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neonseperatedau · 1 year

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Leo’s Log Entries 234 to 345

It seems you stumbled across a broken control pad. As it boosts up, the label reads ‘Property of Leo’. Most files are corrupted. You take a look at those remaining. (Cass, @somerandomdudelmao thank you so much for creating such an inspiring, wonderful and heart-breaking story. Like many others, I was deeply moved by the latest updates. I hope you don’t mind the few creative liberties I took to tell bits of the comic from Leo’s perspective.)

Log entry 234: Man, this feels weird. It’s been ages since the last time I did an entry. The previous one dates so far back that I had both of my arms still. Sweet innocent Leo with two arms, I want to slap that idiot as soon as we got time travel. Donnie told me I should make it a habit again. I guess I kept zoning out during dinner because it was sometimes difficult to process every single crazy thing that had happened within a day. So, here I am, talking to this log and letting it record me. And Dee, if you are eavesdropping, I ate our final package of froot loops, probably the last one that remained on Earth. I needed to stress-eat after you had turned me into a tangerine-sized turtle tod. I only thought it fair to be somehow compensated for that unwanted experience…

Log entry 255: Case is pacing around all night. He had returned from a mission with Donnie being seriously hurt. You would think we’ve been through stuff like this so often it doesn’t bother us anymore. Nope. Each time, I see one of my family injured, I share their pain. Not in any physical sense. More in the ‘I wish I could have done something to prevent that’ kind of hurt. I long gave up on ‘what-if’ scenarios. The present moment doesn’t give two fs about your guilt. Mikey once told me that he envies me for being so focused on the present and that he sometimes struggles to be really here with us and not be torn between the spiritual realm and the physical. I laughed like a crazy person, and I think he misunderstood me. To me, it was the other way around. I miss Dad so much and I had no means of reaching him. Kinda ironic if you ask me that his ‘least favorite’ son was the one to lose his Ninpo and because of that was forced to let him go forever. Log entry 283: I can’t believe this really happened. I always knew Casey was like a good luck charm but that he would be the one to find Raph and bring him home! Raph is back! He is really back! I haven’t realized it until that big machine picked us all up and pressed us tightly into a hug how much I had relied on him and missed his presence. It was like taking that first breath of fresh air after staying underwater for too long. Our family is whole again. Well, as whole as it can be. Log entry 284: Today’s moral of the story: Things cannot go back to how they used to be. Raph refused to take up his old position, especially with some of his programs malfunctioning and Donnie not able to repair him entirely, he told me he doesn’t want the resistance to rely on him and that I had done a great job in taking up this role as leader. I totes understand him and yet…some part of me hoped I could revert to second-in-command. Spend some more time with Case. Go on my own missions. In the end, duty calls, and there’s no easy way out of it. Log entry 294: My big brother’s return was a miracle and even so, Dee found a way to grant us another one. I don’t want to know what that grenade is made out of, and it doesn’t matter. It can REVERSE the effects of Mikey’s quick aging and that is all that counts! Seeing Mike running around, messing with his abilities, and full of energy…I’m so happy for him. Between an ageless robot and a renewed younger bro, I’m the one who’s doomed to feel like an old fart. Second chances are rare. I always regretted that Mikey had to give up so much of his life for our cause. Let’s hope Donnie can continue to produce these anti-aging bombs for a long time. Log entry 301: It’s raining with the lowest levels of sulphur dioxide in the last ten years. It’s not like it’s super safe. That hadn’t prevented Case from running around and enjoying himself within the rain simulation that Donnie had created afterward. He wrapped us all up in his shenanigans and forced us to stop what we were doing and enjoy the little things in life. That’s…not a bad thing. Log entry 303: We lost Boston. Casualties approximately 200. A ceremony for the fallen is scheduled for the day after. April had intended to inspect the Boston branch and I’m somehow glad she got delayed and hadn’t managed to reach it in time. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure, she wouldn’t have returned. She’s on her way home and I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she hears about Raph. Log entry 314: Our scouting teams record higher rates of kraangified humans and yokai. It’s commonly considered a worse fate than death and yeah sure, we had figured out a way to reverse the process. Even so, it was dangerous for everyone involved and I forbid Mikey at one point to ‘treat’ anyone further. My brother would have crumbled away like overcooked toast if he would’ve cured every kraangified being there was. The instant I realized Casey had gotten infected, I was ready to beg my brother on my knees. Everyone’s selfish in their own ways, huh? Log entry 315: Casey shows great signs of improvement. Dee switched to ‘casual’ surveillance, aka his dozens of cameras whose locations nobody knows for sure. I’m doing my best to make the boy feel less responsible for what happened. We cannot blame ourselves for these things or else we would have lost our sanity long ago. Log entry 322: Hey, Dad. I know I cannot talk to you, but I really wonder if you felt the same way whenever we called you that: Dad. Case used that word to refer to me today. Well, to be honest, he also meant Donnie and Mikey, and Raph. It was one of those stupid ‘my dad is better than yours’ competitions, which makes it even better in my personal opinion. Back when I had promised Cass to look after her son, my first thought had been that this human baby was going to be a burden and I would surely mess everything up. But look at him, look at us. I would do anything for him. Heh, you surely had something similar on your mind when you went ahead and protected us at the cost of your own life. Log entry 343: Things have been busy. With April joining our team, I can allow myself to make more ballsy plans and we sure as hell need those victories. The Kraang continually pushes us back. It’s time to return to favor. Log entry 356: Man, my twin is the smartest person on earth. How did he manage to accidentally spill some of the anti-aging serum on himself? And how can such a small creature be so angry? We all haven’t slept for over 30 hours, afraid that if we take our eyes off him, he either ends up killing someone or gets eaten and I’m not thrilled about both options. Log entry 357: Casey is a genius. He built Tiny Tello a pair of custom glasses. He seems to recognize Mikey and me. Raph is too…changed. That human boy has a heart of gold, to do something so kind for someone who shows him no gratitude whatsoever. He insists it’s payback for everything ‘Uncle Donatello’ built for him. Long story short, my twin’s living in my scarf and it’s only the third weirdest thing to ever happen to me. The way he sometimes pads me with his small hands is adorable (note to myself that I should never mention that to Dee) and it makes me nostalgic for days long gone. Log entry 359: I shouldn’t be surprised that the base can’t exist long without Donnie’s maintenance. Occasionally Mike and I liked to make fun of him for merging with the place and being a true shut-in. Jokes on us that we realized how MUCH we are dependent on him once he turned into a small vicious turtle ball. We need to find a solution fast. Log entry 361: Not sure if it was sheer luck and honestly who cares. Dee is back and we need him now more than ever. Raph sustained some grave damage that isn’t fixable. The same goes for yours truly. They can berate me on how I need to be more careful all they want, I will never regret prioritizing Casey’s life. The longer our resistance continues like this, the more I believe this isn’t about me. They could easily replace me, but everyone in my family is so damn special and irreplaceable. I’m going to hold on to them for as long as I can. Log entry 378: Mikey was such an airhead when he was a teen. What happened? Like for real? He had developed an almost uncanny ability to know when we need someone to talk to or hug or, in Dee’s case, rest. And with his mad abilities, he won’t take a ‘no’ for an answer. I think I need to tell him more often how proud I am. Log entry 379: Casey called me in the middle of a meeting, that was already suspicious. The fact that Dee has been sleeping longer than six hours? Also, unusual. We’re currently taking turns, waiting for him to wake up and explain what’s going on. I’m recording this during my shift. My brother looks smaller and frail. He sinks into his bed almost as if the mattress is about to absorb him. His health was bad when Dad died. He had grieved through overwork and constant exhaustion. I couldn’t see a reason he would fall back into this old pattern. Maybe our injuries had made things worse for him. I should take over most of his work and redistribute it for a while. He won’t like it, but I don’t like seeing him like this even more. Log entry 380: Donnie has been infected. Even he doesn’t know when or where exactly. One thing is for sure, it rendered him weak for a while now and he had refused to let us know. It’s worrying that it’s a variant we haven’t dealt with before. But it’s okay. We’re going to figure something out. We always have. Log entry 385: Mikey and I had sat down late to discuss our options. His hair had turned mostly grey again, a sign my younger brother had done everything he could. Nothing worked. Good thing, the mystic isn’t our only trump card. There’s science, too. Donnie must be close to finding a solution, he has been working non-stop. Log entry 386: I just can’t understand why he would make an excessive list of things we’re supposed to take care of instead of focusing on himself. He’s supposed to be the smart one. So, what if the means to cure himself don’t exist anymore? There must be alternatives. Something even he overlooked. For the time being, we try to let him rest as much as possible and survey him. April’s visiting other resistance groups in the hope of answers. I’ve been contacting Draxum and he assured me to let me know when he found anything. Log entry 389: Casey asked me if he could sleep at my place for the night. He’s upset because Donnie made no effort in hiding his calculations of his own death. He might not act that way, but it must bother him as much as it did Casey. Dee just never expresses his emotions the same way others do. I tried to explain this to Casey. He didn’t say anything in return and quietly sobbed against the back of my shell. Log entry 399: We’ve returned to some form of normalcy, though everyone stays at the base for longer periods to hang around Donnie. He notices and refrains from commenting. Denying makes it a bit more bearable. He’s right here and we’ll be fucking damned to let anything change that. Log entry 415: I had no other choice but to move out on a mission myself. We recently lost fights we should’ve won and there are rumors that it has to do with Donnie’s health and our absence. I blame it on my lack of sleep that I stumbled into one of the Kraang’s traps. One mistake might cost your life, that’s how it has been for the last 20 years, and I was ready to pay the price. Then from nowhere, Donnie appeared in his slabby pullover and summoned the greatest arsenal of mystic weaponry that I’ve ever seen. Casey had surely been with Dee as a crutch. Though, it appeared as if it was the other way around and the boy held on to his uncle while he pushed back the entire Kraang army. It's been…a while since Donnie had gone all out. Witnessing what he’s capable of reminded me of the time we had full access to our Ninpo and had gotten extremely cocky. Even then, my twin had been the rational voice of the team. Choosing to be flashy on special occasions and focusing on providing us with the necessary support and firepower. It had never been anything personal. This time, when rockets flew over our heads causing grand explosions, I could see it in his eyes. He was free at that moment. His mind was consumed with revenge for what the Kraang had done to him and enjoying their screams and demise without a thought wasted on efficiency or greater purpose. Fearing he would collapse from over-exerting himself I had to grab him, and we retreated. He seemed in good spirits afterward. I’m telling myself that if he’s strong enough to pull something like this off, he must be okay. He must be. Log entry 422: A week after Donnie’s all-out attack, his health worsened visibly. As he huddles through his lab to take care of business as usual, we cherish the small things. Drinking tea together. Throwing bad puns at each other. The four of us are often sitting down, reminiscing about the times before this whole mess started. Sometimes April or Casey join us. We would like to show our concern and ask Donnie how he’s feeling, if he needs anything, what we can do for him, but we don’t. Life continues on. Log entry 435: I’m tired. I haven’t slept in a few days. Can’t tell exactly how long it has been. I don’t want to miss anything. Every second is precious, even writing this feels like a waste of time. But I also can’t hover over Donnie, he wouldn’t want that. He’s already mad at me since I denied taking over some of his tasks as if he’s already gone. He’s been trying to explain a few of his inventions to me that keep our base up and running, but it’s been difficult to focus. My mind drifts off to repeat the same few sentences over and over again. Please don’t leave us. Please stay with me. Please. Don’t go.

#cass apocalyptic series #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt #riseofthetmnt #future timeline au #there might be more log entries later #thank you cass for creating such a masterpiece #future leonardo #future donnie #future michelangelo #future raph #casey #future april #rottmnt apocalypse #rottmnt fic #rottmnt short story

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oraclekleo · 2 years

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Cho Seung Youn (Solo / UNIQ) - Kinky* Tarot Reading

Disclaimer:

All readings have purely entertainment nature

I don’t know any of the celebrities personally

Don’t base life decisions purely on tarot readings

I can never guarantee any of what’s said in the reading

Before requesting, read the pinned post and appropriate linked post

Tarot readings are my hobby - I’m not obligated to accept any of the requests nor to complete them, it’s my choice, not duty

Waiting time is long, even several months

If you can’t wait, please, seek other tarot reader

Reading Info:

Rating: 18+

Reading Type: Single - Couple

Requested: Yes - No

Requester: /

Deck: Spiritsong Tarot

Spread: Kinky* Reading

Questions:

Position

Libido

Turn On

Kink

Dirtiest Secret*

Celebrity Info:

Full Name: Cho Seung Youn

Stage Name: Woodz

Group: Solo / UNIQ

DOB: 05.08.1996

Sun Sign: Leo

Chinese Sign: Fire Rat

Life Path Number: 2

Masterpost: Solo Artists

Ko-fi - Voluntary Tip for Readings

Cho Seung Youn

Woodz (Solo / UNIQ)

Deck: Spiritsong Tarot

Spread: Kinky*

Position - 2 of Swords

Woodz is likely to be a bit indecisive when it comes to his role in a relationship. He might be inclined to be a switch and simply adapt to what his partner likes. He’s likely to have good instincts when it comes to picking up the mood in a relationship and he will try to avoid conflicts.

Libido - 5 of Swords

Woodz might come as a cautious lover. He’s likely to have his boundaries which are not negotiable but he’s also willing to expand his comfort zone when he feels secure. He’s likely a patient and gentle lover, always taking his time to get to know his partner intimately and discover what pleases them and what is not allowed.

Turn On - Knight of Pentacles

Woodz might feel attracted to a person of great endurance, a traveller walking on uncharted pathways, someone with a vision and determination to succeed. They don’t have to stand out when it comes to looks but they have a certain ageless charm and they radiate reliability. They are responsible and motivated, they have goals and enough dedication to reach them.

Kink - Page of Cups

Woodz is a romantic with his heart brimming with love. He’s not really into any dirty kinks, he’s the prince Charming. He needs to feel a deep emotional connection with his lover, he might love to praise and be praised back.

Dirtiest Secret* - 7 of Pentacles

Woodz is likely a master of foreplay and aftercare. He might develop full service packages to “perform”. With his strong intuition, he’s always able to decide which of his special programs will fit the moment the best. Sometimes he doesn’t even need for the foreplay to actually result in sex, he’s perfectly happy to pamper his lover all night in gentle and sensual way.

Thank you for reading!

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Comment! 💬

Reblog! 🔁

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Any Feedback is Welcomed ✅

#cho seungyoun #seungyoun #woodz #woodz fluff #woodz scenarios #woodz imagines #kpop woodz #woodz kpop #woodz smut #uniq #kpop uniq #oracle kleo #kpop tarot #kpop #kpop imagine #kpop scenarios #kpop fluff #kpop astrology #kpop smut

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academyguide · 2 years

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Most middle-aged and older adults are more than aware of the many health benefits that come with regular exercise and active living.These benefits include: stronger muscles, ligaments and tendons, better heart-&-lung health, improved bone density, enhanced balance, coordination and mobility, as well as reduced risk of developing chronic diseases and ailments -including maladies like heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke and various types of cancer.Thus, it is no wonder that more and more mature and senior adults are now actively pursuing age-specific fitness programs more than ever before in our human history!As good as this may seem on the surface, unfortunately, there are also many in this population group who may actually be doing more harm than good to themselves by unknowingly committing various types of mistakes and errors in their own home exercise programs or outdoor fitness routines.The following will explore some of these commonly-seen fitness mistakes made by many middle-aged and older folks, and how YOU can go about avoiding them so as to make the very most out of your own mid-life/senior workout regimes.Mistake 1: Taking It Too EasyA segment of our mid-life and senior population do manifest this problem: taking it so easy, light and comfortable whenever they choose to 'exercise', that they actually defeat the whole purpose of exercising in the very first place!Whether it's an unfounded fear of triggering an imminent medical emergency, or some irrational worry of health catastrophes descending upon them once they break into sweat, this senseless need to "bubble-wrap oneself up" is often unnecessary and unproductive in most cases. Unless one truly has valid medical or clinical reasons to do so, there's absolutely NO reason for you to go super-easy or ultra-light on yourself just because of your calendar age!As long as you are in good health and fine physical condition, and have been given prior medical clearance to engage in physical activities, it is perfectly fine to nudge yourself out of your comfort zone and push yourself occasionally, all the while still listening to your body and staying well within your physical limits!Only when you do so, then would you truly be able to enjoy and reap the full benefits of your workout!Otherwise, you'll be simply wasting your time and flushing your efforts down the drain!If you're just starting out to exercise and unsure of what to do, or simply afraid of hurting yourself unwittingly, please do seek the advice of a Certified Senior/Older Adult Fitness Specialist who would be more than glad to help you get started on a suitable fitness program.Mistake 2: Exercising Too Hard Or Overly-IntenselyOn the flip side of the coin, there are also some mature adults who tend to swing to the other extreme of the fitness spectrum.This population segment include those who believe the hype that they are "forever young" or "ageless" in their bodies - regardless of the actual realities of aging facing them!These individuals often have no qualms pushing themselves and going all-out when exercising in order to keep up with the "younger ones" in the gym, and treat every workout as a hardcore, do-or-die mission.In the process, many end up succumbing to their own egos and exposing themselves to unnecessary risks, hazards, injuries or even DEATH!Though there is always a time and a place for intense or vigorous exercises - especially for those who have already built a solid fitness foundation and who have steadily boosted their fitness over a period of time; as a general rule, any older adult/senior exercise program should always adhere to the mantra "Start Low and Go Slow" - particularly if the exerciser is new to exercising.Throwing all caution to the wind and exercising fanatically or in a reckless manner, while in a state of constant denial or delusion over one's age, is akin to shooting oneself in the foot, and will only lead the person down the path of unnecessary pain, suffering and

possibly even life-threatening episodes!So readers - be forewarned!Mistake 3: Lopsided Or One-Dimensional Fitness ApproachMany mature and older adults also make this common mistake of focusing solely on ONE particular fitness aspect, or only on ONE specific fitness component whenever they choose to exercise.Typical examples include: Doing brisk walking as the one and only exercise choice.Practising Yoga/Pilates to the exclusion of all other physical activities.Playing ONE particular favourite sport like tennis/golf/squash/swimming etc. and nothing else.In truth, there's nothing wrong with any of the above activities in themselves.Each has its own merits and health benefits.However, when pursued as a single, dominant venture to the exclusion of all other fitness pursuits and activities, then exercising in such a manner does become a HUGE problem.Not only will such a one-dimensional fitness approach often lead to many other vital fitness components being neglected, it will often also result in overuse injuries, muscle imbalances as well as bodily dysfunctions developing over time.As an example of one such negative effect of adopting a lop-sided and imbalanced fitness approach, simply look around you. Notice the huge number of mature individuals in our societies who claim to exercise regularly, but have only limited fitness in specific areas, for instance: those who have cardio fitness but NO strength, or strength but NO flexibility, or flexibility but NO mobility, or mobility but NO coordination/balance etc. etc. … the list goes on and on.Thus, to ensure that one's fitness routine is well-balanced and all-rounded in nature, always seek to adopt a multi-faceted functional approach to exercise.Mistake 4: Poor Exercise Form And TechniqueThere's always a right way to do things, and a wrong way to do them.And for many mid-life and older adults, working-out wrongly - especially when it comes to exercising with poor, shoddy form, or using incorrect or erroneous lifting techniques in the gym or at home - can actually do you MORE harm than good in the long run!At the very best, working-out wrongly may just lead to a frustrating and ineffective exercise experience with little, if any, results to show.At worst, it could potentially lead to long-lasting injuries or even serious endangerment to one's life!So above all things, do make learning the right exercise form and the correct workout techniques a high priority in your fitness journey!If unsure, scheduling a couple of sessions with a Certified Personal Trainer or a Professional Fitness Coach would go a long way in helping you to iron out the common mistakes in your training routine. Mistake 5: Mimicking What's Trendy Or PopularMuch like the younger population nowadays, many mid-life and older adults today are also exposed and subjected to the insidious charms and bewitching influences of social media campaigns.Think shirtless, sexy models, celebrities and influencers - showing more skin than professional credentials - demonstrating the latest workout craze or fad on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or any of the other popular social media platforms, and you'll get the idea.Unfortunately, for our middle-aged and senior population, blindly imitating or mimicking such exercise moves and choreographies will more often than not lead to serious and disastrous repercussions.Not only is the majority of exercises depicted on social media totally inappropriate for the typical mature adult in our society - whether in kind, type or intensity - many also make the false assumption that the viewer has a certain background or experience in fitness, which is often NOT the case for the majority of our mature population.Moreover, many of these social media voices today often choose to propagate flawed, unscientific and even dangerous clichés like : "no pain, no gain", "train till you drop" , "more is better", "what doesn't kill you make you stronger", "sweat is your fat crying" etc. etc. Following such unsound

and distorted advice will surely lead one down the slippery and dangerous path of no return! So do beware!As a senior or older adult, exercise is one of the very best investments that you can undertake at this stage of your life. However, you do need to keep all the above in mind, and be extra cautious when planning your fitness program in order not to fall prey to the above mistakes. If you can do that while ensuring consistency, persistency, structure and balance in your exercise regime, then CONGRATULATIONS to you - for you'll be well on the way to adding years to your life, and life to your years! Source link

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unholyplumpprincess · 3 years

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Tangled In Your Lies

Anonymous commission for someone who requested a full fic for Revenant/Reader for an old drabble.

Summary: It should have just been a quick win bet to let you finally get your fix of Revenant again. 'Become champion' shouldn't have been too hard, considering you'd nailed him and his squad before he could get you in the past. And yet, of course, Revenant wants to always win. And he will win, especially if it means you're up on the table for him to have. Or! In which you and Revenant have a FWB situation and he's been teasing you for weeks with no relief. So you come up with a bet to mutually solve your issues, totally set on winning. How hard could it be?

(Older content)

Reblogs > Likes. It costs zero dollars to reblog the content you Like!

!!!Minors and ageless blogs dni or you will be blocked on sight!!!

Fandom: Apex Legends

Relationship: Revenant/Reader

Warnings: R18+/NSFT, Reader is gender neutral and has a vulva, bondage, Revenant being tsundere, FWB relationship/Squad mates with benefits, Revenant has a cock attachment, simulacrum headcanons/Robophilia at its finest

Words: 3.3k

______________

There were some things that the Apex Games had made you understand better. One of those things being the legends that fought within them.

Some examples being that; Sometimes people who were deadly predators were actually humble and soft people in real time, more interested in playing with their familiar birds and humming tunes. Or that people who threw up a shell of bravado and confidence were the loneliest of people, who found it hard to make friends and near broke your heart when you had offered for said person to sit down with you and have lunch. Or perhaps that a big, smiling, friendly man did not mean he did not feel heartbreak at a time in his life, or that his kind eyes did not mean that he was weak.

It was that these games could be for money, fame, or some sort of statement. Whether fighting for sacrifice, fighting to make a difference, or even for a higher following, everyone was here for a reason.

Except, it seemed, for the newest member of the Apex arena, none of these options seemed to fit him. It was almost as if someone had thrown a wild animal into the cage with you all. One that was stolen from the wild and had no interest in sharing the space with anyone else.

~Rest under the cut~

Revenant, the simulacrum, paced the dropship zone like a predator often, bright orange optics flicking to specific people as if marking them for death right at the start. It was as if he were looking into all of you like meals, nuisances. As if one of you in particular had done something that day to deserve the sweet embrace of death.

When you had been set up with him on the same squad, he did the same thing. Paced, looked around, spotted who he seemed to be looking for and would threaten them in some fashion. He’d chuckle, low and dark, as if echoing what must have been a worst fear. Or a nightmare.

Sometimes he’d take his finger and slice it across his throat. Sometimes he’d form a gun with his thumb and forefinger, pretend to aim it at their forehead perfectly, and then laugh darkly again. Haunting and almost beautiful if it didn’t send shivers down your spine.

He seemed to have some twisted humor about him, so you took that as a good sign as far as finding how to get this guy to at least not despise your guts. You find very quickly that Revenant is unlike anyone you had met here already. There’s no on and off switch with him, as far as his personality in the ring and out of it. He seemed just as sadistic and eager to shed blood out of it, practically always pacing, always wanting to pick fights or scare someone.

You were his focus sooner than later, due to you seeming to want to try and get close to him. Or at least get under his skin. Either way he picked it up as a threat, guessing that you were just trying to make him weak. Revenant, in turn, often did things that made your heart pound heavy in your chest. Such as backing you slowly into the corner of any room you were perhaps in, making low threats about staying out of his way, or how he’d gut you with a single slice to your belly. Until he was growling in your face and tilting his head with a low, grumbled, “Am I understood?”

Unfortunately, for him, you only took these threats as a challenge.

The first time he threatened you like that, you had smiled at him and batted your lashes and said sweetly, “You can do better than that, can’t you?” A reaction he had not prepared for. He could understand anger, fear, maybe even could have understood if you had shoved him aside with a huff.

And instead, you stood there, leaning closer to him and watching Revenant move back away from you instead when you get close enough that your breath fans across his plating.

If he could sneer, you’re sure he would. Instead, his silicone bottom lip had parted slightly to show sharp metallic teeth blended to match his plating, watching his optics spin and turn as if trying to come up with a response.

Then, he’d grunted, huffed at you and walked away.

That’s when you knew that Revenant could be more than the aggression he just put out. Programming be damned, something about him had felt something. You weren’t sure what you saw, but that wasn’t anger it had been. Surprise, maybe. And that?

That was as good of a starting point for you as it was for him. Because for you, that meant you could press and learn more about him.

For him, it meant you were the first target on his list in getting you to crack and stay far from him.

In the end, it wouldn’t work out well for him. Depending on the angle you looked at, that is.

To present day, you’re paired up with him on the same squad.

Revenant has at least gotten used to your presence enough that he won’t threaten you, but he’s gotten...possessive. Whatever you two had, he refused to label it, and neither would you.

As far as you knew, you were the only person who he’d let touch him. He was completely sensitive to any sort of affection, something you had accidentally found out when you had made a joke of him actually making due on his choking threats, you’d run a hand down his chest plate and over the small silicone waist he sported and watched him full body shudder as you took his metallic hand in your own and brought it to your throat.

Revenant had looked surprised, only to hiss for you to not touch him, even if he didn’t move his hand AWAY. In fact, his thumb had brushed over your jugular, ever so lightly as he stared down at you intensely.

It had been...interesting, to say the least.

That had started an interesting tradition. Full of you explaining to him that MRVN attachments also worked on his body. Something Revenant had claimed no interest in, going so far as to scoff at you and tell you, instead, how desperate you must have been to receive such pleasures if you were willing to tell him about such stupid things.

Yet, Revenant the next week had huffed about how he’d looked into it. Grunted, “To sate your pathetic urges, I have acquired a cock attachment. I’ll be taking what I want, when I want it, got it?” With a snarl to his voice.

You had fought a smile, told him of course, that he could have whatever he wanted. Just to see him stare at you like a predator for what must have been five minutes, as if gauging to see if you weren’t kidding.

But today, in the arena, it’s just you two. Your third had taken off, claiming something about solo-ing. You’re sure if Revenant had eyebrows they would be raised as he looked at you and grunted out, “That’s an option?”

“Absolutely not, and don’t think about it or I’ll rip out your inner wiring and use you like a goddamned puppet.” You reply, pointing a finger at him as a threat and a growl to your own tone. You watch as he looks at you, unfazed and simply huffing in amusement as your shorter height threatens him with not even your weapon, but a finger.

Cute. Not that he’d say that out loud.

The match in itself was rough. Revenant liked to charge in without waiting on the defense for any sign of another squad, in his eyes another squad meant more fun. Meant more blood to spill. It meant, to you, that cross fire was bound to happen, not to mention miscommunication when you’re trying to ping an enemy, but before you can fret too hard you find a skeletal robotic arm around your waist yanking you around cover.

You grunt at him in annoyance to silently tell him you didn’t need his help, met with a snarl that silently meant he Wasn’t helping, just as you whip around his back to cover his flank.

You two work fantastically as a team, there’s no doubt about it. His gruff voice is a growl in your ear as he calls out, “Meatbag on the left, give ‘em hell.” Making sure to ping the location and giving you enough time to steady your Spitfire enough to catch the enemy off guard as they turn the corner.

His death totem goes up, watching his body shroud itself in black and orange as you quickly dart to it and touch the side of it. It always made you nauseous, the covering feeling of almost being encased in something oh so wrong. Your mind works hungrily, as if starving for the very blood he craved any time of the day.

Two squads down in a fire fight means by the end of it, you’re both weak, trying to throw up shields and heal as you hide behind a building. It means you’re easy to catch off guard, and that’s just what happens when you hear the PING of a zipline end slamming into the building above your head and the new squad approaching guns blazing.

Shit.

The bickering starts near instantly when you’re cleared from the medical bay and Revenant catches you heading towards your room. He likes to pick fights, especially in telling you when you were wrong. You huff back at him, bite back just as hard with your words.

“Well, maybe if you weren’t so blood thirsty and wanted to run in BLINDLY-” You began, walking in a brisk, angry pace towards your room as he pursues you, lithe and quiet with his steps like the stealthy predator he was.

“Perhaps if you had more spine.” Revenant snarls back, curling around to your side as you push open your door. You go to shut it right in his face, but he follows just as easy, pushing it open and whipping around. You let your back press to your door, let him lock it, your eyes meeting his as your jaw sets straight with you clenching it.

The tension only causes your body to light aflame with desire. It’s as if he thought you hadn’t noticed when he’d been marching beside you angrily, that his loin cloth wouldn’t shift and let you see he had an attachment on. As if he thought bickering with you like this would end any other way.

You lick your lips, watching his optics flick to the action and know for a fact you’ve got him now. You still pretend you’re angry, pushing off the door and walking towards your bedroom. You take note of how he follows you almost like a puppy- more like a wolf, stalking and hungering. “More spine? Are you seriously acting like I didn’t save your ass?” You finally jut back, letting the backs of your knees nudge the bed, making yourself look vulnerable to him.

You hide your grin when he falls right into your trap, stalking closer with his snarl rumbling in his throat, “I don’t need saving from a pathetic little-” His hand reaches for your throat, and you let one corner of your lips quirk in a smirk.

Your leg curls around the back of his where the knee joint rested, yanking forward and grabbing his wrist to yank him towards you. Revenant is made almost entirely of heavy joints, machinery, and silicone, it means he would be heavy if he landed on you. Thankfully, you move to your side, letting his weight drag you down as his back hits the bed and you’re quick to straddle him.

There’s no warning as you scramble for your nightstand on top, taking the heavy, thick metal wiring you’d gotten to prepare for this sort of thing. Revenant is near immediate in snarling, but you’d recognize his attachment getting hard anywhere against your ass.

He’s not using his full force as he squirms when you grab his arms and yank them above his head. He’s not even using blunt force, his hips buck up, he thrashes, only managing to get himself higher on the bed and head resting on your pillows. You’re able to tie his wrists together, wrapping the wiring around his forearms and tying the knot underneath, throwing it over the head of your bed and tying it to one of the bars there.

You’re lightly panting when you finally finish, sitting back on his hips and watching him struggle underneath you. It’s half-hearted at most, a show really, but you watch him test the bonds with light tugs then harder. The headboard threatens with a groan, but the bonds don’t so much as shift. You let your smirk show, and that seems to set him off.

“I’m going to rip you limb from limb!” He snarls, optics heated and swirling as he bucks up, trying to throw you off. He’s heavy, as mentioned before, but it only serves to rock you a bit off balance. Your thighs stay locked, strong as he forgot you are as you stay perfectly atop him.

You’re able to feel that the loin cloth he wears has been shifted away to reveal his cock attachment. Hard, leaking the lubricant reserves he’d had left in him, the nodes on the sides are glowing an angry red and if his flesh wasn’t made of black silicone on the attachment you would have guessed it would have been purple from arousal.

You see it at the same time he seems to notice you did. He’d be red in the face if he could be, but instead his silicone lip is parted from his metal plating, letting out pants without a need for air. When you grin cruelly, he throws his head to the side and snarls at the wall next to his head as if the poor thing caused this.

“Are you going to rip me apart, hm? When you like it this much?” You murmur your tease, shifting down his hips to straddle his upper thighs instead, stroking a finger up the length of the warmed material and watch his hips jerk up from his sensitivity. “Oh, you poor thing, don’t want to admit you like when I take control?”

“Fuck you!” He practically roars, yet when his eyes meet yours, he’s quick to avert them. His jaw clicks with a metallic noise, his sharp teeth threatening the metal plating of his ‘mouth’. You laugh a bit at him, letting your hand wrap around his cock and letting the pre-cum act as lubricant for you to pump him twice. You watch as his hips come up, lifting you with the effort, the wiring in his neck shown off with the turn of his head and you feel your mouth water from the effort not to sink your teeth into it.

Stretching yourself had taken time, but it was worth it in the end to watch Revenant stare at you hungrily. You had leaned back on his lap, spread yourself open with your fingers so he could see how wet your cunt was before using his own pre-cum as lubricant. It was, well, lubricant anyhow, it would be useless to let it go to waste. But, regardless, it still makes him moan low in his throat, almost a plead. Almost.

You’re two fingers in, palming your clit as you practically hump your palm. You let your other hand tease his cock, letting your nails run along the underside and occasionally pump with an almost painful squeeze at the base to remind him you’re in charge. Surprisingly, he doesn’t back talk, but he doesn’t beg either.

His voice box is full of static by the time you finally sit on his lap properly, guiding his cock inside of you. Revenant looks like he’s going to short circuit any second, or blow a fuse for that matter. His optics have turned to a dark, deep orange as if dimming to a deeper color, his cock already threatening to jerk inside of you. Always so easy to cum, it was cute.

Right on cue, he’s cumming with a strangled sort of noise in his throat. He wouldn’t let you hear him moan properly; It was something you’d only heard accidentally slip out. Yet, even now, his optics flash in warning as his body becomes even more heated.

“Revenant-” You whine out, letting your eyes flutter and your head roll to the side as you ride him. You don’t pause to let his sensitivities reside. You get a thrill out of the way his typical snarls and grumbles turn into shaky hisses, easing into low moans as his struggling begins to ease.

It makes riding him a lot easier. Letting your hips bounce steadily and biting your bottom lip to force your own sounds to silence. At some point you’ve let your hand slide up the warm plating of his chest, sliding up to his throat and resting there. Your fingers idly press to the dark red wiring on the side of his neck, feeling his hips twitch upwards until you let your index finger hook one and gently tug.

It causes an immediate reaction as he lets out a static filled groan, almost resonating in his chest from the effort. His feet plant firm on the bed, hips slamming up into you every time you come down. It’s rocking your body in time with Revenant’s, edging you closer and closer with every thrust getting hard enough to make his prior orgasm spill from you. The messy red seeps out of you, onto his loin cloth, making every slam of hips a wet slap.

Your breathing is heavy as you pull at the wire again, able to hear the second his voice box crashes when a low, rolling growl echoes from his chest as he cums inside of you again. You cum with him, your body shaking with tremors as you try to catch your breath. Your eyes are closed, your head lolled to the side. You’re perfectly unaware you’re being watched by the simulcrum under you, who is quietly committing your imagery all to memory to replay in more...private moments.

Not that you had to ever know that.

The cleanup comes soon after, as well as unbinding him. Revenant begrudgingly lets you clean him up with a cool, wet wash cloth. Wiping up the mess from his lap and getting him to give you the fabric so you could wash it. He only grumbles once or twice when you check over his forearms and wrists for any damage, “I’m not made of flimsy, squishy flesh like you are.” He reminds you, only for you to shush him as you press a kiss to a possible scratch to his plating.

“But, aftercare is important, even if you’re going to complain the entire time.” You remind him back, moving up onto the bed to rest next to him and gently guiding him to you. You rest your arms around his body, something that should be uncomfortable but with the dips in his waist it made things easier.

Gently, you guide him to your neck to rest his head, feeling the grumble building in his chest before you silence him with a sigh, “Think of this as more for me than you, would that make you happier?”

“Nothing makes me happy,” He grumbles, only earning him a gentle stroke down his back, following the plating to make out a spine. Something that makes him grunt in approval to.

“Mhm, alright, keep being edgy.” You yawn, gesturing for him to pull up the blankets and murmuring an idle ‘good boy’ when he obeys.

He chuffs like an annoyed big cat, but is quick to silence this time.

Revenant would never admit that your soft, warm body was a blessing at soothing away any aggression he had for the night.

No, he couldn’t let you know that in reality?

He actually...maybe...sort of...

...Thought you were okay.

#Revenant #Revenant x Reader #Apex legends #apex lemons #nsft #lemon #commissions #princess writing

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margridarnauds · 4 years

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Hey there loving your blog! If I'm not imposing too much, can you talk about tohobeth? Any version and anything at all!

I ALWAYS have time to talk Tohobeth. Since I feel like it would be unfair to talk about productions I haven’t personally seen, I’m going to keep my discussion mainly to the 2015-2016 production, since I have the DVD on it. My views on it aren’t as solid as they are on, say, 1789 or MA, mainly because, somewhat embarrassingly, I only got my DVD AFTER I left the States, with my mom scanning the files in and sending them on to me via GDrives. And, with my Master’s program....well. I’ve not been able to watch it anywhere near to where I usually do before forming hard opinions. (Generally speaking, it takes about....six months or so for me to REALLY settle into my opinions, though, as you can see re: Lady Bess, there are a few times where my opinions are still variable after years.)

It’s a fact well known at this point that I’m not the biggest Hanafusa Mari fan in the world, and it’s also a fact that she was recorded as Elisabeth twice, as opposed to Hana Ranno, who was double-cast in the role with her, getting a DVD of her own. Was I happy about this? No. Whenever I see Hana Ranno footage on Youtube, I feel this sort of ache in my chest because I REALLY would have loved to see her Toho Elisabeth. Maybe she wouldn’t have been a personal fave, maybe I would have actively hated her performance, but as it is, she’s acquired a semi-mythical significance to me now as The One That Fell Into Oblivion.

Such a pity she couldn’t show up on the DVD. Such a pity.

Part of why I’m so scathing, of course, is that I tend to REALLY like getting both casts so that I can see the differences between performers, and, with a musical called “Elisabeth” that obviously has Elisabeth as a protagonist...it can almost feel like getting half of what I normally get. It’s still good, I still do recommend the DVD, obviously, but also if I could go back in time to talk to some Toho execs and be like “Look, guys.....record both Sisis.”

Now, I come not to bury Hanafusa Mari, but to praise Tohobeth, so I won’t be too far on the attack here especially since, to be perfectly fair, I feel like Elisabeth is the single best Toho performance of hers I’ve seen (between Mozart, Lady Bess, Marie Antoinette, and Elisabeth). She’s been playing the role since 1996, so she has very much fine-tuned her interpretation at this point, and there are MANY people who feel like she’s the definitive Japanese Elisabeth. This is the role, more than any other single role, that made her a legend in the industry. I personally feel like she REALLY starts hitting her stride about midway through the first act and, by the start of the second act, she’s at her peak performance. The role of Elisabeth is very challenging for any actress; most Elisabeths are drawn to one of the three stages of Elisabeth’s life that we see - Some of them are very good at playing 15 year old Elisabeth, some the Young Wife/Empress, and some the older, bitter Elisabeth, and, personally, I feel like Hanafusa is best in the latter role. As an actress, she very clearly feels a draw to sadness and mourning (in both Lady Bess and Marie Antoinette, she took the sadder interpretation of both characters she played, as opposed to her costars, who separated between the low points and the high points of their lives) and Older Elisabeth gives her the chance to stay in her comfort zone. Unfortunately, when it comes to Younger Elisabeth, especially in the very beginning, I find that she can age revert herself a little TOO much, so that she plays Elisabeth-at-15 as Elisabeth-at-8, which makes her interactions with both Der Tod and Franz Josef a little bit on the uncomfortable side.

A personal highlight for Yoshio!Tod for me is his Die Schatten Länger in the first act, where he goes from sympathetic to seductive to sinister and then back to seductive. It’s an impressive performance of one of my favorite moments, if not my ULTIMATE favorite moment of the entire musical, and he does it so effortlessly. Watching him....he reminds me a little of Uwe Kröger? He isn’t quite as aloof and ageless as 1992!Der Tod, but looking at him in the role, I do get this vision of this otherworldly entity. He has this kind of floating, ethereal voice that we tend to associate with the classical Phantom of the Operas, with a very nice, smooth lower range in particular. I do also like his dynamic with Hanafusa Mari during “Wenn Ich Tanzen Will” -- She isn’t as reactive as some Elisabeths that I’ve seen, but I do still get the feeling of the two of them acting and reacting to one another, and this production is thankfully less....aggressive than certain productions. (2005, I’M LOOKING AT YOU.) I always prefer this scene as a verbal battle of wills, not necessarily Der Tod manhandling Elisabeth, and Toho delivers that.

His performance almost makes me forgive him for 2006 Marie Antoinette. Almost.

Shirota Yu on the other hand...he’s STILL otherworldly, but in a totally different way. He isn’t immature (I’ve SEEN immature Deaths, and he’s not), he isn’t the Bastard Boyfriend Der Tod, but there’s...something almost NAIVE about him at times? Not in a way that makes him less deadly, but in a way that makes him MORE so. He’s never interacted with a human before, not on this level, it’s very obvious he has no idea how humans really function or work, and Elisabeth confuses him just as much as she intrigues him. I also think that, at various times, you can REALLY see him having the time of his life in the role, playing a very, very expressive Tod in comparison to his more refined, aloof counterpart. Take their respective approaches to the death of little Sophie.

“Oh, Elisabeth! This is so ~sad~ Here, let me console you! (This should work, right?)”

“Hm, interesting, it seems like she’s upset. This isn’t what I anticipated.”

And, at the beginning of Der Letze Tanz, which I’m including here purely because Shirotan is looking particularly memeable here.

“Hello, it’s me, and yes, I’m majestic, I know, look at me.”

“You hate death, but live as a mortal. Curious! I am very intelligent.”

He’s a little rougher than Yoshio, a little less refined (I’ve heard Yoshio Inoue’s Der Tod compared, both positively and negatively, to a European aristocrat, which is actually a little ironic since, of the two of them, Yu Shirota Fernández is technically the more “European”, but. Well. In approach...) He has a wonderful voice (honestly, if you ever want to send your eardrums to heaven, listen to his cover of Die Schatten Werden Länger with Ramin Karimloo. Thank me later), though it’s different than Yoshio Inoue’s more classical voice. I think he has a little bit of a pop influence in there. Which might SEEM like the kiss of death for a performer, but in my opinion, he does work it. (Look, I can’t say anything negative about the guy: My mom has a massive crush on him, I own his album, and also I wasn’t able to finish the one video of him immediately following Miura Haruma’s death where he tried to sing through tears because it GOT me and now I can’t see Shirotan’s face without wanting to give him a massive hug. Which I can’t. Both for geographical reasons and also social distance.) It’s actually a little hard to compare the two Tods because, while they wear the same costumes, sing the same music, act against the same actress, they take such radically different approaches that it’s hard to say “Oh, yes, this one!” or “Oh, yes! That one!” Especially since I’m not sure that Shirota Yu’s voice would have worked with Yoshio Inoue’s approach or vice versa. I ended up loving both Der Tods for various reasons. I THINK that if my copies of Elisabeth were dangling off a cliff and my archnemesis told me to pick one, I would have to end up rescuing Yoshio Inoue’s version because I tend to prefer my sleek, elegant Tods (”Tode?”) but like. I’d be in mourning. Not the least because I’d have to tell my mom about the loss of Yu Shirota’s Tod.

Speaking of crushes...look. Takanori Sato’s Franz. We know that I have a minor, unfortunate crush on his Louis XVI in Marie Antoinette, and as Franz...He did SUCH a good job with a character who is hard to make sympathetic in the limited time he has. Most audiences are rooting either for Elisabeth/Death or Elisabeth/Independence, and Franz quickly loses sympathy as the musical goes on, so an actor who can make him likeable is working against the tide there, but Takanori gives him SUCH a huge degree of warmth that I found myself rooting for Elisabeth/Franz to make things work out even though we know that it can’t.

I repeat my assessment from my Marie Antoinette write-up: #FersenDerTodWho?

Mario Tashiro...we know that I do love this man’s work. In my opinion, he has one of the single best voices in the industry. But also, in my opinion....as an actor....he just.....doesn’t have it. He tends to act like the single most one-dimensional version of a role he can get away with. In the beginning, when Franz is young and in love with Sisi during “Nichts ist Schwer” there were a few moments where I felt like I might go into a sugar coma.

They’re so cute together. Kill me now.

And, unfortunately, Franz doesn’t have enough time to REALLY show off his range, with the exception of a few low notes and the act one finale (which to be fair, he is BRILLIANT in), to the point where I did, however slightly, end up preferring Takanori Sato both vocally and acting wise. I wouldn’t say that he’s wasted in the role, because he DOES do a good job with what he’s given, but I do think that it’s hard to appreciate just what he can do from this alone.

It’s only fitting, after talking about Franz, that his mother should come right after him always lurking in the background, as always. And, overall....there isn’t THAT much difference, namely because Sophie, as a role, just doesn’t have that much variance in the role. And most of the fanbase is kind of. Actively rooting for her to die at any given point. There’s not that much that a given actress can really do with it. It’s nothing against them, it’s just a matter of how the role is written. I do find it interesting how both approached the death scene: Tatsuki Kohju’s Sophie is crying at the end, frightened of the afterlife as she clutches, frantically at the death angels before she slumps over, her cane falling out of her hand. As powerful as she was in life, she’s terrified of what comes beyond, as powerless as any other mortal. Suzuke Mayo tries to say something, mouthing some words, but then jerks sharply at a pain in her chest, trying to stay conscious for as long as she can but staggering backwards anyway, falling into the arms of the death angels with a look of pure relief on her face. You get the feeling that she’s been fighting for Austria for so long, made so many personal sacrifices of her own, that the chance for rest is coming as a relief to her. I THINK I prefer the latter interpretation, but honestly, both of them are solid in their own right, though I’m not sure that the role REALLY gets enough to justify a double-casting. (Also....I have to say that, while I wouldn’t necessarily get a musical just for Susuke Mayo, I’ve seen her in enough to have suitably warm feelings for her performances, so I’m already coming in with some amount of bias.)

Lucheni...I don’t REALLY pay as much attention to, compared to, say, the main trio, but he is our narrator, and both Luchenis did take very different approaches to the character. Songha’s Lucheni was...well, if he isn’t in love with Der Tod himself, he’s obsessed with him. We see him reaching out to Der Tod both at the beginning (when he appears on stage for the first time) and at the end, when Der Tod drops the knife to him. There’s a fervor to him in those scenes in particular that I tend to associate with worshippers in a Baptist Revival. Yamazaki is a little bit more subdued, in the beginning I get the feeling that he’s almost under Der Tod’s trance himself, and, in general, I think he’s a little bit more cynical, though, by the ending, he’s dropped a lot of that pretense. He looks at the knife after he’s stabbed her (Songha’s Lucheni almost lets her walk into the knife, but Yamazaki’s STABS), before a smile comes to his face as he falls down while running, finally laughing. It’s like he’s been playing things more or less subdued this entire time and this is his real BREAK, now that he finally has the opportunity to kill. With Songha’s...

He’s actually shocked. I’m not generous enough to Lucheni, as a character, to say that he really feels bad about killing ELISABETH per se, but that...he’s borderline-fetishized Death for so long, waited so long, and then, when he finally has the chance...it doesn’t live up to his expectations. A woman walked into his knife. (She walked into his knife ten times.) There’s nothing dramatic or exciting about it. One small action, and it can’t be taken back, there’s no getting away from it. He actively stumbles around stage afterwards, confused as he tries to run away, like he doesn’t know what to do now.

Of the two of them, Songha has a rougher, kind of growelly voice, to the point where I didn’t REALLY like his Lucheni all that much until I started to analyze his acting. Voice is a MASSIVE factor in whether I enjoy a performance, simply because...it’s my eardrums. I very much want to keep them intact. (For what it’s worth, Songha is NEVER rough to the degree it hurts my eardrums, but there have been a few...) It’s arguably fitting for someone who, as a character, is as rough as Lucheni, but it wasn’t to my personal taste, while Yamazaki...I mean, he’s playing Der Tod in the 20th anniversary. Whenever we get the 20th anniversary. He’s played some of the most celebrated roles in Japanese theatre. The man has RANGE and a fantastic control of the role. (Also...look. As a bisexual woman, I’m just going to say it: He’s more personally attractive to me, though the Toho Lucheni isn’t....really....designed to be attractive. If you go in expecting Takarazuka Lucheni or Serkan Kaya’s extremely pretty Lucheni...well. He isn’t. Either version of him. He looks like someone just pulled him out of a garbage can.) I did notice that both of them have quite a bit of growl in their voice during “Milch”, though, so some of this could be directorial intervention. While BOTH of them absolutely nail the high note in the Prologue, in my opinion, Yamazaki’s riffs are an absolute HIGH point for me (...okay, yeah. Literally and figuratively. I didn’t mean to make a pun. But here we are.) I do think, at the end of the day, I prefer his voice, though I think that both of them did interesting things with the role, taking what is essentially opposite approaches. I don’t think I have a really clear favorite there. One of these days, I’ll have to check out Songha’s other work to see what his voice is like in its “Natural State” so to speak since if, for example, I’d only ever heard Oka Kojiro’s voice in 1789, I’d have just assumed he only knew how to bark out his roles.

One role that wasn’t double-cast but that I WOULD like to draw attention to anyway is Furukawa Yuta as Rudolf. My friend @chibimyumi‘s already written some wonderful meta on Furudolf that I highly recommend, and there’s very little that I can really add except to say that he’s probably my personal take on the role, mainly because, while he IS sympathetic, that isn’t the entirety of his character. He isn’t just a pawn in Der Tod’s game,though Der Tod is unquestionably manipulating him, but a character in his own right. I’ve noticed in the Elisabeth fandom...it can be quite common to go “POOR WOOBIE RUDOLF” and....yes, he did have a very tragic life, but there was more to his life than just the tragedy. He had a life and a personality outside of that (that and....the general erasure of the 17 year old girl who died by his side, but it’s hard to be too harsh on the fandom for that when the musical itself kind of skips over that.)

Now, on those notes, there’s one thing that...I don’t want to talk about, but I feel like it’s an elephant in the room if I don’t.

Namely, Hass.

I don’t like talking about this scene, mainly because it’s deeply uncomfortable subject matter, and it’s deeply controversial subject matter that, as a goyische white person, I really am out of my depth in talking about. There’s a reason why “Hass” was censored from the Zuka, and I know that some fans have gotten hooked on the Zuka, only to go to the German or the Toho, and have subsequently found themselves shocked and/or traumatized. I understand that it’s meant to be deeply uncomfortable, and the Toho DOES show Rudolf actively getting them to stop, which further solidifies the idea in Die Schatten Werden Länger of Rudolf WANTING to stop things from getting out of control, but he can’t. The Toho is also a little bit more brutal than I’m used to, showing an explicit attack on a Jewish man. It’s the kind of thing that, especially in the German and Austrian productions, was meant to give the audience a wake-up call and remind them of their own past, as a country, but can be traumatizing for any Jewish fans or fans of color who might be watching. Especially given that Lucheni, who we tend to associate as a jerk, yes, but as our more-or-less likeable narrator, is actively taking part. I know what they were going for, but also there’s a reason why I never stream this production without a warning ahead of time, and I also tend to end up skipping this scene.

The staging is very nice, probably one of the more intricate Toho stagings I’ve seen, with a lot of props and backgrounds moving around, often mid-song, as well as projections in scenes such as Die Ersten Vier Jahre in order to show the passage of time.

The costuming is, predictably for Toho, fantastic, lavish without being quite as sparkly as their Takarazuka counterparts, having quite a few nice velvet numbers in there. The costuming of Elisabeth is so iconic it seems pointless to discuss outfits like the Sternenkleid or the coronation outfit, but I think this production does well on even some of the non-iconic ensembles. See:

And...you know, I said no iconic numbers, because they tend to be all people talk about, but like. One Sternenkleid pic. Because it’s what she deserves.

Is it Too Soon to say that I’d stab her for that wardrobe alone? Because damn. And that’s not even touching the jewellery.

I want.

Overall, I believe this is probably my favorite production of Elisabeth. Toho really knocked it out of the park, and it’s a good compromise between the Takarazuka and the original Austrian in many, many ways (I do love them, for example, keeping Der Tod’s presence in Alle Fragen Sing Gestellt from the Takarazuka) while also making a production that’s distinct and stands on its own two feet. I really would like to have another proshot of the 2019-2020 cast, whenever the Japanese theatre community is in a more stable place, because I really, really would like to see Manaki Reika, Yamazaki, and Furukawa Yuta’s takes on their new roles, because I feel like they could be really, really solid and I’ve heard fantastic things about at least Chapi and Furukawa Yuta (nothing against Yamazaki, just that I don’t know anything about his take on Der Tod.)

#long post #elisabeth das musical #toho elisabeth #Anonymous

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ageless-aislynn · 5 years

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Title: “Partners In...Other Things” Author: @ageless-aislynn Characters/fandom: Caitlin Snow/Harrison Wells|Eobard Thawne (ReverseFrost), The Flash Summary: Caitlin and Eobard tackle an unexpected situation. Follows “By Any Other” and “Proper Motivation,” the third part of the Partners In Crime series. Rating: PG-13 Length: 2,377 Spoilers/warnings: None Disclaimer: Definitely not mine but I do enjoy borrowing them just for a bit! ;) A/N: This was originally meant for the 2018 Snowells Week but it just didn't seem to fit, once all was said and done. I got most of it written at that time, though, and when I came across it again the other day, suddenly my muse wanted to finish it. *spreads hands* So, here we have it, lol! ;) If you read, I hope you enjoy! ♥

Eobard leaned over the latest project on his lab table, hearing the click of Caitlin's heels long before she appeared. The sound was familiar and reassuring, which was more than a little disconcerting.

Now, very carefully, with the utmost precision... he thought, threading a hair-thin wire through a tiny ring.

"I think I'm pregnant," Caitlin announced from the doorway.

It was a credit to his extremely steady hands that the involuntary flinch in his shoulders didn't translate into a mile-wide smoking crater rippling through several multiverses with their charred corpses in the center.

"Maybe next time wait until I'm not building a quantum bomb to tell me something like that," he said, sealing the device securely away before looking at her.

Her expression was a mix of annoyance and abject terror but, to her credit, she was holding back the cold. Even the roots of her hair remained brown, without even a flicker of icy white.

"Now," he said, "let's try that again. Why do you think you're pregnant?"

"I missed my period and we have a lot of sex that we're not always careful about."

He arched an eyebrow. "Well, that could do it, true. But you've had irregular periods before."

She gave him a sharp look.

"What?" he said, spreading his hands. "I'm observant, I notice these sorts of things. So is there something more than that? Have you taken a pregnancy test?"

"Not yet."

Her hair was still blowing when he blurred back into the room, a small box in hand.

"Here you go," he said graciously, offering it to her.

"Do you just keep these laying around?" she scoffed.

"I hadn't shoplifted anything in three days. I was beginning to lose my supervillain street cred," he said in a similar tone, shaking the box gently at her.

"You probably left money on the counter," she retorted sullenly but snatched the box from him and marched away.

He followed, neither confirming nor denying, but inwardly he wondered if his supervillain street cred was irrevocably damaged in the public's eyes or just in hers.

"I don't need help with this," she said, shutting the bathroom door in his face.

"Never meant to suggest you did," he murmured and retreated to the kitchen to make coffee. When in doubt, placate Killer Frost with coffee, he thought then his hand paused in mid-air. Wait, if she really is pregnant, she shouldn't have caffeine.

In the end, he went with decaf just to be safe.

She was gone for so long, he thought she was waiting out the results without him but eventually she strode through the doorway and mutely sat at the table. He put her coffee in front of her and she took a sip, then grimaced and shot him one of her patented icy expressions.

A kitchen drone approached with a speculative whir?, expecting her to make her opinion on decaf known with a toss of the mug against the wall. Instead, she continued to drink, one hand reaching down to idly pet the top of the drone's domed head. The whir became a purr that he had never programmed in.

He joined her at the table and, as he set his own mug down, she snatched it up and took a drink from it, then arched a brow at him.

"Just easier to make them the same," he said with a shrug. "But now you've got lipstick on my second favorite mug."

The white mug had a black checkered flag logo that read "Now Entering The Speed Zone." Zone had been crossed out in red and Force was written off to the side. A pale coral stain was barely visible on the rim.

"It's your color," she said and hid the ghost of a smile behind her own pale blue mug as she drank.

They sat there silently until a timer chimed from the distance. Caitlin's mug clattered loudly against the table top.

Eobard resisted the urge to superspeed into the bathroom. "Shall we?" he said very politely and let her go ahead of him. She slowed the closer they got to the bathroom doorway until he thought he was going to have to push her the rest of the way in.

"Okay," she said with a heavy explosion of breath, picking up the stick from the sink. "It says... Um, what does that say?"

He squinted over her shoulder. "I believe the official term is 'a little bit pregnant,' isn't it?"

"It's inconclusive?" she said, flinging the test away, her tone growing shriller. "Inconclusive? I--"

White appeared at the roots of her hair and the ambient temperature of the room dropped.

"Cait," he warned.

"You've got something to stop me," she said, grabbing his arm. "You've got to have made some sort of weapon to stop me from icing out."

"Caitlin," he said and it was a different warning in his voice.

"I know you, Eobard. I'm too dangerous for you not to have made something to stop me!"

Her fingers bit into his arm, cold but not yet enough to do damage either to himself or to her maybe, maybe not unborn.

"You can stop yourself," he said firmly.

"Eobard!"

He leaned down into her face and said in a tone every bit as cold as hers, "And if I had a weapon, what do you think it would do to a baby?"

That made her panic slam to a stop. The cold receded from her hands and the roots of her hair returned to their usual brown.

"Now," he said, lightening his tone. "Let's settle this in the lab. You can certainly run a simple pregnancy test yourself, can't you?"

She nodded but, once she was standing there with the syringe in her hand, she balked. "You know, this is probably just a false alarm. Like you said, I've been irregular before. If I just give it a few more days..."

He gave her a look.

"All right," she muttered.

"All right," he echoed calmly.

***

"Take me for a run," Caitlin said as she completed the test and disposed of the syringe.

Eobard looked back and forth from her to the machine whirling away behind her.

"The results won't take long--" he started to say but then saw the gleam of silver in her eyes and changed tactics. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere not here. Away. I don't care. Just run."

He picked her up, cradling her to his chest, and sped off. He kept far below his limit, again not certain of what the effect of high speed could be if she was pregnant, and made an educated guess as to what location might suit her current need.

So they ended up three states over and on the top of a high-rise owned by one of his many shell companies. He'd picked this one because it had a particularly nice view of the sunset over the cityscape.

When he put her down, she staggered away a few steps, gulping breath like she'd been underwater too long.

"I can't do this," she said, holding up a hand as if to either ward him off or to lean against his chest and she hadn't yet decided which. "I can't, I won't make my child feel like my mother made me feel. And I don't want them to grow up without a dad like I did."

That stung unexpectedly, as if she'd hurled an icicle deep into his chest. "Whatever you might think of my parenting skills," he said tightly, "I don't have any doubt in yours. I think you'll be a great mom."

She was so in her own head at the moment, she didn't even register the insult she'd delivered.

"I don't have control," she said, staring blindly into the sunset. Long streaks of color smeared the sky, purple and pink and yellow and blue, but she didn't even see her favorite time of day unfolding in front of her. "You've helped me more than I ever thought you could but... Can I go nine months and not turn even once? What happens later? I'm frazzled from being up several nights in a row and the baby's crying and I go to pick her up and I lose control for one second and..."

The word trailed off with a shuddery breath.

"That's not going to happen," he said.

"You can't be sure about that," she said angrily, scrubbing at her face with the heel of her hand, trying to hold back tears. Despite her best effort, ice glittered on her cheeks. "Being a single mom is hard enough without having to be terrified you're going to kill your child with a careless touch!"

This time, he wasn't letting that go unchallenged. "What a shame that your child doesn't have a father who's standing right here to help you, isn't it? Are you planning on moving out immediately or do I at least get to spend a few hours with the baby? Do I get visitations or am I not even good enough for that much?"

She looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. "What? No, I didn't mean it like that. I meant... Look, I know your endgame has always been to get back to your own time. This thing with us... It's always been temporary."

His mouth opened then snapped shut. How could she know him so well in some ways and not know him at all? Before he could decide how to respond to that -- break the illusion and tell her the truth or let her keep on thinking what she obviously did -- she'd gone on.

"Whether it's now or years from now, you're going to find a way to go back. What's going to happen then? Are you going to just look us up to see how things turned out for us? Or will you find a way to pull this child from their timeline, take them back with you to yours?" Her bottom lip quivered but she determinedly narrowed her eyes. "Because if you're planning on taking my daughter or son away from me, I promise you, you will have the fight of your life on your hands."

He pursed his lips, exhaling noisily as he struggled to let go of the anger of his pricked ego in the face of her barely concealed fear. "Caitlin," he said flatly and let his tone convey the entire argument.

Emotions washed over her face and, for a moment, she looked more like her previous self than she had in a long while. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "You didn't deserve that."

She rubbed her face again. "It's just I know how much you love your home."

"Maybe I've come to love... a new home," he murmured, his words skidding out at the last possible moment. Cowardice is a bad look on you, Eobard, he silently chastised himself.

She studied him for a long while as an entirely different set of emotions chased themselves across her face. In the end, she merely nodded and walked back to him. "Let's go get the results."

***

"Negative for human chorionic gonadotropin," Caitlin read aloud. "I'm not pregnant."

"Are you okay?" Eobard asked as he scanned the results once more.

"Yeah," she said, screwing her mouth about speculatively. "I'm relieved and a little sad, I guess. Is that weird?"

"Completely normal, I think," he assured her.

She chuckled dryly. "It's been a while since anybody's called me that. What about you?"

"Oh," he said airily, "I get called normal all the time whenever I'm enacting a nefarious plan while wearing my evil, yellow super-suit with my eyes glowing red."

She scoffed noisily but her tone was gentle. "How are you feeling about this whole near-miss? Do you... want kids?"

"Sure," he said and his easy answer startled a surprised noise out of her. "Not what you were expecting?"

"Our lifestyle isn't exactly family-friendly," she pointed out. "So, no."

"Hey, if we want to have a family, we can go straight--" as she arched a brow at him, he amended on the fly "--er. We can go straighter. Dial back the chance that some arch nemesis might think it's a good idea to target our kids. We can take 'mischief vacations' whenever we want to pull a job, then the rest of the time be a fun, happening PTA family unit who will launch anybody who threatens us into the nearest sun. We can have whatever life we want to have, Cait. We're not just partners in crime, you know? Nobody limits us but us."

That was as perilously close to a declaration of his true feelings as he'd ever dared. He fought to keep his breathing from growing increasingly more shallow as he waited for her response.

She took that all in for a bit, then shook herself slightly, silver appearing in her eyes. "I'm going to go ice out, blow off some steam."

He nodded slightly, exhaling in a controlled breath and desperately clinging to his patented nonchalant mien. "Have fun," he said with a be my guest roll of one hand. "I've got a quantum bomb to finish."

He started past her in the direction of his lab, but she paused him with a touch to his arm. Her gaze locked onto the emblem on his chest and, with the tip of a finger, she circled it as if it were new to her. For a moment, it seemed like she had so many things she wanted to say that the enormity of it all overwhelmed her into silence.

But then she simplified it. "I love you, too," she said quietly, glancing up at him through her lashes.

"Of course you do. I'm very lovable," he said but his flippant tone wasn't quite up to its usual standards and he'd paused a second too long, a lifetime in speedster terms.

The start of a wry, knowing smile tugged at her mouth and he quickly pulled her into an embrace, burying his face in her hair so she couldn't see his face. He'd already given away enough today, thank you very much. Had to save a few things to surprise her with in the future, after all.

#the flash #reversefrost #snowells #harrison x caitlin #aislynn's fics

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klitcrowley9-blog · 5 years

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phantomrose96 · 6 years

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Souls Follow After

Half an hour late--here’s my Christmas Truce fic for @bloodblossomtea, who requested something based on an old fic of mine, Minds Follow!

So, here’s the companion piece to Minds Follow: Souls Follow After

The death of Daniel Fenton had been called a lot of things.

“Tragic” ranked among the most common, near-tied with “heroic” and “untimely” and “heart-breaking.” Every new media account blended the themes, calling Daniel soft-spoken and meek and kind, unpopular and unnoticed and bullied, culminating into a sacrifice all the more tragic, all the more heroic, all the more heart-breaking when he gave his life for the sake of his classmates.

Vlad Masters had stopped listening to the media accounts.

He saw it differently, in a light the papers and newscasters and forums didn’t capture.

It had been a betrayal.

Daniel had cut their game short.

He’d thrown his life away with no regard for what it meant to those around him, no thought spared for how many of Vlad’s plans came crumbling down, long-term intentions and near-solidified future snipped short.

Vlad raged, and Vlad grieved. He mourned for his son who’d died, his child in everything but blood, and he destroyed his lab in an outpouring of rage for the manner in which Daniel had gone out. It had been that one most irritating trait, that one so distinctly un-Vlad-like quality that Vlad so despised, that Daniel so reveled in—that self-sacrifice for others. It had been as though Daniel’s final words were “I’m nothing like you Vlad,” and as though he had died before Vlad could offer so much as a single word in rebuttal.

Vlad called in with his condolences to Maddie, as any politician and any bachelor would, but he did not expect anything to come of this. That family of him, Maddie, and Daniel no longer existed, and that resentment of his spilled over to Maddie. She’d raised her son to be like this. She shared the blame.

Vlad did not attend the funeral. It was the right choice. He wouldn’t have wanted to be present when Danny turned up anyway.

Because unlike everyone else, Vlad Masters was not interested in giving Danny a second chance. When his ghost form appeared at his own funeral, disoriented but still so charmingly Danny, everyone had been so quick to forgive. Joyful, tearful, thankful relief greeted him from a gathering of loved ones and admirers who had believed him truly dead. Vlad alone wasn’t so quick to forgive.

He’d considered it. In the mangled twist of emotions gripping his heart, sipping wine in a living room so far away and removed from Amity Park, he thought about revoking his grudge. Maybe he would still pursue what had been rightfully his. That family and that half-ghost—…whole-ghost son. But the more Vlad considered it, the more he seethed against the pieces that Daniel had irrevocably tainted.

Daniel had thrown away his half-ghost identity, that single uniting tether between him and Vlad, setting them apart as the two isolated individuals who could ever hope to understand each other. Daniel had revoked that. And he’d imprinted himself on society as that thing Vlad so despised—a “hero.” The childish kind. The comic book kind. The kind that threw their life away for high school nobodies, useless sniveling pathetic teenagers who’d only ever mocked him.

And, perhaps the thing that Vlad detested the most about the whole situation—Daniel was now holding all the cards. He made this clear to Vlad with an irritatingly smug phone call a few days prior, because now Danny’s identity was common knowledge, and so now Vlad’s identity was held hostage. Danny offered to keep Vlad’s identity secret under the condition that 1) Vlad stayed away from Amity Park. 2) Vlad no longer targeted his dad. 3) Vlad forked over $10,000 to Danny, for the hell of it.

The $10,000 was nothing. It was the blow against his pride that stopped the words in Vlad’s throat. He hated it all, but more than anything, he hated being held by the neck.

So he did what made most sense. He moved on.

Vlad wouldn’t say he lost. That wasn’t in his vocabulary. Instead, Daniel just wasn’t worth his time anymore. He was an idiot, a traitor, a fool, and worst of all a ghost. Not a half ghost. Just a ghost, a ball of proto-plasm, a construct of filthy spiritual energy. He had no claim to his humanity anymore, so he had no claim to Vlad’s interest.

Vlad buried himself in projects far more important. Vlad’s networking through the ghost zone expanded. Plans to successfully acquire Pariah Dark’s powers formed from the ether. His A.I.s advanced, a Maddie who understood him intimately, and now a Daniel who would never betray him. They’d rule at his side, timeless and ageless, important features since Vlad intended to procure the immortality that came with the Crown of Fire.

Money bought power, and experts, and silence. His laboratory evolved into a labyrinth of cutting-edge breakthroughs and ghost weaponry the likes of which no one had seen, the likes of which Maddie and Jack Fenton could only dream of. As the years passed, the contact that Jack made with Vlad slowed to a trickle, and stopped all-together. Vlad left all of Jack’s messages unopened and unread. He wanted nothing more to do with the Fentons, as he understood finally the truth of the matter: they had only held him back. He never needed Daniel, dead now. Nor Maddie, dead to him now. Nor Jack, who was simply not worth the energy to make dead.

The A.I.s developed. They understood him. They valued him. They called him “Dear” and “Dad.” The Maddie A.I. occupied the bed with him at night, gentle light and soft buzzing warming the room. The Daniel A.I. Vlad altered over time. He removed the most Jack-like features from the boy’s face—that wide nose and flat jaw, those blue eyes, that idiotic stubbornness—telltale in the crease of his brow and quirk of the eyebrow. Vlad took them away. He swapped them for features recognizable in himself.

They were Maddie and Daniel Masters. Ten years on, the name “Fenton” hardly crossed Vlad’s mind.

…

When the phone rang, it was a number instantly recognizable. It was embedded in Vlad’s memory from years back.

On a whim, Vlad answered.

“Hello.”

“Vlad?’

Vlad trailed his hand along the arm of his recliner, sweeping around it and sitting down, legs crossed, leaning into the phone. “Oh if it isn’t Maddie Fenton. What a pleasant surprise hasn’t it been ages? How are you? To what do I owe this distinct pleasure, my old flame?”

A beat of silence followed.

“Hi Vlad… Yeah it’s um. It’s been a while. I’m fine. But it’s um, it’s Danny…”

Vlad investigated his manicured nails. There was such an organic nuance to Maddie Fenton’s voice, something he hadn’t quite perfected in Maddie Masters. It was almost nostalgic to hear that again, so…lacking in adoration for him. He’d train the Maddie A.I. on this voice recording. Maybe he could barter to get Daniel on the line as well.

“Oh how is the young lad? Last I saw him he was only a teenager. When, ten years back? How time flies. Has he married that little goth friend of his yet?”

“…No, Vlad. Danny’s not—It’s um… it’s more complicated than that.”

Vlad bounced his foot. That was right, Maddie used to over-enunciate the first syllable of her words, pitching up. He’d tweak Maddie Masters’s speech program to incorporate it.

“Complicated how, my darling?”

“It’s something about his ghost form… He’s been acting strange. Slowly. For a while Jack and I thought he was maybe um, just coping with losing his friends to college.”

“Has he attended college?”

“No.”

Vlad faltered at this, jaw tensing. His foot stilled, and an old tinge of anger licked just beneath his ribcage.

“I see. He’s given up all aspirations of the future to stay home and play hero. Typical of him. It’s rather cute.”

“Yes but… no, Vlad. God um… I thought Jack told you.”

“Jack?” Vlad eased. The Fentons weren’t his problem anymore. He’d answered the phone out of simple nostalgia. Vlad kicked the recliner footrest up. “I haven’t heard from old Jacky in years. How is he?”

“Jack… No he’s messaged you. He—it—never mind. Danny. Something’s off with him—been off with him. Ghost theory. Well it—he—sorry, Vlad. I thought you knew most of this from Jack.”

“Knew what?”

“I’ll—” Through the phone, Vlad heard the sound of a door shutting. “I’ll start over. Danny’s not been himself. Slowly. Since the incident. He can’t leave the town, and he’s been…” Static crackled through. “Jack and I have theories. It would be easier to explain in person. Samples and tests. But, explanations don’t fix anything. We’re at a loss. You’re the only other expert who maybe. I know you don’t owe us any favors, but if you could just—somewhere in your soul find it to… We still live in the same house Vlad. We aren’t going anywhere. If you could come by, and maybe just, see if you can find something we can’t.”

Vlad pursed his lips. He’d been growing rather bored lately, and Wisconsin winter had been growing cold.

“Ooh, sorry Maddie Dear. I’m quite the busy man these days. It’s just not feasible.”

“I’ll have dinner with you.” The phoneline crackled again, the shifting of hands. “I talked it over with Jack. I know what sort of man you are Vlad. I still am your friend Vlad… even if I don’t trust all of the person you’ve grown into.”

Vlad let a smile pass over his lips. “You’re assuming that I haven’t moved on from you.”

“Vlad, please…? For Danny, if not for me.”

Vlad stood, and stretched, and mulled the offer over in his head. He quirked an eyebrow, and nodded only to himself as he realized, if nothing else, it was a perfect opportunity to record Maddie’s mannerisms in person. And his A.I. deserved only the best training data.

“Alright Maddie. I’ll see what works with my schedule, and I’ll let you know.”

…

Jack had grayed. Maddie herself was not far behind. Vlad eyed her thinning hair and bag-creased eyes with a twinge of smugness. Maddie Masters retained her youth.

“Hey there, V-man, safe trip…? Um, do you still go by V-man?”

Vlad set his suitcase down, and he shook Jack’s outstretched hand. “I never went by V-man.”

“Oh, haha.” Jack looked away after a moment, hand moving to the back of his neck. He was just as hefty as he’d been ten years back, orange-clad and aging. His small eyes were watery, veined with crows feet. Laugh lines ridged through his cheeks, set above peppery stubble. He’d lost something. His buoyant energy had vanished. “Been a while, yeah? Um, y’know I’ve sent some messages to ya here and there. They must’ve gotten lost in your spam filter, huh?”

“Oh, must have.”

Vlad broke off conversation, and he stepped over the Fenton threshold to Maddie, who he pulled into an all-consuming hug. He let it linger, smelling her scent, tracing the contours of her back. As much as he preferred his Maddie A.I., he had not yet figured out scent and touch. Future models, he planned, would have a physical body.

Finally, Maddie pushed away.

“It’s nice to see you Vlad… Thanks for finding the time to come out here.”

“Oh it’s all my pleasure,” Vlad answered, his eyes roving over Maddie, drinking her in. She’d aged too, once-smooth skin scrunching with wrinkles, cheeks more pallid, more sallow than the rosy ones he’d fallen in love with. Her eyes were tired, and Vlad was so glad that Maddie Masters was eternally pleased to see him.

Vlad broke away from her. “Now, I was thinking Italian for dinner. Or, if you would prefer, an upscale Hibachi restaurant. Money is no object, my dear.”

Maddie studied him, eyes wide, words chosen carefully. “Danny. He’s in the basement.

“Oh right, the little badger. It’s such a shame to hear he’s been feeling off.”

“I sent you a document,” Maddie continued. She stepped closer to the basement, eyes lingering behind on Vlad, as if pleading him to follow. “It’s all of what Jack and I have theorized so far. Experimental procedures and results. Have you read it yet?”

Vlad waved her off. “My apologies. I haven’t found the time. I am very busy these days. I’m sure you can get me up to speed.” He followed, arms folded behind his back, attention set on the basement. Maddie walked next to him, visibly tense.

“He hasn’t left the basement in a few days now,” Maddie continued.

“I think he’ll change his tune when he sees me.”

Maddie remained silent. She set a hand to the basement door, easing it open cautiously. Vlad paused behind her, stealing glances. She’d lost weight, instantly obvious in comparison to the Maddie A.I., who’d been a flawless duplicate of Maddie Fenton ten years back. Vlad pondered absently on how much Daniel may or may not have changed. Certainly something mental had changed—it was what he’d been called in for. But the state of Daniel Fenton had no bearing on Daniel Masters, so it mattered to Vlad little.

Vlad followed Maddie down the creaking stairs, and ten years’ worth of petty, vengeful thoughts filtered through his mind. It may have been his last chance to make Daniel owe up to the grief he brought into Vlad’s life.

The lights were off, the portal open. Vlad blinked as he noticed the gleam, starkly emerald and blindingly bright, swirling through darkness, casting a swath of light that sent shadows dancing across the wall. Someone small stood just in front of the blaze—floated, rather. Tail flickering listlessly, gloves trailing worn patterns into the dusty portal edge, eyes hypnotized in the gleam.

Maddie folded her arms in against her stomach, taking a step back as Vlad overtook her, a twisting discomfort swamping through his mind.

“Daniel? Haven’t aged much my boy, have you?”

Vlad paused. Danny did not move. His tail flicked, his hands traced, his eyes remained consumed in the brightness before him.

“Daniel.”

No response. Vlad pressed forward. He stood beside Danny, right hand raised to shield his eyes from the brightness of the portal. His brow furrowed, investigating the glassy nothing that seemed to exist behind Danny’s eyes.

He turned to Maddie. “Certain ghosts possess hypnotic powers. He could potentially—”

Maddie shook her head, resigned. “Jack and I ruled that out already. It’s not hypnosis. This was gradual…”

Heavy footsteps creaked down the first few stairs. Vlad glanced, finding Jack hovering just as the door to the stairwell.

Vlad ignored him, fixing his attention back on Danny. “So it’s something to do with his ghost core then?”

Danny’s eyes sparked, shoulders dropping, head perking. He twisted to face Vlad, a single, sudden, jerking movement. “Ghost?”

Vlad stared. The spark in Danny’s eyes seemed to be little more than an echo, glassy glazed and empty, like a recording. Like a reflection. Like a memory, rather than a person in and of himself.

“Is that what you’re doing Daniel? You’re hunting ghosts?”

“Where?” Danny asked, firecracker-like excitement. His tail flicked, and he floated closer to Vlad, until mere inches separated them. Vlad stepped back. Danny’s breath froze over.

It was as though the gun fired. Danny pounced, throwing himself against the portal with the fervor of an animal at feeding time. His gloves skimmed the swirling surface, tracing ripples through the portal as his aura flared like fire around him.

“Show yourself!” Danny shouted. “How’s about an ectoblast that fires off at mach 3? If the blast doesn’t wreck you, the shockwave will!”

“That’s all he responds to,” Maddie said quietly. “Ghost.” She moved beside Vlad, putting a hand out to rest on Danny’s shoulder. The boy studied it quizzically, rolling his shoulder to free himself. Maddie let her hand drop without resistance. “We think it’s—”

“An obsession.”

“…Yeah,” Maddie conceded.

Vlad rubbed his forehead a moment, thoughts sober. His smug giddiness drained away, replaced with something dense in his chest. “Why though?”

Maddie leaned a shoulder against the portal. “We have… a couple theories. It’s maybe a flaw in…what he is. That ghost-human hybrid… It made something about him unstable.”

Vlad chewed his lip, feeling out a twinge of power beneath his palm. “No. I don’t believe that theory. What else?”

“…A ghost sickness, perhaps…”

Vlad shook his head.

“No.” He offered no further elaboration. The Fentons were not entitled to his research.

Maddie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Jack doesn’t like this theory, but I’m—it’s what I’m most convinced of.” She moved forward again, and trailed her hand along Danny’s cheek. He’d calmed down once more, only hazily aware of his surroundings, eyes fixated on the portal. “I think it’s… maybe that Danny wasn’t meant to come back. And it was this obsession that brought him back. He died saving people. It’s what his ghost half knows to do. Fight the ghosts. Save the town.”

Maddie lowered her hand to Danny’s shoulder once more, turning him to face her. He turned, but he did not look at her. His eyes saw through her. Scanning. Eternally searching. She leaned in and kissed his forehead, lingering against him, eyes shut to forget.

When she leaned back, she continued. “It was his obsession that came back, that’s his ghostly fuel, and the rest of him just came along, the parts that were supposed to be dead. We didn’t notice. We didn’t do anything. Those pieces can’t live in the human world. …And they rotted away. And they left behind just what a ghost is… just an echo.”

Vlad backed away.

“Something doesn’t make sense. So many ghosts still have their identity. This is different.”

“If Mads is right, then… it’s our fault,” Jack answered, easing down a few more steps. “He had other things keeping his spirit alive, back when he was in school and had his friends and his sister. He had a job even, once. But those things… Danny graduated, and his friends went to college, and he just kinda… He lost those other things that mighta been keeping him healthy… Danny can’t leave—it’s this radius—some kind of barrier that keeps him a certain distance from the portal. And it just kept shrinking. It—we were trying to make it easy on him. He was losing so much. So when he doubled-down on ghost-hunting… I was excited. We let him… We let him just… boil down to an obsession…”

Vlad hesitated. “Maddie, Jack, would you two kindly leave the basement for a few minutes? I’d like to speak to Daniel.”

“Why?” Maddie asked.

“Just something I would like to test.”

“What, though?”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Yes but—”

“Then leave. I won’t harm him. It’ll be quick.”

Reluctantly, Maddie backed away. She retreated to the steps, climbing until Jack set a heavy hand to her shoulder and guided her out. Vlad heard the door click shut behind him.

“Now then.” Vlad squared his feet, breathing deep, allowing a sudden lash of power to envelop his body. It swept over him, chilling, invigorating, sparking like electricity. Aura swamped him, skin turning pale sickly blue, eyes red, fangs glistening, cape sweeping out behind him. Vlad rolled his shoulders, and he cracked his neck.

“Ghost.”

Danny turned with an instantaneous flicker. His eyes were consumed in fire, deliriously giddy and yet hardly present. He fired off a blast that Vlad absorbed into his shield.

“Daniel, we’re going to have a little chat about this.”

Danny lunged, firing off round after round of ectoblast. Vlad dodged and blocked with ease, spinning and catching Danny by the neck. The boy choked, sputtered somewhat, and then squirmed under Vlad’s grip. Vlad turned, and slammed him against the portal edge.

“Listen, Daniel. It’s Vlad. Vlad Masters. Vlad Plasmius. If there’s an ounce of the real you left in this shell you’ll recognize that name. Tell me you recognize the name!”

Danny’s struggling eased. He stared back instead, eyes filmy and neon. He blinked, brows twisting in pained concentration, his face just as young and boyish as the last day Vlad had seen him a decade before.

Danny set a hand against Vlad’s chokehold, inquisitive, stressed, the tiniest spark of thoughts trying to form behind glazed nothing.

Then Danny squeezed, and Vlad’s fingers cracked, and Vlad howled, dropping Daniel to the floor.

“Thought you had me, didn’t you ghost? How’s about an ectoblast that fires off at mach 3? If the blast doesn’t wreck you, the shockwave will!”

“Daniel, stop.” Vlad closed in. “It’s bad enough you died. It’s bad enough you betrayed me. It’s absolutely unacceptable that you tarnish your own dignity in this way. Is this how you’d like me to remember you, oh Hero of Amity Park? Like this?”

Danny raised his hand. Green energy gathered in his palm. “Hey ghost, how’s about an ectoblast that fires off at mach 3?”

Vlad snarled, and then he screamed, and he let off a single shot of violet energy that struck Danny dead center. The boy flew back, cracking against the lab wall. And the rage welling in Vlad’s chest—the anger of betrayal, of loss, of grief, of insult to the boy he’d once called his son—all vanished in a sudden new ice front. Some other all-consuming feeling that climbed his throat and snuffed the fire in his chest.

After having given up so many years ago, he realized with a jolt that, perhaps, he was staring at his own future after all. Not the one with Daniel dressed in a tailored tuxedo, and Maddie in a ballgown by his side, as guests made of the world’s most affluential people flocked to the Masters’ mansion for Vlad and Maddie’s engagement party.

This was a different future, one of empty feral eyes and one-liners, repeated on record, until all identity had sapped away. Vlad stared at Danny’s bruised ghost form, and he understood instantly. Daniel’s transition to full ghosthood hadn’t been a measure to separate himself to Vlad. Rather, Daniel had just gone ahead first. He died and found the future that, someday, may be the fate awaiting Vlad. Empty eyes and repeated one-liners about, what exactly? His A.I.s? Maddie? Danny himself?

Vlad gave one last look at the green nothing staring back at him. And then the lab door burst open. And Vlad vanished through the wall.

…

Maddie had reached out to Vlad three more times since then. The first time had been the very same day, leaving a heart-felt apology for whatever had provoked Danny to attack Vlad like that, and begging that he not give up on helping. There was still hope. She was still available for dinner.

The next time she called came a decade later, the day that Maddie’s sister died. Maddie left a message, rambling and incoherent, broken mutterings seeking reassurance. She’d been leaning on her sister for support all these years, and breast cancer had taken her away. She had no one left to tell the things that hurt Jack too much to hear about. Danny hadn’t spoken in years. Jazz almost never called home. Maddie had these dreams, recurring nightmares, that she went to the basement and found Jazz there too, empty eyes on the portal, gone. She wanted to shut the portal down. She wanted nothing more to do with it. She was afraid that Danny might vanish all together if she did that.

She left this all in a message. Vlad did not pick up.

The third phone call came after seven more years. She was calling because Jack had died, peacefully, in his sleep. He felt no pain. He did not suffer. It was just her now, her and Danny, in the house. And Maddie could not sleep at night. Not without Jack’s snoring beside her, not without his warmth. Not with the sound of the portal humming through the night. And then she trailed off, silent, voicemail recording nothing but the shallow sound of her breath. Vlad had not answered. Maddie put the phone down.

Perhaps she did it because she had no one to stop her. Maddie pulled the RV out of the garage, and she kicked the engine to life, and she drove. It took two days, hardly sleeping, hardly stopping, just the nav and the hum of the engine around her. It was easier not to think like this, easier to believe none of it had happened.

When Maddie pulled up to the Masters’ mansion, she took out the key she’d stuffed in her pocket, a decades-old relic, given to her back when Vlad still craved her company—“if she should so ever get tired of that bumbling fool she married.”

Maddie let herself in, and the mansion was dark. She flicked on light after light, calling out Vlad’s name, scanning the walls with wary eyes. A thin layer of dust coated the windows, the book shelves, the sills, the light switches that Maddie flicked. Looming granite archways felt hollow, abandoned, like the dark catacombs of a cave, untouched. The living room was icily cold, a window left cracked, water damage staining down the length of wall beneath it. The wind blew, and the window howled. Maddie kept on.

She came to the library, and she pulled out dusty book after dusty book. She knew Vlad Masters well enough to know he had a lab hidden away somewhere—that an empty house did not necessarily mean he was not in it. And she knew Vlad Masters well enough to know he would hide it away in the most grandiose way possible.

One of the statues clicked under her touch, cold and copper-headed, and the nearby wall opened up to a stairwell below.

Maddie followed it, shivering with the temperature drop. Her breath curled in front of her, crystalized. She hunched her shoulders in and braced herself. Marble stairs carried her footsteps with resounding echoes, clacking forward, consumed in the dark nothing ahead of her.

At the bottom, the floor leveled out, and another few steps brought her around the corner, where everything she expected met her eye. Crackling equipment stretched floor to ceiling, strung up with wires and flashing warning colors. The air turned sharp and citrusy, poorly ventilated. Maddie walked, heels clacking, carrying her through rooms of lab tables lined with beakers whose contents had solidified to the bottom, incubation tubes large enough to house humans and lit from the inside, monitors flickering with jagged static images. The citrus smell turned to rot as she came upon the last room.

“Vlad?”

Maddie looked around her, peering through darkness.

“Vlad?” her own voice echoed back.

Maddie spun, and found herself staring into her reflection. Though it wasn’t her reflection exactly—it was a younger Maddie, eyes bright and untroubled, hair curled, jumpsuit unzipped just a fraction down the front. This reflection batted her eyes. “Are you ready to snuggle, Vlad?”

Maddie let out a strangled gasp and kicked back. She knocked against a table, and grabbed it to steady herself.

“Dad?”

When Maddie turned, it was as though chains had tightened around her heart. Danny watched her from the other side of the room—her Danny—human Danny—his hair dark and his head quirked, blinking quizzically. “Are you home yet, Dad? I was hoping you could show me how to use my powers.”

“Do you like them?”

Maddie gave a third startle, ducking forward and clutching at her chest with a pained gasp. She looked up, eyes wide, certain she’d grown too old for surprises like these.

She squinted, recognition bubbling beneath the fear. It was a familiar form, glistening fangs, pallid blue skin, piercing red eyes.

“It’s you! The Wisconsin Ghost. You’re still here?”

“Please. Call me Plasmius.”

“Are you home yet, Dad? I was hoping you could show me how to use my powers.”

Maddie pushed herself away from the table. “You’re still around.”

“Indeed I am. Does that surprise you?” the ghost asked. He quirked an eyebrow and stepped closer. A fiery acid-green crown sat atop his head, casting a light ghoulish and sickly across his face.

Maddie didn’t answer. It wasn’t worth dwelling on anymore.

“I’m looking for Vlad.”

“Vlad dear, I baked you a pie. Let’s cuddle up.”

Maddie flinched, but managed to ignore her own voice. Another side-long glance revealed that her look alike flickered and wavered, her form cold blue and transparent. The fake Maddie smiled, and it was a look full of love.

“Why are you looking for Vlad?” Plasmius answered. He inspected his manicured nails, a ring as bright as his crown nestled on one finger.

“I don’t have anyone else to turn to anymore,” Maddie answered. She watched the Danny hologram from the corner of her eye. There was emotion in his eyes. It twisted Maddie’s heart to recognize it.

“Maybe consider making a few new friends then. Vlad isn’t really around much to be your emotional shoulder to cry on.”

“Where is he?”

“Preoccupied, at the moment. He’s absolutely crushed with work.”

“Dad, are you home yet?”

Maddie shut her eyes. She breathed deep. Jack. Oh god, Jack…

Her nose curled, on the air, something rotten drifted. Under different circumstances, Maddie might have fought away the thought that crossed her mind. Lately though, she’d been dealing with enough grief to believe it.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Maddie looked up, inspecting the emotionless nothing in the Wisconsin Ghost’s eyes. “…Did you kill him?”

“Oh… in a sense, I suppose.” The ghost shrugged, and he flashed a fanged smile. He jerked his head toward the corner of the lab. “A nasty accident, but for the best I might say. Don’t dig too far through the fallen machinery over there, you might not like what you find rotting beneath.”

Maddie shivered. She didn’t let it show on her face.

“Are you saying it was a lab accident?”

“I’m afraid so. I’d almost be embarrassed—crushed to death beneath some poorly-anchored machinery.”

“And why are you here?”

Plasmius’s face split into an awful grin. He reveled in the moment. “Did you really think young Daniel was the only half-ghost among us?”

Maddie’s heart pounded, pieces clicking. Icy dread washed through her core, shriveling up a part of her that she thought had been too wrung-out to feel anymore. She gripped a hand to the table, and lowered herself slowly.

“…God.” It was a name she’d heard him shout to the portal, time and time again. Plasmius. Images of the 20 year reunion party flashed through her mind. Incidents of Phantom and Plasmius gripped in battle. This cruel, twisted, awful creature, from a world made of cruel and twisted and awful creatures. The last man she had come to for help. “I really have no one then…? Is that really you Vlad?”

“I’m sorry to say it is.” He swept his hand across his body, dark under the sparse lighting, lit by the flaming crown on his head. “In the not-quite-flesh.”

“Are you going to go in the same way too?” Maddie asked quietly. She glanced around the lab, fizzled and dying and abandoned equipment.

“Hey Dad, do you have some time to play football later?”

“The same was as Daniel? No, dear Maddie, I will not.” Vlad gestured behind him, capturing the distant shimmer of a portal tucked away in the very back end of the lab. “I’m only here for a brief visit. My alarm system tripped so I figured it would only be polite of me to come say hello to you after all these years. And to pass along my gratitude.”

Maddie stared at him, losing the will to properly care. Whatever happened to him, or to her at this point, it hardly mattered, not with the way everything had slipped away around her. She fixed her eyes on the Danny hologram once more. He waved. Maddie did not wave back.

“Visiting Daniel was a bit of a wake up call, my dear. I ran some choice experiments after that visit, and your theory was spot on. Daniel gave into his obsession, trying to exist in the human world as a ghost, and he let the rest of himself rot away.”

Maddie glanced to him. Vlad spread his arms wide, cape billowing out. The crown threw shadows against the wall.

“When I woke up from my accident, just a ghost form torn out of a body that had been crushed unrecognizable beneath a two-ton monitor—well, I knew what I needed to do.” He stepped forward, pausing just in front of Maddie and crouching to her level. Vlad gave a fanged smile and tilted his head. “I did exactly what could have saved young Daniel.”

Maddie’s head jerked up. The thought sent something writhing through her, a discomfort like suffocating guilt. “We could have saved him?”

“Most assuredly. It worked for me.” Vlad stood again. “I cut all ties with my obsession.” And he turned, and walked a path over shattered remnants of equipment and fizzling cable. “I cut all ties with you.”

“Were you…really that obsessed with me…?”

“I was consumed with you,” Vlad answered, spinning back, lashing out, his form towering and ghastly to behold. He reeled himself in, and smiled once more. “With you and Daniel both, with the family we would made. My desperation drove me to make a family of my own.”

“How’s about that pie, dear?”

Maddie locked eyes with herself, an expression untroubled, frozen, echoing someone she might have been. Maddie breathed out, her breath in crystals.

“But, I did what had to be done. I stopped caring. These A.I.s? They’ve been frozen here for fifteen years. So has this whole lab. They’re nothing to me—they don’t think, they don’t feel, they’re heartless, empty worthless. I don’t care for them. And I don’t care for you. And I don’t care for Daniel rotting in your lab. I don’t care for anyone really but myself. I’ve beaten my obsession. I get to live my afterlife on my own terms.”

“…You’re a monster,” Maddie whispered in response.

“No.” Vlad retreated, his feet beating a path toward the portal at the far end of the room. He turned once more, eyes locked on Maddie, and he tapped a single finger against the crown on his head. “I’m the king of monsters.”

He vanished, whisked from sight into the swirling matrix of the portal, and it closed down behind him. It threw the lab into utter darkness, pricked only by the glimmering hollow light of the A.I.’s left behind in the lab.

“Hey Mom, when Dad gets home, can we all watch a movie as a family?”

Maddie sunk low to the ground. She crumpled forward, and buried her head in her arms.

“Yes Daniel, your father would love that.”

Maddie did not move. She hardly breathed, because she refused to cry again so soon. She steeled herself, and lost herself to the dark nothing around her.

“Good. I miss him.”

#Danny Phantom #dp fanfiction #bloodblossomtea #dark fic #dp #christmas truce 2017

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goabrakadoodle · 3 years

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Consider this question first. Do you have any idea how many bits of information our brains take in every second? 11 billion bits! Out of which we process maybe 50 to 150 bits, and then can consciously hold just about 5 bits in our minds on a good day. 11 billion bits down to just 5. What a waste.

This means we are walking around eliminating almost everything that we see, and retaining only what we want to see. We’ve become really good at it. Bundling all these bits together and trying to make sense out of it. Skimming the surface, as opposed to unearthing the nuggets that might be lying just underneath. All because we don’t have the time.

So the less time we have and the more familiar we are with a given situation, the more likely we are to just take a superficial scan of the information we have, snatch and grab the bits of information we need, and think with it.

Which perhaps is why hacks and short cuts have become so popular. And which is why we end up making a mess of everything we attempt to do. So obvious. Superficial information, superficial thinking, superficial result.

It’s time for a way out of this mess: Art Jamming teaches you to get the most out of your thinking. Helps you work and operate in a creative space with a creative mindset. This is important, because both decide whether you will be happy and enjoy what you do in life, or continue to feel anxious every time you are faced with an out of the ordinary problem you can’t solve.

Art Jamming is a process art driven program designed to unjam the mind. Think with the blinds off. It aims to create an experience that is inspiring, rejuvenating and invigorating.

What is also so good about our Art Jamming sessions is you don’t need to know anything about art or painting. Or know how to hold a paintbrush in your hand even. In fact, the less you know, the better will be the outcome.

Our art jamming program does not assume anything. It is an all-inclusive process that engages both sides of the brain, simplifies complexity and helps you see better, think better, and work smarter at any age. Art Jamming helps bring a creative mindset to life through play.

What is a creative mindset? While everyone does some kind of thinking and has tools to work with, the mistake most people make is reverting back to a ‘business as usual’ kind of mindset. Instead of bringing an efficiency driven creative mindset, we bring a listless, dull mind. Atrophied thinking doesn’t solve problems, it create them.

A creative mindset is ageless. It is an orientation with which you approach life in general, and problems in particular. It is a lens through which you look at everything you face and have to contend with.

A creative mindset helps you to observe and see clearly the assumptions that you make. This is important because assumptions drive behaviours, actions and shape outcomes. Hence, being able to see clearly, and not what you want to see, is a big help when it comes to living and solving problems.

So for you to be able to get those positive outcomes you are looking for, you really need to be working on developing a creative mindset which we are now going to look at closely.

Pushing the limits There are three elements that combine to developing a creative mindset. They all overlap, and in the centre there is a fourth element which is further amplified by the fifth. Confusing? Let’s simplify it.

The first element is to feel comfortable with ambiguity. It is that sense of feeling OK when we don’t know what to do next. This state gives you the tension and freedom to explore and swim in possibilities and figure out or make up, what to do as you go along.

Your mind is open and energized to discover new ways of looking at things. You are no longer fearful of thinking differently. You are not prejudiced or approach problems with preconceived notions either. You also avoid the trap of shutting down your thinking and accepting the first solution that pops up in our mind because it makes us feel better.

Bear in mind, most of the initial ideas that bubble up are generally superficial as they are an outcome of superficial thinking. So be careful, and remember, dive deep. To find one great idea, you may need to come up with many ideas.

Learn to keep an open mind Developing and increasing your comfort levels with ambiguity is the first place to start. The second element is staying curious — outlandishly curious — because this is what allows the mind to leap over the tangled problems filled space and go beyond.

Remember, only a questioning mindset helps you challenge the status quo. Challenge the assumptions people make or you are making. Besides, curiosity is the perfect antidote to help you climb out of a hole or the thinking groove you are stuck in.

When you feel that you’re hitting your head against a brick wall. Or think you are coming up with a same solution to solve a different problem, it means you’ve reached the limits of your current capability. Curiosity will help you to get excited about what you might find on the other side.

Enabling you to push the limits, help you step out of the circle you have drawn around yourself. Take the leap.

Break the walls down To feel comfortable with ambiguity and kindle curiosity, you need to embrace the third element — playfulness. You’ve got to play with everything — play with outlandish ideas, play with people, play with colours, play with all possibilities.

Play helps you focus on the process, rather than on the outcome that you’re trying to get. Just observe what children do when they’re at play? When they are making up games, they don’t care about the final result. It’s always about keeping the game alive. Children are masters at working with an ‘infinite’ mindset. Go back to being a child. Play!

The playful mind is what allows you to foster experimentation and iteration and ensures the flow of ideas.

Like a child, you will be in the zone, engrossed in your own thoughts, ideas and feelings. In fact, you will begin to art jamin real-time.

This is the missing link when you’re thinking about solving a problem. The trouble is everyone takes thinking too seriously. And that is a mistake. Because it puts everything under great strain and stresses every one out. Sure, breakthrough thinking is kind of hard, but there is nothing to stop it from being fun!

Finding the soul At the centre of all three of the elements we talked about, is the fourth – its purpose is to be generative. It is at the heart of the creative mindset. It is very much about bringing something new into being. Which means, the mind is optimistic, it’s generous. It is refreshing. It’s about feeling better and making life better.

So always come at the problem from a generative space. While, that’s enough on its own, it is not enough when you are working to be creative in a space that is full of stakeholders with different agendas and viewpoints. In other words, you are being told to apply and perform using a “business as usual(BAU)”approach and rewarded accordingly.

While BAU is useful if you are working with something that is a known quantity that already exists, it is utterly useless if you are asked to solve a new problem in a new space. It will not give you the outcomes of resourcefulness, agility, collaboration and creativity you are seeking.

Adding the fifth element To be creative in a human-centric way, you need to add one more element. And studies consistently show that this element actually amplifies creativity. If you want to be more creative, if you want to expand your creative mindset, then you need to add empathy.

You need to be able to look at things from different perspectives and to understand other people’s points of view. Understand what a problem means? And why a problem matters? Because it’s only then you’re going to come up with meaningful solutions that really create the value that you’re after.

So, if you want to get the most out of your thinking and out of any creative approach, the most critical factor to consider is to come at it by combining a calm, collected mindset, and with empathy. This is more often than not, the missing link found in thinking in general, and corporate think in particular. It is sad but true.

Art Jamming in real-time

Art Jamming is a free for all session. Whatever you draw or paint, whatever the subject matter, it may not look like something you’d instantly recognize. But wait, there are two interesting bits of good news here.

One, all of us can draw and paint. It is a skill anyone can learn at any age. And two, at the end of our Art Jamming session, you will walk away knowing that you not only can draw and paint, but also discover that you have had a creative bent of mind all along, you just didn’t realize it.

You are primed to solve any problem life might want to throw at you.

Make the world a better place

Art Jamming sessions at abrakadoodle helps you feel comfortable and work with ambiguity; helps develop curiosity; demonstrates the advantages of being playful;and shows how to generate ideas that are driven by empathy. That’s what Art Jamming with us will be all about.

Remember, the underlying principles you learn from our Art Jamming sessions can be applied to resolve any problem or situation. It will not only help you excel at work but also to experience what living life to its fullest feels like. You will learn to nurture and actualize your creative thinking capabilities in real-time.

This level of confidence is a nice feeling and will make great things happen to your life, in excelling at work, and in building relationships. Art Jamming will help you see the world with new eyes. Rethink the way you think.

#artclassesforkids #childrenartclasses #processart

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gethardererectionbycommand · 3 years

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Dating Relationship Sex Romance Sexual Health Love Intimacy

I regularly get messages from the two married couples (regardless of who was the one doing the cheating) inquiring as to whether it's feasible to make a marriage work after an undertaking and provided that this is true, how to best approach doing it. Many don't at first trust me when I say that it's conceivable, yet it's more normal than you may might suspect, and I have numerous previous perusers reveal to me that their marriage is really more grounded after the undertaking. Presently, this doesn't occur mystically and you should have tolerance and placed in the work to restore the bond and trust, yet the prizes can be great. I'll talk about the means in making a marriage work subsequent to cheating has debilitated it in the accompanying article.

Try not to Downplay The Affair Or Deny Your True Feelings: It's exceptionally normal for the two life partners to need to put the bad dream of an undertaking behind them. Living with the resentment, vulnerability and selling out is troublesome, so it's extremely enticing to settle on a choice to simply get over this as fast as could really be expected. I comprehend why this can feel right. Be that as it may, albeit this is a typical response, it's regularly a serious mix-up.

The issue here is that it's really difficult to accommodate what you're feeling that rapidly. You need time to measure and examine what has occurred and to comprehend and manage how you're truly feeling so you can accurately address it. In the event that you don't do this, you will be befuddled and baffled by the displeasure that continues to come out at bizarre occasions. Out of nowhere, the things you used to cherish about your conning life partner will disturb you and achieve genuine disdain. Abruptly, he can do no privilege in your eyes and, regardless of what he does, it's not sufficient.

Obviously, he won't take excessively generous to your negative vibes that never appear to disappear, so what you get is a pattern of outrage, disdain, and words that you've not permitted yourself to say. This is truly guaranteeing that you never truly mend. I realize that Dr. Phil's expression "you must name it to guarantee it" can sound cliché, yet it's actual. You need to address the things that cause you torment so you can exile them unequivocally. Trust me, disregarding it won't make it disappear.

Distinguish The Danger Zones And Banish Them: Every individual who has been undermined has one greatest dread - the dread that their accomplice will cheat once more. This more than all else is the explanation that couples can not make their relationships work following an undertaking. They simply can not recover the trust thus the accomplice who was undermined is consistently dubious and consistently has their gatekeeper up. This sort of separation can hold your marriage back from turning out to be entire and personal once more.

It truly is a lose-lose situation. All together for the union with work, you should have the option to confide in him once more. In any case, how might you do this when he has demonstrated himself to be conniving and has effectively sold out you? This is the million dollar question, yet a large number of couples can effectively address this and mend.

The solitary genuine approach to do this is to distinguish what left you defenseless and to fix it. Did the miscreant feel disliked and misjudged? Did the marriage need closeness? Were those excursions for work just excessively enticing? Did the terrible impact companion lead your better half adrift? Does the work require a lot harmony?

Whenever you've distinguished what these triggers are, you should dispose of them. Thusly, you're secure in the way that you don't have to stress over them. Try not to be timid about telling your accomplice straight out that this needs to occur for you to have a sense of safety. Try not to feel regretful and don't be humiliated or remorseful. It's basically an explanation that you need to make.

In case you're as yet dubious and need to check him up on him, (understanding messages, checking phones,) be forthright about it. Try not to sneak around and make him protective. Reveal to him front and center that you simply need this support for a brief period until you're persuaded that the trust can be reestablished. Presently, clearly, you can't keep up this conduct uncertainly. Eventually, you must take a full breath and trust, yet before this occurs, ensure you've gotten what you should be OK with this.

Give Yourself Something To Look Forward To: The greatest error that I see individuals make is that they approach reestablishing their relationships like it is drudgery or discipline. The demeanor is something like: "I got him and now all that that I can expect is to simply limp along like this for the remainder of my life. I need to save the marriage, however I realize that it will be difficult. Generally, I realize that we're both settling."

In truth, you've effectively condemned yourself to an unfulfilling life and marriage before you've even made the initial step. Try not to undercut yourself along these lines. I can not disclose to you the number of relationships that I've seen really improve when this is dealt with accurately. The key is to utilize this as a spring board for improved correspondence, closeness, arranging abilities, and as another norm for complete trustworthiness and responsibility.

Your genuine objective is for your new union with look not at all like the former one, and to have none of the storeroom issues that tormented it. You need to cooperate to make something new and better, something that is substantially more personal, forthright, satisfying and based upon complete genuineness instead of a refusal or a simply gritting your teeth and soldiering on.

What's more, you can utilize this as the delicate little bump you need to chip away at yourself and to recuperate those instabilities that were there before this always occurred. Certainly, the issue carried them to each one's consideration, however regularly they were there from the start. Transform a negative into a positive and don't permit them to keep tormenting you. Work on your fearlessness and the capacity to cherish and acknowledge yourself. Nothing is just about as hot and appealing as certainty. Also, it's the best way to guarantee that your life partner doesn't generally consider you to be the guiltless casualty. You don't need their pity. You need something different totally.

I realize that working through the outcome of an issue and absolution is troublesome, yet it can genuinely be great. It took a ton of work and mending, however today my marriage is really more grounded than it at any point was previously. I likewise did a ton of work on myself and am more joyful as the outcome. Our bond and closeness is a lot more grounded and my confidence is at an untouched high. I know longer concern my significant other will cheat once more.

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aldenengineers · 3 years

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iwritestuffsometimes · 6 years

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Human Teddybear; Bruised Gentleman

Requested a lonngggg time ago.

The phone doesn’t ring nearly as often as you’d think it would. He usually does most of his work over email and text. I had almost forgotten we had a home phone until it jolted me awake. I ran around our bedroom in my underwear- a mistake, because it was very cold- trying to find the handset, wherever it was.

I was shivering by the 5th ring but I found the phone. It was under a pile of paper on Hunter’s desk across the room. I answered it as I flung myself back to the warmth of the bed, huddling under the covers. “Uh… Babe?” His voice was tense.

“Hunt?” I glanced up to the clock on the side table. “Its like 3 am. Where are you?”

“uh… well… here’s the thing…” He started.

“Hunt? You’re scaring me.”

“I’m at the county jail. You gotta come get me.” He muttered.

“This is the most unfunny joke in the world, Hunter.” I rolled my eyes. “Come home please.”

“I wish it were a joke. I’ll explain when you get here. I’m really sorry. Just come get me.” He sighed into the phone.

“You’re serious?” I blinked and sat up, suddenly no longer cold.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah. They wont let me leave of my own volition. I have to have someone verify that I’m ‘stable.’” He sneered the word.

My heart stopped. “Hunter, what happened?”

“I’ll tell you when you get here, I promise.” He paused. “And bring my checkbook please. They wont let me use my card.”

The phone clicked off. I blinked at it in the dark of the room. I ran a hand through my hair. “Oh my God.” I breathed and leaped out of the bed for the second time in the middle of the night. I pulled on my clothes from yesterday, too worried to dig through my closet for anything clean. I had to search multiple spots in the house for his checkbook. I couldn’t begin to know where he kept it. I hadn’t ever seen him use it. I was borderline frantic by the time I found it in his desk. Racing out, I realized I probably didn’t even lock the front door or turn out the lights but I wasn’t about to waste time going the fifteen steps back to fix my mistake.

I only realized I was speeding as I got closer to the jail. The presence of extra police cars reminded me that I was going 50 in a 25 zone. I slowed down as much as my body would let me before I whipped into the parking lot and slammed the door. I had the presence of mind to lock my door here. I virtually ran inside.

I was met with a ridiculously small waiting area. There were numerous flyers on the wall for drug rehabs and needle exchange programs and dry cleaners and seamstresses and all the community programs a person could imagine. There was an actual payphone and a steel bench bolted to the floor. You’d think the place would be empty at 3:30 in the morning but you’d be wrong. An older lady sat on the bench, clutching a bible. Next to her sat a man in a hoodie that smelled terrible and next to him was a woman who looked like she was somehow 15 and 55 all at the same time. I looked at them, wondering if I was supposed to talk to one of them.

The bible lady looked the easiest to approach. “Do you know where I’m supposed to be going?” I asked her.

“Do I look like yer receptionist?” She narrowed her eyes at me.

I blushed. “Uh.. no sorry, I just. Don’t know where I’m going. What I’m doing. I don’t – I’m kinda freaking out-“ I stuttered.

The hoodie man cut in. “There’s people behind that mirror.” He pointed across the wall. “There’s a button to talk through. They can help you.” He reeked. But he was helpful. I thanked him and turned to the reflective wall. The button made unnecessarily obnoxious beeps and kept beeping until the voice cut it off.

“Can I help you?” She sounded clipped, both from the metallic talk box and in her tone of voice, as if she was put out by talking to me.

It was strange talking to my own reflection, so I aimed my eyes at the floor. “I’m here to pick up my boyfriend?”

“Are you asking or telling?” I envisioned a blonde lady with a nail file chewing gum. That’s the kind of feeling I got from her faceless voice.

I tried not to roll my eyes. “I have no idea. Listen, I’ve never been here. It’s 3 in the morning. I have no idea what’s going on and my boyfriend, who is the closest thing to a human teddybear I’ve ever found, just called me from here and said to come get him. Help me out, wouldja?” I breathed.

There was a pause. “Name?”

“His or mine?” I frowned. The pause was longer this time. I decided not to wait for an answer. “I’m here for Hunter Hayes. I’m Autumn.” I cleared my throat.

“Just a minute.” Her voice was so bored that I was glad I couldn’t see her face for fear I’d want to hit her across it. Here my boyfriend was, behind this glass somewhere, in a jail, in the middle of the night, and no one’s telling me what’s going on or being helpful in the slightest. I was on the verge of a meltdown.

“Autumn… Hunter Hayes…” I whirled. Snippy Bible Lady was staring at me but she wasn’t the one speaking. I frowned and looked to the third person on the wooden bench; Ageless Wonder. She looked up at me. “I knew I recognized you. My daughter’s obsessed with you.” She smiled. Her teeth had holes in them.

“With Hunt, you mean?” I nodded.

She stood up and shook her head. “No. With you. She likes him. But you’re her favorite.” She pulled a flip phone out of her pocket. “Can I get a picture with you to send her?”

“Uh…” I blinked. “Here?” I squeaked.

“Oh. Too good for jail, are ya?” Ageless Wonder cocked an eyebrow.

“Uh well… No.. I mean.. Yeah but no… I mean… I’m just really flustered right now. She’s a fan of mine? Why me?”

“Says you’re ‘normal’” She curled her fingers over the word. “She goes on and on about how you guys would be good friends in another life where you weren’t dating a celebrity.”

“That’s…. Kind of wonderful actually.” I felt myself start to smile. “What’s her name?”

“Julie.” She grinned again, showing off her rotted teeth. “I don’t see her much but when I do, you and your boyfriend are all she talks about.” She held up her phone. “I figured maybe if she thought I knew you, she’d see me more often.” She said quietly.

I sighed. “Here,” I took the flip phone from her hand. “I’ll add me to your contact list.” I put my number in. “You can have her call me next time you’re together.” I smiled. “Just maybe… don’t tell her where we ran into each other?” I squished my face up. “I have no idea what’s going on yet.”

“If he’s anything like Jules says,” Ageless Wonder flicked her hand nonchalantly, “then its nothing to worry about. Probably a speeding violation or something.”

“Actually,” Said a uniformed officer from a steel door that opened from nowhere. “Physical assault.”

I spun to see him, all the color draining from my face. Hunter stepped out from behind the officer. He had a quickly blackening eye. I gasped. “My God, what happened?” I started toward him but the officer stepped in between us.

“Don’t cross this line.” He pointed to the ground. “I need to see some ID and have you fill out some paperwork before we can let him leave the premises.”

“Oh. Uh. Sorry.” I muttered. “What happened exactly?”

Hunter cut in. “I punched a guy.” I stared at him, silent and wide-eyed. How am I supposed to respond to that? He sighed. “He said something horrible. I lost my cool. I pushed him. He pushed me back. Ended up on the ground and getting punched so I punched back.” He rolled his eyes and then flinched at the pain, reaching his hand up to gingerly touch the bruise on his head. “He won.”

“I need your ID.” The officer wasn’t interested in waiting for my shock to lessen.

“Right. Sorry.” I scrambled through my wallet to fish it out and handed it to him.

He barely glanced at it. “Follow me.” He turned on his heel. “You,” he faced Hunter, “sit there. Don’t move.”

“Yes’sir.” Hunter dropped onto a steel bench and squished his mouth closed tightly, staring at the floor in front of him.

I felt my face heat up. Hunter is a polite guy but I’ve never seen him act so pitifully compliant before. “Fill out this form.” The officer was walking around the side of a desk. I could see out the mirror now. The lady from earlier was speaking to me now. She was in fact blonde and had a nail file. I stared at her. She shoved a paper towards me. “And this one. And then there’s bond…” she tapped at the keyboard in front of her. “1000 dollars.”

“A thousand?” My eyes widened.

“I don’t make the rules honey. I just follow em, unlike ya boyfriend over there.” She popped some gum. I gritted my teeth and kept silent.

Reading over the first form she had given me, I began to feel overwhelmed. I started rushing through it all, not really paying much attention to the legal jargon. It wasn’t until I got to ‘description of incident’ that made me stop. I felt like I had been involved in the fight; like the wind was knocked out of me. I turned to the officer who was watching the three people in the lobby through the two-way mirror. “This is what happened?”

“That’s the report, yeah.”

“And you still arrested him?” I frowned.

“Breaking someone’s jaw is breaking the law.” The policeman looked at the ground and then back to me. “No matter how much it was deserved.”

My eyes widened. “You broke his jaw?” I asked my boyfriend.

Hunter blanched. “I didn’t think I did.”

I sighed and signed all the papers I was given, wrote a check from his book, and took it over to Hunter for him to sign. “I can’t believe any of this.” I muttered as we walked out of the room and back into the area.

“Does it help if I say I’m sorry?” He was saying.

“What did you do?” Snippy Bible Lady couldn’t feign disinterest now. She and Ageless Wonder seemed to have been chatting in our absence.

Hunter looked at her, blushing. His mouth opened and closed a few times. “Is that any of your business?” He finally asked.

I smirked. “He was being a gentleman.” I shrugged. I looked at Ageless Wonder. “A paparazzi said …something awful…. about me and there was a fight.”

She showed her rotted teeth again. “See, I knew it wasn’t anything big. You’re not a troublemaker. That’s why my kid loves you guys.”

“Oh its something big alright.” I narrowed my eyes at my boyfriend. “He broke the guys jaw.” Hunter hung his head in embarrassment.

“Ay, yo. Mad respect.” Smelly Hoodie Guy stood up and held out his hand to Hunter. “That’s how you stand up for your girl, bro.” He pulled him into a cliché bro-hug, giving Hunter little choice in the matter. “I didn’t know who you were before but I’m definitely gonna go listen to your music now just out of mad respect.”

Hunter gawked at him. “Uh… thank you?” He looked at all the people on the steel bench and then looked at me. “Can we go now please? Because I would really like to ice this.” He pointed to his face. “I have a show in three days.”

I laughed at him. “You have a court date in four.”

a/n I FINALLY WROTE A REQUEST AND I FINALLY REMEMBERED IT WAS MONDAYYYY i’m so proud of myself. I mean i had to be reminded (yall can thank mars) but i didn’t forget and i wasn’t late and i got a request finished that i’ve had for months and months. I’m very very proud of me. I hope you liked this. thank you for reading it. Youre all dollbabies and i adore you Kaythanksmateloveyoutoobye

#iwritestuffsometimes hh #hunter hayes #hunter hayes fanfiction #hunter hayes imagines #oneshot #fluff #FTLOW

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outfit24 · 5 years

Text

What's Your Excuse?

Today, there's a new definition for chore: exercise. In fact, most people hate exercise so much that they'd rather clean the bathroom than exercise. After all, the effects of exercise don't pile up as fast as scum around the sink. There are millions of excuses not to exercise. Too busy, too tired, too bored. None of them are valid reasons. Period. Be accountable for your decisions, action and your life. If you think you're alone, think again. You're actually part of the growing majority of Australians who have crossed exercising off their chore lists. In fact, more than 60 percent of Australian adults are not regularly active, and 25 percent aren't active at all. Want to see how your excuses stack up against the rest of the country? Listen to what a poll on Physical Fitness and Sports learned and then see why your excuses can't excuse you from exercising. When asked why they didn't exercise: 40 percent said they didn't have enough time. 20 percent said they get enough exercise at work or home. 15 percent said they can't exercise because of health problems. 12 percent said exercise is boring. 10 percent said they're too old. 9 percent said exercise isn't necessary. 7 percent said they're too tired. 1. If time is your enemy: Reevaluate your schedule. Time is the easiest cop-out for not exercising. Unless your schedule is crammed with activities from the time you get up until the time you go to bed (talking on the phone and watching television don't count), then you simply have to make time to exercise. Get up earlier and take a brisk walk around the block. Instead of spending 30 minutes sitting in front of the television at night, walk on your treadmill when you watch your favorite show. Have a baby? Find a club that offers access for strollers, or ask a family member or babysit for 30 minutes. And don't think that you have to exercise all at once. Break your workout into two 15-minute sessions or three 10-minute sessions and do them throughout the day. 2. If you think you exercise enough already: Examine exactly what you do. If you're working in your target heart rate zone for at least 20 minutes five times a week, then you probably are getting enough exercise. If not, add some extra minutes for more vigorous exercise, whether that's working longer in the garden or taking your bike around the neighborhood more often. 3. If you have health problems: You may have a valid reason for not exercising, especially if your doctor has ordered you not to. However, exercise has been shown to aid in the recovery and prevention of many health problems, including heart disease, diabetes & high blood pressure. Talk to your physician and see what kind of exercise program he or she recommends. 4. If exercise is boring: Take a new approach to exercise. Participate in an activity you enjoy. Better yet, find several activities you enjoy so that you're never doing the same thing twice. If you're tired of working out alone, find a workout buddy; dogs are also good companions on walks. (Remember, though, that even dogs have a limit to how much exercise they should do.) Sick of working out at home? Join a gym or hire a qualified personal trainer to revamp your exercise program. You will get much better and much quicker results at the gym. Simple. No rocket science here. 5. If you think you're too old: Revisit your childhood and remember how you used to say you'd never be too old to do anything. You're still not. Exercise is an ageless activity, and it's the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth. Exercise may not erase the wrinkles on your skin, but it will increase your energy level, have you lose weight, reduce stress, allow you to live longer and healthier, and renew your confidence. And that's just for starters. In fact, research shows that exercise is the best medicine we have for helping us age gracefully. Read this line again. 6. If you think exercise is a waste of time: Imagine if you said the same thing about changing the oil in your car. Without oil changes, your car would eventually not function, the same way your body will if you don't exercise. Commit to just three days of being active and your body will thank you. In the end, it'll repay you by helping prevent illnesses like heart disease, some cancers, hypertension, and obesity. If you still think exercise is a waste of time, then do two things at once. Ride a stationary bike and read a book. Take a walk outside and plan your strategy for making that presentation your boss asked you to do. 7. If you're too tired to exercise: Get moving. Fatigue can actually be caused by a sedentary lifestyle. Exercise will help jump-start your body. Start slowly, and over time, exercise will increase your energy level while decreasing your fatigue. Excuses provide an easy way to avoid exercising. The faster you work towards eliminating those excuses, the closer you'll be to living a healthier, more active life. Eventually, exercise won't be a chore - it will be the reward your body's been craving. Chat to us if you need help with any of the above or pop in and check out OutFit24. See you at the club. www.outfit24.com.au Today, there's a new definition for chore: exercise. In fact, most people hate exercise so much that they'd rather clean the bathroom than exercise. After all, the effects of exercise don't pile up as fast as scum around the sink. There are millions of excuses not to exercise. Too busy, too tired, too bored. None of them are valid reasons. If you think you're alone, think again. You're actually part of the growing majority of Americans who have crossed exercising off their chore lists. In fact, more than 60 percent of Australian adults are not regularly active, and 25 percent aren't active at all, according to the 1996 Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health. Want to see how your excuses stack up against the rest of the country? Listen to what a 1994 poll by the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports learned and then see why your excuses can't excuse you from exercising. When asked why they didn't exercise: 40 percent said they didn't have enough time. 20 percent said they get enough exercise at work or home. 15 percent said they can't exercise because of health problems. 12 percent said exercise is boring. 10 percent said they're too old. 9 percent said exercise isn't necessary. 7 percent said they're too tired. 1. If time is your enemy: Reevaluate your schedule. Time is the easiest cop-out for not exercising. Unless your schedule is crammed with activities from the time you get up until the time you go to bed (talking on the phone and watching television don't count), then you simply have to make time to exercise. Get up earlier and take a brisk walk around the block. Instead of spending 30 minutes sitting in front of the television at night, walk on your treadmill when you watch your favorite show. Have a baby? Find a club that offers aerobics with strollers. And don't think that you have to exercise all at once. Break your workout into two 15-minute sessions or three 10-minute sessions and do them throughout the day. 2. If you think you exercise enough already: Examine exactly what you do. If you're working in your target heart rate zone for at least 20 minutes five times a week, then you probably are getting enough exercise. If not, add some extra minutes for more vigorous exercise, whether that's working longer in the garden or taking your bike around the neighborhood more often. 3. If you have health problems: You may have a valid reason for not exercising, especially if your doctor has ordered you not to. However, exercise has been shown to aid in the recovery and prevention of many health problems, including heart disease. Talk to your physician and see what kind of exercise program he or she recommends. 4. If exercise is boring: Take a new approach to exercise. Participate in an activity you enjoy. Better yet, find several activities you enjoy so that you're never doing the same thing twice. If you're tired of working out alone, find a workout buddy; dogs are also good companions on walks. (Remember, though, that even dogs have a limit to how much exercise they should do.) Sick of working out at home? Join a gym or hire a qualified personal trainer to revamp your exercise program. 5. If you think you're too old: Revisit your childhood and remember how you used to say you'd never be too old to do anything. You're still not. Exercise is an ageless activity, and it's the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth. Exercise may not erase the wrinkles on your skin, but it will increase your energy level, have you lose weight, reduce stress, allow you to live longer and healthier, and renew your confidence. And that's just for starters. In fact, research shows that exercise is the best medicine we have for helping us age gracefully. 6. If you think exercise is a waste of time: Imagine if you said the same thing about changing the oil in your car. Without oil changes, your car would eventually not function, the same way your body will if you don't exercise. Commit to just three days of being active and your body will thank you. In the end, it'll repay you by helping prevent illnesses like heart disease, some cancers, hypertension, and obesity. If you still think exercise is a waste of time, then do two things at once. Ride a stationary bike and read a book. Take a walk outside and plan your strategy for making that presentation your boss asked you to do. 7. If you're too tired to exercise: Get moving. Fatigue can actually be caused by a sedentary lifestyle. Exercise will help jump start your body. Start slowly, and over time, exercise will increase your energy level while decreasing your fatigue. Excuses provide an easy way to avoid exercising. The faster you work towards eliminating those excuses, the closer you'll be to living a healthier, more active life. Eventually, exercise won't be a chore - it will be the reward your body's been craving. Read the full article

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