately after the airing of the Gravity Falls finale. We’ve been together ever since.

I met so many amazing friends through this blog. Artists that encouraged me, taught me, inspired me with their renditions of this lovely, lovely show. Through their support, I got my first commissions through this blog. As things grew, I was shocked to actually have people at conventions recognize my URL, just because this blog gave me the incredible honor of a voice in the community.

And above all, the feeling of just...helping people...I’ve gotten messages from so many of you that have brought me to tears through just the joy of being able to help. I had one of you tell me you’re pursuing veterinary school because of advice from Ford. Another who said the blog helped them cope with the passing of their father. And when I personally started going through some really hard times, it was like I could detach myself from everything, knowing Dipper and Mabel and Stan and everyone would be there even for me if I needed it.

I’ve had a few of you ask me why I can’t just go on hiatus and come back to TheMysteryShack after a break. Well, those of you who have been following for a while know that this blog has been hiatus soup for a while...And at this time, so many drastic things are coming up in life that I don’t know if this blog can ever be the priority it deserves to be again. So I wanted to give you all this final send-off instead of letting the blog wither away. And above all, I wanted to include all of you in its closing--You all deserve to know how valued you are.

I remember when I was celebrating 50 amazing followers, and now I’m looking at nearly 15,000--15,000 of you incredible people who took the time to send in asks, to read our responses, to laugh and cry and DANCE A JIG OF GRAVE DANGER with us. And I say “us” because the characters are still there. While this blog won’t be updating anymore, it’s not going anywhere. The Mystery Shack Crew will always be here if you need to come back and hear a friendly voice. That’s been my goal from the start, and I pray that it continues to help anyone who needs it.

I want to give a special shout-out to @galladerocksgamer for helping me with tonight’s asks, and being patient with me when I wanted to throw my laptop out the window. He embodies the characters incredibly and I truly could not have orchestrated tonight without him and his brilliant positivity and talent.

I also wanna thank Alex Hirsch for giving us this blessing of a show in the first place. From the writing to the animation to the sheer complexity of it all...I can say without a shadow of a doubt that no television show has ever meant so much to me.

And finally, I just want to specifically thank all of you, everybody who’s ever interacted with TheMysteryShack. Whether you’ve been here all six years or just discovered us tonight, it’s been my privilege to answer your questions--And house the entire shack crew in my heart all this time.

And in closing,

We’ll meet again

Don’t know where, don’t know when...

But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.

Stay weird, everyone.

~Jessica

#gravity falls #disney #askblog #ask blog #announcement #goodbye #<3

527 notes · View notes

ourneverendingpossibilities · 5 years

Text

I’m Sorry (8/?)

Anime: Kuroko no Basuke Pairing: Aomine Daiki x reader Rating: T (For course language) A/N: Oh... My... God... Guys... I’ve finally done it! After almost two years hiatus with this story... I’ve finally found motivation to complete it! There will be one or two more chapters after this. But I just... I have no words!! I apologize for it being short.. But I’m really hoping this makes up for it! And I hope you guys will continue to be patient with me as I work on commissions and other ideas I have in mind!

xxx

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions, and you were finally glad to have a bit of a break. Between dealing with Haizaki, helping Kise with Perfect Copy, and trying to understand how Aomine had ANY connection to your father, you were worn out. The idea of going to the hot springs with Touou seemed like a very good idea, but you chose to stay back, needing to come to terms with your current situation. You were still in love with Aomine Daiki. Somehow, despite it seeming like an impossibility, being able to fully admit to having those feelings made things less... stressful. Like you'd been in denial for so long, and you had to accept things would never change. You wanted Aomine to lose, because you wanted to see if he would smile again.. He always enjoyed himself when he played basketball, up until their coaches changed. The mindset of the entire team had taken a hit. Now that everyone has been separated, and their powers have been utilized in other schools, it seems to have eased the tension between the Miracles. Some of them were still strained, mainly with Akashi, but for the most part, everyone got along well. Everyone except Aomine. The conversation you had with Kise a few weeks back resonated through your memory, and you couldn't help but smile softly. xx Kise stares at you, confusion and curiosity mixed as he hesitantly takes the paper from your fingers. He almost forgets his senpais are around, but he can't find the words to ask them to leave. When he opens the letter, he skims the contents, eyebrows furrowing in deep thought. "I don't understand ____cchi..." he mutters, placing it on the table in mild disgust. "If you were supposed to come to Kaijou, why did you follow Aominecchi instead?" Rubbing your arm lightly, you let out a sigh, trying to calm your nerves, "Ryouta... I couldn't abandon Daiki... Everyone else around us had... But I swore I'd never do it... I couldn't... In the end, he means more to me than everyone else." He leans back in his chair, running a hand through his hair as he absorbs your words.. To think, he could've had you at Kaijou... To be even closer to you than he is now.. Kise is conflicted. "Is it out of pity?" You almost jump, hearing the whisper, but your resolve hardens immediately, eyes narrowing in anger and anguish. "OF COURSE NOT! YOU, of ALL people, should know that Ryouta! I'd never be friends with you guys for the sake of your titles! I never ONCE gave a shit about 'Generation of Miracles'.." your voice lowers, lips slightly trembling as you direct your gaze to the ground, waiting to be swallowed whole. "If anything, I was jealous." Those words made Kise's head snap up, eyes wide and immediately filled with confusion and hurt. "Jealous?? Why would ____cchi be jealous of us?" You couldn't meet his gaze, feeling ashamed and embarrassed for ever admitting such a dirty secret. "Why WOULDN'T I be jealous of you guys?!" your head lifted then, revealing everything to the boys around you, "You get to play the ONE sport I love with everything I have! The one thing I was exceptional at! But you guys overshadowed me, overshadowed the girls' basketball team.. And we lost the funding for it. Teiko only wanted to invest in the BOYS' team... because you six were better than me... better than our team..." You growl lightly, wiping away the stupid tears falling down your cheeks, further aggravating you.. How can you be so weak? "The closest thing I could do after that was be on the team as the 'manager'... And even though I helped Satsuki with scouting and training regimes, it didn't change the animosity I felt towards you guys... For taking the one thing I had away... Girls were jealous that I was close with you guys... But I didn't always feel that way... Some days, I felt like an outcast.. If I didn't have Satsuki and Tetsu, I would've quit the team sooner..." Kise blinked, stunned and almost breathless at your words... "Y...You almost quit.... being our manager?? But... why? What did Kurokocchi do to keep you around?" You smiled sadly, wanting this moment to be over and done with. "He told me that everyone is useful on the court, regardless of the position... He was the only one... Out of the six of you, to notice the way I felt.. How upset I was for no longer being able to play.. But the funniest thing about that... is Daiki was the one who gave him the advice in the first place..." You feel a chair being pressed against your legs, and you look at Kobori, giving him a soft smile as you sit down, gently rubbing your legs. Standing did make you tired, and this whole night had been a whirlwind of emotions.. Lately, you'd been experiencing it, and you just wanted to sleep for the next week... "Anyway, it seems Daiki has been doing more than just giving advice... Considering he somehow knows my dad.. and I wish I knew how they met.." Kise sighs, moving forward to rest a hand on top of your head, gently caressing your hair. "You know ____cchi... you could always ask him.. I don't think Aominecchi would keep that from you... If he went all the way to your house to drop off that letter in the first place." You shake your head, biting your bottom lip anxiously, "I want to... But I don't want to bother him with anything anymore... I don't want him to be burdened by me..." A light tap on the head startled you, and you whimpered slightly, turning your gaze to the hot-headed captain. "It sounds like you're running away ____..." he frowns, causing your eyes to widen slightly, "You have the right to know... And you should ask Aomine what connection he has with your father. It means a lot to you... And I bet... He's waiting for you to ask.. Why else would he give you that letter?" Kise smiles, watching the interaction between you and his captain. If anyone is able to convince you, it's him. Because he knows you'd never talk back to your senpais. Standing up, he lets out a sigh, catching your attention, "___cchi, go talk to Aominecchi... It's the only way you can fix everything. You deserve to know the truth." All you could do in a room full of boys was nod.. Because the reality is, you need to know. xx

There you sat, in your backyard, on a swing couch your mother had bought while on vacation. The cushions were comfortable, and you were feeling very tired from having to deal with a lot. However, as much as sleep sounds like the best thing to do, you made yourself stay awake, because the visitor you were expecting was to arrive soon. The sound of footsteps echoed across the cement, and you halted your movements, feet digging into the grass as a way to balance yourself. You could feel his warmth before he reached your place, a tall shadow shading you from the sun. You weren't sure what face you were making, but you turned your attention to meet his deep blue eyes. "Thanks for coming... Daiki..." His eyebrows furrowed, a hand buried in his pocket. He was a bit surprised you'd called him, unsure if he had ruined things. But when he heard the tone in your voice, he knew you had questions.. And it was his turn to come clean. "Took you long enough..." he muttered, moving to sit in the spot beside you. At first he kept his eyes on the fence, the frown growing deeper as time passed. When he had enough of the silence, he turns his gaze towards you, almost startled at the soft look in your beautiful hues.. "I'm sorry..." you whisper, a bit sheepish, "I was unsure how you'd respond... Now that you're here... I don't know what to ask..." He sighs softly, leaning back in his spot as the couch lightly sways in the breeze. "You could start from the beginning..." You bite your lip, fingers curled in your lap as you look at him, almost desperate, "H...How did you know my dad?" He turns his full attention to you, debating whether to grab your hand or just lay them in his lap. He lets them lay in his lap instead, gathering the courage to admit to everything. "We met on the day he died." xx "Y... You're.... Aomine-kun...?" The raspy voice caught Aomine's attention, his eyes widening at the scene. There, with a stab wound bigger he'd seen, was a middle-aged man, struggling to walk. Without thinking, he ran to him, stripping off his jacket and wrapping him in it, trying to urge him to sit down. "It... It's not safe for you to be walking around! Please wait here, I'll go grab ___!" "No! Don't!" The scream startled him, freezing him in place as he stared down at the man. Taking in his appearance, he recognized his eyes from a photo you showed him on one of your dates... His blood ran cold... ".... You're _____'s dad..." A weak smile curls on his lips, as he tries to nod, but only coughs up phlegm and a bit of blood... His time was running out, he had to get this to the boy quickly.. "A....Aomine-kun... P...Please... t...take this..." He's stunned to see three letters... One written for him, one addressed to your mother... and the last was addressed to you.. "D..Don't read it until you're alone... J...Just please... t....take good care.... of..... ____...." By the time the ambulance arrived, it was too late.. And despite doing everything he could for him, your father died.. leaving behind three letters. xx "I stayed with him until the doctor told me to go home... At that point, I had no idea what to do... I couldn't find it in myself to tell you... But I remember seeing Haizaki in the distance..." That sickening grin, the way he licked his finger as though he'd gotten revenge... Anger began to boil in his blood, and he wanted nothing more than to find him and beat him dead. "Dai-chan...." Your voice brings him back, and he turns his head towards you, startled at the feel of your fingers on his cheeks, wiping away a few tears that escaped their confines.. He's left stunned, breathless at the look in your eyes... There was no trace of anger, only a deep understanding and sadness... It broke his heart. Without thinking, he pulled you into his arms, burying his face in your hair as he held you close.. His mind and heart were racing, and everything he wanted to say was jumbled, incoherent.. He was a mess and the only thing soothing him was knowing you were right here... Against his chest... "I'm sorry.... ____... I wanted to tell you sooner... I just... I couldn't figure out how... I felt so ashamed... I couldn't save him.. I couldn't do anything but let Haizaki get away.." Your body is trembling, but not just from your own emotions. It was from this broken man in front of you... Who had been there the day your father died.. Who was able to meet him... before his untimely demise.. All you could do was hold him, adjusting your position so you were in his lap, burying your face in his shoulder. "D....Dai-chan...." you whisper, moving a hand to cup his cheek, wiping the few tears shedding from his beautiful blue hues. "It's okay...." you smile gently. Seeing him broken, raw and full of emotions has you caught up in a hurricane of emotions. It's hard to hold on, but seeing him shedding tears, being open and completely vulnerable with you, it has you falling in love with him all over again. "Listen, we will make him pay..." you mumble, keeping his attention focused completely on you. "It's not your fault... With everything that happened..." you stop, trying to collect your thoughts. "It hurts... But I'm happy you told me... Because I can fully heal and move on.." You find all strength has left your body, and you slump against him, burying your face in his neck. You allow yourself to be vulnerable with him, to be open and sob into his warmth embrace. You can't push him away, and his warmth seems to be the only thing keeping you together. You should be telling yourself this is wrong; that you need to let go of him because you're not with him anymore. But your heart... It tells you to keep him in your grasp, to hold him tightly until your fingers bruise. He is your safe haven, the one place you can be yourself. "_____... I'm so sorry..." he whispers, a hand gently massaging the back of your head. Without thinking, he presses a soft kiss to your temple, eyes closing as he contemplates his next words.. "_____.... I..." A soft snore reaches his ears, and he suddenly stops. Turning his head, he looks down, seeing your peaceful expression, as you sleep in his arms. He feels his eyes soften considerably, unsure how to proceed.. He thinks this is a sign to leave things as they are for now, because he doesn't want to screw up twice.. So he carefully adjusts himself, so he's laying on his side, you tucked between the rest and his arms. He figures this is the time to leave, to let you rest, but he feels a hand tug on his waist, causing him to halt. "D....Don't go... Dai-chan..." His heart melts at the soft plea, and he feels the light breeze pick up. Adjusting his position to shield you, he leans down once more, pressing a tender kiss to your forehead, letting his lips linger longer than necessary. And just like all those times in middle school, he lets himself drift to sleep, making sure he has you in his arms, never letting go.

#knb imagines #knb scenarios #aomine daiki #aomine daiki x reader #im sorry #romance #drama

42 notes · View notes

raendown · 6 years

Link

Day 14 Pairing: Madara/Tobirama Word count: 1607 Word: Ignipotent - presiding over fire

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Ignipotent - Madara/Tobirama

The temple was not empty when he arrived but Tobirama wasn't bothered much by that. He was in no hurry today; he could afford to wait for the other patrons to finish their worship before someone could see him. Finding a quiet place to set down the pack containing all of his worldly possessions, he settled down cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes.

Several hours later he was awakened by the sound of approaching footsteps, loud and sharp in the otherwise empty room. He wondered if no one had noticed him sitting there in the dark corner. The sky beyond the stained glass windows was dark with evening; the priests were probably headed home for the evening when they finally spotted him. Irritating but at least he'd not had to sit there and wait the entire time for each of the other patrons to finish their duties. Patient he might be but it was always better not to have to wait for things.

He eyed the man approaching him with a critical eye. Dark hair combed and oiled then left free to billow around him like solid smoke, eyes like coal that burned where they laid their gaze on him, a short but sturdy build. If not for the fact that Tobirama was fairly sure priests of all religions were forbidden from having a relationship with anyone but their respective gods he might have allowed his gaze to drop further and admire any other interesting features he found there. As it was he forced himself to stop at the man’s chest and inspect the stylized flame stitched out in golden thread.

Once upon a time he too had been able to afford such luxuries as well. As a child he had draped himself in the finest fabrics and gorged himself on the rarest of fruits whenever the mood took him to do so. Now he could hardly remembered what it tasted like to eat a meal not thick with preservative salts or drink water not pulled from whatever river he happened to be passing by. Life had changed a great deal over the years and only some of that had been by his own choices.

"How fare you traveler?" When the man spoke his voice was a low growl and Tobirama pursed his lips at the barely contained temper obvious in even that polite greeting. "The temple is closed, I am afraid. If you wish to worship then I suggest you come back tomorrow. We are not an inn."

"I have no wish to make offerings unless necessary. What I seek are words."

"Oh I've got words for you," he could hear the man grumbling lowly.

Reminding himself that if he lost his own temper he would get no answers in return, Tobirama took a deep breath before speaking again. "Information, I need information and I have very few other places left to look but straight in to the fire."

"Hn. Ask your questions."

"First I would know how your worship works. You speak for the fire, yes? Or does it listen to you? I'm not very religious; never thought it was all that important to know this shit." A terrible oversight, that. He'd had lessons as a child, of course, just as all the other children of privilege, but he remembered thinking them boring and sneaking in texts from his other lessons to read instead.

Perhaps if he had learned to listen to the fire back then he wouldn't have to ask someone else to do so for him now. The priest eyed him as though wondering whether or not to reveal such things and Tobirama frowned. He hadn't even asked the difficult questions yet and already the man was being tight-lipped. Maybe he should come back tomorrow and seek out someone else to speak with. Just as he thought to do so, however, the man finally spoke.

"The fire listens to our pleas and we interpret the response it gives, although such responses are not always what our supplicants are looking for. As always, I warn you that the fire does not care for earthly woes but follows its own path."

"A destructive path," Tobirama said.

"Can you blame a bird for flying?" The priest demanded. "None should ever blame a fire for burning for that is its nature. Blame the one who gave the fire a place to feed."

Seeing his opening, Tobirama rose to his feet. "That is precisely what I am trying to do. If you would allow it, I wish to ask the flames one question."

"Only one?"

"Yes. Wait...two. Possibly two questions, depending on the answer to the first."

Eyeing him dubiously once more, the priest blew out an exasperated sigh but turned and beckoned him forward. Out of sheer habit Tobirama found his eyes dropping down to admire the sight before him. Dedicated to his god or no, that was the finest ass he'd seen in a long time.

When they approached the altar where the ever-burning fires danced and cast their shadows he sort of expected something dramatic or at least respectful. Instead all he got was an unfairly attractive priest coming to an abrupt halt and waving one arm unceremoniously at the threadbare pillows below the altar.

"There you go. Present yourself and ask your questions. Honestly if I wasn't so damn curious I'd have kicked you out already."

"My utmost thanks," Tobirama drawled, doing his best to be obvious about his insincerity. He got the impression that the other man only barely resisted sticking out his tongue. Kneeling on the pillow, he set aside the cranky priest and let the memories he hated most well up inside him. “Spirits of fire, I ask this of you because I have no other options. Long ago you were set free amongst my people, within my home, and you claimed the lives of my two younger brothers. I seek the name of the one who sent you there to feed.”

For years he had sought the man who set fire to his home and for years he had followed trail after trail only for each and every one of them to grow cold, always just when it seemed he might finally have the answers he so desperately craved. His only surviving brother now lived in the house that had been built over the ashes of the one that burned down but it had taken only a month for Tobirama to realize that he could not rest there, could never feel at home there until he had found the ones responsible for Itama and Kawarama’s deaths.

Only justice would bring him rest.

Since that day he had wandered as a vagabond searching every corner of every country, chasing even the smallest scrap of information regarding enemies of the Senju family. In his self-importance he had assumed he could find the perpetrators without asking the fire spirits’ help and yet…

“They have an answer, if you wish to hear it.” The priest’s voice was much less angry now, Tobirama noted.

“I will hear it.”

“Weary traveler, burning heart, the one you seek feeds us still. By the name of Ginkaku may he be called.”

Tobirama drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “Spirits of fire, I ask that you tell me where to find this man.”

“By the bones of the brother he sacrificed does he reside in the place where he first bade us to feed. My priest will lead you there – wait what!? No! I don’t want–!” The voice behind his left shoulder cutoff suddenly when the flames on their altar rose up in response to his protests. With eyebrows raised, admittedly at least a little afraid of angering the spirits, Tobirama turned to see the man behind him subsiding in to a pout. “Alright fine! But I don’t like it!”

When Tobirama looked forward again the flames were dancing with a funny little hiccup and he realized with no small amount of wonder that they were laughing.

“Alright get up, you, they’re not saying anything more than that. Stupid fucking…I like it here! I don’t know what’s gotten in to their heads to make me traipse halfway across the continent just to play guide for you!” The priest huffed several times out of his nose while Tobirama very carefully did not suggest just pointing out the location on a map. On the one hand he was curious to see how long it would take the man to think of that on his own. And on the other hand, well, it had been quite some time since he’d had any company on his travels. Having such an attractive companion certainly wouldn’t hurt.

“Do I get to know the name of my guide or shall I continue to just call you ‘priest’?”

“My name is Madara,” was his growling reply. Tobirama rolled the name off his tongue a few times.

Then he stood from the pillow, bowed to the flames, and turned to offer Madara his hand. “My name is Tobirama and I suppose I should be honored to have you along.”

“You should be, yes.” Madara sniffed and turned to storm off, presumably towards his private rooms within the temple so he could pack for their journey. He probably hoped to have some privacy but Tobirama had a feeling this was the sort of man you never wanted to let out of your sight for any extended periods of time.

A grin touched his face as he followed. Whatever awaited them on their journey, at least now he would have a bit of entertainment along the way.

#rae writes #march of the drabbles #madatobi #madara #tobirama #fanfiction

20 notes · View notes

spnfanficpond · 6 years

Text

November 2018 Pond LiveChat Recap

We had a great time chatting with Rhi, @kittenofdoomage!!! Thank you so much for joining us!

We talked about getting readers, interacting with readers, and how Tumblr has made it more and more difficult with their changes for new writers to get noticed. Details from our discussion with Rhi under the cut, as well as notes on what we’re working on in the Pond!

Q: Do you wait until you are done writing a series before you begin posting, or do you post as you write?

I wait until I'm done writing a series. At some point, the idea will catch me and I have to write the entire thing, which will take about three days. Editing for another 1-2 depending on my betas and then it gets released in its entirety on Patreon (my patrons like reading the entire fic in one go, they're paying for it so I'm not gonna make 'em wait) and comes out in chapters on Tumblr about three-four weeks later. I hate feeling like I'm making people wait too long and then shit happens like it did with three of my permanently hiatused fics.

Q: Well, as for why we're here, Rhi, you get so many asks every day. How do you have such involved readers?

A lot of my readers who respond are regulars. I have those who pop up with the odd "this is awesome" and those who will write long involved reviews which I love!

Q: Do you think there's anything in particular that you do that encourages people to interact with you?

Yeah, I'm open with people and pretty approachable. I like discussing things, plot points, characters, anything really. There are very few things that trigger me, too. I have only three specific things that will turn me away from a fic. I think my lack of triggers helps with people who need someone like that to talk to.

Q: Do you ever ask around and try to figure out what people are looking to read to try and help boost your reader count or do you just draw inspiration from your own ideas?

At the moment, I'm mostly working on commissions, so it's other people's ideas. I'm lucky that most of my Patrons and commissioners are very patient with me and know up front that I have no specific time limits. I will write it but I can't force it. And I won't force it because that leaves everyone with a shit story.I never put an idea away forever though. I write them all down. If inspiration hits for something, I write it there and then because I never know if I'll get that mojo back.

Q: Has there ever been an Idea that has caught you by surprise when you start it as one thing but it ends up as something else?

Only about six thousand times.

Over The Hills And Far Away that I'm writing now, was supposed to only be a Dean x reader but my reader decided to go and have chemistry with Sam too.

Q: Have you noticed a bump in followers after you do anything specific?

I always have a bump in followers after Sinful Sunday. Unfortunately, I always end up with a bump in unsolicited dick pics and porn bots, too, so a purge usually follows. When I post new characters or fandoms, too. I've recently picked up a bunch of Marvel followers.

Q: As a big blog, you must also get some hate. How do you deal with that?

They don't like me because I play with them and their insults are like water off a duck's back with me. Unless they bring my kid into it. I shut an entire set of blogs down when that happened. That's also why I no longer post anything to do with my daughter. I will avoid using her name wherever possible. If I'm in a bad mood, I ignore it. If I'm feeling like an utter bitch, I'll tear them a new asshole.

Q: Rhi, it sounds like you have a lot on your plate with family, work, and writing. Is there anything in particular that keeps your creativity flowing so you don't burn out?

I try and do something different every day. Painting, gaming, going for a walk - it's important for me not to spend all my time on one thing. Even if it's just cleaning. I also listen to a lot of music - Classic Rock on Absolute Radio is my fav. Actually, my favorite time to think about fics is when I'm about to go to sleep.

Q: I'm not sure how to even ask this, but I came into the spn fic fandom a little late and so I'm finding it difficult to gather new followers. Do you have any advice? I have a master post with the few pieces I've written but I've gotten a lot of flack for writing OCs...

Tumblr is not helping with regards to gaining new followers lately. Tags aren't working if you're an NSFW blog, no one can search anything. The only thing I can suggest is reblogging, asking other authors if they'll read your work.

[Other suggestions from the chat included submitting fics to @dirtysupernaturalimagines and the Pond, joining other people’s writing challenges (The Pond’s S14 Challenge is here, @thing-you-do-with-that-thing is always running challenges, and @mrswhozeewhatsis has a tag #writing challenge on her blog). Also, “Tumblr loves porn” and the fandom loves Dean, in particular, so writing more Dean smut will get you more readers. Just adding “Dean x Reader” to the tags, even if the relationship is barely mentioned, will get you more readers. Sam will get you the same result, but to a lesser extent. Rhi got bigger writing ABO fics, and carved out a niche for herself with them to the point she’s considered the ABO expert in reader insert fics. Another tip was to strip OC’s of names and defining physical features, since OC’s don’t get a lot of love. Many “Y/N”’s are actually just OC’s without a name. Also, if you’re writing a story that will eventually have smut, list “eventual smut” in the tags.]

Q: Random question: a bunch of us smaller blogs have noticed a drop in reblogs over the last year or so, and I'd be curious to know if, as a bigger blog, you've seen anything like this as well?

Absolutely. A year ago I was getting about 10-20k notes a day. Now, if I hit a thousand, it's a good day and I'm expecting to take a massive hit because of Sinful Sunday, if they don't entirely delete my blog.

Q: Does anyone have any idea why the notes have all dropped so much? Is it a glitch in notes? People being more apprehensive to reblog nsfw things because of all the nsfw fear going on?

Community responses: The posts with outside links not showing up in searches is related to bots and porn blogs that only reblog posts to add a link to a sketchy outside web page. Several months ago, though, Tumblr started the “best stuff first” algorithm (which can be turned off in your dashboard settings, but not everyone knows this), and that pushed posts with few notes to the bottom of the dashboard feed. Since you never really get to the bottom, those posts never get seen. Tags and reblogs to build up note counts are the only way to combat this. Now, messing with the search functions means that there will be no new readers without blogs that just reblog fics, like the Pond and @dirtysupernaturalimagines and such.

[Editor’s Note: Rhi told us she’s working on a UPS Driver!Sam fic!! I’m excited. “What can Brown do for me?” YES, PLEASE!]

What’s coming up in the Pond:

Angel Fish Award nominations are due by the end of the month, so you have less than a week to submit yours and gain an entry for every nomination into the raffle! Win fabulous prizes just for spreading love! HOW COOL IS THAT? (Also, don’t forget to submit your own fics to the Pond so that other Pond members can easily find them and nominate them!)

Note: Please use the submission form to submit nominations. Asks do not allow you to include a link to the fic, and sometimes we can’t find what you’re nominating, especially now that Tumblr searches don’t work.

Design contest to find a Pond graphic! Entries are due by the end of the month, so less than a week away! So far, we have ONE (1) entry! (I mean, it’s a pretty fabulous entry, but still!) Winner gets their choice of swag with their design on it!!

SPNFanFicPond Season 14 Weekly Episode Writing Challenge - Since we didn’t have a new episode this past Thursday, the previous week’s challenge is still collecting submissions. (Honestly, there’s no deadline on any of them. Post a fic using a prompt from any week, and you’ll still be added to the masterpost and reblogged on the Pond blog.)

New Member Spotlight Post coming soon! Check out last month’s post here!

Still accepting additions and discussion about the Warning Tag List (tags to be used to assist folks in avoiding triggers and protect their mental health, not be confused with tags to help people find or avoid preferences). Reply or reblog the post itself, or send an ask to the Pond with suggestions!

Plans are in the works to try and make the blog more app-friendly. Please be patient with us in the meantime!

Plans to expand the beta program to make it easier to find the type of beta you need are also on the to-do list.

Housekeeping Note: If you send an ask to the Pond and do not get a response in a couple of days, please notify one of the admins (Michelle - @mrswhozeewhatsis, Mana - @manawhaat, or Kale - @aprofoundbondwithdean) via IM and let us know!

Thanks to everyone who joined us this month and made it an awesome conversation!! Can’t wait for next month!

Next month’s discussion: Giving feedback to other writers and how a beta reader can help your writing! Joining us will be @littlegreenplasticsoldier!

Be there Dec. 15th at the usual time! (Los Angeles - 2PM, New York - 5PM, London - 10PM, Melbourne - Sunday 9AM)

#spnfanficpond #chat room #spnfanficpond live chat #THE CHAT ROOM #pond chat

16 notes · View notes

texanredrose · 6 years

Text

Vent Post

Alright, I don’t typically do this, but I’ve hit my limit. Please understand, while I appreciate the love and support my stories have received, there is a trend that I have to address because it’s gotten to the point where it’s beyond ridiculous. After talking about it here, I honestly don’t want to have to bring it up again, and I expect no one to go harassing others over it. This isn’t directed at a single person and, for the most part, y’all have been wonderful; I truly couldn’t be more thankful.

However, if you’ve ever left a comment/review regarding Queens of Vale on another work of mine, especially if you didn’t ever leave a comment/review on Queens of Vale itself, and doubly so if you did that without actually reading the contents of the work in question? This is for you.

TL;DR: to everyone who loves Queens of Vale, I’m so sorry the next chapter hasn’t been posted yet. I would love nothing more than to return to it. But I also haven’t gone two weeks without someone using one of my other works to try to guilt trip me into posting it, and that kinda ticks me off.

Text contents of the above picture: “YYBB does have a point. I would LOVE to go back to working on QoV- or Freezerburn fics in general, really- but the amount of comments in that vein I've received have made it a sore spot, to the point where I've considered deleting it from FFN and AO3 entirely just so I don't have to deal with it anymore. It's also a big reason why I don't post promptly from tumblr to AO3/FFN, because each time I do- even though I've completely stopped writing FB and QoV- I get at least one comment/review/PM like this. I thank you for at least addressing the contents of THIS fic, since a lot of the ones I've received don't do that. You've also at least reviewed QoV before which, again, is something most people DON'T do when they leave comments like this on my other fics.

None of my fics are forgotten or abandoned. I go back and reread them myself and work on updates for them all the time! The next update for QoV, for instance, has been nearly completed for the better part of a year now. But I write what strikes my fancy in the moment and constantly being treated like my hobby should be dictated by others is extremely discouraging. Ultimately, I'm going to do what makes me happiest, because until writing starts paying my bills, I've really no inclination to put undue pressure on myself by compromising my free time to meet arbitrary deadlines.

I DO appreciate that you love the story. A lot of people do and that's fine! I'm absolutely FLOORED by how many fell in love with it! But, if people stopped hounding me to update it (the current record is less than two weeks), it would've HAD an update by now, much like several other fics that I updated or wrote sequels that no one asked for.

I also apologize for the wall of text. This just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back. (I usually delete the aforementioned comments/reviews- which is hard as hell to do on FFN btw- but silence isn't getting me anywhere, so it seems like a tumblr post is in order.)”

For well over a year, I’ve been receiving all manner of comments/reviews/PMs/asks regarding the next update for QoV. They’ve ranged from polite questions to outright demands. At first, I tried to take them with a grain of salt- for anyone who actually read the Author’s Note at the end of the last chapter, you’ll know that I had to rewrite chapters, and thus it would take time for the next update to come because I had other commitments- but as time wore on, I became discouraged from continuing it when the other, smaller things I’d written started getting reviews/comments addressing QoV instead.

I love the stories I’ve written. I love the characters I’ve written. I genuinely care about each and every one and try to put the same love and care into all of them. Can you imagine how frustrating it can be when someone who didn’t even bother to tell you they liked something only mentions it when you’ve offered up something different? And people trying to guilt me into it, like I owe anything to people who couldn’t give the five seconds it takes to type up “this is cute” or “I like this”?

Understand, I’ve been putting up with this for three years- you would be shocked by how many people combed through my previous works to comment about how “it’s too bad you don’t write [ship] because your writing is so good!” Like, examine that statement for a minute; if my writing’s that good, does it matter which ship I write? Judging by how many people have responded to even the most niche ships I’ve written for, I’m going to answer that: no, it absolutely doesn’t. It’s just a method of trying to make me doubt my own abilities and passion, to push me to write something I don’t want to write.

Incidentally, my NOTP list? Entirely comprised of the suggestions other people have provided in reviews/comments like that. Because I don’t believe in rewarding bullies or praising bad behavior by bending to it, even for ships I honestly wouldn’t mind writing. So I’ve dealt with this, on a regular basis, all this time, in silence.

But enough is enough. The ones I’ve gotten recently? Couldn’t even be bothered to read the “this is a commission” literally at the top; the story’s written (mostly), I’m just posting at the customer’s request.

Do you know how infuriating that is? Here I am, writing something that literally tells you what’s up, but you aren’t going to read it because... you want to read... something else? ??? Where is the logic? How can I even be sure you read any part of QoV- because, again, a lot of people doing this didn’t comment/review, so it’s not like I know for sure- and aren’t just doing it for some sort of smug satisfaction? Really, there’s no motivation here to even open the draft.

Y’all, I’m sorry for getting so long winded about this, but it has been building for a while. I’m a little annoyed, to put things lightly. And, yes, I have considered pulling the story from the internet entirely; I’ve gotten to that point before because if anyone thinks I’m scared of threats, they’ve got another thing coming. I’ll call your bluff and look you in the eye while I do it. I’ve tagged people before, telling them to save a local copy- that’s how close I’ve been to just washing my hands of it.

And the thing that hurts most of all is knowing that a lot of really good, kind people love the story, too. People who’ve been patient and understanding would love to see an update. Hell, I only even wrote it because Maka made the suggestion! Y’all are the only reason I haven’t deleted QoV and keep working on the draft. But if I post it, the people who’ve been hounding me will think their tactics worked, and they’ll either try to do it on another work of mine or to another writer entirely, and that’s the last thing I want.

So I’m just coming right out and saying it. Until I can go three weeks without someone using another fic of mine to demand an update, QoV will be abandoned. It sucks because I was so looking forward to this arc, which was going to set up some really epic scenes towards the end and focus pretty heavily on the relationship between Yang and Weiss, as well as their relationship with the rest of Patch. I was so looking forward to it, y’all don’t even know! Whenever I start reading over the draft, I get excited all over again!

I really wish it hadn’t come to this. I put out what I think is a lot of content- I’m already over 331k words for 2018, and there’s still more to come; I’m on track to exceed last year’s 340k words- but I’m doing this for fun. I love writing and telling stories, but I’m going to tell the stories I want to tell and I’m too damn stubborn for that to change any time soon.

I’ve always told y’all I’m an asshole. I’m sorry to be a dick but I’m not going to back down because a bunch of people who haven’t spent hours working on stories of their own think it’s okay to dictate how I should be doing it.

And I swear to God if someone waits three weeks and one day to do this shit again, y’all will know. Y’all will know immediately.

#Tex has some shit to get off their chest #and the sad thing is I already KNOW the people who need to read this won't #so this is just screaming into the void #but goddamnit the void's going to listen

24 notes · View notes

incandescent-creativity · 6 years

Text

SOLE Pirate AU: Part Six

Cuz that’s what Beth is trying to do, after all, is save everyone’s ass.

In case you missed it: Part One ||| Two ||| Three ||| Four ||| Five

Tagging @kometa-makes-art @homesteadhorner @merigreenleaf @perringcentral @eyes-of-golden-light @no-url-ideas-tho @knightedwriter @cog-writes @boothewriter @gettingitwrite @roselinproductions @halfbloodlycan @dreamwishing @nicholewrites @writerofwriting @ava-burton-writing for this! If you want to be added to the tag list just let me know!

Last Time:

“Well, we can’t fight a dragon alone,” Beth reasons. “So for now, I think we’re going to go ashore. It’s time to call in a few friends.”

It has been a long time since the daughter of the sea had returned to land.

She has come to rely on power granted to her by being out on the open ocean, and leaving that is not something she does lightly. Instead, Hans and other crew members are usually sent to ensure that they resupply effectively. The system has always worked, but it was a system that operated under the assumption that there is not a dragon powering up to destroy the civilized world.

So it is the Captain herself who walks through the market to find the forge.

Wings of Steel is a forge unlike any other. Most smithies operate in pairs or trios, and serve one to two customers a week. The Wings shop is unusual in the fact that its single owner manages to produce four to five in a week. His work is always marked with an etching of a feather, and people travel from far and wide to commission him.

Leaving her first mate outside by the door, Beth steps in to the shop.

The heat is immediately taxing. Even though the ovens are in the back, Beth can still feel the heat pushing at her, trying to get inside her. Edging closer to the doorway, she calls out through the space. If nobody answers, she’s going to have to get Hans—no way she can get closer to those ovens without dangerously overheating.

But in between the discordant clangs of metal on metal, the Captain hears a voice. “I’ll be out with ye in a minute!”

Thank gods. Beth leans against the doorframe, waiting patiently until the smith comes around the corner.

He is shorter than the Captain, with dirty blond hair and a round face. His stocky build and meaty hands speak of strength, despite his short stature. Those hands are currently drying themselves on a towel as his pale blue eyes widen at Beth’s appearance in his shop.

Almost immediately, Matt throws the towel down on the counter and walks out around it. “Well, I thought that voice sounded familiar!” She accepts his hug with a smile. “What’re ye doing here? I thought you’d be off, sailing the wild blue yonder.”

“Well, I was,” she admits. “But then the strangest thing happened.” Beth quickly fills her old friend in on how they found Christian, and the story he told them.

“So you’ve come for weapons,” Matt summarizes at the end of the story. “Dragon fighting weapons.” He sighs, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. “I don’t know if I have anything for ya built already, but I might be able to throw something together in the next few days.”

“That would be great, but—”

“All right, let me tell Hallie and we’ll get on that.” Matt turns his back on Beth to walk deeper into the forge.

Beth reaches out a hand and catches him on the shoulder. “Wait, what? You’re not working alone anymore?” A quick glance around the forge doesn’t reveal anyone standing around. “Did you take an apprentice?” It’s doubtful, since Matt’s gift for forging can’t really be taught, but Beth supposes it’s still a possibility.

“No,” Matt says with a laugh, “but I did find someone to form a partnership with.” He’s stopped heading for the back and is now leaning on the counter to talk to her.

“Matt the blacksmith,” Beth marvels. “You’ve finally settled down.”

He scoffs, but keeps a smile on his face. “Hardly. Hallie isn’t really my kind.”

“Then why keep her on?” Beth questions. “You know your strength can’t be taught, and you’ve always managed the shop on your own.” All of civilization might be in danger, but it has been years since she’s visited Matt. We have a lot of catching up to do.

“Well, I caught her trying to steal from my money box,” he explains. “That’s when I found out…” Matt takes a deep breath, as if to steady himself. “She’s like us, Beth,” he says quietly. “Her abilities… She can move faster than the eye can see, and stop a man in his tracks. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

A moment of silence passed between them. Matt’s face is, for once, devoid of any smile. His eyes are instead watching Beth for her reaction.

Finally, she claps her hands together and reasons, “Well, then I think you should ask her if she wants to go fight a dragon. If she says yes, great. If she says no, then you have someone to watch your forge for ya.”

Matt holds up one hand, confusion wrinkling his forehead. “Wait a sec, you never said anything about leavin’.”

“That’s why I came here,” Beth insists. “To ask you to fight with us. I can’t do it on my own, Matt.”

“You have Hans,” he points out. “Unless something happened to him?” Worry crosses his face. “Wait, he’s okay, right?”

“He’s just outside the door,” Beth reassures him. “And of course I have him, but…” She pauses, as if considering what to say. “It’s a dragon, Matt. We can’t fight it on our own. Please,” she pleads. “We need you.”

Matt stays silent, leaning against the counter with his arms folded and a contemplative stare. Beth just raises her eyebrow, waiting for his decision.

Finally, he sighs and says, “Well, I’ll admit that I haven’t gotten out on the sea in a while.”

Beth’s shoulders sag in relief, and she smiles. “Thank you.” A step closer to him reminds her of the heat in the forge, and she backtracks. “I think I’m gonna… I’ll be waiting outside for you. I need to… to get out of this heat.”

“You do that,” Matt agrees. “I’ll grab Hallie and get her started on some dragon killing weapons. We’ll make this top priority, which means they’ll be done tomorrow. Two days from now at the latest.”

Beth smiles at him over her shoulder. “You know where we’re docked, so we’ll see you then.” And with that, the Captain finally escapes the heat to return to her ocean.

#pirate au #pirates #my writing #am writing #original writing #sole pirate au #au tuesday #only one part today i apologize

41 notes · View notes

dailythranduilproject · 7 years

Photo

Today it’s @floranocturna turn with being interviewed! I would like to thank you for sharing with all of us! - Mirky.

General Questions: Username(s) we can find you under: Floranocturna and The Real Floranocturna (FanFiction.Net)

What Media do you create? Fanfictions, sometimes image edits

Are you self-taught or did you go to art school? I have a Masters degree in Literature (and History) and writing is indeed my job, but writing fanfiction and fantasy stories is my passion.

Which artists have influenced your style? Mainly Tolkien and Rowling, but there are numerous others along the way,which have shaped my style into what it is now.

Which are your favourite artists? Fragonard and Boucher (yes I love French rococo) and in the fandom my favorite artists are Kinko-White and Bohemianweasel.

Where can we find your work? AO3, Wattpad, tumblr, FanFiction.net, Quotev, DeviantArt and Inkitt.

What would you say you are best known for in the fandom? My writing

Do you have a favorite pairing? *ahem* I ship Thranduil with me of course XD

Do you have a favorite creation of yours you are especially proud of? My ongoing Thranduil story *The Secret of the Forest*, which I have recently rewritten into a Thranduil/OC story (it used to be a reader insert before). I have been working on this since 2016 and this story is very close to my heart.

Do you have a favourite fictional character, besides Thranduil of course? Severus Snape, because I really love how his character is neither good nor evil and the astounding amount of depth Rowling gave him.

What other fandoms are you part of? Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Avatar

Do you do commissions? Nope, sorry, no spare time left.

Any advice/words for others in the fandom?

First: Be kind and respectful and always remember that we are in this fandom to share our love for Thranduil and not to fight over him.

Second: Do not steal other people’s hard work. This is something I had to experience myself and it is NOT nice! Create your own works and if you cannot do that then support the artists by sharing their work and encouraging them with likes and comments.

Third: If you are a writer getting started I would like you to remember that only practice makes perfect. Keep writing, keep searching for that voice of yours and keep reading! Read books, read stories and then read even more! And then sit down and write again, let the words flow and don’t think about what others will think of it. Write for yourself and only when you feel comfortable with it, then put it out there for others to see. Don’t take criticism personally, but try to see it as a possibility to grow as an author.

Personal Questions:

If you could name a song (or two or three) that would describe you or your life, what would it be? ‘Unknown Legend’ by Neil Young, ‘Lost Direction’ by Beecake, ‘Resolve’ by Sleeping At Last

Favorite color? Green

Favorite Book? Since I cannot choose only one here go my top choices: ’The Silmarillion’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ by Tolkien, Harry Potter 1-7 by Rowling, ‘Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell’ by Susanna Clarke.

Favorite movie? ‘The Fall’, because of its absolutely stunning cinematography, magical storytelling and of course Lee Pace and the adorable Cantinca Untaru.

Do you have a pet peeve? Ignorance and rudeness.

What country are you from? Austria, that place where the hills are apparently alive with the sound of music ;)

Who do you think you might have been in a past life? I have no idea, but hopefully someone remotely cool.

What do you like to do in your spare time other than create the media you work on? Photography, cosplay, reading and I enjoy taking walks alone or with my dogs while listening to music and thinking about new plot twists for my stories (yeah I can never really turn off the writing)

When did you join the fandom? I have been in the Tolkien fandom for a while (since the LOTR movies) and I have been a fan of Lee Pace already before The Hobbit movies (because of ‘the Fall’), but I started being more active around 2014/15.

TheMirkyKing’s Questions:

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

This is a difficult question, because many parts can be hard depending on my inspiration or the lack of it. The easiest part is usually the dialogue, because I just listen to what my protagonists say in my head and write it down. What’s hard is to keep track where everyone is standing, walking, moving around. Sometimes I think that my characters take on a life of their own and keep walking around and then I don’t know what are they doing. Sounds crazy, but it does happen! And actually sticking to my decisions regarding the plot is hard for me too, because I keep constantly having new ideas.

How do you fell about the upcoming series based off Middle-earth?

I do have mixed feelings about this. On one hand more Middle-earth is always a good thing and maybe a fresh take on Tolkien’s writings might bring a whole lot of characters and events to life on screen. But, and yes there is always a but, I honestly hope that the producers will not try to drag Middle-earth to Westeros, wanting to have a share in the success of Game of Thrones. Tolkien is not Martin and as much as I like Game of Thrones — hey, why do we have to wait until 2019 for that final season? —, I do not think that trying to imitate something that is successful in its own way is the path for this new Middle-earth series. Finding a new voice maybe even away from what Peter Jackson has set as standard might be a more logical and creative way to go.

If you could travel to Middle-earth, where would you want to call home?

This is an easy answer: Mirkwood of course. I would love to see Thranduil’s kingdom, especially after the War of the Ring, when the darkness has been destroyed and the forest has been renamed *Eryn Lasgalen*, the Wood of Greenleaves. I want to see the beauty of this primeval forest restored, the sunlit canopies of green and gold, the peaceful glades, flowers and trees growing in a new spring. Maybe even catch a glimpse of Thranduil’s new elk, which I am sure he will have. I’ve written about these woods so many times in my story that I somehow feel at home there although I’ve never even been there. Well, my heart is there and that is enough for me.

Follower Questions:

From @moonofmorrigan - How did you conceive the idea for your story, The Secret of the Forest?

This story started out quite simple because of my love for Thranduil, but it has grown into a much more complex project. I first had the idea of a romance, a love story with many obstacles involving an elf and a human. Over the course of 1,5 years many more layers have been added to it. I really love exploring Thranduil’s past, finding a credible backstory for his wife’s death and the many hardships he has suffered in his long lifetime, but I also have discovered that I enjoy playing around with my own characters, like the brothers Amardir and Faeldir. And the best part is that the readers like them too! This story is not just a fanfic about a beautiful Elvenking, but it is a story about love and loss, grief and sacrifice and the search for absolution. There are some universal truths to be found in this tale showing us that elves and humans might not be so different from each other after all.

From @moonofmorrigan - What things inspire you to continue writing it, and your original story about the dark elf?

Thranduil is the one thing that continues to inspire me every day to keep writing this story. But also all the readers and their comments, kudos, likes and votes keep me going. I am still overwhelmed by all the support I have gotten and the nice people I have met along the way in this fandom! My original story *The Enchanted Spring* about the dark elf Andor is my new ‘baby’ and I have a complete plot laid out already. It is quite different from my Thranduil story, although it does feature another beautiful elf. It is much darker and closer to folk tales and folklore. What I love about it is that this is all my own creation, no boundaries, no given facts. I can do whatever I want and play god in my world *evil laughter*.

@bellevox asked- I loved the fact that your husband made a song for your story. He’s a very talented musician! This is real love! If you do not mind, could you tell us a little about your family? If you do not want to, you do not need to.

I am really blessed to have such a loving husband! Not only does he support my writing, but he is also extremely patient and listens to my ramblings about plot twists, character arcs and synonyms. He has written 2 songs for my story (Nameless Lady and Thranduil’s Lament) and he keeps asking me for the next poem ;). As many of you must have guessed around here, I am a bit older than your average tumblr user, but hey, one is never too old to be passionate about something. I am a working mum of 5 (in between the age of 20 and 7) and we have 2 dogs (Yavanna and Nenya) and 3 cats (Mina, Zuko and Sansa). Our kids are growing up with Tolkien, Harry Potter and fantasy in general, Gandalf is a household name and even the little one can sing ‘They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard’ ;).

@beelovesbutterfly wanted to know- What is one cause that is dear to your heart?

As a mother of an angel baby, miscarriage and stillbirth are causes that are very close to my heart. These topics are still widely a taboo in our society and yet it happens to mothers all the time. I strongly believe that it is important to offer those mothers help and support and to let them know that they are not alone in their grief.

@beelovesbutterfly - What is your favorite flower? Daisy (it’s small, simple and perfect)

@beelovesbutterfly -Do you have a bad writing habit? I write too much. Just kidding, but no, seriously, I can deviate too much from what I want to say and I can spend hours researching synonyms and searching for that perfect word instead of just going ahead with the story. I’m trying to keep my sentences short and focused, but it’s difficult. And I have the tendency to get enamored with specific words, says my husband ;)

@beelovesbutterfly -Who is your Hollywood crush? **ahem** Lee Pace (obviously ;))

And from @eldritchmage - What story would you want to write about your favorite king that you haven’t written yet?

In have lots of other ideas about possible stories with Thranduil. I’ve been thinking on a story with an elvish OC, just to give it a different twist away from the dichotomy of mortal and immortal. But what I really would love to write is a humorous story, something light and funny and completely different from the angsty romance I am writing now. Possibly even a modern AU with Thrandy running a beauty parlor or something like that ;). I’m sure this would be loads of fun!

#interviews #floranocturna #themirkyking #dailythranduilproject #interview 3

44 notes · View notes

the-literary-witch-blog · 7 years

Text

Trick fanfic: “Letters”

Ever since reading Dare I’ve been inspired to write something new, with complete respect to the main characters Flare and Jeryn its not about them though they do make a quick appearance lol I love them don’t get me wrong but Poet and Briars extended cameo and peek into their life several years after the events of Trick gave me all the feels! I can never seem to get enough of these two, their love story is just so romantic and inspiring I just can’t let it go! So once again here is a quick one shot from me of their life together in the Autumn kingdom. I’m an amateur writer and I do all my own proof reading and editing so forgive me if its not perfect grammatically. Natalia if you read this thanks again for creating these characters and inspiring people like me with their story, I apologize if i misrepresent them in anyway.

It all started with the notes, his longing for her made clear with just a few words “I need to see you” or “I can’t stop thinking of you”, followed by a suggested place and time to meet that he scrawled hurriedly on to scraps of paper and then trusted to a faithful little ferret to deliver across the expanse of the spring palace. Her answers returned just as quickly, “I’ll be there” and “I’m counting the hours”.

These days however there was no need for secrets, in their autumn home they could hold hands in the hall without fear of someone seeing, take long walks and picnics in the orchard at sunset, and linger sweetly in a bed they shared. Still the notes never stopped, because life didn’t either, between the hectic routine of royal duties, performance training and parenting there was still so much their hearts wanted to say, and so those notes evolved into whole letters

Sometimes just a page that he had taken the time to write during breaks to catch his breath while practicing his acrobatics, other times whole pages that took a week to compose. Always she would find them hidden in places only she was sure to come across, such as under her pillow, in her desk drawer, or in the pocket of a gown. Poet, always the wordsmith never failed to perfectly express his love for her or to describe in detail his less than innocent fantasies which left Briar breathless and flushed. When she found time to write him in return she never felt like hers quite measured up to the beautiful and lyrical words He gifted her with, that was until one day - just a couple of years in to their life together in Mista - when she secretly watched from behind a corner as he found and read her most recent reply. His neutral expression lighting up instantly at the sight of fresh pages waiting to be devoured, she watched as his eyes roamed over her vows, and endearments, promises, and confessions that were just for him, he sighed almost dreamily and broke out in a boyish grin, not his usual devilish smirk but a genuine love sick smile that threatened to split his face, Briar knew it well for it was a reflection of her own. After that she never questioned the affect her letters had on him or what they meant to him again.

Time moved on, changes both happy and sad came to pass, Nicu grew and grew but his heart always remained a size larger than he was, with joy they welcomed children of their own, held each other in grief when their mothers left this world and ruled side by side with compassion and wisdom for many years. Yes, time changed many things, but not the way they felt about each other. Even as the decades passed and wrinkles were etched into their skin and their hair turned grey their passion and devotion only grew stronger.

Then came a change no one could have predicted so suddenly and that no one was ready for. One night In his 85th year Poet fell asleep beside his love and he never woke up again...

People from across the four kingdoms came far and wide to offer their support and condolences to Briar and to witness him laid to rest. The royals and nobels of the past who had scorned them were long gone, those who attended were loyal friends, subjects, and admirers from Poet’s performance days as a Jester. Among them were King Jeryn of Winter and his wife Flare, no two faces were more a welcome sight to Briar. Jeryn had kindly offered to have Poet’s body examined to determine his sudden death, promising he would be treated with the utmost care but Briar had firmly declined, “I don’t want him picked apart like that, knowing the why wont bring him back”.

When it was all said and done, when the eulogies had all been spoken, when the feasts were over and the guests had all departed and her children and grandchildren had all been kissed and consoled one final time for the night, Briar retired to her chambers where she could no longer maintain the careful composer and strength of a Queen and mother and sank to the bed with sobs wracking her chest. She couldn’t take the damn silence or the emptiness of the room, every where she looked was the evidence of his life and yet they now became the painful reminders of his absence. She had been asking herself the same questions over and over since waking up to his still form days ago, what now? What would the remainder of her days be like without his presence? without his smile and laughter? Without his touch or his kiss? Exhausted, she fell asleep were she lay on his side of the bed inhaling his scent and willing it not to fade.

When morning came she declined her ladies and maids attempts to assist her in dressing for the day, all of her usual royal duties were either on hold or had been given to trusted advisors for the time being. Soon she would need to seek out Nicu and make sure he was well, despite his advanced physical age and the progress he had made over the years with the right care Nicu’s mind remained childlike in many ways as they had known it would, and because of this he was having a difficult time grasping the loss of his father. Briar thanked the seasons for her loving and patient daughters who had been there for their brother now that he needed them most and when Briar herself couldn’t always be at his side these last few days, they had made an impossible situation more bearable. For now she pulled herself from the bed, her tired muscles and aged bones groaning in protest. After shrugging off last nights gown and grabbing a robe to cover her chemise she wandered aimlessly around the large room, glancing from the side table where he had left some of his signature ribbons, to a lonely pair of boots on the floor. Eventually her eye’s could no longer avoid gravitating to the large portrait above the fireplace, a portrait her mother had had commissioned of the two of them shortly after they had moved into the castle as a couple and a family, other portraits had been commissioned over the years, portraits they had miraculously gotten Nicu to sit for and portraits to mark birthdays and anniversaries but this one, the first one, had remained most special. What made it so was the way in which they had chosen to pose for it, instead of facing the artist they faced each other, hands clasped and eyes gazing sweetly. The artist had truly been the best in the Four Kingdoms for In that one shared look he had captured everything they had been saying without words. Briar choked on a sob, they had been so young, where had the years gone? she wondered. How could their life together already be over? Desperate for air and unable to stand the confines of the room a second a longer Briar turned from the the fireplace and opened the doors to the private balcony where she stepped out and clung to the stone railing for support, thankfully the open lawn below was empty. It took her several moments but eventually she was able to wipe her eyes and the ache in her chest subsided.. at least for the time being. How many more moments like this would she have to endure before missing him became any easier? She couldn’t imagine it ever would. Slowly she sought out her usual chair and sank in to it only to be startled by the sound of crinkling paper. Confused, Briar lifted the edge of the cushion and pulled out a wrinkled but otherwise unharmed folded piece of paper toped off with a red satin ribbon. Briar brought her hand to her lips in shock, for she knew instantly what it was and who had put it there. Carefully so as not to untie the ribbon she gently slipped it off, unfolded the pages and began to read...

Sweeting

As I write this you are currently dozing in the chair beside me, the picture of serenity and beauty. Our grandchildren are playing in the lawn below, their laughter more lovely than any musical composition could ever be. It is in perfect moments like these that I am most compelled to write my feelings down and share them with you my love. In my eighty odd years I have known more joy than I ever believed was possible to experience in one lifetime. It is to you that I have to thank for most of this. When I was young I use to be convinced that if I just trained hard enough and accomplished my dream of becoming a renowned performer and Jester that I would have everything my heart desired. And then Nicu came in to my life and I began to realize that true happiness comes from living for more than just yourself, he was my everything and I didn’t even think to wish for more, as it turned out I am apparently fates favorite fool, for more of course came in the form of you my lovely thorn, You so unexpected so surprising and yet my whole heart made room as if it had been waiting for you all along. I’ll never forget those weeks we spent in the spring castle giving in to our desires, falling in love and then the pain of our falling out, thankfully coming back together in the end. The journey since then hasn’t been without its trials, but I wouldn’t have missed a moment of it. Many (as we knew they would) despised the love we shared and expected us to fail in every way, and in every way we have defied their expectations. What they saw as fleeting infatuation has stood the test of time, our example has given others the courage to fight for love should it be found with someone of a different station. Moreover we’ve been blessed with three spectacular children and then gifted further by the birth of their children, and most importantly through our efforts and the efforts of friends we have witnessed extraordinary change in the treatment of born fools. What more could we possibly achieve out of life? I once told you that we were a tale for campfires, Nay my love we are a tale for the history books, when our lives come to an end and centuries pass they will still be telling the story of how the love between a Princess and a court Jester changed the face of the world, to be able to leave behind such a legacy with you is more than this peasant boy could have ever dreamed of. You are stirring in your sleep now and twill ruin the fun of a new letter if I am caught before I can hide it!

until next time princess, Poet

Fresh tears fell and stained the bottom of the page, these however were tears not of grief but delight at having been gifted this final message from her love. It was as if Poet were speaking to her from beyond the next life, reminding her of all she had been blessed with and all she still had to live for. Briar reread the letter several times, each time helping to lift a little more of her sadness before clutching it to her chest. For Briar the moment of Poet’s death had eclipsed everything else, instead of reflecting on precious memories and being thankful for the time they’d had she couldn’t help but feel bitter. And while this final letter from him couldn’t magically heal her broken heart his words took root inside of the cracked places and gave her strength. “he wouldn’t like to see me looking so defeated” she thought. “there is still life to live and work to be done”. Briar carefully refolded the pages and replaced the scarlet ribbon before retreating back inside to pull a large dress box from under the bed, the same box she used to hold all his letters, she placed it gently on top of all the others, and tired not to think of it as the last she would ever receive. Instead she began to speak aloud...

“you’re right Poet, true happiness comes from living for more than just yourself, and so I will continue to live for you, our family, and everything we’ve stood for so that when I follow you into the next life I can leave with no regrets just as you did, until next time Jester”

#trick #natalia jaster #dare #foolish kingdoms #andshewaits #poet x briar #poet and briar #trick fanfic #trick fanfiction

15 notes · View notes

cosmicsnowcryptid · 7 years

Text

A Long List- FAQs of the Fortnight

I am still awake, but the piece I’m working on is turning out so well. I am so pleased.

You guys, the way my art has improved the past two weeks is insane. It’s like all I needed to go back to my dream was for someone I admire very much to tell me to keep going, and the flood of love I got after that propelled me forward like crazy.

Thank you, all of you, for helping me grow.

I wish I could give Markiplier- no, I wish I could give Mark Fischbach- a hug, and then a gentle shoulder shake, and say, “Look at this good thing you did.” I know people say things like that all the time, “you changed my life”, “you saved my life”, but I think there’s something inherently touching about hearing specific stories of the positive effects of your actions, you know? Also, I think you should never refrain from thanking someone, or telling someone something positive, just because they hear it a lot. Being kind is never, ever the wrong choice.

There’s no way to reliably contact him, of course, and that’s okay. I’ll just keep making the positivity posts in the tag with the hope that spreading a little sunshine will be the best way to show my appreciation. Like I always say, I’d rather leave a thank-you unheard than a thank-you unsaid.

I am so thrilled that I’ve been able to cheer you guys up when you come into my ask box and PMs. I’ve been hearing that a lot lately from you lovely ones, and it warms my heart. All I ever want to do is make people happy.

Sorry for the gushiness. I intended to make this post only to give you guys some quick updates, but instead just babbled as usual. I am just a smol ball of emotions and can’t help but gush whenever I start to talk.

Okay, for real, on to the updates. I’m gonna address a bunch of common asks, and add in some other stuff I want you to know, so get ready for a novel here. I am very sleepy, so I hope it all makes sense!.

Ask doodles- I’m entering finals week (it’s actually more like finals-two-weeks) and I am woefully unprepared, so I won’t be able to reliably make ask doodles for a bit. That being said, feel free to keep sending requests! I don’t ever delete them- I just keep them there until I can answer them. I apologize if I’m a little late to cheer you up, but it WILL get done. I promise.

Markiplier positivity project- I’ve gotten a few concerned asks, wondering if I quit this. The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT! I just spend a lot of time on the pieces and don’t want to rush one out for the sake of having them. I know it may not seem like I spend long on them, because they’re not very good yet, but remember that I immediately dropped out of my illustration classes last year since I had zero confidence, so as it stands, I’m basically self-taught. I’m still learning! This is one of my favorite things I’m doing right now, and I’d be hard-pressed to give it up.

Art trades- this is just a general shoutout to @throughoutthestars for being patient with me. I promised them an art trade a while back and haven’t been able to do it yet, but they’ve been really understanding and so I just wanted to publicly thank them for being rad.

General art- This one’s slowing down a bit, but the good news is that both my religion class and my service class require creative pieces, so there will be at least two new pieces this week. The religious one isn’t overtly religious, so don’t worry if that’s not your thing. It’s the one I’m working on now that I’m so giddy about, and I genuinely think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, so I think you guys will enjoy it.

Art I have planned- gotten this question a few times. I have a neat, organized list in my planner of the art I want to do once I’ve moved back home for the summer. No real spoilers, but this list includes Hamilton, Markiplier, Darkiplier, some of Mark’s other characters, Mark and Hamilton together, Spider-Man, Anna, a bit of Disney, dogs, positive posts, and icons and headers for my social media. I have no shortage of ideas! I never do.

Youtube- Yep, I really am going to start Youtubing. One day I’d like to do some gaming, but for now I’m going to mostly do speed paints, and if I’m feeling up to it, I may make some Plan With Me videos. These are things I already do, so I think going the extra mile and filming them is a good idea. I’ll link you guys when the first one is up!

Twitch- the person who asked this started with, “I know you probably haven’t, but…” However, I actually have streamed on Twitch! It was a blast and I will absolutely do it again. I want to wait until I make a nice overlay before going back to it. If I do something, I want to do it right.

“You should tag your art and your doodles separately.”- That’s actually a great idea. Thanks anon.

Commissions- despite my overwhelming to-do list and pain, commissions are absolutely still open. I’m so far behind on my rent that I’ll take what I can get! I also still have my RedBubble.

Writing- roughly a fafillion asks want me to add to the Dark one-shot, or do something else with Dark. I have quite the long, complicated history with fanfiction, though, so I tend to avoid it, as much fun as I have making it. I posted that one for charity, because I promised it if we reached our fundraising goal. There will have to be something to coax more out of me. That being said, I am toying with the thought of posting some of my original writings.

“GO TO BED U LOSER”- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#theowlgivesanupdate #long #faq of the fortnight #has a nice ring to it

12 notes · View notes

inevera13 · 8 years

Text

Fate’s Predicament - Chapter 1 (NEW MLB FANFIC)

THIS IS MY FIRST FIC EVER AND I’M ACTUALLY VERY DETERMINED AND EXCITED, I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH I’LL BE ABLE TO UPDATE BUT I’M POSTING THE FIRST CHAPTER CUZ I JUST WANNA KNOW IF IT’LL HAVE ANY RESPONSE AT ALL??? IT’S A LITTLE SHORT AND SO FAR I’VE ONLY WRITTEN THREE CHAPTERS BUT I’M !!!, ANYWAY HOPE YOU ENJOY READING IT, I’M ACTUALLY PRETTY PROUD! (:

(It’s not posted yet, but here’s my AO3)

✍ ✍ ✍

Marinette picked a loose thread on her pink sweater and let it fall on her denim skirt before brushing it off. She played with the little silver hoop earrings Alya had gotten her last Christmas while waiting for said girl.

It had been a long while since the power granting, black miraculous stones had left her ears; yet, here she found herself, reminiscing. She thought of Chat Noir almost every day, even if it got less frequent and less painful over the years. It didn't consume or overwhelm her with a painful variety of feelings anymore.

Today, though, would be their 10th anniversary and, in days like these, Marinette needed all the distractions she could get.

"Hey girl!" Alya greeted upon arrival.

"Hey! Finally!" The designer said good naturedly, eyeing her friend's flowy purple dress, black biker jacket and matching booties in approval.

"Listen, i have something to show you..." Alya said, cryptically.

"Uh, okay..." She answered slowly, narrowing her eyes.

They ordered coffees and Alya looked at Marinette, increasingly excited.

"Look!" The happy girl shoved her phone on her friend's face.

"Alya, you're kind of blinding me right now. Um, that's a very nice phone...?"

"Girl. Please." Alya deadpanned "Look at all these e-mails!"

"Is that good?"

"Yes! Because-"

Their coffees arrived, the girls thanked and payed the waitress and, when she left, Alya quickly stirred the hot beverage a bit before blowing on it and gulping it down in one go, like a shot. She always did this, whilst Marinette always waited for it to cool down while calmly stirring it.

"Because...?" The now curious girl asked, black eyebrows rising.

"Because! These are all about a Chat Noir and Ladybug comeback!"

"...what?!"

"Yup."

"Why?! Did some Miraculous get stolen again? That's highly unlikely, and i think i would've heard about that."

"Nope. But the crime rate has been getting stupidly high in Paris, and the people are demanding a comeback."

"That's ridiculous!" Marinette rasped, incredulously. "The police can surely handle that. It's been six years since me and Chat left the scene... Why would they need heroes now? How did this idea even start?" The girl painfully rolled her eyes, "Besides, you know master Fu won't hand out Miraculous unless strictly necessary. We hopefully still have a lot of time until the next gen."

"Marinette." Alya whisper-shouted "The people have spoken! They want their heroes back. And, believe me, this is starting to blow up. I'm nothing but the administrator of a no longer active blog and look! I got hundreds of e-mails. The people want this, and they, we, won't stop until we get it."

Marinette sighed audibly. "Alya, don't be ridiculous. Master Fu won't be won over by a mass tantrum that isn't even directly associated with him or affects him in any way. He's a wise, patient man."

Alya smirked "We'll see." ---#####--- "I can't believe this is actually happening." Marinette whispered, eyes shut tightly.

"I told you..." Alya retorted in a small, dazed voice.

Both girls were currently looking down at a pair of very familiar polka dotted earrings, carefully stashed inside a strong wooden box that had magically appeared on Marinette's bag, for the second time in her life.

Marinette looked tentatively at Alya. "Do you think - you know - Chat got his too?" She fixed her gaze on the table in front of her. "Wherever he is. Or if i'll have a new, um, partner..."

"I don't know, honey...we can't know, we can only hope."

"I don't wanna do that. I don't want to hope. If i'm being honest, I don't even know if i actually want to see him again." She looked back at her friend. "I'm nervous, Alya. I'm gonna see Tikki again...I can't believe this. Maybe it's just- just a cruel joke. We didn't even see Master Fu at all today and...i don't know. This can't be."

"I get that you're nervous...it's a part of your life that took a lot for you to leave behind, and now it's coming back, out of thin air. But think of this as an opportunity, girl. To accept things better, or have closure..." Alya sighed "And...you said it yourself that you believe in fate. Maybe have a little more fate in fate, you know?" She paused. "Also...maybe master Fu sent someone, like that boy you helped today, to test you again, no?"

Marinette looked pensively at her journalist friend. "Maybe..."

All those years ago, the day after she had spilled her guts to Alya about everything, about a month after Hawkmoth's defeat and Chat Noir's disappearance, Marinette had gone to Master Fu's.

Eyes still red and puffy, she had said one last teary goodbye to the wooden box that contained the earrings, and the kwami, that had changed her life and had enabled her to do so much for her city. That day, her and master Fu had talked a lot about many things, some questions had been answered, including how the wielders were chosen.

At first, it had sounded a little silly to Marinette, but, with time, she understood that maybe it had been a stroke of pure fate. She definitely didn't feel like the jewels had been left in the wrong hands, so perhaps fate should be a little more trusted.

Ever since that day, she went to visit the old man at least once a month. Usually more, unless she got lost in a spiral of work where she forgot she was still a human with basic needs. Thankfully, she had people to remind her of such fact, and get her out of said spiral.

She had been at master Fu's about a week ago, and none of them had even mentioned anything miraculous related. Marinette had happily gushed about having finished a commission she was proud of, and the man himself seemed proud of her too, and happy. Everything just seemed normal.

But now, here she was, holding her past and her future in her hands. Despite missing being Ladybug, Marinette's life hadn't stopped at all. She was happy, had many good friends, an amazing family and a well paying job she loved, even if it was a bit of a risky career path.

The first year after both Tikki and Chat had left her life had been rough, but she had had Alya and master Fu to count on and talk to through it all. The girl had had a few brief relationships, but didn't really feel the need to have a romantic partner in her life. And, truth be told, since both Adrien and Chat had left, she hadn't truly liked anyone romantically, despite the casual flings and dates.

After Ladybug and Chat Noir had unmasked Gabriel Agreste, Adrien had moved to Canada to finish his studies. He hadn't said a word to anyone apart from leaving a carefully typed letter for Nino, Alya and Marinette. He'd deleted all his social media, changed his number, and went off the radar for years. Even if she hadn't been hung up on him anymore when he left - seemingly forever - it had been disheartening, and she had never felt as much hate for Hawkmoth as when she sat next to Alya on her and Nino's dark orange couch and listened to their friend read the cold sounding letter, tears silently streaming down his face.

Adrien and her had become very close friends over the years, and she had been so worried. He was the first thing that went through her mind when she saw the villain that had been terrorizing Paris for years turn into Gabriel right in front of her eyes. She had almost wanted to cover it up, just so Adrien wouldn't have to suffer. But she knew she couldn't, and Chat was already on him. Recent tabloids had talked about him possibly having come back to France a few weeks ago, but there were no clear pictures or official news yet. Some magazines venomously suggested he had come back for his father, who would probably be released sometime next year, which wasn't so far away.

"Should i...put them on?" Marinette asked tentatively.

"If you think you're ready..."

The girl inhaled and exhaled sharply before taking the earrings out of the box and putting them on.

✍ ✍ ✍

Chapter 2!

Thanks for reading! :D Follow the tag if you’d like!!

#Fate's Predicament #Miraculous #fanfic #mlb #marinette cheng #adrien agreste #chat noir #ladybug #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #adrinette #marichat #ladrien #ladynoir #zagtoon #idk what else to tag #sigh #read this plz thnx

21 notes · View notes

thoughtfulcupcakesublime · 5 years

Link

Woodbridge residents received a few updates concerning their district.

Area projects and legislative priorities were discussed at Supervisor Margaret Franklin’s first Town Hall Meeting.

It was held at Leesylvania Elementary School, 15800 Neabsco Road in Woodbridge, on Thursday.

Franklin also talked about some of the Woodbridge District office’s goals, which include looking into school lunch debt and addressing environmental issues.

Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Director Seth Hendler-Voss, Human Rights Office Executive Director Raul Torres, and School Board member Loree Williams spoke at the Town Hall Meeting, as well.

Here is a video of the meeting:

This is a transcription of the video, which was completed with 80 percent accuracy:

Franklin: Supervisor, Margaret Franklin, um, first term in office, only about three weeks now. Um, and so I’m excited to be here. Um, uh, thank you all for coming out tonight. Thank you all became to the open house. Uh, last week. Um, we have a lot of good things coming up. I want to take this time to introduce myself, my staff, some of our priorities and give you all updates on some of the infrastructure projects that we’ve been working on, including some transportation items and parks and recs items. Um, it will also be joined by, uh, Himmler boss who’s with our County parks and rec system who also provide updates, uh, as well as our human rights commission who is going to talk about the census that we have coming up this year and why it’s important to participate in my office role, uh, in getting that off the ground here.

Franklin: So, um, I’ll just going to start with some priorities and some updates and some infrastructure projects and then we’ll do Q and a after all of the, um, after all of the presentations. And I have a staffer who will be writing down cause some of you have specific concerns about your neighborhoods. We’re going to make a list of all those projects that you all have been asking about and we’ll follow up with transportation, uh, next week to see what’s actually feasible to get done, uh, and try to manage expectations with everyone, uh, in terms of where items are on the list. So, um, we’re glad you came out. We do want to hear your specific, uh, concerns, uh, whether you say it kind of an open setting or grab one of us, um, afterwards, um, we’re going to just make a list of everything and then get back to you on, uh, how feasible it is to get whatever that project is done in your community.

Franklin: So that’s kind of how this is going to go. Before I dive into my presentation, I do want to introduce my staff. Uh, uh, Pamela Montgomery is my chief of staff. Some of you may know her from the zoning commission, but she’ll be on board. So if you don’t get a chance to speak to me, find her. And she can also right now in some of your, uh, questions or concerns, uh, BJ Johnson, who I think a lot of people already know here in Woodbridge. She’s an institution she’s outside of checking people in, but she’ll be in at some point, you can always reach out to her for questions if you can’t find me. And then we have Brenda Madrona free as soon as my senior advisor who does all outreach, that’s probably who you’ll be interacting with the most. If you have specific questions about your neighborhood.

Franklin: She is out sick today. Um, and so she is not here, but I mean you call the office probably on Monday. Um, she’ll be there to, to answer some of your questions in a, to filter some of those through our County services. So again, thank you for coming. We do have a few seats in the back if people want to try and make their way back there and get a little bit more comfortable. I don’t know what I was expecting in terms of turnout, but um, this is space. We have. So, um, I do apologize for that, but I’ll just dive right into things here. Um, I want to go over first a lot of our transportation projects that are currently in motion. Just so you’re aware, and we have some maps here, um, that will outline the garage that’s supposed to be built. Um, there is a map of all of the mobility projects that are in motion completed, uh, and that are to be funded moving forward.

Franklin: And then here you will see, um, a list of all projects that are underway. You’ll have to check by magisterial district, but you’ll see there are several, uh, Woodbridge projects that you know, we’re looking to complete moving forward. Uh, and then this is just one of the examples of what we’re doing on Merino way. Uh, we’re not hoses, so I’ll just dive right into it. Um, opens Boulevard, um, we have a project involving, um, construction of approximately about 1300 feet of sidewalk along opens that’s going to connect the Potomac town center where stone bridges, uh, to the existing sidewalk where you see the library. So instead of it being separate, uh, you’re going to moving forward, see some of that connected. So, um, look out for that moving forward. Uh, it’s supposed to start, um, in January, probably be completed within a year or so. So be on the lookout for that.

Franklin: Uh, route one, I just kind of mentioned it a little bit, uh, Annapolis way to where, uh, Mary’s way is that is a V. dot. Project. I’ve gotten a lot of calls about what’s going on with route one. Why is it taking so long? Uh, we’re here and stuff date from Annapolis to Mary’s way. That is a V. dot. Project that should be completed, um, at the end of this year. Um, so you’ll see a little bit of a freedom with regards to congestion after that’s done. Um, but you know, it took a little bit of patience to get there from, uh, Mary’s way to Featherstone. Uh, that is, uh, right now construction is the construction that you see is actually then putting utilities underground. Uh, once that is done, which is supposed to be at the end of this year, um, you’ll see the construction of the actual widening. Um, and that’s to be completed in 2022.

Franklin: Uh, so that’s the update there. A couple more years and then you’ll see the widening from, uh, till about six lanes total, three on each side going North and South, um, Annapolis way. Um, we’re going to extend Annapolis way to connect route one to one 23. Uh, if, you know, when you get off, it doesn’t quite connect and it’s kind of a pains across all lanes. We’re gonna connect that to make it a bit easier. There is any app, skull mills widening that’s underway. It has not started yet. Right now we’re in the process of what’s called a right away, working with the businesses to, uh, obtain some of the land to start construction. Uh, next will be the utilities, um, and making sure the utilities go underground. And then third will come to construction. So that’ll start in 2021 and it’s gonna take about a couple of years to do so. Um, the expected date of completion will be 20, 23.

Franklin: Uh, you know, that’s going to be a project where you’ll need to be patient with that because obviously right now it’s one lane up, one lane down. Uh, and so with construction you can just imagine it’s going to be a lot more congested. So from 2021 to 2023, we’re just going to have to ask for your patience on that. Um, so that’s where we are with that. And then you all may be familiar with, uh, the parking garage that was proposed across from Sentara, where the town center is. That’s going to be 1400, um, parking spaces. Uh, and it’s going to be in conjunction with the NAB skull mills widening project. Um, that is a County owned land. And, uh, the course of that discussion was pretty much, where do we put another commuter lot to relieve, um, issues at two 34 because that space fills up around 7:00 AM.

Franklin: Um, and then not to have our commuters go all the way to Horner and Telegraph. I park at Telegraph feels a very quickly. Um, and so, uh, the question was where do we put it in the middle of those two? Potomac town center, uh, was where the County has a science, but the land had a lot of concerns about that and a lot of, uh, questions about traffic congestion. Um, you know, that is a project that got underway before I came. And so my goal is just to figure out how, uh, to help mitigate the impact of that traffic. We think that it’s going to help a little bit coming off the interstate because the plan is to have a lane going from 95 straight into the parking lot. Hopefully that will work. Um, and then also I’ve raised concerns to D a to V.

Franklin: dot. In our transportation officials to say, make sure that we have security features, uh, in place. Because if you park at Horner, you know that you may come home and your tires won’t be there. Uh, so we want to make sure that we have enough cameras. We want to make sure that, um, we’re encouraging people, um, to basically be as safe as possible. If you’re going to have 1400 parking slots in the garage. So it is the first parking garage that we’ll see, um, on the Eastern end of the County. Uh, and so it’s kind of a, we have I think 300 or 400 spaces at the VRE life. But in terms of just straight commuter, uh, this is, this is a huge project. So, um, if you have questions about that, feel free to call our office and we can raise any concerns or just any pose, any questions to our local transportation officials.

Franklin: Cause that’s going to be a huge project there. Um, some park and recreation projects we have in Belmont Bay, we have the Belmont park bridge replacement, um, Hamill mill park. We have some pavement paving that. We’re going to do some site improvements, um, to comply with ADA regulations. Um, and then there’s gonna be a retaining wall replacement. Every pawn lodge we have, um, we’re gonna install a flat roof, a front gate, also some ADA, um, regulations we need to abide by. And then we’ll do an interior sidewalk. I have veterans park, there’s going to be a court pavement for the basketball, tennis court, um, at NAB, skull regional. We’re going to connect the Julie Metz, Annalise van state park boardwalks and then we’re going to do a boat launch at Ripon landing and then also have an exercise trail. And then we’re constantly working on the Aqua quaint, the Occoquan Greenway trail.

Franklin: Uh, and so those are just some, uh, parked items that we have coming up. Also, Seth is gonna, uh, delve a little bit more into some of those projects as well as some other things that we’re looking to do. And with bridge, a lot of you know that, um, you know, the plan is to try and revitalize, uh, North Woodbridge, uh, and really the route one corridor or that’s something that’s very important to me. So we do have a small area plan where the goal is to revitalize and put some mixed use development there, including commercial, uh, as well as some residential. And so, um, my goal is to seek public comments on the next center, so from you all to hear what you want up and down route one, which you don’t want. Um, make sure that I’m providing regular updates to you all in terms of what development is to look like, uh, within that plan.

Franklin: Um, and then also talk to our businesses to figure out what their interests are and to really lure more businesses up and down the route one corridor that are diverse in nature. Um, and then also protecting the businesses that are already there because we know when you bring growth, sometimes people get moved out and we don’t want that. We want to protect our businesses. We also want to promote our minority owned businesses and making sure that, um, they have a place here in Woodbridge and Prince William and that we’re providing support, um, for their businesses as well. So that’s very important to me. Um, and then, uh, like I said, for the businesses that are already here, we want to help them grow and expand and we want to help them do it right here in Woodbridge. Um, so that’s all, uh, all of our priorities for the small area plan.

Franklin: But again, we’re looking for comments from you all and tell us what you want. And so beyond the lookout from us to say, Hey, this is what we’re looking to do. Uh, what do you all think about that? Some education priorities. We are of our school board member here, Ms. Lori Williams. Uh, we’re gonna work very closely together on our capital improvement plan. Uh, we’re going to ask questions like, you know, what are the needs of Eastern Prince William? Where are the needs up and down route one? Uh, do we need more schools? Do we need to expand and increase, uh, access to the current schools that we have? Do we have enough resources for administrative services and technical services? Those are the things that we’re going to talk about in many more items in, uh, I’ll give the floor to Lori later on to kind of give an update on what they’re working on and what she needs from us as partners.

Franklin: Obviously the board of County supervisors, we give the school board their funding, so they’re going to be some very specific funding items that’s going to be important to Woodbridge. And I’m hoping she’ll be able to speak a little bit about that. Um, some, uh, legislative priorities for Richmond that we have. Um, transportation is the number one, uh, making sure that, uh, we have our fair share of dollars that are coming into Woodbridge for our tutor services as well as local services. Um, many of you may know that, uh, we get a lot of our revenue from the gas tax. Um, over the years the gas tax has not, um, generate as much revenue as we’ve needed to sustain a lot of our transportation items. And so we’ve had to get those funding sources from elsewhere, but we want to make sure that we’re being good partners with Richmond and that our delegation understands that the dollars we put in for taxes, they need to come back to Prince William and our transportation infrastructure.

Franklin: So that’s going to be important. Um, you know, we’re paying close attention to the governor’s announcement with regards to the long bridge and, uh, expanding the long bridge and creating a separate, uh, rail for commuter traffic. That’s gonna increase efficiency, uh, going into D C if you take VRE. Uh, so that’s gonna be incredibly important here. Um, also there a program called smart skill funding in which, um, transportation projects are currently ranked against each other. Uh, in terms of who actually gets funding on a state level. We want to change their formula and say, uh, you know, our projects here in Prince William County that we apply for funding for shouldn’t be compared to what’s going on in, uh, Virginia Beach, right? We want our fair share, um, of, uh, funding here and we want a formula, uh, that’s fair, that where we can get our actual transportation dollars back.

Franklin: So, uh, that’s going to be important. And then some of you may have heard that, you know, there’s been talk about setting up a public defender’s office here in Prince William County. That’s going to be important for those that, uh, may need those types of services. Our state delegation has been on board and pushing for that in Richmond. And that’s something that’s important to us. Lastly, uh, the census, the census is a priority for my office. Uh, we’ve been working closely with our congressional delegation as well as, uh, the human rights commission. Who’s going to speak a little bit about that, uh, to let people know that the census is coming. Uh, we’re hiring for the census. We want people in the community, uh, that look like the community to encourage people to participate in the census. Um, so we want people to know what is the census, why is it important?

Franklin: Uh, and why should we participate? I mean, if, you know, when we participate in a census, we get federal dollars based on our level of participation. So we want as many people participating in the census as possible. Uh, and so that’s going to be really important. So those are pretty much kind of the priorities that we’ve been looking at. My office has some very specific budget priorities that we’ll be looking for. Um, eliminating, um, school lunch debt that a lot of our students have. A lot of our students in our district have that issue and we want to see budget wise from the board of County supervisors. How can we create a system in which there is no lunch debt for students? As you know, um, some students are prevented from graduating, um, because of that lunch debt. So that’s something we want to take a look into.

Franklin: It doesn’t mean we’re going to solve it, but it’s something that we certainly want to fight for. We want to address some environmental issues. I’m looking into setting up a joint economic task force, bringing the CPS program here and provide to provide incentives for having energy efficient businesses and homes. Um, and then also looking into, um, a resolution to see that, to say that we want 100% green energy that we do around the County. So those are some of our goals. Um, and we hope that we can do that. The last thing is, um, or one additional things establishing a child advocacy center here in Prince William County. Um, this will help respond to the needs of, uh, victims of child abuse. Um, we have those types of centers in Loudon County and Fairfax, but Prince William County actually has the largest cases of child abuse, but we don’t have one center where you can bring all of those needs together for the victim.

Franklin: So that’s going to be important down the road. Want to look at a summer youth program. Um, all of these are budget items. So these are goals and priorities that I’ll need your help and actually pushing for. Um, and then a lot of people have, uh, come to me asking about crime issues in some of our communities. We have a meeting coming up with the police department to talk about what are those issues would have been the rates of crime over the years. Are we just being, um, are we just advertising, um, the crime rates more now than before? What are the actual issues? So those are some of the things that we’re going to be talking about. I do want to say, um, that Prince William County, uh, is now in a very important position of influence. And power. Uh, many of you may know that, uh, delegate, Luke Torian is now the chair of the appropriations committee in Richmond.

Franklin: That’s going to be important because now we have a direct line to bring in funding back to Prince William County for some of these items that I mentioned. A delegate Hala, I who represents the Lake Ridge area. She’s a deputy whip, so she has a direct seat at the table for advocating, uh, for some of these things that are important to Prince William. And many of you may know that I recently became chair of Omni ride. That’s our local commuter and bus system here in Prince William. So any issues that you all see with our bus system, um, buses on the side of the road that are not working correctly, buses going too fast, buses going too slow, or the buses may not be servicing your neighborhood and you want to know why bring those issues to us and we’re happy to help. So, uh, again, I’m gonna turn it over to a few other people, but I do want to hear, uh, your questions after some of our other presentations. So I’m going to turn over to Seth to go over some of our parks and rec projects and then very quickly, um, uh, revel is going to talk about the census and then I’m going to turn over to, uh, our school board member to talk about some education issues and then we’re going to hear all of your questions and then I’ll go home.

Speaker 2: [inaudible]

Hendler-Voss: and you supervised here for welcoming me here. And I must say I’m, uh, I’m rather impressed with how quickly you’re digesting all this information you’re drinking out of a fire hose, but very, very impressive to see up here grasping these, these issues. Uh, good evening. My name is Seth Hendler boss and I’m honored to serve as your parks, recreation and tourism director. Uh, I’ve been on the job about two and a half years of Woodbridge is my community. I live over in Potomac shores. I do most of my shopping and my heating out and my recreating in Woodbridge district. So at the personal stake in your community here, whatever it is, one of the most unique park areas in Prince William County, you have the most, the greatest collection of waterfront parks in the County along uh, the, uh, the ASCO Creek and become a river and uh, you, uh, have a good, a good mix of not only County parks but state parks and federal lands as well.

Hendler-Voss: Uh, as the supervisor said, we’ve been investing considerably in this managerial district, uh, recent latest about P five point $3 million worth of active capital improvement projects taking place in the district. Uh, we recently cut the ribbon onto the app, the apps go boardwalk, uh, and uh, dedicated the, the asker regional park in Woodbridge district. Uh, we have a lot of fantastic projects in the pipeline. The largest, or the biggest focus right now is on ne Potomac heritage national national scenic trail. So right now we’re under construction on a, on a mile long segment up at the, uh, in the Belmont Bay area that will run through the [inaudible] wildlife refuge and connect Belmont Bay down to veterans park. And then we are going to be moving over to the Featherstone wildlife trail segment, which will connect veterans park to the rip on VRE and then down to the MAPSCO boardwalk.

Hendler-Voss: And then we’re going to be constructing an extension of the existing boardwalk from the apps go boardwalk all the way down to the entrance of Liza Ania state park. So hopefully within the next two years all of the segments will be complete and you’ll be able to track all the way from Belmont Bay, North Woodbridge all the way down to Liza Albania state park. We’ve got a fantastic slate of bond projects with the citizens voted in favor of uh, by 65%. Uh, and we look forward to implementing those at some point when the money is available. A lot of exciting projects in Woodbridge, including a trail connection of another boardwalk trail connection down to down to Potomac shores. So again, I’m honored to serve as your parks, recreation and tourism director. Uh, I’m here to provide the best quality experience for you. Our, our mission is to provide recreational and cultural resources for a more vibrant community. So if there are resources that, uh, that you would like to see that you don’t see currently, please just let me know. I’ll share my information at the end of the meeting and let the supervisor’s office know I’m here to serve you and I want to hear what’s on your mind. So thank you so much for having me here tonight. [inaudible]

Torres: hello, my name is Raul Torres. I’m also a at Prince William County morning area, uh, ointment section risk. Uh, I commend all of you for being here. Uh, I am not accustomed to see so many people at town hall meetings. Uh, there’s sort of crises going on or something like that. So I appreciate the commitment that you have for your communities. It’s laudable that you actually, uh, in a cold. And I come here and share with your supervisor your concerns to meet her on the dos. Uh, I am the secretary, director of the human rights commission and work out of, uh, uh, right there with Cardinal drive. They had J fertilizer building. That’s where my office is located. Um, and from there, um, you, you have been given a little brochure about what we are and what we do. You may not need it and I hope you would never need it, uh, but did you know someone that may need it or, or just go through it and share it with somebody else?

Torres: But the main reason why I’m here is to talk a little bit about the sensors. If we fail and not be counted on the census in 2020, we cannot take stuff from the state. We have to wait 10 years to fix it. It’s like a comment, you know, cops every 10 years or so. So we have to do everything we can to count every single person that lives in Prince William County in the nation too. But we really care about Prince William in Prince William County, uh, in the period that starts between March 12th and probably April 15. It’s not one day like elections that you just vote on one day, and that’s it. Uh, the, uh, the sensors, that account will start somewhere around Marsh dwell. You’ll receive a postcard and that postcard that you will receive will give you a link to a website where you will go and fill out your form.

Torres: So starting in March, have more or less, you will be actually being able to, to file your, your sense of sport. If you don’t respond and do that, get you know, [inaudible] gonna do that now. I’ll do it tomorrow and those won’t happen. The sensor is going to send you another card probably two weeks later to remind you to go back and actually do it. If you don’t do that, then the sensors probably will be pulled you in that in the list of we’ll visit you, we’ll call you on the phone, or we’ll give you a bed set. Like it was the only in the old days that actually they visit everybody, but now they’re pushing it because of resources. They’re pushing more of the sensors to respond on the internet. So we’ll see how that works. But that’s the way that it’s fucked up. But why is it important?

Torres: Everybody should be counted in that period of time because it means for up for yourselves, our community and our families, it means a registry [inaudible] of federal and it means redistricting of congressional districts. Census information is used for everything in, in, in the nowadays for every program that you have is used in terms of who has more people or less people, the agents that they have, the incomes that they have to distribute funds to the different States and to the different localities, but even more than that, businesses use census information to locate their businesses to see the marketing part of it. Who leaves there now? Would I have clients are not there. They use the census information to establish businesses, to establish industries for location, for redress routine for making the district thing off of a boundary lines. All those reasons. There’s about almost a billion dollars of federal funds that come to the state of Virginia and we lose $2,000 for every single person that is not counted.

Torres: So it may represent 2% of the population of, of, of, of the Prince William County is not counted. Okay. That represents over 10 years, about 168 million less than we could have been using for schools, for roles, for so many things that we actually need four parts, you know. So it is incumbent upon us to make sure that we are counted. Everybody has gun and on that particular day, remember that first it is important because all the political structure, not only the congressional delegation, census information is also used for state rep, district them and other States. It’s not only for your progression on delegation but also federal dollars come to every single program and not programs of welfare. These are programs that includes programs that you may be using Medicaid that you may be using dollars for, transportation for parks, for streets of New York police, port, police for fire. So every single basic service that government provides has a touch on the census information based on the dollars that come with it.

Torres: So my message to you from here on as co chair of the complete census count committee of Prince William County is be counted and tell your friends to become your neighbors to be counted. Because the more people we count, the better you will be. Your family will be and your community works, so please do that. All the information you provide, the sense of there’s some, you know w we live in 2020 and many people are hesitant in terms of what they do with my personal information that I’m people are leaving my house. What a, how much I make. Well the information that the sensors collect is don’t share with anybody. It’s not Joe with the IRS, it’s not share with any other agency. Simply simply state in this census Bureau and it’s only reported in the aggregate, meaning that a number of not your personal, not your address and your information is reported out by census track is the smallest way that they report the information which would be like by neighborhood. So please do. That’s my message, right? Doing it. It’s everywhere in accounting and I hope that you will follow this message and help us make the Prince Williams a better place. Okay.

Speaker 2: [inaudible]

Speaker 5: I’ll turn it over now to our school board member, Ms. Lori Williams.

Williams: Hi, good evening everyone. I’m your school board representative for the Weber’s district. Uh, for those who don’t know, that runs all the way at the top of route one where a Belmont Bay is to the very bottom, which is where we are right now. Leads Lavanya along route one on the left hand side. On the right hand side I go to freedom high school and as far West as Woodbridge middle school was my last middle school. I’m just here tonight to give you a little synopsis. Uh, right now the important thing, if you are a parent of a Prince William County student, you should have received an email about a parent survey. Um, that’s really important for services that we provide for your students. We look for your feedback. Uh, we’re collecting information now about that. Also, it’s budget season as Margaret reforce supervisor Franklin referred to earlier.

Williams: Um, we will be having our work sessions on the school budget and then we meet in March with the board of County supervisors to present our budget to them. We receive 56.8% of the budget from the County. So it’s vital at this point in time, if you like to see something put in the budget that you give me an email or give me a call and let me know what you think the needs are for your school or your school community. Um, the budget add ons are done by vote. So, uh, one individual board member does not hold all the power we hold the power by a collective group. Um, but I am your representative and I do take all those concerns back to the rest of my board members, uh, to be heard as well as staff. In addition to that, if you are a parent of a Prince William County student, a rising middle schooler, that means if you have a fifth grader now all the way through, uh, I guess about 10th grade or 11th grade, it is time for your specialty program applications.

Williams: That is usually about a paragraph. Mom, your student completes the parent completes, you have selection of three different programs. You can pick for a second or third choices. What makes that special is that in Prince William County, we offer a plethora of CTE programs, which are career technical education programs. There are also academic based programs like AP scholar. Um, I can tell you for a fact as a mother who has uh, one son who just graduated last year, he was able to graduate from Potomac high school, which is not a high school in my district. He transferred in with his food handling books, food safe service license, uh, to college and his Cambridge seal for the academic. He was dual enrolled in a specialty program and it cost me zero as a parent. So, um, I encourage everyone to look at those applications and see if you’re thinking that something your child may be interested in, you don’t have to stay in them if you don’t like them.

Williams: And they are not specifically Greg based. So if you have a child who has 1.9 right now or a child who has a 3.5 they could still be eligible for a program. And I say that because it’s really important. A lot of people don’t encourage their children to apply because they think, well this, they don’t meet a grade criteria. Some kids don’t figure it out till later. Some get it right away. So take a look. It’s online. The application, they’re due on February 1st which is a Saturday. So there’s only a few short days left. But if you do decide to apply and your child gets in, I can tell you it’s worth it. I have one still left to go so I have a vested interest in continuing to see the school system grow. Um, I want to just add to the lunch debt issue as of June, June of last year, if your child has a debt in school, whether it is a library debt or is a lunch debt and no way, shape or form, should they be restricted from participating in any activity, be it field day, be it prom, be it an afterschool dance.

Williams: If that occurs, please let me know. We are working very diligently to make sure that children are not restricted from participating and things because they don’t pay the bills and they should not receive the punishment for it. Prince William County, I’m also is one of the few counties in the state of Virginia where if your child does need an alternate educational setting, we have independence non traditional school. A lot of people think that the school is just for students who have disciplinary issues. It is not, it is a fully credited alternative school. It is also recognized in a congressional records, uh, because it also houses one of our special education programs. Um, it is pro service we provide for our students because everyone does not fit a traditional academic day. So we have students who go there because they need to work. So they do ships, um, students who just don’t feel comfortable in traditional schools.

Williams: They have clubs, activities, just like all the rest of our high schools. And at the end of the year, if you have a child who’s gone there, they’re also eligible for scholarships. One of our students graduated last two years ago now from independence. They are now on a full ride scholarship to VCU. So, um, all of our high schools, all of our, excuse me, all of our schools as of last year are accredited. The state did a blanket accreditation for every single school in the state. The change is because now attendance counts towards accreditation. So if you have a student in the school system, you probably heard it back to school night from your truancy officer or the administration, um, is something that we pay very strict attention to. If you have child has an attendance issue due to illness or other circumstances, you should be able to work with your administration.

Williams: But all of our schools are very sensitive to that this year because it’s a state mandate. Um, there are quite a few things that we’re waiting just as the County is to pass and Richmond, um, for additional funding. Um, some new mandates that may or may not be coming through. So we’ll let you know as those get passed or don’t get passed that will affect your child’s education again. Um, I’m your school representative. If you have any questions, I’ll be here afterwards. It’s very easy to get in contact with me by email. If I do not respond right away, please don’t hesitate to send me another email. Unlike our counterparts at the County, we don’t have a staff. It is staff of one. Um, so I may miss things. I’m human just like everyone else. Please don’t hesitate to send me another email. I do my best to try to respond within 24 hours, but there is no concern or question that is too small or too silly.

Williams: No problem, no issue. If you don’t know, that is what I’m here to help you with. So I just want to thank supervisor Franklin for allowing me to come and speak. I’ve been a school board representative in the Weber’s district now. This is my third full term, third full term. Um, and this is my first town hall, so with my counterpart. So I feel very fortunate that we have representation representation that we have here and I promise you that I will work very diligently and cooperatively with her office to try to get the best done for the Woodbury’s district. And I have to put in my plug, please email your supervisor because we’d like to put another elementary school in our district. Um, I say this because our district is different than a lot of the other districts in Prince William County. We don’t have a classroom overcrowding issue.

Williams: We have a building overcrowding issue. Every single one of the Weber’s district schools are title one schools, which means we have a high population of students who receive free and reduced lunch. I want to let you know that that means we will be getting additional funding because Prince William County school board approved last year in the budget to up the economically disadvantaged funding for all of our schools. So we will see an increase in the budget this year. We will also, uh, be looking forward to increases every year for the next few years. Uh, we made a pass a resolution last year at the end of the school year for that. Um, but we need more building space. It doesn’t help, um, to put an addition on if our children don’t have an increased cafeteria. If our children don’t have an increased gym space or increase room to play. So the best way to get that accomplished is to adding another building to our district.

Williams: I have a first grader, he left, he eats lunch at 10 50. So I’m directly impacted by this. I feel your pain if you’re a student eats lunch early too. We’re in the same boat. Um, but I really care about all of our kids, Weber’s district especially, but all of our kids, because unlike other communities, our kids cross districts because of our specialty programs. So it’s really important to me that you send an email her way so that she can advocate for us with her counterparts as well. Um, and if you have any questions, like I said, I want to take up too much time. I will be here at the end. Feel free to ask away. Thank you.

The post Area projects covered at Town Hall Meeting appeared first on What's Up Prince William.

via What's Up Prince William

#IFTTT #What's Up Prince William #PWC News

0 notes

deniseyallen · 6 years

Text

Portman Presses FERC to Comply with Federal Law Streamlining Infrastructure Permitting Process

WASHINGTON, D.C. - At an Energy & Natural Resources Committee hearing earlier today, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) highlighted the importance of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) complying with the federal law streamlining the federal infrastructure permitting process for some of the biggest infrastructure projects. Currently, FERC is not posting their permitting schedule to the dashboard in direct violation of Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

In 2015, Senators Portman and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) co-authored the Federal Permitting Improvement Act, which Congress ultimately enacted into law as Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. That law, now known as FAST-41, helps to streamline the federal infrastructure permitting process to boost our economy and create jobs. Most significantly, it created the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council), which brings together agencies at the start of the permitting process for some of the largest, most complicated infrastructure projects (covered projects) to write out a comprehensive plan for the permitting process across agencies. The public can track the permitting progress for each of those projects at www.permits.performance.gov.

A full transcript of his remarks and the video can be found below:

Portman: “I’ve got an important issue I need to raise with you and that’s on the permitting front. As you know, back in the day during the highway bill we got into Title 41 of the FAST Act, legislation I introduced with Senator McCaskill and it’s called the Federal Permitting Improvement Act. It creates this Federal Permitting Improvement Council. We’re all talking about permitting now on both sides of the aisle and how to have that infrastructure dollar go further. Energy is a huge part of these projects. In fact, I got involved in this project initially because a group came to me, AMP in Ohio, and they were working on a hydro-plant on the Ohio River. I think at that point it had taken six years to try and get the permits and there were so many federal agencies involved, the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing. Capital is not that patient and they were losing capital and they came to me and said, ‘Is there any way you can, on these big energy projects like this, help us actually get a decision, get the federal agencies to coordinate and have someone to be held accountable?’ So we went to work on it and in the end we got the AFL-CIO building trades council, as well as some environmental groups, as well as the business community on board. Again, I think it is fair to say that this has become something that a lot us are acutely interested in.

“One thing it does, and this shouldn’t be revolutionary but it is, was it set project deadlines. It made it a requirement that we actually publicly allowed the parties and the public to see, through a dashboard, what the deadlines were. As you know, FERC is responsible for taking a leading role in these large, complex, infrastructure projects including the non-federal hydro-power projects, interstate and natural gas pipelines, storage facilities, liquefied natural gas terminals, and other huge projects. You guys are the lead agency on a lot of the in-progress and completed FAST-41 projects and we appreciate that. A number are listed, you can see them on permits.performace.gov if anybody is interested who’s watching, there’s an online dashboard for that. You guys also recently signed a memorandum of understanding implementing the one federal decision under Executive Order 13807 requiring federal agencies to coordinate their NEPA reviews, which I commend you for, I think that was a good decision, I know Senator Gardner raised that.

“Here’s my question for you, and maybe Chairman McIntyre you’re the right person to answer this question. When we wrote FAST-41 we always intended that every single permitting agency would be required to put its schedule for permitting each project on the dashboard. Again, it’s a major part of the legislation. Some people, by the way, on my side of the aisle wanted to have firmer deadlines in place, and others on the other side of the aisle didn’t want to have any deadlines, and this was the compromise. At least let’s put those deadlines out there so that the public can see and people know what’s going on. It’s the only way the bill works, in my view, and it requires agencies to work together to have a complete timeline and deadline. To have one agency be accountable is also important. My understanding is that FERC has not been willing to post its schedule. Last year we had a hearing on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which I chair, and your staff members told me you couldn’t post your timelines because of internal regulations, and they said you have to talk to the commissioners about that. So, here you are and I’m talking to you. Statutes trump regulations and the statute is clear. So, I guess my question is does FERC plan to start posting its timelines publically? If not, why not? And, if not, doesn’t your lack of participation defeat the purpose of the statute and the very things, I think on a bipartisan basis, we’re all looking to see here, which is these programs get up and going more quickly.”

Honorable Kevin J. McIntyre, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): “Thank you for the question, senator. I want to begin by thanking you for raising the critical point of permitting schedules because we understand that. Much of the work that we’re doing now to improve our own internal processes is with an eye toward making our permitting approvals in the areas you cited, LNG terminals, natural gas pipelines, and hydro facilities more streamlined, more predictable, and more transparent, so we’re actively at work at that. As to the posting of information schedules on the dashboard, that’s something I will look into with my staff and would be happy to work on with you and your staff as well.”

Portman: “Well, I appreciate that answer, but I’d like a yes because it’s a statute. You guys understand a statute, you know what the rules are, so could you commit to us today that you will indeed post your timelines publicly.”

Hon. McIntyre: “I will commit to you today that I will do that which is legally required of us, senator. And since I have not had the opportunity to discuss this specific point you are raising with my legal team and staff more broadly, I’m reluctant to say more than that at present.”

Portman: “Within a week, I’d like to have another conversation with you when you’ve had the opportunity to do that. Is that fair?”

Hon. McIntyre: “I would welcome that.”

Portman: “So you made a commitment to talk to me within a week, and I think when you talk to your staff they’ll be very well aware of this issue and will tell you that the statute requires it but look, I think it’s really important. FERC has a huge role to play in so many areas but one is these permittings, and, again, I’m convinced that we can do better and we’re starting to do better. The permitting council has finally gotten up and going. It started slowly in the Obama administration and in the first part of the Trump administration, frankly, but now it’s up and going. We need your help, you’re a big part of it. On implementing the one federal decision, how are you determining which projects will be treated as one federal decision projects?”

Hon. McIntyre: “The one federal decision process, establishes essentially a government-wide goal of two years, and we are endeavoring to address that through our FERC processes, recognizing, of course, the roles of the other entities involved in that as well.”

Portman: “Well, if you could get back to me on how you’re identifying which projects are eligible, my time is expired and I appreciate and look forward to talking with you in a week and thank you all for being here today.”

###

from Rob Portman http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=C489E346-9227-4546-819D-C722DC47A394

0 notes