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fourangers · 5 years ago

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Fate and Choices (ch.06)

Summary: When Naruto discovered who was going to be his soulmate, he jumped straight at this opportunity, looking forward to spending the rest of his life with his better half. Sasuke well…he was less eager in this regard though. NaruSasu. Soulmates tattoos. M-rated.

Chapter 05

AO3 link | ffnet link

--.--

Sasuke was checking the monthly chart about follower growth alongside the monthly expenses to boost their social media account when his brother called.

“Good morning otouto-kun. How are you doing so far by yourself, you need any help?”

“Morning. So far nothing of the tragic nature. Thanks for asking anyways.” He tilted his head to one side to steady his smartphone in between his ear and his left shoulder, while he used both hands to type on his laptop. “By the way, you met your soulmate already?”

“I did! He was waiting for me at the airport. A very fascinating individual, knowledgeable and has a keen sense of everything since he traveled across the globe, learned all different kinds of culture and society. I had a wondrous time talking with him.”

“That’s great.” Sasuke muttered.

“Also, he shares some long-distance ancestry with us! Apparently, his great-great grandmother is an Uchiha that detected that her soulmate lived in the Netherlands and migrated here. The only clue he has some Japanese genes might be the fact that he has more of an almond shaped eyes, but his hair is curly unlike ours.”

“Huh, really? Interesting.”

“We’re going to do a city tour in Amsterdam. I mentioned that I like seeing anything related to art and history, so he already programmed an entire schedule visiting Van Gogh’s museum and other great places.”

“I see that he’s not wasting one second in trying to get into your pants huh. Give me his number so I can tell him that if he ever dares to make any wrong move I’ll tear him into pieces.” Sasuke scowled, frown in his face as his fingers pressed on the buttons loudly.

He heard Itachi’s amused chuckle. “Otouto-kun, don’t worry about it. He really appears to be a kind man and I believe I’m a good judge of character. I’ll keep you and mom posted about all this, because I know you two will be nagging me no matter what.”

“Hn.”

Even despite his current reservations, it was refreshing and odd listening to Itachi’s upbeat voice. He was glad that his older brother was acting his own age for once, since he was forced to be more mature in his teenage years to defend his own mother and protect Sasuke. So it was nice hearing Itachi’s honest excitement, proper from a young man such as him, which was the main reason Sasuke curbed most sarcastic and critical remarks, not wanting to put a damper on Itachi’s mood.

“Talking about soulmates, how did you fare with yours, by the way?”

Sasuke almost bit his own tongue, coughing dryly.

“That bad?” Itachi questioned, apprehensive.

“No, actually…” Sasuke cleared his throat. “We’re going to try and go on some dates.”

“…”

Sasuke could almost feel Itachi’s smiling on the other side of the phone. “Nii-san, your sudden silence is somehow more infuriating than your usual smartass quips.”

“So you say. Anyways, I have to go for now. Call me if you have any questions Sasuke.”

⏤.⏤

Sasuke yawned, adjusting his laptop settings so it’d pair with the TV screen. Neji and his crew would be arriving soon to adjust the overall schedule and other general alignments. Nodding to himself, he went to the bathroom (those meetings tend to drag for hours), only to see Suigetsu adjusting his hair style, straightening his clothes.

“Suigetsu, what are you doing?” Sasuke deadpanned, raising an eyebrow as his friend continued to turn in all angles, trying to get the best look in front of the mirror.

“Well, Uzumaki is coming here today right? I’m sure that you already dumped him at this point of the story so he’s free for grabs! I’m definitely going to try asking him out.”

Sasuke opened his mouth to elucidate the whole situation but they heard the receptionist’s voice so Suigetsu was first to go towards the entrance, Sasuke trailing behind. He saw Suigetsu affably shaking hands with everyone, before changing his tune when he saw Naruto. He was definitely feeling up the blond’s biceps while they greeted each other.

Sasuke frowned, stepping in with a grunt. “Naruto, Neji, everyone. It’s nice to see you all again.”

Naruto was positioned so his back was facing him, instantly turning around with an exclaim. "Oh hey, Sasuke!"

Sighing, Sasuke controlled the urge to blush witnessing how Naruto's eyes brightened up, grin widening as their gazes locked together. That dumbass looked exactly like an overexcited puppy. Neji even patted the blond head twice, before shaking Sasuke's hand. “Nice to see you again. I hope our meeting wasn’t too much of a trouble for you.”

Sasuke nodded, stepping aside to let them in as they settled in the meeting room.

“So, first things first, I’d like to present Takahashi Ayumi-san. She’s going to be Shinrei’s account manager from now on.” Neji explained, as the aforementioned woman bowed respectfully, giving Sasuke her business card.

“Is that any reason for such a change?” Sasuke exchanged their cards, bowing back at her while he glanced towards Naruto. The blond man on the other hand, didn’t look troubled nor guilty, settling some of his own fears aside.

“Naruto is our main social media manager and we’re getting new cases for him to take care of, so I thought that it’d be better for him to focus solely on his tasks.” Neji said.

“I’ll still go with you to meet any possible sponsor, or give reports to your current ones. But anything related to your social media accounts will go through Ayumi-san from now on, to organize our workflow better.” Naruto filled in the rest of the speech, also opening his laptop. “So we’re also here to make the transition go smoothly, and she’ll be up to date with the overall demands and so on. You don’t have any problem about that, right Sasuke?”

Sasuke shrugged, as everyone concentrated on discussing the rest of the procedure, covering all details. Once they finished the meeting and Neji’s team departed, Sasuke returned to his office, seeing Suigetsu’s roguish smile.

“Hey, I managed to get Uzumaki’s number. Well, obviously he still thinks it’s work related but…I’ll turn things around. I gotta tell you, I had a glimpse of a bright future when I saw him bending down to pick some paper, that’s a nice juicy butt that I haven’t seen in a while. Man, I just want to get in between that round asscheeks and thrust.”

Sasuke had enough. “Naruto and I are dating.”

Blinking, Suigetsu slackened his jaw then uttered out. “What?”

“Naruto. And I. Are dating.” Sasuke spelled out with gritted teeth.

“Again, what? He’s your soulmate, isn’t he?” Suigetsu saw how Sasuke clenched his mouth, frown in place. “I don’t get it, after all the time when you kept complaining about how the soulmate system sucks and you’ll never get together with your soulmate because it’s a waste of time and so on and so forth you’re dating him? Am I missing something?”

"It's a long story, let's just say we talked, and I'm going to try, see if it's going to work."

Suigetsu stared in awe, before snorting at last. "I knew you wouldn't last long. I mean, when you have a soulmate like that, you'd want to call first dibs. I would do that too if I were you."

"We're just dating, not having sex like some kind of horny animals." Sasuke muttered, glowering back.

"Right, as if part of the whole dating business doesn't have people fucking like horny animals." He quirked a haughty smirk, wagging his eyebrows. “Aw fuck, I was getting really turn up in asking him out! Maybe we should both try getting him on dates, and then make him choose between one of us⏤”

“Suigetsu.”

“Right right, jeez.” Suigetsu raised his hands in mock surrender. “You don’t have to get so defensive. I won’t make any moves, whatever.”

Sasuke snorted, noticing the message ping showing Naruto asking him to go to the lobby once again.

“So, you hungry?” Naruto beamed, while he was busy typing on his smartphone. “I asked Neji to stay for a while longer so we can go out for lunch.”

“Lunch sounds like a good idea.”

“Great! You’ll lead the way, but please don’t choose any expensive restaurant because I’m on a budget ok. Don’t pick anything weird that will make me taste shark semen or some weird shit like that.”

Sasuke smirked. “Actually, I’ve heard that in China it’s a good aphrodisiac so⏤”

“Yeah, see, that’s what I meant.” Naruto poked his arm repeatedly. “I just want to eat some Ramen for all I care.”

He ended up choosing a traditional Japanese restaurant, specialized in Teishoku (set meal). While they were waiting for the food to arrive, his curiosity got better of him so he questioned. “So, why did you and Neji ended up giving the task of managing Shinrei to Takahashi-san?”

“Hm, well…it’s something that I thought over this weekend. Now that we’re dating, that means it’s gonna be more difficult setting work and dating apart right? I don’t want to end up discussing with you over something work-related while we’re on a date, or flirt with you while we’re talking about work. Plus, I might get frustrated about having to solve some issues about Shinrei and then out of nowhere you might send something personal on LINE. It’s those things here and there that makes me afraid that it might hinder our relationship and I don’t want this to happen to us. So I talked with Neji, he suggested this solution and Ayumi-san was on board to help me out.” Naruto explained, while he adjusted the napkin in his lap. “You don’t mind that, right?”

“Not at all, I actually agree with your idea. Never expected that a usuratonkachi like you would be so thoughtful.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, then broadened a playful grin. "You know what does that mean too, right? That I'm free to send you dick pics, all to my heart's content."

"That also mean I'm free to block you once again if you step out of line."

“Aw, you wouldn’t do that, would you? Not after you accepted going on the Best Date Ever in History!”

“You’re pretty confident with your dating skills.” Sasuke shook his head in amusement. “I trust you already came up with a detailed itinerary then?”

“Maybe, but I’m gonna keep this as a surprise.”

Sasuke stared nonchalantly towards Naruto’s cheshire smile, snorting softly. Their food soon arrived, they enjoyed the fragrant dishes in between chuckles and teasing remarks. It was hardly a chore getting in tune with Naruto, lowering his barriers. It’s been so long he felt so relaxed around someone aside from his mother and older brother.

While they were going back to Sasuke’s office, Naruto read a message, raising an eyebrow.

“Huh. You know your employee Hozuki-san? He scheduled a meeting this wednesday but he just cancelled now, telling me that he fixed whatever issue he wanted to talk about, but when I asked, he just said that it’s nothing big. That’s weird, you know anything about it?”

Sasuke smirked, but schooled his expression to a neutral one. “Yes, but don’t worry about it, usuratonkachi. I assure you that Suigetsu wasn’t asking for anything important that really needed you help.”

“Hm…” Naruto wrinkled his nose, tilting his head to one side. “You seem to know him pretty well, he’s been working in your company for a while?”

“Actually, I’ve known him since college, I decided to ask him to work with me when Nii-san and I founded our company.”

“That’s cool, how did you guys meet?”

“We used to have a lot of classes in common, and then we formed our group of friends.” Sasuke muttered, recalling his memories. “Crazy friend, but at least helped me hook up with some guys.”

Naruto stopped walking at once.

Sasuke also halted his steps, turning around with a quirked eyebrow.

The blond man strode menacingly, glowering. “You did what? After what happened between us?!”

Seeing the indignant expression on his face, Sasuke instantly understood that he stepped on a landmine. He began a well-rehearsed speech. “Well, technically, at that time we weren’t in a relationship and also we were just young hormonal teenagers, so officially, there’s nothing that really binds us together so…”

“What the fuck Sasuke, what did you want?” Naruto snapped back. “Some official document, registered in the government with our signatures, stamps and even some blood pact for some special effect? We didn’t have any extra-official but I thought that, well, since we were in this together…”

“If there’s any consolation the number of hook-ups is under one single digit, so can we drop this.” Sasuke snarled, tensing his shoulders.

Naruto stared back incredulously, before giving out a sardonic scoff and crossed his arms. His eyes glanced up and down towards Sasuke, growling.

“Oh, so that’s how you justify yourself by cheating on me.”

“Again, back when we were teenagers, we’ve done nothing but fooling around together.” Sasuke emphasized, annoyed. “I honestly thought that you have done the same, considering that we lost contact while in college.”

“Sure, okay, cool, thanks a lot for pointing that I’m a fucking idiot for wasting my chances while I was waiting for you like a fool.” Naruto’s voice was bitter and angry, taking Sasuke off guard from this uncharacteristic behavior. “I should have followed after the first vagina or dick available while I was in college. Hey, maybe I should do this right now, to pick up since I’m behind.”

Whatever tight control Sasuke was attempting to reign in, snapped apart as he glared towards Naruto’s rebellious face. He knotted his shirt into his fists, Naruto mirrored this movement, wrinkling the expensive fabric. He growled. “I thought we were in agreement that we're dating now. A suggestion, might I add, that you gave it to me."

"Well, that was before I discovered that you probably slept with half of the campus or where else more. So sorry if I'm not taking this piece of news all too well." Naruto said with gritted teeth.

Sasuke huffed. "I already told you, it was only under one single dig⏤"

"Who the fuck cares, one, one thousand⏤! You cheated, that's what happened!" Naruto pushed Sasuke away, throwing his hands to the air. "You know what, fuck this shit, I'm outta here!" He turned around, already stomping away from him and yelled. "Have a nice fucking day, asshole!"

Sasuke clenched his jaw, his body tensing to pursue Naruto but he dug his heels down. He better wait till Naruto would cool his head. Who’d have thought that such pleasant lunch would end up this badly?

⏤.⏤

Naruto was ignoring him.

At first, Sasuke let it slide, waiting till Naruto would bounce back and forget about what had happened. However, days had passed and after few tentative messages were sent, receiving nothing from Naruto’s end.

On the other hand, this situation just made him mount considerable respect over Naruto. Only one week had passed and Sasuke was resisting the urge to barge in Naruto’s apartment to stop this silent treatment he’s suffering. And Naruto waited for seven years?? Sasuke resigned himself not to pressure Naruto after everything he had done in the past.

For such an easygoing man, that dumbass could surely hold some grudge.

Sasuke couldn’t bring himself to pester Naruto, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t gatter intel from other sources.

“So…how’s Naruto lately?”

Neji stared unsurprised while Sasuke drank his beer, glancing sideways. “He’s acting all the same, cheerful, energetic and everything. Why are you asking me if you can contact him anyways?”

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. “He didn’t tell you what happened a few weeks ago?”

Neji hummed, smiling. “You know that Naruto opens himself just to you. I mean, maybe Gaara and Shikamaru occasionally, but yes. Mostly you.” Then, he sighed, pouring more beer to his cup. “Though after years working with him, I could see that beneath all that smiles, he’s angry over something. And after you asked how he was, just gave me the easiest confirmation about my suspicions.”

“Hn.”

“I know I’m going to regret asking this…what happened?”

Rubbing his temples, Sasuke paused in contemplation before confessing. “I told him that I had some past flings back in college.”

For the record, Neji used a total of five seconds to show an incredulous expression before he mumbled. “For someone who used to be the genius back in school and have a master degree, you can be pretty stupid sometimes.”

Sasuke glared.

“Why did you do that?” Neji asked.

“We were just chatting, I said it without really considering much. I honestly thought he wouldn’t make a big case over it.” Sasuke huffed. “And well, I thought that since we haven’t seen each other for over seven years, Naruto would have his own flings too.”

“Yes, that’s the stupid part I’m talking about. You can’t expect that everyone would do the same journey as you did.”

“I know, which is why I’m patiently waiting to amend the mistake I did. I even sent him messages, writing that I’m sorry and all the bullshit you’re expecting me to do.”

Neji didn’t really trust Sasuke’s input. He snatched the smartphone out of Sasuke’s hand, scrolling down while he mentally shook his head. “Right. I’m only reading ‘Naruto’ ‘I can explain’ ‘stop sulking and talk to me’ ‘Naruto, it’s been five days you dumbass’ ah…I’m not finding any ‘Sorry for everything’ here. Perhaps you wrote ‘Let me grovel on your feet if it makes you happy’? Ah nope, nothing of this sort.”

Sasuke did not appreciate Neji’s sarcasm, grabbing his phone back. “It’s been more than a week and he still hasn't answered any of my messages.”

“Well…have you considered calling him?”

⏤.⏤

Usually Naruto was too lazy to answer phone calls, since most of the time it’s telemarketing or scammers trying to get his credit card. Suffice to say, he was flabbergasted seeing Sasuke’s contact buzzing on screen.

Sighing, he stared at his smartphone, hot anger burning on his gut. He willed it down, grumbling. “What.”

“…” Sasuke bit his lower lip, mumbling. “I see you’re still angry over what we talked about a week ago.”

Naruto closed his eyes, dropping himself on the sofa as he responded. “No, not really. I was actually kind of waiting you’d talk to me.”

“Well.”

“Yeah?”

Sasuke chugged some more beer down his throat, clearing his throat. “I don’t know what exactly I should say to make us return to the way it was. I can’t change it, it’s all part of the past.”

Naruto groaned, messing his head. “I know, I get it. It’s just⏤now I can’t get the idea that you got involved with other guys in my head. Were they one time thing? I mean…did you do it to satisfy some curiosity about how different it’d be having sex with someone who is not your soulmate? Or did you do it because you wanted a relationship with someone else? Or were you bored⏤”

“Naruto, I’m not answering any of these. It’ll only make you angrier.” Sasuke said in a quieter tone.

“That’s not fair.”

“It is, because it’s about my life, and my life only. I’ll reveal if I want to, but you got no involvement in it.”

“How so? But before you disappeared out of nowhere, we were⏤”

“We’re just two teenage boys who had nothing definite aside from two matching tattoos. We’re going on circles, this is going nowhere.”

Naruto stomped angrily, standing up. “That’s your fucking problem, you know. You used a loophole, used the fact that we didn’t cement anything before you just disappeared out of my life. You were always such a manipulative asshole, sometimes I⏤AAAARGH! I just want to reach your fucking neck and shake you. Really hard.”

Sasuke listened to the furious inhales and exhales, and mumbled. “I will…leave you alone if you prefer⏤ ”

“Yeah, I prefer it.” Naruto paced around the room, scratching his head. “We definitely went on different paths because we had different points of view. I still believed in the soulmate system, so the wildest thing I did in college is trying to steal some statues on campus. You got disappointed with this system, so there was nothing stopping you going after some other guys.”

“Still…” Sasuke clutched his smartphone tighter. “I admit that I hurt you. And I’m sorry about that. Like I’ve said, there’s nothing that I can change about the past, aside that I promise I won’t do it again. And if there’s anything I can do to make you feel better…just ask.”

“…HMMMMmmmmMMmmmmmm.”

Sasuke knew Naruto enough to understand that particular tone. “Anything that is not outrageous or sexual in nature, get your mind out of the gutter dumbass.”

“Not even you wearing a sailor fuku?” Naruto practically singsonged, his mind also picturing Sasuke with stilettos.

“I’m glad that even with all the current resentment you have on me, you still have enough imagination to come up with the most ludicrous ideas.” Sasuke teased back.

“Yeah yeah. Sasuke…” Naruto raised his eyes to stare at the ceiling, his body relaxing. “I’m still not giving up with the whole date thing, ok.”

Sasuke released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “I’m glad.”

To tell the truth, even despite some reservations and fears, Sasuke was looking forward to starting this relationship with Naruto, only to have it temporarily halted. But he’s willing to take the backseat until things would calm down if necessary.

Taken aback from Sasuke’s honesty, Naruto scratched his head. “So, you willing to wait some a little bit more? I guess I just gotta organize this new information in my head.”

“Sure.”

⏤.⏤

On the next day, Sasuke received a message from Naruto.

You free tonight?

Bewildered, since he originally considered that Naruto wanted more days to restart their date, he answered nevertheless.

Yes.

Ok, great. I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby from your office. I’ll be there in half an hour.

Sure.

Oh. Naruto stopped typing before sending this message. And bring your business cards. Tons of it.

Sasuke’s confusion further escalated, but he obeyed nevertheless. Naruto was waiting him with crossed arms, tapping his right foot.

“Hey.” He analyzed him, looking up and down before shrugging. “Alright, you look fine enough. But use this jacket instead.” He threw it in Sasuke's direction and he caught it with ease.

Black eyes studied the smooth fabric, clean cuts and the tag showing that it's a renowned brand, which all points to the fact that this tuxedo jacket was pretty expensive. “Where are we going?”

“Hm?” Naruto mumbled, his gaze fixed on his smartphone.

“Where are we going?” Sasuke repeated the question. Naruto never cared for appearances whenever they went out, thoroughly ignoring all the malicious glares and whispers focused on his gaudy orange jumpsuit and loud voice. But this time he was wearing formal attire (that looked pretty good on him, actually), also ensuring Sasuke would be decent looking.

“Yeah, I’m comparing if we’re going to be faster using uber or going to the subway. There are some points of heavy traffic, but nothing too drastic. I don’t want to ruin our clothes too since now the subway is definitely crowded so…yeah. Using uber. He’s arriving in three minutes.”

“Okay.” Sasuke waited while Naruto was still focused on the phone, muttering. “You still didn’t answer my question.”

Naruto gave him a lopsided grin. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that.”

“So. Do you intend to give me any explanation?”

“Nope.” Naruto intervened before Sasuke could further inquire. “Because I’m still angry about you.”

Then why did this dumbass go through all this effort to go out with him…Sasuke’s head was full of question marks but he expressed with a baffled glare. But that only caused Naruto to laugh in amusement, patting him on the shoulder while they entered the car.

On the course of the trip, Naruto continued to use his smartphone, not striking any kind of conversation. And as much as Sasuke valued quietness, seeing the usual blabbermouth behaving in such uncharacteristic way was unsettling to say the least.

“…Do you intend to talk to me any time or are you going to keep on this silent treatment till the end of this date?”

Naruto snorted, rolling his eyes. “I’m still considering it. Why?”

“If you’re going to act like that, I’d rather if we cancel everything then. I’d rather be alone than submit to whatever ill-intent you have stored for me.”

“Oooooh you’re making me sound like a villain, I like it.” Naruto grinned from Sasuke’s roll of eyes. “Don’t worry about it okay. It’s gonna be a surprise, trust me.”

“…hn.”

Sasuke vaguely recognized the tall buildings and elegant architecture, noticing that the car stopped in front of a high-end hotel. Naruto stepped outside, moving his head to signalize him to do the same, as the blond man was reading some instructions on his smartphone, following the sign arrows.

They arrived in what appears to be some kind of party, he could hear a constant buzzing even behind the huge mahogany doors. There were several security bodyguards, as well as a reception desk at the entrance, so Naruto approached while they questioned his name.

“Uzumaki Naruto.”

They bowed politely, confirming his name on the list and asked. “And the gentleman behind you?”

“He’s with me. His name is Uchiha Sasuke.”

They opened the doors, and his vision was suddenly inundated with bright lights, women wearing glittering dresses or kimonos, all men wearing formal attire. Waiters moved around smoothly carrying all kinds of tasty dishes, beverages and champagne. There was a classic ambient music echoing in the opulent room, and when he focused his eyes at the center stage, everything became clear when he read the huge banner:

Uzumaki Tsunade-sama for Tokyo’s mayor

He deadpanned back to Naruto. “Your aunt’s party? Really?”

Naruto scratched the back of his head. “I couldn’t say no, she’d kill me and you know that!”

“Fine, then why am I here too?”

“Well, even considering the current situation between us, I have to admit that you’re still pretty entertaining so I won’t get bored while we’re in this thing.”

“Glad to be at service.” Sasuke replied sardonically.

They heard a familiar shout.

“Naruto!” A blond woman came rushing towards them, widening a smile. “I’m glad you arrived. Well, here he is everyone, the mastermind behind my social media campaign!”

Naruto and Sasuke were swarmed by a group of men from all ages, gazes sharp and shrewd.

“You said that Naruto-kun is your nephew right? It’s my pleasure to meet such a talented young man.” One older man approached, offering his hand. Of all the people in that circle, he appeared to be the most astute.

“Thank you, but I’ve done nothing out of ordinary.” Naruto replied, shaking hands.

“What, really? That’s my nephew alright, so humble.” Tsunade squeezed his shoulder, beaming. “You know that due to your social media strategies I could get in close contact with the younger demographic.”

“Yes, and it’s thanks to her that she’s the frontrunner in this year’s election! The first female mayor in Tokyo. We’re looking forward to seeing you ruling this city.”

“Let’s not count the eggs before they hatch, the election will only happen in the next two months.” Tsunade warned. “Also, we don’t know who might be listening to this conversation.”

“True, but it’s still very impressive.” He responded, giving a significant glance towards the blond man. “Is Naruto-kun available to help other parliaments to win some elections?”

Naruto huffed silently, though only Sasuke could pick that subtle movement. “Sorry, I work only in the private sector. Helping my aunt is due to the fact I know her political history, so I know that I’m aiding someone I trust with my life.”

“Yes, too bad right, Honda-san.” There was an indignant twitch on Tsunade’s eye, as she focused on a newer topic. “Oh, I see you brought Uchiha-kun.”

Naruto threw his arm around Sasuke’s, grinning. “Yeah, a nice date with my soulmate.”

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow in response, but it garnered enough interest in the group.

“Oh? Your soulmate? Congratulations, I gave up trying to find mine years ago. But well, now that I’m on my 2nd divorce, I always wonder how wonderful it’d be if I got married to my soulmate.”

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged significant glances so Sasuke stepped in. “Actually, our Uchiha clan is renowned for finding anyone’s soulmate over the centuries, and now we developed a technology to match the soulmates all over the world faster.”

“He found me using these powers, as many others, it’s an ancient knowledge only their clan possesses.” Naruto further explained, though he could see his aunt narrowing her eyes.

“That’s really interesting. I would like to talk more about this. Here, my card.” They exchanged business cards as other people in their circle flocked around them, collecting Sasuke’s cards.

“Well…Naruto, let’s get some food for you while we get our conversation up to speed, right.” Tsunade made a face of ‘you better obey me or else’, so with a shudder, Naruto obeyed his aunt.

They walked to a more secluded place, so Naruto was first to protest. “You didn’t ask me to go to this party just so you can throw me more politicians to be his social media manager right?”

“Of course not, you really think I want to share my golden egg with everyone else?” Tsunade snorted, crossing her arms. “That Honda-san, I knew he was keeping an eye on you, I wouldn’t imagine that he’d have such audacity in asking right in front of my face, that old geezer…Anyways.” She smoothed out her glower, looking concerned towards her nephew. “Brat. I thought you were still angry over some things your soulmate had done back in college.”

Naruto glanced down, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, I still am but…this party will be good for his company.”

Tsunade stared, then unceremoniously whacked the upside of his head.

“Ow! What the hell, old hag?” Naruto yowled, his hands nursing the painful spot.

“You deserved this. You really need to stop being too generous.” She harrumphed, placing her hands on her hips.

Blue eyes blinked, pointing out a bit baffled. “Um, usually people see this as a positive thing.”

“Not so positive when people use this to their advantage.” Tsunade sighed, smoothing the sides of his shoulders and squeezed them thoughtfully. “Be careful okay?”

Naruto gazed back, wordlessly nodding. Some of Tsunade’s staffers called her, so she walked away while the blond man went back to find Sasuke. He was talking with a new group of people, spotting him from afar as he whispered once Naruto positioned himself next to him. “That took a while. I thought I was supposed to entertain you, not random strangers.”

“Sorry about that, my aunt wanted to talk about some things.” Naruto shook hands with everyone in vicinity, scurrying them aside as everyone went on their own way. “Did you manage to get a lot of new contacts?”

“Yes, and even some possible businessmen that might buy some of Shinrei’s stock.” Sasuke replied, smiling in such a contented way that caused Naruto to beam in return. “Thanks for giving me this opportunity.”

“No problem, glad I could help you out.”

“It’s roughly 8 o’clock right now, I’m sure you’re dying to eat some dinner⏤” On this cue, Naruto’s stomach decided to growl. Loudly. Sasuke rolled his eyes. “There are dinner tables settled in front of the stage, I suspect they’ll call us to sit there once the food is ready.”

“Yeah, thank all gods. I’m so hungry I could eat a whole cow. But it’s probably one of the fancy shmancy restaurant, they’ll probably give me some food the size of my pinkie telling me that it’s some reinvention of Japanese cuisine.”

“Sounds like something right up my alley. You’re the one who likes to eat junk food like Ramen.” Sasuke smirked.

“Ramen is comfort food and one of the main staple of Japanese food, how dare you diss them!” Naruto grumbled, when the waiters asked them to go their respective tables, redirecting to their seats. Considering his close parentage with Tsunade, they placed him right in front of the main stage, sitting in the same table with what they could recognize that those people were very influential and powerful politicians.

One of Tsunade’s secretary whispered something on Naruto’s ear, so he excused himself, bowing politely. In a few more minutes the room went dark and strong flashlights focused on Tsunade, who stood behind a podium.

“Hello everyone, thank you for participating in this beautiful event. I’m honored sharing this special moment with all my friends, allies, comrades. People who share this common goal with me and will bring everyone to victory. Others at some point have its fate intertwined with mine and now will help me to reach such success.” Tsunade’s voice was calm and commanding, bewitching all in vicinity. “Fate commands in many different twists and turns in our lives, making us grieve, laugh and learn. I’d like to believe that my fate has given me many obstacles to strengthen myself and grow. My late husband was the one who was interested in politics, and once he was murdered due to skirmishes with Yakuza, I inherited his will. My dearest little sister unfortunately passed away from a terrible disease but blessed me to take care of this bright young man, Naruto.”

She turned around, arm raised as Naruto approached her, bowing to the audience as he stood next to her.

“My nephew helped me in this campaign and I’m happy to say that we have currently 65% intention for votes⏤” Tsunade read on her iPad. “And I’m the leader to win Tokyo’s election that will be held in the next two months. Thank you everyone! Here’s a reminder to everyone who is and was challenged by fate, those who are still struggling and may we bring them to a brighter future!”

She raised her glass as everyone mirrored her, chanting together.

“Uzumaki-sama for mayor!”

⏤.⏤

“Maaaannnn. No matter how many times I was forced to go to these kinds of parties, it’s awkward as fuck just keep on standing there next to my aunt, and having to put that fake smile whenever she made me talk with other politicians.” Naruto groaned, while they were walking to the subway station.

“Hm, really? You behaved pretty well considering that you're usually a spazz, usuratonkachi.”

“One of my aunt’s secretary, Shizune-neechan gave me most tips. It was the most attention I could get since my aunt was, you know.” Naruto shrugged awkwardly. “Getting all busy being our town’s mayor and climbing in the political scheme. I mean, she raised me the best she could, but I guess it wasn’t enough.”

“I see, this is also the reason you were so fascinated being a pain in the ass and nagging me wherever I go back when we were kids.” Sasuke snorted when Naruto gave a squawk of indignation.

The blond man reconsidered and responded. “Maybe, I guess. We were the only kids with no friends back in school so I wanted to show you that I was there.”

“I suppose it worked. There wasn’t a day where I wasn’t forced to participate in your ludicrous plans of mischief.”

“It was entertaining!”

“You certainly entertained me better at the end of high school.”

Naruto snorted. “Yeah. Good ol’ times.”

“Is reminiscing those memories good enough for you to dismiss the current anger you have on me?”

Their steps diminished to a quiet halt, Naruto turned around to gaze at his childhood friend. Under the soft glow of street light, Sasuke looked austere, solemn though his eyes shadowed some bashfulness and guilt.

Naruto exhaled tired, muttering. “I’m still…⏤not as much as before but maybe there is some bitterness lingering. Sasuke, now I get why I couldn’t forgive you right off the bat. It’s not because you slept with other guys…”

A black eyebrow was raised and he chuckled, waving his hand in negative.

“No, it’s not what you’re thinking, I didn’t like that you got involved with other men, but it’s not the main reason. Sasuke, you didn’t give me any satisfaction when you went to college, you didn’t call me or message me something like ‘we’re over’ or ‘I want some time for myself so let’s be free to pursue other things’, so I was stuck in limbo. And, even regarding how much you don’t believe in the soulmate system, I thought that…considering that we know each other forever, you’d at least inform me.”

“I know. I regret not doing this, hurting you in the process. However, I cannot change the past, all I can promise is that I will correct my mistakes.” Sasuke promised.

Naruto nodded. “Another thing, is that what you said to me about the flaws of the soulmate system really made me change my point of view. I could tell that the fact I was angry is solely my own feelings, but another part wanted to forgive you. I wanted to analyze if this part is because you’re my soulmate or it’s also part of my own self.”

“And your conclusion would be?”

Naruto chortled, shrugging. “50/50, maybe. Sometimes leaning more to my own emotions. But I wasn’t sure. That’s why I took more than a week to talk to you.”

“And when am I going to get back to your good graces?” Sasuke wondered, and they restarted walking.

“I think I tortured you enough after tonight. I’ll be back planning the Best Date ever in History.”

Sasuke sighed in relief, a comfortable silence falling between them while they walked in the deserted street. He was guiding Naruto to the subway station, but took a detour to a darker corner that he knew no onlooker would bother them there. He stopped, staring towards the blond man.

“What?” Naruto muttered, a little unnerved from the piercing eyes.

“I’m impressed that you still hadn’t used your usual old trick of poking me on the shoulder and surprising me with a kiss.”

“I said that I’m not going to torture after tonight, but the day hasn’t turned yet. So I’m still in the angry mode.” Naruto grinned. “It’s a punishment for not being a good boy in the latest days.”

Snorting, Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Good boy? I wore this jacket you threw at me, I behaved well as your date in that party, I was exceptionally so good, that I’m sure I deserve a gold star.”

“Yeah, but I’m still smarting with the whole you cheating on me thing, that you got a demotion from childhood sweethearts to first daters. And while I was sure you were gonna get back to my good graces eventually ‘cuz I don’t hold grudges forever Sasuke, I needed some gradual steps till we’ll get to that much needed direction.”

“Fine. At least it’s over after tonight.” Sasuke concurred, smirking. “Do I at least deserve one kiss on this first date?”

Naruto peered back with increasing suspicion, then consented, giving a short kiss on his cheek.

Sasuke scoffed in derision. “Hm, I’m sure that even kids in middle school gave more significant kisses to their crushes than you just did right now.”

“Whaaa⏤wait a minute you bastar⏤” Naruto’s incoming diatribe was interrupted with Sasuke’s lips against his own, hands snaking around to grip his torso.

Naruto took a second in shock before melting in his arms, breathing out a happy sigh as he pushed forward, deepening the kiss. Surrounded by familiar senses and new ones, he explored the hard edges of Naruto’s body, scrawny arms now filling with muscular ones, though his mouth remained soft and pliant, always inviting to taste some more. When Naruto laced his hands behind his neck, tongue tracing over his lips, sliding in and wrapping with his own, Sasuke couldn’t contain the shiver in excitement, moaning.

After countless minutes kissing, lost in their own world, they retreated for a bit, Sasuke’s taste persisted in his mouth, making him lick his lips. Moist mouth softly caressed his own, whispering.

“See? This is how you were supposed to kiss me on our first date.”

Naruto’s cheeks flamed red, but he managed to roll his eyes, disentangling himself from Sasuke. “Whatever. See you later bastard.”

He turned around ready to walk his way before a hand held his arm and spun him back to Sasuke, receiving another peck on his lips. The light touch was innocent but when Sasuke released him, his stomach fluttered when he witnessed the heated gaze and the playful smirk.

“See you later dumbass.” Sasuke waved him, walking back to the brighter street. “I’ll be taking a bus, the subway station is on your left.”

Naruto grumbled with himself, cursing about stupid sexy assholes and the habit of making everything a competition.

He smiled all the way back to his home.

Chapter 07

⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤.⏤

AN: I’m sure that you guys are wondering “So Itachi’s soulmate is…” Yeah, he’s Shisui. I didn’t want to make his name a mystery, I just didn’t find a space in the dialogue for Itachi to tell Sasuke his name.

Onto good news. The story is shaping a little bit better, so my estimate is that it’ll take roughly 10 to 12 chapters long. I have all the sub-plots and main plot ready in my head, I just have to organize to sound more concise…

I guess what’s interesting in this story is about two people who know the other one so well but has to relearn to fall in love with his other half.

The most difficult part was writing the kiss. Not the act itself but it’s just that Naruto and Sasuke are officially japanese in this era, that means that Japanese people are usually way more reserved in PDA. Sasuke, on the other hand, doesn’t care about public opinion, which was why I was more ok with him initiating, and he also waited till the street was deserted and dark and went to a corner. I researched a little and in recent years Japanese are more ok with light PDA, but generally kissing (and long deep kissing) is frowned upon.

#NaruSasu #SasuNaru #snstext #sn fic #sns fic #snsfic #drabble

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marvelandimagine · 6 years ago

Text

Framework (Part Two)

Summary: Request - Bucky x reader songfic where he pushes her away and they break up but he’s miserable without her and it all ends in fluff and apologies

Pairing: Bucky x reader

Word Count: 2,200

Author’s Note: This was literally the hardest chapter I’ve ever written idk why but I should probably start outlining instead of winging it 25/7 lol anywho sorry this took forever and hopefully p3 will come to my brain faster! / based on Framework by The Story So Far

Taglist: @firefly-in-darkness @emptynote @buckysgoddess

How’d this happen?

Found your way in

So distracting

Splitting me in half again

Can’t ever sever the ties I made

The knots are strong

The framework’s laid

No matter how many things I say

The tangible will always be what I crave

Six agonizing days pass, with Bucky coming to the conclusion that he actually can’t live with his decision. He feels like he’s drowning in regret, his anxiety is off the charts, and, plainly, he’s just fucking miserable.

Despite everything he said to you, to himself, to Sam, it’s become crystal clear that not having you in his life is hurting him way more than confronting his trust issues and fear of impermanence.

He misses you like hell. The scent of your clothes, the way you laugh, the warmth in your eyes and on your fingertips. How perfectly your bodies fit together, the way you gasp and growl his name. How you would hold him to your chest, tracing soothing patterns across his skin when he couldn’t stop shaking from the nightmares and the flashbacks. How funny and beautiful and kind you are. Even things that had irritated him, your reiterated suggestions of different therapies and mindfulness techniques (some that had helped you personally), how you never tried to hide rolling your eyes, you constantly misplacing your keys/phone/wallet and him finding it within seconds -- he missed it all. All of you, the good and bad, had somehow become woven into his being. He could sooner get rid of how he felt about you than get rid of himself.

He told himself he wouldn’t do it, but he’s been repeatedly checking your Instagram page, heart thudding each time as he anticipates seeing the pictures of the two of you together deleted -- or worse, seeing you with another guy’s arm wrapped around you. So far, though, there’s been nothing except a video post of your dog, Balto, howling and grinning at your TV screen when Ghost appears on the latest Game of Thrones. It just makes his heart ache more, that he chose to remove himself from these small, wonderful little moments in your life, and for what?

He keeps staring at your number, his thumb hovering above the screen before he chucks the phone to the side, rubbing his eyes as he once again chickens out of contacting you.

He reaches the breaking point when he starts reading back through old texts from around the time when you two first started dating.

“I know we just said bye five minutes ago but I just wanted to say how happy I am that I met you. And you are definitely cuter than I am. That is all! Night, Buck.” And now the same blushing smile emoji that had him grinning from ear to ear makes his heart twinge.

“What the fuck did you do, Barnes?” he asks himself, letting the phone drop to his forehead with a dull thunk.

He knows he wants—needs—you back, but he doesn’t know where to even begin.

He sighs, grimacing as he rolls himself out of bed and trudges out toward the living room. There’s only one thing to do.

Bucky can already hear Sam’s voice emanating down the hall as he approaches:

“You call THAT avant garde?! That silhouette is as bland as toast. TOAST, Nina!”

Bucky sits himself down in the ottoman in the corner, careful not to walk in front of Sam — he thought he’d never hear the end of it when he accidentally blocked the screen during the last Grey’s Anatomy season finale.

“Project Runway again?” he asks, shaking his head.

“Hey, don’t you be getting all judgey now.” Sam smirks at Bucky, taking in his disheveled state. “You need to be jotting down notes, Kurt Cobain, wearing the same grungey-ass flannel three days in a row.”

Bucky shrugs.

“Not like I have anyone to impress.”

“You had someone to impress, but remember, you broke up with her, you cowardly fucking jackass.”

Bucky clenches his teeth as his scathing tone rattles in his head. He tries his best to ignore it and sound nonchalant as he swallows his pride to do something that normally sets his skin on edge: reach out to another person.

“Anyways, you busy?”

“Nah, I’ve had enough disappointment for today.” Sam grabs the remote, shutting off the screen and shifting to look at Bucky. “What’s up?”

Bucky exhales deeply, and he can practically feel the apprehension settling on his face, his habitual reluctance to open up kicking in.

“Um …”

He bites the corner of his lip, trying to think over his words when his gut just wants him to yell, “I FUCKED UP please tell me how to get Y/N back.”

He’s spared having to, though, as Sam cuts through the silence:

“You want to get back together with Y/N, don’t you?”

Bucky stares at him.

“Is my misery that obvious?”

“Painfully.”

Despite his deadpan tone, the corner of Sam’s mouth twitches, and the two find themselves chuckling together. While he’ll never admit it to him, this is why Bucky views him as his best friend, why he trusts him -- he always knows how to make him laugh when he needs it. He knows Sam has his back.

Bucky shakes his head, running a hand through his hair.

“So, what do I do?”

“Before I can try to answer that, you need to tell me why you broke up with her in the first place.”

Thought I’d burn the seams if they frayed

Thought I’d prove the point that I made

“I thought if I ended things, I’d be able to stop caring and feeling so vulnerable, I guess. That it’d be better for her, because she deserved better anyways, and maybe it’d be better for me … I don’t think I really believed that, deep down, but … I was scared. Scared of getting hurt, not being enough.”

Bucky pauses and sighs, staring at the ground as he wrings his hands, running his flesh thumb back and forth over the smooth metal.

His voice is quiet, apprehensive.

“I was scared of how I felt about her.”

Bucky glances up after a few moments of silence and is met with Sam looking at him more seriously than he can ever remember.

“Do you love her?”

Normally Bucky would flinch at such a direct question, but now, finally facing the consequences of keeping himself so guarded, he hesitates only for a fraction of a second before he nods, and it feels like a weight has left his chest in acknowledging how he feels.

He loves you. And he doesn’t have to run from that.

Sam nods back in response, running his hand along the dark stubble on his face as he begins in earnest.

“Look … you have a lot of regret in your life, right? I know it’s over things you didn’t choose, but now, you can choose. So what’s your choice gonna be? The way I see it, A) You can keep doing what you’re doing and let fear run you into the ground, or, B) you can tell that fear to go to hell, reach out to Y/N, buy her the nicest apology flowers you can, and tell her everything you just told me.”

“And if she tells me to go to hell?”

Sam sighs.

“I mean, she’s probably going to be pretty pissed at you —and rightfully so— but,” he pauses, his tone lightening, “God knows why, she seemed to really be into you. And nobody gets over a breakup that fast unless the relationship was already dead for awhile. You guys looked like you were solid until -”

“I blew everything to pieces, yeah.”

Bucky sits quietly for a few seconds, pausing to sit and feel the knowing. The alignment in both his heart and mind, what he wants moving forward.

“I think choice B is the clear winner, here.”

Sam waves his fist back and forth.

“Ding ding ding!”

Bucky nods.

“Thank you,” he murmurs, his voice earnest as his eyes lock on Sam’s.

Sam’s returning smile is full of encouragement.

“Hey man, I got you. And I know this ain’t easy for you, opening up about stuff. Just know there’s always a seat at the VA group just waiting for your supersoldier ass to sit down, if you ever want to talk more.”

“Nah I’m-” Bucky physically stops himself from finishing his default “nah, I’m good for now, but thanks” response, because if he’s realized anything throughout this entire ordeal, it’s that he is most definitely not “good,” or at least not doing as good as he’d like to be.

“Yeah, ok, I’ll do it.”

“For real?”

Bucky exhales deeply, his sadness hanging on every syllable.

“With all this … I don’t know, maybe I wouldn’t have acted the way I did with Y/N if I had started dealing with this sooner, getting more okay with talking and being honest with people,” he muses. “Like you said, if I really do want a normal life, I kinda need to find a better way to handle what’s going on in here,” he taps his temple and then his chest, “than just shutting people out.”

Incredulity is all over Sam’s face, coupled that something Bucky could swear looks like a glimmer of pride.

“Wow, yeah, that’s great, that’s the kind of perspective that’ll help you move forward.” He grins. “You sure you’re feeling ok? This isn’t some fever-induced thing, right?”

Bucky flips him off while Sam chuckles.

“Hilarious.”

“You know I’m playin.’” Sam nods vigorously. “Seriously, it’ll be good for you. Anyways, though, back to choice B.”

Bucky feels the rise and fall of his chest pick up in nervous anticipation, but he slides the phone out from the pocket of his jeans anyways, thumbs tapping away on its surface.

“Hey. Can we meet up?”

Before he can second guess himself, he hits send, promptly hurling the phone onto the opposite corner of the couch where Sam is perched.

“Watch it!”

“You tell me what she says back. I don’t wanna see it first.”

However long you’re gone, I will wait, I will wait.

And then an agonizing, crawling two hours pass, with Bucky finding himself unable to focus on the National Geographic moon landing documentary that would normally absorb him entirely, his eyes constantly straying from the screen to the phone sitting silently in the corner. You never took this long to answer a text when you were dating, so he knows you’re ignoring him.

“Maybe she blocked you and didn’t even see it.”

He’s just about to ask Sam for the phone back to message you on Instagram, past the point of caring how desperate he looks because it’s the truth, when it pings.

Sam snaps out from his half-napping state at the sound, stretching across the couch and grabbing the phone. He pulls a face and Bucky’s heart sinks -- Sam might as well have said “yikes” out loud.

“What’d she say?”

Sam looks at him with the tiniest bit of pity, tossing the phone back.

“Why.”

“Why? That’s it?” Bucky looks down at the screen in disbelief, and there it is, the one-word response.

“Yup.”

Bucky buries his head in the throw pillow closest to him, muffling his yell.

“What do I even say to that?! She’s pissed off, and I don’t wanna do this over text.”

“You don’t have to do it all over text, but you gotta give her something. The last thing you said to her was that you wanted to break up, and now you want to see her. I’m guessing she doesn’t want to assume you want to get back together, but if you do, she wants you to know she’s still upset.” Sam shrugs. “You messed up, now you gotta work for it.”

Bucky takes the pillow off his face, grimacing.

“Goddammit.”

He takes a minute to craft his reply, staring down at the screen.

“Because you were right about everything. I never should have ended us, I’m an idiot and miss you like hell. I just want to talk.” He hits send and turns the phone over, heart thumping inside his chest.

Ten minutes pass before you answer:

“I’ll be home until 7, I have plans after.”

Bucky’s stomach drops as his brain conjures images of you dressed up but not for him, for some other guy, his metal hand clenching involuntarily.

“You don’t know that you don’t know that, c’mon. It’s only been six days.”

He replies immediately:

“Can I come see you at 5?”

“Ok.”

Even with the realization that it’s already 4:10 and he’s gonna have to haul ass to Adams Morgan while still finding the time to get you the nicest flowers he can, Bucky already feels lighter with hope. You agreed to see him. You’re giving him at least a fraction of a chance to put things back together.

He flies up off the couch and takes off down the hall.

“I’m meeting her at her place at 5!”

Sam calls out to his retreating back, and Bucky allows himself a small smile.

“Hey, go get her. But you go shower first!”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes #bucky barnes and sam wilson #james bucky barnes #james barnes x reader #james barnes #bucky fic #bucky imagine #bucky angst #bucky and sam #avengers fic #avengers imagine #the story so far #bucky barnes songfic #Sebastian Stan

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punkscowardschampions · 6 years ago

Text

Ali & Ro

Ali: Soooooo Ali: How'd your date go? Ro: I'm not sure who you meant to send this too, but perhaps try again? Ro: You can't mean me Ali: Coy, that's how you're playing it, I see Ali: Solid choice 😉 Ali: You and Drew musta been agonising over coffee options then Ro: What are you talking about, Ali? Ro: It was just a coffee stop for everyone, rehearsal fuel Ro: You know full well I've never been on a date Ali: I know full well that was just a ploy for some alone time with you Ali: and not yet but it is so clearly on the cards! Ali: I'd start dropping hints now, otherwise who knows where you'll end up Ro: Don't be ridiculous? Drew isn't remotely interested in me like that Ro: Why would he be? He has his pick of girls at school, and beyond the gates, too I'm sure Ali: Because you're you and he should be so lucky Ali: A bombshell with brains to boot Ali: Yeah, he's got a rep but he's being uncharacteristically sweet with you so, taking him at face value Ali: Anyway Ali: What do YOU think of him? More importantly Ro: Oh no no, this isn't a transformation story whereby I take off my glasses or get my braces taken off finally and am suddenly considered good enough for the protagonist Ro: Besides, I'm not even smart, just a hard worker Ro: Most importantly, he's always sweet with Meena so it's hardly uncharacteristic Ro: Other than knowing him as her kind older brother and Caleb's friend I really don't, know him that is Ali: Oh hush ignoring the fact that art is always a poor imitation of life and not the other way 'round Ali: He's love interest #1 at best, potential to be more if he sticks to his lines Ali: You're the loveable protagonist, silly Ali: Hmpf, fine. Would you like to know him better then? Ro: Of course, like I said, he's kind and sweet and Caleb's proven himself to be a good judge of character Ro: I just fail to see why he'd be interested in getting to know me, beyond being civil to me for the aforementioned reasons of mutual connections with important people Ro: He's Drew Goldsmith and I'm me Ro: We're incompatible given even the little we are both aware of concerning each other Ali: Well, I dunno about that, I think he's a fool and my evil plan is working 😏😂 Ali: Because he fancies you Ali: Potentially Ali: This stuff can defy usual logic, for better or worse, opposites CAN attract or repel in the case of humans Ali: But he wants to find out, I know this practically for a fact (of course, I haven't asked, don't worry) so its up to you to decide if you do too Ro: I have no idea what you believe you possess in terms of knowledge about his attractions or intentions but I highly doubt you're right in so far as him fancying me Ro: Sorry to say Ro: He may look like Connla of the Golden Hair but I am by no means a fairy maiden Ro: If only I could be noble born, never grow old or indeed never die Ali: Have you forgotten what happened to the last person to question my omniscience, sister? 🤔🍄💀😉 Ali: And have you also forgotten who and what you are, 'just because they told us too Ali: Cannot believe what I'm hearing here, I refuse to! Ro: of course I haven't Ro: but perhaps I should try and grow up, or at least be more realistic, when it comes to this Ali: Never! We do live in those green and pleasant hills after-all Ali: Won't stroke his ego as hard as to say UNLIMITED pleasures await but Ali: Everyone is positively like a silly child when it comes to love Ro: It isn't love though and therein lies the issue Ro: Simply a silly crush on my part and polite interest on his Ali: It rarely is at first sight Ali: and there's nothing polite about how keen he is Ali: See where it takes you, that's all Ali: he's clearly going to be hanging 'round jam seshs' and the like as long as you're about so whatever it will be, its inevitable Ro: I thought it would be, the whole charade of fireworks when our eyes collide and butterflies in my stomach. Everything clear and definite Ro: I'm afraid of whatever this is Ali: That's just horniness Ali: You just have better restraint than romance novel writers, is all Ali: Its aright to be afraid, its new and unknown Ali: Here be monsters Ro: Well that is comforting, especially if it ensures I won't fall as hard and fast as those heroines do Ro: particularly if I'm destined to do so alone Ro: Okay...but what if the monster is revealed to be me, in his eyes anyway, what if he gets to know me and doesn't like what he discovers Ali: Sure it was the corsets, poor girls could barely breathe, makes swooning all the more likely, those dastardly dandies! Ali: Then he's as bad, and ignorant (and MORE scared of the unknown than you feel right now), as every explorer who wrote natives off as savages Ali: You are far from a monster in every sensible definition Ali: Misunderstanding maketh monsters Ali: So that'd be on him, can't control other's perceptions but he isn't going to think you are, there's just no reason to Ro: I know you're right but Ro: I just suppose I wish I could control something Ali: I know Ali: Well, one thing you can control is your yay or nay to whatever he's offering up Ali: Not suggesting you have to make the first move, or put it all out on the line, 'cos he definitely will Ali: #gentleman Ro: That much is definite Ro: We should call another rehearsal, allow you to guide my vision to where yours currently reside so I'm not blindsided Ro: because I'm just not seeing what he wants with me Ali: Absolutely Ali: I'm really feeling the whole band thing too Ali: Are you enjoying it? Ro: Unexpectedly so, yes Ali: Right? I think everyone is Ali: Its something Ro: I've never played in front of that many people outside of a recital setting, I thought I'd mess up but it wasn't like that at all Ro: And everyone there seemed really into it Ro: Who knew there was so much respective talent surrounding us? Ali: Mess ups are more than welcome but you're flawless Ali: Me me me! 😊 Ali: Toying around with the idea of doing some local performances Ro: Flawless was you and Caleb Ro: I've never heard your voice so complimentary in a duet before, don't tell Marlene Ro: Oh? I think the others would be into that Ali: 💕 Ali: Might get her so raging she'd have to join us to prove you wrong Ali: I know it probably sounds a bit soon but like you said, performances are so different to practice and whatnot Ali: People would vibe Ali: There's all the places I've done solo, they'd be chill, and you know Suggs? Left School this year gone Ali: He's having a big Bday party for his gf and he's asked if I could do something Ro: Terrifying as it'd be to make a possible enemy of her, she's a very good bassist Ro: Very true, and too much practice can make it sound too rehearsed which clearly isn't what you're going for with this Ro: I heard Caleb talking to Drew about potentially performing at the restaurant so he'd be excited for sure Ro: Hm...I'm not certain I know who you mean but a gig's a gig Ro: Would he be alright with you bowing out as a soloist? Ali: She is Ali: She's gonna come around on her own tho, I know her Ali: She's just pouting Ali: Understandably, I'm not being as glib as I sound, just, we weren't right Ali: Exactly! That would be chill, you've gotta come thru with me just to get food, it's delicious and its beautiful Ali: Yeah, of course, one person can only rock out so hard solo Ali: Even if that one person is me Ali: Like, Bowie had a band, ya feel? Ro: I trust you and your intuition Ro: When's the party? Ro: I need to mentally prepare Ali: ✌ Ali: we've got 2 weeks to prep, assuming he doesn't get his arse dumped Ali: awkies, want us to play you out honey? 😂 Ro: Funeral march for his ego Ro: If the stars are good to me I'll make 2 weeks of wishes Ro: Should suffice Ali: Brilliant Ali: I'll check our charts Ali: Pull out some eyelashes if necessary Ali: The stars will fall and align for us Ro: I have faith Ro: Have you told the others yet? Ali: I haven't actually, I'll drop it in the group chat later Ali: Seeing Caleb tonight so I'll discuss the finer points with him then Ro: Good idea Ro: Oh yes, I'd forgotten it's your date night! Ali: As long as he hasn't we'll be fine 😋 Ro: Have you done his chart? If not he has perfect eyelashes to steal Ali: Not yet Ali: Been getting quizzed myself by his Ma Ali: Fair 'nuff but no time to sneak in so hey Ms Cavante, where was Caleb born and at what time exactly? #witchgirlproblems Ro: How very unfair Ro: Tonight could be the night Ro: I've already got the cards out here, questioning myself Ro: The spread's favorable for the party to go well for us as performers Ro: [Sends her a picture of the tarot] Ali: Knew we'd ace it but with the fates on our side we CANNOT fail Ali: are you asking about the Drew sitch? Ro: Perhaps Ali: I got you Ali: Keep it between you and the universe 💖 Ro: OH what are we going to wear for our first performance? Ali: THE BEST BIT Ali: We need to plan! Ali: Maybe shop! Ali: I think the party is a masquerade ball (how sweet for a hapless stoner, right?) Ali: We could run with that Ro: Well now I'm enthused Ro: Pencil me into your diary please Ali: Absolutely Ali: I think we could make better masks than we could ever find Ali: or makeup looks Ali: we will workshop this Ro: Agreed, you could create something amazing overnight Ali: We could go out and forage fresh flowers for it Ali: that would look beautiful Ro: Yes! Oh my god, we have to Ali: Perfection Ali: I'll see what the others want too Ali: Maybe we could go a galaxy glitter/paint moment on the guys but I feel like Meena would fosho want in on this floral faerie moment Ro: If you need me to start pressing any of the flowers let me know Ro: I'll make time Ali: You're an 👼 Ali: We can do it over lunch Ali: in between practicing Ali: Such busy 🐝s Ro: I don't mind I like to stay busy Ro: Do you think Drew will come to the party? Ali: Same tbh Ali: I bet he will Ali: And not to show off his musical prowess, bless him Ro: Do we need a name to perform under if we don't just want to be called 'Ali's band' by the host? Ali: Fantastic point, I don't want to be THAT lead singer Ali: So much to think on, oosh! We'll have to put the feelers out in the group chat Ali: should be something we all vibe Ro: I bet the boys will have some interesting ideas Ro: You should speak to Tommy as well, he's learn so much stage stuff at school Ro: If we're going to do this might as well make it look professional I think Ali: Agreed Ali: As long as he doesn't want to choreograph a whole girl group dance routine for us Ro: Imagine! Ro: I'd have to hide behind the piano Ali: Shy yet sultry keyboard girl prerogative Ali: I'll crowd surf my way outta there Ro: How long of a set are we going to play? Ro: There's so many potential covers not to mention the originals you and Caleb both have written Ali: Oh man Ali: we could do 20 like an opener but we are the main act, as it were, but its not that hardcore Ali: I think we could put together a 60 Ro: I hope we can all agree between us Ali: we will Ali: oh, could you cover for me with Ma tonight? Ali: she's not my bestie rn Ro: Of course Ro: I have a rare night free of any babysitting duties so it'll be simple Ali: Good, you deserve a break from the little demons Ali: I hope a book and a bubble bath are on the cards after you calm down the dragon Ro: They are indeed Ro: Perhaps I can suggest the same for her Ali: Perhaps I'm just giving myself away as twisted but that is a hilarious mental image Ali: Her grumpy face peeking out of a bubble beard Ro: Ali don't that's going to stay with me when I do get in the tub Ro: Oh no Ali: 🙊🙈 Ali: I can only apologize Ro: Cleansing that from my thoughts immediately Ro: Are you coming home at all or just straight out to see Caleb? Ali: If I do, catch me creeping up the stairs Ali: She's not been this pissy since Lachlan Ali: She's so SURE Caleb is like that and its just Ali: hilarious Ali: imagine Ro: Once she gets to know him better she'll change her mind Ro: She has to Ali: She SHOULD but will she? Ali: Stubborn old goat 😂 Ali: He's not going anywhere any time soon so if she wants to pine for Marlene that's on her but Ali: 🤷 Ro: I'll start counting cars to wish on just for her (and you), hold my breath, dig out my baby teeth, everything Ro: She just doesn't want to be a grandmother yet is all, it's no slight on Caleb personally I don't believe Ali: My vagina my choice, Mama Ali: Bless her Ali: It'd be fine if she threw out the same level of concern at...oh, idk Ali: Bea and Fraze Ali: 🙄 Ro: If she could secure us all same sex relationships she would, undoubtedly Ro: Likewise, if there was any feasible way to show Bea concern that she'd allow it'd be done Ali: When your kids don't have the good grace to be gay #gutted Ali: Yeah Ali: I need lessons on how to be a bad bitch, clearly Ro: Please don't take any lessons from Bea Ali: Its okay, I don't think she'd be willing to teach me Ro: Very true Ali: Best kept secrets and all that Ro: Speaking of, I've just received a text and must go Ali: Say no more Ali: run baby run 💚 Ro: Have fun tonight Ro: Bluebeard and I will try not to miss you too much Ali: Aww, I'll be home for snuggles lads Ali: wouldn't wanna get pregnant Ali: Laterz Ro: See you soon xx

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celestialallstars · 6 years ago

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Episode #4: “Everyone hates a puzzle god.” - Drew

This swap was PERFECTO, well, had I been on Nu Orfeo, it would have been but, Nu Tuatha was my next best choice and already it is great! I have Kori/Bryce and then Loris for sure. I talked with Mitch and Sharky a bit, so I'm optimistic on that. But I go and talk to Stephen. Lo & behold, he tells me there's a rumor that Kori and Bryce are working together. He says he heard it from Jared, but I figure hey, why am I not living a little? I say wow if we lose they go but...I immediately told Zach haha what he wishes to do with it is up to him, but if the rumor happens to spread, then I guess we'll see. If Mitch happened to feel this way, then I can at least use it to avoid being a target for a little while, even if I am sticking with KB.. this is gonna be one heck of an intriguing dynamic!

Oh my goodness, what a great swap! I got Chris, I got Bryce, and I got Mitch all of whom I doubt will be voting me. If I play my cards right I'll also be able to use this opportunity to get closer to Sharky or Loris in the event we never go to tribal. Ideally I wanna make sure me and Loris are especially good since Sharky seems the more likely first boot from our tribe.

I'm not sure what to make of this 24 hour challenge, wanna be optimistic but who knows.

I fucking love Alyssa, literally as soon as we swapped she looked at my teammates, messaged two of them to talk to me and gave me info on Zach and Stephen having history in the season. The equivalent of like "Okay go to the backdoor, meet the guard and tell them you like to fly with the eagles, he'll let you in, tell them you're with me and I'll leave the rest to you." So while yes I am the odd duckling out being the only one from Cyrena I'm going to do my best to work with what I have.

So not very much has changed on Tuatha as far as I can tell. My tribe winning the immunity challenge has helped me delay any confrontation between my 2 alliances which is great, as it should theoretically allow me to maintain relationships with all 6 members of the tribe. Still, it's going to keep being important to win immunity or pray for a swap in order to keep these groups from clashing.

Jared and Rhys are still a ? for me. I don't know why/how Rhys was able to convince Kori to invite Jared to the alliance of 5 instead of Mitch, and it worries me that those 2 may have a stronger bond than I immediately suspected. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to deal with that when the time comes.

We're going to lose. I hate for it to sound so defeated/pessimistic, but the fact of the matter is unless we have a turn around in the AM, then I only see this setting the pace for the remainder. I know Bryce and Kori must be sleep. Mitch is trying, Loris possibly went back to sleep? And I guess Sharky is shooting for a late night swim or something. Regardless, I'm just already going over who the best person to leave would be for me. Unfortunately, with Kori/Bryce and then Loris, that only leaves me with Mitch or Sharky. Personally...I'd be open to Sharky, just cause, yea it would've been cool for Orfeo Seven to be a thing, but like I only feel secure with Zach/Loris and that's to a certain degree. All in all, this might be the tribal for Sharky to go and if the others are very sad over it, well, I guess they will have to come to terms with it. I know Mitch is with Stephen and now that I know Steph is gonna probs wanna target Kori/Bryce, I'll need him and Mitch around for them to battle it out against each other...hmm decisions.

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So we swapped. Yay. I have Jared. Yay. Stephen, eh kinda doesn’t speak to me a lot, well he speaks to me the least in my tribe. But we’re in an alliance. So I’m gonna have to figure how to navigate that.

Chloe Mo and a Zach all talk to me more than Stephen. So If I can figure out a way to maintain numbers and sack off Stephen, bye bye Stephen.

Also Mo is amazing. Staying up to try to prove worth in challenges 😍 no one deserves mo.

Y'all know me, one wrong social interaction which ends in humiliation or making me look like a dingus will ruin my entire day. Like oh no one laughed at my joke? Time to disappear into nothing and mope for a couple hours.

I’m lowkey scared about this challenge. I’m on my phone which sucks cause I can’t really do much in terms of puzzles. I can do them just always not the first one to finish. So looks like I’m not doing much yikes.

hi! we swapped! um. the last 2 hours. what a mess. so. like. kori posted a screenshot that showed the names of all his alliances and like. i told everyone maybe... ?? i told zach and then.. mitch.. and then.. i confronted bryce bc one was called 'three kings' so it was obv him chris and kori.. and bryce confirmed it. then sharky does the same thing but oh well thats insignificant hes only in 1. also. me and mitch r like. close now!! all because of this mess. but kori hates me. hehee

So the tribe swap has hit, and I'm back with my old pal Zach! You know, the person from my season who I tried to vote out like a million times before finally succeeding due to finding the idol at F5. Woohoo.

In all seriousness, though, I'm kinda happy to be on a tribe with him because he's a challenge beast and I don't think our relationship is totally unworkable. I made it clear to Zach as soon as the swap happened that I wanted to work with him, not against him, so hopefully that'll work out.

Chloe and Mo are 2 people I've also been working to get to know since the game began so I'm not too worried about them targeting me right away. I think this is a strong group overall.

And then there's Jared and Rhys. Probably not the first 2 people I would've chose to swap with but at the very least they both have incentive to keep me around. We are in an alliance together after all!

I made the decision to tell Chris about my situation with Mitch and the alliances on OG Tuatha because I really want them both to survive and unite with them at merge, and if Chris knows that Mitch was on the bottom of the totem pole on Tuatha, then maybe he'll take it into consideration.

So I had a glimmer of hope but we lost it and that's okay. I already prepared myself to vote for Sharky and it seems that is where we're headed...and yet craziness ensued in the time I was away! Kori accidentally reveals three kings and I try and do what I can to talk to others but nobody has said anything so they're either good at hiding things or they legit dropped it after questioning Bryce and Kori. ON TOP of it all, I learn from Loris that Sharkys alliance chat could be from an org..with Drew, Chloe and maybe Matt. It would definitely explain why Chloe didnt except the alliance offer..so that is fun. And now Stephen has told me he/Bryce/Kori/Rhys had majority alliance. So now I have a lot of info. It's just mattering how to use it

Shoutout to Drew for carrying everyone’s ass while drunk for half the challenge

I wanna explain my plan. It might sound ridiculous but... shut up. So I have this chart I made to show who’s doing the best and worst in challenges. I made four charts, three for each tribe, and one for everyone overall. The overall chart comes in handy if I make it to merge. So my dumb strategy is using said charts to kind of vaguely suggest who should be voted out each round. For example Tuatha is going to tribal and Mitch is doing the worst statistically so I can see him being eliminated (Mitch ily I’m sorry if you’re reading this). The bumpy part happens when and if I get to merge. Because then I’m going to be playing with a bunch of incredible comp players. My goal is to kind of use them as a way of getting to the end, by pinning them against one another until eventually it’s just me. Several problems in this plan, the first one is if my tribe goes to tribal which isn’t super severe because like I said I do feel comfy socially but I am doing the worst statistically so there’s a chance I could be eliminated. Second problem this is a very fragile plan and one crack could leave me looking like a goat trying to make something out of nothing and I’m not tryna get biggest goat in touchy subjects again. Will this all fail? Most likely. Am I gonna try to be a cool strategic genius? Yeah. But it’s worth a shot. Ok rereading this whole thing I’m kinda thinking this plan is garbo but I took so much time to write it so I’m gonna send it anyway.

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I’ve been like bouncing in between moods of. “I’m gonna be an early out” and “I’m gonna go far/win.” Right now I’m feeling like an early out again.

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appreciation the thumbnail + title please.

God, the last 24 hours could not have gone worst. We lost the challenge, AND I was such a dumb idiot that I posted a screenshot in the tribe chat where you could see my alliances.

So naturally I had to basically inform anyone I was aligned with that it happened. I feel like such a flop right now. I've missed the window 3 times for searching for an idol, and it's just like how can I be so absent minded. I need to get myself together if I want to even make the merge let alone win the game.

So far the only people I know for sure saw the Screenshot are Loris and Zach. Chances are other people know and just haven't told me. I'm just trying to keep a level head after having a mental breakdown over what an idiot I've been. We're at tribal and I'm hoping the votes on Sharky are there because we do talk the least. (I'd rather Loris goes but we're actually in a chat together because apparently Jared and him talk a ton.) I have 0 desire to keep working with Loris though, so if I can push it I wanna send Loris home next if we lose again, he literally went up to Bryce asking if he was in Three Kings and tried to draw attention to my screenshot without flat out saying it in tribe chat, asking Mitch if he saw it etc etc.

It's obvious he's trying to basically draw attention to me because I did win our season. His fake-nice apologeticism isn't fazing me. If it's genuine, well he's bad at seeming sincere then since the actions I've seen don't reflect it.

Boy I hope I wake up and get my shit together because I really need to. Granted I could also be seeing myself going right now, so who knows. I haven't been the most useful in the challenges even though I've never not been trying. So hopefully I stick around for awhile longer. I've still got so much more I've set out to do and I don't want to get sent home without accomplishing any of it.

So we SWAPPED and I wanna give a little bit of insight as to my thoughts. New tuatha consists of me loris chris sharky kori and bryce. The first challenge was this 24 hour puzzle crap where Zach and Drew H from the other respective tribes CARRIED their teams to victory. It is about 5 hours before tribal and I already feel like I am on the bottom again. IDK WHAT IM DOING WRONG. I always seem to be on the bottom premerge, but thankfully this is how I flourish. I am SO good at getting out of situations like these and finding myself in a power position at merge because nobody wants to get rid of me. RN I created a chat with Loris and myself just so he can keep me updated on what is HAPPENING with chris and sharky, and i also have my old alliance with Jared and Stephen who i hope are doing ok. The targets for this round are me and sharky for being perceived as inactive. The vote should be 5-1 with Sharky going, but it HAS crossed my mind to throw a vote on like Bryce to shake the cage a little bit. I dont trust Bryce one bit and I feel like he'd throw me to the curb the first chance he gets unless loris keeps him in check.

Everyone hates a puzzle god mwah!!

Lol so we swapped, I get Michael and Alyssa but the former blue tribe has 4/6 majority here, I like them enough as people but like...we're just gonna go ahead and not go to tribal here, if I have to drag them to the immunity statue kicking and fucking screaming. Which is what I did. F17 ladies

Fourth tribal safe. It’s a weird feeling to be safe so many times in a row but I’m glad my all stars game is getting off to a strong start by making connections here there and everywhere. I’m praying for Sharky tonight because I know that he’s close to me and Chloe so if he goes it’s definitely worse case scenario.

So it seems sides are forming so that's cool. Mitch is possibly going to end up with me [and Loris] and then there would be Bryce and Kori. However, after chatting with Stephen and Jared yesterday, I've concluded that I am in a pickle! Let's say Kori/Bryce are legit about this Three Kings thing. Well, I know I'm a possible third wheel for it. On top of that, I'm assuming Mitch might get boned if we lose again, however, Stephen trusts Mitch a lot and so wants us to use him to take shots at Bryce/Kori if we lose again. Mind you, according to Jared, Stephen is a sneaky dude (Sneaky Pete), and him and Rhys don't trust him longterm. SO what does this all mean? All of my allies are hot messes. And on top of it all, I am beginning to feel for Sharky. Yes! I get that its been optimal for me to get him out, but it still sort of sucks now that I've talked with him more. Unfortunately, it is for the best he goes for my game right this instant and hopefully the wrath of him and his allies shant be too horrible.

So we swapped!!! And by some fucking miracle, we have a majority of me, jack, Alyssa and Bodhi. Was very unexpected tbh but we'll take it! Michael and Drew joined us which is good cause they r both v.good at challenges which I would hope means we can immunity run. Cause no thank u hate tribal not dealing with that. Drew also like carried us in the challenge which was a yeet, I swear I tried tho hehe. Mo and rhys I want to try and get to work together, would be very fun n flirty. Sharky messaged me like "lol I'm leaving" and if he does, I'm fucking fighting people, cause that is NOT ON. HE is my one true love and if he leaves I will be annoyed so much and will be quite fucked tbh.love that for me!!

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at orientation last year we were told about a “rule of 7” to not overcommit ourselves. I’ve just about doubled that threshold and depending how the next few days go it might go even higher. Pray for me.

I wish I had more energy to dedicate to this game but i need to fucking relax in my free time. So I’ll talk to people at my current rate and hopefully that’ll get me to merge. Then I’ll drop all other responsibilities and fucking dominate.

I really think the game is starting to slow down for me. Now what I mean by that is I am continuing to get more woke and more misty, and the aura of this being all stars and the spectacle of the other players being so great is starting to dissapear.

I feel very much as though I have perfected my craft in terms of how I like to play, and I'm doing it very well here. It's cool to think about on a meta level like from AnnaJane's perspective: "oh my god Jared did really well for himself in Wakea and had major influence to where some people couldn't even notice, I wonder how he'll stack up against these all stars." I can feel myself back in that zone and coming into my own even in this field. To the point where these legends like Chris and Bryce and Sharky, I know deep down that I can play ball with them. Now, they may beat me at the end of the day and I may go home at some point, but I can understand even at this moment that I am probably top 3 if not the #1 best player here. Or at least I CAN be.

I want to zoom in on this and really get my shit together and take advantage of what is in front of me because with the game dynamics as they are, I can very clearly see myself as the winner. I need to keep doing what I'm doing, but at the same time make myself dissapear and be able to do this undetected.

My new strategy is called "fast and loose" because I'm going to get into these conversations, knock it out of the park and get out. Leave people feeling good about me every time I leave the room. I don't need to spend a ton of time working on anyone to the point they can tell what I'm doing. Calls? After tonight they are done. Not calling with anybody unless they ask. I want to be gaining social capital and influencing people's decisions without being detected so it has to be a hit and run.

I will reevaluate my position soon and probably recalculate my alliances, maybe I was wrong about Stephen and I need to get closer with him while no one else is. But at this moment I need targets going into the merge. That's how I'm gonna set it up. I want everyone to be shooting at each other and then at the key moment boom challenge advantage, boom idol, boom you gotta vote out Bryce can't vote for me, oh look I'm at the end.

Having the One World twist is so interesting because in a usual game when you don’t know everyone until you get to merge usually. You don’t know what’s going on, on the enemy tribe, you don’t know who’s inactive, who is starting drama or who is messy in challenges. Because you’re focusing all your social energy into your tribe alone so when someone you haven’t made contact with on the enemy tribe gets eliminated you think nothing of it. But here there are no walls, you can see and communicate with everyone and it’s in your best interest to focus your social energy into the one world chat because that’s what everyone else is doing. So my point in saying this is it’s now incredibly difficult to imagine having to lose 8 people before we get to the final 10. Because literally everyone is social, there are like two quiet people but everyone else you talk to on the daily and everyone is kicking ass in these challenges (except like two people). I think that’s why I keep thinking myself as an early out is because it’s so hard to imagine anyone else getting voted out. But fuck that I got shit to prove.

I can’t even begin to explain how it feels to have been immune for 10 days in a row. My glow up front wakea is real.

Bodhi wants to get the 4 of us OG Cyrena's in a majority alliance, which is super convenient bc we can just combine our alliances into one. Problem is? I would HATE to vote either Drew or Michael out, especially given Drew singlehandedly got us immunity this time. So if there was ever time for an immunity streak...

Also I keep forgetting to search for idols this is why I never find one

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Sharky is voted out 5-1.

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rebeccahpedersen · 7 years ago

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Why Was June The Most Telling Month In 2018?

TorontoRealtyBlog

First and foremost, thanks to all the readers who chimed in on last Wednesday’s post with feedback on, and suggestions for, the new TRB layout.

Features as simple as having a link on the home page on the comment bubble, that takes you past the blog post itself, and directly down to the comments, were so crucial, yet overlooked. Thanks to the readers for pointing out a few things that I should have caught, and a few others that perhaps we can implement.

It warrants another mention: please try out the data hub!

It’s a work in progress, but we have every TREB sale at our disposal, in real-time, and we can do (almost) whatever we want with it.

No, we can’t share the actual sales for properties. TREB will immediately send me a “Cease and Desist,” even though there are a couple of agents out there currently doing it. But as I’ve been told by those in the know, “A ‘nobody’ that’s sending out daily email blasts with sales aren’t going to appear on TREB’s radar.” So I suppose I should feel good about that…..sort of……but not really?

Anyways, save for advertising what a particular house sold for, with the price and address, I can use the Data Hub to publish aggregate data, and the readers can use the tools to gain access to data that they wouldn’t ordinarily have.

For some of the folks that posted feedback last week, let me just say – you need to try it out again. Somebody said, “You need ‘freehold’ and ‘condo’ to be drop-down filters.” Well, they aren’t, but that’s because the pie-chart above is clickable. Once your search results have been returned, click on the freehold, or condo, and it will filter for you.

We’re going to add more filters. Bed, Bath, and Parking on their own aren’t enough.

But as you can see, the results are called instantaneously. There are millions of data points in the backend, and your search is returned in less than a second.

We’ll continue to work on it, but please, post comments or email me with feedback. Let me know what you like, and how we can make it better.

I’m thinking about posting the actual sales from the search result, but without the addresses. This would satisfy TREB rules, but also provide the users with a lot more data.

Okay, so back to the topic at hand.

It’s true, you really can make numbers say anything you want.

And as the readers, pardon the cliché – both “bullish” and “bearish,” continue to banter back and forth, there’s always an opportunity to select numbers and use them to prove your point.

As the TRB readers longed for new material last week and a forum to actually discuss real estate, and not my new layout, they took to the comments section of Wednesday’s post.

Appraiser and Chris had a back-and-forth about what data points to use, and for how long, in order to prove anything concrete about the market.

Innovator, critic, market-disruptor, and trusted-Realtor, John Pasalis, even had his rare bullish sentiments posted in the comments section:

@JohnPasalis Jul 10

“If the real estate bears out there can point me to any recent analysis (past 3 months) that argues why Toronto’s housing market is going to get worse in 2018, I’d appreciate it. Curious to read what others are finding because I don’t see any downward trend.”

And having just come out of a busy spring market, I would have to agree.

You know I’ve always maintained that there are ways in which I measure the relative strength or weakness of the market:

1) Look at market statistics 2) Draw from my own experiences

There are times when these two measures don’t align.

In the past, I’ve spoken about a red-hot market, ripe with multiple offer situations, when the average home price is downtrending, or inventory is up, or days-on-market have increased.

So when June ended and I took a look at the market data, I was honestly a little surprised by what I found.

I’m a bit late to this party, given it’s mid-July, but the blog re-launch had my hands tied. And I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t go back and look at the June stats, and share what I personally felt was the biggest take-away.

The average home price in Toronto increased by 0.32% in June, over May, and that in itself is quite unspectacular.

In the City of Toronto, that increase was 1.00%, which again, seems insignificant, although it’s worth noting that any investment that returns 1% per month, if done so in perpetuity, is nothing to sneeze at.

Before somebody suggests that I’m making more use of the “City of Toronto” statistic, compared to the GTA average home price, so far in 2018 compared to years’ previous, let me explain why.

While I’ve sold houses as far north as Keswick, as far east as Ajax, and as far west as Burlington in the past 12 months, this is Toronto Realty Blog, and 95% of my business is in the City of Toronto. My readers, for the most part, care more about what’s going on in the central core than they do about Kawartha Lakes or Scugog. So the “City of Toronto” numbers just seem to hold more water than the GTA-number, which as of late, is not a good indicator of what’s happening with your King West condo, Don Mills detached, or Beaches townhouse.

But just for comparative purposes, I’ll look at both numbers today in the chart below.

The May-to-June increase in average sale price of 0.32% in the GTA and 1.00% in Toronto might not surprise many of you, but they should.

Think about the market cycle just for a moment.

We start the year in January when it’s cold and dreary, when we’re coming out of the slowest month on the real estate calendar, and when sellers are just starting to list, so buyers are taking their sweet time becoming active.

February is a short month, but often a busy one, as the folks who started their searches in the New Year are making bids, and the folks who didn’t buy the year before are very active.

March is typically a hot month, and it leads us into the two busiest months of the year: April and May.

While September might have something to say about that, I would argue that April and May represent the “peak” of the market, both in terms of buyer/seller activity, but also price.

Then comes June, when things slow down a little.

School is out, vacations start, and most buyers have already bought, as most sellers have already sold.

June is a historically busy month, but not compared to May.

And this is why I was so surprised to see the average home price in Toronto actually increase from May to June, even if ever-so-slightly.

0.32% is nothing to write home about, but it’s significant for one major reason: it hasn’t happened in the last eight years.

TREB re-districting only enabled me to go back to 2011, but take a look at how the average home price in May compares to June, in both the GTA and City of Toronto:

If that isn’t the very definition of an “outlier,” then I don’t know what is.

When I wrote my June, 2018 e-Newsletter, I actually predicted that the average home price would decline. I figured that with increases every month from December through May, a drop in average home price in June was inevitable.

How couldn’t it be?

June is just a slower month than May, plain and simple.

My prediction was made based on my gut, not on these stats, which I actually didn’t compile until this past weekend.

So add me to the list of people who are surprised to see all the red numbers up there, followed by those in 2018 in the black.

The average home price in Toronto always drops from May to June. That is what these numbers are telling us.

And these aren’t exactly small numbers either.

The GTA-numbers on the left might be less volatile, but look at the City of Toronto – even without the massive 7.81% decline from 2017, when the market was weak from April onwards, we have two years over 5%, and from 2011 to 2017, the drops average 3.97%.

So while the 0.32% and 1.00% increases in the GTA and City of Toronto, respectively, don’t seem like much on their own, they represent an absolute breakthrough for the market.

My “gut” told me that June was okay, but it didn’t feel like March or April out there. I had some barnburner condo sales, but I felt as though the freehold market had dropped off significantly.

I had two tough listings in June, both under-priced with “offer nights,” both which only got one offer.

I’m pleased to say that I was able to get $150,000 and $95,000 respectively over-asking for each property, but the sellers in both cases were distraught that only one bidder showed up for their home.

These sales, I felt, showed me that the market had, in fact, slowed a little.

And throughout June, I continued to “feel” that the market had pulled back ever-so-slightly.

“Averages” are not exact measures of the market, but overall, it looks as though June was actually a very strong month, even if I had a couple of listings that didn’t produce the desired response.

So I guess the next question is: where do we go from here?

The GTA-wide average home prices in April, May, and June were $804,584, $805,320, and $807,871 respectively. That’s some kind of consistency!

July has to be slower than June, and although the chart above would dictate that looking at what’s happened in the past is no real measure of the future (at least in 2018), I have to think that we see the average home price in Toronto dip back down to $790,000 through August, before we head into a typically busy fall.

The average drop in price from June to July from 2015 to 2017 was 4.69%, 4.92%, and 6.01% respectively.

But based on the exceptional consistency in April/May/June, and the trend-breaker we just analyzed in June itself, I can see July and August being busier than normal.

It all lines up for what should, or at least could be a very busy Fall, 2018 market.

The post Why Was June The Most Telling Month In 2018? appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

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rebeccahpedersen · 7 years ago

Text

Why Was June The Most Telling Month In 2018?

TorontoRealtyBlog

First and foremost, thanks to all the readers who chimed in on last Wednesday’s post with feedback on, and suggestions for, the new TRB layout.

It warrants another mention: please try out the data hub!

It’s a work in progress, but we have every TREB sale at our disposal, in real-time, and we can do (almost) whatever we want with it.

We’re going to add more filters. Bed, Bath, and Parking on their own aren’t enough.

But as you can see, the results are called instantaneously. There are millions of data points in the backend, and your search is returned in less than a second.

We’ll continue to work on it, but please, post comments or email me with feedback. Let me know what you like, and how we can make it better.

I’m thinking about posting the actual sales from the search result, but without the addresses. This would satisfy TREB rules, but also provide the users with a lot more data.

Okay, so back to the topic at hand.

It’s true, you really can make numbers say anything you want.

And as the readers, pardon the cliché – both “bullish” and “bearish,” continue to banter back and forth, there’s always an opportunity to select numbers and use them to prove your point.

As the TRB readers longed for new material last week and a forum to actually discuss real estate, and not my new layout, they took to the comments section of Wednesday’s post.

Appraiser and Chris had a back-and-forth about what data points to use, and for how long, in order to prove anything concrete about the market.

Innovator, critic, market-disruptor, and trusted-Realtor, John Pasalis, even had his rare bullish sentiments posted in the comments section:

@JohnPasalis Jul 10

And having just come out of a busy spring market, I would have to agree.

You know I’ve always maintained that there are ways in which I measure the relative strength or weakness of the market:

1) Look at market statistics 2) Draw from my own experiences

There are times when these two measures don’t align.

In the past, I’ve spoken about a red-hot market, ripe with multiple offer situations, when the average home price is downtrending, or inventory is up, or days-on-market have increased.

So when June ended and I took a look at the market data, I was honestly a little surprised by what I found.

The average home price in Toronto increased by 0.32% in June, over May, and that in itself is quite unspectacular.

Before somebody suggests that I’m making more use of the “City of Toronto” statistic, compared to the GTA average home price, so far in 2018 compared to years’ previous, let me explain why.

But just for comparative purposes, I’ll look at both numbers today in the chart below.

The May-to-June increase in average sale price of 0.32% in the GTA and 1.00% in Toronto might not surprise many of you, but they should.

Think about the market cycle just for a moment.

February is a short month, but often a busy one, as the folks who started their searches in the New Year are making bids, and the folks who didn’t buy the year before are very active.

March is typically a hot month, and it leads us into the two busiest months of the year: April and May.

While September might have something to say about that, I would argue that April and May represent the “peak” of the market, both in terms of buyer/seller activity, but also price.

Then comes June, when things slow down a little.

School is out, vacations start, and most buyers have already bought, as most sellers have already sold.

June is a historically busy month, but not compared to May.

And this is why I was so surprised to see the average home price in Toronto actually increase from May to June, even if ever-so-slightly.

0.32% is nothing to write home about, but it’s significant for one major reason: it hasn’t happened in the last eight years.

TREB re-districting only enabled me to go back to 2011, but take a look at how the average home price in May compares to June, in both the GTA and City of Toronto:

If that isn’t the very definition of an “outlier,” then I don’t know what is.

How couldn’t it be?

June is just a slower month than May, plain and simple.

My prediction was made based on my gut, not on these stats, which I actually didn’t compile until this past weekend.

So add me to the list of people who are surprised to see all the red numbers up there, followed by those in 2018 in the black.

The average home price in Toronto always drops from May to June. That is what these numbers are telling us.

And these aren’t exactly small numbers either.

So while the 0.32% and 1.00% increases in the GTA and City of Toronto, respectively, don’t seem like much on their own, they represent an absolute breakthrough for the market.

My “gut” told me that June was okay, but it didn’t feel like March or April out there. I had some barnburner condo sales, but I felt as though the freehold market had dropped off significantly.

I had two tough listings in June, both under-priced with “offer nights,” both which only got one offer.

These sales, I felt, showed me that the market had, in fact, slowed a little.

And throughout June, I continued to “feel” that the market had pulled back ever-so-slightly.

So I guess the next question is: where do we go from here?

The GTA-wide average home prices in April, May, and June were $804,584, $805,320, and $807,871 respectively. That’s some kind of consistency!

The average drop in price from June to July from 2015 to 2017 was 4.69%, 4.92%, and 6.01% respectively.

But based on the exceptional consistency in April/May/June, and the trend-breaker we just analyzed in June itself, I can see July and August being busier than normal.

It all lines up for what should, or at least could be a very busy Fall, 2018 market.

The post Why Was June The Most Telling Month In 2018? appeared first on Toronto Realty Blog.

Originated from https://ift.tt/2Jp0eeQ

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