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aquaticalay · 5 years

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Centurion .Chapter Seven.

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Sequel to For Something Greater

Summary: (Y/n) is an active duty Navy SEAL Commander, the first and only woman to ever become a SEAL. After successfully stopping a genocide with the help of the Avengers, she becomes a bridge between the military and the earth's mightiest heroes. But even as her relationship with Bucky grows, she decides not to tell him about the nightmares and trauma that haunt her. Both their secrets begin to unravel when Bucky accidentally stumbles upon a piece of dangerous information about (Y/n) that she must never find out about.

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance

Warning/s for the series: cursing, violence, death, eventual smut, PTSD

Warning/s for the chapter: mentions of PTSD, violence, death

Word count: 3.4k

Note: The plot is heavily inspired by the song 'in the dark' by Bring Me The Horizon, and 'Mercy' by Muse. So yeah, go listen to it if you want to :))) I'll post a new chapter every two days.

Let me know if you want to be in the taglist!

(Taglist will be reblogged)

THIS IS A SEQUEL TO 'FOR SOMETHING GREATER.' IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT, THE MASTERLIST IS IN MY BIO.

TRIGGER WARNING! THIS SERIES REVOLVES AROUND POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. (Including, but not limited to: anxiety/panic attacks, extreme mood swings , nightmares, intrusive thoughts, insomnia, irritability, hypervigilance, and hyperarousal)

Bucky had told you he was going to get back in a few hours— maybe an hour or two. The reason it would take so long was because a few military personnel from the US Navy and Marine Corps Reserve in Brooklyn had just teamed up with the NYPD to question him. They think this is a high level military threat, and they were right to think so. With Sam reported missing, you were betting every military base in not only in America, but all around the globe, was on high alert.

You couldn't wait for Bucky any longer. You had to see for yourself that he was okay.

You put on a dark green jacket and cargo pants, as well as taking your silver SEAL trident pin with you. You also put on Bucky's dog tags. Not only because you might need it, but for comfort, too.

You passed the avengers in their meeting room, as they called for an emergency meeting. You could not hear anything from the soundproof room.

You didn't want to disturb them, so you told Friday where you were going.

"Friday?" you called, "When the meeting is done, tell them I'm going to see Bucky."

"Will do," the AI confirmed.

You went down the basement got in a car.

When you drove out, you noticed that everyone on the street looked distressed. They stopped in their tracks to look at the breaking news from TV stores on the streets and in cafès. A lot of them were frantically calling family members and loved ones to make sure they were okay.

Suddenly, a horrible memory flooded over you.

You've only ever seen this kind collective grieving once in your life.

You must've been twelve or thirteen when the planes crashed into the twin towers. It happened a few years after your parents were killed by suicide bombers in Iraq.

You were already under foster care in New York, under Aisha. You were walking to school then, when your old Nokia phone buzzed and rang with dozens of messages.

Come home

Emergency

You read the texts from your foster mother.

Sensing distress, you ran back to her apartment, where she was looking at the TV in horror. What you saw on was the most disturbing thing a child had to see.

Live footage of planes crashing through towers, people jumping to their deaths and hit by debris while they try to run for their lives. It was bloody and violent, but you can't look away. You were reminded too much of the reports of your parent's death.

You cried for hours and hours on end that night, curled into Aisha's arms for comfort. Aisha was deaf— she could not hear your howling grief, but she could feel the vibrations of your sobs, humming from your chest and throughout your small, fragile body.

After that day, Aisha got the worst of it.

As a veiled muslim woman, she had to fight prejudice for the rest of her life.

It wasn't fair, you knew, that a whole group of people had to face the consequences of something they didn't do, just because a tiny population who identified as they did were led astray. You remember seeing Aisha come home from the mosque one day, her eyes bruised badly, blotchy and swelling ugly purple. Her hijab was messy and torn apart at the edges. It was clear someone had attacked her.

What happened? you signed worriedly, moving your fingers in American Sign Language. Tears started sting down your chin. She had forced a smile and replied, signing, It's nothing. She took you to bed that night, convincing you that it was nothing she couldn't take.

You were suddenly reminded again, why you wanted to serve and join the Navy SEALs Because you wanted to stop anyone from doing anymore harm. You did it for your parents, who died in Iraq, and for Aisha, who had to endure years of hatred for something she didn't do; something that millions of innocent people had to go through just because of their religious background, and how the majority sees them. It was unfair.

A noble purpose, but you ended up with blood on your hands along the way. Unintentional, but blood, thick and red, nonetheless.

The grieving people you were seeing right now was somewhat similar, people scared for their lives and bracing in case of a second attack. You didn't blame them, the missile took out two entire New Jersey blocks, after all, with fires creeping up to surrounding buildings.

Your short daze was cut off when your phone rang. Connected to the bluetooth speaker, you hit a button on the console to take the call.

"Hello?" You answered, your attention divided between steering the car and talking to whoever was on the other end of the line.

"(L/n)?" Said a familiar voice, "This is Tanaka. Naomi Tanaka."

You find yourself relieved at the sound of your old friend. "What's going on?" You asked, preparing for the worst.

"Your squadron told me you were in New York," she said, "I'm glad you're okay. Command might need you in Seattle in a few days. But for now, stay grounded. The airspace isn't safe."

You nodded unconsciously, "Okay. Anything else?"

"No, not really," she said, "just stay alert. And answer your calĺs."

"Yes Ma'am," you told her. You hung the call up soon after, diverting all your attention back on the road in front of you.

You arrived at Nick Fury's apartment block half an hour later, or at least whatever was left of it. The block was completely destroyed, going up in flames. The firefighters were still trying to contain the raging fire. The NYPD was evacuating nearby civilians, and you could see reporters, journalists, and news media vans all around, crowding as far as the eye can see. People were shouting and screeching, body bags on the streets waiting to be transported to the morgue, the injured victims being carried into ambulances.

There were 24 confirmed dead when you last saw the news thirty minutes ago, but from the looks of it, the numbers mist have risen. You estimated 40, maybe 50 dead, including bodies of children too small to fit into the big black bags. Sadly, from the looks of the current situation, the casualty rate was only getting higher and higher.

You got out of your car, walking quickly to the site. You flinched as you saw a fireman carry a wounded young man. His scream of pain echoed in your head as half his face was burned off, boiling red and almost inhuman.

Breathe, you thought to yourself.

As you were about to cross the police line and near the missile crash, an officer stopped you. "Miss," he shouted, "I don't care about your news story. Journalists stay behind the line, okay?"

"I'm not a journalist," you pulled your trident pin out of your pocket, "I'm with the navy." You showed the glinting silver pin and he came closer to inspect it.

You pulled Bucky's dog tag from under your shirt, "and I'm here to see Sergeant James Barnes."

He fiddled with it until he was sure it was authentic, then he gave them back to you. "Come with me, Miss."

You walked three blocks down with him and made a turn to a crowded corner.

It was an NYPD office. It wasn't big, but wasn't small,either. The front of it was packed with reporters, trying to get a peek inside.

"Sergeant Barnes is being interrogated by a detective in there. There are Marines and few Navy sailors, too, I think," said the cop.

You nodded in gratitude, "Thank you."

He went back to his post, walking the other way. You had to mutter a few "excuse me"s and "coming through"s and you had to push through the crowds of reporters.

You finally made the front of the line and stepped up the short flight of stairs, where two marines stood by the door. You knew they were marines by their service dress uniform– a dull green dress coat and pants with a beige shirt and tie underneath.

One of them saw you step closer and put a hand out to stop you in your tracks, "I'm sorry Ma'am, you're not allowed inside."

Once again, you were forced to show them their trident pin. "Relax, jarheads," you played it a bit coyly with the nickname, "I'm a sailor."

They nodded, letting you pass. They did not question you, or say another word.

Inside the NYPD station was a few other marines and sailors, wearing khaki shirts and black pants. Two Marines were wearing their cammies, and a sailor was wearing their Navy Working Uniform.

You counted five sailors and eight marines in total, including the ones up front.

Police officers were also walking around in circles, trying to respond to civilian needs as best as they could, dispatching units and ambulances. You kept your trident pin up so no one would ask your identification.

"Commander (L/n)!" called a voice, and you turned to the side. You saw and recognized Lieutenant Garrows, one of the people who had trained you during your early days in the Navy bootcamp.

"Lieutenant," you smiled, shaking his hand. He was five inches taller than you, his working uniform complimenting his dark complexion. He must've been in his early sixties now, a few years short of retirement, "I need to know where James Barnes is, sir."

Even though you spot a little doubt in his expression, he lead you in front of an interrogation room, where the halls were dimly lit. It was a one way mirror. You could see Bucky being asked questions by a detective, but you weren't sure if he could see you. The room was heavily soundproofed, which meant you couldn't hear anything.

Still, you were relieved to see him safe. His human arm was only a little scorched by the heat and a couple patches burned through his tactical uniform, but he would get by.

It was hard to know if his heightened vision could see through the glass, but when you saw Bucky smile to the side, just a little, you knew he could. You returned the smile, giving only a slight tug on the edge of your mouth. You could thank the supersoldier serum for that.

"Hm," said Lieutenant Garrows, eyebrows furrowing in curiosity, "He seems happy to see you."

You let out a small laugh. Garrows was like a second father to you and Naomi Tanaka in the Navy bootcamp. He was the most disciplined trainer when necessary, but an all-round nice guy that you's get drinks with during downtime. You hated that your reunion was the byproduct of a tragedy, but you were grateful he was here. If you remembered anything about him, it was that he was an extremely skilled sharpshooter, which also meant he had an equally sharp pair of eyes. No matter how small the gesture had been, his trained eye had spotted Bucky's smile.

"Yeah," you nodded, fondness seeping out of your voice.

If he wanted to ask, he did not. An honorable man like Garrows would not want to delve into your personal life. That was none of his business.

"Well, I gotta do some paperwork," he said, placing a hand on your shoulder. "Stay here as long as you'd like to, Commander."

You nodded wordlessly, and he left you there to watch the soundless conversation. Though your early years with Aisha made you pretty good at lip reading, Bucky's facial hair made him particularly hard to read. On the other hand, the detective was clean shaven, with the exception of the slight stubble around his chin.

'Do you know whose apartment was it?' You read the detective's lips. You saw Bucky shook his head, probably telling him that he didn't.

He was maintaining the lie. Yours, to be exact, covering up your tracks.

'Then why were you there?' You read his lips again.

Bucky replied with a string of words quickly that was too hard for you to make out.

Whatever he said was enough to satisfy the detective. He nodded, writing a few notes before offering his hand to Bucky to shake. 'Thank you for your cooperation, Sergeant Barnes,' you read his mouth. Bucky nodded, and both him and the detective head out the room

When the detective opened the door, he looked at you, wondering who you were. He did not ask anything, keeping his head down.

Bucky was behind him, and when he saw you, he gave you a short kiss to your temple, and squeezed your hand once tightly before letting go.

"Hey, you," he muttered, a taint of sadness in his voice, "Sam, he—" He started to say, but you shook your head. "Not here," you told him, "In the car."

You and Bucky had managed to evade reporters, since they were too busy covering the crash site. The fires were starting to ease, but the bodies were beginning to pile up.

You entered your car, Bucky on the passenger seat.

"Sam," he finally breathed out, nothing to hide anymore, "this human figure, they had a fireproof suit and mask. They were specifically targeting Sam," there was distress in his cracked voice, which broke your heart. "The figure didn't want me. They looked like they knew exactly what they were doing. I– why not me?" He asked with a slightly shaking tone.

"It's not your fault," you told him firmly, "we'll find him together, like we always do, okay?"

Hesitantly, he nodded. He was calmed down by your presence, and in turn, you were, too.

"What did you say to the detective, anyway?" You asked.

"Told him part of the truth," he said, "That an NYPD officer requested assistance when he found a weird breaking and entering report. I didn't tell him it was Nick Fury's, or that we were there this morning." He took a deep breath, "The only weird thing is that they told me they have no record of which officer requested assistance."

You furrowed your eyebrows, "Are they launching an investigation?"

Bucky nodded, "The case will be investigated by the government."

You sighed in frustration, nearly growling, "then we have to figure it out before they do. You know they wouldn't tell us if they found anything, right? Hell, even when I found Mercy 21, they wouldn't tell me a single goddamn thing about her reports. I found her. I at least deserve to know! but they wouldn't tell me shit!" You gripped the steering wheel until your knuckles were red, your voice getting louder and laced with anger, "Hydra took so much from me," your mind recalled of your fallen comrades, killed by King-Carver. "And from you, too, James. Project Mercy and Petrov might as well be the last bit of Hydra still roaming free. We deserve to know," you repeated this point, "They can't keep us in the dark like that, and at this point I'm willing to take matters into my own hands."

Bucky look at you worriedly. He had lost Sam, he wasn't going to lose you, too. "It's too dangerous. We don't even know it's Petrov."

You frowned, disappointed at his words. Suddenly, your voice softened, straining, "I have to take the chance— I can't rest until I know Hydra is completely off the face of the earth. I can't even sleep well, James." Your tone was breathy and desperate, clinging on to whatever energy you had left.

Bucky looked taken aback. Were you really not resting well? Why didn't you tell him before? Did you not trust him enough?

"Doll, I—" he started to say gently, but your phone rang through the bluetooth audio, cutting him off abruptly.

You answered it with the push of a button, motioning him to stay quiet.

"Hello?" You called.

"(L/n)," you heard the voice you had talked to earlier that night. "Are you alone?" Tanaka asked.

You lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Bucky, who remained quiet. "Yes," you lied.

"Good," she said, "We managed to track a bomber plane, most likely the one who launched the missile. We intercepted the signal, and it looks like they're heading to Kaunas, Lithuania. Airmen wanted to take them down, but there's a good chance Sam Wilson is in there."

Both your posture and Bucky's straightened, eyes wide in shock. That was an impressively quick find.

"What's the next move?" You asked, clearing your throat

"Black squadron will collect intel," she confirmed, "Your squa— white squadron will be sent there in an assault and rescue operation after the plans are cleared, understood?"

"What about the Avengers?" You asked, looking at Bucky from the corner of your eyes, "They will be expected to be searching for Wilson, too."

"I have contacted Clint Barton," Tanaka said, "He said the Avengers agreed to stand down on this one, as written on the council. The council states that as long as they haven't agreed to the terms, whoever response first has full control of the situation. Besides, they agreed because they know you will be leading the operation. They trust you, (L/n). From what I can tell, after the King-Carver incident, they consider you one of them."

You gulped, swallowing a stream of guilt down your throat. They trusted you that much, huh?

"When will we be deployed?" You asked.

"Four days," Tanaka said.

"Yes, Ma'am," it was the last thing you said before hanging up.

"Four days…" Bucky muttered, his voice calculating.

"You know Sam may not have that much time, right?" Your chest heaved and fell in panic, "And you heard where the plane is going, right? This is the confirmation we need. This is Petrov!"

You saw the look in Bucky's eyes, and knew you were right. He also knew the Avengers trusted you and your squadron too much, and that they weren't going against the government again. They didn't have enough intel on this operation, nor were they willing to sacrifice more than they have.

Because last time, the sokovia accords broke them apart, eventually being one of the reasons why half the population of the universe were turned to dust. Even if they made it right in the end, they were risking way too much.

He also knew that Sam might not have that kind of time.

"We have to get there, the sooner the better," you tried to convince him.

"Alright," Bucky nodded, and this time there was no hesitation in his voice, "Get some good sleep tonight, we go tomorrow at dawn." He rested a hand on your thigh, the slightest grin on his face, "and remember, if you have bad dreams, I'll fight them off with my bare hands, doll."

You felt a sense of comfort roll over you. You believed him.

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mint-yooxgi · 5 years

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Super... Lame? - Hero!Taemin X Reader X Villain!Hakyeon

Super Hero / Super Villain AU - Based off this post

Genre: Crack, Humour, Fluff

Pairing: Taemin X Reader X Hakyeon

Words: 2,314

A/n: Just a little something I've been thinking of for a while since reading the aforementioned post linked above. I don't know, I thought it was cute. Hopefully you guys like my humour in this one. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated, I hope you enjoy!

A yawn escapes your lips as you turn on your television to watch the morning news. You manage to rub the sleep out of your eyes just in time to pay attention to the main story of the morning news report.

“Last night, the criminal known only as ’N’, attempted to steal a large amount of money from the national bank. Luckily, the town’s very own Super Min was there to put a stop to N’s antics. Here’s Jessica with the key witness report at the scene of the crime, for more details…”

You allow the news anchor’s voice to drone on in the background as you unlock your phone. Your brow is furrowed slightly in worry as you have plans today to meet up with your two closest friends at a café near where the national bank is located. The biggest thing you’re worried about is the café now being destroyed, meaning you can no longer go out for lunch.

After a quick search online, and a few frantic texts sent to each of your two best friends, you confirm the café is still standing, and is still indeed open for business today. It seems the buildings on the opposite side of the street were the ones affected.

You had planned this meeting last week, seeing that you’ve wanted your two best friends to meet each other in person for once. You find it weird that the two people you’re closest to have never actually met each other, so you wanted to change that. Thank goodness you don’t have to reschedule.

Checking the time, you notice that it’s just past nine in the morning, giving you plenty of time to get ready and head over to where you’re supposed to meet your friends. With a final huff, you turn your TV off and head back to your room to start getting ready for the day.

An hour and a half later, you’re ready to leave for the café, receiving a small text from your one friend to be careful on the way over, as N could still be on the loose nearby. You smile to yourself, shaking you head as you reply to your friend. You’ll be fine, you usually always are.

You’ve only ever encountered the ‘dynamic duo’, as the media often times calls them, twice before, and for whatever reason, they purposely avoid you now. Granted, the first time you were kidnapped by one of N’s old henchman, who is now in jail, locked away for good. The second time was pure coincidence, and you swear they did everything within their powers to lead the fight away from you. Looking back on it now, you can’t help but to think of both encounters as extremely odd.

Shaking your head to clear yourself of your thoughts, you notice you’ve arrived just outside the café. Peering into the windows allows you to see Hakyeon already sitting at a booth in the corner, three menus sitting on the table.

Entering the café, the bell above the door lets out a small chime, signalling your arrival. Hakyeon looks up and manages to lock eyes with you, finding himself mirroring your smile without thinking too much about it.

“Hey,” you greet him, sliding into the booth across from him. “You’re here early.”

“Or maybe you’re just a few minutes late,” he smirks, sliding a menu towards you as you check your phone for the time once more. He chuckles as he sees you frown, “I’m just kidding, I wanted to make sure I got here earlier so I could talk with you-“

“Hey, (Y/n)!” Taemin chirps happily as he slides into the booth beside you, throwing an arm around you in greeting.

“Hi!” You greet back, just as enthusiastically. “Glad you could make it. Anyways, before anything else, I think introductions are in order,” smiling wide, you fail to notice the way the two males lock eyes, glaring at each other from across the table. “Taemin, this is Hakyeon. Hakyeon, this is Taemin.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Taemin is the first to extend his hand out, Hakyeon eyeing it cautiously before reaching across the table to shake it.

Both of them hold a vice-like grip on the other’s hand, neither willingly showing how affected they are.

“The pleasure’s all mine,” Hakyeon replies through gritted teeth.

“Great!” You clap your hands together. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s order some food, I’m starving.”

After the waitress comes by and takes your orders, you’re turning your attention to the two men once more, failing to notice the rising tension between the two of them the longer that they glare at each other.

“I can’t believe I’ve never introduced the two of you before now,” you ramble on, “considering you’re my best friends and all. You swear I would have made you two meet sooner.”

“Well, better late than never,” Hakyeon comments, eyes flicking to the arm that Taemin still has placed behind your shoulders.

Noticing Hakyeon’s gaze, Taemin smirks, shifting closer to you.

Did they know that you were talking about each other when you invited them out for lunch? No, never in a million years did they think that their arch-nemesis was your other best friend. However, did they know that the other knew of you? Now that’s a funny story.

In a superhero meets super villain story, there’s always some form of love interest, right? Well, that love interest just so happens to be you. Except for the fact that you have no idea. Oblivious wouldn’t even begin to describe you.

The only reason one of Hakyeon’s old henchman kidnapped you in the first place was because Hakyeon wouldn’t shut up about you in the lab for a time. His henchman thought he would speed his boss’ dating life up by kidnapping you for him.

To say Hakyeon was mad, was an understatement. He knows that if he’s ever going to have a shot at winning your heart, he needs to do it naturally, and not by kidnapping you. Since when has that ever worked for the villain? Never.

However, as soon as Taemin burst into the scene to rescue the person kidnapped, he was beyond shocked to see you. Needless to say, Taemin almost beat the living crap out of Hakyeon for involving you in their disagreements.

After getting you a safe distance away, and making sure you were alright, Taemin went back and made a pact with Hakyeon to never involve you in their plots again, no matter what. They both agreed that your safety is their number one priority. Besides, who doesn’t like a little friendly competition now-a-days.

Granted, if they had known then that you were friends with the other’s 'secret identity', they could have intervened earlier. Today just keeps getting better and better.

“So,” you say, breaking the two males out of their thoughts with your attempt to start a conversation. “What have you two been up to recently?”

Hakyeon nearly chokes on his water as he takes a sip, noticing Taemin’s slightly wide eyes at your question as well.

“Oh, you know, not too much,” Hakyeon clears his throat. “Had to stop by the bank the other day.”

It’s not like he can tell you that the idiot sitting next to you almost threw a building at his head before he could finish taking the money he needed from the bank.

“Went to the movies last week,” Taemin says, shrugging slightly as if it’s no big deal.

It’s not like he can say he stopped the asshole sitting across from you from robbing the bank by almost throwing a building at his head.

“Well, don’t you guys just live life on the edge,” you joke, rolling your eyes for emphasis. “For your information, I actually did something fun last week.”

At this, they both raise an eyebrow, waiting for you to continue.

“I went shopping!” You cheer, wiggling your eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh boy, shopping,” Taemin laughs, causing you to laugh right along with him.

“I fail to see how that’s any more intensive than what we’ve just told you,” Hakyeon deadpans, only causing you to laugh louder.

“Well, groceries won’t buy themselves,” you shrug, resting your arm on top of the table so you can lean your head on your open palm. “Anyways, you said you had to go to the bank? You weren’t anywhere near there last night, were you?”

At your question, Hakyeon freezes slightly, noticing how smug Taemin looks out of the corner of his eyes.

“No, it was a few days ago,” Hakyeon replies, narrowing his eyes slightly at Taemin.

“Thank goodness,” you breathe a sigh of relief. “Gosh, if something ever happened to you due to what goes on in this city,” you pause, shaking your head, before adding, “either of you.”

“Well, things wouldn’t be so bad if that villainous N left,” Taemin grumbles, slouching slightly to cross his arms in front of his chest.

Hakyeon shoots him a look, and if looks could kill, Taemin would be six feet under by now.

“You don’t know that for sure,” you counter, much to both of their surprise. “Maybe he’s just misunderstood, and people just treat him as a villain because they need someone to project their vile ideals onto.”

“(Y/n), he tried to rob the national bank last night,” Taemin attempts to reason with you as Hakyeon leans forwards slightly in his seat, wanting to hear more of your thoughts about him.

“Yeah, but we don’t know his motivation behind it. The news sites never disclosed the amount he was stealing, so maybe it wasn’t actually that large of a sum. Maybe he needed that money for something important, like distributing it out to the less fortunate, or feeding the homeless,” you counter. “Just because someone is bad doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not good.”

“If only more people thought like you, (Y/n),” Hakyeon sighs, smiling encouragingly towards you, but turning more smug once he turns to look at Taemin who sits there with a scowl on his face.

“I’m just saying, don’t pin him as the villain if you don’t know the whole truth,” you continue, shrugging your shoulders once more.

“But, didn’t he kidnap you?” Taemin quirks a brow, this time causing Hakyeon to scowl.

“Actually, that was all his henchman’s doing,” you respond, thanking the waitress who places your meals down in front of the three of you. “Anyways, he didn’t do anything to me, and in fact, he got mad at his henchman for kidnapping me. Told him that’s ‘not what they do here.’ It was odd.”

“Not what you were expecting?” Hakyeon asks, taking a bite of his food.

“No, not exactly. The media keeps portraying him as this villain, but after that, I don’t really know what to think anymore,” you furrow your brow. “If you think about it, he’s actually a pretty smart guy, some of his tactics are a bit questionable, but I’m sure if someone actually took the time to understand him, things would be better. Or at least Super Min can stop throwing buildings at his head.”

At this, Hakyeon turns to give Taemin a look as if to say, ‘I told you so,’ only causing Taemin to frown.

“Well, I think Super Min is just doing his civil service and protecting the general public from whatever dangerous threat there is at the time,” Taemin counters, taking a bite out of his own food.

“Well, I mean, sure he is,” you nod. “He’s doing what he thinks is best for the greater good. Except, it’s not always that simple.”

“What do you mean?” Taemin questions.

“I mean, put it this way,” you turn to look at him, “I would say he saved my life, but was I ever in any life threatening danger to begin with?” After a few moments of silence, you continue, “and I mean, I’m not pinning the blame on either one of them but couldn’t they at least take their squabbles outside of the city? Where there would be fewer casualties and less damages to be repaired if things went south? Like, I mean, for two dudes that self proclaim themselves to be ‘super’ they aren’t all that ‘super’ smart. In fact, half the time, I think they’re both super lame.”

The two of them sit there, stunned, as they let your words sink in. You think they’re… lame?

Seeing the stunned looks on their faces makes you burst out laughing.

“Nah, I’m just kidding,” you grin, letting out a few giggles here and there. “But in all seriousness, I don’t get the whole super hero and villain dynamic. I mean, who comes up with their names? Super Min? Sounds like a rip off Superman.”

At this, Hakyeon bursts out laughing along with you, “lame!”

Taemin pouts beside you, but you fail to notice as you nod along with Hakyeon’s comment.

“Okay, but I’m also still trying to figure out what the hell ’N’ stands for,” you go on to say, tapping your chin dramatically in thought as a grin spreads across Taemin’s face, looking over to watch as Hakyeon pouts this time. “I mean, does it mean Nero? Nemesis? Nex? No? I guess we’ll never know.”

“Ha!” Taemin laughs. “Lame!”

“Exactly!” You agree, laughing along with him. “Those two are super confusing.”

The two of them stare at you now, watching as you brush some of your hair back from your face, resting your head once more on the palm of your hand.

“Still, I think it’d be pretty cool to know someone like that, with powers and such,” you sigh, turning your gaze from your food to the two men before you, a knowing smirk pulling at your lips. “Wouldn’t you?”

#kpop scenario #kpop au #kpop #taemin scenario #hakyeon scenario #vixx scenario #shinee scenario #superhero au #super villain au #au #vixx au #shinee au #n scenario #kpop crack #crack!fic

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until-theend-oftheline · 5 years

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Second Chances - Part 2: Where to Go From Here

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Wounds. Hinting at surgery. Dislocated shoulder. Memory Loss.

Square Filled: Misunderstandings for @buckybarnesbingo and Phantom Pain for @badthingshappenbingo

Word Count: 2700ish

A/N: This series is done for @thorne93 and heavily inspired by tow songs by The Chainsmokers which is This Feeling and Paris. Please go listen to them since even if I don’t reference them specifically they heavily decided the mood and plot of this fic.

There is no sex in this part but there will be in later parts so rating for the series is mature.

Betaed by: @jewels2876 - thank you, hun!

***My fics are not to be saved nor posted on any other sites without my express written permission.***

Second Chances Masterlist

Somewhere over Russia, 2016

Bucky closed his eyes. The pain was intense and strangely familiar. Pain shot from his left shoulder right down to his fingers that were no longer there. He knew he had some internal bleeding from the fight and he was struggling to keep stay conscious. The bleeding would heal. He knew that the worst part was the arm, or what was left of it.

“Are you with me Sergeant Barnes?” T’Challa’s voice sounded from next to him and Bucky forced his eyes open along with giving a nod.

“For now.”

T’Challa frowned, checking the vitals on the machine he had Bucky hooked up to before facing Bucky again with a serious look on his face.

“I know,” Bucky decided to spare him. His wounds weren’t healing as fast as he was bleeding. He needed medical attention soon or he was going to die.

“Captain Rogers. Do you have any favors you can call in before we reach Wakanda?” T’Challa called out and Steve poked his head out, looking back at them from the cockpit.

“None that haven’t been dead for about 20 years,” Steve’s concerns eyes flickered between Bucky and T’Challa before returning his attention to the skies.

“I’m picking up speed,” Steve decided as he pushed the thrusters to their limits. T’Challa and Bucky’s eyes met. It was hard to believe the guy that had been trying to scratch out Bucky’s eyes not 24 hours ago was now fighting to save his life. Had everything not hurt just to breathe, Bucky might have laughed at that.

“I don’t think that will do it, Captain,” T’Challa warned and Bucky could practically hear the stubborn expression on Steve's face when he answered the king.

“It has to be.”

Bucky took a deep breath. You were safe. He didn’t want to pull you back into this, but he had made you a promise. He didn’t want to die without seeing you again either and if by some chance he was to survive and you learned about this, you were sure as hell going to kill him yourself. You could help.

“I know someone,” Bucky’s voice was low but loud enough for the other two enhanced to hear.

“Who?” Steve’s voice sounded from the cockpit but Bucky didn’t answer him. Instead, he told Steve the coordinates where he knew you would be waiting.

“France,” Steve mumbled, clearly annoyed Bucky hadn’t given him a straight answer but still corrected his flight. “Guess we are going to France.”

***

You were in the kitchen setting aside groceries when you heard the sound of the quinjet. You quickly moved into the hallway, pulling out the gun you had taped to the underside of the table just like Bucky had taught you.

You kept it at your side as you opened the door and slowly headed towards the field. You could practically hear Bucky yelling at you for this move, but you couldn’t wait. It had to be him. If it wasn’t… well, you’d be screwed but you were still gonna put up a fight.

The door to the quinjet opened as you were a few feet away only to reveal Captain America looking out at you in all his star-spangled glory. Fuck. You didn’t want to hurt him even if you could which was more than unlikely. You still reacted on instinct, hoping that raising the gun would give you a chance to talk to him from a distance.

It didn’t. Before you could even comprehend what was happening, the gun was flying through the air and, even if you by some miracle managed to block his arm from hitting you in the face once, it wasn’t more than a few seconds before he had you in a headlock from behind. You stomped his foot as hard as you could, making him groan and release you. You dove for the gun but before you could get far, Steve grabbed a hold of your arm locking it behind your back, keeping his feet well away from yours this time.

“Where are they?” Steve asked, causing you to frown and shake your head.

“Where’s who?” you answered, screaming in pain when Steve pulled your arm further back.

“Steve!” Bucky’s voice sounded and you looked up, ignoring the pain from the arm still pinned behind your back. You gasped when you saw him. His face was bloody and his left arm was mostly missing. Bucky’s right arm was slung over the shoulder of a man in a black vibranium suit helping him walk off the jet.

“She’s alone. Let her go,” Bucky ordered and you felt the grip loosen a little as Steve hesitated and you instantly kicked his shin to get free. It surprised him enough to do the trick, even if it wasn’t hard enough to do any damage and you sprang free running to Bucky’s side.

You cupped his face in your hands, looking into his eyes and the guy next to him let you. Whoever he was he clearly trusted Bucky’s judgment on you more than Steve did.

“Bucky. What happened to you?” you asked, trying to keep your tears at bay. Now wasn’t the time. Not with Steve glaring holes into your back and Bucky bleeding from several holes in his body.

“Long story. Think you can patch me up Doc?” Bucky smiled at you through his pain, trying to calm down that racing mind of yours. He knew you. You had a big heart. You were scared and shaking. But he also knew how clear and sharp your mind could be even under the worst of pressure. All he had to do was get you to focus on the task at hand. Him.

“Yeah... I… Yes,” you took a deep breath, letting your eyes meet his again. His calm was contagious and you nodded, wrapping your arm around his waist from the left. You were careful to avoid the remaining part of his arm as you rested your free hand against his chest, helping the man at Bucky’s right hold him up.

“Let’s get him inside,” you ordered, taking a few steps before you realized Steve was still in your way, eyeing you suspiciously.

“It’s okay Steve. She’s okay,” Bucky assured him, before sending his friend a tired yet cheeky smile, “Are you going to let her help me or am I gonna have to bleed to death standing up?”

Steve grumbled something you didn’t hear but moved aside letting you help Bucky into the house. When you reached the living room you let go, leaving Bucky’s free side to Steve as you quickly cleared the table and started pulling all sorts of medical supplies from the cabinets. You had been prepared for this. You weren’t stupid. You had seen the number of cops that had come for Bucky in Romania. You knew there was a strong likelihood he would be in less than one piece when he showed up here. Which you had also never doubted that he would.

“Get him on the table,” you ordered waving your hand towards the dining table in the middle of the room as you ran into the hallway to retrieve a coat hanger. You placed it next to the table hanging the IV from it before pulling up Bucky’s right sleeve. You let the needle hover over his skin, as your eyes met his.

“I’m sorry. I have to knock you out. The metal is keeping the wound open I need to remove it and if there are other inner bleedings…” your words trailed out as Bucky raised his hand and placing it over yours.

“I trust you Doc,” he smiled and you gave him a nod which he returned before looking over at Steve. He didn’t look happy at all about this situation but he still gave Bucky a small nod. A part of Bucky wished there had been time to explain, but there wasn’t.

“You ready Bucky?” you asked quietly and Bucky rested his head back on the table.

“I’m ready,” he agreed and you pushed the needle into his arm. It didn’t last more than a few seconds before Bucky’s eyelids got heavy and the world around him disappeared.

Washington, Mid 2014

Tears streamed down your face as you rushed around your room, grabbing clothes off the hangers and stuffing them into your suitcase. The sky had only just stopped raining helicarriers and helicopters were now in the air searching for Captain Rogers.

You had spent about an hour reading leaked HYDRA and Shield documents, slowly learning what you had been a part of, as well as understanding you were now considered a terrorist. You had no choice but to run.

A rush of air through the room made you stop your task. You stood up straight, closing your eyes. You weren’t alone in the room. You weren’t a soldier but you had spent enough time in warzones to know what it felt like being watched. You took a deep breath before turning around slowly. Whoever it was, you didn’t wanna startle them and accidentally end up shot.

You sucked in a breath when you saw him. The soldier. He looked ominous standing in the shadows of your apartment in full combat gear. How did he know where you lived? You had managed to figure out who he had been after rushing from the medbay that day, but was it still who he was? What had they done to him? A million questions raced through your mind before you finally picked one.

“Are you here to kill me?” you asked, your voice sounded a lot more meek than you had expected and you internally cursed yourself for it.

“I remember you. You worked for them,” he took a step towards you, without answering your questions and for the first time ever you grew afraid of him.

“I didn't know. Not until today,” you tried to explain but you knew how ridiculous it sounded. “I didn’t know what they were doing to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”

“What’s your name?” he asked, without reacting to your stream of words. His expression was hard and you weren’t sure if anything you said would have an impact on him at all.

“Dr. Y/N Pierce,” you answered, cringing when he took a step forward, and his eyes started scanning the room only to land on a picture of you and your father. He crossed the room, grabbed it and stared at it.

“Who is he?” the soldier turned the picture showing it to you as he took a step forward.

“Alexander Pierce. He was my father. He was one of the people that held you,” you answered truthfully. He had been through enough. If you were going to get out of here it was by speaking the truth. He deserved as much.

“But you didn’t know?” he asked again and you shook your head.

“I left when I found out. I wanted to stop them, but… I’m a doctor. I’m not a soldier or an agent. I didn’t know what to do,” you answered, looking down at your feet. You were ashamed. You had run out of there, leaving him in pain. If he wanted to hurt you, you’d understand. You deserved it.

“You’re running away,” the soldier threw the frame onto your bed and lifted your backpack eyeing it for a moment before letting it go to face you again.

“My father was the head of HYDRA, working from inside of Shield. I doubt anyone is going to believe me when I say I had no idea who I was really working for. Once they find Captain America they are coming for all of us,” you explained, leaning in to grab the bag when you noticed his right arm. It was hanging from a weird angle.

“Your shoulder is dislocated,” you reached out to him and the soldier instantly took a step back. You raised your hands to show him you meant no harm, taking a step forward. “Let me help you? I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

“You used to help me,” the soldier seemed to relax a little. “I remember your office. You never tied me down.”

“Why would I…” you started before stopping. A wave of hatred came over you. Your father had always been a cold man, you had never known he had been cruel too until today.

“No. No, I didn’t,” you changed your approach. “I’m not going too either.” You stepped closer and this time he didn’t move. You slowly pulled out a chair between you and motioned for him to sit down.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked without moving and you swallowed harshly.

“I think so. I… I didn’t have much time to find out anything,” you answered him and he nodded before moving to sit down.

He looked up at you ask you approached him. The pain and despair in his eyes were back. It was the same pain from when the STRIKE team had lead him past your office.

“Who am I?” he asked you and a piece of your heart broke in the process. That had been what wipe him had meant. They had found a way to steal his memories from him and turn him into a mindless weapon. He was breaking free of that but it had to be painful.

“Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. You were with the 107th and the Howling Commandos during World War II before you were presumably killed in the line of duty,” you repeated, what you had read from the articles with his face on them. You had found other things in the past hour, things that fit what you had seen. Articles calling him something else. Something dehumanizing. The Winter Soldier wasn’t who he was. It was who they had made him.

“He called me that,” Sergeant Barnes mumbled, letting you put your hand on his shoulder and start to examine the dislocation.

“What else do you know?” he asked you, looking up at you again and you shook your head slightly.

“Not much. But I can help you find out if you promise to help me get out of town?” you offered and Sergeant Barnes seemed to maul it over before giving you a short nod, making you smile.

“I’m gonna reset your shoulder okay? It’s gonna hurt like hell,” you told him truthfully and he just nodded. You decided a little distraction couldn’t hurt so you kept talking as you moved your hands up and down his arm, trying to get the right hold to get it back in its socket in one pull.

“How did you know where I lived?” you asked, and Sergeant Barnes looked up at you.

“You told me,” he answered shortly and you stopped your task to look down at him in confusion.

“I did what?” you frowned and for the first time you saw his lips tuck upwards a little. Not really in a smile but it still warmed your heart.

“You told me about your apartment, where you go for runs, you told me of the friendly lady at the small grocery store you go too and complained about traffic,” he shrugged, “which put you here.”

“You figured out where I live from me complaining about traffic while I sterilized your bullet wounds?” you blinked, and his lip tugged upwards a little again.

“And the other things,” he answered before looking straight ahead. “You should do this. We need to leave soon.”

“Now I almost don’t feel bad about this,” you grumbled, before giving Sergeant Barnes’ arm a pull while pushing back against his shoulder. A loud pop sounded and Barnes groaned in pain as his shoulder slide back into place. You quickly squatted down, looking up into his face to make sure he was still awake and his eyes meet yours.

“Yes you do,” his lips tugged a little again before getting up and throwing your bag at you and you rolled your eyes in frustration as you followed him out the door, thinking to yourself you might have preferred it when he didn’t talk to you.

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Second Chances (Bucky x Reader Series - On Going)

@frankiea1998 @ambientsmells

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky x reader #bucky imagine #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes x you #bucky x you

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myvividreams · 4 years

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So. I had a couple of people on Facebook and Discord ask me about the final paper I wrote on copyright and the criminalization of fandom. Well, I got an A! And permission to share it with whoever’s interested in reading 2700 words on the love-hate relationship we creatives and fanworkers have with copyright

With the advent of the internet and social media, fan culture—a form of participatory culture where fans not only consume but also create content often based on existing creative works[1]—has grown phenomenally in the last two decades. For example, attendance to the San Diego Comic-Con, proclaimed by Forbes as the largest fan convention in the world, has almost tripled between 2000 and 2019. In such conventions, fans get to interact with their favorite content creators, from the people behind their favorite series to their fellow fans who create content online that they consume. In the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con alone, attendees spent around $88 million directly on events and merchandise in the convention, not counting what they spent on other costs, like transportation and housing for the duration of the con! That is a lot of money going around publicly for what is essentially a black-market hub. And these conventions, like many other aspects of fan culture, are as much hubs of illegal activity as they are incubators of creativity. This needs to change.

In the context of this essay, I will be using the term fan culture to describe the lived experience of fans both casual and serious. This is to differentiate it from the term fandom—which I will be using to refers to, collectively, all the ideas, interactions, characters, fans, and derivative/transformative works associated with a particular creative work. Fandom will be used in this discussion to describe the virtual place within which fans interact, create content derivative of, and negotiate the meanings surrounding the originating work.

I choose to discuss fandom in the context of place rather than community because places, as defined by Pelletier-Gagnon and Diniz, are “site[s] of meaning where agents create, efface, and accumulate symbols”, which are delineated by contours rather than characteristics and can exist within images, sounds, and videos as well as locations.[2] As far as fandom is concerned, a fandom will continue to exist though fans may enter and leave at will. Fandoms are countoured with recognizable characters and settings, and the fans within them create new meanings and interpretations of the originating work—while keeping within said contours—through posts, discussions, and derivative creative works like fan art and fan fiction. Often times, fandoms aren’t occupied by any single community, they’re occupied by several who each compete over interpretations of characters and character interactions. Sometimes, such communities can even develop around derivative works—enough so that the derivative work becomes the anchor and contour of another fandom![3]

As rich and diverse fan culture within fandoms can be, however, that does not detract that many activities prominent within fan culture go against copyright law. As it exists right now, much of copyright law is obsessed with copies.[4] It (ideally) grants creatives a set of exclusive rights to their original creations as incentives to produce more work, giving copyright owners (not always creatives!) the right to control the reproduction and distribution of copies of their work as well as the right to prepare derivative works based on said copyright work.[5] You can imagine, then, how easily creatives within fandoms can cross over the line to copyright non-compliance: they do it every single time they create fan works celebrating their love for the original work.

Fortunately, most fan works online fall under the fair use doctrine, which allows the reproduction of works for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.”[6] There are four criteria works are evaluated by to qualify as fair use: the purpose of the work (commercial or non-profit?), the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount of the copyrighted work used, and the effect the such use of the work would have on the market for or the value of the work.[7] Generally speaking, fan works like fan art, fan comics, fan fiction, gif sets, animatics, and AMVs that are shared online for free fulfill at least the first and the fourth criteria for fair use, which are the criteria usually prioritized by copyright holders.

The problem arises when fan creators start monetizing their fan works—creating merchandise featuring copyrighted content, selling them online, selling them in cons, doing commissions—basically, doing anything that constitutes distributing their work for profit. Thousands of such merchandise are being sold on sites like Etsy and Redbubble or featured on their creators’ social media pages for sale, and they come in many different varieties—from art prints to enamel pins to dolls to clothing. The creators of said merchandise also fill the aptly named Artists’ Alleys in conventions to sell their products in person. Groups of creators sometimes band together to create and sell magazines—often referred to simply as zines—or even fan comics for their fandoms.[8] Of course, murkier cases also exist, like let’s play vloggers profiting off of posting their playthroughs of copyrighted videogames online or fan writers and artists earning money through their followings on Patreon.

Copyright owners’ responses to such activity have varied widely throughout the years, with differing degrees of success. Consensus as of the present seems to be to leave it alone unless the fan profiting from their derivative work is experiencing significant success or making significant sums of money from the monetization of such work. At that point, the fan would be asked to take the work off their online store or, if they’re a vlogger, take the offending video down from their channel. What constitutes as significant is often up to the copyright owner.

Historically, however, this was not always the case. In the 2000s, many copyright holders famously sent cease-and-desist letters to fan creators, specifically fan fiction authors, and made their dislike of fan fiction—or specific types of fan fiction—well known. Anne Rice, author of the then-popular novel series The Vampire Chronicles, was one of them, having posted a notice on her website in 2000 that effectively banned all fan fiction of her works online.[9] Following such, several individuals online reportedly received cease-and-desist orders and threats on their businesses unconnected to their activity as fan creators, and several commenters on a viral thread on tumblr claim that they left the Vampire Chronicles fandom entirely because of it.[10] [11]

On the other side of the scale, Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of the Darkover series, dove into the fandom surrounding her series headfirst. Although the controversial Contraband incident she is connected to took place long before the internet truly caught on, it bears sharing as it is often used as a cautionary tale for copyright owners and professional creatives against participating too actively within the fandom surrounding their original work. In the two decades after she published the first book in her Darkover series, Bradley had fostered an extremely close connection with her fans, commenting on fans’ derivative works, providing feedback, curating/editing their zines—often even adopting ideas proposed by fans or introduced by fans in their fan works as canon (true) to the Darkover universe. This all came to a head in 1992 when Bradley approached one of her fans offering money in exchange for being able to use elements from the fans’ published fan works in what was supposed to be Bradley’s next novel, Contraband. The fan disagreed, and the incident ended with cancellation of the novel and the discontinuation of Bradley’s active participation in the Darkover fandom.[12]

Both these examples have played a large part in how copyright holders’ current attitudes towards fan culture are playing out. Copyright holders tread the line between too much and too little exercise of their copy rights. Too much, and they may end up losing their fanbase. Too little, and they may lose profits and control of their public image to the more prolific members of their fandom. Fan culture, to copyright holders, also presents a largely mixed bag of feelings and viewpoints that varies from holder to holder. Each copyright holder tackles the issue differently. Some, like JK Rowling, welcome it. Some, like Anne McCaffrey, tolerate it with stipulations. And others, like George R. R. Martin, dislike it but will tolerate it as long as fans don’t send their fan fiction to them (art and other works usually fall under different considerations). Whatever their approach is, the general consensus among copyright holders seems to be that they tolerate (maybe even like) fan works as long as they aren’t sold commercially and, if said fan work is a piece of fan fiction, that work isn’t sent to them with the expectation of said author reading it and acknowledging it publicly.[13]

Note, however, that none of the current popular approaches to dealing with fan culture that I listed above includes the outright banning of fan activities. Copyright owners and creatives have learned from the examples of Anne Rice and her contemporaries in the 2000s that restricting fan culture—and taking advantage of or treating fans badly—is a good recipe for a shrinking fanbase and the non-success of their copyrighted work. They have also learned how an active fandom can rapidly propel a copyrighted work to success.

James Boyle, in his article Fencing off Ideas: Enclosure & the Disappearance of the Public Domain, posits that “a large leaky market may actually produce more revenue than a small, tightly-controlled market.”[14] With the phenomena of fandom as my example, I concur. Original works anchor and draw fandoms around themselves, but the creative outputs of fandom act as both gifts to the communities of their originating fandoms and free advertising for the originating work of said fandom. In fact, according to a report published last year by a collaboration between Fandom, Inc. and Ipsos, fan content plays a large role in driving discovery of new creative works. 59% of Explorers, the market segment that makes up half the fans in the United States, claim that fan content they encountered influence them to try new content.[15] At least part of the success experienced by popular creative works online—and on social media specifically—can be attributed to the robust participation of fans in creating, curating, and sharing derivative works both online and offline.

Because of this, fandom is often seen as a hub for developing creatives. There, amateur (and even professional!) creatives can hone their skills on existing characters and settings they already love. They can also build up a following and be cheered on, supported, and guided by their fellow fans and creatives in the fandom. Some of these creatives who got their start out of fandom even go on to create the “original content” they consume themselves! This usually happens in fandoms surrounding longer-running fictional series, such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Star Wars.[16] And other creatives who have grown up within fan culture also go on to create their own original works and publish their own series. Cassandra Clare, author of multiple bestselling series (including the Mortal Instruments series), famously got her start writing fan fiction for the Harry Potter fandom in the 2000s.[17] Naomi Novik, award-winning author of the Temeraire series, admits to still writing fan fiction and actually co-founded the Organization of Transformative Works[18] in 2007![19]

None of this, however, changes the fact that much of fan culture operates by the grace of copyright holders—or that much of it is, in fact illegal due to copyright. This needs to change.

Lawrence Lessig, in Remix: How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law and In Defense of Piracy, talks about the criminalization of Gen X and their culture of piracy through peer-to-peer sharing and YouTube remixes. But it isn’t just gen X anymore. It’s the criminalization of an entire culture. To participants of fan culture, copyright has become something ignored until it is useful or relevant, which damages the credibility of law. By criminalizing an entire culture—one that is still growing no less—we’re creating a culture where it becomes alright to break the law or at least consider it lightly. In the context of fan culture where breaking copyright law is often ignored, the continued criminalization of fan culture is telling fans, especially younger fans, that it is alright to break the law if you can get away with it. By doing so, we’re compromising the very value of law.

Moreover, as both Boyle and Lessig have said, copyright as it exists now is strangling creativity.[20] [21] [22] As copyright laws become increasingly stringent and skewed towards copyright owners, the sandbox other, younger creatives can play in legally continues to shrink as well. Additionally, said laws are skewed towards estates and corporate copyright owners rather than the creatives they are supposed to incentivize. Current copyright laws in the US award copyright to creatives for the duration of their lifetime plus 70 years before their works are released into the Public Domain for the creatives of the day to play with. As it stands, there are thousands of works lost to the public, which means that there are thousands of works that will not be able to inspire another generation of creatives.

I’m not saying that copyright should be abolished. Creatives should be acknowledged and compensated fairly for the time and effort they put into creating their works. I’m saying that a system must exist that reconciles the interests of copyright owners and fan creators without criminalizing one side or the other. There must be a way to bring balance back to the relationship between copyright owners and the next generation of creatives. I can think of one—bringing the duration of copyright back down to at least the lifetime of the creative (which is the longest most reasonable duration in the context of incentivizing creatives!)—and I’m sure there are more. We just need to find them.

----

[1] Grinnell College. Fandom & Participatory Culture. n.d. 6 May 2020. <https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultural-theory-and-theorists/fandom-and-participatory-culture/>.

[2] Pelletier-Gagnon, Jérémie and Axel Pérez Trujillo Diniz. "Colonizing Pepe: Internet Memes as Cyberplaces." Space and Culture (2018).

[3] See the Dreaming of Sunshine fandom which emerged surrounding the popular Naruto fan fic of the same name. Similarly, there’s the Nuzlocke fandom which has spawned several fan art, fan comics, fan fics, and let’s plays based around the idea of playing through one of the mainline Pokemon RPGs under a certain set of self-imposed rules. There’s also the more recent Maribat fandom, which came into being more recently (that is, sometime mid-last year) and created a space overlapping two very different parent-fandoms: (1) Miraculous Ladybug and (2) DC Comics (specifically Batman).

[4] That’s why it’s called copy-right!

[5] U.S. Constitution. Art. 17, Sec. 106.

[6] U.S. Constitution. Art. 17, Sec. 107.

[7] U.S. Constitution. Art. 17, Sec. 107.

[8] Sean Thordsen, Esq. The Law of Anime Part II: Copyright and Fandom. 15 Feb 2013. Article. 6 May 2020.

[9] Jackson, Gita. It Used to Be Perilous to Write Fan Fiction. 16 May 2018. 6 May 2020. <https://kotaku.com/it-used-to-be-perilous-to-write-fanfiction-1826083509>.

[10] fandomlife-universe. "So I'm on AO3 and I see a lot of people who put." Fandom Life. April 2016. <https://fandomlife-universe.tumblr.com/post/140771184680/so-im-on-ao3-and-i-see-a-lot-of-people-who-put-i>.

[11] So I'm on AO3 ... (the forgotten history of disclaimers). n.d. Web. 2020 6 May. <https://fanlore.org/wiki/So_I%E2%80%99m_on_AO3_...(the_forgotten_history_of_disclaimers)>.

[12] Coker, Catherine. "The Contraband Incident: The Strange Case of Marion Zimmer Bradley." Transformative Works and Cultures 6 (2011). Web. <https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2011.0236>

[13] Authors of /r/fantasy, how do you feel about fan fiction of YOUR works? 2019. Forum. 6 May 2020. <https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/b3e6jh/authors_of_rfantasy_how_do_you_feel_about_fan/>.

[14] Boyle, James. "Fencing off Ideas: Enclosure & the Disappearance of the Public Domain." Daedalus 131.2 (2002): 13-25

[15] Fandom Insights Lab. "The State of Fandom." 2019. PDF. <http://fandom.com/state-of-fandom/fandom-ebook.pdf>.

[16] Petrin, Katelyn Mae. How the rise in fandom culture changed the media industry. 21 June 2017. Web. 6 May 2020. <https://qrius.com/how-the-rise-in-fandom-culture-changed-the-media-industry/>.

[17] Jackson, Gita. It Used to Be Perilous to Write Fan Fiction. 16 May 2018. 6 May 2020. <https://kotaku.com/it-used-to-be-perilous-to-write-fanfiction-1826083509>.

[18] Most famous for being behind ArchiveOfOurOwn, one of the three most popular fan fiction hubs on the internet today

[19] Tor.com. Naomi Novik Talks Fanfic-Inspired Fantasy and Ending Temeraire in Her Reddit AMA. 25 Feb 2016. Web. 6 May 2020. <https://www.tor.com/2016/02/25/naomi-novik-reddit-ama-highlights/>.

[20] Boyle, James. "Fencing off Ideas: Enclosure & the Disappearance of the Public Domain." Daedalus 131.2 (2002): 13-25.

[21] Lessig, Lawrence. "In Defense of Piracy." The Wall Street Journal 11 October 2008: 1-3.

[22] Lessig, Lawrence. "Remix: How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law." The Social Media Reader. Ed. Michael Mandiberg. New York: NYU Press, 2012. 155-168.

#copyright #fandom #fan culture #academic paper #final paper #vivi talks #the ongoing saga of me vs finals #the saga already ended #but here have the last paper i am ever writing as an undergrad student

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cindylouwho-2 · 4 years

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RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, June 28 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late May report, although some may be older than that.

I am currently working on Etsy search testing and a few new blog posts and pages for my website, so it may be a few more weeks before I get a new report out. In the meantime, if you have an questions, comments or suggestions, please contact me here or on my website.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

Ecommerce sales are way up, but so are many costs, and delays in shipping are part of the problem. “...many of our merchants start preparing mid-year for peak-season volume, holidays. We’ve seen many merchants hitting and even exceeding their normal Black Friday and Cyber Monday volumes consistently through April, forcing them to adapt quickly for greater capacity.” UPS is charging high-volume customers a surcharge based on how much more they are shipping compared to normal times, and also for an increase in oversized packages.

Mail delivery is still slow in many countries. Canada Post hit an all-time delivery record with 2.1 million parcels on May 19, but may finally be getting caught up. [article in French] Shipping between countries can also be substantially delayed, in part due to the lack of air traffic right now. USPS is using sea transport for packages to some European countries. And USPS rates are going up for international shipping in July, due to the new Universal Postal Union deal. "Anyone who is a bulk shipper, your rates are going up".

A reminder that the US economy isn't suddenly going to stabilize in the fall; it’s likely to crash. The US is now officially in a recession. Many people are not going to have money for a lot of discretionary spending. Furthermore, some categories of items will likely drop in price due to company closures, supply chain issues and bankruptcies. That will increase competition at the same time there are fewer buyers for many types of items. Ecommerce sales in the US are projected to rise 18% this year, but it won’t be enough to make up for the loss of brick & mortar retail sales. “The apparel and accessories category is typically the second-largest in e-commerce, for example, but will only grow 8.6% as consumers shift spending away from discretionary, non-essential purchases.” Retail in the US is expected to be down more than 10% in 2020.

ETSY NEWS

Etsy has released an addition to the iOS app that will allow shoppers to use augmented reality to see wall art on their home’s walls. The Verge was critical of how long it took for Etsy to catch up with the competition, and the fact that it is not available for Android yet. TechCrunch went into more detail.

As mentioned last time, you can now add short, no-audio videos to your listings. Etsy is so big on this, they are offering listing credits and ad credits to sellers who upload 5 or more videos by July 6. As always, make sure you read the legal policies before you participate in this offer.

The Etsy Design Awards are back, with submissions due by July 15th. Note that they are only open to 38 countries, for some reason. There is a forum discussion thread with tips, and a podcast [audio & transcript] with previous winners.

If you sell any items for kids, you will find this trending items article from Etsy useful. Searches including “kid,” “child,” or “baby” didn’t go up as much in April as one might have expected, given the pandemic shopping bump, but puzzles were popular. They include some search terms: for example, there was a “250% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “jump rope” in April. Also, “while school may look different this fall, we’re already seeing an increase for school-related searches compared to the same time last year.”

Face mask seller ZhenLinen was interviewed on NPR [text and audio] about mask selling, and was even asked about the offsite ads fees near the end. They sold 31,000 masks while their event-supply business was in pandemic limbo; most of those sales were through Etsy. The good news articles about mask sales, & suggesting Etsy as a source of masks, are continuing, although some do mention slow delivery times and even undelivered orders. By the way, if any mask sellers are looking for new places to sell, Facebook finally caught up and is now allowing mask sales, ads and other promotions.

According to analysis of Etsy’s API data, May 2020 was Etsy’s best month ever. Remember that the API data misses things like sales of multiples, so it is not the most accurate source, but I don’t have any reason to doubt the statement is true.

Etsy stock went over $100 for the first time, before dropping as the rest of the market went down.

You have probably already seen Etsy’s statement on race issues after the recent murder in the US. “That’s why today we are announcing donations of $500,000 to the Equal Justice Initiative and $500,000 to Borealis Philanthropy’s Black-Led Movement Fund, as well as matching employee donations. We encourage our community to join us in supporting these important organizations. Etsy is built on a belief that communities have the power to change the status quo. Change is hard-fought, and we are committed to this fight.“

If you have your real name on your Etsy account, don’t attract any attention from the police.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

If you don’t really understand what algorithms are and how they work for search engines, you will want to get caught up here. Key to understanding: “An algorithm is not a formula.”

This is a bit advanced, but it’s a good explanation of how to figure out searcher intent in Google results, and then fulfill it with new content. [video, transcript, and downloadable form]

Linking from one page on your website to another can be an important part of SEO. It can also help you get more page views, if you link to new pages from your most popular pages. Creating internal site links on the same page through a table of contents [advanced, coding info] can even get you more links in Google search results.

Speed on mobile devices is also a big part of SEO as well as conversions. “a 0.1 second improvement in site speed resulted in Retail conversions increases of 8.4% and average order value increases of 9.2%.”

Bing made changes to its backlink tool, including the ability to see your competition’s backlinks. The option is part of Bing’s Webmaster tools, & allows you to analyze “similar sites”. Their Webmaster Tools now can also analyze your site for SEO errors.

A former Google employee is starting a new search engine, called Neeva.

Some SEOs recommend removing “low-quality” pages from your site to improve your overall rankings, but low-quality doesn’t necessarily mean pages that few people visit [text & video]. And short posts are not necessarily “low-quality”. If your page is mostly duplicate content, it is like low quality, but just repeating a few lines on each page is not duplicate content.

Google missed a few episodes of its Google search news YouTube post during the pandemic, but they were back on May 26 with an update. They’ve also finally released their webspam report for 2019. “we observed that more than 25 Billion pages we discover each day are spammy.”

Advanced content [video with multi-language subtitles, & text summary in English]: Google, JavaScript, & links.

Shopify sites have built-in blogs,and those blogs can help you get sales through SEO. And while we are on Shopify SEO, here is some advice on fixing technical SEO issues on Shopify sites. [the second is advanced content unless you know some coding]

While having an author page isn’t a requirement on any news/blog site, it might be a good idea anyway [text and video]. Content that is useful for readers is ultimately good for your site’s SEO.

Here is a history of Google’s PageRank, and what it still does for ranking.

Did the Google May core update really mess up organic search relevance? Some people think so. [I had noticed the Wikipedia drop but thought it was just for a particular search.] There may be more ranking updates underway right now.

Google plans on introducing user experience as part of the ranking algorithm, although it won’t happen before next year, and we will get 6 months warning. Search Engine Land lists the following elements: “whether the page loads quickly, if it’s mobile-friendly, runs on HTTPS, the presence of intrusive ads and if content jumps around as the page loads.” They add a bunch of technical advice, and the tools to follow up on it.

Do you find SEO confusing? Don’t worry - even the pros working for big companies make huge errors.

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

Updated infographic with the common social media image sizes used today. (Several of these get published yearly, because there are always changes.)

Is blogging still relevant? [TL;DR - yes] And if you want to write more interactive posts, here are some tools for that.

Video app TikTok made a lot of money in April, but is seeing competition from a new short video app called Zynn, which allows users to make money by watching videos and bringing in new users. However, Zynn has already been removed from Google Play store amid accusations of content theft. Instagram has a challenger called “Reels”, and even YouTube wants some of that TikTok traffic, so they are introducing 15 second videos. Meanwhile, TikTok is coming under closer scrutiny for its invasive tracking.

Every social network apparently needs to have their own version of Stories these days, so Pinterest has introduced a new version of Story Pins in the US. “Unlike Stories on other platforms, which are often self-focused snippets from someone’s life, Pinterest Stories Pins are designed as clickable content focused on sharing ideas. For example, Story Pins could offer a step-by-step guide to cooking a recipe or creating a craft project. A Story Pin could also offer ideas around how to reorganize your home office, keeping the kids entertained, beauty tutorials and more.”

Google appears to be imitating Pinterest with their new release, called “Keen”. You add items yourself but Google then attempts to find more things you are interested in, using AI.

If you are looking for some new tools to help with Instagram, Social Media Today compiled a list of 5 recent ones. They include image processing, templates, and analytics.

Twitter is beta-testing the ability to tweet sound files directly from the platform, instead of embedding links to other sites. The article notes that these may be more difficult to moderate than text tweets would be.

Two of the three parts of this article cover local businesses, but the middle part has some promotional ideas that mostly involve content marketing & social media. Nothing groundbreaking, but a decent list if you are looking for new free ways to advertise.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Semi-advanced - how to improve your Google Ads optimization score.

GCLID is short for “Google Click Identifier” to help track ads and conversions. You can learn more here. [Understanding this is useful for both your own ad campaigns and understanding other ads, such as the Etsy Offsite Ads program.)

Money coming in from social media video ads has increased from the lows in April. Facebook ads have improved the most.

New advertisers on Instagram will not necessarily have to link their accounts to Facebook any more. It may be linked to a campaign to “stop hate for profit” that calls for people to stop buying Facebook & Instagram ads during July, and which has attracted several big players such as Unilever and Verizon. Some companies are leaving all social media ads, or are extending the Facebook boycott until the end of the year. But as the first article points out, Zuckerberg’s complete control of voting means he can’t be turfed by a board just to protect profit, so a short boycott may not be the best way to get change.

Facebook published a new explanation of how ads work on the platform.

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

For people who are new to Google Analytics: here are some things you should be tracking, as well as these, and some tips on finding source info for SEO work. If you want to improve your customers’ experience with the site, check out these tips. [There is some crossover between the 4 articles, but I think that those of you trying to learn more detailed examples of how GA works will find everything useful.]

What is a “session” in Google Analytics? This article includes screenshots & tips on changing their length.

You can get great keyword data from the Google Search Console - here’s how.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Online shopping has received a huge boost from the pandemic lockdowns, and big online marketplaces are now competing for new small businesses to fill the growing demand. Walmart outsold eBay in May, for the first time ever. Things are slowing down a bit, though: “buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) had begun to “plateau.” BOPIS growth in May was 195% year over year, which was down from its April peak of more than 200%.”

Amazon is being criticized for allowing many prohibited items to be sold on the site, even through “fulfilled by Amazon”, so the items are stored in its warehouses. “Graham did not respond directly to many of our specific questions, including how many of the banned items that The Markup found had been sold, why the company had not noticed some of them for months, why some were listed as Amazon’s Choice, and why many were stored in Amazon’s warehouses for shipment. He did not respond at all to questions about why Amazon itself had offered banned items for sale. Most of the banned listings we reported to Amazon have been removed, although at least three have popped back up.” [emphasis added]

Amazon is now offering multi-channel fulfillment in the US; you don’t even need to use Fulfillment by Amazon to sign up. They’ve also introduced lines of credit for sellers, through a partnership with Goldman Sachs.

eBay is rallying sellers to object to a proposed Louisiana law that would force marketplace sites to verify the identities of higher-volume sellers in the state. The law was passed anyway, and takes effect July 1. Here are the highlights of the new law.

Now-fired eBay employees harassed and stalked the EcommerceBytes owner and her husband for months after eBay’s CEO at the time said eBay needed to “take down” the site & its owner.

Walmart now has ThredUp as one of its third-party sellers on the Walmart website. They sell second-hand clothing and accessories for women & kids, often famous labels. Sales are all online but buyers will be able to return things to Walmart stores.

Walmart has also partnered with Shopify, allowing small businesses to list directly on Walmart’s website through Shopify. This appears to be a limited initiative, as they only plan on including 1200 Shopify sellers by the end of 2020. Most analysts think this is a plan to compete with Amazon more directly.

In addition to its existing website, Target is now offering items on Instagram Checkout.

Shopify has been getting great media coverage lately, including this article suggesting them as an alternative to Amazon third-party selling, once the new “Shop” app gets some traction.

BigCommerce has introduced drag-and-drop design tools for its website builder.

Square has begun using rolling reserves to reduce its risk with some sellers. “In one instance, Legal Knock, a company that builds websites for law firms, told the Times that it never had a customer demand a refund for their work and yet Square kept $4,000 in reserve in May. Sean Weber, the owner, said he had trouble contacting the company and wasn't satisfied with its explanation. He even said Square blocked him on Twitter.”

Upcoming PayPal changes for US users include seller protection for some digital items, and not necessarily requiring buyers to return items to win a significantly not as described case. Remember that many PayPal changes start with the US and then expand to other countries; Canadian changes are here.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

When thinking about customer returns, remember that a lower-than-average return rate is not necessarily your top goal. “You may ask, “why would a merchant want to increase returns?” It’s because they’re using returns as a growth driver. They’ve figured out, for their respective businesses, that a higher rate of returns actually nets out to an increase in sales and repeat purchasing. So much so, that the overall uptick in business far outweighs the increased costs of more frequent returns.”

Consumers are reading reviews more than ever, but half of this study’s respondents said that “‘too many companies’ are creating fake reviews online.”

Many people are tired of the “things are different” ads that have predominated, & want to see more ads showing people getting back to normal. “The U.S., U.K. and the Netherlands are primed for a jump in fashion purchases, with significant percentages of consumers in those countries planning clothing purchases in the next 30 days. The finding suggests that fashion marketers may increase their marketing efforts to reach consumers who are ready to buy apparel as lockdowns are lifted.”

We don’t know what the holiday shopping season will look like this year, so ecommerce businesses should be planning for many different scenarios.

Here’s an interesting overview of how some searches changed in the first few months of the pandemic. [infographic] And some of the shopping changes people made, especially Gen Z, may be permanent. “...younger consumers are shifting their habits faster than their older counterparts.” That report also states that “33% of these consumers have increased their online spending, for a net increase of 6%, versus 23% of consumers in older generations, or a net increase of 1%.”

Here’s more on the second-hand clothing trend that is hitting its boom years. “According to the report, secondhand goods are expected to make up 17% of a person’s share of closet space by 2029, up from just 3% in 2009.” Gen Z is a big user of Depop, which has a lot of altered and enhanced vintage clothing available.

MISCELLANEOUS

This article has inspired me to completely redo my website’s About page. Not yet, of course, but some day soon…

Speaking of websites, here’s a good list of dos & don’ts for a contact form.

eBay may be probing your computer when you visit, and that is not always legal.

Free Zoom accounts can’t set up encrypted calls/meetings, because “the firm wants to keep this feature away from free users to work with law enforcement in case of the app’s misuse.”

Finally in privacy news, Google is being sued for still tracking you in various ways when you use Chrome’s incognito mode.

#etsynews #search engine optimization #analytics #content marketing #customer service #ecommercetips #social media news

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independencelogbook · 5 years

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9.21.19

I’d like to share the steps that I went through as far as the hiring and onboarding process that have led to the crazy reality of myself being three days away from flying to Europe and living on a ship for 6.5 months. I can only speak for what getting on with Royal Caribbean is like; I have no idea how different the process is for other cruise lines. But from from what I’ve gathered from talking to friends, it’s all fairly similar, which is a comforting thing to know when you’re in the middle of it, because it does all seem like a big, confusing series of checklists from start to finish.

I applied to Royal in January of this year, knowing that I already had a seasonal gig lined up from June through mid August and hoping to aim my start date for somewhere around the middle of September. All that took to get things started was applying online through their portal: entering some personal info, answering a survey about some questions relating to my desired position, and attaching a resume. I was expecting this to take a couple of months to process through their system, but they emailed me back I believe within two weeks of my application. I had two very quick Skype/phone interviews with recruiters in February, and had received an offer letter by early March. This letter basically informs you that they’re interested in having you hired, and that you’ve made it through the interview process. Your actual letter of employment and contract ensuring your acceptance into the company come much later, after passing the pre-employment onboarding tasks. They’re saving you a spot, but you’re not guaranteed yet.

The main items involved in the pre-employment screening were a medical clearance, background check, local police clearance, and seafarer training/certification course. A semi intensive process haha. These things all have their varied timings and expiration dates so they have to be done the correct amount of time from your availability date. So I sent in my background check info in April, finished up my time in New York, moved to Virginia for the summer, and otherwise waited around so that I was closer to my start date to complete the remaining tasks. Over the summer I drove out an hour and a half or so to the nearest approved medical facility for my tests, and when I got home in August, I finished the rest of my major pre-employment roadblocks (the seafarer training was done online). After that came a bit of talking back and forth with my onboarding representative, who has been answering my questions diligently since I received my offer letter however many months ago, and we tried to pin down my availability for that rigging training as well as the final bits and pieces of my contract. Like I said in the last post, by the time I had gotten my stuff turned in, the rigging courses were full until the new year. The rep and I decided to have me start closer to my intended date, but as a less specialized position at first instead of waiting around a couple months to be trained for the rigging work.

So finally after all that, I got my ship assignment email at the beginning of this month. Yay! That one certified that I had cleared all the necessary no man’s land tasks and that I could officially be considered hired by the company. It also let me know where I’d be starting my work, and on which day. I’ve since been given various crew sites and apps to log into to check on travel information, I’ve done a bunch of online HR training modules, I’ve gotten a clearer checklist of what to bring on board, and its all juuuuuust starting to dawn on me that this is a real experience that I’m actually going to be partaking in. For seven months. Crazy. I have no concrete idea what to expect, but I do expect it to be a great experience and a lot of hard work. I just don’t have any clue what the day-to-day life is like... Guess I’ll let you know lol.

Overall, this process was a lot of getting partial information and then having a million more questions about how to proceed. It was never a single, clear checklist of the things I needed to get turned in to RC. My rep has been very, incredibly helpful (despite the 15 hour time difference, as they’re located in Manila) but it’s definitely a confusing process. It also involves putting some of your own money down for the medical clearance, which is done through a third party company. And that, a hundred million percent, feels like you’re being scammed when you’re writing that check. But now that I’m not in the middle of being overwhelmed by all the startup things, I feel like the lack of one consistent guideline for being hired makes plenty of sense. People are hired from so many different countries and RC has to line all this stuff up through all of those separate governing bodies, and so that everything complies with maritime laws as well. I’m sure it’s incredibly complicated on their end. Plus now that I’ve gone through all that, it’s comforting to know that everyone else working on board has been screened as thoroughly as I was haha.

But just know that if you’re going through the pre-employment process: yes it’s very hectic and there’s a lot of back and forth to figure out how exactly you need to get everything completed. And yes, it’s normal to get info fairly last minute. I got an offer letter back in March and had only just now (in early September), three weeks before my first day, been told which ship I would be on and exactly which day I would be starting. It’s kinda just dropped upon you when you get everything lined up and turned in, and from what I’ve heard from every other person I know who has been on other cruise lines- that’s absolutely normal. Just gotta roll with it, and be diligent about asking any questions you have. (Seriously, my onboarding rep has been my lifeline) Maybe that’s just your first test to see if you can handle working on a cruise ship after all. Ha.

So there’s all of that, in case you were curious. It has been an adventure already, full of paperwork and waiting rooms. Now it’s time for the fun part.

#thank you for reading #the big day approaches #ship life #cruise ship staff #royal caribbean crew #independence of the seas

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nowtravel · 3 years

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TWO WEEKS IN TANZANIA

Tanzania is perhaps the most beautiful country I’ve ever been to, and definitely the trip that has impressed upon me the most! While I only explored the northeastern part of the country, I am still blown away by the biodiversity in such a small region! As a big animal lover, I have always dreamed of going on safari and I’m still blown away I had the opportunity!

DAY 1-2:

We land in Dar es Salaam and make our way immediately to where we are staying, the delightful Alexander’s Hotel. Here we crash hard, after almost 36 hours of travel from America! We spend the next day lounging around the hotel as we work though our jetlag and walking a bit around the area.

DAY 3:

We head back to the airport and catch a flight up north to Arusha, where we meet our tour guides and head out on safari! The guides drove south to Tarangire National Park, about a 3 hour drive. Located slightly off the popular northern Tanzania Safari Circuit, the park lies between the meadows of Masai Steppe to the south east and the lakes of the Great Rift Valley to the north and west. While not nearly as famous as Sarangeti, it’s much more cost effective!

We arrived at Tarangire when it was still pretty early, just in time for a beautiful day to start! We saw: vervet monkeys, impalas, zebras, giraffes, ostrich, and a herd of elephants! While it was great for the animals, the day was HOT and shade was a hard thing to find. Also: just a heads up the Tsetse fly is native to the area and is attracted to the colors black and blue, so you will want to avoid wearing those! The bites can be very dangerous, but at minimum are also very painful! They feel like more aggressive horsefly bites, so something to avoid if at all possible

After our exciting day in Tarangire, we drove to our campsite… a beautiful cliff overlooking the Rift Valley. The accommodations were far more glamping than camping, with cots outfitted with hot pin sheets, and the food, a vegetarian peanut stew, was one of the most delicious soups I have ever had!

DAY 4:

The next day we headed out at the crack of dawn again, this time to go to Ngorogoro Crater. Known as “Africa’s Eden” and a UNESCO world heritage site, the lush park is one of the continent’s most celebrated natural wonders. Created over two million years ago by the explosion and collapse of a massive volcano, the depression is more than 2,000 feet deep, with a floor covering 100 square miles: the largest intact volcanic caldera on the planet

As hot as Tarangire was the previous day, Ngorongoro matched the intensity in cold, wet, windy storms as we slowly climbed up the steep walls of the rain forest preserves that comprise the crater’s surrounding area. When we crested the walls and started to drive down into the crater itself, the landscape and weather both changed dramatically, moving from lashing storms whipping the forest of trees around us, opening up to a light breeze in a vast savannah.

Ngorongoro was a completely different experience than Tarangire. The environment was much cooler there and the animals differed for the most part. There we saw baboons, water buffalo, more zebra, more ostrich, hyenas, wildebeest, hippos, warthogs, and supposedly a lion, but my eyes were never able to discern it from the grass it was hiding in.

DAY 5:

The next day we spent walking around the preserve at Lake Manyara and visiting a nearby town, Mto Wa Mbu Kijiji (roughly translated to Mosquito Creek). At the Lake we were blown away both of the volume of flamingos there, as well as how white they were! It turns out that particular lake was low on beta carotene, so the birds lacked the bright colors they’re generally known for. After our day at the lake, our friendly guides returned us to Arusha, to spend one final night before making our way to Zanzibar island.

DAY 6-8:

After Arusha, we took a flight to Dar where we had an extended layover that we decided to spend at the delightful, family run Alexander’s Hotel. Finally we flew over to Zanzibar, and headed to Stone Town where we’d be spending a couple days before we head to the eastern side of the island. A fishing village and trading post since the 11th century, Stone Town was once the seat of the Sultanate of Oman. We stayed at the wonderful Maru Maru hotel, which was both well-appointed and extremely conveniently located. We spent our days in Stone Town mainly exploring the town history and lots of meandering on the beautiful side streets, as well as partaking in the delicious food!

DAY 9:

After we got our fill of Stone Town, we headed around the island to Kiwengwa beach. On the way we stopped at one of Zanzbar’s famous spice farms, to learn more about the history and agriculture on the island.

DAY 10 – 14:

Finally, after all our adventures, we hunker down in Kiwengwa Beach for a couple of days of hardcore R&R. We stayed at the Tui Blue Bahari Zanzibar hotel, truly the nicest place I’ve ever stayed. The rooms are both palacious and luxurious: king sized beds, flower petals strewn about every night during turn down service, inside and (private) outside showers, a bathtub big enough to swim in, pristine views, and delicious foods. What more could you ask for?!

And then, in a flash, the trip-of-a-lifetime was over! Tanzania was so beautiful and hospitable and I learned so much while I was there! Years later I still regularly think about how wonderful a time I had and I look forward to returning some day.

About Sera Herold

Originally from Washington state, Sera Herold started her love affair with travel by frequently visiting Vancouver BC while growing up. Having visited 5 continents so far, Sera looks forward to someday taking a trip down under to Oceana, and extremely down under to Antarctica, to get to experience what each continent has to offer. Sera’s perfect trip involves some adventure, some relaxing, and a ton of delicious local food!

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seowarlocks · 4 years

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Social Media Wars in 2021

As socially inclined creatures, human beings have embraced technology that connects us with others. Every year, there is an increasing number of people signing up for and using social media. While there weren’t even a billion people using social media back in 2010, the number exceeded more than 2 billion within just five years. In 2019, there were around 2.77 billion people using social media. And, with smartphones and internet connectivity becoming cheaper and easier to access, we should expect to see these numbers grow even higher. By 2021, more than 3 billion people will be using social media. What this means for marketers is that there is huge potential to reach a massive and engaged audience on social media. And that’s not just limited to the popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In this post, you’ll discover 75+ social media sites that you can include in your social media marketing strategy for 2020. Some of these platforms could even help you build valuable connections in your areas of interest. These are 77 of the most popular social media sites that you should know about in 2020. If you’re a marketer, some of these platforms can help you promote your brand and products. They can also help you expand your network. If you’re an influencer or a consumer, you can use these sites to connect with like-minded individuals and build better connections. 75+ Social Media Sites You Need to Know in 2020:

#1: Facebook

Facebook is currently the largest social media site in the world. With 2.6 billion monthly active users as of 2020, it’s safe to say that nearly every social media user is on Facebook. So it’s an excellent platform for brands to market their products to a huge audience. Users can share text posts, links, images, and videos with their Facebook friends. They can follow famous people and pages and react to people’s posts on the platform. Brands can also promote their products using paid ads on Facebook.

#2: Instagram

Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social networking platforms. While it is mostly app-based, users can also access their feed through the website version. In June 2018, it finally reached 1 billion monthly active users. Instagram is a highly visual platform, where users share videos and images. You can also use Instagram Stories and Live features. It is very popular among the younger generations. According to Statista, 32% of users are aged between 18 and 24 and 33% are aged between 25 and 34.

Image: Statista

#3: Twitter

Twitter is a platform that lets users stay on top of trending topics and engage in relevant conversations. In 2019, the platform had over 330 million monthly active users. While it doesn’t have as many users as other top social media sites, it does have a highly engaged user base. Twitter users send out at least 500 million tweets per day on average.

#4: Tumblr

Tumblr is another leading social media site. Users can join communities and participate in cultural dialogues to expand their ideas. It’s one of the top social media sites for self-expression and is very popular among teens and fandoms. In February 2020, there were a total of 321 million unique visitors to the website.

Image: Statista

#5: LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media site for professionals and is very popular among a B2B audience. The platform has grown rapidly over the years and currently has 690 million members. Members can expand their professional connections on the platform, showcase their portfolios, and search and apply for jobs. LinkedIn is also an excellent platform to share your professional expertise, as it allows members to publish blog posts that reside on the platform.

#6: WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a messaging app that lets users share text messages, images, voice notes, audio files, documents, and videos. It has grown exponentially over the years and had about 2 billion monthly users as of March 2020. Along with its growing user base, the platform has also introduced many new features to make interactions easier among users. While users could only make one-on-one calls before, it now has a group calling feature. They also introduced a WhatsApp Status feature that allowed users to update photo, video, and text statuses that disappeared after 24 hours. As of Q1 of 2019, 500 million users were updating their WhatsApp Statuses daily.

Image: Statista

#7: Snapchat

Snapchat is another highly visual social media platform that’s popular among the younger generation. Users can send snaps to each other and update 24-hour Statuses just like on WhatsApp and Instagram. In Q1 of 2020, it had 229 million daily active users who are highly active on the platform.

#8: Pinterest

Pinterest is a virtual scrapbooking social media site and is therefore, highly visual. Users can create themed boards and add images and products to the board. Brands can even create Shoppable Pins through which users can directly make purchases. In 2019, there were 335 million monthly active users on the platform. These users have created more than 200 billion pins on over 4 billion boards.

#9: Reddit

Reddit is a social media site where users become part of subreddits and engage with other users on relevant topics. It is also somewhat of a news aggregator site since users share the latest news from different sources on the site. Other users will then interact with this news, upvote or downvote it, and comment on it. It has a huge community and gets over 1.3 billion monthly visitors. It gets most of its traffic from the US, followed by the UK and Canada.

Image: SimilarWeb

#10: YouTube

YouTube is the largest video-sharing social media site in the world. It lets users upload videos on the platform, view videos from other users, and interact with them. In 2019, it had an average of 2 billion monthly active users. YouTube users spend an average of 40 minutes watching videos on the platform.

#11: Mix

Previously StumbleUpon, Mix is a news aggregator social media site that lets users curate their favourite content from around the web and add it to their “Collections”. It provides several browser extensions and also has iOS and Android apps.

#12: Tagged

This social media site acquired the once popular hi5 social media platform in 2011. It is mainly focused around friendship and dating. Users can connect with others through common interests, games, browsing profiles, and more.

#13: Nextdoor

Nextdoor is a private social network for dedicated neighbourhoods. You can enter your street address and find a community of people living in your area. While it was previously just for neighbourhoods in the U.S., it has now expanded to other parts of the world. You can now use it from the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Sweden, and Denmark.

Image: Nextdoor

#14: DeviantArt

Deviantart calls itself the world’s largest social media community for artists and art enthusiasts. Users can share photos of their artwork, discover the work of other artists, and interact with other members of the community. According to the platform, it currently has more than 44 million registered users and 45+ million unique visitors each month.

#15: Quora

Quora is one of the largest social networks for people to ask and answer questions about hundreds of topics and categories. This includes everything from language and career to mythology and marketing. As of 2018, it had 300 million monthly active users. If you have any question that internet results cannot answer, you can post it under a relevant category. You can even send answer requests to experts on the topic.

#16: Meetup

Meetup is a social media site that does exactly what its name says – it helps connect users with local groups to meet up with new people. Groups can organise events for like-minded people to get together. You can find groups in a wide range of categories including outdoors and adventure, tech, photography, language and culture, music, and more. It is most popular in the U.S., which contributes to 49.9% of its traffic, followed by the U.K., which contributes to 7.95% of its traffic.

Image: Meetup

#17: ReverbNation

ReverbNation is one of the most reputable social media sites dedicated to musicians. They can promote their music through the platform and reach a bigger audience. They can even make money off of their tracks by selling them to fans or distributing them to major digital platforms. Besides these basics, ReverbNation also offers a host of tools and features to help musicians build their careers.

#18: Flixster

Flixster is another niche social media site with a focus on film. It’s an American-based site where film enthusiasts can connect with like-minded people and share their film reviews and watching experiences. You can use this platform to learn about new movies and see what others think of it. You can also use it to book movie tickets for watching movies in a theatre.

#19: Goodreads

Goodreads is another niche social networking site, but this one focuses on books. Book lovers can connect with fellow bookworms and share their book reviews. The site also provides them with book recommendations based on their reading history. Users can join virtual reading clubs and socialise with like-minded individuals.

Image: Goodreads

#20: Twitch

Twitch is a live-streaming platform, mostly used by gamers to stream their game play or watch other gamers. Users can interact with live streams from other gamers and comment on them or upload videos to Twitch for their audience. It has about 5 million monthly broadcasters.

#21: CaringBridge

CaringBridge is one of the only social media sites of its kind. It’s a personal health journal that connects people with their loved ones during a health journey and allows them to provide support. It’s an excellent platform for people who are undergoing serious illnesses and health struggles as it helps them stay connected with people who care about them.

#22: Wattpad

Wattpad is a social media community of readers and writers. The platform sees a ton of user-generated stories across various genres including fiction, poetry, humour, and even fanfiction. It currently has about 70 million readers worldwide.

Image: Wattpad

#23: Viadeo

Viadeo is another professional social networking site that connects business owners and entrepreneurs with one another. It is more popular in Europe than in the U.S. and is available in different languages ranging from English and French to German and Portuguese.

#24: Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll is the go-to platform for anime enthusiasts to stream the latest anime shows and read popular mangas. It’s also a social media site where users can interact with each other and engage in anime-related discussions through the forums.

#25: Skyrock

Skyrock is a France-based social networking site, where users can create profiles and blogs and interact with other members. Music, sports, and film blogs are the most popular on this platform. With Skyrock, you get free, personal web space to create and share blog posts and talk to others. You can also search for profiles of other users by using their search filters like location, gender, age, etc. You can also post images, like on Instagram, and others can like and comment on them.

Image: Skyrock

#26: VK

VK is a Russian social media site. While it’s also available in other languages, it is mostly popular among Russian speakers. Users can create groups and public pages, organise events, and message other users. They can also share images, video, and audio or even play browser-based games.

#27: MyHeritage

MyHeritage is a genealogy-based social media site. Users can create family trees, upload and view family photos, and update their family histories. People have even used the platform to find their ancestors and learn more about them. MyHeritage has also introduced DNA testing so users can more accurately trace back their family histories and discover their blood relations.

#28: LiveJournal

This is a blog-based social media site where users can create blogs and journals for other users to read. The platform also curates the top blogs and communities so users can easily access the most popular content on the platform.

Image: LiveJournal

#29: Classmates

Classmates is a social media site that connects you with your ex-classmates and school alumni. Users can easily plan their high school reunions through the platform and access their high school yearbook.

#30: SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a music-sharing social media platform where users can upload their original tracks or listen to tracks from other artists. They can add music to their playlists and comment on parts of a track that they like for other users to see.

#31: Bubbly

Bubbly is a voice-based social media site where users can create voice posts and tag and customise them with relevant images and filters. They can also find and connect with celebrities and artists to listen to what they have to say. Users can also share their voice posts to other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

#32: Flickr

Flickr is a photo-sharing social media site that’s a favourite among photographers and graphic designers. You can share original, high-quality images on the platform or discover relevant images from other users. You can also join groups and connect with new people with shared interests.

Image: Flickr

#33: We Heart It

This is another image-based social media site where users can discover and curate their favourite images into their collections. There are several channels on the platform including art, music, school, quotes, and more. Users can check out these channels for relevant images to inspire them.

#34: Influenster

Influenster is a product review and discovery platform where users can view honest reviews from other consumers. They can gain access to reviews of products across various categories ranging from beauty and makeup to tech and electronics. They can also submit their own reviews of products they’ve used. The platform will measure each user’s social impact by collecting data from leading social media platforms. Based on this analysis, users can even become part of influencer marketing campaigns relevant to their interests.

#35: FilmAffinity

Another social media site for film enthusiasts, FilmAffinity is a movie recommendation platform. Users can rate the movies they’ve watched and get movie recommendations based on their favourite genres.

Image: FilmAffinity

#36: Open Diary

Open Diary is one of the earliest social media sites, founded in 1998. Users can keep a virtual diary to record their daily lives and deepest thoughts. The Open Diary community will be able to access these entries and interact with them. You can even create anonymous posts to share thoughts and experiences that you can’t talk about with anyone else.

#37: Yelp

Yelp is a crowd-sourcing review website where users can share their opinions about local establishments. It’s a great way to find the most recommended places and events in your area.

#38: CollegeHumor

As the name suggests, CollegeHumor is a humour-based website that features fresh humour articles and videos on a daily basis. In addition to content from its in-house team, users can also access memes, articles, images, and videos submitted by other users.

#39: Gaia Online

Gaia Online is an anime-themed social media site where users can participate in trending conversations through forums. They can also explore the platform to meet new people with shared interests and play browser-based games.

Image: Gaia Online

#40: MocoSpace

This is a mobile social community where users can connect with other members through public chat rooms and group chats. They can also engage in private chats with other users. They can play mobile games, send eCards, and more.

#41: CouchSurfing

This social media site connects travellers with people from all over the world. They can discover locals in the destinations they’re visiting, request to stay with them, and meet other travellers.

#42: Funny or Die

Funny or Die is a humour-based social website that mainly focuses on video content. Users can view the latest trending videos and upload their own humour videos. In addition to videos, the website also publishes some humour articles and lists to entertain the community. It is frequented by several celebrities like Will Ferrell, Selena Gomez, and Jeff Goldblum.

#43: italki

italki makes language-learning easier by connecting users with native language teachers through video chat. This helps language learners to get interactive, one-on-one tutoring sessions so they can easily learn the language of their choice. They can choose from thousands of teachers in any language.

#44: eToro

eToro is a social trading platform that allows users to follow leading traders in the community and connect with other traders. Users can also earn some extra income by having other traders copy their trading strategies and portfolios.

Image: eToro

#45: XING

This is a career-oriented social media site that helps people expand their professional networks. Users can conduct a job search, get the latest industry news, and discover professional events like conferences, seminars, and trade shows. It is mostly a European-focused website.

#46: MeetMe

Previously known as myYearbook, this social media site helps users discover new people to connect with. You can discover new people in your area to connect with and people who share your interests.

#47: Ravelry

There’s a social media site for everyone and for every niche interest. Ravelry is a dedicated social network for people who are interested in knitting and crocheting. They can connect with people who share the same interests and share ideas and inspiration with them.

#48: Care2

Care2 is a social media site for activists, where they can discover trending stories and petitions from around the world. The community is made up of more than 45 million people who want to make the world a better place and stand against cruelty and injustice.

Image: Care2

#49: YY

YY is one of the biggest social media sites in China, where users share video content with other users. It has more than 300 million users and allows group video chats. Like Twitch, users can watch a single video of someone engaging in an activity. These activities can range from tutorials to karaoke.

#50: Vero

Vero is a social media site where users can share their favourite things with the community. They can share songs, photos, books, and movies. The platform markets itself as a social network that cares about building real connections between users and doesn’t use data mining and algorithms.

#51: Medium

Medium is a content publishing site with some social network elements to it. Members can publish content on the site and share it with other users. They can “clap to” and comment on posts created by other members. While most articles are free to read, some of them are reserved for paying members.

#52: GIPHY

This is an online database of animated GIFs that are usually humour-based. Users can upload their own GIFs or search for and discover GIFs created by other users. They can react to their favourite GIFs and even share them with friends on other social media platforms.

Image: GIPHY

#53: Tribe

Tribe is a cloud-based community where consumers can connect with a brand community. Users can engage in conversations and discussions under specific brands. They can explore and follow different brands, ask questions, start discussions, and create polls relevant to the brands.

#54. Tencent QQ

This is a Chinese instant messaging platform that was initially launched only in China but later expanded to 80+ countries. It supports text messages, voice calls, and video calls. It also has a built-in language translator to help you communicate with people who speak a different language. It had 647 million users in China, in 2019.

#55. WeChat

WeChat is a popular messaging app that allows you to connect with people using your app ID. This makes it possible to talk to strangers without divulging your phone number or other information. So, the unique selling point (USP) of this app is it helps maintain anonymity when connecting with strangers. You can use it to send text messages or share photos and videos. It also supports voice and video calls. It has 1.2 billion monthly users as of 2020.

#56.Qzone

QZone is another app from the makers of QQ and WeChat—Tencent. This social media platform is very popular in China with as many as 517 million users currently. You can use it as a blog, an online diary, a platform to share photos, watch videos, listen to music, and more.

#57. TikTok

TikTok is a short-form video sharing platform that has become quite popular within a short span of time since its launch in 2016. It was created by the Chinese company, ByteDance, and has a Chinese version called Douyin. This app is famous for its lip-sync videos and has over 800 million monthly users.

#58. Sina Weibo

This is a Chinese microblogging and social networking website with over 516 million monthly users. It is often called the Chinese version of Twitter because it is actually quite similar in the sense that people share short updates and posts just like a tweet.

#59. Kuaishou

This is a Chinese video-sharing platform that has been active since 2011. It has over 400 million monthly users in over 9 countries.

#60. Skype

It is a communication-based social networking platform that is most popular for making video conference calls. It also provides instant messaging functionality and you can use it to share texts, images, videos, and audio files.

#61. Viber

Viber is an instant messaging platform from the Japanese company Rakuten. It can be used on both mobile devices and desktops. You can use it to make free voice or video calls and send messages. It had over 1 billion registered users in 2019, however, not all of these are active users.

#62. LINE

LINE is a popular Japanese social network that also attracts users from other countries like Thailand. You can sue it to send messages and make free voice or video calls. It also allows photo and video sharing options.

#63. LINE PLAY

It is an avatar-based network, like a virtual world. It combines elements of both a game and a social networking platform. You simply need to create your avatar and meet people online from anywhere in the world. It has over 65 million users. It is available as a mobile app as well.

#64. The Dots

This is a professional networking platform for people who are in creative fields. It is a good space to collaborate with others, find jobs or clients, and upskill yourself. You can also talk to other experts in your field and seek advice from them. Overall, it is a great platform to showcase your work and get discovered. You can check it out in your browser or download their iOS app.

#65. Telegram

This is an instant messaging platform that is somewhat similar to WhatsApp in that you can use it to send free messages. One unique benefit of Telegram is that all the messages shared on this platform are encrypted and can self-destruct. So, when it comes to security and privacy, it gets a big thumbs up. Another great feature is that it allows you to create groups of as many as 200,000 members, which is more than what other messaging platforms offer. It is available for both iOS and Android devices, as well as desktops. It has over 400 million users.

Image: App Store

#66. Foursquare Swarm

Foursquare is a search-and-discovery based app that helps users discover nearby places by providing recommendations. Foursquare is so much more than a social media platform but is also a location data and technology platform. Their social networking feature is now available as a separate product called Swarm. It is a social networking app that has Foursquare’s popular functionality of check-ins when visiting a place.

#67. Douban

This is a culture-oriented Chinese social media site with a focus on movies, music, and books. You can use it to create fan pages or review books, movies, etc. It also has the option to create groups to discuss specific topics. The average audience on Douban is more educated and culture-oriented than any other social media site in the country.

#68. Discord

Discord is the preferred instant messaging platform for gamers. A lot of gamers use it to create team channels and discuss game strategy. You can use it directly from your browser or download the app. Even though it is popular for gaming groups, it can be used for creating practically any type of group and connect over a group chat. It can be a book club, a movie club, and even a study group. So, with Discord, the possibilities are endless.

Image: Discord

#69. Badoo

It is a social media cum dating platform where you can create your profile and find people with similar interests. The platform claims to have over 474 million registered users who send 350 million messages every day, on average. This makes it one of the largest social discovery platforms in the world. It is available across devices and platforms and provides multiple login options. It is available for use in over 200 countries. You can use it to find people in your location and make friends.

#70. Myspace

Myspace is one of the older social networking platforms. In fact, it was the largest social platform almost a decade ago and was extremely popular in the US. The rise of other platforms like Facebook and Twitter eventually led to a decline in its popularity. However, Myspace is still active and gets monthly traffic of over 7.5 million users. The main focus of the platform is on music, but it is also quite popular for blogs.

#71. Mixi

This is a Japanese social networking site that started as an invite-only service but can now be used by anyone. You can use it to find and connect with people who have similar interests. It has over 2.7 million community groups based on different hobbies and interests. The platform also provides you with the option to create and join events for people with specific interests.

#72. Ravelry

This is a niche, hyper-targeted social media site for people who like knitting, weaving, and crocheting. The purpose is to discover ideas, share your own work, and seek advice. It is a free site and provides tons of resources for knitters and crocheters.

#73. Cellufun

It is a social gaming community where you can create avatars, play games, socialise, and purchase virtual commodities. The site is free to use, but you can pay to get additional features using FunCoins, their virtual currency. It can be used on both mobile and desktop devices.

#74. Xanga

This is a social networking platform for bloggers and allows you to create and share blog posts. The social networking aspect is that you can create your profile, connect with friends, and share blog updates with your subscribers like you would for a social media post. Friends and subscribers are two different categories. Subscribers can follow you and get updates on your blog. Friends, on the other hand, can have a more direct connection with you. They are currently updating their platform and will soon launch Xanga 2.0 with updated features.

#75. Imgur

This is an American social media image-sharing site somewhat similar to Instagram, but not quite. It is mostly popular for sharing viral images and memes and is not as versatile as some other platforms. However, it does provide features like hashtags and topic-based content search.

Image: Imgur

#76. Ello

Ello is a niche social media platform for and global community of artists. You can use this to showcase your work, look at other artists’ creations, and connect with them. The platform is visual and vibrant in nature. So, even if you are not an artist, you can always check out the beautiful work done by them.

#77. Vimeo

This is another video-sharing social media platform like Twitch or YouTube. You can create and share videos or go live, just like you can on any other video platform. It is a paid platform and the plans start at $7 per month. Which social network has the most users? We have covered a whole range of social media sites in this post. However, despite all the new social sites opened in recent years, Facebook is still the social network with most users. During the first quarter of 2020, Facebook reported that it had 1.73 billion daily active users (DAU). It has 2.6 billion monthly active users (MAU). The second most popular social network is YouTube, with 2 billion monthly active users (MAU), who watch 250 million hours daily. What are the top 5 social media sites? We have covered a considerable number of social media sites in this post. With nearly 3 billion people using social media, there is a vast range of apps to appeal to everybody. The five most popular social networks are: - Facebook – 2.6 billion monthly active users (MAU) - YouTube – 2 billion MAU - WhatsApp – 2 billion MAU - Facebook Messenger – 1.3 billion MAU - Weixin / WeChat – 1.165 billion MAU - Instagram and TikTok follow these. What app will replace Instagram? Instagram will argue that they are still on the rise and that no other app is ready to replace them. Indeed, it is now the sixth most popular social app in the world with more than one billion users. Instagram's claim to fame is the emphasis it places on sharing images, so any potential replacement would also need this focus. This suggests a visual-focus social site, such as Imgur, Flickr, Snapseed, or Retrica. What social media is best? It isn't easy to definitively state what social media is best. It all depends on your interests and tastes. If you want to be where everybody else is, Facebook is a clear winner. If you like videos, YouTube is an obvious starting place, although if you prefer short videos, TikTok may be more to your taste (or even Byte for video snippets). For quick turn-around comments, Twitter is ideal. Instagram is the main image-sharing social app, although many people love pinning images on Pinterest. Who uses Instagram the most? A wide range of people uses Instagram. It is most popular in the United States, where it has 120 million users. 63% of Instagram users log in daily. 56.3% of Instagram's users are female, compared to 43.7% male. Instagram is popular with teenagers, with 72% of teens using Instagram. 30% of Instagram's audience is aged 18-24, and 35% aged 25-34%. An estimated 75.3% of businesses expected to be on Instagram in 2020. How does FB make money? The vast bulk of Facebook's revenue comes from advertising. The company's revenue in Q1 2020 was $17.74 billion, which was up 18% compared to Q1 2019. This increase came about, despite a decrease in advertising revenue in March 2020, due to Coronavirus. The importance of advertising to Facebook is evident when you see that of that $17.74 billion revenue, $17.44 billion comes from advertising with only $297 million in other income. What age group is on Instagram? Although Instagram has fans in all age groups, it is particularly beloved by the young. 35% of US teens consider Instagram to be their favorite social network. Looking at Instagram usage by age group: 18-24-year-olds: 75% use Instagram 25-30-year-olds: 57% use Instagram 31-49-year-olds: 47% use Instagram 50-64-year-olds: 23% use Instagram 65-year-olds +: 8% use Instagram Read the full article

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thing-you-do-with-that-thing · 7 years

Text

Everything

Characters: Y/N Winchester, Dean Winchester, Castiel Novak, Sam Winchester, Benny Lafitte, Bela (Talbot) Lafitte, Bobby Singer, Jody Mills, Jim Murphy.

Pairing: AU Mechanic!Dean x Wife!Reader

Warnings: suspense, language, implied smut, mention of sex, and another one but I putting that in the tags cause I don’t wanna give anything away.

Word Count: 3400ish

A/N: So I have been listening to a lot of James Blunt lately and this song hasn’t been able to leave me alone. When I started thinking about @deansdirtylittlesecretsblog aka mommy Mimi’s romcom fluff challenge it came roaring back. My prompt for Mimi’s challenge was You’re going to be bad for business. I can tell from the movie Moulin Rouge. Because I felt I might have been one of the people that Mimi glared at in her challenge post I chose to challenge the premise of the challenge a bit. It is fluff! I swear! Mimi don’t hurt me :P And also sorry for being a little late.

Thanks to my sweet amazing lil sis Rach aka @mysupernaturalfics for betaing this one.

***My fics are not to be saved nor posted on any other sites without my express written permission.***

Dean didn’t hear the customer yelling after him as he rushed through the front of his auto repair shop. He didn’t register his uncle Bobby hollowing from the scrap yard for him to drive safe and that he would be no good to you dead. All Dean could think about was the call he had gotten 2 minutes earlier. A call that he had been expecting but it had still knocked his wind right out of him. He was pale as a ghost as he got in behind the wheel of his 1967 chevy impala. Nothing in that moment mattered to him was getting to you.

Dean’s entire body was on autopilot as he got behind the wheel of his car, pulling into the street and heading towards the hospital. Memories of you were all that occupied his mind. Memories of how his nights had been calmer and sleep filled after you came into his life. Your presence made everything better and sleep wasn’t a task that needed to be conquered anymore. It came as natural as holding you tightly against his body. Memories of how you would be humming in the kitchen every morning before work making him breakfast because you didn’t have to be at the coffee shop until an hour after he had to be at work. He loved wrapping his arms around you from behind and feel you lean back into him. He loved the way you’d always tilt you head, silently asking him for a kiss, which he would happily grant you.

As Dean drove through the streets he knew so well, with his foot heavy on the gas, he couldn’t help but think about all the days he had wasted away from her. You had been his high school sweetheart. You had been his world back then. All through college you had been his rock and true constant. But when Sam had wanted to go to a college across the country Dean had followed his brother. Their parents had died when they were kids and the two of them were inseparable. You had cried the night that Dean left, but you had told him that you understood and you had, even if it had felt as if half your heart was being ripped from your chest and left with him. You had tried to make things work, but Dean had been an idiot not fighting hard enough for the best thing that he ever had. He had been an even bigger idiot for not realizing what he had been losing until it was gone. For the longest of time he saw you every street corner, in every smile of beautiful women that just never measured up to you. You had been the one and Dean had let you slip away. Fate had smiled on him years later when his best friend had set him up on a blind date a couple of years after returning to Kansas. Y/N was long gone or at least so Dean had thought.

“Come on Benny this is stupid,” Dean grumbled at his friend all but pushed him out the door. “I don’t need a damn blind date. I do fine on my own.”

“Really and how long has it been since one date got you a second or a third,” Benny raised an eyebrow at his friend, who just shrugged. He wasn’t really looking for a relationship like that. Dean loved women. He dated a lot, it was just very few of them that made it past the first month line. To be honest he was still not over the one, he had let get away. He would just never admit that fact to anyone. The only one who knew his secret about him was his little brother and that wasn’t because Dean had told it. Sam was just a goddamn mind reader or so it seemed at times.

“So you want me to call the poor girl who is probably already halfway to the restaurant by now?” Benny asked, making Dean groan. He didn’t want that either. He wasn’t out to make anyone feel bad about themselves or ruin their night. Surely Dean could play along with this and give the girl a good time. So he went. Grumbling the entire way just to get it out of his system but he went, only to get the shock of his life.

The girl he was meeting was going to wear a red dress and he would wear a red rose on his tux. The only woman in a red dress in that restaurant was Y/N. His Y/N and it took every ounce of courage Dean could muster to even walk up to your table.

“Hi Y/N/N,” Dean spoke softly, not sure how you would feel about him after all this time or if he even had any right to talk to you at all.

“Dean!” Surprise was written all over your face and it only grew when you saw the rose pinned to his jacket. “Oh.”

Dean nervously ran a hand behind the back of his neck and he lowered his eyes, “I didn’t know, I swear. If you want me to leave then…” he mumbled. Dean felt a jolt of electricity cause through him as you reached out and took his hand, smiling tenderly at him.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Dee. Stay. Actually I hate blind dates and Bela just talked me into it because apparently her husband knew this guy, who could use a real date for once,” you teased and Dean let out a small chuckle as he sat down across from her.

“Really? Cause Benny said his wife had asked him to find a date for this girl who was too busy starting up a new business to go out and have any fun,” Dean winked at you, causing you to blush slightly before mumbling you were going to kill them both.

If you or Dean had ever doubted how you felt about each other after years of being apart, your date confirmed it. You still made his head spin and Dean still caused the butterflies in your stomach to go crazy. You made him laugh and he made you feel like you were the only person in the room, even when your waitress tried to flirt with him. Dean was everything and more than you remembered him to be. You hadn’t even realized how much you had missed him until he offered to walk you home.

Dean was sad the night was almost over but at least you took his hand. Taking him up on his offer to let him join you on your walk back to your place, which apparently wasn’t far. He loved the way your hand still fit in his, like it belonged there and it had never left. His heart skipped a bit when you leaned into him slightly as you walked and he smiled as he realized just how much he still loved you. He hoped that there was still a small chance that you felt the same way.

Dean quietly watched you fiddle with your keys and unlock the door before you turned back to face him. There was no need to tell each other that you had both had a good time, you knew each other too well for that. Still, time had passed and Dean knew he had broken your heart along with his own when he left you behind. He gently tugged your hair behind your ear, smiling when you leaned into his touch and Dean slowly leaned forward.

“Can I kiss you goodnight,” Dean asked you hesitantly, only to have his heart shattered into a million pieces when you shook her head no. Dean quickly took a step back, running his hand nervously behind his neck not sure what to do, other than just leave and cut his losses.

You giggled softly taking a step forward, wrapping your arms around his neck, clearly surprising the hell out of him. He had hurt you, but he had never meant too. He had done what he thought was right. You didn’t hold any of it against him. You were both older now and you still loved him with all of your heart.

“I didn’t say I don’t want you to kiss me. Just not goodnight because the night is not over yet,” you sent him an almost shy smile as you watched the realization dawn on him and you giggled when his lips crashed against yours.

You were both laughing, still trying to kiss each other, when you pulled him backwards into your home with you, silently vowing to yourself you’d never let him go again.

Dean managed to smile through his worry as he remembered how dazed he had been for weeks after that. You had been so busy with the opening of your coffee shop, that you had barely gotten any more than stolen moments and late nights at your place when he stopped by unannounced. Yet he had been happy. He remembered the person he had been with you. The person he always wanted to be and you seemed content and relaxed whenever he was around. You were two pieces of the same puzzle finally reunited after having spent years apart.

“Dean! I need to finish up. The customers will be coming soon,” you laughed as he grabbed your hand with a cheeky grin on his face, pulling you into the back office with him, kicking the door shut and pushing you against it. You moaned into his kiss and any objections you had tried to make left you as you wrapped your arms around his neck melting into him completely.

You closed your eyes enjoying the feeling of his hands roaming your body and his lips moving down your jaw to your neck. It took all of your will power to even attempt to get him off you.

“Dean,” his name came out more as a moan than an objection and Dean smiled knowingly against your skin as he continued his ministrations. “DEAN!” you laughed pushing at his shoulders, when his hands were dangerously close to move up your skirt.

His head fell down against your shoulder with a groan, making you laugh even harder. “You’re trouble.”

“And you are no fun,” Dean smirked, before pressing his lips against yours again. His kiss was more tender and loving this time, not searching for anything else that the joy of kissing you.

“Well, I’ll be a lot of fun later if you help me get the sign up out front,” you grinned pecking his lips, before dashing through the door, letting out a slight squeal when his hand landed with a satisfying smack against your ass.

You twirled around ready to scold him, only to see him grabbing a chocolate muffin of the tray on the counter throwing you a wink as he headed for the front door to do as you had ordered.

“You’re going to bad for business, Winchester. I can tell,” you called after him, making him laugh and you couldn’t help but shake your head with a loving smile on your face. Bad for business or not, you loved him and he belonged in your life.

Dean had barely put the car into park before he was out the door and across the street. He ran through the hospital doors and down the hallways to the right wing. As he was running his mind wandered to the happiest day of his life. The day you had agreed to be his wife.

Dean laid on his back still completely dazed and blissed from the orgasm you had just rode out of him, loving the feel of you still straddling him, with your head resting against his shoulder and his arms wrapped around you.

He groaned a bit when you pulled yourself off him letting you fall down next to him. All thoughts left him as he looked looked over at you. Pure euphoria on your face as you smiled softly at him. Your skin was flushed and your hair a mess. You were absolutely breathtaking and without any thought what so ever the words fell from his lips. “Marry me?”

“What?” a surprise expression washed over your face and Dean wanted to kick himself, but the words were out and he couldn’t stop now. Dean quickly moved off the bed, finding his pants and pulling the ring from his pocket, before moving over to you now sitting up staring at him in confusion. Dean knelt down infront of you opening the box and your hands flew up to cover your mouth as you realized it wasn’t a moment of passion thing.

“Y/N/N. I love you. This wasn’t how I wanted to do this, but your just so damn perfect and I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I am sorry for all the time we wasted being apart. I don’t want to wake up another day without you by my side. If you’ll be my wife I promise you I will spend every day for the rest of my life proving to you how much I love you. I’ll never leave you again. Baby you’re my everything. Please marry me?” Dean looked up at her, smiling as you nodded.

“Yes. Of course I’ll marry you,” you laughed and Dean slid the ring on your finger, before letting you pull him him back into bed. Dean rolled on top of you, kissing you deeply, pouring all the love and adoration he held for you into it.

“Dean Winchester, did you just propose to me butt naked after sex?” you laughed and Dean couldn’t help but join in.

“Well, you agreed sweetheart. Whatever works right?” he teased kissing you again, before his hands started to roam your still naked body, causing you to moan against your fiancee’s lips.

“Can you tell me where I can find Y/N Winchester,” Dean asked the nurse at the front desk, slightly out of breath from his run and from worrying.

“You’re Dean?” the nurse asked and Dean nodded. “Y/N will be so happy to see you,” the nurse smiled guiding Dean down the hall and into a room that held his angry wife. She was leaning on the bed, her hand squeezing her brother’s so hard it was turning white and Cas’ face was contorted into one of immense pain, but of course you were too stubborn to scream as the contraction hit.

“Hey, look Dean is here,” Cas spoke softly, but clearly relieved the moment he spotted Dean in the door and your eyes shot up and a strained smile spread across your face. Dean felt the tears press behind his eyes. He hated seeing her in pain like this but he was here. You were having his first child. He smiled softly back at you as you spoke.

“You made it,” the relief and joy in your eyes evident and Dean’s smile grew as he nodded a thank you to Cas, who was leaving the room mumbling something about getting a doctor to see to his hand.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Dean smiled as crossed the room, taking your hand in one of his, gently rubbing circles on your back with the other. “What do you need, sweetheart?” Dean asked her, hating he didn’t really know what to do with himself and that he wasn’t able to take your pain away.

“Tell me a story of us. Anything. Just take my mind off this,” you grumbled hitting the bed with your fist as another contraction made you almost scream. Dean held your hand, not caring about the pain you caused him as you squeezed down hard around it. He just started talking. Reminding you of the day he proposed, adding a memory too it he wasn’t sure if you were aware of.

“Did Cas ever tell you I asked for his permission to marry you?” Dean asked her softly and she looked up, surprise written all over her face and her pain all but forgotten. Dean chuckled kissing her cheek. “He told me that you were all he had left and that if I was to hurt you again, he would hunt me down and smite me, whatever than means.”

“Yeah, my brother was always a little odd,” you giggled letting Dean help you back onto the bed, where he sat down behind you, gently messaging you back as he reminded you of you wedding day.

Dean remembered how sad you had been your dad wasn’t there to walk you down the aisle, but luckily for both of you, your brother had stepped up. Cas offered to do it without either of you ever having to ask. Since that day there had been an unspoken bond between Dean and Cas. You were the most important person in both their lives and Cas intrusted your happiness with Dean.

Dean had been so nervous right until the moment he saw you. It looked as if you were floating towards him as you moved down the aisle on Cas’ arm. Dean felt a single tear roll down his cheek but he didn’t care. He barely even noticed the friendly pat Sam placed against his shoulder. His entire attention was on you. He had never seen anything as beautiful and graceful in his life as you and you were all his.

The vows were spoken and you both promised yourselves to one another, both knowing what life without the each other was like. Neither of you wanted to ever go through that ever again. Dean had never been more in love and you had never been happier. The words uniting you forever, had barely left Father Murphy’s mouth before Dean had you wrapped in his arms, kissing your breathless and dizzy, to the roaring applauses of your family and friends.

You had been blind to everyone around you as you stared up into his beautiful green eyes, laughing from happiness as you realized he was yours forever. You were Y/N Winchester and you couldn’t wait to begin the rest of his life with him.

Dean stopped his story once or twice to help you through your contractions, but he managed to keep you somewhat distracted and even smiling once in a while until Dr. Mills told you it was time to push. Your husband never once left your side through the whole thing. He made up stories about the future and your son, causing you to smile through the pain in between pushes. He praised you. Telling you how much he loved you and how proud he was of you, never letting you see how much your pain actually hurt him. Dean felt more useless that he ever had in his life, even if the complete opposite was true. You weren’t sure you could have done this without him. He made it all bearable and knowing he would always be right by your side no matter what life would throw at you, made the thought that you were about to become a mom a whole lot less scary.

A scream rang through the air and you fell back against the pillows, completely exhausted but happier than ever as you newborn son was place on your chest. Your eyes found Dean’s glassy tear filled ones and you instantly reached out for him. Dean, careful not to hurt either of you, sat down next to you on the bed, gently running a finger over his son’s cheek. Completely in awe of this little human, he had helped create. Your eyes teared up looking at him. The love shun from his face as he fought to hold back his tears. Your son was the luckiest little boy in the world to have Dean for a dad.

“We made him,” Dean’s eyes found yours and a smile split across his face with your words.

“Congratulations daddy,” Dean leaned in pressing his lips against yours, pouring all his love for you and your child into that kiss. He would always be there for you. The two of you already made him a better man than he had ever been before and he would never stop trying to be the best husband and father he could be to the two of you. Dean had never felt this happy before in his life and he was going to spend every day making sure you and Josh, knew just how happy you made him.

Dean Tag Team (CLOSED)

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cindylouwho-2 · 5 years

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