#if you want someone to transcribe or arrange parts that can be done but you have to let us know NOW

[supercantaloupe]

this fucking woman has been sending us multiple emails every day with conflicting information about what she wants us to play and when she wants us to rehearse for this stupid xmas concert and i'm about to just fucking quit and tell her to find another oboist at this point

[softboywriting]

Little Moments | Billy Russo

Summary: Tension in familiarity leads to confessions after a terrifying event. [Billy Russo x Reader] [Violence] [Blood] [Gunshots] [Assistant!Reader] [Alternate Timeline - Castle family not mentioned/never happened] [Fluff] 

Word Count: 4.1k

A/N: This is my first Billy Russo fic, we’ll see where this goes yeah?

Just over a year ago you took a position as an assistant with Anvil. The job wasn't too bad, basically you took care of paying the bills for the facility, keeping inventory of supplies and equipment, scheduling appointments and keeping track of who was deployed where and why while keeping tabs on them and their duties while on deployment from Anvil. You had done work like this before, managing in a grocery store in your early twenties. It wasn't all that different, just instead of managing products you managed people. No the job was not difficult but your boss. Well. He was something else. 

William "Billy" Russo was a force to be reckoned with. Intelligent, handsome, cunning. His smile could kill. His eyes...they were something all their own. To say Billy was attractive was an understatement. But attraction was only part of the problem. The other part is his sharp tongue, quick wit and dry sarcasm. A year of sharing an office with him had put you on edge. You never know what he would do next, what he would say next. Some days you wish you could fuck him right there in that expensive leather rolling chair behind his desk. Other's you want to rip his leg off and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. The two of you got close, going back and forth with playful banter almost daily. It's like you’re always on the edge of being something more, if one of you would just make the first move.

Things finally come to a head one day when you've got a particularly large workload on your plate and Billy has decided to go on one of his little rants about who knows what, you tune him out. He is always coming into the office and talking to himself. Maybe he is talking to you, but you rarely participate in the conversation. At first you thought he was on a call, using a headset or something, but no. He just talks, and he talks a lot.

"Can you shut up for five fucking minutes?" You snap, head pounding from eye strain. You've been at the computer for six hours now, and you're trying to transcribe a call from one of his units over in Turkey about a job. Billy's mindless chatter has gotten on your last nerve today. 

Billy stops, falling silent somewhere near his desk. The room becomes thick, heavy with tension as you both remain silent. You've never snapped at him, not seriously. You've told him to go fuck himself but in a playful way. This was too real. Too loaded. He's your boss. Fuck.

You're not one to apologize when you're not actually sorry though. You remain silent, knowing he expects you to say something. He wants you to take back your words but you won't. 

"How much work do you have left?" 

Your eyes flick from the screen to him. He looks flushed. Angry? No. His eyes hold no malice. He looks aroused. No way. A cold sweat runs down your back. He must be livid. "I'm transcribing a call right now then I have to make copies of some invoices, order new foam guards for the weight benches and-"

"Finish the call. Then go home."

"Yes, sir."

Billy pushes off his desk and exits the room, leaving the door open behind him. You know that he isn't happy with your little outburst. You just don't know why he won't say as much. He looks turned on if you didn't know better. Or do you? 

The rest of the call goes smoothly now you don't have to pause every few seconds to rewind and listen to it to make out exactly what the unit leader was saying over Billy's chatter. You wrap up and head out as you were told. On the way out you pass Billy with a few of his higher up employees.

"Good night, Mr. Russo." You say softly with a hand raised in a wave. You always call him by his last name around other people. It's not much of a gesture but you want to keep things calm and civil. He nods, face unreadable, and gives a little raise of his hand as well. More than you expected, and it puts you at ease that you might keep your job. 

_____________________

"I'll have my assistant arrange the payment from you after the contract is finalized." 

You stop by the door to the meeting room to listen in. The men in the room with Billy are potential clients, men who want private security for multiple locations. You had greeted them when they arrived and showed them to the meeting room. They rubbed you the wrong way. You met a lot of men and women in your year at Anvil, a lot of different people from different walks of life. None of them made you as uncomfortable as these men had. You step away from the door and go to the office. If Billy wants to get in bed with them then let him. That's not your call.

"Let me grab the paperwork from my assistant." You hear through the closed door and Billy steps in, closing it behind him. "Can you give me a new client contract?" 

"Sure." You pull open the file drawer on your right and thumb through the papers. "They must be very promising work."

Billy leans on the side of the desk, quirking an eyebrow up at you. "What's got you so mouthy lately?" 

You cut him a glare and he chuckles. 

"You don't like them?"

"I'm not fond." 

"Why?" 

"They feel wrong." You extract a thick booklet of paper and hand it to Billy. "But let's not pretend you care what I think, Mr. Russo."

Billy rolls his eyes at the formalities. "You know damn well I value your input just like I do from any other person who works for me. Talk to me."

You sit up and lean back in your chair, eyes on his, your heart pounding. He's looking at you so attentively it's hard to focus. Those eyes, so soft and warm staring back at you. Fuck. He could make you spill the truth about everything without trying. "They give me a bad feeling. The second I greeted them they just...felt bad? I can't explain it."

"We work with a lot of morally gray people in our line of business, sweetheart." Billy leans back, hands spreading out on the desk. His hands, fuck they're nice. "But I will never ignore a gut instinct."

"So you won't sign the contract with them?" 

"I'll do some more investigation before I do. Talk to a few friends in high places."

You nod and slide forward to sit at the computer, closer to him. What a mistake. You can smell his cologne, his heat is pouring into your knee beside his. It takes everything in you to keep your eyes forward on the computer. He reaches over and lays a hand on your shoulder, making your body flush with heat. Why did he have to touch you? 

"Yes?" You ask, sparing a quick glance up at him. Mistake. He's staring down at you with those beautiful obsidian eyes. God they're so big and he's such a-

"Thank you."

"For what?" 

"For telling me. You've never come to me like this before about a client. I like it."

"Oh. Well it's your business so-" 

Billy leans in close to your ear and you feel that cold sweat return from when you told him to shut up. This time it's not fear or panic, it's arousal? The closeness is getting to you, your head is swimming. "You're just as important to me as this company. Remember that." 

You nod.

"Couldn't hear you."

"Y-yeah. Yes. I will."

He pushes off the desk and slides the papers he had been leaning against closer to you before he picks up the contract and smacks it against his hand a few times. "Will you set up a meeting with the Rodgers Estate for later?"

You grab a pen and scribble it in your planner. "Got it Mr. Russo."

"One more thing." He says and you look up. His hand is on the door handle. "Have a drink and relax? You're a little wound up lately. And drop the Mr. Russo shit, call me Billy when we're alone. You know that." He smiles and gives you a wink before slipping out the door to meet the clients in the hall.  

A drink? You need a week off, a spa getaway and a new career. Billy Russo is driving you up a wall and he doesn't even see it. Or maybe he does. Shit. 

_____________

A week later. Just before eight in the morning you're settled into your desk, ready to start going through some new shipment invoices when you hear a commotion downstairs. It isn't unusual for the trainees to get out of hand from time to time, fights break out, things get heated. You dismiss it and go about your work. 

"Six new treadmills? What the hell are these people doing to them?" You sigh and type the invoice number for Sports Equipmentz LTD into your system. "Billy is gonna get an ear full for this one."

There is more comotion and you look at the closed door. Another fight? Billy doesn't stand for that kind of stuff on the training floor. He would have stopped it by now. Actually, no one should be in the facility except you and Billy this early. What the hell is that noise.

You push up from the desk and go to the window beside the door, peeking through the blinds. From what you can see nothing looks out of balance. Then you hear gunshots and your stomach churns, cold and sick. There is no live fire allowed in the facility. All firearm training is done off site. 

"Fuck." You flip the lock on the door and look around for something to barricade the floor to ceiling window beside the door. There is nothing you can move alone. You flip off the light and head to your desk, grab your phone and dial Billy's number. 

No answer. You sink down under the desk and pull the chair in close. Maybe if someone does get in they will think the office is empty and move on since the desk looks unused. You reach over and shut down the computer tower, then reach up and pull down all your paperwork to clear the desk. 

Thumping from the bathroom on the other side of the office makes your heart pound. Someone is on the upper floor with you. A gunshot. Tears well up in your eyes. Why didn't you let Billy get you a conceal and carry? Why didn't you do that gun training six months ago? Because you're afraid of guns and you couldn't trust yourself not to hurt someone on accident. Fuck. Fuck! 

The door handle jiggles. You cover your mouth and try dialing Billy again. The phone disconnects as soon as it rings once. Goes straight to a voicemail. You can't remember if he is with a client today. There are voices outside the door, then a gunshot so loud you know it's just on the other side. You close your eyes, press your face into your knees and try to imagine you are invisible. 

The door opens, not with a kick, but unlocked and you can't breathe. You can't move. They're moving around the room. Billy's desk first. Papers are rustled, then the footsteps grow closer. You shrink yourself smaller, arms in pain from holding your knees so tight. 

"If they took you, I swear to God I will-...there you are." 

You look up and Billy is knelt down, arm on the desk as he looks at you. He's a fucking mess of what you can only assume is blood and God knows what. "Billy, oh god for fucks sake." You cry and he shoves the chair away to pull you out onto his lap. 

Never have you clung to someone so hard in your entire life. You press your face into his neck, hand digging into his back harshly as you cry in relief. 

His hand slides up your back and cradles your ribs on the left. "Hey, hey." He murmurs softly and you stop crying so hard. " What did I promise you when I hired you?" 

"That I would be safe. That no matter what I would be safe and a-all I had to do was paperw-work." 

"That's right." Billy pulls you back gently, tugging your shirt to guide you. He looks horrible, but none of it seems to be from his own injuries. "Aw, fuck. You're a mess now." 

You look down at your shirt and it's got blood on it. "Oh god. Oh god wh-who..."

Billy shakes his head. "Don't think about it too much." He presses a kiss to your temple, hand on the back of your head. "Close your eyes, don't look at it."

"What happened?" 

"I'll tell you later."

"I didn't know what to do."

"Hey, no, no shh. You were a good girl. You stayed quiet, stayed down and locked the door." He rubs your back and pats your side. "We're going to get out of here and I'll handle the situation from the apartment."

You nod and peek your eyes open for a second. "It's bad out there isn't it?" 

"It's not pretty. I'll get you outside and we'll get out of here, don't worry." 

"Okay."

_____________________

You had never been to Billy's place. Never had a reason to go. It's more industrial than you expected, modern industrial chic. Posh. Very expensive obviously, but that was Billy. Well dressed, well spoken. He looked the part to play the part. 

He set you up in a large bathroom and gave you clothes, a shirt and a pair of pajama pants. They might fit alright, Billy is quite a bit slimmer than you are in the hips and thighs. 

You look in the mirror and clench your jaw. Your peachy colored blouse is ruined, your sweater is fucked. Your face. God your face has someone else's blood on it. Across your cheek and nose where you had pressed your face into Billy's neck. 

There is a pile of washcloths and you grab a few, soaking them and scrubbing at your skin. You pull your clothes off fervently, desperate to be clean of strange blood. The shower is large, open and ready to be used. So you do. You get in and turn the water on and sit on the floor, processing. It was all a blur. Everything happened so fast. Was it even real?

Some time passes and you see the door open. The water is getting lukewarm as it cascades over your skin. You don't even care if he sees you naked you're so out of your own head. 

"I'm going to head to Anvil. The police have arrived to investigate the break in."

"Okay." You croak, not looking away from the wall opposite you.

"You can stay." Billy walks into the room and leans over the shower to turn the water off. He squats down beside you and offers you a towel from the warmer by the toilet. "Mind getting out of there for me?"

"Billy, what happened?" You look over at him and he looks...normal. He's in a blue sweater, dark jeans, boots. It's the most casual you've ever seen him. He's always been a suit man to you. Here he looks like a guy you'd meet at a bar and share a few beers with. The guy you'd take home and laugh about jokes with from stupid comedian on TV. It's strange, but warming. 

He helps you up and wraps you in the fluffy gray towel. "Your feeling? About the clients I met with?" 

"Yeah?" 

"You were right." He slicks your hair back off of your face. "They got wind that I was looking further into why they wanted my employees. It was for a human trafficking operation. I don't do human trafficking, and I was going to decline the offer. Some snitch at the Rodgers Estate let it out that I was asking questions. I guess they thought they could clear their tracks by killing me."

"O-oh."

"Mmm. I didn't think they would do something in broad daylight but here we are. Amatures." Billy steps back and runs a hand over his hair. "I called the police, said that I got a notification that the building had been beached through an unauthorized entrance. It's not a lie. Technically they did. Thankfully I wasn't there."

You step out of the shower and grab the clothes he gave you from the counter. "But you were. You...you killed those men." 

"No, I incapacitated them." He crosses his arms and pulls his lower lip between his teeth. "It was me and you or them. We were the only ones in that facility. I wasn't going to let them hurt you."

"H-how do you explain that?" You sit on the toilet and Billy leans on the doorframe. "What if-" 

"That's my job sweetheart. You worry about yourself, here. I gotta go meet the cops." He pats the wood a few times and looks out into the hall. "Call me if you need anything. I promise I'll answer no matter what."

You nod. 

"I'll be back later."

____________________

Hours pass and you become familiar with the apartment. It's huge, the penthouse of a very expensive building downtown. It has two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen and dining area, a living room, a balcony that wraps around and has a fire pit and a small private pool. It's more luxury than you could ever afford. Not that Anvil doesn't pay well, because it does. This is just far more than you could ever make. 

In Billy's room there aren't any personal touches. It's clean, picture perfect even. Like at any moment someone could come and take photos to sell the place. There is a picture on his bedside table, the only thing that isn't straight from a design catalog. It's you and Billy with a few investors. Your first meeting he ever brought you to. How could you forget? He bought you the dress literally an hour before the meeting because yours ripped in the back. It was possibly the most embarrassing thing you've ever done in front of a boss. He didn't make you feel bad or anything, he simply asked your size, stopped at a shop on the way to the dinner and got you a dress. It was just that easy, that normal. 

You set the photo down and lay back. Your eyes close and you imagine what Billy is like outside of work. Of course you've gotten a taste of that, all the banter and shared stories. Nothing too deep but enough to keep conversation going. You probably shared more than him, way more. It was like when you started talking to someone you couldn't stop. You just, information overload the poor person. Usually people get spooked away, or they tell you that they don't care or don't need to know. Not Billy. He just listened, gaze fixed on you while you talked. Maybe that's why you like him so much. He listened. He cared. 

"Cozy?" 

You roll over and open your eyes to find Billy in the doorway to his room. "You're back. I didn't hear you come in?" 

"There is a bed in the other room y'know?" He chuckles as he goes to sit at the end of the bed and pull his boots off. "Or do you just like mine because it's bigger?" 

"Oh yeah, yours is much bigger. Comfier too." 

He hums. "Go through all my shit?" 

"You know it." 

"There's my girl." He looks back and he's smiling. "I was getting worried about you. You seemed pretty shaken up."

You sigh and shake your head. Of course Billy doesn't think about how you've never been in a dangerous situation short of falling from a tree when you were ten. To him gunfire and blood were in a day's work as an ex marine special operations. "I think I'd be more worried about you."

Billy turns and crawls up the bed, leaning with his head on his hand, elbow propping him up. "Why's that?" 

"Been a while since you saw live action hasn't it? You're not worried about PTSD?"

"I've seen plenty of action since I got out. I know the risk I take running the company I do. It hasn't happened before now but it was bound to eventually."

"Right, yeah."

"Do I scare you?" 

You shake your head. "No, not really. I know you've done things, seen things that I couldn't even imagine. It's part of who you are, who you were." 

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that. It was them or us. You know that right?" 

"Y-yeah. I know." You pick at the bedspread and he bumps his hand against your knee. 

"You alright? I tried to keep you...away from it. I know you aren't like everyone else."

"I'm not ex military you mean." You feel your chest tighten. "I'm a civilian. I can't defend myself." 

Billy sits up and lays a hand on your back. "Hey, hey."

"I shouldn't stay at Anvil. I should just go somewhere else. I can't do this, Billy, I'm scared what if this happened again?" Tears spill over and down your face. "I-I can't." 

"I will never let anything happen to you." He turns your face to look at him. He's warm, his lips plush, eyes on yours. "You can work from home if you want. I'll stop by and bother you and make you tell me to shut up." He smiles a little as your lips turn up at the telling him to shut up part. "You like that?"

"I don't know, but I think you do." 

Billy laughs softly, his smile wide. "Maybe I do. You noticed that?" 

"Maybe." You wipe your eyes and he brushes a stray tear away with his thumb. "Why do you care so much? I'm just your assistant." 

"Because I love you."

"W-what?" You hiccup as your breathing stops for a moment. 

"You're like family. I trust you with everything, I tell you everything, you're my girl." Billy runs a hand through your hair. "I can't lose you." 

"I don't-...I'm just-" 

His lips press against yours and your eyes fall closed. It's an innocent kiss, soft and loving. "If I read this wrong all this time, you gotta tell me." He murmurs, head pressed to yours. 

"No, you didn't. I just, you just caught me off guard." 

"Yeah?" He smiles, nose scrunching up against yours. He places his fingers under your chin and tilts your head up to kiss you again briefly. "You're sure it's okay?" 

You nod and he pulls back to kiss your temple, holding his nose to your hair and cradling the back of your head. 

"Get some rest, I've got some calls to make." He climbs off the bed and heads for the door. 

"Are you leaving?" 

"No." 

"Good." 

He walks back quickly and kisses your cheek. "I mean it. Get some rest."

"I would if you'd just go already."

"Oh. You think you can just get rid of me?" He crawls back on the bed and you fall back as he straddles your hips. "You think you can boss me around huh?" He starts tickling your sides and you squeal, thrashing under his surprisingly strong hold. 

"Stop! Stop! I yield!" 

Billy stops and bends over, bracketing your head with his arms. "I knew you'd be fun to torment outside of that stuffy office." 

"I hate tickling." 

"Oh that's very obvious. I've made a mental note, highlighted it in yellow and everything." He bumps his nose against yours. "I'm gonna find everything that makes you tick." 

You reach up and run a hand over his hair that's flopping forward from lack of product. "Expect to get as much as you give." 

"Oh I do." His lips ghost over yours as he speaks. "I look forward to it." 

You shove his head to the side and he flops over. "Don't you have calls to make?" 

"Maybe." 

"Go make your calls. I'm going to stink up your bed and rifle through your drawers more." 

"I expect no less." He says, getting up and going to the door once more. "Let me know if you find anything you like, yeah?" 

"Get out!" 

He just cackles and you close your eyes. This is really happening. Funny how the world works in mysterious ways. You never thought you'd be the one to snatch Billy Russo off the market but here you are, and you're pretty damn proud of it. 

The end 

-----------

Header image by delicate-venus

Thank you so much for reading, please reblog to support content creators. -A

[fbfh]

dear baby; strawberry milkshakes - leo x reader parents au

words: 1.8k

summary: You and Leo are getting used to adulting together, when Chiron asks for your help. Next thing you know, there’s a little demigod for you two to take care of - and you’re not going to let her down.

warnings: almost boning but getting interrupted, shit is said twice, one use of fucking I think, mentions of orphanages and the foster care system, mentions of CPS, being at a CPS building, adopting a child, leo has trauma, leo and reader take in a child when you’re both 19, technically teen parents but not really, the kid has some trauma too, everyone has trauma but literally what’s new

au: sort of college + parents au

song recs: raining in new york mix - the bootleg boy (tw for some sort of sad dialogue samples), falling in love with love - bernadette peters in cinderella (1997)

a/n:  I saw a kids book called Sophia Valdez Future Prez and I know nothing about it but immediately knew I had to do a parents au where you and Leo have a daughter named sophia???????? also I accidentally gave myself baby fever whoopsie

also I was barely able to proof read this and had no brain while writing half of it so if the beginning feels rushed at all that’s why teehee

Straddling his lap, you start to take off Leo’s shirt. He tilts his head to the side as you nip at the skin gently. He moans softly, then tenses. 

"Shit!" He hisses, sitting up and pulling your shorts back up. You look at him bewildered, and he nods his head to the side, and you see a shimmery cloud that says that you have an incoming iris message from Chiron.  

"Oh shit," you echo, moving to a reasonable distance away from him, a thick throw blanket tossed gracefully across your legs and pulled up to cover your chest, and you're grateful your shirt hadn't been thrown across the room already. 

He pulls his shirt down and you toss him a throw pillow to cover his very obvious excitement. You give each other a ready as we'll ever be look and accept the call. 

"Hey Chiron… what's up?" Leo asks nonchalantly. 

"You must pardon my intrusion, dear children, I hope I'm not - er - interrupting anything.” “No, no, not at all,” you answer, hoping what you had been doing wasn’t too obvious in spite of how both of you are looking particularly flushed and deschevled, “we were just watching a movie.” 

Leo nods in agreement, and you list two different movies at the exact same time, the dark knight rises and moonstruck.

A beat passes, and you continue, “Double feature. Just finished Batman and we’re about to start Moonstruck.” 

Leo agrees. You can’t tell if Chiron is buying it, but he seems to move on relatively quickly. 

“Right. I’m afraid I must ask for your help with a rather time sensitive situation.” your brows furrow in unicen as he continues. 

He tells you about a young demigod a satyr found, not even four years old yet, but they haven’t been able to get her to camp. Apparently there were some complications, and CPS was called, now they’re looking for her parents to see if she’s going to a foster home or orphanage. If they can’t get to her before the CPS finishes processing her, she’ll be lost in the system. He’s asking older demigods and demigod families in New York, since processing time will go the fastest if the family or guardians are in-state. 

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but please consider taking her in, at least temporarily.” You and Leo share a look, hearts already hurting that life has gotten to this kid so soon. 

“I’ll give you some time to discuss this, please call me back as soon as you have an answer.” 

You agree, and the shimmery image of Chiron dissipates.

“... Oh my god,” you breathe. 

You turn to each other again, the same thing mirrored in each other's eyes. An immediate, unspoken conformation that there’s no way you can’t help this kid out passes between you. You know Leo, especially, will do whatever needs to be done to keep another orphaned demigod out of the foster system. The scope of the impact you could have on this kid’s life starts to dawn on you, and you lock eyes with Leo again, his face set in determination. 

“Estrella,” he starts, and you know what he’s going to say. 

“I know,” you confirm in agreement.

His leg is bouncing, and you lean over, grabbing a notepad and pen from the coffee table. Your mind is already racing, and you begin scribbling down a list of everything you’d need to do; get her a bed and clothes, research where she is in her developmental stages, put together a meal plan or at least some foods she’ll like - what do toddlers even eat? He starts pacing around the coffee table. 

“We gotta help this kid, we-” he cuts himself off, overwhelmed with determination. 

“We will.” you confirm, equally determined. You grab your laptop and start copying your list digitally so you can get everything organized. You stare at your reflection in the black screen while you wait for your computer to boot up. Once again, the reality of your situation hits you.

“We’re 19…” you state, in disbelief. Your mind is racing with doubts. What if you somehow make everything worse, what if you can’t handle it? He crouches next to you, placing his hand on your cheek.

“And we have a lot of love to give.” The smile in your eyes tells him that you know he’s right. You transcribe your writing, surprised that you’re okay with how fast this is all moving, and you let out another breathy laugh of disbelief. 

You go through your hastily made checklist, switching between tabs about child psychology, parenting advice, and kid’s furniture and clothes websites, strategizing with Leo on how you can pull this off, and a plan gradually comes together.

“I mean, this is a two bedroom,” he says as you look through pages of bed frames and mattresses, “we can clear out our studio and turn it into her room.” 

“And…” you add, checking yet another tab, “there’s a building nearby that rents out studio spaces and workshop areas. Ooh, and free parking.” you read on the website. It’s already late, but you send them an email anyway. Hopefully they’ll get back to you tomorrow. But for now… 

“We can get a bed tonight, but we’d have to hurry. We can probably get some pjs and maybe a stuffed animal while we’re there- toothbrush!” You exclaim, adding it to your list, “I knew I was forgetting something…”

 Leo stops pacing, and looks at you. “So… we’re doing this?” You can’t fight the smile on your face, and he already has his answer. 

“We’d better call Chiron back,” you say, excitedly bubbling out. You both enter the bathroom, and iris message chiron with mist from the shower. He answers almost immediately.

“We thought it over and…” you trail off, letting him finish.

“We want to help.” 

After changing into some presentable clothes and swinging by the store for a car seat and some other essentials (you almost forgot tooth paste this time), you’re driving with Leo to meet Chiron at the CPS office where they had Sophia - the girl Chiron told you about. You call the Ikea store not too far from your apartment, thankful you’re able to reach them before they close. You arrange to have them deliver a toddler bed to the spare bedroom in your apartment, your neighbor agreeing to let them in. Luckily, you had the presence of mind to get most of your and Leo’s stuff out of there, the corner of the living room now holding your desk and his drafting table. 

You’re still a little blurry on the details of how you’re going to get custody of this kid when you’re barely legal and have no ties to her or her family, but Chiron said he could work everything out. You assume the Mist will come in very handy. You and Leo discuss this on the way over. 

You can tell he’s worried. Knowing the horrors he went through in the foster system would be bad enough without all the demigod bullshit on top of everything. You take another deep breath. 

“This is what’s best for her,” he says matter of factly, “she needs to be with people who understand her.” You agree, and he continues, very fired up.

“She needs to be in an environment where she’s not going to be ignored and ostracized; she needs to be part of a family, not a fucking meal ticket.” 

You squeeze his leg supportively, and he takes another breath. 

“You’re right. And she’s going to get all of that.” He scoffs in agreement.

“There’s not a better place for someone like her than-”

“With someone like her.” you finish. He pulls into the parking lot and you enter, meeting Chiron in the building. Your hand holds Leo’s tightly, unsure of who’s shaking more. Chiron explains that he already had a discussion (wink wink) with the social worker, and knows that he has the perfect couple to take little Sophia in, and all you have to do is meet with her and sign some papers. 

So that brings you here, waiting outside the office door, holding each other’s trembling hands before finally entering. She doesn’t look up at you at first, until the social worker introduces you. Leo squeezes your hand, and she finally looks up, her eyes speaking a language you and Leo know. You know there is absolutely no going back from here, and you both sit down across from her. 

“Hi, you’re Sophia, right?” She looks away, clearly and understandably overwhelmed. 

“Don’t be rude, Sophia-” the social worker starts, but you cut her off. 

 “It’s okay, she didn’t do anything wrong.” you turn back to her, “You know, me and Leo have an extra bedroom at our apartment, and a kitten that I think would really like you. Do you want to come stay with us?” 

She doesn’t look back up right away, but she turns her head towards you. 

“Is it a boy or a girl?” she asks softly. How is she so precious already?

“A girl,” you reply, “named Jackhammer, because she purrs so loud.” 

She giggles, and you and Leo squeeze each other’s hands in unison.

“Really?” she asks. 

“Oh yeah,” you reply, “I’m sure she’d love to play catch the mouse with you.” She considers for a moment, then looks over at the social worker, who gives her an encouraging nod. After a moment of consideration, she replies quietly, “...Okay.” 

She hops down from her chair, and you both follow suit. The social worker hands you some papers, and you both sign. You guide her to the lobby, let Chiron know it went well and promise to update him soon, and bring her to the car. You pull out of the parking lot. 

Not long after leaving, you see a fast food place. 

“Are you guys hungry?” you ask, nudging Leo gently. 

“Yeah, I could definitely go for some fries. How bout you Sophia?” 

She nods, then asks quietly, “Can I get a milkshake?” 

Her expression is hesitant, and you get the sense she’s expecting a no. 

“Of course kiddo,” you say.

“What flavor do you want?” Leo finishes, turning to look at her. Her eyes are bright with hesitant excitement. 

“Strawberry, please.” 

After leaving the drive through, you have Leo search through your phone for any kid friendly music, and discover the only thing you have saved that’s appropriate for present company is the soundtrack to the Cinderella musical from 1997.

That’s how your little family started; driving late at night, singing along to Bernadette Peters, and drinking strawberry milkshakes.

[frankiefellinlove]

THE STEVIE FILES PROUDLY PRESENTS - THE AMAZING ROCK & ROLL ODYSSEY OF STEVEN VAN ZANDT

From The Source to Soulfire via Springsteen and Sam & Dave

Recorded, transcribed, edited, written, produced, mixed and mastered by MIKE SAUNDERS

SIDE TWO (1975-1983)

Track 6: Miami Steve, The Asbury Jukes, Tenth Avenue and Hammersmith

In early 1975, Steven returned to New Jersey from Florida, inappropriately dressed for the winter weather. “I came back with the flowered shirts and the Sam Snead hat and continued wearing them in the snow.” For the next seven years, he was known as Miami Steve. He joined Southside in the Blackberry Booze Band and within weeks they’d altered and expanded its line-up (adding keyboard player Kevin Kavanaugh from Middletown and bass player Alan Berger from The Dovells’ backing band), transformed its musical direction, changed its name to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes (referencing their mutual hero Little Walter’s band and first single release) and established a successful three-nights-a-week, five-sets-a-night residency at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

“Just before that, me, Southside, Bruce and Garry went to see Sam & Dave. A life-changing moment. So me and Southside basically decided we were gonna be the white Sam & Dave, with rock guitar. So the horns came in and although we didn’t know it, we would change the entire concept of what a bar band sounded like and the respect a bar band would get by making it creative, soul meets rock. ‘Bar band’ was an insult. ‘You’re a bar band,’ which means you can’t make it in the real music world. After the Jukes, they started using ‘bar band’ in reviews and they meant it as a compliment, with Graham Parker and Elvis Costello and Mink DeVille. We changed the way people thought about these things.”

The Miami Horns were a vital component of the new band. Steven composed the horn arrangements, but although he’s always possessed a natural ability to imagine horn parts, he doesn’t read or write music (“never have”) and has always required a little help from his friends to transcribe them. “I have people write ‘em down, to this day. I like that actually. You have to do a lotta things yourself so any excuse I find to collaborate I do it. I find other people will bring something to the party usually. That’s why [I’ve] used Eddie Manion for I don’t know how many years. He knows how I like to voice things. Once I think of something and create the parts, I get bored if I have to voice every part, exactly right. If I hear a voicing I don’t like, I will change it, but I get bored by the mechanics of everything.”

While the Jukes were building their reputation and growing their audience, Bruce invited Steven to hang out at the Born To Run sessions in New York, where he was working on “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” David Sanborn and The Brecker Brothers had been hired to play the horn parts, but Steven created a spontaneous new arrangement. He’s told this anecdote countless times, but I ask him to repeat it because it provides perfect examples of his innate musical talents in action (“I can hear the parts, who knows why?”), the nature of his friendship with Bruce (“I still am the only human being not afraid of him”), and his no-bullshit attitude (“I didn’t know anything about diplomacy”).

“So he says, ‘Whaddya think?’ I said, ‘It sucks, that’s what I think!’ I didn’t know how uptight everybody was. I didn’t give a fuck either. The managers and producers were all afraid of him already. He asked me a question, I’m gonna be honest. I’m trying to help my friend here, not make points with some fucking record company guy. Moment of silence. ‘He just said it sucks, which means we all suck.’ Bruce [says] ‘Alright then, go in and fucking fix it.’ So I did. I went in and sang the [new] parts. I didn’t know they were the most famous [session] guys in New York. It wasn’t insulting them, the chart was ridiculous. That was my thing, just from the Jukes being around maybe six months.”

“I wasn’t really feeling the pressure that Bruce was at the time. I didn’t realise his life depended on this album. His first two records hadn’t done very well. They wanted to drop him. I don’t know how aware I was of any of that. He invited me into the session and I’m laying on the floor. All I can think is, we’ve been hoping to get into recording our whole lives, I’m listening to this and it sounds fucking terrible. Not just the horn charts, everything. It was the worst period of recording in history. Virtually every record from the 50s and 60s sounded great, virtually every record from the early 70s sounded terrible. Because engineers took over, started close miking, padding the walls. Separation, separation, separation, all the things that make rock ‘n’ roll suck. The idea was, you isolate everything and make it sound exciting in the mix. Which they managed to do, miraculously, with the Born To Run album. Because it was pieced together in a bizarre way. Bruce made that record 100% out of willpower, he willed that into existence!”

Soon after making his instinctive artistic contribution (and singing backing vocals on “Thunder Road”), Steven was invited to join the E Street Band. It was a chance to complete the circle, play with his old friend again and settle any unfinished business from three summers earlier, when he’d been sent packing at the Greetings sessions. He made his live debut on the opening night of the Born To Run tour, which ran until New Year’s Eve. His input and influence over the next decade, onstage and off, would prove invaluable. (Bruce even began playing The Dovells’ “You Can’t Sit Down” as an occasional encore). In the fall, the tour took everyone to Europe for the first time, where the culture shock was off the charts. “There was no hamburgers, no peanut butter. The only place you could get a hamburger in the whole of Europe was the newly-opened first Hard Rock Café. There was a line around the block even then.”

Culinary deficiencies aside, Bruce also had to endure the overblown hype surrounding his first UK gigs at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, where Columbia had displayed the legend “Finally London Is Ready For Bruce Springsteen” on every available surface prior to his arrival. “[It was] completely obnoxious,” says Steven. “[Bruce] spent half the time ripping down posters. It was an embarrassing time for him, between that and Time and Newsweek. He didn’t like that stuff. You wanna be in charge of your life, that’s why we get into rock ‘n’ roll. Suddenly it was slipping out of his control. We made the mistake of playing a place with seats. It just made the show that much harder. But by the end, we got ‘em outta the seats. We went to Amsterdam, Stockholm, and back to London. The second one was a bit easier.” The experience had a prolonged effect on Bruce. “He was uptight in those days and would remain so through Darkness into The River, until he asked me to produce the record and we found a way to have some fun.”

Track 7: Epic Records, Steve Popovich and The Stone Pony

Back on the shore, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes continued the Stone Pony residency throughout 1975, gradually consolidating their line-up. For the next three years, between Springsteen commitments, Steven worked as their producer, arranger, manager, part-time guitarist and principal songwriter. In early 1976, after circulating a demo tape, they signed a recording deal with Epic, with assistance from Steve Popovich, the label’s Vice-President of A&R. “I Don’t Want To Go Home,” the song that Steven had kept in his back pocket since his days on the oldies circuit, became the title track of their debut album and their first single. Ben E King’s loss was Southside’s gain.

“I produced [the song] in a way which was appropriate for the Jukes. They didn’t have a big background vocal thing going on,” explains Steven. “I was very conscious of being able to try and do most of it live, although I put strings on it, on my very first production! There was no synthesiser in those days that could play strings. That’s why I re-cut it [on Soulfire] the original way I pictured it, with the singer and background vocals answering. That idea of writing for someone else is extremely important, critical and essential. It changes the way you write completely, from when you think of writing for yourself, which is extraordinarily complicated and confusing. It’s not easy, but easier, to write for someone else. There’s their identity in your mind at least. I’m writing them a song. That’s a wonderful exercise for songwriters.” I Don’t Want To Go Home was released in the summer of 1976 (“I’ve never received one penny of royalties, but whatever!”). The Jukes later began their first national tour and made their European debut in 1977.

Recommended by Bruce, Steve Popovich was one of a kind. “The last of the real music guys in the business. The only other person I can compare him to would be Lance Freed on the publishing side, who’s unique. He’s actually into music and songwriting and the things you’re supposed to be into when you have a job description like that. And Frank Barsalona, the only agent who really did his job and would set the standard for everybody to follow. Those three guys, really quite historic. [It was] Popovich’s idea to launch the record with a broadcast from the Stone Pony. Never been done before. Popovich loved the local scene idea and he largely made it happen. It never would have been recognised nationally, I don’t think, if it hadn’t been for Popovich, who had the vision to say it’s cool if you’re not from New York. Rather than being embarrassed if you’re not from New York, LA or Nashville, it’s actually cool.”

Track 8: Production Credits and Political Awakening

Steven developed his talents as a producer and songwriter with the Jukes in the late 70s, following I Don’t Want To Go Home with This Time It’s For Real and Hearts Of Stone. Successive releases featured greater quantities of his original material, which included “I Played The Fool,” “This Time Baby’s Gone For Good,” “Take It Inside” and “Some Things Just Don’t Change,” apparently written for another of his heroes, David Ruffin of The Temptations. During this period, he also produced the “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” single for Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band and provided production assistance on Darkness On The Edge Of Town. His relationship with the Jukes ended when they left Epic for Mercury in 1979 and he went on to co-produce The River and two comeback albums for Gary US Bonds, Dedication and On The Line. It was an impressive fast-track apprenticeship. Steven had no production experience when he began. He acquired the skills and learned from his mistakes in the studio. “That’s why all three Jukes albums are different,” he says. “By the time we did The River, I knew what I wanted to do. I got it all down by then. That’s how I tend to do things. I can picture what I want. Jump in, do it, let’s see what happens.”

Steven also kept his promise to himself to bring his musical heroes out of obscurity, initially as guests on the first two Jukes albums. “I did what I could, but I wanted to do so much more,” he admits. “First time I get in a studio, got Lee Dorsey out from under a car, where he’s a mechanic. Got Ronnie Spector out of retirement. Second album, we reunited The Coasters, Drifters and Five Satins. Me and Bruce worked with Gary Bonds. We got Ben E King and Chuck Jackson on that record. Those artists had a talent level noticeably above everybody that followed. I wish I’d been insistent on doing more of them. In those [early] days, you actually had to have talent to make records. You had to be able to sing a song, beginning to end, perfectly in tune, perfectly the right melody, and if you fuck up one word, you gotta do the whole thing again. Couldn’t do enough for those people, they were so much fun to produce.”

In addition to his studio accomplishments, Steven played more than 300 shows with Bruce and the E Street Band between 1976 and 1981, primarily on the Darkness On The Edge Of Town and River tours. The majority took place in North America, but the River tour included a European leg that took the band away from home and out of their comfort zone for nine weeks. Much longer than their previous visit in 1975, it was their first significant experience of foreign countries, languages, cultures and political perspectives. They received rave reviews wherever they played, but Steven gradually became aware that not all Europeans viewed the United States in a favourable light.

One particular encounter was pivotal in dramatically reshaping Steven’s worldview. “A kid asked me, ‘Why are you putting missiles in my country?’ I said, ‘I’m not, I’m a guitar player.’ I realised, for the first time in my life, at the age of 30 I’m embarrassed to say, that I’m an American. What the fuck does that mean? I managed to grow up in the middle of civil rights, the Vietnam War, demonstrations about every fucking thing and had no interest in any of it. Amazing when you think about it. Redefining tunnel vision. Suddenly, the tunnel is gone. We’re now successful. Who would have ever figured that would happen, right? Now it’s like, uh-oh, what did I miss, the last 20 years?”

Track 9: Men Without Women, Motown and Mixing In Mono

This revelation accelerated Steven’s growing political awareness, one of two important developments in 1981 that would change the course of his life forever. The second came when he returned from Europe and was approached by EMI America about making a solo album. Having spent six years producing and writing for others, he welcomed the opportunity to have his own creative outlet, which soon expanded into a separate career. In the fall, he enlisted musicians from the E Street Band and the Asbury Jukes to record most of the material for his debut album, Men Without Women, using his established rock-meets-soul sonic blueprint. Including “Lyin’ In A Bed Of Fire,” “Princess Of Little Italy,” “Angel Eyes” and “Until The Good Is Gone,” it remains an undisputed career highlight for Van Zandt devotees, but Steven feels that an outside producer might have helped him make a more commercial record.

“Conventional wisdom is you never should produce yourself and I have to say that’s correct. The only exception I can think of in the history of the business was Prince, who was an extraordinary genius, but other than him, I don’t know anybody who successfully produces themselves.” Describing himself as “extremely schizophrenic, I’m twelve different people, never mind two,” Steven explains how his inner producer failed to control the whims of his inner artist. “Without knowing it, the artist takes over. I was into this extreme naturalism, no logical reason why. I did the whole album live in one day. Came back the second day, did it again, beginning to end. Couple overdubs, that was it. There’s one guitar. The horns aren’t doubled. Nothing’s doubled. Bruce did all the harmony on that record but we couldn’t use his name. We [did] a similar thing with Born In The USA, where we just recorded live in the studio.”

“I made Bob Clearmountain mix ‘Forever’ in mono, to try and achieve the perfect Motown record. It’s never gonna be exact and it shouldn’t be exact, why should it be, but I wanted to capture a Smokey Robinson Motown record. The only way I could do that in my mind was to make it completely mono. He was so good in those days. I mean Bob’s still the best, but in those days he was beyond the best. He was something else when it came down to that Neve board that wasn’t automated, and he’s feelin’ those faders. I made him do something he’d never done before, which requires a whole different way of thinking. You’re now thinking depth-wise and vertically, not horizontally.”

“That’s where my head was at. Can I achieve the emotional communication that my heroes had provided me? My heroes being Motown in general, 10 acts there. Or my heroes at Chess, another 10 acts. Sam Phillips did ‘Rocket 88’ for Ike Turner (Jackie Brenston) and ‘How Many More Years’ for Howlin’ Wolf, three years before Elvis Presley. Unbelievable genius. [I’m] trying to achieve that level of quality in my own world, in my own little bubble, which has these ridiculously high standards. I’m absorbing the 50s and 60s and then trying to integrate them in my head and reproduce them in my own way, not the least bit interested in what’s going on in the 70s or 80s certainly, because it was shit to me, comparatively. An interesting moment here and there. Punk was certainly interesting. But mostly it’s all coming from what I call the renaissance period, ‘51 to ‘71, where it all was created. And that’s true to this day. That’s all I was interested in and that was enough for 10 lifetimes. I didn’t need another bit of input after 1972.”

Track 10: Little Steven, Little Richard and Bob Dylan

In 1982, after recording with Bruce and Gary US Bonds, Steven completed his album, formed the Disciples of Soul (which included Dino Danelli from The Rascals on drums, Jean Beauvoir on bass and Eddie Manion, Mark Pender, Stan Harrison and La Bamba on horns) and played a debut concert at New York’s Peppermint Lounge. Released in October, a month after Nebraska, Men Without Women preceded his first national tour and was credited to his new professional name of Little Steven, which would be used for all future solo activities. “I just wanted separation [from] being the sideman,” he explains. “Each of my personalities required a different name, in order to keep it straight in people’s heads and my own head.” The name referenced his early heroes Little Walter, Little Anthony and Little Richard. In his role as an ordained minister, the latter officiated at Steven’s wedding to Maureen Santoro in New York on New Year’s Eve. Percy Sledge sang “When A Man Loves A Woman” as they walked down the aisle and the reception included performances from Gary US Bonds, Little Milton, The Chambers Brothers and the wedding band from The Godfather. “Little Anthony was doing a cruise at the time or he would have been there.”

“All I can think is, we’ve been hoping to get into recording our whole lives, I’m listening to this and it sounds fucking terrible. Not just the horn charts, everything. It was the worst period of recording in history. Virtually every record from the 50s and 60s sounded great, virtually every record from the early 70s sounded terrible. Because engineers took over, started close miking, padding the walls. Separation, separation, separation, all the things that make rock ‘n’ roll suck. The idea was, you isolate everything and make it sound exciting in the mix. Which they managed to do, miraculously, with the Born To Run album. Because it was pieced together in a bizarre way. Bruce made that record 100% out of willpower, he willed that into existence!”

Steven toured internationally in 1983, then dropped the horns, adopted a more contemporary rock sound and made his second album, Voice Of America. It was an explicitly political record that featured “Solidarity,” “I Am A Patriot,” “Out Of The Darkness,” “Los Desaparecidos” and “Undefeated.” Triggered by his River tour experiences in Europe, this radical transformation was completed with a long period of self-education. “I read every book about post World War Two [US] foreign policy. [It was] shocking how often we were on the wrong side. All of these bad things were happening behind the scenes and nobody was talking about them. No political consciousness whatsoever in the country. I decided I have an obligation to say something about this stuff that we’re all paying for with our taxes.”

“Being conscious of the fact that everybody needs their own identity, I figured who the hell needs another love song from a fucking sideman? I’ll be the political guy. Nobody else is doing it. There were people demonstrating of course. Jackson Browne, John Hall, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, those guys. The Grateful Dead were doing a benefit every week, but rarely did it end up in the work. In general, people weren’t putting much politics into the lyrics of their songs.” For artists with commercial aspirations, he concedes, that’s a smart move. “Jefferson Airplane being an exception with ‘Volunteers.’ Big exception, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, with Neil Young’s ‘Ohio.’”

Steven contends that Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” introduced the idea of political consciousness in rock ‘n’ roll. “His first electric song. It’s not given enough credit. The first sentence from Bob Dylan’s electric period, ‘Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine, I’m on the pavement thinking about the government.’ What? You’re doing what? You’re thinking about the government? Excuse me? Who does that? Whoever did that before, in a song, no less? There in that one sentence, Bob Dylan communicated what his entire career was gonna be about, which was having fun with language, with inference, symbolism, metaphor and nonsense lyrics that rhymed. ‘Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine,’ what does that mean? It means whatever you want it to mean, right? Then ‘I’m on the pavement thinking about the government.’ Holy shit! You mean we’re supposed to figure out the government? That, to me, is the most important sentence in all the history of rock ‘n’ roll, right there.”

All photos below by Mike Saunders

[inkofamethyst]

December 29, 2021

We have reached that time of year where I must start preparing to apply for summer research internships.  (actually, I should’ve started this process weeks ago but alas)  If I’m lucky, I’ll be invited back to work with the PIs at the museum.  If I’m less lucky, they won’t have a spot for me, and I’ll need to get them to write me letters of recommendation for other programs that are, unfortunately, not nearly as focused on my interests because biological anthropology internships are few and far in between.  It’s like, I could settle for an archaeology internship or perhaps a biomedical one focused on genomics or something, but hominin/human evolutionary biology stuff is not easy to find.  Applications due in about a month for the programs I’m looking at.  And I’ve still gotta make a definitive list of grad schools.  Maybe that’ll come after the conference when I get to make connections.  I actually talked to my puzzle-friend about grad schools today.

Also as far as my The Opened Way arrangement goes, I think the problem is that I don’t completely understand how many moving parts there should be at one time.  I can generally come up with parts that fit within what I think the chord structure is (you must, however, consider the fact that I, with almost no knowledge of music theory, barely understand what a chord structure is), but when I put all the cool moving parts together, the things I hear in the recording and have transcribed plus the things I come up with, a lot of times it just sounds like noise.  And I don’t know why that is.  Which part makes it sound bad?  And see, I know the parts can work bc when I isolate parts I’ve made and play them alongside the main melody and baseline, everything sounds decent.  But all of my made up parts together?  A mess.  It’s weird.  I think the problem is having too many parts.  But how many countermelodies is too many?  What even is a countermelody, really?  If I have one cool syncopated (do I even truly know what that word means??) bassline, could I have other instruments just play long notes in the same pitch or nah??

And I know, I know, I just need to “read” more scores.  Maybe I should look into some old concert band pieces I’ve played.  The familiarity might help.  Just, probably not marching band/pops stuff bc pop music is incredibly simple from a notation standpoint.

I don’t plan to submit this arrangement for the spring semester’s repertoire, but maybe for next fall (...there will also likely be less competition then bc of all the graduating seniors).  Maybe I won’t submit it at all.  Dunno.

Speaking of projects, I’ve started working on the late Victorian walking skirt!!  It is going to be very heavy, I can already tell.  I decided to flatline the flannel panels with quilting cotton, as they would have done back ‘round the turn of the century to get a more structured look, but I’m afraid that my very cute but not particularly large rump may not be able to hold it all up.  I went for a pattern that is composed entirely of trapezoids because the best part of historybounding is that you can choose which parts of the garment you want to focus on for historical technique, and this go round I truly did not want to deal with a real pattern.  Someone posted drafting suggestions in the facebook group and I’m using those as a rough guideline, but really, this project is a bit of a hodgepodge of things I’ve learned from watching many many many many many walking skirt construction videos.

Anyway, I’m trying a new technique today where I’ve stopped working on the skirt at a point where it would’ve been really easy to continue.  My thinking is that instead of running myself ragged trying to basically complete it all in a night (which, like, I don’t think I could do, but I could get pretty darn close), I can pick up easily tomorrow without being entirely exhausted by the project.

Today I’m thankful for uh for the walk I took this evening with my cello-friend and puzzle-friend.  It wasn’t a sunset walk, as it was quite cloudy, but they were very kind to indulge me in calling it a sunset walk nonetheless.

I really need to clean my room.

[satoshi-mochida]

Tobyfox has provided a status update on the second chapter and beyond of Undertale sequel Deltarune in celebration of Undertale‘s fifth anniversary today.

First, here are the latest screenshots from Deltarune‘s second chapter:

Get the full update below.

Introduction

Hi everyone.

If you’re reading this, you must have been sticking around for about five years.*

I want to express my gratitude for everyone that has supported and encouraged me over this time.

Thank you.

I’ve said it many many times before, but I didn’t expect the simple game I made to receive so much attention. Because of that, many interesting things have happened, and now I can even spend my time making another game.

It seems both of us received a lot of happiness from this occurrence.

If it’s okay, I would like to keep striving to do things that make both of us happy.

Let me know what you think about that.

*Since the Undertale demo released in 2013, the game has really existed for 7 years. It’s already been more than 25% of my life…

Deltarune

I will make another.

I am making a game called “Deltarune.” It is the second game in the Undertale series.

The game will be released in many “Chapters,” the first of which I released two years ago on Halloween. Since that time, I’ve been working hard to figure out the rest of the game.

However, it’s a game that’s much harder to make than Undertale.

Graphics are more complicated and several times more involved.

Systems are more complicated.

Exposes the weak points of my creative and artistic ability.

Plot is much harder to tie together (more characters, more important locations).

Significantly more content than Undertale in one playthrough (especially cutscenes).

I have only made one game ever.

Unlike Undertale, this is the type of game that would normally have many designers working on each aspect of the game.

A story writer, a composer, an audio director, a map designer, a battle designer, a minigame designer, and an overall director. Instead, all of those roles end up handled by me.

The good news is that a few months ago, I completed a significant milestone regarding the game’s design. I completed readable outlines for every chapter in the game, including first-pass dialogue for almost all the cutscenes, examples of the music, etc.

Although certain details are still hazy, the flow of the game and all major events and battles that take place are now clear.

In summary, I largely spent the past two years writing, composing, designing, and drawing. However, that’s not the whole story.

We had actually attempted to develop the game since the time too. Development started around March 2019 and a 99% work was spent on investigating engines alternate to GameMaker, which I used for Chapter 1.

Without getting into the details, I decided a few months ago to go back to GameMaker after all. It still felt like the best fit for the project. So using Chapter 1 as a base, we’ve started creating Chapter 2 since May 2020.

A lot of progress has been made since that time. I believe we can complete this chapter, content-wise, before the end of the year (not accounting for translation, bugtesting, and porting).

I feel very confident. And the strange thing is, even though we ended up using the original engine, I don’t regret the lost time, either. Not only was I still busy designing the game, but during that long period, I was able to think of many ideas that make the game’s story and characters better.

I’m glad that I’m making the Deltarune that I have now and that we are making healthy progress.

Deltarune Status Estimate

■ Chapter 2 (04.15.20 – 08.13.20)

Phase 1: Design

Main Design: 100% (dialogue, etc.)

Initial Setup: 100% (stuff involved setting up people to make the game, adding debug tools, documentation, etc.)

Phase 2: Implementation (05.01.20 ~ 08.13.20)

Art: 90%

Cutscenes: 80% (90% are started, needs 2nd pass)

Bullet Patterns: 70% (enemies are mostly completed, bosses are about 40% done, needs 2nd pass)

Non-Bullet Battle Elements: 30% (Some ACTs are done and enemies are fightable, but interactive ACTs need to be completed and polished and the bosses aren’t programmed outside of bullet patterns)

Audio: 80%

Maps: ??% most are started or placeholder, most need 2nd pass. NPC interactions are completed in all spots where written.

Other: 65%

Phase 3: Finishing

Balancing: 0%

Bugfixing: 0%

Translation: 0%

Porting: 0%

(Honestly, a lot of stuff FEELS like 80% to me, but the truth is that what’s there is quite rough now. Polish ends up taking a lot of time, so the real actual time value may be around 50% done…? We’ll see what happens. It’ll be a lesson for everybody.)

■ Chapters 3 and Beyond

Phase 1: Design

Story and General Game Progression (first-pass): 100%

Cutscene Dialogue (first-pass, lacking cutscene instructions): 95%

Map Design (textual): 70% (varies per chapter, earlier chapters totally completed)

Map Design (drawn): 0% (this takes a lot of wrist energy so I don’t do it until we start programming)

Enemy Design (conceptual): 90% (all bosses are known)

Enemy Design (bullets / visual): 80% (varies per chapter, earlier chapters totally completed)

Music (concept): 95%

Music (completed): 50%

Visual Design:BG Concept (first-pass): 75%, Important Character, Bosses (first-pass): 100%

Phase 2

Sprite Art: 20%?

Other Content Creation: 0%

Phase 3

Release Readiness: 0%

(These numbers can be somewhat deceptive though. My true design style is to reach the moment where we have to make something, then suddenly think of something different at the last minute. This is always how it’s been with me and my work. It feels like no matter how much I plan, everything comes down to what I think of at the last second…)

Team and Disability

You may have noticed from my phrasing, but yes, there is a team helping me create the game. Other than me, there are about three active team members working day-to-day, with a few other people pitching in from time to time.

Their roles of the main members are overall content implementation and organization, bullet pattern implementation (part-time), and art (Temmie). Other than designing, I still have the role of system programmer.

I’m extremely grateful to have a team helping me carry out my design especially because of my disabilities, which have also made development more difficult.

Although I have long suffered from wrist and hand pain, about five months ago my wrist was the worst it’s ever been. I could not play the piano, use the mouse, and barely could use the keyboard. I navigated everything through voice to text.

Through weightlifting, exercise, and various equipment I have been able to somewhat increase the stamina of my wrist to an extent. Various solutions have included trackball mice for each hand, using voice to text whenever possible, using a foot pedal to click the mouse, etc.

Now I can use the mouse and keyboard for a certain amount each day provided I take frequent breaks. I wish I could work without stopping. Once the world situation improves I would really like to take physical therapy again and/or investigate surgery to repair my wrist.

Future Plans

Once we finish Chapter 2, I would like to use it as the base to create future chapters from. After gaining experience from this chapter, I think making future chapters will be easier.

Part of me wonders if we could make the game faster if we increased the size of the team and did something insane like create multiple chapters in parallel. However, another part of me understands that, adding more people doesn’t guarantee that the game will be created faster if it’s not done properly. I’m already just barely avoiding becoming a bottleneck on development even with a team of this size, due to my physical limitations.

To that end, I am interested in making a list of people that could potentially help me make the game. I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to ask anyone to help, but I think if I could find just 1 person that works well with me, it’s worth asking.

Chapter 2 is proceeding at a good pace, so if we do take anyone on, it will probably only be for Chapter 3 onward. So please understand that anything you send in may not have an immediate result.

People I Am Looking For

Feel free to send in your portfolio if you have the following qualifications:

Worked in the game industry before

Worked under NDA before

Have professional references

A degree of creativity while also being okay with just following directions

Fluent in English

People I Might Actually Use

Music Transcription / Basic Arrangement (Part-Time)

I usually start making songs by playing the piano and singing. An important step after this is to take this basic outline and transcribe it into melodies and chords. Though there are not too many remaining songs to transcribe, it would still help my wrist to have someone else start this process for me. Although I know many musicians, I’m sheepish to ask for help to them, because the main role is actually just to help me compose my own music…

Helpful qualities:

Good at transcription.

Can stand listening to me sing.

Optional: can use an old version of Fruity Loops.

Bullet Pattern Programming (Part-Time)

I’m looking for someone to help me program bullet patterns into the game. These people will work from text and visual designs to create fun battles that match the feeling of the game. I already have one person helping with this, but I think a second person would help a lot. You have to be able to use Gamemaker Studio 2 to manipulate objects on the screen / okay with using pre-existing scripts to accomplish this.

Helpful qualities:

Sense of fun and understanding of player perspective and gameplay balance. This aspect is [many times] more important than programming ability.

Reliable.

Able to make patterns based off of visual/text instructions.

Fine working with a poorly made battle system.

Able to sprite bullets.

Good visual / timing sense.

Minigame Programming (Part-Time)

There are a few minigames and small interactive events in the game, which appear in and outside of battles. These could take any kind of form… who knows what I’m thinking! Have you made a game before?

Helpful qualities:

Same sense of humor as me.

Some level of spriting ability is useful.

You have to have made a game that is fun.

Ability to work together with me.

Unlikely to Hire, But Send Me Your Information Just In Case

Cutscene Programming (Part-Time)

Besides the battles, the largest amount of content in the game is definitely the cut scenes. You will have to understand Gamemaker Studio 2, but the majority of the work is simply using a scripting system that I created to make characters move around the screen. The most important quality you can have here is not programming ability but the ability to efficiently use the system in order to create scenes with a good sense of humor, timing, and emotion.

I’d strongly prefer to hire someone I know to do this because it involves the story. So I most likely won’t hire anyone else.

Helpful qualities:

Can take text instructions and impart a proper sense of timing, humor, and weight to them.

Fine working with a custom scripting system (or smart enough to make something better that makes the game easier to make).

Art (Part-Time)

Sprite art—Temmie has already drawn a massive amount of art for the game, and continues to do so. And I actually already have a few other artists that have helped me that I’m more than happy to keep working with if things become more overwhelming. So currently I actually don’t need any more artists.

However, personally, I’d really like to build up a portfolio of available pixel artists and even concept artists. It’s not as if this is the only game I will make during my life. Anyone chosen for this game needs to be able to match the style of the game, but I’m interested in seeing people with different styles as well. Knowing that I have different options can open my mind up to different creative pathways.

Helpful qualities:

Can take bad looking sketches and turn them into art that looks good (magic).

Don’t mind if your work gets completely drawn over or thrown out.

Anyone that can draw cute or cool poses is good.

Uninterested in seeing people that have an art style outside of the scope of the game.

Write (Full-Time)

Someone needs to transform into a new wrist for me.

Helpful qualities:

Flexible.

Doesn’t hurt.

Musical sense.

That’s everyone I’m looking for. The only other kind of person I might hire would be a single jack-of-all-trades type that can do any sort of things such as cutscenes, bullets, or even system programming, with a good degree of visual flair. (But if you can do those sorts of things, aren’t you busy making your own game already!?)

Anyway, I’ll show you the e-mail now. Just make sure you read these rules first:

Don’t send in e-mails about anything else!

Don’t send to other team members, Fangamer, etc. about helping out!

Got it? Then please send your information to this e-mail address:

deltarunejobs@fangamer.com

Since Fangamer will be sorting through the e-mails for me, we’ll stop taking e-mails at the end of September so they don’t get overwhelmed. Ultimately, I’m only looking for one or two people, and to make a list of the rest of the potentially helpful people in the world.

Undertale is available now for PlayStation 4, Switch, PS Vita, and PC via Steam and GOG. Deltarune Chapter 1 is availble for PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Deltarune.com.

[oohfluffy]

TIHM Ch.11 | BBH

Group: EXO

Member: Byun Baekhyun

Theme: Angst | Fluff | Rated M | University!AU | Football!AU

Word Count: 1,839

chapter 11

What was he thinking? Am I that weak and dumb to believe him?

You scoffed as you glared at your locker door, Baekhyun's annoyingly handsome face entered your mind⁠. You just wanted to smack his pretty face on the wall.

"You alright?" 

You quickly closed your locker door, and smiled at your manager, Jisoo. You grabbed your brown apron with your small name plate plastered on the chest area, carefully wearing it and tying it to your back.

"Yeah, manager-nim." You formally said as you looked down, fingers successfully tying your apron on your back. Jisoo chuckled as she shook her head.

"Just call me unnie. Manager-nim is a bit awkward." Jisoo smiled as she looked at your apron. "Rocky's shift will end in a bit, he has this dance practice for a competition. That kid's dancing skill is no joke." 

As you and Jisoo went out of the locker room, you see Hyunjin on the cashier stand as usual. Jisoo mentioned that he's the most quiet kid in the crew, but the most matured one. You smiled as he looked up at you.

"You'll be the waitress along with Yeonjun today since Rocky will leave⁠—" Before Jisoo could finish, you see a black haired guy running out of the locker room. "now."

Rocky just bowed in front of you, and waved at Yeonjun on the other corner of the area. 

"Goodluck." You said, trying to be a little friendly to a co-worker. Rocky smiled appreciatively before glancing at the manager.

"I'll be going now, noona."

"Hm, do well." 

When the chime above the door rang, you immediately went to work. You've done a lot of part-time jobs before. Waitressing, transcribing, delivering, and many more, you did it all. Since freshman year, you sought for part-times, not because you wanted to, but because you needed to. After your grandmother died, you felt like you lost everything. 

She was everything.

You needed to do something for yourself, or else she'll be so disappointed in you. That's what motivated you to go on. Even if your friends turned out to be not as real as they are, you needed to get going. Even if you felt alone fighting your own battles, you needed to get going.

Because no one's gonna stop for your sake.

"Serve this to table 6." Mingyu said, making you bounce up from where you stood. He raised his eyebrows at you. "Nervous?"

You smirked. "Nah, I'm good." You swiftly but carefully took the wooden tray with two cups of caffè americano, a slice of strawberry shortcake, and a piece of garlic bread. Your posture remained confident and strong as you walked towards the table on the farthest right, just by the huge windows. 

"Your order, ma'am, sir." You formally said with a smile, placing the drinks on the round brown rubber mats for the cups. The plates on the bamboo placemats along with the fork and knife. "Enjoy."

You were on your way back to get another tray, when a customer raised her hand to order. You immediately took out a notepad from your apron before walking towards her. You greeted her before nodding at her statements. You still stood confidently and looked easy to approach.

"Well, she's a good waitress, huh?" Mingyu nodded his head before looking at his side. Hyunjin was staring at you with awe in his eyes, looking like a puppy who saw his master. "Am I right, Hyunjin-ah?"

The said boy blinked his eyes before nodding quickly. "Y-Yes, noona is."

⁠—

Sighing loudly by your locker, you tapped your fingers on the surface as you thought over your answers in the long exam you took an hour ago. Taking your lower lip by your upper teeth, you slightly frowned while remembering that one answer was uncertain.

"Shit." You mumbled under your breath incredulously. All the relief due to accomplishing the exam left your system, and was replaced by dismay.

That's why you shouldn't think about the exam after taking it. It's done. No matter how hard you contemplate the right answers, nothing will change.

"Why the long face?" You hear a familiar gentle but dark voice beside you. You shut your locker door and faced your cute senior on your left. You smiled as you slightly bowed. 

"Just post-exam thoughts, Kyungsoo sunbae." You sighed as you nodded at him. You glanced around and saw that there are a number of glares being thrown on your way. You cleared your throat before stepping back. "Lunch break?"

"Yep. I'm on my way to see the boys. You?" Kyungsoo said as he looked around, ignoring the stares he was getting. He probably got used to it already. 

I'm not putting up with that kind of attention either.

"I'll be going to my haven." You mumbled, shrugging as you looked back at him. His thick brows furrowed in curiosity, but his heart-shaped lips curved into a small smile. "Have a nice meal, sunbae. I'll get going."

"Oh." Kyungsoo nodded as he stepped away from you, eyes following your excited steps while you headed for the elevator in front of the current building. He tilted his head to the side in wonder. "Our building?"

You let out a breath as you pressed on the 4th button, the elevator doors closing instantly. You were alone as usual. It's been a few days since you last ate up here due to finishing up school works in the library as all resources are there. Since you have started working at night on certain days, some tasks were delayed and needed to be done quickly. This was your only free time to eat lunch there.

"I wonder if my pianist is here." You mumbled under your breath, slightly giggling at your claim. How possessive, Saejin.

The elevator dinged as it arrived at your desired floor. You stepped out of the lift and went to your usual spot near the staircase. Looking at the empty hallway, you caught a glimpse of the light through the last door on your left. The blinds inside are slightly open, so you could see that someone is using the room. You grinned in expectation as you sat down on the floor.

"Please play something." You prayed as you took out your lunch box in glee. Your eyes kept on looking back at the last door in the hallway as you ate your lunch, blinking rapidly while you waited for your favorite pianist play. 

Twenty minutes had passed and nothing was heard. You couldn't deny the disappointment you were feeling right now. You placed your empty lunch box inside your bag again, sighing as you leaned on the wall. 

"Maybe it's not⁠—" 

Notes filled the air, soothing sounds coming from the piano. It's as if it was to lead you into a dream. A beautiful one. You closed your eyes in relief, feeling the gentle taps of music into your ears. 

"With what words can I express this feeling?"

That voice. It was like the wind whispering in the form of singing. 

"How can I look at you for you to know what's in my heart?"

Your lips curved as the singing tickled your senses. It was lulling you enough to make you sleep peacefully, but at the same time, it makes you want to hear the end of it. 

No. You don't want it to end.

"No matter where you are, I'm loving you"

Your eyes opened a bit, feeling the welling of tears on the sides of them. Your lips quivered at the words he sang. It was as if his heart was the one who was speaking.

"I will be with you"

You sniffled, feeling a lump in your throat as you thought of your loved ones that you lost too early. 

"Always, my love for you"

It was as if he took the words you wanted to say out of your silent heart.

You quickly stood up from your seat and grabbed your bag. Your tears were waterfalls trickling down your flushed cheeks. You almost coughed, choking on the lump stuck in your throat. You walked back in the hallway, eyes piercing through the last door.

You stopped in front of the door without any intention to do so. Your feet just dragged you here. You unhygienically wiped your nose with the sleeve of your jacket. Forcing to gulp down the roughness in your throat, you looked up at the ceiling to calm yourself. 

Let's just go down, Saejin. Go down. 

You closed your eyes as you calmed yourself down. 

Just a peek?

Tilting down your head, you opened one eye and slowly tried to see beyond the small gaps of the blinds. 

Just wanted to put a face on the person that keeps on shaking my feelings. 

You looked closely, nose almost touching the glass door. You can see the well-lit room now. There were various instruments on the left side, arranged neatly as if no one has been playing them for a while. There were mic stands too, and a small stage. Since the blinds don't give you the full image, you found it hard to see the piano. You keep on moving from left to right, until you see a white surface on the farthest right. 

"There." You exclaimed, eyes widening in disbelief. "How unlucky. Why would the keyboard be away from the door?" You rolled your eyes as you stepped back. You couldn't see who was playing as he was on the other side, the lid was up, but then the music rack was so tall that you cannot even catch a glimpse of the pianist's hair.

You were about to peek again when the lights inside turned off.

That could only mean one thing.

"Oh sh⁠—" You bit down on your lower lip as you ran to the elevator. Quickly pressing the down button, you breathed in and out rapidly. You wiped your wet cheeks and tried to compose yourself. You nervously watched as the numbers on top increased. 

You hear the glass door opening with a squeak, resulting the drumming of your chest. You looked away from his side, trying to look casual and⁠⁠—

*TING

You almost jumped out of your wits as the elevator doors opened, eyes wide as a few students get out of the lift. With the new noise entering the once quiet place, you quickly entered the elevator. The students were chatting loudly in the hallway, until they went to the left as if seeing a celebrity. 

He's the only one there, right? He must be popular. Especially with his singing and piano skills.

You sighed as you pressed the close button. 

Maybe not this time.

"Byun hyung! You're here!"

Your ears perked up as you heard one of the students call. Byun?

And the elevator doors closed.

You stared at the doors for a while, the silence uncomfortable for the first time. 

"Nah. Impossible." You shook your head as you laughed it out until it didn't sound with humor anymore.

Is it?

—

♫ Ch.12

[trashcanreddiefan]

Pick Your Poison (Reddie Undercover Cop AU) 1/?

Summary: By-the-book DEA agent Edward “Eddie” Kaspbrak receives an assignment that takes him to Derry, ME in order to capture Robert “Bob” Gray, aka “Pennywise”, a notorious drug lord. Working with the local PD, he is partnered with Detective Richie Tozier, a wise-cracking, messy cop who immediately pushes Eddie’s buttons. When they have to go undercover as a pair, will they put aside their differences long enough to work together, or will working together reveal that they have more in common than they initially thought?

Word Count: 1089 for chapter 1.

Warnings: Canon-typical violence (in later parts), swearing, mentions of drug use, other tags to be updated as necessary for each part 

Author’s Note: Slow-burn, Dual-PoV Reddie AU inspired by this gifset by the lovely @toesure!

Tagging: @yourpersonalsleepparalysisdemon

CROSS-POSTED AT AO3

“What does that even mean?” DEA agent Edward Kaspbrak muttered to himself as he sat at his desk, reviewing a fellow agent’s field report in order to transcribe it. He made a note to ask Franklin what the hell a ‘bananagram orangutan’ even was and was absentmindedly chewing on his pen while trying to make sense of the report when his extension rang. 

He quickly took the pen out of his mouth and picked up the receiver without bothering to look at the caller ID. “Kaspbrak.”

“Agent Kaspbrak, urgent meeting in the conference room, now,” the voice of the DEA director, Nekol Eastwood, replied brusquely.

“Yes ma'am.” Eddie immediately hung up, grabbed his coffee, a notepad, and a new pen, and headed down the hall.

He entered the conference room and gave a brief nod to his colleagues already in attendance before sitting down and neatly arranging his belongings on the table, noticing that the projector that sat on the table was on and pointed towards the screen on the wall.

A few seconds later, Director Eastwood walked in. “Good morning everyone,” she said as she stepped behind the podium at the head of the room. “Thank you all for joining me on such short notice.”

Eddie turned his attention to the screen behind the Director as she picked up the presentation remote that had been sitting on the podium and clicked a button.

Eddie’s eyebrows raised as a photo appeared on the screen and Director Eastwood began to speak.

“At 6:42 AM this morning, we received an anonymous tip that Robert "Bob” Gray, also known as “Pennywise”, was currently located in a small town in rural Maine, which fits previous intel we had been given about an increase in the number of possible drug-related deaths in the area.“ She clicked to a new slide, showing a map of Maine, with a star on it labelled Derry. 

"A small baggie of pills, all bearing Pennywise’s logo, was found at the latest scene.” She clicked again and a new slide appeared. On the left side of the screen was a crime scene photo showing a close-up of a baggie of pills on the floor of a room. On the right, another photo showed a singular pill bearing Pennywise’s clown-faced stamp.

“Agent Kaspbrak.”

At the sound of his name Eddie subconsciously straightened and his eyes snapped from the screen back to Director Eastwood. “Yes ma'am.”

“Since Pennywise is believed to be involved I want you to go to Maine and work with the local PD in order to find him and bring him in." 

Eddie sucked in a breath. He had recently requested to be placed back on field duty but hadn’t expected to be handed an assignment quite so soon, especially not the one case he had been itching to get involved in. "Me, Director?”

Director Eastwood leveled a look at him. “You requested to be placed back on active field duty, did you not?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Well then. You’re approved.” Director Eastwood looked around the room. “The rest of you know your assignments. You’re dismissed.”

Eddie went to get up, but Director Eastwood stopped him. “Agent Kaspbrak, before you go, a moment please.”

Eddie lowered himself back into his seat as the rest of his colleagues filed out.

Director Eastwood shut the door behind them before taking a seat across from Eddie. “You seemed surprised to be handed this assignment.”

“I was,” Eddie replied, “but only because I just submitted my official request to return to the field last week. I just wasn’t expecting to be given an assignment so quickly, especially not one as broad and important as the Pennywise case.”

Director Eastwood steepled her fingers together and looked at Eddie over them. “I know you’ve been studying this case for a while now and know the details and Pennywise’s patterns better than anyone, which is why I gave it to you. But if you feel like it’s too soon or need to start with something smaller I can assign someone else, like Franklin for instance–”

“Don’t you DARE,” Eddie hissed so as not to be overheard. “Franklin is an idiot!”

Director Eastwood’s lips quirked up in a smile, but Eddie was on a roll and didn’t notice. “I was trying to make sense of his field report from the Monterey cartel case last month and I swear, it’s complete nonsense. It’s riddled with grammatical errors, he misspelled the word 'grapefruit’, and he used so much correction tape on it that it looks like half of it has been redacted.”

He finally noticed the grin on Director Eastwood’s face and narrowed his eyes. “You weren’t actually going to give this assignment to Franklin, were you?”

Director Eastwood just quirked an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair. “How are you doing, Eddie?” she asked seriously. “Really.”

Eddie sighed and relaxed. “I’m fine, Nikki, I promise. I honestly feel better than I have in years. You know the only reason I requested desk duty during my divorce proceedings was so that I could be sure to be in town for the meetings with my & Myra’s lawyers since Myra kept trying to stall by scheduling meetings for when she knew I was out of town on a case. But now that the divorce is final I can get back to doing what I do best – capturing drug-running scum like Pennywise and putting them behind bars.”

“Good. I’m really happy to hear you say that.”

Eddie bit his lip. “I… I do want to say thank you though for everything else you’ve done for me during the divorce. You have no idea how much I appreciate you, and the therapist you recommended has been great in helping me figuring out who I am and what I want in life.”

Director Eastwood paused. “Any time, Eddie. Just because I’ve been your boss for the past 3 years, it doesn’t cancel out the 20-plus years of friendship that we’ve had and the fact that you’re basically family. You’re my best friend and I love you like a brother. You know you can always count on me if you ever need to talk or anything. You truly deserve to find happiness.”

“Thanks, Nikki.”

Director Eastwood stood and patted Eddie on the shoulder. “Now, the details of your assignment will be on your desk by the end of the day. Oh, and Agent Kaspbrak?”

Eddie grinned. “Yes ma'am?”

“Go catch the bastard.”

Director Eastwood shot him a wink as she left the conference room.

[1-800-seo]

— 1-800-SEO'𝗌 ᯽ '𝖶𝗋𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝖯𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗈𝗇' —

— 𝗉𝖺𝗂𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀: 𝗃𝖺𝖾𝗁𝗒𝗎𝗇 𝗑 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

— 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝗋𝖾: 𝖿𝗅𝗎𝖿𝖿 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖿𝗅𝗎𝖿𝖿/𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝖼𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗄𝗁𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗒

— 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽𝗌: 1810

— 𝗌𝗎𝗆𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗒: 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗮𝗲𝗵𝘆𝘂𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘃𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂

— 𝗐𝖺𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌: 𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖺𝗅𝖼𝗈𝗁𝗈𝗅/𝗋𝖺𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝖴 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖴𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝖺𝗅 𝗈𝗋 𝖦 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖦𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗅

The familiar ping sound of a new email in your inbox reassures you that you *are* an actual administrative assistant that works in an office and you most likely shouldn’t be ogling the hot guy in the adjacent office building. Considering it’s your first week, it’s not exactly how you’d like to be caught not doing your work if you had to be. You’d started that week as administrative assistant to the executive manager of New Calibre Telecommunications, or NCT for short. He was a slim nice-enough young man named Lee Taeyong; you were in charge of writing or transcribing his letters/emails, making travel arrangements, computing and preparing expense reports and creating department budgets. Just two weeks earlier when you’d said you’d got the job to your brother he’d called you an over-glorified and well endowed personal assistant, and you guess you could say he was right.

This all brought you back to the email that was now sitting in your inbox, one minute old and unopened. Its sender was a Jung Jaehyun, a name you’d never heard before but supposed it was nothing new since you, your self, were new.

You opened it and inside was not the general corporate jargon you expected. Upon your screen was a blank video thumbnail and it’s relative play button, a url link, and a message below it. It read: “For Jeffery who loses everything and who must remember to back up his hard drive.” It also featured a few casual excessive emojis that your computer only registered as a small question mark box, because of course it didn’t register emojis.

You pondered clicking on the play button but decided against it, instead clicking on the url link that was oh so tempting. Upon clicking on it you were swiftly redirected to YouTube.com, you rolled your eyes expecting a rick roll, when in actuality what seemed to be a vlog appeared. The title was “Daily Jaehyun: Post-hotel-hopping Wind Down ⛩✨” Curiosity overtook you and you clicked play, you knew you shouldn’t be doing this in work hours, however a few seconds couldn’t hurt. A smooth and tanned skinned young man lay on a bed in the middle of a hotel room. He had on shorts that were probably too short and no top. His torso was obscured by the blanket but you could still make out his taut muscles underneath the fabric. His hair looks soft and gently rests on his face as he lies horizontally. Next cut is to a glass cup of pink coloured tea and a spoon swirling around the edges. He cuts to him taking a gentle sip and then he pushes some hair out of his dark amber eyes. You hear footsteps in your peripheral and X off the tab. Just in time before the new intern, a somehow harsh looking baby faced girl named Yeji, places a pile of papers on your desk and leaves. A close call.

And so your day goes on like normal... except you can’t get those damn 25 seconds of a certain video out of your head. His gentle face remains seared into your brain. The brand of soft visuals and taut muscles. The contrast of his sharp jawline and the pink tea. The colour matched his gently blushed cheeks, the rose flush that dusted over his honey skin.

And so you went home and couldn’t get him out of your head. You lay awake seeing the image of him sprawled across the hotel king bed, replaying it and relaying it to yourself. You resolved you had to do something, whether that be finish the video or speak to this Jaehyun.

And so, the next day you set about that task. You opened up that email for the second time, this time hovering over the sender’s information. It revealed to you many interesting things. A few of those being that the sender, Jung Jaehyun, sent it from a pc on floor 9, and that pc is located in office 34G, which is part of managerial.

Well now you know this information all you had to do was go visit that specific office in the hopes of a findings. A lingering question stuck out, who is Jeffery? And why was he sending his vlog to him? Of course you have to inform the sender that he sent it to the the wrong person and you definitely didn’t just email him this because you definitely don’t want to see his face, *definitely not*.

You leave your desk and make your way to the lift. Stepping inside, you squish yourself as far back to the wall as possible as fellow office workers pile in. It’s all a bit too close for comfort when you are saved by the bell, or in this case the automated voice saying “Floor 9, Doors Opening.” Everyone removes themselves from the lift and you straighten out your work outfit. Thank goodness you ironed your pencil skirt this morning, never knew you’d be meeting a YouTuber; and possibly a hot one at that.

You make your way to office 34G, dodging past colleagues in the marketing sector. You spot a guy in the closest desk you know as the infamous ‘Ten’, chugging a brown liquid in a vodka bottle you *really* hope is coffee and nothing else.

You approach the needed door and knock firmly twice. Your palms start to sweat and you rub it off on your skirt. A smooth voice calls “come in” and you make your way through the door. A familiar pair of eyes meet your gaze and you begin to wonder if this was a good idea after all. After a small nervous cough you begin, “Sorry to interrupt, I’m ____ ____ from floor 8, I’m administrative assistant to Mr Lee. I received an email yesterday around 2pm and it was rather,” you look at the floor and shuffle your feet, “private. I believe it was for someone else. I came here to let you know.” You attempt to make eye contact but his gaze is a tad intense. You try your best to keep your eyes trained on his brown irises and not the expensive looking navy suit he’s wearing. “Ahh my greatest apologies, I’m sorry for any inconvenience. May I ask what was contained in the email? I send out a lot so I’m not too sure as to what it was regarding.” He lets out a low chuckle.

“Umm it contained a video and a short message, if that’s any help.” You try not to let on you watched it, let alone read it, but the blush creeping up your face probably says too much.

The man you identify as Jaehyun let’s out a startled cough and sits bolt upright in his chair. “It wasn’t anything, umm” he runs a hand through his hair, “obscene.. was it?”

A gasp escapes your lips, a breath you must of been holding in that you didn’t realise you were. “Oh no, not at all! You drank some tea in it and that’s all I saw. I’m greatly sorry for invading your privacy, sir. Please forgive me I’ll be leaving now.” You turn to face the door. What had he been sending? That’s none of your business... however you wouldn’t mind maybe getting to see those muscles again... you clear you’re thinking and press down the door handle.

“**Stop**, before you leave, you at least need to let me explain, and make it up to you some how, I’m the one who has put you in this situation, I’m the one who needs to make amends.” A commanding voice calls out. By the time you turn around he’s stood up and has one hand in a pocket and one on his desk. He looks to be in thought, or troubled.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds or looks I swear.” When he says this he doesn’t sound so composed like he has the rest of the time. “Please, have a seat so I can fix this mess.”

“I don’t know, sir, I have already caused enough interruption.” You mumble out.

“Nonsense, have a seat and all will become clear; I’ll ease your thoughts for you as I’m sure you’re curious.” You cautiously take a seat and look up into his hazelnut eyes.

“Basically, I have a YouTube channel as you might have guessed. I’ve tried to keep it a secret for as long as possible since I don’t really want it getting out. It’d only be fuel for my cheeky tormentors who go by Doyoung and Ten. When I finalise a video, I send it to my work computer since it has more space and let it post on there. However I must’ve accidentally sent it through to yours instead. I believe you’re from floor 8, right? Well, I believe I typed in the computer location code wrong and it sent it to yours instead. I should of typed F9 instead of F8 like I must’ve done. By the way, none of my videos are dodgy on there, it’s just travel vlogs and general ramblings so don’t be too worried.” He closes with a nervous laugh and scratch of the temple. He turns to look at you in the eye, most likely expecting an answer.

“Ahh I see now. Well that clears up a hell of a lot. I do have one question though, if you don’t mind me asking...” you twist a piece of hair round your index finger. “No, go ahead, you already know my big secret what more could you ask anyway.” He lets out a soft laugh and his eyes crinkle.

“Ok. So, not to be rude but, who’s Jeffery?” You pose the question that has boggled you for around 24 hours. You’re met with laughter and an embarrassed face palm. “Well... I can tell you that it is just a silly nickname.” He uncovers his face and you see a sickly sweet smile. “A long time friend of mine, Johnny, jokingly named me that during our college days in the frat houses. It was a wild time.” He relates whilst reminiscing, more than slightly embarrassed.

“Oh ok, that clears up even more, sooo that makes sense, the email was addressed to yourself. I got it now.” You let out a giggle, “You’ve finally solved the puzzle! Can I give you a prize?” He unexpectedly says.

“A prize? What do you mean?“

“Well I’ve put you through a bit too much and I want to make it up to you. How about I take you for lunch this afternoon? Would that be ok?” He gently says, hands clasped.

“I’d love that. As long as I get to hear more crazy stories.”

“Of course, the tales are complimentary, the company is what you pay for.” He jokes, a smile creeping up his face.

[thedivinedemom]

This has literally been in my wallet for a few days waiting for me to transcribe it. It's not great but hopefully it'll kick off my writing habit again.

Working title: Blue Eyes

As strange as it may have seemed Steve had never been upstate. Not really. Albany, sure. There and every other State capital and major city of his day.

Shipped cross country, from city to city, to be paraded about like some circus chimp to sell warnings. Never allowed to explore the cities outside the theaters.  Not without an appointment and full escort at least. He was the "property of the United States government" after all. They could not risk losing such a valuable asset because he wanted to go sightseeing. Much less taking a look outside them.

Sealed away in a train car, rushing to show after show, he rarely had the chance to take in the countryside. To enjoy the greenery or the scenery. He could honestly say that he had seen more of France and Germany then he had his own country.

Easing his bike down the turnpike he found that the early afternoon made the roads deceptively quiet. There were only a handful of vehicles out at the hour, mostly big rigs, and it gave an almost serene feeling to the drive. The silence of it gobbled up and ate away at the muffled roar of his engine. Though not enough to avoid startling some poor deer as he rode past. A chuckle bubbled out of Steve at that. How long had it been since he had last seen a deer? Decades? It all  depended on how one counted the years.

Making his way down an exit he caught the first glimpse of his destination. The greenhouses of the Gardens were gleaming in the sunlight. A series of crystal heels arranged across a thick pasture. A small field surrounded the buildings, filled with apple orchards and raspberry bushes.

Beautiful, likely to be more so on the inside. The Gardens were home to a number of rare, exotic, and even mutated plants from across the globe. Tony claimed that the Fantastic Four had donated a few of their more benign experiments to the facility. Sparking the interests of more than just Steve.

Locking his helmet away in his bike's compartment he walked in, his either art bag strapped tight to his back. The lobby was as fancy and sophisticated as one would imagine; filled sleek plastic, flat screens, and linoleum tiles. Even the ticket booth was digital.

Everything seemed to be electric nowadays. It was helpful, amazingly so. There should be ballads written about the wonders of the internet. Yet it was all so different. He was in the same country but it had a different feel to it. Like a teen who was growing into a man. Still going through the growing pains but becoming all the finer from it.

But Steve could barely recognize the land he was born in. Everyone spoke differently, they dressed differently, and there was even a change in the way they walked. It was all so radically different and Steve couldn't be prouder, for the most part.

Easing himself passed the ticket booth he found himself in the middle of a controlled jungle. Thick bushes of deep and vivid color lined the paths. Leading people deeper into the greenhouse filled with tropical flowers and temperate trees. How both could be in the same room he hadn't a clue, another wonder of the future surely, but it was all wonderfully arranged.

Casting his eyes about he looked.forma place to set up. A task easier said than done as what few benches he could see were occupied, taken before he had even arrived. He had hoped by coming in the middle of the week he would have avoided the crowds. A vein wish as it turned out to be.

After a moment, once his eyes finished their second lap of the area, he decided to change his plans. With how crowded things were he would not be able to sketch out the Gardens section by section as he planned. Instead he would have to treat it as a puzzle, taking it one area at a time as.he worked for the full image.

Up along the path he finally found a place to sit, deeper than he would have liked but he had to start somewhere. He did not fancy drawing standing up, he could do it but it would be annoying. The first bench he found put him firmly in the 'Mutated' section. It was an area filled with genetic anomalies ranging from crossbreeds to lab experiments to ability generated. The plant in front of him, according to its placard, was of the last category. The ever shifting colors of the petal was a fairly large hint for that.

Steve would have preferred to have started with something a little more mundane. Something familiar and simple that he could have warmed up on. Something that did not sway on its own or tangle its vines along anything within reach. It would be a challenge, especially so early into his day, but as with most challenges he jumped in feet first.

Eyeing the plant he began. Carefully he started with an outline of the stem. He made it sway on the page, letting it curve in three separate places before moving onto the creeping vines. These he only gave the vaguest of outlines, a matter to fill in later. Once the focus of his drawing was done.

Being as engaged as he was with his work he barely noticed someone approaching his bench. She took a seat without so much as a word, sipping at her coffee as Steve gave her a quick glance.

Lacking for better words Steve could only describe the woman beautiful. To do more would have left his tongue tied and his face red. It was a sensation he was intimately familiar with from his youth, not something he wanted to experience again. Still, he took a second look.

Amused, she caught him staring. Her blue eyes dancing as they met his own. She gave him a small indulgent smile and an inclination of her chin worthy of a queen. And Steve would know, he had met more than a few members of royalty in his time. She even gestured like one, giving a grand arch of her arm as she waved towards the plant he was sketching.

"Cassandra, one of my students, made this." She said, her voice accented and her smile more genuine. "She is very proud."

Keeping his head on his shoulders Steve managed to smile back. "She's not the only one who sounds proud."

Letting out a laugh she nodded. "I suppose. She worked very hard to get the colors just so. All semester in fact. She would be happy to know someone drove all the way to the Gardens to sketch them." She said, her accent twisted through her words and niggled at his brain. It was familiar to him. The curve of her words struck a chord in his memory. The way her vowels weaved away from her words in incriminates and popped away was throwing him off. He knew he had heard it before, and he did have an ear for these things, but he just could not place it.

"If you want she can have this when it's done." He offered, tilting the half finished sketch towards her. "It would just be gathering dust in my portfolio anyway."

"Very well." She said after a moment and a long searching look. "I think she would enjoy that." She paused for a moment longer. "Would you mind if I waited here until it is done? If it wouldn't be a bother."

Eyeballing his drawing Steve gave it another ten to fifteen minutes until he was finished, more or less. It wouldn't be his best work, not when it was his first sketch of the day, but it would still be up to his usual quality. Which he would modestly admit was exceptional.

So, Steve nodded his head. "It shouldn't take too long, Miss -"

"Monroe." She introduced, offering him another smile. This one was bright and full of genuine warmth, unlike her first smile. "But please, call me Ororo. Hearing Miss Munroe makes me think I'm back at the Institute."

"Ah, " he said, finally realizing how.rude.he was being. Once he wiped it free of pencil smudges he offered her his hand to shake. "Steve, please. It's a pleasure to meet you. Though if you don't mind me asking, where are you from? I can't seem to place your accent."

Taking his hand she gave him a firm shake, little callouses scraping against his palm as she pulled away. "I'm not surprised. I had a… diverse childhood. Though I am fairly certain my accent is some combination of Manhattan, Cario, and rural Kenya." Her tone lost some of its warmth, her voice worn as she answered. Likely because she answered that question in some form a thousand times before.

Though Steve barely noticed this. Instead, he felt a pang of excitement as things clicked into place. "<Ah! I knew your accent sounded familiar! The Manhattan in your consonants must have been what threw me off but I can hear it now.>"

Eyes wide Ororo leaned in, her voice excited as she asked, "<You can speak Arabic?>"

"<Roughly>," he said, shifting in his seat. "<I spent a few months in Egypt on my tour and some of the locals taught me. I'm sure my grammar is horrible. My French and German is much better but my Cantonese is barely passable.>"

Though Steve was fairly sure his grammatical and structural errors were more due to the lingual shift of the better part of a century passing by. He had a few missteps in his first months after the thaw with English. Steve could not imagine his secondary languages faired any better.

Ororo, unaware of his thoughts, simply nodded his head. Completely agreeing with his assessment. "<A few words do seem off. Perhaps they taught you a different dialect? You are speaking very well." She paused here, considering him for a long moment. Longer than before, as if she was only then getting the full picture of him. "<If you would like we could practice your language skills while we are here. Walk around the Gardens, perhaps a bite to eat. It has been so long since I've spoken Arabic with someone."

"Ororo, " He said, enjoying the feel of her name, "<It would be my genuine pleasure.>"

An:

Again, not happy with it. I've been reading a lot of high/sword & sorcery fantasy lately and I think it has an effect on my prose. I'm likely to just redo the entire snip.

I honestly like the pairing of Ororo and Steve, largely because they have each have been called the 'perfect person' as well as being strong leaders in their own rights even if they have different styles. Plus I can see them bonding over nature and trying things neither are familiar with, as well as her constantly making him blush (see swimsuits of the 1940s and compare to Storm's preferred swimwear).

And yes, I like the idea of neither putting two and two together for a while. Adds spice/grounds the relationship. Part of my handmade is that while Steve has worked with the XMen before the was the Original 5 and he hasn't met the new team yet. For Ororo Steve wasn't part of her history books besides a brief mention before the earthquake happened, and Steve is a common white boy name.

Oh, and before I forget, the first letter of every paragraph. Donate to your preferred cause.

[darlingnisi]

Celebration 2019 VIP Day 4

Opening Session

They had outfits set up on the a stage in the soundstage. This day was particularly interesting to me as we got to see these up close

JD Steele sing along was Boys and Girls

Screening August 14, 2007 London

1999

Musicology

Cream

U Got the Look Shh

Take Me With U

Guitar

Somewhere Here on Earth

7

Forever in My Life

Revolution Panel

Moderator : Duane Tuhdal

Did P talk about Paisley Park when you guys were together?

“Constant desire by him to find a place where everyone could go”

(Then it just wandered a bit for them sharing stories”

“If you ever said no to him he’d be like ‘next’”

If you look at your watch around him he’d be like “You got somewhere better to go?” - Wendy

I tried to have a social life. He flew me to LA and picked me up from the airport. He said “Mark I know you have a band”. ( Mazarati) Mark would go to their shows in a mask to not be discovered.

Prince didn’t have to compete with anyone...he lived and breathed music and sound it was natural

“It’s all he lived to do” - Mark

He could play what he heard all in one take...would start with the drum track first.

Inspiration Behind All My Dreams : W&L took Prince to a Kid Creole and the Coconuts show. August came out with a megaphone...All My Dreams has that same effect

“Don’t take my personal stuff and make it yours...he had to dominate whatever it was...” Lisa on Prince’s inspiration

You all were around for about 3 years...do you consider 1999 a revolution album?

“1999 not really” - Wendy but she does consider SOTT a rev album

P workshopped Time/Vanity 6/Family songs with The Revolution “We were his muse”

Brown Mark is the pancake maker

Bruno’s Barbecue and The Loon were some of Prince’s favorite places 

Funny to go out to eat. P would order the entire menu and nibble a little of each.

Doritos were def a favorite. “you’d walk in the room and it would smell like toes”

What was it like when the phone rang at 3am?

“Don’t answer!!!” - Wendy

He had something hot “I’m cutting and you’re missing out! *click”

Hucky Austin sent to retrieve Brownmark “Mark You Know good and well I can’t go back without you...”

We hardly got paid anything, but we were there.

Bobby talked about being at a party for his wedding and at 10:30pm Prince called a rehearsal...the origin of Empty Room.

“His emotions turned into music”

BrownMark did a lot of the choreography for the Revolution in Purple Rain.

“We understood his emotions..we all went through it together as a brand new thing...” - On the Purple Rain hysteria

“He had amazing bands that played rings around my abilities, but we were greater as a group than as individuals”

“Matt gave him the most extraordinary hands you can ever have on a synthesizer” - Wendy

“The stages of grief don’t count when you lose someone like Prince.” 

 That’s for people you know who die of natural causes.

“I cannot reconcile that that man is no longer on this planet anymore..we’re all trying to get some sense of who WE were when he was on the planet. That’s why we’re all here in this room today.” - Wendy

“When he died, he gave us each other” - Wendy

Funk Soldiers Panel Moderated by Andrea Swensson Kirk Johnson Chance Howard Renato Neto Sylvester Uzoma Onyejiaka II How did the Funk Soldiers shows go for you?

Kirk

“You’ve been through the Prince school. You think about how people would be affected. If it’s a Prince celebration it should be him singing his songs. Not a hologram. He told me to make sure they never did a hologram. You have to think about camera angles and how he’d want to be seen...I don’t want to take the credit for it Prince already did the work”

“He mentioned that the shows are the same because it’s like how a tour would be done...you do the same show.” - On why the show was the same as last year though there was more footage of Prince this year.

Chance

Last year he got sick and went to the hospital with gall bladder problems so he was excited to be there this year.

“To have him on that screen looking at us, it was surreal” (They had a screen down below that they could look at).

Renato

Came in a few days before, just a few rehearsals and was ready to go

He thanked Kirk for organizing everyone

Sly

He found it a little sad, memories, remembering what it was like to be on stage with this man

Kirk

Couldn’t use NPG because it’s licensed. Wanted a combo band including members of The Revolution, The Time, and different iterations of NPG, but not everyone was ready or didn’t understand what the band was.

What did you take away from working with Prince

Kirk

Prince advice always “play it how I want you to play” it’s that way for a reason.

Chance

Prince talks to you to educate you and he talks to you to bring things out of you. 

John Blackwell, Renato, Rhonda were jamming and Prince invited Chance in the early days. Chance tried to show off. P looked at him like “really”? During a break P walked Chance up the steps in the NPG music room to a room that was a barbershop at the time and they talk... P : Do you have any children? C : Yes  P : How would you feel if I slapped your sun upside the head? C : Before or after I put you in the hospital P : Laughs, Seriously. You’re slapping my children upside the head right now. These songs are my children... Renato Never seen anyone love music like Prince. He was 33/34 when he started and he respected how much time Prince put in to be the best

Sly

12 hours a day 6 days a week for rehearsals

Made him conscious of how he appeared in public. “I can’t wear sweatpants at the store?” No you’re in my band.

He took demanding more to heart.

Kirk

P told him he used to sleep with his guitar. Wake up playing and playing himself to sleep.

Renato

P allowed musicians to shine...one time P left the stage for 5-10 minutes while Renato was soloing. He was looking around like “when are you coming back” and P was offstage laughing at him

Kirk

5 fingers in the air means $500 fine.

“He wanted to get away from playing the hits...he wanted the audience to allow him to grow”

Emancipation Sessions (There’s a screen of Emancipation liner notes on the screen behind them with a kid version of Kirk)

P’d just fired everyone. 

They spent a year recording almost 100 songs

Little boy Kirk was photoshopped to be in front of a soundboard, he was originally sitting at a kitchen table

Kirk’s brother presided over Prince and Mayte’s wedding

He was also the best man.

Chance

Played on Call My Name and was just told a few minutes before the panel that the song won an Grammy.

Did you realize the whole world was hearing you play?

When performing with him you’re so in the moment of wanting to be great and not wanting to mess up. You don’t think about it everything you’ve done until way after the fact. - Kirk

Superbowl was 10 days of rehearsals - Renato

Sly  Clip of Big City

When they got there they got to work transcribing horn parts for the music, they then rehearsed as a group, and then with the band

Prince would re-arrange them by picking different bars from different songs and telling them to combine them.

The Revolution Concert

America

Computer Blue

Mountains

Erotic City

Let’s Work (With Stokley)

Let’s Go Crazy

When Doves Cry

Raspberry Beret

1999

Sometimes it Snows in April

Purple Rain (Omar Nelson came out and kissed Wendy like Prince does in the movie)

I Would Die 4 U

Baby I’m a Star

[kanasmusings]

[Translation] ROCK DOWN bi-Color Series Vol. 9 - emerald - Cast Interviews

I am back with more VAZZROCK like I said I’d be~ This time it’s the Emerald cast interviews~! Which means, it focuses on Reiji and Ayumu! After this is a special interview with Koumoto Keisuke (Nadumi Ruka) and Sasa Tsubasa (Oyama Naosuke)~!

Thank you to Auntie Moch for the scans~!! 

In other news, if anyone has the scans or digital copies to the Amethyst (Mamiya x Ouka), Aquamarine interviews and to the Hematite ones, and wouldn’t mind sharing, please DM me ^^ 

※ Please don’t re-post and re-translate this interview under any circumstances. If you want to translate it to your native language, I can provide the kanji I transcribed from the scans ^^

Under the cut, enjoy~!

[bi-Color Series 09 – emerald Cast Interviews] Amaha Reiji (C.V. Satou Takuya) x Tachibana Ayumu (C.V. Ban Taito)

[The [VAZZROCK] Solo Song Series Vol. 9 focuses on the “Man Overflowing with Love ・Amaha Reiji. How will the story between this perverse Reiji and the warrior (?) Ayumu go?]

Q1: Thank you for your hard work on the recording. The (bi-color) series’ main point is a drama where we can hear two characters interact. First, please tell us something about your partner (in the drama CD).

 SATOU: Ayumu-kun is very serious and will do anything for the sake of the fans… He has a high sense of professionalism and that’s the strong image that I get. He has a strong sense of responsibility and he’s the type who doesn’t want to show his weakness in front of his friends. While Reiji thinks that it’s a good part of Ayumu’s and that he respects it, I think there’s also that part of him that wants Ayumu to rely on him more, that it’s okay for Ayumu to complain.

The CDs have been on sale starting this August and even in the ROCK DOWN’s unit drama, Reiji arrives and gives Ayumu-kun sweets the moment he saw him because he thought that it would make Ayumu-kun happy. They have a lot of scenes where they interact and I think that there will be a lot of moments where their trust for each other can be seen.

TAITO: I’ve thought this a lot ever since I started voicing Ayumu but for this CD, he gets to be with Reiji, just the two of them. Thinking instead of what Reiji’s actual personality is and how dense Ayumu is was so fresh and fun. I think that Reiji’s very cool, and that it’s because Reiji’s there that Ayumu can continue.

Ayumu’s the type who’s unconsciously self-aware so he normally only shows his own weakness when he’s alone. But, it’s at those times that Reiji’s by his side… I really think that Reiji is a very kind and good man.

Q2: Reiji and Ayumu, if you were to describe their relationship with a few words, what would it be?

 SATOU: [The King and his Jester]. Ayumu-kun’s the king and Reiji’s the jester. I think that it’s common nowadays to see a king and a court jester in plays and other theatrical works but, the king does things he needs to do all by himself. While what the jester usually does earns him weird opinions like “What is he doing?” from strangers, he is usually the one who watches over the king more than anyone and is the one who’s secretly supporting the king in any way he can. And, in completely unexpected circumstances, we’ll see that support.

Reiji might be that handsome sexy actor on stage but, I think that he can relieve himself of that position when he’s with Ayumu-kun. That’s why I think, if ever their situations are reversed and Reiji is the one showing weakness, Ayumu will be there to support him no matter what.

TAITO: [Partners] is the word that strongly comes to mind. I think if we look at it from Ayumu’s perspective, he really thinks that he’s someone who can’t stand by himself without Reiji and that perhaps he thinks that Reiji feels the same, too. Like, he can’t leave Ayumu alone or rather, the feeling of [I want to look after this guy] might feel more correct but, they’re [partners] in the sense that they support each other no matter what happens.

Reiji really notices anything about Ayumu no matter how small it is, you know? Of course, he’s the type who cares for the other members as well but, I just feel that he watches over and cares a tad bit more about Ayumu.

Q3: Next, please tell us something about the music. First, Satou-san, if you have any impressions on the solo song [Rendez-vous] or if anything happened during recording, please tell us.

 SATOU: I really enjoyed myself. The song’s world is completely established. I knew that since it was Reiji, there would be a sexy angle but when I received the demo for the song, I kept thinking to myself “I have to be careful not to get too swallowed by the song’s atmosphere” while entering the studio. Karasuya Chabo-san (Composition・Arrangement) who supervised and directed me during recording praised me a lot so I got to challenge and completely immerse myself as Reiji (laughs).

I was happy to be praised that I managed to get into the song but sometimes, I think “Is this really okay?” or “Am I doing it properly?” But, whenever I think that, Karasuya-san just tells me to “Go about it as you like.” It’s not just for me but I think the work’s quality can be seen if people give opinions from different points of view. It makes for a good result.

Q3: How was your duet song [Junjou Graffiti]?

 TAITO: I was really looking forward to what kind of song it would be since it’s finally with this pair. I personally haven’t appeared in much work where I have to sing and VAZZROCK is the first so, I really had no confidence in my singing. I had my chance to sing during the unit song but, this time I was thinking of how to approach and give life to the song, and how to draw character out from it. Also, to be singing with Satou-san who everyone knows has a nice singing voice made me think “Is it really okay for someone like me to be singing together with him?”

Satou-san recorded for the song earlier while I had the opportunity to listen. It really was so wonderful and I had a nervous excitement of wanting to not ruin the song that Reiji has already done.

SATOU: I thought that it was sorrowful, moody but, still had a colourful atmosphere to it. The song title alone is very emotional and I thought about how unexpected it was to make the “warrior” Ayumu sing an emotional song (laughs). I think that unexpectedness is fun and because he (Ayumu) doesn’t talk too much so with this, he can express his emotions hidden deep inside.

Q5: Lastly, please say a message to everyone who’s reading.

 TAITO: This time, it’s finally bi-Color Series Vol. 9’s turn. I’m sure that you’ve listened to ROCK DOWN’s unit drama CD and looked at the relationship charts but, I think that there are still more to these two people that you haven’t noticed yet. I think that with this CD, you can catch a glimpse of these two’s deep relationship. I think you’ll be able to enjoy trying to figure out what kind of relationship they have as you listen to the CD. I’m sure that you’ll notice a lot of new things about these characters so please, do look forward to it.

SATOU: I’ve sung for the unit song but this is my first time singing for a solo song. I think you’ll get a close-up to who Amaha Reiji is as a performer and that you’ll get to see a different side to Ayumu-kun. I think this CD will give you another way to enjoy the VAZZROCK Series. We’ll do our best with the songs and the drama so please, listen to it as many times as you want.

-- Thank you very much!

※ Please don’t re-post and re-translate this interview under any circumstances. If you want to translate it to your native language, I can provide the kanji I transcribed from the scans ^^

If you enjoyed this, please consider buying me a ko-fi here to support my work if you want. (o^▽^o)Thank you!!

[joyful-voyager]

DVD Commentary

@devoverest wrote:

"Grief," sections 5 ("They hauled me in for a physical today") through 8 ("But it's so hard to accept without proof.")

I've chosen that passage to stay within the stated 500-word limit, but if you want to commentate the whole story I surely would not object. Or, please feel free to pick a different passage from "Grief" if you want to. I just didn't want to pick the ending because spoilers, but it gives me chills every time I read it.

And here is my overwritten response!

Whoa. I need a time machine for this one! We're going back 21 years to the heady days of Voyager's second season, when the fandom was new and the fanfic newer, and Seven of Nine wasn't even a nasty little gleam in Brannon Braga's shifty little eye. Weirdly enough, though, there are about three stories that I can remember the exact circumstances that surrounded their creation. This happens to be one of them, and you'll find out why in a minute.

So. “Grief." This was part of a bigger project that was inspired by Sue Love's story “Period of Mourning." That one story spawned a ton of other fanfic, from straight-up knock offs to gut-wrenching counterpoints (see Michele Masterson's “Contrition“ if you can find it), to a multi-author project in which several people told this same story from a single character's point of view. Sue's style was first person by Tom Paris as a series of personal logs. Over the course of a few days, a bunch of other authors jumped in and “claimed“ a character and got to work in the same style.

Probably because I was young and arrogant and really naïve, I immediately claimed the one character whose point of view I had no business examining: Chakotay's. I was only 26 years old, after all, and I'd never experienced the kind of grief I imagined he would go through. Not even close. But like the idiot that I was, I thought I was good enough to write it anyway.

Sure. Right. At 26 years old, having never been in a long-term relationship, much less having lost a lover to death. Boy, was this a bad move. I knew it right away, too. Whenever I sat down to write, there was so much nothing in my brain it was horrifying. I was in way, way over my head.

Fortunately, at the time I was working in a small, independent bookshop. The weekend that I wrote “Grief,“ I had to work a Friday night shift that kept me in the shop until almost midnight. I am decidedly not a night owl, and the shop was rarely busy on Friday nights. Even worse, I was in charge of the Special Orders desk that night, which was way back in the hinterlands of the shop, between Foreign Language Dictionaries and Psychology. By about 7:00 I was bored and desperate to stay awake. I was rearranging Psychology just for something to do when I realized: “Hey, dumbass, you've got a whole shelf full of books on grieving right here. What kind of ex-librarian/ex-M.F.A. student/bookseller are you anyway? Research." So that's what I did. I grabbed a couple short little books on grief and went back to the desk and started reading. By the time the shop closed, I had a pocketful of handwritten notes on grief and the grieving process. When I got back to my apartment, I opened my notebook and wrote one line: “I am in someone's nightmare." And then I went to bed.

The entire story, virtually every single word of it, was in my head when I woke up. No lie. I think what happened was that all the research I'd done about grief and the grieving process matched itself up in my sleeping brain to things I'd heard family members say over the seven years prior to writing the story. See, when I was 19, a beloved cousin of mine was murdered by a drunk driver. She was 22. My family took it extremely hard. We are a large but close-knit bunch, and over the next months and years I spent a lot of time with that wing of the family – the deceased's parents and in particular her two brothers, who were 19 and 20 at the time. I remember my uncle chain-smoking and saying, “This feels like it's happening to someone else." I remember one of my cousins saying that he couldn't get warm even though it happened in the middle of an extra-sultry Indiana summer. I remember my sisters driving my aunt to the spot where it happened because she wanted to visualize what her daughter had seen at that moment. Most of all, I remember my 20-year-old cousin having to take charge of the situation because his parents were so leveled by grief that they couldn't function. He was the one who identified what was left of his sister's body, made all the phone calls, arranged the Mass and the interment, etc. I asked him how he managed all that. He said, “I didn't have a choice. I put my best suit on and I just did it. I did it for her. But it was the hardest thing I've ever done." And I also remember how, a couple years later, that same cousin started to get into all kinds of trouble for rage-related incidents that he later, with therapy, traced back to not grieving properly for his sister. Somehow, all of these memories just…hooked up in my head with the facts of grief – you know, denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance, etc. – and turned themselves into this story. All I had to do was transcribe it.

As for the techniques and tools part of it: The first person POV was a given, since that's how the project was working. I purposefully kept the early sections short and the language sort of staccato to show how Chakotay was still in the thick of his emotions even though he wasn't dealing with them. He was keeping a very tight rein on himself and even sort of fooling himself, and I wanted to show that in the beginning. The turning point, of course, is his collapse in front of B'Elanna. I imagine the walls really closing in on him at that moment. Weeks have passed, maybe months, and he has done what he thought he had to do: Perform for the crew, do what Kathryn would have done, and not show anyone how her loss was affecting him. When he shouts at B'Elanna, it's a moment of stepping outside of his self-protective shell just long enough to express an honest emotion. And even though it's anger he's expressing, the floodgates are then open. The rest of his suppressed feelings aren't far behind, and they soon come pouring out in his screams, and later his plaintive cries, for Kathryn. The language gets more lyrical then, more self aware and self reflective. He's gone as far down into his grief as he can go and he's slowly coming back to himself. When Kathryn does eventually return, I imagine that he's overjoyed, yes, but also very cognizant of his newfound strength. He can lose someone he loves deeply and still survive it and carry on. (This is part of the reason the reunion scene in The Eternal Tide drives me up a freaking tree, but that's a whole different and equally long-winded post for another time.)

One other technical note: Having the other characters move in and out of his peripheral vision was my way of hopefully making the reader aware that Chakotay's attempts to keep his grief hidden weren't working at all. Tom and B'Elanna and Harry and Kes and Tuvok? They know. They all know, which somehow makes Chakotay's self-delusion more painful. Or at least it was supposed to. Upon rereading the story just now, I'm not sure I fully succeeded at that, but overall I think the story still works.

Thanks for the ask! And sorry the answer is so long. I have nothing to do at work today, it's freezing in my office, and I'm bored out of my mind!

[foxandco94]

Rev Video Transcription

Extract the most value from your audio and video In addition to fast, accurate captions and transcripts, Rev provides tools to improve workflows, increase team collaboration and knowledge share, and organize content to improve overall productivity and team effectiveness. The highest level as per the Rev transcription System is Reverr+. You will get to the level of Reverr+ only if you work consistently for 1200 minutes with on-time submissions. As a Reverr+, you can enjoy all the benefits of a Reverr as well as have prior access to all the available tasks. Rev offers two different transcription services, and which one is the best fit will depend on your workflow. Our Transcription service is human transcription, and each transcript is worked on by one of our transcription team members. Dash This is Rev’s online proprietary software to caption videos. Caption Groups A unit of text that is shown on-screen. These are the text boxes within Dash that you create to enter text such as dialogue or atmospherics. A caption group includes the timing of when to display its text during the video. Rev provides a range of audio and video transcription services, including captions, subtitles, and translations for all types of audio and video files. Straightforward transcriptions can be.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result ofpreparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”-Collin Powell

What if you could add “working from home” to this list of keys to success? If you possess transcription skills and want to start a career from the comfort of your home, Rev Transcription is the best bet for you. It is an authentic way through which you can make money from your home. It provides you with an ocean of opportunities. Here, we are going to introduce you with some vital aspects of Rev Transcription, such as:

Definition

The legitimacy of Rev Transcription

Required Skills

How to Apply

Work Procedure

Essential Transcription Tools

Let’s get into the details:

This post contains affiliate links

Definition

Before the arrival of Dictaphone, transcription was considered to be a daunting job. In the early 1970s, secretaries penned down the speech as they heard it by using skills such as shorthand. At that time, it was mandatory to be at the location exactly where the service was needed. However, the invention of mp3 based Dictaphone has changed the scenario. This software is able to record sound. Therefore, the work of transcription has become much easier with the advent of this excellent software. When a person has done with the recording, it can be uploaded to a PC or laptop and sent to someone in the form of an email to transcribe.

Rev.com is a well-known transcription or translation company based in San Francisco. Earlier, this company was known as Fox Transcribe and Fox Translate. They provide transcription and captioning services. Rev is not a mere transcription service. It is committed to maintaining lucidity and accuracy while providing high-quality captions, subtitles, and translations for different types of audio and video formats. By transcribing audio to text, it is possible to provide a resource to the viewers, which they are allowed to use and share whenever they want to do so.

The legitimacy of Rev Transcription

Rev Transcription Test

You might be worried about the legitimacyof Rev transcription and it is quite natural. There are plenty of facts thatclearly establish that Rev is not a scam. Let’s explore the facts one by one:

A scam service never provides their socialmedia profiles because it would help the victims unveil the reality of the scamservices before the world.

An illegitimate company will never operate their social media profiles because it would provoke people to pile on negative comments and feedback. Scam services will never publish their contact names and addresses because they don’t want to be found.

Now, let’s come to Rev. They do not hide anything. Their Facebook page is flooded with more than 25, 000 followers. There you will find their staff pictures and posts. The credibility of this company has helped many people choose it as an authentic source of income.

The Rev.com site is utilized by two gatherings of groups. One group contains organizations having interpretation, translation, and subtitle work that should be done but they don’t have ample time and resources for doing it. With the assistance of Rev.com, these organizations can have their work finished for them and they won’t need to spend an excess of cash to complete it.

Rev.com saves organizations’ time and moneyso they don’t need to employ their own resources to finish the work for them.

The other group is made by individuals whoare searching for chances to work from the comfort of their homes. Rev.comavails that chance by providing interpretation, interpretation, or inscriptionwork.

This detailed account clearly shows howthousands of organizations and freelancers are relying on Rev. A scam companywould never make it possible.

Required skills

Many people are curious to know which skills are required for grabbing the chance of working with Rev. If you are one of these people, you need to learn how you should apply for the task of transcription.

Fortunately, this is a transcriptionorganization that acknowledges applications from any piece of the world. Allyou need is a working PC, a great pair of headsets and a fast internetconnection.

Rev’s application/screening procedure issomewhat exacting. They don’t simply employ anybody. Just 10% of those applyingget acknowledged.

It implies that even transcribers who’vehad long stretches of experience discover the Rev Interpretation applicationprocess a test.

The testing stage takes around an hour tofinish. Simply go on their site on this connection, enter your name and emailaddress and afterward hit Start your application.

You will be evaluated on the followingthree areas:

Your Typing Skills

This is the place you type a square ofcontent. You can type as much as you need in the time designated, which is 60seconds!

Grammar

This is the place your language aptitudesare put under serious scrutiny. Fortunately, this is a basic test. You’ll betried on accentuation, upper casing, and sentence structure aptitudes.

Transcription Test

This is the main issue of the screeningprocedure. There is one sound test that you have to finish on Rev’s translationsupervisor and fortunately, there is no time limit.

How to Apply

Before enrolling as a freelance transcriptionist, you’ll have to finish a fast application process comprising of two sections, which we’ll cover in detail underneath. So as to complete the application form, you should use a PC laptop, and put aside 30 minutes to an hour of time.

The first stage of the application is a quick grammar test to exhibit your grip on the English language. On the off chance that you’re sure about your homophones, at that point, you’ll presumably discover this section a breeze. In the event that English class wasn’t your preferred one, consider catching up on your grammar knowledge before you appear for the test.

Rev’s grammar test comprises of 20 essential inquiries covering word decision, sentence structure, and accentuation. You are allowed to miss a couple of questions; however, our transcriptionists are normally ready to answer most by far accurately. This piece of the application, for the most part, takes only 5 to 15 minutes to finish.

How much can you earn from Rev?

No Rev Transcription audit would be finished without discussing the payment. Captioners acquire $0.40-$0.75 for every moment of video they subtitle. As indicated by Rev, the normal Captioner gains $240/month. Top workers can bring home as much as $1,500/month.

The amount you win relies upon various variables like the measure of work accessible and the number of hours you work every week. The uplifting news is, you can work at whatever point, any place, and the amount you’d like. Installments are made once per week by means of PayPal.

Transcribing for Rev is an entirely adaptable approach to add to your payment every month. You don’t need to focus on any undertakings and can choose which recordings you need to chip away at.

Essential transcription tools

Beginning your interpretation businesstakes almost no arrangement. These are the essential devices:

PC/Desktop

You can buy a PC or laptop. I inclinetoward workstations since I can move around, from my lounge room to my room. Ican even go to the shopping center when I become weary of remaining in thehouse.

You don’t need to buy a top-of-the-runworkstation. I began with a fundamental PC, which served me well until I hadthe option to buy a superior brand.

Headphones

Great quality earphones are an absolute necessity in the event that you need to do translation work. This is useful and indispensable gear through which you will hear the sound. You have to hear the speakers’ well for the last yield/transcript. What’s more, they additionally should be open to thinking of you. Purchase great quality headphones that will serve you for long.

Express Scribe

Translating audio or video documents can bedull work, particularly when you get long sound records.

Generally, it takes me three to five hoursto decipher an hour-long document, and it can take a beginner any longer.Fortunately, there is programming that assists with that.

Express Scribe is prevalent software utilizedfor interpretation work the world over. There are free form and a paidadaptation.

Rev Audio And Video Transcription

With the free form, you can stack MP3records, and WAV documents yet you can’t stack recordings. That capacity isjust accessible on the paid rendition.

Here’s the manner by which Express Scribeworks. A transcriber stacks a sound document to Express Scribe. The transcriberat that point utilizes the hotkeys to decipher the document, the hotkeys beingF4, F7, F8 and so forth.

That encourages the transcriber to beprogressively gainful and to interpret quicker – a lot quicker than if theywere composing the sound while tuning in to it through Windows Media Player.

Great Internet Connection

This is the soul of transcription tasks. You need a dependable web association with download sound documents. You should be able to download enormous documents, up to 300-400 MBS; .mov documents are typically huge in size and this is the place having a dependable and quick web association proves to be useful.

AFinal Takeaway

If you want to earn money as well as thecomfort of your home, Rev Transcription is the best way for you. Before applying, brush up the skills requiredfor Rev Transcription.

Reference

Last Updated on March 6, 2021 by

Do you want to join the Rev transcription platform? But don’t know the answers to their questions? Don’t worry most of the users really don’t know their answers and sometimes users know the answers but not able to submit the correct one, There can be much reason.

Before knowing the Rev transcribing test answers let’s understand what is Rev first and how does it work.

I am not going to tell you in detail as I already published another article where I wrote a brief review of Rev. Click hereto read the previous article.

Also Read: Start Your Own SMM Panel

Also Read: Cheapest and Fastest SMM Panel

What Is Rev Transcription?

Rev is a transcription platform where users can join and do foreign language or general transcription work. Users can easily earn somewhere between $2 to $7 per minute. It is active since 2010 and since then they hired more millions of users.

Trending

Once you join them I guaranteed you that you will get a job for sure. They have worked with many big companies and they have always demand workers.

How Much I Can Earn With Rev?

If you are good at typing and have free time then you can easily earn somewhere between $50 to $150 each day and $3000 to $15000 per month.

Rev Transcription Application

It all depends on you how you work and how much you work.

Rev Transcribing Test Answer 2021

If you are a newbie in transcribing or transcription world and have not worked with any other website in past then you might not get their answers.

Related: Best Freelancer Platform For Newbie

Related: Free Online Blogging Sites In 2021

Hence I decided to find out the answers to the Rev test. There are some YouTubers and bloggers who shared the answers but I know most of you are not able to find them. Because of some random reasons.

As they ask 25 to 30 questions in a test it is hard to write them here, hence I decided to share the original poster links.

Check below video from Prism. He posted rev transcription test answers of 2021 which you can find in his video.

Or you can find written answers here on Google Doc which is shared by some random blogger. This page is getting updated with every new test.

Rev Transcription Pay

Some of their questions and their answers are as below.

Q. “She didn’t even… she really didn’t know how to accept the news.”

A. She really didn’t know how to accept the news.

Q. “It’s raining today, so unless you wanna get drenched, you’re gonna need your umbrella.”

A. It’s raining today, so unless you want to get drenched, you’re going to need your umbrella.

Should I Use These Answers?

Definatelly yes, If you are not aware of them then nothing is wrong in using this answers. You can pass the test in few seconds and can start making money online.

Conclusion: This answers are provided by third party users who shared this answers publically and I am sharing this for just knowledge purpose. In fact you can learn new things and can understand how to submit new questions.

Rev transcription grammar test answers

Related

[ecotone99]

[fn] The EMerge Chronicles

Prologue Reunion (Part 1)

The morning sun peaked over the mountains spilling light on the land, chasing the shadows away like a dog protecting its flock from the ever-present shadows of predators. The tall, mountainous peaks were painted in brilliant hues of pink and orange from the morning sun. The forest before the mountain consisted of many types of trees; it was lush and thick, climbing the slopes until the rock of the mountain would not let any tree take root. Before the forest, there was a meadow stretching out, an immense sea of wildflowers rolling over the hills as far as the eye could see. The vista was truly magnificent. Many painters had tried to interpret this landscape. Poets had tried to enshrine their loves with symbolism using the beauty of this visage as a backdrop. But, all of their works of art and words of beauty have always left them searching for more significant ways to channel the muse of this spectacular nature. Yes, this vista was beautiful beyond compare. If you were to experience this spectacular view for the first time, you would soon become uncertain of the world. There was no sound, not even the wind blew, and there was no sign of life. In fact, nothing living could exist here naturally. This entire landscape was constructed in the Fade Realm, an area that exists between both dream state and reality.

The Fade Realm was a painter’s canvas with infinite colors, and the brush strokes one could utilize had no limits. You could create entire worlds with your imagination, no palace was too opulent, or you could use the Fade to recreate entire cities or locales you were familiar with, down to the scratches on the hardwood floors, though it would require you to have visited the room first hand to transcribe properly into this world from your memory.

There are two ways one could enter the Fade Realm, and both required magic to achieve. A person could meditate themselves into a semi-unconscious state creating the landscape in their mind before arriving while channeling magic, and then one would manifest in the Fade Realm with flames surrounding them in whatever domain they created. Being projected into the Fade limited the things one could do here, mostly meeting with others and interacting with conjured and non-conjured items. But the biggest advantage of being projected into the fade was the instant creation of objects, though they would be bound to the room or realm they were created in.

The second way was harder to achieve and required the person to be a stronger wielder of magic to successfully cross over physically into the Fade using a doorway. You could not create things from thought as with the projection method. However, you could interact with items created by someone projected in the Fade Realm. The method of Physically crossing over allowed for speedy travel, since you could create a doorway in one part of the world and then jump into the room on the other side of the world. As long as you visited the location before. It was even possible to share doorways if you were invited by the person who created the Realm or room, forming a link between all invited. The doorways in the Fade could only be used by the person who created it unless a link has been established. But, even still, if you were strong enough in magic, and with an exorbitant amount of time, one could find a way through an unwarded door.

The Fade, when it came to travel, was congested with doorways all over. Many of them lead to places long forgotten, created by people who were no longer alive. Many of the doors carried magical wards, preventing people that did not create them to pass through. If an intruder tried to barge their way through a warded door, they could be trapped in infinite copies of the rooms they invaded when they attempted to pass back through the door, swallowed by flames, and turned to ashes, or any other foul end its creator could think of. Opening a doorway is the only way to bring items or living things into the Fade, and one would think travel would be the biggest advantage of being in the fade, but the biggest advantage of being in the Fade physically was the amplification of one’s magic and time. Time flowed differently in the Fade, one day outside of the Fade could be a day in the Fade or just as easily a hundred years, depending on how the creator of the realm or room wanted time to flow. If you wanted to study magics that would take decades to learn, then step into the Fade and train in whatever you wanted to learn. To the rest of the world, you could have been gone for one min, but to you, it would have been a decade of studying so long as you could mentally withstand the solitude and provided for your sustenance.

Miles away from the mountain, in the sea of the flower field, a tall flame erupted, emitting no heat and sparing the beautiful flowers around it. The flame was a sign someone was projecting oneself into the Fade Realm. The flamed died down as abruptly as it appeared, and a man was left standing there. His head was shaved, polished, apart from a black braided side knot held at the end in place by a leather strap. His skin was an exotic brown, his eyes were black with amber flecks peppered throughout his irises, and he wore a dark blue robe tied with a white cord. At the end of the sleeves, and at the bottom of the robe, there was golden trim. A moment after his arrival, the ground around him shifted from wildflowers to a stone floor, and a polished black and white marble table shaped like a crescent moon covered in ancient runes materialized. Five chairs appeared just as the table had a moment earlier. Four of the chairs were of equal size, while the fifth was larger. They were arranged around the crescent table with the larger chair centered amongst the four, indicating a more prominent position.

The man looked at the table, and when he was satisfied, the flames surrounded him again as he exited the Fade Realm. Just as quick as he was gone, a plain-looking wooden door appeared, and the same man stepped through it. He physically entered the Fade Realm carrying a large book and a sword in a black scabbard. The only thing notable about the sword was the black polished stone attached to the hilt. The man laid the book and sword on the table, walking back out through the door again and when he returned, he was carrying a black glaive. The door shut and vanished. The war glaive was taller than him, solid black apart from silver and gold runes engraved along the blade and its shaft. The glaive was called Witch Devil due to its master’s proficiency in handling this weapon. Those who have seen him wield the glaive in the carnage of battle have described it as a bewitching experience while watching the devil hewn men as he danced around the battlefield. He walked over to the table, leaning the glaive on one of the five chairs, pausing momentarily to make sure the balance was right. Looking back at the book, he waved his hand over it, and green mist tendrils leaked slowly from his fingertips, snaking their way towards the book before enveloping it. The man took a deep breath and blew at the mist, causing it to dissipate, and the book was no longer there. Picking the sword up from the table, he opened his robe, hiding it in the excess fabric.

He was looking around at the world he created when a pillar of flame flared a few feet from him, and a beautiful woman with tanned caramel skin appeared behind another chair next to the one Witch Devil was propped up against. Her garments were cut in a way to tease a man’s eye. Her dress was dark blue silk, and the neckline plunged daringly low, a silver chain with a cut green stone hung from her neck nestled between her cleavage. Her hair was pulled into a braided ponytail with tiny golden chains weaved through it. Around the hem of her dress, flames seemed to dance around casting embers upward, as they traveled upwards, they faded out.

“Ah Lizbeth, I am glad you are here,” the man said as he pulled one of the smaller chairs out and sat down.

“Clyden, I told you I would come. The others, I am not sure,” Lizbeth said in a neutral tone while looking around at the landscape Clyden constructed in the Fade. “Why did you pick this setting and five chairs when there are only four of us?” she asked. She walked to the chair nearest Clyden pushing Witch Devil towards him nonchalantly, Clyden quickly grabbed the haft and laid the weapon down the floor next to him.

Both Clyden and Lizbeth were Magi, two of the four eternal beings that walked the lands of Gawraith, their world. They magi possessed immeasurable magical powers. In ancient times they were considered deities. Other times they just walked away from life and let the world take its natural course before blending back into the world. The magi watched empires fall and rise; the world was their playground. They were kings and queens, tyrants at times, they were bitter rivals throughout their many lifetimes, and at many times they have tried to kill each other. But when you can live eternally barring an unnatural death, people's mindsets can change. The Magi, over the course of their many lifetimes, laughed, cried, fought, destroyed, created empires, loved, made mistakes, and evolved. They did not even remember where they came from except for Lizbeth, who had an extraordinary memory. None of them knew why they were the only ones who had such unrestricted access to the magic in the world.

“This scenery is all I can vaguely remember of where I was raised,” Clyden said. He touched one of the chairs, “As to the extra chair, I will tell you all once the others arrive,” Clyden replied.

“Very well. I will wait,” Lizbeth said as she waved her hand, and the world shifted, “But I prefer here.” They were no longer outside, but inside a building that seemed to have no ceiling.

Clyden sighed as he was powerless to alter what Lizbeth had done since he was now physically in the Fade. All that remained of Clyden’s creative efforts was the table and chairs. He looked around the room; there were thick white marble columns emitting light. The columns stretched up, their light even disappearing into the infinite blackness of the ceiling. There were rows of bookcases stretching as far as the eye could see. In the Fade Realm, the painter with the infinite brushstrokes of their imagination, could create any setting or object so long as they knew the purpose of the object. You could even create living creatures; they would only exist until their creator left the Fade while inanimate objects would remain until someone deconstructed them.

“This seems like you, Lizbeth,” Clyden said, looking at the endless rows of books.

“Ah, you think so. This is my library. It is the only place I can keep all my books,” Lizbeth said, pointing at her massive collection. The only thing that really interested Lizbeth any longer was the collection of books and knowledge.

“You have quite the collection,” Clyden was saying, but two flames flared up, and a man and woman appeared in unison. “Ah, welcome Servan and Malve,” Clyden said to the new arrivals. Servan stood in a black robe with his hood pulled over his head with his face veiled. Even with his face covered, Clyden knew the man was scowling at him. Malve was in a black dress much more modest than the one Lizbeth wore. Her hair was black, cut short with the sides shaved off completely. “I am glad you all are,” he began to say, but Clyden was interrupted by Malve putting her hand up.

“We haven’t met altogether for a century. Just get to the point, Clyden,” Malve said impatiently, claiming the chair furthest from Clyden.

“I agree with her,” Servan said, still veiled as he sat down, crossing his arms and sitting next to Malve, leaving only the larger chair empty. The other Magi study the larger chair intently, wondering who the chair was for.

Clyden stood up, the wooden chair legs scraping across the stone floor, and cleared his voice. “Very well then,” Clyden said, waving his hand, green tendrils of mist appeared surrounding his fingers, and traveled to the middle of the half-moon table like fog rolling over the sea. The mist lingered just a second and then formed into square shape before solidifying into the book he brought in earlier. For a moment, the other three magi were struck with surprise. The book was thick and bounded in black leather, it had no decorative features, and even though the book was huge, its weight was next to nothing.

“A compendium? Where did you find it, Clyden?” Lizbeth asked excitedly, breaking the silence in the room.

“Where I found it is of no importance. It is the book’s owner, whom it belonged to that is what is truly important,” Clyden said, pushing the book over to Malve before Lizbeth could grab it. Clyden calculated this move out ahead of time. Magic left traces of residue, making it easy to trace back to the caster of the spell unless appropriately concealed. Clyden knew of all them at the table that Malve had the greatest emotional connection to the owner of the book, and he would rely on those feelings. Malve would immediately fall in line, and she would become his ally in what needed to be done.

Touching the book, Malve cast a delving spell on it, and her eyes winced momentarily. There was a fleeting moment of a smile before she frowned.

“It is his, it belonged to Varoosh,” Malve said, touching the compendium. For a moment, a hint of pain was in her voice. Malve opened the book, but the first page was blank. She turned the next page, and it was blank also. Malve opened the compendium to the middle, pursing her lips when she was greeted by another blank page. The entirety of the book was blank. She closed the book, pulling it into an embrace. Varoosh, you never could do things the simple way. You had to seal it, Malve thought to herself. Malve laid the book back on the table. Lizbeth motioned for Servan to hand her the compendium, and he slid the book over to her.

Varoosh was once one of them, a powerful Magi. No, he was more like a brother, a friend, husband, and a King to them without even asking for the throne. He was strongest of them all. Varoosh was the person that bonded them together, and he went missing almost 400 years ago while looking for another land, not a part of their world, Gawraith. The aftermath of the failed experiment left the remaining four magi in a coma for three hundred years in the Fade Realm.

When they awoke, their world was changed, magic users were all but extinct and could do little more than parlor tricks. The animals who relied on magic, such as dragons, phoenixes, or sphinxes, became feral and were used in stories to scare children. New monsters roamed the lands. Things were much different when they awoke. Once they were family. Now, they were strangers to each other. Clyden often bothered them all in his obsessive quest to bring Varoosh back from wherever he accidentally vanished to. Clyden was unable to let Varoosh go, and his relentless search for Varoosh led to bitter feelings between him and his once close friends. Malve just avoided Clyden because it pained her to believe or hope Varoosh was alive still.

“As you all can see, the book is sealed and will not open. I do not think it would open for Varoosh even if he were here himself,” Clyden said, pointing at the book.

“You have a theory to open it,” Servan stated. Clyden always liked Servan’s no-nonsense demeanor, always direct and straight to the point.

“The book is under a compound lock,” Lizbeth said, offering an answer first, inspecting the book.

“Exactly, what I garnered, but it took me much longer to come to that hypothesis, Lizbeth,” Clyden said.

“Knowing Varoosh, I would say it can only be open if all four of us were to agree to open it,” Lizbeth theorized aloud to herself, waving her hand at the those gathered at the table in a circular motion. Lizbeth’s mind was always the quicker of theirs, and clearly, she was the smartest one of them. Varoosh had once said, ‘Lizbeth name should have been Knowledge.’ She was by far the most versed in the arcane arts among them due to her gifted memory.

“Wait, you said it wouldn't open for Varoosh either,” Servan said, taking the book from Lizbeth. “What are you after, Clyden?” Servan turned the book over in his hands, tracing his fingers along its leather bindings.

Taking a deep breath, Clyden reflected on his words; this is the moment he had prepared for the last ten years. His voice was timid as he spoke, “We can bring him back. I think the retrieval spell is in the compendium. I have tried for ten years to open the book. I have come up with new ways to unlock many things trying to gain access to it. But this book will not open for me,” Clyden said, pointing at the book. Clyden stood up and loosened the fabric of his robe, pulling from it the ordinary, looking sword he had hidden. The sword rasped against the metal portion of its scabbard as he drew it. The pommel of the sword had a mounted oval, black polished stone. He laid the sword down on the table along with its sheath.

The three magi in the room gasped in shock as they recognized the sword clearly, even though none of them have seen it for over four hundred years.

“Bane,” Lizbeth said dumbfoundedly.

“It is going to take the five of us to bring him back,” Clyden said, laying the sword in the middle of the table between them all.

“Bane! Where did you find his sword?” Malve asked. She never, no, none of them ever thought they would see Varoosh’s sword again. The day Varoosh vanished, he did not even have Bane with him.

Bane looked as normal as a plain sword could present itself, but they all knew well the potential power this sword had. The sword itself appeared to be dormant because the runes typically engraved into a magus focal thaumaturgy were hidden. Each of the magi had their own focal thaumaturgies, items imbued with their magical essences.

Magic was wild and hard to handle; it is like swimming up a tall waterfall trying to control it without the proper tools. Many practitioners drowned or burned out failing to do so. Though if one could learn to control it without the use of thaumaturgies, the magus would be even more powerful, but the risks were too high. A magus with a focal thaumaturgy had a path to walk on instead of drowning while trying to swim up an impossible waterfall. The magus’ focal also allowed the wielder to channel more magic than they could safely handle. Clyden had his glaive, Lizbeth’s was the green stone around her neck, Servan had an assortment of robes he liked to wear, and Malve’s was unknown to any of them.

Bane was deadly sharp, but two things made this weapon special. One was the ability for the weapon to morph into the needs of its master. Each of the magi at the table had witnessed Varoosh change the sword at whim to whatever weapon Varoosh desired, and he wielded Bane with deadly precision in many of its forms. Only Clyden could best Varoosh in a physical confrontation, but barely.

The second and most important thing about Bane was the black polished stone, the Eye of Bane. The Eye was a stone with unique magical properties, and it was the only one in all Gawraith known to all of them, gifted to Varoosh from another Magus. The Eye of Bane acted as a magical capacitor, storing magic and the essence of the sword’s master or other magi.

Servan stood up, angry at the sight of the sword, and tossed the book on the table. “Bring him back!” Servan said, his voice was heated as he slapped his left hand on the table. “He abandoned us! Why should we bring him back? We slept for three hundred years because of what he did.”

“Servan, what he was doing was experimental. Varoosh was trying to find a place to banish Revlaman to. I do not think he would have gone forth with it if he knew it would send us to slumber for three centuries or take him from us,” Malve said, touching his hand. It was like watching a tornado vanish before it could make landfall as Servan’s anger subsided.

“Anyways, it doesn't matter,” Servan said with a sigh, sitting back down. “You said it would take five of us, and there are only four magi left. We won’t ever know.”

“To answer your questions on where I found the sword,” Clyden said, picking up Bane by the blade and standing up. “I found it in Loudas. It hung on the wall as decoration in the King’s castle,” he told the story as he moved the sword hilt in front of Lizbeth. She reached out and touched the stone, her eyes widen with surprise. Clyden placed his right index finger over his mouth, imploring her to be silent and continued with his story. “Imagine my surprise when I saw it on the wall,” covering the short distance between Servan, Malve, and he. Servan touched the stone, and the same recognition Lizbeth experienced flashed in his eyes. Servan finally lowered his veil, and for just a brief moment, unrestrained hope was in his eyes, “If it weren't for the Eye on the pommel, then I wouldn't have ever found it. The sword was gifted to me for service rendered for saving Prince Danyais from an assassin's poison,” he said, moving the sword hilt towards Malve now. She reached out tentatively with trembling fingers. “If we were to,” he did not have time to finish his statement as Malve touched the stone.

“Infuse our essences also,” Malve said, finishing Clyden’s sentence as a white light surrounded her as she touched the stone. The Eye of Bane glowed molten red in reaction to Malve’s touch. Varoosh was there, his essence and life force were still imbued in the stone. She almost forgot how beautiful his essence was to her. This was the closest Malve had been to him in four centuries. It ached and shredded her heart to the core that she did not have a body to embrace. Tears welled up and traveled down her cheeks. “He is alive!” she said in shock. The grief that has held her prisoner for the past hundred years since Malve woke up in the Fade fissured instantly. Hope began to seep through the cracks.

The light around her dimmed a little, Malve grabbed the pommel of the sword with both hands, and Clyden held onto the blade with all the strength he could muster. Malve wore a look of desperate determination on her face. The light intensified around Malve, and the Eye of Bane went from molten red to white blue. Runes not visible before on the blade lit up, pulsating between red and white as they were engraved back onto the metal blade and handle. Malve forced more of her essence into the Eye of Bane. White light emitted from her eyes. When Malve opened her mouth to gasp for air, light spilled from her mouth. Malve could not hear any noise at all except for the roaring river in her head. Malve knew her magic was flowing into the Eye; she could feel the stone drinking in her essence greedily. The river was not loud enough. I don't care. I will give it all if it brings him back, more, I can give more! Malve screamed in her head even as her body felt like it would burn to ash. The disparity shattered, and hope washed over Malve.

“Stop her, Clyden!” Lizbeth yelled. She must have judge Clyden to slow in his actions, “Servan, break the connection!”

Servan stood up and dashed around Clyden, quickly grabbing Malve’s right shoulder with his left hand while trying to reach for the sword’s hilt with his other. His hand was repulsed by a magical field right when he was about to grab the sword. Servan turned his attention to Malve’s hands clutching the stone and grabbed her wrists, trying to pull them away from the Eye of Bane. He somehow managed to weaken Malve’s grip, or she lost the will to hold on, but her hands withdrew from the Eye of Bane, and the sword felled to the table. Malve swayed and fell into her chair, exhausted.

“Malve, are you OK?” Servan asked attentively.

It was a moment longer before Malve spoke, “I am fine, help me to stand. I must finish the binding.” Servan looked as if he wanted to protest, but the look Malve showed them all quelled any meager protests they could manage. Glaring at Clyden, Servan took the sword from Clyden. He held it out near Malve, and she took the palm of her hand and placed it on the edge blade. With a quick downward motion, she sliced open the palm of her hand. Malve’s blood still held the white glow of the magic just coursing through her moments before. Her blood was white as it escaped from the cut, turning to bright red when it touched the surface of the table. Malve placed the hand with the bleeding gash to the Eye of Bane. When she removed her hand, the stone absorbed the blood like sands in a desert with water. It was done, the slash in her hand mended instantly. She sat down heavily and sighed, Malve had bonded to the Eye of Bane, and she could feel Varoosh.

One by one, the remaining magi picked up the sword and poured their essences into Bane repeating what Malve did. Clyden was the last to go. Immediately after his blood was absorbed by the stone, a small slit lit up on the cover of the compendium. It was the keyhole, the release of the compound lock holding all the secrets to Varoosh’s magic. They all sat there in tired silence.

“Do you think he will look the same? It has been 400 years,” Servan said, breaking the silence. The hostilities in his demeanor earlier seem to vanish at the notion he was about to get his friend back.

“I think Varoosh is going to berate us for how long it took us to get him back,” Lizbeth said back to Servan before turning her gaze to Malve. “But we may have to wait another hundred years to see him once he gets back, eh Malve,” she teased jokingly to her friend.

“150 years minimum,” Malve said embarrassingly in an awkward tone, her face turning red as she averted her eyes shyly away from her friends. For a brief instant, there was silence, and then all four of them erupted in rare laughter.

“Shall we open it?” Clyden asked, refocusing their attention back on task. Malve, would you like to open the lock?” he asked Malve, offering her the sword.

“No, it should be you, Clyden. It shames me, but you are the one who never gave up on finding Varoosh. Besides, I will be somewhat satisfied with my 150 years,” Malve said with a small grin. The others nodded their heads in agreement while smiling at what she said.

“Very well then,” Clyden said. Servan stood and picked up the compendium and carried it over to Clyden, laying the book in front of him. The others got up from their chairs and moved to stand behind Clyden, each one of the Magi placing a hand on his shoulder. Clyden took Bane and turned the point of the sword towards the slit in the book. The light in the slit grew brighter as Bane approached closer. When the sword tip reached the slit, sparks erupted from the keyhole, and lightning arched up the blade stopping at the crossguard. Clyden pushed the sword in further; it was as if the book absorbed the sword, the pages on the side turned to a bluish-white color. There was never wind in the Fade Realm, but the book roared like a storm. Bane’s entire blade now rested in the book, and yet it did not extend out the back of the book. The compendium swallowed sword quickly like a drunk lusting for wine, only leaving the Eye of Bane on the outside of the book. The stone looks like a knob to a door. In reflex to his thought, he grabbed the stone and twisted it as if opening a door.

The storm raging a moment before instantly vanished. The pages ceased to be bluish-white. The book’s black leather cover changed; it was no longer blank and all black. The corners of the compendium were decorated in gold leaf. The leather moved as if it was breathing. At moments, the cover seemed textured, switching randomly and quickly to different animated pictures. There was a dragon flying across the sky, a bird landing in a tree, followed by children running through a field. The book morphed from one scene to another fluidly and effortlessly.

“I have never seen anything like this before,” Lizbeth said. “The way the cover changes. It is amazing. When did Varoosh create such a thing?”

“Well, let us ask him,” Clyden said as he pulled Bane from the book. The sword's blade was no longer a dull color, but it was polished brightly. “Servan the scabbard if you would please.” Clyden handed Bane to Servan. Bane radiated with new life, and the runes were now clearly visible. Servan slid Bane into the scabbard causing golden runes to appear on the leather. At the top of the scabbard, there was a grouping of runes he never saw before.

“Do you know what this says, Lizbeth?” Servan asked Lizbeth, handing her the scabbard.

“I have never seen these before,” Lizbeth said. Her brows furrowed as she inspected them, turning the scabbard over in her hands to see if there were any more of the strange unknown symbols she did not know. “What could it mean? Are these letters? Something new?” Lizbeth asked herself aloud in rapid succession. “I have never seen these before. Another question for Varoosh when he is back,” Lizbeth shaking her head, concluded to the rest.

With that statement, Clyden opened the book and was visibly relieved when he saw words on the first page. What he did not expect to see all were all five of their names to appear in the book. Malve Hartswood, Servan Arlaman, Lizbeth Ratoval, Clyden Dergoz, and Varoosh Sanc were written in gold letters. He turned the next page, and it was blank. Clyden turned another page, and it was blank also. He opened it randomly, choosing a place well into the middle of the book, and yet another blank page stared back at him. With a longwinded sigh of disgust, Clyden sat down in his chair and pushed the book away. Each of them took a turn picking up the book and flipping through the blank pages.

“It must be locked still,” Clyden said defeatedly.

“Clyden, something did happen,” Lizbeth said, attempting to lift Clyden’s spirit. “Maybe there is another lock that we do not know about. Look, the first page isn’t blank anymore.”

“Maybe whatever this is the final lock,” Servan said, pointing to the several runes on Bane’s scabbard no one ever seen before.

Malve took the book in her hands while the others theorized what to do next. The cover of the book changed again in her hands, turning into a scene of a ship at sea, the waves slowly breaking on its hull. Why does the cover of the book change randomly? What are you trying to tell us Varoosh, Malve ponder? The cover of the book shifted again, and for a moment, Malve swore what she saw was an image of her with a hand touching her cheek. Something tugged at her memory, but before she could delve any further, the cover of the book shifted again, this time it was a stream. She opened the book to the first page. Malve touched each person's name with her finger. When she got to Varoosh’s name, she touched it fondly and longingly said his name out loud, “Varoosh.” A light emitted from the book pages violently, blinding them. Malve dropped the book out of reflex. The compendium reacted to her; Varoosh’s name in the book turned black. When her vision returned, she saw Clyden holding the book. He was flipping the pages frantically.

“What did you do? The pages are full now,” Clyden said excitedly. The others got out of their chairs, surrounding him, pressing him from the sides, trying to get as close to the book as possible.

Malve tried exactly to remember what she did. “I was just looking at the cover, then I opened it, and I was touching Varoosh’s name and said his name, then a bright light happened,” Malve recounted to them. Lizbeth took the book from Clyden’s hands.

“Servan,” Lizbeth said, and nothing happened. Lizbeth touched Servan’s name this time “Servan,” the same bright light occurred. This time Lizbeth was ready for it; she had turned her head away. The others did not anticipate this and were rubbing the sight back into their eyes with the fingers or the palms of their hands.

“A little warning!” Servan started to say.

“Clyden,” Lizbeth said. The same bright light appeared, and groans from her counterparts ensued. “Oh, I am sorry, but I know how the book works.”

“We all know how it works now,” Servan groaned. “Can you tell me how to make my eyes work properly again?”

“Sorry,” Lizbeth said sullenly.

“Give me that, before you blind us all for life,” Clyden said jokily, taking the book from Lizbeth, hastily laying it down in front of him. He touched Varoosh’s name. “Turn away now,” Clyden warned them, “Varoosh.” The bright light flashed once more. This time everyone was ready for it. Clyden began to turn the pages, and he noticed these pages were written in Varoosh’s hand. Clyden continued to turn the pages. It was like a diary, a collective of Varoosh’s life and memories. As he skimmed from page to page, Clyden recognized some of the stories. Clyden skipped about half the thickness of the book, and spells started to show up. On the page, there was a spell to turn ice into fire; the augmented runes did interest him momentarily. He would have to return later to look at when he had time, Clyden thought to himself as he kept turning pages.

“This is the spell I helped with to make an egg hatch instantly,” Lizbeth said. Clyden turned another page.

“This spell turns one’s tongue black for a month for speaking falsely,” Servan said. The others looked at him with befuddlement. “Well, it was meant for Malve.” Malve expression was rife with surprise. “What? It was during that time when Varoosh wanted to know how you felt about him. You were giving him mixed signals.” Malve face started to become indignant. Servan quickly assisted in turning the page.

The spells ranged in difficulty from simple to complex. There were ones they worked on together, some they never saw before. They kept flipping the pages in search of the only spell that matter right now. The four magi had to have been there for hours flipping through the pages of the massive compendium. The weird thing was even after flipping through half the book, it still seemed they were only at the halfway point of the book. The compendium was inexhaustible. Lizbeth, at some point, theorized the compendium collected every spell Varoosh ever cast. The book somehow managed to captured moments important to Varoosh, which explained all the stories at the beginning of the book. Lizbeth wondered if their names were also volumes in this book, and somehow, the compendium managed to horde all their memories and spells. It was something to be checked on later after they located what they sought. Finally, after hours of searching, Clyden found what they sought.

“This is it,” Clyden announced. On the page, there was a diagram of a giant circle with four little circles drawn on the outside. Lines extended from three of the four circles to a fifth circle centered inside of the giant circle containing Varoosh’s name. Each of their names appeared in one of the circles. Varoosh’s handwriting dotted the page randomly with notes and instructions. Lizbeth took the book from Clyden’s hands, studying the spell intently. Something sparked in her mind. In front of Lizbeth appeared an inkwell and quill. Lizbeth copied the pages from the book onto a conjured piece of parchment even though she had a photographic memory.

“This spell of summoning isn’t complete or isn’t right. Something is off with it,” Lizbeth said to her friends.

“What do you mean?” Servan asked.

“Just a moment,” Lizbeth said, flipping back to the first page. Touching her name, “Lizbeth,” she said without giving any warning again, causing her friends to gripe in unison as they were blinded again. “Sorry, I forgot,” Lizbeth apologized, holding the compendium while starting to flip pages, skipping large chunks of pages. “It is like I thought, somehow this compendium has managed to rip from us our thoughts and the memories that impacted our lives the most. Fascinating! I can’t wait to ask Varoosh how this is possible.”

“Focus Lizbeth,” Malve said pointedly. “You said something is off about the summoning spell. What is it?”

“Ah, yes, just give me a moment, the summoning spell was missing the catalysts needed. I helped him, inadvertently of course, with this,” Lizbeth said, skipping large portions sections of the book related to her, only glancing at the pages briefly to determine if it was the information she sought. “I am quite certain about what is needed, but I want to be sure. It was just a theory mind you when I helped Varoosh with this. Ah, there it is,” Lizbeth said, glancing at the page as a flame flared around her, engulfing her momentarily, and she left the Fade Realm. The book she was holding felled with a thud to the table.

“She left?!” Servan said, looking at the where the book dropped on the table. The remaining three looked at each other, confused as to Lizbeth's sudden departure. Before any of them could voice any followup questions, a plain oak door appeared. The joints on the door cracked as it opened, and several large sacks were thrown through the door.

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[bhavna1011]

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is an independent worker who assists with administrative, business development, social media, marketing or other tasks.  By taking on recurring tasks and administrative work, they free up time for small business owners, entrepreneurs and managers.

The virtual assistant works remotely, often from a home office.  Virtual assistants may be US-based but may also be located in another country.

VAs have become incredibly popular with small businesses over the past decade because they are a flexible workforce.  A virtual assistant can be part-time or full-time, depending on your requirements. Need 20 hours a week? No problem. Need 30 hours? What about 40?  VAs are available.

Virtual assistants may be paid an hourly rate. Or they can get paid a fixed fee per week or month.

Often you can get a better deal and deeper benefit by hiring a full-time virtual assistant, for several reasons:

Prices can be surprisingly affordable, especially for offshore workers.

It’s easier to integrate a full-time assistant into regular workflows and get deeper benefit from the arrangement.

A full-time VA will be better positioned to learn any special software apps you require, develop cordial relationships with co-workers and customers, and grow with you as the business grows.

Some virtual assistants work as independent freelancers. Others are part of a company or agency where you hire the company to provide a flexible workforce.  When you work with a virtual assistant company, you dealing with a manager who will discuss your needs and find the best fit.

Benefits of a Virtual Assistant  

Virtual assistants can do a lot to boost your business’s productivity. Think of it this way.  How an owner spends his or her time might be the biggest factor in the success of the business.  So business owners (and key managers) need to spend their time on high-value activities.

Rob Levin, Chairman of Work Better Now, puts it this way, drawing from his own experience.

“In order to spend time on high-value activities, it was important for me to spend less time on lower-value activities. This is why I not only hired a virtual assistant 5 years ago but why I co-founded a company, Work Better Now , to provide virtual assistants to other business owners.”

Levin’s partner Andrew Cohen and Work Better Now’s CEO, says the most common question asked by the company’s prospective clients is “what can a virtual assistant do for me?”

To answer that question, Cohen provides a list of 47 tasks a virtual assistant can do.

47 Tasks a Virtual Assistant Can Do

A virtual assistant performs a variety of tasks. These range from scheduling appointments to screening and responding to emails. But scheduling and emails are just the tip of the iceberg. If it can be done online, a virtual assistant can probably do it.

Here’s your ultimate guide to virtual assistants, what they are and what they do.

Calendar Management

Managing your calendar, both professional and personal, is one of an entrepreneur’s greatest challenges. From providing reminders to scheduling appointments, virtual assistants can make it effortless for you.  They can:

1. Coordinate and schedule calls and appointments. This alone typically saves owners about 10 hours a week and keeps them from doing these tasks that they dislike. The key is to give your assistant rules about when and who. VAs also schedule calls for some team members.

2. Confirm appointments. A best practice is to give the virtual assistant a list of appointments to confirm, such as the next day’s appointments. This eliminates wasting time when the other party forgets or waits until the last minute to cancel.

3. Provide reminders about calls and appointments. There are times when you might forget to make a call, especially when out of the office or in back-to-back meetings. The virtual assistant can call or text you a few minutes before to ensure you don’t forget.

4. Reschedule calls and appointments. While you may try to avoid it, sometimes, you need to reschedule. Your VA can handle this for you.

5. Provide notice of schedule changes to others. The virtual assistant will also provide notice to the other party and get the rescheduled time confirmed.

6. Protect time. It can be hard for business owners to say no to someone who wants to meet for a coffee to “catch up.” The VA can be the bad cop.

7. Send and maintain a “pending list”. Each week, virtual assistants can send you a list of people that have not responded to requests for setting up a meeting or a call so you know when you need  to get involved.

8. Inform significant others when you will be  out of town. As part of a travel process, the VA gives significant others a calendar invite with the out-of-town dates along with flight and hotel details. This keeps them informed.

Email and Contact Management and Communications

If you’re buried under a ton of emails — or if you  need someone to update your contact list — take note.  A good virtual assistant can save hours of time by doing the following activities:

9. Screen emails. Based on rules you set, VAs will delete, respond, forward or flag emails for your attention.

10. Add people to contacts. When you have a call, meeting or some other form of engagement with someone new, the virtual assistant can add that person’s details to your contacts.

11. Update people’s info to contacts. Sometimes, a contact’s phone number or other  information is not known right away. A VA can add information to contacts as it becomes available — say from an email signature.

12. Add contacts to CRM. One of the main reasons that small businesses don’t use their CRM app is due to the time involved in entering data.  Virtual assistants can add to and organize your CRM system.

Phone Tasks

If you need some light receptionist work done, or phone interactions, a virtual assistant can do certain tasks.

13. Perform light receptionist duties. When expecting important calls that you may not be available to answer, calls are forwarded to the virtual assistant.

14. Transcribe voicemails. As most voicemails can now be received by email, these are forwarded to the VA for transcription.  And any necessary follow up activities.

Travel

Arranging flights and hotels for business travel could eat up way more time than you realize.  Isn’t that time you could better spend working on your business? A virtual assistant can:

15. Research flights. A virtual assistant can screen flights to meet you criteria and present options to you. By providing them with airline, seat and other preferences, the VA will save an amazing amount of time over the course of a year.

16. Research hotels. Similar to air travel, by providing the virtual assistant with hotel preferences, including any special rates you get, they can present a shortlist to you.

17. Book flights and hotels. By providing the VA with credit cards and frequent flyer information, they can book travel once you’ve decided.

18. Research transportation options. This includes rental cars, rideshare and sometimes even public transportation.

19. Book transportation. Beyond researching these options, your virtual assistant can also book the rest of your transportation — as they do your flights.

20. Arrange for events. Whether it is a special restaurant or meeting space or even a concert, the virtual assistant researches and makes arrangements for you.

21. Suspend newspaper or mail. Your virtual assistant can cut off these regular services when you are traveling.

Business Development

Whether researching leads on LinkedIn or finding email addresses, there is a lot of leg work in  business development. A virtual assistant can do these activities, letting you focus on the personal interactions involved in making sales.

22. Research leads on LinkedIn. B2B businesses (and some B2C businesses) must keep a list of ideal clients. A virtual assistant, following guidance from you, can research LinkedIn and creates a list of prospective clients.

23. Find email addresses. Using databases along with Google, a VA can find email addresses of prospective clients you need to contact.

24. Design presentations. A VA can enhance proposals by finding and inserting a prospect’s logo and changing the text color to match. They can also animate slides as appropriate.

Management

As you scale your business, there will be plenty of management functions that need to get done. You may need to assemble reports for clients. This may simply mean putting together a lot of data you may already have. There are other management functions — like recruiting more people to your team. You can easily delegate some of this to your virtual assistant.

25. Assemble reports. A VA can create KPI reports at pre-determined intervals to track progress.

26. Help to recruit employees. The competition for good people is tougher than the competition for employees. VAs screen LinkedIn for prospective employees based on criteria that you provide.

Accounting

Does doing the books or sending invoices fill you with dread? Why not have your VA do this stuff instead.

27. Maintain the books. With a little training, virtual assistants can review and match transactions and handle monthly reconciliations.

28. Create and send invoices. With the help of templates, a VA can create invoices and send them to clients.

29. Chase down payments. All companies should have an accounts receivable process. virtual assistants can follow that process and collect A/R. The process can include escalation to the business owner or someone else when appropriate.

Personal Errands

You’ve got a personal life too. Making restaurant reservations and sending gifts takes time. But they’re extremely important for maintaining your personal relationships. And you’re supposed to be running a business at the same time? Get your virtual assistant to help.

30. Make personal restaurant reservations. Armed with personal preferences and log in details for booking sites like Open Table, VAs can book restaurant reservations and then invite the guests.

31. Make purchases. Sometimes even Amazon doesn’t have what you need and the purchase process is too time-consuming. A virtual assistant can shop online and get you what you need.

32. Research and send gifts. When a gift card won’t do, your assistant can look for something unique and make it happen.

33. Manage the logistics for your hobby. Whether finding and arranging a studio for your garage band or arranging the details of your book club, a VA can take the tedious details off your plate enabling you to rock (or read) on.

34. Track down problem orders. When an order doesn’t arrive on time, a virtual assistant can do the waiting-on-hold and get to the bottom of it while keeping you updated.

35. Manage the family calendar. This is another simple personal task your virtual assistant can take off your plate.

36. Schedule medical appointments. With birthdates and insurance details, a VA can schedule doctor visits and even start to fill-out those annoying forms.

37. Pay personal bills. For those vendors you don’t buy from regularly or who don’t have online payment options, a virtual assistant can pay the bills.

38. Call stores to get information. Whether you are looking for a hard-to-find bottle of scotch or a gift, a VA will make the calls to find the store that has what you are looking for.

Operations

Your job as a small business owner is planning for your company’s future. As a result, you want to focus on creating new products and services — and other projects that will take your business to the next level. So maybe you should leave jobs like filling out online forms and handling file management to someone else.

39. Fill out online forms. A virtual assistant equipped with company information can fill out forms including subscribing to SaaS products.

40. Take notes from webinars. Sometimes you would like the information from a webinar but don’t want to invest the time to watch — even for on-demand! A VA “attends” and provides the notes.

41. Convert files. Have a PDF but need a jpeg? A VA can convert it for you.

42. Conduct research. A virtual assistant can conduct first-level research for decisions that need to be made, such as which SaaS product to choose.

43. Set up projects in your project management system. A VA can set up the project and then invite the appropriate participants.

44. Handle file management. Whether you use Dropbox or a local server for file management, a virtual assistant ensures that files are put in the right place with the right filename. He or she also ensures that the right people have access.

45. Schedule social media. A VA takes your social media posts and schedules them per your process.

46. Proofread and edit letters, blogs and presentations. One of the great risks you run when you get overloaded is that mistakes may creep into your work. So your virtual assistant can help you with that.

47. Maintain a virtual assistant manual. Most business owners love processes but hate making or sticking to them. A VA keeps a manual of how to do their tasks. This comes in quite handy when a virtual assistant is out sick.

Things a Virtual Assistant Does Not Do

Of course, there are a few things your virtual assistant won’t do. You needn’t worry about a virtual assistant’s attitude if you ask them to do something.  A VA does not:

Roll his or her eyes at you. At least you won’t see it if it happens! And you won’t “hear” it in any communication.

Require a bigger office or another desk. These folks won’t be sharing your office space, so there’s no need to make extra room.

Interject drama.  With virtual assistants you won’t have big egos to coddle. You won’t need to walk on eggshells or worry about gossip overriding professionalism. The nature of the relationship being long distance means office drama is nonexistent.

Next Steps to Get a Virtual Assistant

Identify the tasks in your business that would be best to outsource. Hint: Focus on tasks that do not require your expertise. Ask yourself if the task is the best use of your time or would be better done by someone else?

Use services like Work Better Now to identify virtual assistants that fit your needs.

Whether you want to scale your business, stop doing tasks that annoy you or just want more free time, a VA is a game changer. I think you can see hiring a virtual assistant could be key to your success. Hope this helps you decide whether a VA is right for your business.

Good luck!