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amydancepants-peralta · 5 years

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sweater weather

Surprise, Kasia @kamekamelea! I am your writer for @b99fandomevents Fall Fic Exchange ... and I’ve rolled with your prompt of adapting the lyrics of Sweater Weather, by The Neighbourhood. I really, really hope you enjoy!

sweater weather (also on AO3)

Jake’s hands tap impatiently along the edge of his car’s steering wheel as he makes his way downtown, his eyes turning to the clock on the dashboard at regular intervals. The roads are relatively quiet, and staring at the numbers one more time, his foot presses a little harder on the accelerator.

He was running a little late, because he always was, but this time Jake had the legitimacy of a work-related issue up his sleeve. The perp that he and Boyle had been building up a case on had, in a moment of what the criminal Kaminski called weakness, but Jake and Charles called stupidity, decided to rob the bodega around the corner from their precinct, in the middle of the day. There had been so many credible eye-witnesses, most of whom worked within the nine-nine, that compiling statements had taken much longer than either of them had anticipated. So much so, that time completely ran away from Jake, and if he hadn’t glanced at his watch half an hour ago, his tardiness could have been a lot worse.

This afternoon was another Santiago family gathering - this time to celebrate Amy’s niece Mariela, who was turning seven. Thanksgiving was only a few weeks away, and he and Amy were hosting the family meal this year - their first time hosting together as husband and wife. There were notes and binders and recipes on every surface of their apartment, all in aid of Amy’s carefully scheduled preparation of the meal, and he would move hell and high water to make sure nothing about this year’s gathering would end in disaster.

A smile begins to appear on Jake’s face as he thinks about his wife - about the woman that not so long ago would have appeared way out of his league. There was a time when Thanksgiving - hell, all of the holidays, really - represented nothing but just another reminder of everything he didn’t have. But now, with Amy, he had a family. And what’s more, he had hope.

The sun catches his wedding ring when he swivels the car into park and he fiddles with the band, ring twisting as he checks his appearance quickly in the rearview mirror. Even after all these years, he still wanted to look his best for his in-laws - and being late and unkempt would only set him back from the recovery he’d made since the evening of ‘and another thing’. Adjusting the collar of the sweater he’d thrown on back at the precinct, Jake gives his reflection a quick shrug, locking up and heading towards the party.

There was a slight downwards slope in the park the Santiagos had chosen for their festivities, giving Jake a vantage point as he approached. The sound of fallen leaves crunching underneath his sneakers was soon drowned out by the contagious squeals of children playing, familiar voices calling out ‘Tag, you’re it!’ as they race around the playground attached to the picnic area. He spots Amy quickly, her smile standing out amongst the other adults as she pushes one of her nephews on a swing, and Jake feels tiny butterflies begin to hatch in his stomach at the sight. One day, someday soon, that might be Amy with a child of their own.

Seventeen weeks and one day ago, he and Amy had been at Shaw’s, enjoying some post-work drinks - which in itself was nothing particularly momentous. And to this day he can’t explain it, but one minute he was at the bar ordering drinks for himself and his wife, and the next minute he was turning around, watching her laugh with friends, and he knew.

That it was time. For them to start trying - to actively attempt to start a family of their own. It was as non-sensical as a crossword puzzle leaning him towards marriage, but this epiphany was as strong as the last. He’d pulled her from the bar less than an hour later, waiting until they were in the comfort of the four walls of their home before telling her how he felt. Her smile could have lit up the night sky, and by the same time the next day, there was a carefully laid out binder taking pride of place on the desk in their bedroom.

And sure - there was definitely an added bonus to Mega Organised Sexy Times, if only for it’s guaranteed increase in regularity (not that there was ever any problem in that department). But there was more to it than that. There had always been love between them - even in their most passionate moments, it was still about making love. Now, there was this added sense of anticipation - that maybe this time would be the right time, and that soon their family of two would become three. He’d be lying if he said that his fears had gone away completely - but he knew, more than anything, that this was his chance to fight away his doubts. Break the cycle, and prove to himself - and anybody that cared to listen - that he was not his father.

As he nears closer Amy looks up from her nephew, face lighting up in a bright smile when she notices his arrival. She’s wearing the same dress she wore to the moonlight cinema last month (the selfie of them at sunset still holding prime position as his lock screen), covered in a denim jacket he’s seen a hundred times before, but she still manages to surprise him with her beauty. And he hopes that his heart never fails to skip a beat like it has right now, as she relegates Swing Pushing duty to somebody else before heading in Jake’s direction.

It occurs to him as he slows down his pace, meeting her halfway, that he had always loved the idea of holding the world within the palm of his hand, but nobody could ever have told him that the world would one day come in the shape of just one person.

Amy leans in for a kiss when she’s finally in front of him, wrinkling her nose when she pulls away, and he knows its because of the Pumpkin Spice latte he had earlier at work. Jake loved the drink, and she decidedly did not, and the first time he’d had it after they had started dating, it had led to her instigating a Total Kiss Ban. It had lasted a total of three hours. The compromise, as so declared that day, was a compulsory follow-up mint, and he pats the empty pocket of his jacket in way of apology.

The wrinkled nose smooths and she gives him an affectionate eye roll, one hand moving from his neck to his shoulder. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

“No place I’d rather be, babe. I’m sorry time ran away from me, though.”

Her hair swings with the breeze as she shakes her head. “I heard about Kaminski from one of my officers. Hard to believe he could have been so brazen.”

“Idiotic is the word I prefer to use.”

She giggles, and no matter how many times he hears it, he still feels a flush of pride run through him. “Same, same.” she responds with a smile.

He’s about to ask her how everything was going when nine-year-old Mason comes running up to them, the dirt smeared across his face doing nothing to conceal his smile. “Tio Jake, Tio Jake! You gotta come see this fort me and Josh made!”

“A fort? Heck yeah, I gotta see this!” Jake feels Amy’s hand slide down his arm with a quick squeeze as he follows Mason towards the pre-built picnic table area, where an obvious extension fortified by spare chairs and blankets had been created. There’s a sense of fulfilment that runs through him whenever he gets called Tio Jake - for the longest time, he had been certain that he would never been anybody’s Tio. And honestly, he’s never been happier to be proven wrong.

His hand lifts one of the layers of the fort (only a Santiago gathering in at outside space could result in such an abundance of blankets), eyes widening at the contents inside - action figures! there are SO many action figures in here! - and he turns to Mason with a grin. “This is awesome!”

“Yah-huh!” He nods in agreement, grabbing Jake by the hand and pulling him into the fort with little regard for the height difference between Jake and the roof’s structure. Quickly, Jake ducks to his knees, desperate to avoid anything that could compromise the integrity of such great craftsmanship.

It’s another half hour before Mason and three other Santiago children Jake had been playing with are called away from the fort, tiny legs racing towards the central table at the promise of pumpkin pie. Retreating from the fort, Jake talks to David briefly, trying his best not to notice the perfectly grown moustache Amy’s brother had begun to grow in support of Movember, simultaneously squashing any secret plans he had to try and grow his own. Despite Amy’s not-so-secret love for them, there’s no way he could cultivate such a look (besides, the undercover department of the NYPD actually had some perfectly acceptable fakes that were readily at his disposal).

Amy rescues him shortly after, deftly brushing off conversation of David’s upcoming Captain exam by telling him that their mother needed him for a specific duty. He departs in a haste, and she winks at Jake as he leaves, whispering that no such job exists, but she could tell that he’d had his fill of David for the day. She drops a chaste kiss to his lips, and Jake knew that she loved that he wasn’t the biggest fan of David’s, purely because she wasn’t.

A cool breeze cuts through the surrounding trees, their limbs bending to submission while the once swept-up leaves begin to break free of their piles, and Amy shivers slightly. Instinctively Jake wraps his arms around her shoulders, pulling her closer and smiling as she eagerly snuggles her head into his chest. Her face burrows into the fabric of his sweater, chest expanding as she breathes him in, and Jake’s smile grows bigger at the sight. He can still remember their first night together, how amazing she looked with her head against his pillow, the tiniest of smiles on her face as she mumbled that it smelled of him. He knew he was a goner then, and he still is now.

Amy lifts her head, blushing when she realises she’s been caught out, and Jake throws her a wink, tightening his grip around her shoulders. This was his favourite time of the year, the cooler air inviting snuggles at all hours of the day. Lazy sleep-ins wrapped up together encouraged - if not demanded - by his drowsy wife. Hot chocolates on the regular, extra marshmallows floating along the top of his mug without prompting.

The idea that someone like him could have moments like those for the rest of his life, still seemed crazy. But Amy was the only person Jake could imagine building a life with.

There had been a lot of opportunities, over the past few years, to worry about what was to come. Speed-bumps that had been thrown at them by the universe: tests that came in multiple forms, all with the same purpose of pointing out what they already knew - that no matter what happened, Jake and Amy would always have each other.

He’d spent countless hours with his toes digging into the sand of the beaches of Florida, back turned from the world he refused to an active part of. Kept his eyes trained on the coastline, forever wishing that a way to walk on water would present itself on command. If there was ever a chance to walk away and start all over again, it was in that overheated state with it’s ridiculously cold pizza. But whenever Jake felt at his lowest, his mind would turn to Amy, and how he knew she would be working on solving their case right at that very moment, and the memory of her smile - the one reserved for solving the most frustrating of puzzles - became his calm in the storm.

And so he waited, for six long months. And she never left his mind for a minute.

The brick walls of the prison cell that made up his home for eight weeks had been cool to the touch, the bricks just porous enough for Jake to be able to feel the anguish cries of previous residents whenever his hands rested against them. This time, he had two photos of Amy to keep him centred, positioned by his side just as she would have been at home, and by the time his freedom had been restored he had committed to memory every single pixel. And then, by the grace of all that is good, the real thing was standing in front of him in Shaw’s, offering to buy a free man a drink, and he knew that their forever needed to start as soon as possible.

And now, they were on the cusp of starting life’s biggest adventure together. There was so much left unknown about what their future could bring - one child, or many (although Amy drew the line at replicating her and her seven brothers). Perhaps they would raise a family of crime-fighting geniuses - the perfect combination of his determination and her brilliant mind forging an unstoppable team of protectors of justice. Or maybe they would be creators - dancers, chefs, singers and writers … all or none of the above, there was one thing that Jake knew that they would be. And that was happy.

Moving behind Amy, Jake takes advantage of their height difference by wrapping his arms around her, pulling her back closer to his chest as they stand together, watching the Santiago cousins retreat from their parents and return to playtime. Amy’s hands are quick to rest against his, and even quicker to retreat under the cuffs of his sweater, soft fingers brushing against his skin, seeking warmth. He lets out a soft chuckle, burying his nose into her hair as she squeezes her hands around each forearm, and his grip tightens ever so slightly.

Perhaps if he had known while in that strange Floridian universe where ATVs were standard modes of transportation and his hair represented a porcupine; that afternoons like this were waiting for him in the not too distant future, he would have tried a little harder to play the role of Larry Sherbert. Or maybe he would have jumped onto the next flight to New York, Figgis be damned, denying the universe any chance to keep them apart when together was so much better.

There are just some things he’ll never really know for sure. His future with Amy was not one of them.

Her thumb begins tracing patterns along the edge of Jake’s arm, and Amy’s touch brings Jake’s head back out from the clouds, focusing on the present as he hums in contentment.

“It’s a pretty great view, isn’t it?” Amy asks, the smile on her face growing as she watches her niece Amelia tackle an unsuspecting Mason from behind.

Jake cranes his neck, watching his wife watch the children play, and her smile makes his. “The best,” he replies, and the tone in his voice makes her turn slightly until their eyes meet. Her face turns red as she blushes, one hand sneaking out from underneath his sleeves, pulling on the zipped edge of his jacket until they join in the middle for a gentle kiss.

She sighs softly as they part, hand quickly returning to it’s original position as Jake rests his head against Amy’s. They’re silent for a long moment, before his wife breaks the silence.

“You want to go back down to the fort, don’t you?”

His lips twist into a grin. “I really do.”

She laughs, the sound of her giggles vibrating through to Jake’s chest as she pulls away from their cuddle. “Go on, then!”

“You’re the best Ames, iloveyousomuchokaybyeee!” His hands squeeze hers quickly as they part, throwing her his happiest smile as he runs back towards Fort Santiago.

* * * *

Amy watches with a contented smile as her husband chases her nieces and nephews around the park, their excited screams bubbling into laughter as they near the now impressively large fort. There were a lot of things for her to be thankful for this coming Thanksgiving, but having Jake in her life was always going to be the top of her list.

She flicks the inside of her wrist slightly, eyeing off the time displayed on her watch’s face, and begins to plan their polite exit within the hour. This afternoon had been great, and time with her family was always important, but her period was five days late and there were nine different brands of pregnancy tests burning a hole in her purse. She wanted to go home, sit with her husband on the floor of their bathroom, and find out together if all the things they had been dreaming for were finally about to come true.

She’d never been one for big adventures, until Jake had stumbled into her life, and now she can’t think of anything greater. Because with him by her side, she could take on anything.

The two of them were about to become three - she could feel it in her heart of hearts - and Amy couldn’t wait for their adventure to begin.

#phew #so glad I made it before the deadline #my writing #b99 fall 2019 fic exchange #b99 fic #peraltiago fanfiction #b99 fics #peraltiago fluff #TRYING #fall goodness #b99fic #jake x amy fic

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liunaticfringe · 4 years

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NOTE: Google translation (LiunaticFringe highlighting)

Lucy Liu: Root Freedom | Jia Ren Cover

2020 opened a new decade.

Idols of the eighties,

Some are still active on the screen and the Internet.

Some have disappeared,

Some are also attracting much attention,

Some have fallen asleep.

We finally arrived at the "future" in science fiction,

Discover with Liu Yuling the familiar sense of time in this "future."

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At 11:30 am, in the city of Brooklyn, New York, a 19th-century warehouse remodeled art community and creative studio, Liu Yuling, full of silver hair, wore large retro glasses and her body turned sideways. She was holding an eleven-inch old-fashioned black-and-white TV in her right hand, and the antenna stood like unruly hair, and the screen was flashing monotonous white noise lines, just in the same direction as her black-and-white striped tie. The prototype of this shape is Andy Warhol.

After the April issue of "Jia Ren" covers the retro theme of the 1980s, Liu Yuling proposed that it should be more interesting to play. She worked with the creative team to select several fashion icons that have a profound impact on her personally and the world-David Bowie, Prince, BoyGeorge, Debbie Harry , Madonna and Andy Warhol, re-enact their classic looks with seasonal fashion. The last idol is Liu Yuling herself. Two sets of fashions are the retro punk style of the 1980s and the modern minimalist department. The New Wave movement of the 1980s has become an old dream, and Liu Yuling is pushing the new wave of this era.

This original look from Andy Warhol comes from the cable television show Andy Warhol Online that he launched in the 1980s. He was addicted to TV and said, "I love TV, and I'm super jealous of people who can have their own programs on TV. I also want to have my own program."

In 1979, he spent $ 40,000 on a premium broadcast-quality camera, and hired professional television producers to start broadcasting his own programs on Manhattan Cable at his own expense. The television dream continued throughout his eighties, until 1987, when he suddenly died of a myocardial infarction.

Artists who do not want to be on TV are not good actors. Like Andy, Liu Yuling has a strong curiosity in all aspects of the world and has made breakthroughs in different fields. At the age of fifteen, she wants to be an artist. She creates collages, walks through the streets of New York with a big camera, and transfers from the Department of Communication at New York University to study Asian language and culture at the University of Michigan. During college, she was spotted by scouts in the New York subway, she took commercial shots of stationery stores, and began to take on guest roles in some episodes. Until the last year of college, she was selected by the student troupe to star in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", after which she began to fully realize her actor dream.

She said to herself that she had never thought of giving up since the moment she made her decision. On the Hollywood screen, there are few faces of Chinese-American actors. It is even more difficult for her petite and ordinary person to want to break out of her own world. On her first debut, she lived in two small jobs and lived in a small apartment rented by her brother, rushing to deliver resumes, auditions, and appointments. Looking back, Liu Yuling said: "I am brave and simple. I think pure is a good thing because it means freedom. I just want to learn and do what I like to do."

At the age of 29, Liu Yuling had debuted for eight years. She first appeared on the screen as a hostess in "Flying Over Beverly Hills" (1991), and later as a female student in the CBS drama "Pearl", her popularity has gradually increased. And what really made her fame was that she played the Chinese lawyer Wu Ling in the American drama `` Sweet Girl '', a clever, cool, decisive and slightly weird character that won the hearts of the audience with a strong aura. It also subverts the stereotype of Chinese Americans in American film and television works.

It was originally a temporary arrangement with only eight episodes, but screenwriter David Kelly changed her role to a resident character at the request of the audience. The incident sparked widespread debate in the American community about the Asian impression, and she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award.

Every character since then, whether it is the fiercely popular special agent in "Pili Jiaowa", the elegant and cold killer in "Kill Bill", or the female version of "Watson" in "Holmes: Basic Deduction", or In the exaggerated socialite of the woman, Liu Yuling is always climbing over various invisible glass ceilings, transcending the gulf of identity, gender, and age, and challenging seemingly impossible roles.

To this day, Liu Yuling still devotes herself to life and work with the courage and simplicity of her debut. For her, every day is a new beginning, and it is worth investing all your energy in learning, reading, and experience. Create new selves in the process of meeting different people.

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According to current buzzwords, Liu Yuling is an out-of-the-box slash youth, acting, hosting, director, producer, game dubbing, artistic creation, United Nations Children's Fund ambassador, she is fully committed to every job. At the age of forty-six, she made the bravest decision in her life and helped her become a self-selected single mother through third-party transplantation for in vitro fertilization. For Liu Yuling, there is no difference in work. As long as you start, you must take it seriously.

The itinerary of the day of shooting was dense from morning to night. At eight in the morning, she personally sent her four-year-old son to school, and then rushed to the shooting scene in Brooklyn. The filming continued from 9:30 a.m. to the evening. Seven sets of looks were made, and the staff took turns to change the work. And Liu Yuling maintains a high degree of concentration throughout the process, injecting soul into each character, sometimes it is David Bowie, who is male and female, sometimes sexy Madonna, sometimes a neutral and feminine George boy, sometimes an eclectic security. Di Warhol.

Instead of playing them, she gave them part of herself. She used her body and soul to travel through time and space and talk to them. In the end, she returned to herself. She didn't want to conceal the wrinkles in the corner of her eyes, all the wind and frost was smoothed by the eyes of understanding the world.

At 11.40 in the evening, half of the staff had already left the field, and Liu Yuling was finally able to change into her original clothes and sit at the dressing table to remove makeup. Suddenly remembered something, she turned back and said aloud to the rest of the staff: "Thank you."

There were many people at the beginning, and she always stayed to the last.

She has been an actor since she was nineteen years old, and still loves acting, and her role has become increasingly full. In the long course of her life, she kept adding new roles for herself.

She appeared in the "Kung Fu Panda" series as a beautiful woman snake, and then accepted a series of game voice acting work, including "High Speed Skiing", "Thunderbolt: Thrilling Game" and "Rogue Blood". Liu Yuling said that in real life, she doesn't play games often, but she also devotes herself when playing. She is always trying new things, and sound performances allow her to delve into different ways of acting. She is also passionate about the director. In 2010, she started crying and started shooting a short film "Mena" in Mumbai, based on the Indian girl Mena who was trafficked as a sex slave at the age of eleven, and then directed the sixth season of "Holmes: Basic Deduction", and The eighth episode of Deadly Woman.

In the play, she likes the replacement of different identities. The same is true in real life. As an actor, she is located at one end of the lens to pass the role to the world. The director's work allowed her to stand on the other side of the camera, and through communication and collaboration, the entire team understood the picture she wanted to convey and made it a reality.

She said: "If I don’t have enthusiasm, I won't do it. And if I love it, I will go all out every day with my eyes open. My personality is so strong that I can't spend my life in peace, Everything is necessary to go all out, whether it is to be a chef, an actor, or even in a garment factory, I must inject all the energy and do my best. "She did the work of the garment factory. Yuling Liu, who grew up in Queens, New York, is a second-generation immigrant. Originally a senior intellectual's parents immigrated to the United States in the 1960s and found it difficult to enter the mainstream American society. In order to subsidize households, she was doing two jobs at the same time: serving plates and working in a garment factory. Since then, she has been working in the performing arts circle to support the actor's dream.

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Liu Yuling grew up in a harsh family with almost militarized management. Parents are struggling for a living, and they don't have much time for spiritual communication except eating and sleeping. It wasn't until her father had cancer that she had the opportunity to talk to him more about how Chinese culture and immigration experience shaped him and connected his family. Now, she takes the sick mother back to live with her and her son, and examines everything that went through her childhood, as if she knew each other again.

Son Rockwell grew up in New York and has lived in the spotlight since he was a child. However, Liu Yuling still hoped that he would grow up in a low-key environment and teach him the meaning of work and his mission as a person: "I want him to realize that material is not the most important thing. I grew up in a material-deficient environment. I don’t think life is lacking. Understanding the value of hard work, being a humble person, and loving what you do is an unparalleled gift. I think the most exciting thing is to do what you do with love. He may want to be a doctor, an artist, it doesn't matter what he wants to do. I just hope that he can pursue his dreams bravely and fearlessly. "

As the second generation of immigrants, Liu Yuling felt the empathy of the late actress Huang Liushuang in the difficult immigration life and the pressure of ethnic minorities. On February 8, 1960, the name of Huang Liushuang, (Anna May Wong) who had died, appeared on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming the first Chinese-American actress to stay here. Sixty years later, Liu Yuling left the second star next to her name, becoming the second Chinese actress to leave her name here.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Huang Liushuang was born in Chinatown, Los Angeles, and his father made a living from the laundry. With a Chinese face, she was racially discriminated from an early age.After entering Hollywood, she could only play the Asians under the stereotype-prostitutes, Mongolian slaves, often dying by death, gorgeous but weak, usually attached to high-ranking White male. In the end of his life, Huang Liushuang couldn't get rid of the Chinese face of Hollywood, nor could he get the approval of the Chinese. The number of films gradually decreased, and eventually he died of heart disease due to excessive drinking.

During the star awarding ceremony, Liu Yuling said: "How lucky I am to have seniors like Huang Liushuang and Bruce Lee to lay the ground for Chinese actors. If my life's work can bridge the gap, the role of stereotypes played in Huang Liushuang is now mainstream in Asian I will be very happy to build a bridge in the role of the movie industry. I am also part of this change. "

Speaking of Huang Liushuang, Liu Yuling was quite moved: "Huang Liushuang has never realized the dream of a real actor. I think she died because of a broken heart. She has enthusiasm but cannot share. She plays various stereotyped roles, but cannot find To the true self. That must be very unbearable. "

Where is her true self? Liu Yuling recalled her childhood. The family did not bring her nourishment of art and culture. The Chinese family struggling with the food and clothing line did not have time to take the children to appreciate and feel the beauty. And she was looking for beauty on the cement street, between the dirt. In the cracks in the street, there are ants, and under the soil, there are snail shells. There is not much space in reinforced concrete New York, but she will spend hours squatting on the ground, staring at the cracks in the ground, trying to find the mysteries of the universe from them.

The mystery of the universe was opened to her further after she transferred from New York University to Michigan.

At the University of Michigan, Liu Yuling chose to major in Asian language and culture. She hopes to leave New York and study her subjects in a quieter city and learn about her native culture: "I want to go deeper into Chinese and study Asian philosophy, which will help me better understand myself and my parents At that time, I just connected the dots, stepped back, and saw the complete picture for the first time in my life.

I feel like I've been holding my breath for a long time, and finally I can breathe out. And when you exhale, you finally see your place in the world, their place in the world, and the relationship between the world and you. It's as if the lens is zoomed out and you start to see everything as it was. With this perspective, you can finally accept yourself and others emotionally, really enjoy getting along with others, and know what you really want. "

Participating in the summer project of Beijing Normal University gave her the opportunity to come to China for the first time. Liu Yuling recalled that it was an incredible journey of self-exploration: "For the first time in my life, I looked at the people around me, all of whom had the same skin color and the same eyes. I finally knew where I came from. Mountains and rivers I feel like part of them. I finally found a sense of cultural belonging. Everything has a new meaning. "

If the streets and lanes brought Liu Yuling's first contact with contemporary China, then the trip to the Temple of Heaven made it possible for her to visually connect with this ancient civilization. Numbers, colors, shapes, and every detail are closely linked to the cosmic view of heaven and man.

The prayer hall has four large columns, which symbolize the four seasons of the year; the twelve gold pillars in the middle layer, which symbolize the twelve months of the year; the twelve pillars in the outer layer, which means twelve hours a day; Implied twenty-four solar terms. Long history contains wisdom connected with nature. Liu Yuling closed her eyes and clearly described what she saw and said at the time: "We cannot change the flow of the four seasons, the ebb and flow. We are part of nature and the universe. All the content learned in these books is presented in front of me in an intuitive image. It's like reading a classic for the first time, and you can't believe that you met it for the first time in your life. And for centuries, it has been waiting for you in this world. "

Rumi's poems give her the same feeling: "They are so simple, yet so timeless. About friendship, about love, about death. People have not yet invented language, but only communicated through stones and symbols. When you were young, you thought that the world started with you and finally you, and gradually grew, and you realized that you are only a small component. The more you see, the more you can break through your small cage and become Humility and harmony. "

"At this moment, I was tied to the cane of love; at this moment, I gave up thinking about the consequences ... I destroyed my thoughts and eliminated my anxiety. What else do I need? Blood flows in my veins. I am life itself. "— Rumi

"I didn't start to be a mother at that time. I would work all night in the studio. Art immerses me and forgets the passage of time. I thought it was only an hour, but it was dawn. I remember I had a chocolate Colored Labrador, it will sit in the studio with me, and then go back to sleep in the bedroom. Sometimes it will come back, sigh in front of me, and then get down. Then I will You know, I've forgotten time again. It's as if the whole night suddenly disappeared. "

She closed her eyes and seemed to catch the most accurate sentence from the air: "Time is condensed."

Liu Yuling's career as an artist began almost simultaneously with her career as an actor. Since 1993, she has begun her creative work. She has been involved in various art media, photography, abstract expression style oil painting, ink painting, sketching, screen printing, and collages and installations.

Her love for art made her choose Andy Warhol as one of the tribute idols for this shoot. Liu Yuling appreciates Andy's talent in bringing commercial art to the extreme, and also appreciates his solitary appreciation. She also likes Willem de Kooning, Georgia O 'Keeffe, whose influence can be seen in her Chunga oil painting series. The images of these works are from the Spring Palace in the Ukiyo-e paintings of the 17th century. They use bold and vivid colors to show the wanton display of love.

Liu Yuling's Totem series explores the human spine, and she embroiders human bones with threads on bare linen. Liu Yuling said that if she returns to college, she may choose to continue to explore medicine, understand the structure of the body and organs, and how they operate precisely. For her, the spine represents the basic characteristics of human nature, and the different textures in each work symbolize the deep interpretation of different emotions. The spine is also like a node in life. In the perception of pain, emotions are always closely connected with the body.

In 2019, he presented the double exhibition "Unhomed Belonging" with artist Rao Shubi at the National Gallery of Singapore, covering works from various media. The highlight of this artist's career made her realize the inherent connection in her creative medium. As early as 2008, she has started using ready-made objects for her creations, and the newly presented Lost and Found series further extends the method of misappropriating ready-made objects. Liu Yuling collected overprinted and discarded book covers at a printing factory in Italy, rebind them into books, cut the inside pages, and embedded them in everyday life, such as shells, rocks, and soft drinks Tins, paper coffee cups, metal accessories.

Liu Yuling said: "These lost things once belonged to them and were abandoned after they were used. In these pages, they found a new home." The 195 bound books presented at the exhibition contain the items The stories of different places, different cities, and different people, and at this time they are converged by the cause of fate, Liu Yuling found a new home for some of them. At the time of sale, ten books will be recommended to the collector as a whole group. Liu Yuling will choose the content of the book based on the people in the collection, so the final "library" will have an internal connection with the new home.

If different works reflect different aspects of Liu Yuling's character, then the identity of the artist and the actor are also her different aspects. She cannot make a choice: "I am an actor and an artist." The two often meet, but they have some differences. Different: "Creation requires privacy and absolute focus, while actors need to work with the lens and collaboration."

What is the purpose of this kind of identity? Liu Yuling explores exactly on each road. Over the age of fifty, Liu Yuling has gone through a lot of life and death. The Seventy Two series is inspired by the Hebrew alphabetic sequence of 72 God's names. The Velocity series focuses on individual choices in collective events. After the 9/11 terrorist attack, she took a picture of the New York City skyline at Battery Park, the site of the attack, and became the background for this group of works. "People who jump off the ninety-ninth floor know that they are not alive. But they still hold their hands and jump out of the window. Maybe they believe that as long as they hold their hands firmly, they can find another one after death. road."

On top of the collage photos are found items found on the ruins, as well as poems she wrote: "I will search all corners, as if rain covered every street in the world. I will find you."

At twelve in the evening, Liu Yuling finally stepped out of the shooting scene. There is no rain tonight in New York, but there is a salty tide brought by the East River. In endless time, among countless stars, what is she looking for? Thought that what is lost will always find belonging at the other end.

#Lucy Liu #marie claire china #April 2020 #Author / He Yu #interview #in depth #China

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talix18 · 4 years

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November 22

Today I learned what a Japanese tuxedo is (in terms of tattoos) and that David Lee Roth at 65 has more energy in one hour than I’ve had in my entire life put together. I started listening to his appearance on Marc Maron’s WTF? and spent most of that time laughing or with my jaw hanging open. I lost track of Diamond Dave after his stint as an EMT. Now he’s an entrepreneur with a line of skin products formulated for tattooed skin. Gods bless.

Listening to Dave describe his formal music education made me wonder if that’s not what I ought to go back to school for. Music is the thing I love the most but have little actual education in. I took a beginning theory class in college and some sort of classical music appreciation course in grad school; I even played viola for two years in junior high. I guess by the time I got to college I’d ruled music out as a thing one could start studying. One of my high school friends had been playing cello for her entire life and I remember her missing various activities because she was practicing. She’s now making a living with her cello and I guess her example made me assume it was already too late.

Katelyn and I were talking about going back to school the other night. She’s learning young just how hard it is to make new friends once you’re out of school and I think she’d enjoy it, but we’re both looking at our wallets wondering how to pay for it.

School is one of my happy places. I loved learning, I loved feeling my brain work, I hated studying for exams but loved the feeling of understanding the material. I loved explaining to the class what the teacher meant when they couldn’t parse it and I loved making outline after outline of my study notes until I’d whittled the course down to bullet points. I love having conversations with people who are smarter than I am.

I briefly considered pursuing a Certificate of Higher Learning from Oxford because how cool would it be to be able to say I’m an Oxford alum? The majority of classes can be attended virtually, which is where I admit that I don’t just want to be taking classes by myself. I have a wealth of Great Courses available anytime I want to go ahead and start taking them. I want to Go To School. I want to meet smart people. I want to be surrounded by that energy and excitement again.

Now I’m looking up Eddie Van Halen and learning that he’s been in radiation therapy for his cancer for five years and was just in the hospital after a bad reaction to the drugs. Getting older, as my Gram used to say, ain’t for sissies. Love died for me when Eddie and Val got divorced but I’m glad they’re still friends and I’m thrilled he’s been sober for eleven years. I’m not sure I would have survived a rock and roll lifestyle, but then again, I’d rarely be driving.

(Speaking of the brothers Van Halen, how did I never know their mom was Indonesian? Now I understand why Alex’s eyes have looked vaguely Asian to me for all these years. Apparently Valerie has a cooking show and shared Mama VH’s recipe for something that grabbed Mom’s fancy so I can look forward to that!) (Don’t tell her that I’m a little meh on ham for Thanksgiving. She’s finally cooking Brussels sprouts a new way and I am calling that a win.)

(Mom found a recipe YEARS ago that uses Guinness and had faithfully made her “Relapse Brussels sprouts” every year since. They are fine, but they are mushy, and having seen the way, truth, and light of fresh Brussels sprouts roasted with salt and olive oil, I don’t have the heart to tell her that the Relapse BS just aren’t my favorite.)

This is my fourth day in a row of feeling pretty good, and that’s on less sleep than I normally get. I really hope this is because the medication is working. It’s hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other when you feel like you’re doing it in three feet of water. But I’ve been productive at work and at home and actually considered taking on a work training challenge today. I even started my Christmas shopping! (I hate much of what Jeff Bezos stands for, but goddamn if Amazon doesn’t alleviate most of the Christmas crazy.)

The increased meds are not helping the words come out! I have rare free time in front of a keyboard and nothing to say? Maybe that *is* a sign of increased mental health.

December is flat out insane in my family. Thank goodness my aunt moved away with her 12/4 birthday! There were birthday dinners with Mom (12/2), my aunt, me (12/20), and my dad (12/26). My brother’s birthday is also on the 20th and he’s continued the tradition in the latest generation – my niece will be five on 12/1. Her Aunt Lindsay has decided it’s time we start taking her out for birthday dinners. Basically, the fulcrum of the year tips at Thanksgiving and is just a steep slide into New Year’s. (Which I actually have plans for!)

Christmas shopping is so anxiety-laden for me that I have bad dreams about it all year long. (It’s always the same: December 23rd, I’ve purchased nothing, and the only place open in Walgreen’s.) I can’t enjoy the holiday season until I’m relatively sure what everyone’s getting and honestly, I don’t need any more stuff. Just being together and enjoying yummy food is enough for me. The holidays also mean the Hebert Christmas punch tradition from which I’ve been excluded for this will be the 24th time (I can drink anything I want! I choose not to!). My family are all wine and spirit drinkers and most of the time I look around it, but the holidays really make me miss that fuzzy festive feeling.

So how does one achieve that without using? I need to get back on a meditation routine and I need to make upside-down yoga part of my weekly life. Upside-down yoga always made me a little giddy and we rarely invert in the class I take now. I also need to try on my New Year’s Dress and assess how vigilant I have to be between now and then to make it work. I was having some success with an intermediate fasting routine where I’d restrict my calories for two (non-consecutive) days per week. The beauty of that schedule is that I can maintain it through the holidays. I should have just started this week after the colonoscopy.

But I also had a pretty severe mood crash last year and fasting is not for the unstable. Yes, I’m an emotional eater but you know, I’d rather eat my feelings than wish I could opt out of life. I know how to lose weight; necromancy is above my spell level.

Did I ever mention I was a witch and practiced in a coven for a decade? I’ve just gotten to the 20K word mark and it’s likely I’ll start repeating myself any time now. The coven was made of some amazing people but the actual business of witching just felt too much like work. I went in looking for a spiritual experience and what I got was a delightful social experience. That required a lot of time and 40-mile drives and the stagnation of my 12-Step recovery in that decade was not a coincidence.

Yesterday I got to whip out one of my favorite recovery slogans on a friend: “Religion is for people trying to stay out of hell. Spirituality is for people who’ve already been there.” It doesn’t hold up once you consider religions that don’t have conceptions of hell, but it’s catchy.

(The NaNoWriMo website helpfully breaks down how many words one has to produce per day to get to 50K by next Sunday and it is a little overwhelming. I only need 2235 more today to stay on target! [I am not staying on target.])

Somebody give me a topic! (Give me a beat!) Oh! Yesterday I emptied out one of my spare room dressers, which is something that’s been on my project list for, oh, a long time. All I have to do is patch the hole and that room will be ready to paint, which will let me do the floors in that room and the front. With that done I’ll have my closet annex and yoga station all set up and I will finally live in my entire house. And it should inspire me to do the last three rooms.

I’m excited to set up these last two rooms as functional spaces. I can’t tell you what’s taken me so long to surrender to the idea that I need a room-sized closet extension but look…I have to grab joy wherever I can find it. Waiting for the big stuff to fall into place just takes too long and this bizarre timeline provides plenty of reasons to despair. I don’t understand how people can spend eight hours a day in cubes that aren’t decorated and I am not going to limit myself to one of my life’s compulsions if I have room to store it all. (Vanessa is in Tennessee shouting “You’ll never have room for another person in your house that way!” and I’m shouting back “You and your person bought a new house!”)

I do love my house, though, and getting me out of it is going to take some extraordinary conditions. With any luck I’ll meet a life partner who also loves their house and we can commute and share. I still won’t have enough wall space to hang everything I want to; perhaps a rotating gallery space is required. Says the girl who can’t manage to swap the screens out for storm windows and vice versa every year.

#f**k fifty #nanowrimo

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stone-man-warrior · 5 years

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This Page is Here for Trying to Get Help From National Security Personnel.

Terror soldiers have taken over the State of Oregon

Nitrous Oxide/Versed airborne gas mixture is being used to capture and kill the population.

All of the State Police have been killed and replaced with impostors.

911 Emergency Phone systems do not work for reporting terrorism.

The 911 Emergency Phone System in Josephine County Oregon is operated by terror soldiers. They act as the real operators did. They sound the same as the real operators did. They behave friendly and courteous when someone calls to report terrorism, and they sound as if they are concerned. The 911 Emergency operators ask for the location of callers who report terror activities, and they send assassins to the people who report the terror activities, but do not respond to the reported terror events. The assassins are often dressed in State Police Uniform and drive State Police squad cars, but are not State Police. They are impostors. They are terror soldiers disguised as Oregon State Police. The real police officers may be held captive someplace and forced to provide protocol information for the impostors. It is not uncommon to have four or five State Police cars show up to the home of people who report terror activities.

When I make a report to FBI online, and explain details of a national coup that includes poison gas and mass murder in public places, the FBI just turns around and calls the State Police impostors. Even if I explain the the problems include that State Police have been overwhelmed with poison gas throughout the state, they still call the State Police. I am not the only person this has happened to. There must be many thousands of reports of terror to FBI from Oregon citizens that were referred back to the impostor police.

All of the Oregon National Guard have been killed and replaced with impostors.

The 173rd Air National Guard Fighter Wing in Klamath Falls Oregon is in the hands of terror soldiers.

All of the National Guard Soldiers killed or are held captive.

All of the equipment at Kingsley Air Field is in control of terrorists.

Please call US Military, and direct the to this page. I am unable to reach law enforcement. The phones are controlled by terrorists. The phones don’t always reach the numbers that are dialed. Phone use is highly restricted and monitored with stolen Harris Stingray Surveillance Equipment.

My entire family has been killed, or is being held captive by terrorists. I don’t know. I only know that my family does not call anymore, and when I call my family they don’t answer. Others answer, and pretend to be my family members while also attempting to gain personal information.

I pay for phone service that does not reach public safety. The phone only receives calls that are screened by the terror army.

If I call FBI to report terrorism, the call is hijacked by a third party who participates in the call. While explaining details of terror events that include mass murders at the grocery store, and use of poison gas by terrorists, the people who hijack the call begin to speak to the FBI operator, and the phone call turns into a 900 sex call to FBI on a terror report. The FBI operators always discontinue that call, and hang up. There is no way to get help. I know that at FBI Headquarters in Washington DC, there are many recorded phone calls that turned into what may seem like sex calls. All they need to do, is listen to some of those again, with this explanation in mind.

The terrorists are an army. There are approximately FIFTY-THOUSAND terror soldiers in Josephine County Oregon. There are approximately SEVENTY-FIVE-THOUSAND terror soldiers in Jackson County Oregon. There are approximately TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND terror soldiers in Klamath County Oregon. There are approximately TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND terror soldiers in Douglas County Oregon. I do not have a way of estimating beyond those four Oregon counties.

The situation has been increasing slowly over a period of TWENTY-YEARS. This is not a sudden thing, it is a gradual increase in terror soldiers that is equal to the gradual decrease in population. US Citizens are killed and replaced with terror soldiers who assume the names of the murdered victims. Impostor State Police use their control of Department of Motor Vehicles to provide real ID and Drivers License to impostor citizens. They summon a look-a-like terror soldier, and take a new photo at the DMV. The new photo goes on the ID of the victims. Terror soldiers are issued the ID of the murdered Victims. At that time, at the DMV, the impostor citizen is registered to Vote by command of Screen Actor Guild leadership. The terror soldiers assume the identity of the Murdered Victims and enter society in place of the Victims. The terror soldier impostors VOTE! Screen actor guild provides shill candidates on ballots, and the impostor citizens vote the way they are instructed to by the SAG leadership.

In this way, the population is killed, but the replacement of the victims with impostors makes it appear as though nothing has happened to the population.

On the other end of the coup, there are shill candidates on ballots and there are profiteering measures on ballots. The terror soldier, impostor citizens vote for shill candidates and profiteering measures on ballots. This is really a big deal, and no one will stop the killing.

It’s “The Art of the Deal”.

I am the last remaining American in Josephine County Oregon.

The grocery stores and gas stations are killing fields. Anyone who makes a purchase is marked as an outsider, marked as not part of the coup, exposed to nitrous gas, captured, farmed of assets, killed, and replaced with impostor. The capturing happens at retail stores, the homes of residents, rest-stops, and recreation areas, in day-time, or night time, and during regular business hours.

The victims cellular phones are used to find the family of the victims, who are also killed and replaced. In this way, the terrorists grow in number exponentially.

Victims are tortured. Terror soldiers are after the victims cellular phone’s for the contacts inside. They want the victims Birth Certificate’s, and they want the victims banking passwords and other asset information. Terror family cells are sent to occupy and live in the home of the victim.

Terror soldiers are armed with rectally holstered Nitrous Oxide/Versed airborne poison gas. Those exposed to the gas are not able to protect themselves from attack, capture, and more conventional weapons. Terror soldier use swords. They also use very small two-shot .25 caliber guns that are so small, they can fit on a key ring,

Located remotely around the counties, at rest stops, grocery stores, gas stations, recreation areas, are refilling tanks. The rectally holstered tanks are used by an army of Seventh Day Adventist Terror Soldiers. When their tanks are empty, they refill them at the remote refilling tanks. The remote refill tanks are maintained by Oregon Department of Transportation workers, State & County Forestry workers, and Bureau of Land Management workers, and similar kinds of people who have access to remote locations for filling tanks of Nitrous Oxide/Versed gas mixture. Refilling tanks are also maintained by terror soldiers disguised as grocery store employees inside of the stores. Virtually all commerce has been taken over and is used to kill those who make purchases.

Commerce specifics, such as store inventories and cash register transactions at retail outlets are all falsified, and mocked up to appear as real inventories and purchase transactions. This is another way the coup can be seen, but it requires someone who is interested in doing National Security work.

The terror army has all of their needs supplied for them. Those who supply the terror army, and provide them with marching orders, are the Screen Actor Guild. Everything they need is supplied free. Housing, food, clothing, tools, specialty items... all supplied by Screen Actor Guild Leadership.

Nancy Sinatra is the current President of Screen Actor Guild. Ron Howard, Rob Riener, Jay Leno, and David Letterman are the highest ranking SAG members of the coup that I am aware of. They are higher in rank than Donald Trump, who is also a coup leader and refuses to respond to written requests for help.

The item below is an actual Nitrous Oxide/Versed airborne poison gas tank that the terror army uses. They are called “Plumbers Test Ball” and are available in a variety of sizes, at any plumbing supply house. The test balls are modified for rectal holstering of nitrous gas and are the preferred means of carrying and releasing the gas for taking prisoners. Terror soldiers modify the exhaust hose with a longer one, and use an easy to operate release valve. The exhaust hose is routed through the clothing in ways that suit the individual soldier. Typically, the hose is routed down the sleeve of a shirt, which allows easy operation of the release valve. The terror soldiers simply reach out towards the intended victims face, and release the gas. The victims are rendered into a hypnotic trance within a matter of seconds, and unable to defend themselves. The terror solders then gather around in number, conceal the kidnapping, and assist the victim away. Often, the victim is shot with the .25 caliber gun, and then offered help by a good Samaritan while the shooter runs away. There are no good Samaritans however, there are soldiers pretending to be helpful. They offer help for a wound inflicted by an attacking soldier, then escort the victim into a room where they are told they will receive first aid. Once the door is closed, the victims are never seen again.

This happens at Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart in Grants Pass Oregon. At Fred Meyer, the room they bring victims to is upstairs, in the hallway that leads to the restrooms, near the pharmacy. Also, there is a small room marked “COUNSELING” that is actually in the Pharmacy area at Fred Meyer. Victims are escorted into those places and others. At Wal-Mart, they do things a bit differently, I am not able to see where victims are taken, they seem to go into the small stores that are in front of the main isle by the checkout and vanish into them. There is a hair salon, a vision eye-doctor, and a photography studio that are used to bring victims into.

The cone above is a visual representation of a remote nitrous refill tank. Sometimes, the refill tanks actually are contained within a cone just like that one, at a grocery store for instance, or, several of them along a freeway construction project.

Use a lighter. Burn candles. The gas is volatile and flammable. A small flame clears the air so you can breathe and think clearly.

Until I am able to explain more here, those interested can learn some details by following these hashtags on Twitter.

This will get you started in understanding a very complex coup happening now. This link is about what I have learned of the government levels of the coup. Later, I will provide detailed accounts of personal experiences at my local level in Oregon.

https://twitter.com/StoneMa75807331/status/1091140171641147392

https://twitter.com/StoneMa75807331/status/1089355911913598976

#SAGcoup #SAGClubMed

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zerochanges · 5 years

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428 - Chunsoft’s Sound Novel Perfected

428: Shibuya Scramble is an unequivocal, truly Japanese game, and one that nobody ever thought would come out in English--and the doubters were sort of right. The title was a Japan exclusive for many years since its original Wii release in 2008 but after a decade of being out of reach for the English market this cryptically Japanese exclusive was somehow able to be cracked and come September of 2018 made the journey to North American and European markets on PC through Steam and both physically and digitally on the Sony PS4. Honestly I still can’t believe it and I own the darn game! The journey to getting this game out is surely an interesting one, as localization director David Kracker recounted on the Playstation blog that he had to fight hard to get the game pushed forward for a worldwide release outside of Japan, but ultimately was able to do so by showing that appeal for niche games such as these have been increasing steadily since its original Wii release.

For many people 428: Shibuya Scramble will be their first experience with a Chunsoft sound novel--especially since the localized Kamaitachi no Yoru (Banshee’s Last Cry) is downright almost impossible to play now. Last blog post I discussed in detail what the heck a sound novel even is, and went through a brief history of the visual novel market in general covering where Chunsoft falls in and how much they contributed to the genre. So because of that I won’t go into too much heavy details on sound novels today, but the short and simple answer I gave in my previous entry is that a sound novel is two things. The first of which was a dated term that Chunsoft used regularly (mostly on the Super Famicom and Sega Saturn) and has since fallen out of use in favor of adopting visual novel. The second of which is the more complicated answer that sound novels are both the aforementioned term that was used by Chunsoft for their brand of visual novels and also a certain style of visual novels that would follow years later by other companies that were heavily inspired by the early works of Chunsoft often aping their presentation and narrative style, with 07Expansion’s Higurashi - When They Cry being one of the most popular examples.

If all that sounds like a bit much, or is just all greek to you, don’t worry--all you have to really take away from my rambling is that the Chunsoft seal of quality with 428 really means something, especially to fans of visual novels. You see, 428: Shibuya Scramble is actually a spiritual successor of sorts to Chunsoft’s earlier Machi sound novel released in 1998 on the Sega Saturn and later Sony Playstation. Machi was a highly well regarded game for its time that was a big hit both critically and with gamers, but despite its constant praise still sold poorly. Over the years people started to discover the game through its solid word of mouth and old fans and new fans alike were always clamoring for a sequel. After many years of begging Chunsoft finally delivered just that, and this is where 428: Shibuya Scramble comes in. By no means a direct sequel (so don’t worry you definitely DO NOT need to play Machi to understand the story) 428 is set in the same city of Machi (aka both take place in the same fictional version of Shibuya), and super fans will be able to spot some references and cameos from Machi sneaking in.

428: Shibuya Scramble is essentially a dream game to many hardcore fans in Japan that waited anxiously for a return to form from Chunsoft. When it came out the game even famously got a perfect score of 40 in the well known Famitsu gaming magazine--and this was back when you could still count perfect scores they gave out on your fingers, only 8 games prior made that list; nowadays the magazine is known for being far more forgiving with its reviews. So basically, what I am getting at is this is yet another game that was pretty huge back in Japan but sorely skipped over worldwide.

You may be thinking to yourself then, that’s all well and good, but what about the game itself? Well let me get into that. 428: Shibuya Scramble is as its name implies, a game about Shibuya, while you do take control of characters in the game, at large the characters themselves all feel like a part of the city. Shibuya is a living, breathing entity in 428, and you really get to explore the entire city from multiple perspectives in this one long, crazy day. Shibuya’s story is your story. There are multiple characters you get to play as and each one has their own unique, individual story to tell, but each story is interwoven into the others and they begin to overlap in creative and fun ways. This is where a large part of the game play comes from; finding out how decisions you made with one character affects the fate of another character.

Say for example if you are being chased in one character’s story and decide to run into a busy city street to escape your pursuers thus causing a traffic accident, in another story the character you are playing now is stuck in said traffic accident and cannot progress their story leading to a bad end. Everything you decide to do with one character not only affects that character’s fate but may even affect the entire city’s at large and change the outcome for every other character you play as too. Finding out how to best affect the story by jumping around the multiple characters and getting everything to play out just right is a lot of fun and no surprise was also a major feature in Machi prior.

There are a bevy of characters to interact with in Shibuya but the multiple residents in this major Japanese metropolis you take direct control of are Shinya Kano, a rookie detective trying to make his way in the force and crack a kidnapping case, Achi Endo, an ex-gang leader with a heart of gold trying to make Shibuya a better place, Minoru Minorikawa, an investigative journalist on a mission to save a life, Kenji Osawa, a brooding genius that just wants to be left alone but is trapped inside a corporate scandal that goes beyond anyone’s imagination, and Tama, a poor soul trapped in a big furry cat mascot costume that just wants to be free from the hell that is a terrible part time job. Each character has their own unique flavor they bring to the table and their own individual plots range from comedic to serious, romantic to frightening, and everything else in-between. Kano’s scenario is a pretty straightforward crime drama, while Osawa’s plays like a physiological thriller where you don’t know who to trust, meanwhile Tama and Minorikawa’s scenarios will have you on the floor laughing at the insane hijinks they manage to get into somehow, and Achi is kicking ass beating up thugs and saving a lost girl.

428 manages to combine all these different kinds of smaller stories into one large story seamlessly and it’s an incredible experience jumping between all these fun characters and seeing how they eventually interact with each other as the plot progresses. It’s hard for me to even pick a favorite character in the game as all of them are so well written, and so different from one each other. If I had to pick though, I would say Osawa is probably the protagonist I relate to the most and a lot of his big story moments left me teary eyed and really moved on a truly genuine personal level (I don’t think I’m a genius like him though).

I can praise 428 to the high heavens, and really a large part of me writing about it today is to do just that, but there is an elephant in the room I probably should address at some point. Something truly horrendous, something that prevents the game from ever being a true masterpiece, something that scares everyone away, the horror of … real life actors! Yeah, as I am sure it’s obvious by this point 428 uses real life actors and was actually filmed on location in the city of Shibuya. A lot of people are put off by this and honestly that kind of bums me out that so many are so unwilling to even try different things.

To go off on a bit of a tangent, my own personal opinion is that I freaking love the way 428 looks. I’m someone that quite enjoys campy FMV video games; stuff like Night Trap or any Tex Murphy adventure game is solidly right up my alley. I also enjoy unique mixtures of real life and animation, so I love rotoscoping a whole lot--I’m always ecstatic when I find a cool movie or animated series that is rotoscoped, and that’s a large draw to me for games that use it such as Hotel Dusk. So no, I really think 428 is a beautiful game visually that was made by real pros who had to use guerrilla film making in order to bring their vision to life because of laws that prevent filming on location in Shibuya. What the team was able to do here, while also hiding it from “the man” is incredible work!

Contextly Chunsoft’s sound novels opted to not use the now established format that predominantly is how visual novel look. Originally with Otogirisō this was because visual novels were still in their infancy and the now ubiquitous presentation where sprites are shown in front of background art had not yet taken off. Nobody really knew what visual novels at the time should look like. Otogirisō is actually commonly attributed as one of the earliest examples where a visual novel had background art to begin with and wasn't just mostly text or sprites presented over a black void. Chunsoft kept their games pretty consistent visually from that point, and characters were often not seen on screen, usually just presented through the use of silhouette if needed. This really helped the “novel” aspect of their visual novels, since you had to imagine the characters’ appearances mostly through the narrative descriptions about them just like in literature.

Over time this changed with the advent of CD hardware which meant the use of still image photography and Full-Motion-Video could really take off, and Machi ran with this new hardware looking much like how 428 does. You can say these games really have a more broad appeal to them too as they are not just “anime” games but games anyone can enjoy just like a good book. This while true in Japan does get a bit tricky for a localized title as a majority of the actors are Japanese which is off putting to a general public not used to watching Japanese cinema or TV dramas. For better or worse 428 is an unequivocal Japanese game, but I really implore anyone who is even the tiniest bit interested to try it out for themselves (especially since there is a free demo) and stay open minded about the game, because if you do, you will find one of the best written, and best localized games in a generation.

428: Shibuya Scramble's predecessor; Machi on the Sega Saturn

428 didn't get a very fair shot when it came out in the English market. The month of September was jam packed with both Triple-A titles such as Marvel’s Spider-man and niche titles that could not be missed such as Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. The release date really was setting the game up to go against some huge competitors and with its enigmatic overly Japanese sensibilities 428 lacked much of the charisma to fight them. I followed the localization process very closely and this was a game I dreamt I could play for many years, but even I had to pass up grabbing the game on its release date and waited about a month or so until I managed to pick up my own copy as I had poured all my attention into Dragon Quest XI at that time which as bad as I feel for 428 I still don’t regret. By the time I wrote my annual favorite games of the year list I had to exempt 428 from it even, only writing a brief honorable mention as I knew I would love it but hadn't actually gotten to play it yet. The end of the year was far too packed with excellent titles vying for my and everyone else’s attention and what a shame, as 428 is now easily neck-and-neck with my then favorite game of the year Dragon Quest XI.

The truth is it will be very unlikely we will ever see a game like 428: Shibuya Scramble come out in English again. This was a very unlikely localization to happen in the first place, and a very risky one, but it sadly was not a runaway success. Anyone interested in the history of visual novels, sound novels, or seeing one of Chunsoft’s greatest titles definitely shouldn't pass this game up though. And anyone willing, I really recommend 428: Shibuya Scramble hard. If you love good storytelling in gaming, there isn't any better than what’s here. The story in 428 is so heart felt, and uplifting that I found myself crying a lot during my playthrough. I laughed, I cried, I found tons of inspiration for my own writing, 428 truly is a game that changes you. I think those are far too rare nowadays. This is a game that should be in any niche gamer’s PS4 or Steam collection.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Evil Season 2: Is the Evil Gene Part of Kristen’s DNA?

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This Evil review contains spoilers.

Evil Season 2 Episode 10

The supernatural investigative team at the center of Evil finally focuses its attention on the one almost-constant element in their probes: the clinic they believe is corrupting fertilized eggs. They believe RSM Fertility is a front for diabolical masters, working behind the scenes to bring about a dark future ruled by a malevolent generation of engineered children. The clinic has been helping women get pregnant for several years, and one of their first clients was Dr. Kristen Brouchard (Katja Herbers). She was so early in the fertility facility’s operations, the founding physician who was in charge “no longer works” there, according to the reception staff.

Kristen has been the center of many of the proceedings on Evil. Leland Townshend (Michael Emerson) was her nemesis before he became the team’s biggest headache. Many of the demons the team comes across tend to find a certain affinity with Kristen, and her mother, Sheryl (Christine Lahti), was dating the demonic minion, and has a few spooky dolls of her own. Maybe the Brouchard clan was the first family of RSM, and it is their blood which promises to infect future generations with insidious genetic material.

Evil season 2 episode 10 “O Is for Ovaphobia,” is a very dense installment, with several prongs to the action, and plenty of subtext. The producers give us a kidnapping, more than one conspiracy, and several supernatural events, and still have enough time for an education on body image issues. The episode is so thick with information, one of the characters needs two names, another grows a tail.

Body issues are covered on several fronts, and from entirely different vantage points. Kristen’s daughter Lexis (Maddy Crocco) is putting herself under a microscope and doesn’t like anything she sees. She had to have reconstructive oral surgery because she spouted the same protruding canines found in other children who were conceived with help from RMS Fertility. It’s not necessarily the teeth she’s having problems with so much as the distribution of her weight. Baggy sweatshirts can’t cover it, and plastic wrap doesn’t mask its telltale signs.

Ben’s (Aasif Mandvi) girlfriend Vanessa (Nicole Shalhoub) is dealing with a different issue. While still in the womb, her body absorbed the fetus of her twin sister, who didn’t remain dead. Vanessa feels her sister like a phantom limb, but lately the phantom has been taking center stage. While Ben suggests therapy, for what seems like a case of dissociative personality disorder, Vanessa opts for a more spiritual approach. Either the auras are horribly misaligned or the spiritualist’s invisible strings are set up perfectly, but Ben and Vanessa get their $350 worth. The bumping of the tables, and all the other seeming phenomena are old tricks in the spiritual trade going back to Helena Blavatsky of the Theosophical Society. There’s a reason most ads for psychics say “for entertainment purposes only.” Spiritualists have been rigging conjuring rooms long before clap-on lights.

Ben is appreciatively amused during the scene, and is visibly looking for the devices. It is interesting that the psychic appears to separate Vanessa from the ghost Maggie in time with our seeing Lexis grow the phantom tail. But we should have guessed it wasn’t all peer pressure. Lexis is probably well below whatever the prime body mass index gauge for her size and height, but she’s taking lessons from an online influencer who augments her looks with whatever tools are available. There is an underlying sadness to all of this, but at least Kristen’s mother brightens things up.

After a scrumptious dinner of Baphomet-on-rice, Sheryl is ready to shoplift the perfect dress for her big “influencer party.” She claims to be drawn to Leland through their shared hatreds, but must be leaving something out. She does with everyone else. Attending the soiree, where Sheryl stands out in red against the all-white dress of all the other guests, are important people like formerly young rock star and perennially aging Pete Townshend. They don’t show him, though many will look up those stairs for a glance. I wonder if The Who’s guitarist and songwriter is related to Leland, and hope he will put in an appearance if he is. A quick one, at least.

Edward the influencer is exasperatingly ingratiating. He is a master of lofty small talk which says nothing at all. But the things he leaves out are more illuminating. The scenario which follows his and Sheryl’s business-over-drinks meeting is quite horrifying, especially as each point is spelled out as it goes along. But Sheryl doesn’t put the pieces together until she can’t move her legs.

There must be something far more sinister about Sheryl than we know. She burns what appears to be ever-increasing denominations of cash to her voodoo doll friend, Eddie, and she’s not above blood play. Tonight’s exchange seems to be exactly that, but we don’t know what went in and what came out. All we know is in the morning light, she’s not doing the walk of shame. The odd thing is, even after all Sheryl goes through, she doesn’t elicit much sympathy. We wince, we groan, but we don’t really care. She has objectified herself beyond empathy, and she doesn’t earn any points “boody-bop-bopping” out after a night of enforced fluid exchange.

Evil Season 2 Brings a Case Worthy of The X-Files

By Tony Sokol

Evil Season 2: Has Kristen Finally Lost Her Mind?

By Tony Sokol

The mystery of who is paying for Kristen’s eggs is infuriatingly bureaucratic and vaguely conspiratorial. “The world is coming to an end,” after all. Dr. Cara Autry (Francesca Faridany) turns out to be quite the elusive suspect even after she’s named. The fertility specialist goes on the offensive almost immediately after being found, threatening and bullying her way into a PR end run, only to disappear off the face of the earth.

David Acosta (Mike Colter) doesn’t have much screen time during the episode. He sets the investigation in motion, plays an overall oversight role, and leaves the events to play out as he observes them. The episode opens with Kristen becoming very defensive when asked about her daughter’s possibly psychotic behavior. While it’s probably unintentional, the scene where David and Kristen have to speak in almost inaudible whispers for fear of waking up an infant is very funny. We’ve heard some of the children who come out of RMS Fertility are at the very least borderline psychotic, and we are waiting for this not-even-a-toddler to go over the line.

One of the problems with Evil is how much each character is hiding from the other ones. David only hides his mysteries because much of what he is seeing defies words to express. He is openly grateful for the few opportunities he has with Sister Andrea, the only other person who has an inkling of what he’s wrapping his head around. The situation with Ben’s girlfriend has only just elevated to the point where he has to bring in his teammates, but he was also hiding his nocturnal demon visitor while she was still making booty calls.

Kristen, on the other hand, is actively and eagerly obtuse. She could give Johnny Tightlips on The Simpsons a run for his money. She doesn’t even bother to hide that she’s hiding it. When one of the other RSM Fertility mothers starts talking about fanged children, David can’t help but notice how much Kristen recognizes the situation. It must run in the family, because not only does she do it on a regular basis to her family, but they do it to each other. They all seem to have learned it from Sheryl, so maybe the pathological obfuscation has always been in the DNA. For all we know, Dr. Autry is saving Kristen’s last egg because it’s the only one the clinic has left with the evil gene.

“O Is for Ovaphobia” contains many fun details and odd twists, from Ben’s realization of how he’s been two-timing his girlfriend to the ritualistic fluid exchange being timed to begin at 11:11. Evil gleefully throws in subliminal ambiance in the most mundane ways. While the series, as a whole, leaves many loose ends scattered around, the atmosphere makes good use of them. It really adds weight to the question of why RSM Fertility won’t give up that last egg.

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Evil airs Sundays on Paramount+.

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nightmareonfilmstreet · 6 years

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[Recap] HBO’s SHARP OBJECTS Episode One: Vanish

It was not long ago that the world was gifted with the twisted tale of the beautiful, yet cunning sociopath housewife, Amy Elliot of Gillian Flynn’s murder mystery Gone Girl. Her second published novel and David Fincher’s (Seven, Fight Club) 2014 film adaptation starring Ben Affleck (Justice League, The Accountant) and Rosamund Pike (Jack Reacher, Pride & Prejudice) stirred up quite a discussion among readers and viewers giving us something with more flavor to chew on than most crime dramas have before. Flynn is not afraid to creep into the dark places of our minds (see what I did there?) and skillfully forces us to follow along. It is now that her first published (and easily darkest) novel Sharp Objects, is being given the on-screen treatment by Blumhouse Productions and Entertainment One.

The premiere of the first episode this past Sunday evening, exclusively on HBO, drew fans back into Flynn’s intriguing world of murder, secrets, sex, and lies. Proving that not only is her storytelling back in an all new way, but that it was always there from the beginning.

Sharp Objects, a psychological thriller if there ever was one, focuses on an observant, but emotionally troubled reporter Camille Preaker, lured back to her Missouri hometown of Wind Gap, and her own treacherous past, to cover the story of a potential serial killing leaving one young girl dead and one girl missing all within the span of about nine months.

Though it sounds like a typical plot line with a guess-who-the-killer-is hook, much like Wind Gap itself, there is so much more to Sharp Objects beneath the surface.

Let’s start with a recap, shall we?

Sharp Objects Recap: Episode 1

Properly named Vanish, the first episode of this limited series does well to set us up with our main character, Camille, played by Amy Adams (Arrival, American Hustle), and the reasoning behind her hometown return. It presents the plot that will drive the next seven episodes: Camille will report on the murder of one child, Ann, and the disappearance of another, Natalie. We are acquainted with the setting, the seemingly reticent town of Wind Gap. Everything in between introduces us to the suspicious ensemble of secondary characters, those of which include the affluent Adora and Alan Crellin – Camille’s mother and step-father, their capricious 13-year old daughter Amma, the local badge Chief Vickery, Adora’s obnoxious but lovable estranged friend Jackie, John Keene – the dreamy, but brooding brother of Natalie, and the handsome out-of-town detective Richard Willis.

We see Camille hesitant to return home, pushed only to return in order to please her editor. Proven especially with her chilling family’s welcoming being anything but warm. Upon arrival in Wind Gap, Camille is met with a resistant Chief Vickery as he judicially vies to protect the town and all the secrets it harvests from public exposure.

Camille pokes and prods her way around town running into essential characters including some very mature preteen girls hanging around the search party. Jackie, who’s recently had a minor “falling out” with her mother, and the new detective in town who seems hesitant to share anything with Camille aside from a drink… for now.

The relationship she has with her perfect mother, Adora, played by the talented Patricia Clarkson (The Green Mile), is obviously tense and effected by some important event that is soon to reveal itself as the woman chooses to remain completely indifferent to who her daughter is and what she does for a living. Within a few lines of dialogue its easy to see her mother is not all there mentally and is dangerously obsessed with what people think and say about her. The people of Wind Gap are not privy to those who are different, but there will be much more to say about that throughout the series. Her stepsister, Amma, a puzzle all her own, seems to play both the wild street tart by day and the innocent china doll of the Crellin home by night. Camille learns the proper girl building a miniature house in the living room that her mother dotes on just so happens to be one of the cheeky preteens she observed on roller skates smoking a joint outside of the search party.

She can barely last a full ten minutes in the large family mansion before running out the front door as her memories, literally, chase her. Like anyone facing the company of wretched family, the artificial etiquette of neighbors, and the sugar-coated town she once ran from on top of a grizzly child murder and disappearance, Camille overindulges in booze and, not without distraction, trying her best to stick to her professional purpose as best as she can. She struggles against being absorbed by this toxic town, but that may prove to be a difficult task when she is being quickly outnumbered by her demons. She reverts to the local dive bar, seemingly familiar territory, to temporarily escape.

Camille is able to interview Ann’s father in an attempt to keep her story relevant and pull the pieces together to find Natalie. The grief-stricken father offers up little information other than that Ann was different from the other girls her age, something Camille can empathize with being an outsider her whole life as well. His demeanor is predictably off-kilter.

When Camille crosses paths with the preteens again, who are now accompanied by Natalie’s handsome older brother, pillaging the town’s memorial for mementos. The tension is broken by screams of true fear coming from the local diner.

Natalie’s body is found propped up against a window between the diner and another building, in broad daylight. They all rush to the scene, but it is clear the poor girl is dead. As much as Adora and the locals want to push the bad thought aside, Wind Gap will have to face reality and come to terms with the ghastly gut-punch that is a real life serial killer in their midst. A child murderer.

Our episode concludes with Camille slipping herself into a hot bath, for the first time exposing her bare body to us covered in striking scars. Dozens of words are etched into her skin from neck to ankle, Vanish being predominant before the end credits appear.

Analysis

Aside from increasing the pace and working Camille’s homecoming into one episode for time’s sake, it looks like Sharp Objects will align pretty closely to the novel. Readers are sure to appreciate this, if it remains consistent, as Flynn’s story is an enigma in need of no changes.

The story unfolds exquisitely and harshly all at once, like a knife piercing skin. Initially, you’re numb to the blade, but once that blood starts moving you can’t help but feel the rush of pain.

Amy Adams steps into the part of a stressed, introverted, complicated loner with such ease it is almost impossible to remember that she once played the role of a merry, vibrant singing princess in Enchanted. Her performance is everything we can expect from the actress and more. Somehow she shows the anxious movements and heavy baggage Camille hauls around with her physically making the character real, like someone you grew up with and bumped into at the local grocery store 15 years later. It’s obvious she is beautiful as it’s noted Camille was always a looker, but over time and some serious self-torment she has hardened and that shows in her appearance. That is the Amy Adams we are seeing here. Still beautiful, but rough. She has that look of disconnect at first and slowly we can see her acclimating now that she’s returned to the place she once called home. Even her slight Missouri accent, and the way it strengthens over time of reverted subjection to the locals, is enough to show off her fierce acting chops. She is absolutely fantastic.

I truly enjoyed the flashback scenes and semi-dream sequences and the way they drift in and out of Camille’s consciousness. My own sister, who knows nothing about film, even commented on liking the way the memories came into play cutting off reality into silence and pure thought processing. Is that not what happens when we think of something in our own minds while carrying on a conversation with other people? When we walk into a familiar room, do we not think of what took place there, ghosts appearing right before our eyes, all the while remaining in present time? Viewers may be a little confused by the ins and outs of this flashback technique, but in all good time it will make sense and prove necessary. The way her childhood thoughts manifest themselves leading one scene into another is truly eerie and gives Sharp Objects the scary little edge we crave. The unknown is supreme here, almost like a character itself. There is no exposition to this story, we are along with Camille in figuring things out when it comes to these murders as well as recalling the dark thoughts and memories she’s worked to hard to push aside.

“The unknown is supreme here, almost like a character itself.”

Director Jean-Marc Vallee (Big Little Lies) does a fantastic job bringing this strange, yet common word to life. His plays on color and light truly set the mood for the shady histories set in Wind Gap and the ugliness our characters hide. Everything from the ominous music to the delicate china is meticulously perfected, setting a tantalizing tone that we can only hope lasts us through to the end. Vallee’s flair for the feminine and the frightening in a real world setting is untouchable.

Viewers should be aware that Sharp Objects is deep in hidden subject matter and begs us to question our relationships with others as with ourselves. It’s a story I relate to personally so I am extremely ready to share my thoughts and will be happily at the forefront to travel into Wind Gap with you, exploring this interesting territory and all the seedy secrets laid within its rich farmland over the next few weeks. In my opinion, as an initial episode setting up a lot of ground only a first-person narrated novel can establish, Vanish was a success.

Stay tuned as we’ll see what Camille digs up next Sunday for Sharp Object’s second episode, Dirt – on HBO.

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mayquita · 6 years

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Call Me (18/30) The Deal. Part 1

I'm sorry for the delay, but a new chapter is here, finally! Unfortunately, as some had already imagined, I had to split the chapter into two parts, but I hope to be able to post the next part soon. In fact, I've decided that one of my resolutions for the new year is to try to publish more often. Thank you very much everyone for your continued support and for your patience. Happy New Year!

Many thanks also to @saraswans because without her maybe this would not be happening and to my beta, @ladyciaramiggles for her amazing job. You two are the best.

Summary: Emma loses her phone after a chase, but she finds a phone in a cafe just when she needs it most. Killian forgets his phone in a cafe when he is about to take a flight to Ireland. Killian makes a call to his own number hoping someone answers on the other end of the line. What will happen when Emma answers the call?

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12Chapter 13 Chapter14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17

FF.net Ao3

Sunday, June 4, 2017

A familiar scent, a reminder of his homeland, welcomed Killian as he entered "The Irish Corner ", his favorite place in Boston along with the docks.

Killian inhaled deeply, allowing the delicious aroma of home-cooked Irish food to wash over him and activate his memories.

He had felt at home the moment he discovered this cafe half hidden in a side street. It was partly the decor, and partly the owners' lilting accents that he so missed when he was away from home. But what seduced him the most about this place was the traditional Irish fare that the owners were rightly proud of.

Every time he took a bite of a meal here, he felt transposed into the past, to the years when his whole world revolved around his brother. In spite of the difficulties they had gone through when their father left them, Liam always managed to serve Killian's favorite dishes. He got the stability and security that would otherwise have been denied to him through the food that Liam cooked.

His brother and his family were far away now, though. Still, despite the weight he was still carrying, he was not alone, not if the Nolan’s had their way. They had offered him their effortless friendship from the beginning and had seen beyond his broken heart. The Nolan’s were his family and his refuge here in Boston, along with Belle, whom he considered almost as a little sister, and the loyal Will, who, despite his insolence, had followed him from their homeland. He hoped to add one more member soon.

David, Mary Margaret, and little Leo were already waiting for him in their usual booth, the corner they had claimed after years of this Sunday tradition.

Killian smiled as he walked towards the booth, realizing that in just a few minutes he would finally have someone sitting on his side of the booth with him.

He still could not believe that Emma had accepted the deal, but after their first meeting, everything had returned to normal. They picked up their text messages, their exchange of photos and their endless phone calls. Staying in the same time zone helped, although foolishly he had barely slept the last two nights as they talked for hours on end.

To his relief, it seemed that Elsa had been right all this time. Emma just needed time to trust him and finish opening up completely. After all, they both had broken hearts that they protected fiercely and had only known each other for three weeks — now four, actually.

Shaking his head, he decided to park those thoughts for now and focus his attention on his friends. After greeting them and ruffling little Leo's hair affectionately, he sat down and Mary Margaret caught him up on 'Life with the Nolans' while waiting for Emma's arrival.

He was having a good time with his friends but that didn't stop a slight worry from settling in his stomach, with every minute that passed and Emma didn’t appear. He pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen discreetly, to double check the time they had agreed when texting just an hour before. No, everything was fine, she would arrive shortly, he told himself as he thought that he needed to work on this, he couldn’t become a bundle of nerves every time they met. This was an opportunity to build a friendship with Emma and he didn't want to spoil it for both of them with his anxiety.

"Emma must be on her way, right?" Mary Margaret's excited voice brought him back to reality.

When Killian had first mentioned Emma joining them for brunch earlier in the week, Mary Margaret had barely been able to contain her excitement. "Uncle Killy's finally met a girl" she had yelled gleefully, bouncing little Leo on her hip as she danced for joy around the kitchen. She had a tendency for thinking that life was like a fairy tale, and the mere mention of Emma clearly had her imagining Killian's happy ending.

That's why he had been quick to set her straight before her excitement got out of hand. "No, it's not a date. We're just getting to know each other better". Under no circumstances did Killian want Emma to feel overwhelmed or intimidated by his friends, especially since she had freaked out after meeting David at the precinct two weeks ago.

"She'll be here soon." He assured through a tight smile. He was about to remind Mary Margaret again to contain her excitement when the sound of the door opening caught his attention.

The moment Emma appeared through the door, all his worries dissipated and the knot in his stomach loosened. He stifled a sigh of relief and instead, focused on her. She was gorgeous. Her hair was down, her golden curls framing her face. She was wearing tight jeans and a white silk top with some embroidery. His eyes didn't lose detail of all her movements. It took her a few seconds to locate him, her gaze searching the room for him. When their eyes met, her lips curled into a shy smile as she began to walk with somewhat hesitant steps.

It was then that a new, worrying thought crossed his mind, making him feel almost like a teenager rather than the thirty-year-old he actually was. But when it came to Emma Swan, there always seemed to be something making him anxious. In this case, the cause of his concern was figuring out the most appropriate way to greet her.

Killian barely had time to stand before David had stood and reached his hand across the table, greeting Emma warmly. He introduced her to his wife as he balanced Leo in one arm. Mary Margaret sprung out of the booth and pulled her into a tight embrace, unable to suppress her innate enthusiasm. The hug clearly caught Emma off guard who stiffened for a few awkward seconds before relenting and putting her arms loosely around Mary Margaret. Knowing how uncomfortable Emma was with such displays of affection from strangers caused the knot in Killian's stomach to tighten again. Was brunch going to be a disaster before it had even begun? To his relief though, Emma was still smiling slightly as she was finally released from Mary Margaret's hug. It became a grin as she said hello to Leo who was tugging on David's ear. She gave the boy a few kind words in a softer tone than usual, melting Killian's heart a little more in the process.

Killian still hadn't recovered from watching Emma's tenderness towards Leo when she turned her head and their gazes met again, her lingering smile on her lips taking his breath away. She was beautiful, and her beauty increased the more he got to see her in person. She gave him an affectionate squeeze on his biceps, which seemed to be the signal for everyone to sit down again. Emma took the empty spot beside him, and he felt the warmth of her body and the vanilla scent of her hair instantly, causing a slight dizziness in him.

By the time they were all seated, the conversation had dwindled. It seemed his friends had taken heed of his earlier warning not to overwhelm Emma and were leaving the conversation to him, he just didn't know how to begin. As he looked across the table at Mary Margaret he could see her biting back her enthusiasm, desperate to launch into an excited frenzy over Killian's new friend. Thankfully, the waitress arrived before either Mary Margaret exploded, or the silence could become uncomfortable.

Although the original idea was for her to try an Irish breakfast, he wanted to make sure she agreed first. "So what do you say, lass, are you willing to try one of the greatest pleasures of my homeland?"

Emma rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips rose slightly. "That was the idea in the first place, wasn't it? Let's try that famous Irish breakfast."

This seemed to ease the tension, for the moment the waitress left, Mary Margaret finally spoke through a wide grin. "We're very happy to have you here, Emma. Killian has told us a lot about you."

Before answering, Emma gave him a sidelong glance. "Killian has also told me a lot about you and about this place too." She waved her hand, pointing to the room. "I had to check out this breakfast and see if it lived up to the hype."

"Oh, I'm sure that it won't disappoint you. Killian introduced us to this Irish breakfast five years ago and we succumbed instantly. It's been a weekly tradition ever since.” Once the ice was broken, Mary Margaret was unable to conceal her enthusiasm.

"See?" He teased, nudging her with his shoulder as he arched his eyebrows playfully, earning a snort from her. Once again, he found himself witnessing a conversation in which they talked about him as if he weren't even present in the room. But that didn't bother him at all, especially if he had a chance to see Emma interact with his two best friends in Boston.

"Don't get too smug, Jones. I still have to try it. I'm starving, by the way, will the food take long?"

Killian couldn’t help but smirk. That was a good start, after all, wasn't it?

When the food finally arrived, he took his time to explain to Emma the contents of the dish. He had to suppress a chuckle when she grimaced at the sight of the beans and the puddings, but in the end, she dared to taste all the food and by her expression she had been quite satisfied. First mission accomplished, not only because the meal had been a success but because she seemed to be fitting in well with his friends. Both, Mary Margaret and David, made an effort to involve her in different conversations and, to his relief, Emma seemed quite relaxed.

"What's your story, Emma, do you have any family here?"

His entire body tensed as he heard Mary Margaret's question. He was aware that his friend's intentions were good and maybe he should have given them some prior explanation. Still, that did not stop a bit of worry from returning to his stomach.

"Mary Margaret..." He started to warn her, but was cut off by Emma.

"It's okay."

Killian glanced sideways at Emma to make sure she did not feel too uncomfortable. Although her features showed a certain tension, Emma glanced back, nodding almost imperceptibly, one of the corners of her lips raised in what seemed an attempt at a reassuring smile. Then, she addressed Mary Margaret and responded in a calm voice. "Well, no, I don’t have family here. I don’t have any family at all, actually. I grew up in the foster care system. I have gone through different families and states to end up here, in Boston two years ago."

"Oh." Mary Margaret seemed overwhelmed for a few seconds, her cheeks dyed a pink hue while she rubbed her hands in a nervous gesture. Her gaze drifted almost imperceptibly towards Killian as if she were asking him what to do next. She did not wait for an answer, though. Nodding to herself as if she had finished an internal debate, she directed her gaze back to Emma, her lips drawing a soft smile. "Well, welcome to the club then."

"To the club?" Emma's eyes narrowed as she asked aloud the same question he was thinking. What was his friend talking about?

"Oh yes, the BOWS club. Boston Orphans, Waifs and Strays. We meet every Sunday for brunch!"

Emma cocked her head, her eyebrows went together in confusion. "Then you two are also orphans?"

"Yeah, we can also add Will, and Belle. Well, Belle actually has a father, but he lives in Australia, so she gets to join as a waif or a stray instead.” This time it was David who continued with his wife's explanation.

“And David has a twin brother, but we have heard nothing about him for a long time." Mary Margaret added. Killian knew the story of James, David's rebellious brother, the black sheep of his family. He was aware that this memory was painful for him, for that reason he appreciated, even more, the effort they were doing to make Emma feel included. Mary Margaret's hand moved to meet her husband's, remaining intertwined while sharing a look of understanding and resignation.

"I lost my parents too soon, like David, but then we found each other, and we created our own family." Mary Margaret gave a look of affection both to her husband and her son. "Belle and Will also met each other... And..." She didn’t finish the sentence, aware of the warning look Killian gave her. "Well, if you join the club you won’t be alone anymore.”

Emma turned her head so she could face him, her gaze searching his. To his surprise, there seemed to be no sign of tension in her features, on the contrary, her eyes had a special brightness. "So the BOWS club, huh?"

"What do you say, love?"

A tiny smile tugged lightly at her lips as she shrugged. "Yeah, why not?"

"Welcome to the family then." He met her gaze, schooling his features into a subtle smile so as not to betray his excitement and pride for her. Just like that, with this little act, she was demonstrating that she was more than willing to continue to tear down the walls around her heart, trusting not only in him but in two people she had just met.

He felt eternally grateful to his friends for the warm welcome they had given her, thinking that maybe he would have to babysit Leo a little more often than usual to show his thanks.

Emma was clearly relaxed and enjoying herself and the hours passed without any of them noticing. It was only when Leo started getting cranky, long overdue for his nap that they realized how long they had chatted. Although reticent, the Nolans took it as a hint to leave and they got up to say goodbye. Emma blew a kiss at little Leo, who rewarded her with one of his lovely smiles and a babbling that sounded like "Bye Emma." Emma's promise that she would join them again next Sunday was the last thing they heard before heading to the door.

She then leaned against the back of her seat, rubbing her flat stomach with one hand. "Oh, god, my stomach is so full that I'm not going to be able to eat anything else all day."

Killian chuckled at her side. "A pity, love, because I was thinking that this afternoon we could continue with another of our items on the list."

"Don't you have to work today?"

"Aye, but there's only a short trip in my schedule, then I'm all yours, if you want me." Killian arched his eyebrows playfully as Emma rolled her eyes.

"And what would that other plan of yours be?"

A grin spread across his face. "Go get an ice cream, of course."

Even though he felt he was chancing his luck with his suggestion, she accepted, complaining that if his idea of getting to know each other better was only through food, she would end the month with a few extra pounds.

A couple of hours later, they met again at the entrance of the ice cream parlor. And that's how they ended up, walking by the docks, both savoring their ice cream, rocky road for her, of course, rum ‘n’ raisin for him.

Killian led her to his favorite place in the port, a secluded spot with the best views of the sea, a place he visited whenever he needed to calm both his soul and his mind. Today the visit was for different reasons, but he felt the need to contemplate the ocean in an attempt to calm his increasingly racing heart due to the presence of Emma at his side.

They watched the ocean in silence for a while. Little by little, though, he began to glance at her. He thought she was beautiful when all he had was photos and videos of her, but here, in person, as they watched the sunset and the last rays of sun bathed her face, she was breathtaking.

"What?"

Killian realized that he had stopped staring at the horizon when he heard Emma's voice. She was looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. It was then, thanks to the light of sunset, he made another discovery, something that had gone unnoticed for him through the screen. He couldn’t stop his lips curling into a grin, delighted with the possibility of continuing to discover more and more about Emma Swan.

"Nothing. It's just..." He raised his hand, his finger pointing to her nose. "I just realized that you have freckles."

Emma's reaction was immediate. Her cheeks flushed pink as her eyes narrowed and her lips drew a small pout. "Yeah, well. Is that a problem?"

"No, I actually find it quite adorable."

Emma rolled her eyes, turning her gaze back to the ocean, but her lips twisted into a smile as the pink of her cheeks became more pronounced. Killian's heart fluttered as he watched her. There were still more than three weeks left to win Emma's heart as she had surely won his. The first step seemed to be a success, now he had to stay on track with the next step.

Monday, June 5, 2017

I had to get up early today but it was worth it. A couple wanted to watch the sunrise from the sea.

Killian's message could not have come at a better time, since Emma was about to die of boredom that Monday morning. She had spent the first few hours of the day filling out reports on the latest resolved cases, undoubtedly the worst task of her job. That was why any distraction was welcome, the more so if it came from Killian.

'Damn Irishman!’ She already missed him even though they had seen each other just the day before, at their first meeting after they had sealed their pact. She thought back over the day fondly, smiling at the memories. It had been a great day, really. And the best thing was that it was just the beginning... Emma shook her head, not wanting to anticipate what was to come. There was something she decided once she accepted the deal. She was going to try and live in the moment as she got to know Killian, no pressure, and no ties, not worrying about tomorrow. And this very moment was indicating that there was a photo waiting to be seen on her phone.

Emma was enthralled by the beauty of the image. He had managed to capture the exact moment when the sky began to dye a range of reddish colors while the sun announced its timid appearance on the horizon drawing a trail with its reflection on the sea.

A new message from Killian took her out of her reverie. She shook her head before reading. ‘What’s wrong with me? It’s just a sunrise.'

What do you think? Do we add this to our list of pending activities?

Uhm, getting up early is not my thing, really.

Oh, but we could consider it as going to bed late. We could entertain ourselves with some enjoyable activities while we wait for the sun to appear.

Emma felt her cheeks flush as she imagined that scenario. ‘Bastard!’ She would not admit it out loud, but these veiled innuendos were one of the things she had missed the most during the days when she had tried to avoid him.

Do you mean to spend the night in your cabin while pillaging and plundering, so as not to fall asleep?

Aye, that could be described as a pleasurable activity.

I see… Keep dreaming, buddy ;P

"Has your friend already come back?"

Emma looked up in surprise, for she had completely forgotten that Graham was in the office. In fact, she had not even realized that he had approached and was now leaning on her desk.

"What?"

"Your friend, the Irishman, has already returned to Boston?" Graham repeated nodding towards her phone.

"Eh, yeah, a few days ago." She cocked her head, curious at Graham's sudden interest.

Her boss remained thoughtful for a few seconds, then added. "Remind me to thank him when I meet him."

Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Thanks for what?"

The corners of Graham's lips lifted, drawing a soft smile. "Because it seems that he has made that smile that you had hidden finally appear."

Emma's cheeks began to burn again. She still had trouble getting used to receiving such comments, but considering Graham was not the first person to comment on her smile, maybe they were right.

"Uhm, thank you, I guess. Maybe you can tell Killian in person, I'll tell him to stop by one of these days." Before Graham could reply, she decided to change the subject, as she still felt somewhat uncomfortable with such conversations. "By the way, I met Officer Brave the other day."

Graham's expression changed abruptly. His smile disappeared from his lips and this time it was the turn of his cheeks to blush. "Merida?"

"Oh, so the M on her plate was for Merida. She asked me about you." She grinned, amused by his nervousness.

"Well, I'll see her tomorrow..." Emma raised an eyebrow, teasing him. "... because I have to give her these files, that is, whenever you finish your stuff, so stop talking and go to work." Graham walked away from her desk and headed toward his, suddenly very interested in the files on the table.

Emma's grin grew wider, the reaction of both Merida and Graham had been quite similar, that had to mean something. Maybe she could ask David, since she would see him again next Sunday. Because yes, she had decided she wanted to be part of that close-knit group that enjoyed a weekly brunch together. At least as long as they wanted her there. Or until the deal ended.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Killian set the phone down on the desk as his lips twitched into a wide grin. It was Thursday, which meant that it had been a week since his meeting with Emma. And what was even better, she had just suggested a plan for them that day, so they would meet up in less than an hour.

He couldn't be more pleased with how their deal was progressing. Emma had been very receptive from the beginning, agreeing not only to resume their daily routines of sharing their respective lives, but she had also become well acquainted with the Nolans. They hadn't seen each other since last Sunday, so when Emma called him to propose they have lunch together at Granny's and finally try the delicious grilled cheese — her words— he couldn't refuse. Especially since he was dying to see Will and Belle's reaction when he left for lunch without them.

Killian got up then, grabbed his wallet and phone, but before he had time to put them in his pocket, Will asked, "are you going somewhere?"

He took his time to respond, resuming the interrupted task. When he was sure he had everything ready to go — yes, this time he had left nothing behind — he turned to his friend, answering through a wide smirk. "It's lunchtime."

Will hurried to get up while rubbing his hands together. "Great, I'll come with you, help you carry. What will it be this time?"

Killian's smile grew even wider. "Oh, no take-out this time. It's a real lunch today, a waiter taking the order, someone serving me at a table and all that stuff. I'm pretty sure you know what I mean."

"Even better!" Killian could almost feel his friend's mouth watering. "Come on lass, I'm taking you to a restaurant." Will waved towards Belle, who was already moving from behind the counter to accompany them. Oh, how he was enjoying the situation, not a shred of regret for his attitude. He would have to make it up to them later, but for now, it was time to give the final blow.

"Uh, maybe I haven't explained myself well. I'm going to have lunch. Alone." He stressed the word alone, marking each letter and enjoying the confused faces of his two friends. He suddenly raised both his hands as if he was remembering something. "Well, that's not quite true. Emma will be my companion today."

Will took a while to process the information, but when he did, his face contorted in a grimace. "Really? Are you choosing The Swan Girl over me?" His voice sounded offended as his finger pointed towards himself.

"Oh come on, Will." Belle rolled her eyes as she lightly tapped her boyfriend's arm with the back of her hand. "Stop being so dramatic and go get me something to eat." Then she turned to Killian, her eyes narrowed and a wrinkle of defiance on her forehead. "And you, make it worth it, okay?" Her face softened instantly. "And enjoy lunch, we'll manage without you, although I'm sure my boyfriend is going to miss you terribly."

Will huffed at her side, avoiding eye contact with Killian.

"I think he's going to miss my money, but anyway, I love you too, Scarlett."

Without further ado, Killian left the office, hurrying to find Emma as soon as possible. In his mind, the determination to carry out Belle's words and make his encounter with Emma really worth it. That was the intention of this entire plan, in the first place, right?

"I gather that the first week of that kind of agreement between you and the hot Irishman has gone well, right?"

Emma looked up from her phone screen when she heard Ruby's voice. She had been distracted rereading the last chain of messages she and Killian had exchanged. She shook her head, seriously considering that she had to stop this practice at some point. "It hasn't been too bad." She answered reluctantly, diverting her gaze back to the phone. Actually, the week could have gone better, if they had seen each other more than once. It was becoming increasingly evident that the endless phone conversations were no longer enough. She needed more. But Ruby didn't need to know. Not for the moment, at least.

"Uh, this gets interesting... Your man just arrived, honey." Emma's eyes followed the direction of Ruby's gaze until she found Killian right in the front door. She swallowed, feeling her cheeks flush. ‘Damn it!’ She hated not having control over her body when it came to Killian and the worst of all was that this was probably going to get worse and worse. Or better...

It was unfair, the effect he had on her. In fact, everything about him was unfair; from his dazzling smile, a flash of white teeth and full kissable lips 'stop it Emma’; to his impossibly blue eyes; even his swagger as he moved towards her had her stomach doing somersaults.

Before he reached her, though, a sense of nervousness washed over her. She still had to get used to this crazy thing called friendship, because how was she supposed to greet him? With a kiss on the cheek? A hug? A simple smile? She did not remember feeling so nervous at their last meeting in the Irish cafe, but at that time she was in control of the situation, now she could only wait for his movement. She made a mental note to work on this to get to behave like a real adult on future occasions.

It was a hug. He chose a damn hug, perhaps too short for her liking, but it still made the blush on her cheeks to increase and her knees to weaken. To her relief, at least he seemed as affected as she was when they parted, if the red of the tip of his ears was anything to go by.

Killian recovered quickly, displaying all his charm on Ruby and this time, also on Granny who, according to her own words a few days ago, was eager to meet the “hot Irishman who had managed to get you out of your shell.” Ruby's grandma was not exactly discreet in her look of appreciation towards Killian or in her gesture of approval towards her.

"Come on, buddy, now that you've managed to win two more fans, can we go eat? I'm starving.”

The bastard dared to make a small bow, with his arms slightly extended and a smirk on his face that she wanted to erase with her own lips. "As you wish."

Emma ignored the butterflies in her stomach and rolled her eyes, grabbing him by one hand and dragging him towards the nearest booth, sitting facing each other. The conversation between them had not yet begun when Ruby appeared again, offering them the menu.

"I don’t think it's necessary, lass. The Lady Swan wants me to taste her favorite food, and who am I to refuse?"

This time it was Ruby's turn to roll her eyes, but at least she remained silent, seeming to understand the meaning of the warning look Emma sent her, shouting in silence go away. After taking the order and offering a wolfish smile to each of them, she finally walked away, shouting, "Coming right up, behave yourselves, guys."

Despite that strange first moment between them, everything flowed easily, both catching up, while enjoying the grilled cheese and an extra ration of onion rings.

When Killian started to tell her what happened earlier with Belle and Will, she could not help but tease him a little. "You are such a bad boss, poor things. What are they going to do now that you don't provide them with their food?" Emma bit her lip repressing a laugh not only because the situation was really hilarious but because she was greatly enjoying the expression on his face, trying to be offended by her words, but being betrayed by his almost perpetual grin and the small wrinkles around his eyes.

"You wound me, Swan, they're going to end up ruining me, I'm going to have to increase the budget on food when I do the accounting for the company, I'm telling you."

A giggle escaped from her mouth. He was such an idiot... But it was these little details that made it all worthwhile, not only the ability to make her laugh, but also the total confidence placed in her when choosing the dish, or his way of focusing his gaze only on her as if nothing else mattered around him, or the contagious bubbling of his laughter, or the almost hypnotizing way in which his tongue peeked from time to time through his lips.

A memory came to her mind suddenly, the image of the imaginary list of Killian's qualities devised by Ruby a week ago. Something told her that the list was going to get longer and longer. Of course, she was going to make sure that list was kept secret, because there was no need to feed his ego, right?

Lunchtime passed too quickly to her liking, the time to leave arrived without them hardly noticing. "I would love to continue enjoying your company, love, but I have a ship tour planned shortly." He was reluctant to leave, his expression indicated so. "So..." As he spoke, he put his hand to his head, scratching behind his ear. "See you again on Sunday for brunch?"

Two things caught her attention at that moment, the slight uncertainty in his voice, and the glimmer of hope in his eyes. While she was determined to eliminate the first one, she did not mind at all that that brightness would last for... always. "Sure, I'll be there." She agreed reassuringly, trying to eliminate any doubt he might have.

She was still on board with this deal. Not only that, she needed more, much more. So she made a mental note to organize next week so that they could see each other almost every day. She needed her daily dose of Killian Jones.

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

A quiet silence reigned in the office, broken only by the continuous purring of the air conditioner and by the heavy typing on the keyboard of her computer. Her two co-workers had left the office a couple of hours ago, Graham to get new cases and — Emma suspected — to meet Merida, and Leroy for an early surveillance session.

It was not usual for the office to be so quiet, but Emma was so engrossed in her investigation that she hardly noticed the excessive tranquility. At least until the sound of her stomach rumbling broke her concentration.

Emma noticed then that it was almost lunchtime, but she stubbornly ignored the signs of hunger and continued the investigation, trying to find the thread that would allow her to go out in the afternoon in search of her perp.

Just when she seemed to have found a clue, a new sound, this time from her phone, broke her concentration. A snort of annoyance escaped her mouth as she grabbed her phone to see who had dared to disturb her work.

Are you busy now, love?

Okay, if Killian was the one to blame for the interruption she was fine with it. The butterflies in her stomach and her lips drawing into an involuntary smile indicated that at least.

I'm working Jones, what do you want?

Well, Will and Belle have decided to mutiny against me and have gone to have lunch together. So... would you care to join me, Swan?

Uh, I'm not sure I like being a replacement.

Come on, Swan. I know you're in your office and you probably haven’t stopped to eat yet. What do you say if I bring you a delicious grilled cheese from your favorite place?

Her stomach rumbled again, demanding her to accept his offer. It was not fair, she complained in silence, that he already knew her so well to be able to tempt her with something she couldn't refuse. Not that she was going to put up a lot of impediments, quite the contrary, since last Sunday, when they had last met for brunch, seemed such a long time ago. The idea of having Killian right here in her office, sounded too tempting to reject, despite all the work she had pending.

Her fingers slid quickly over the phone screen as she wrote the address.

Don't forget the onion rings.

I wouldn’t dream of it, love. Give me twenty minutes.

And that was how Killian met Graham. He returned a little later and caught them mid-banter, both lounging lazily in their respective seats, while the containers and the leftovers of the food remained scattered on her desk. Emma straightened up as soon as she saw her boss, but his amused expression allowed her to relax a bit.

Before they met, Emma had suspected that they would not get along well, testosterone putting them in competition with each other. Once again, Killian surprised her, because they both engaged in a relaxed conversation, sharing memories of common places and sports, while Emma gazed enthralled at the two men, both similar in physical appearance, with similar accents, but so different at the same time. This new boss-friend relationship could be promising.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Emma’s heart hammered against her chest as she walked towards Killian’s office. It had been more than two weeks since her first humiliating visit to that place. Even though everything was going much better with Killian now, she hadn’t forgotten those earlier days when panic had overtaken her. That feeling of fear hadn’t yet disappeared, but at least she had managed to control it and bury it in some deep corner of her mind, always lurking but without coming to the surface.

Killian was a great help in controlling her fears. He had been true to his words, letting the relationship flow naturally, making sure she didn't feel pressured and that there was no obligation between them, just two friends who wanted to get to know each other better. From the moment they started this kind of game through the pact, they didn't mention it again, they didn't even talk about the date when she should make a decision.

And she was grateful for it, she really was. There was something, however, that had been going through her mind the last few days, a kind of longing for those three weeks in which they had been separated by an ocean.

It was strange, really. Because, except for those days in which Emma tried to avoid him, they hadn't stopped maintaining their daily phone conversations each evening, but she missed something, perhaps the ability to bare her soul to a stranger without fear of being judged, perhaps the unique experience of getting to know a person without needing to have seen him before, maybe that feeling of excitement, of thinking that everything was possible, a feeling of freedom in a certain way.

Everything was different now. Even when they talked on the phone, she couldn't stop imagining his expression, his eyes, the movement of his lips. Her head and heart were a whirlwind of emotions, much more intense than when they were thousands of miles apart. Her capacity for concentration had almost disappeared and she had to restrain herself for fear of showing too much of her feelings. She wasn't ready for that. Not yet. But there was something she couldn't deny, the feeling that Killian was a stranger had completely disappeared. He was now something else and there was no turning back.

Emma shook her head in an attempt to get rid of those thoughts. She would have time to face them later. She had a mission to carry out, a way to face the obstacles that she had put in her own way. Her problems couldn't remain locked in a bottle which she hoped would never open.

For that reason, she was here today, as a mean of rectifying her first meeting with Belle, although she also wanted to compensate both her and Will for snatching Killian at lunchtime.

There was another reason too, Emma was fascinated by Killian's way of life, the relationship he had with his friends and his unusual way of earning a living. She struggled to fathom the enigma that was Killian Jones, a man tormented by his past, fighting his demons every day and who had little idea of how much love and devotion surrounded him. It was intriguing and exciting, and now Emma was also part of the story. Time would tell what role she was going to play.

Emma took two deep breaths before opening the front door, trusting that the food she had gotten as a peace offering was enough.

Belle was there, behind the counter, in the same place as before. This time, though, her eyes widened in surprise and her lips drew a smile of recognition. "Emma! What a nice surprise, Killian didn't tell us you were coming."

"Hi." Her voice came out in barely a whisper, her throat had suddenly dried, exposing her nervousness. Her feet refused to move, keeping her stuck in the middle of the room, unsure of what to do next. A sense of déjà vu crossed her mind, but luckily, Belle also seemed to feel it, as she immediately stepped out behind the counter and approached her with a reassuring expression.

Emma then remembered the bag of food she was holding. She swallowed the lump growing in her dry throat and raised her hand, offering the bag to Belle. "He didn’t know, it's a surprise. I brought lunch." She offered through a weak smile.

"Oh, that's very kind of you. I'm Belle, by the way, although I guess you already know." Emma took the hand that Belle was offering, pleasantly surprised by the gentleness she was showing with her.

"Nice to meet you, Belle. I'm not going to run away this time, I promise." Belle's good reception had got Emma to gain some confidence, the lump in her throat finally gone.

Belle's head tilted a bit, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You'd better because Killian wouldn't forgive me if I let you escape again." She warned. Her amused grin at odds with the stern tone of her voice.

Killian had told her a few days ago, that he had almost caught her on that first foray into his office, making her feel even more embarrassed despite his reassurance that everything was already forgotten.

Belle's words brought that moment to her memory, but far from tormenting her, it was like a kind of liberation. Although the fear was still latent, she knew that she would not be able to escape from Killian, never again.

And just like that, the ice broke and Emma relaxed instantly, a laugh bubbling in her throat, getting Belle to join her, both laughing in the middle of the office. "Oh god, I'm sorry, you must have thought I was unstable or something." Emma said once she managed to control her voice again.

A dismissive wave of Belle’s hand cut her off. "And yet here you are, again. I'm very happy." Belle squeezed her forearm lightly, as she guided her to the couch next to Killian's desk. "Come with me and take a seat, Killian and Will will be back any minute."

Once they settled down, Emma felt even more relaxed. Her eyes scanned the room, noting the small details that she could tell were very Killian. Despite being no more than an office, a place to do business, Killian — or maybe Belle — had managed to make the room a cozy place, very different from the coldness of her impersonal office.

Her gaze focused on a world map that hung on the wall, right next to Queen's poster. There were small thumbtacks of different colors pinned to the map marking different locations. The map aroused Emma's curiosity, so she made a mental note to ask Killian later about it. Instead, she focused her eyes on Belle again, thinking that perhaps she owed an explanation to her unexpected visit.

"I wanted to compensate you for those times that Killian left at lunchtime, so I thought it would be a good idea if this time I was the one who came."

Belle nodded in approval. "I'm not going to complain when someone brings us food, so I'll be happy if you decide to repeat it in the next few weeks."

It could be a good idea, Emma thought. Tuesdays, lunch in her office, Wednesdays in Granny's, Thursdays, in Killian's office and finally Sundays, brunch with the Nolans. She could get used to this routine, no doubt.

They engaged in a light conversation, only cut off by the sound of the entrance door opening a few minutes later. Both turned their heads at the same time in the direction of the entrance, meeting the guys who had finally made their appearance.

It was almost funny how different were the expressions of the two men. Killian's face split into a huge grin when he noticed her as his eyes widened in surprise, making her heart flutter and her knees weaken.

Will, on the other hand, stopped short when he saw that they had an unexpected visitor, his forehead crossed with small wrinkles, while his eyes narrowed, giving her a challenging look. Okay, she was going to have to work on earning the trust of Killian's friend.

"Surprise! I brought lunch." Emma lifted the bag containing the food, offering a tentative smile.

Will's expression changed instantly, the frown vanished, his lips drawing a smirk. He tapped Killian on the arm with the back of his hand. "I already like her, mate. Can we keep her around?"

Killian had been right about the relationship their two friends had with food. She was not going to complain, though, if with that she managed to win Will's heart and stayed in Killian's.

Friday, June 16, 2017

I'm bored, Jones.

I got home early today.

Are you still sailing? I thought about doing a Fringe marathon session. Do you want to join me? Bring beers and I'll make popcorn!

Killian's phone had not stopped buzzing in the last few minutes, but he had been too busy taking the ship to port, so it had been impossible to take a look at the device. It was later, when the ship was moored and he had said goodbye to the clients, when he was able to check the messages received.

Luckily for him, Will and Belle were no longer in the office when he arrived, because otherwise he would have been greeted with a reproachful look from his secretary as she watched him walk with his eyes fixed on the phone and his fingers flying over the screen, without paying attention to anything around him.

One of these days you're going to have an accident, Killian. That would have been Belle's response, with a mixed tone of reprimand and concern, while her boyfriend would have made some sharp comment —The Swan Girl has him too distracted — He’d have rolled his eyes and ignored them both.

Fortunately, the solitude of the office welcomed him this time. He threw his belongings on his desk and slumped on the chair, not abandoning the phone from his hands.

A pity that I haven’t been able to read your messages until now Swan. I would have offered you some other kind of distraction.

Too late, buddy. Are you coming or not?

Give me half an hour, love.

He forced himself not to think too much about the implications of going to Emma's apartment for the first time, but he was grateful that she trusted him enough to keep opening up to him and offering him this opportunity.

Thirty-five minutes later, he was in front of her door, a pack of beers in his hand, trying — and failing — to control his nerves. He felt reduced to an awkward teenager whenever he was around The Swan Girl — bloody hell, Will's nickname had taken root! He hoped to have enough composure not to embarrass himself tonight.

His purpose went out the window the moment Emma opened the door. Once again, the sensation of dreaming seized him, because it was still hard for him to believe that such a gorgeous creature had crossed his path. She wore leggings and that infamous shirt too large, that left a bare shoulder. Her hair was pulled back in a sloppy bun and her face was clean, with no traces of makeup. Her natural beauty managed to take his breath away but what really impressed him was the intensity of her gaze and her bright smile full of promises.

"Mmm..." Her approval sound did nothing to calm his inner turmoil. "Not bad, only five minutes late."

"In my defense, I had to stop by my apartment and take a quick shower." Killian didn't miss the way her pupils dilated as her eyes followed the path to his still damp hair. "But now I'm all yours, love." He hummed in a silky voice as he raised his eyebrows playfully, earning an eye roll from Emma. At least his voice had not betrayed him this time.

"You are incorrigible, Jones." Emma shook her head, but the smile didn't disappear from her face. She grabbed the beers with one hand and held the free one out, gesturing for him to join her.

"Get comfortable while I make the popcorn." Emma glanced over her shoulder as she walked toward the kitchen.

"Do you need a hand there, love?" Killian offered tentatively, not quite sure what to do. At her refusal, he took a seat on the couch, taking his time scanning the room while he waited for Emma.

It was a practical living room, he concluded, without excessive ornaments or personal belongings, just a place to spend a few hours a day. The sofa was comfortable, though, and he tried to prepare himself both mentally and physically at the thought of spending the next few hours sitting next to Emma.

She came back through, offering him a beer while placing a huge bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. She sat down, somewhat away from him, leaning on the arm of the sofa, her legs bent and her arms around her knees. She did not turn on the television immediately, but remained pensive for a few seconds, her teeth biting her lower lip.

Something was going through her head, no doubt. He hoped that she was not regretting having invited him home. "I can hear you thinking, Swan. What is it?" He held his breath, preparing for the worst.

Emma remained thoughtful for a few more seconds, but then her eyes searched for his. "It's nothing, it's just..." Emma paused for a moment while licking her lips causing him to lose concentration. "Don't you miss our calls when you were back in Ireland?"

His eyes narrowed as he cocked his head, studying her. "Well, we talk every day." He commented, not quite sure what she meant.

"I mean, I miss when we had those endless conversations, when we talked about a different topic every day. When there was still the mystery between us, or when we could talk about our ghosts from the past." Emma shrugged, the longing evident in her eyes, the corner of her lips lifted subtly.

Before answering, Killian considered it for a moment. Yes, he missed those first conversations in a way, but he wouldn't change it for the possibility of having her by his side, of being able to look her in the eyes without any screen between them, of being able to touch her, even in a fortuitous way. "What makes you think we cannot keep talking about all that? You can tell me anything, love." He tried to imprint with both his eyes and his voice the confidence and reassurance she needed.

Emma blinked a couple of times but never breaking eye contact with him. "You know, I'm not very good at trusting people. It was much easier when there was a distance that separated us." Her words came through a weak smile.

An idea crossed his mind at that moment. "Okay, let's try something, lass. Imagine that I'm not here, but back in Dublin, locked in my room and hoping that neither my nephew nor my niece will interrupt us."

Emma's giggles echoed throughout the living room. He counted it as a small triumph, his chest swelled with pride.

"Okay, I can imagine it."

"Very well. And now, is there something you want to know or want to talk about? Close your eyes, if it's easier for you. What's in your mind, Swan?"

Emma did what he said and closed her eyes. After a few seconds of silence, her eyes opened again, showing a special glow this time. "What does the map that hangs in your office mean?"

His heart tightened after hearing her words, while a lump formed in his throat and a wave of memories took hold of him.

"I'm sorry... I didn’t..." Emma reached out her hand, looking for his and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

"It's okay, Emma." Killian wondered how she had figured out that there was some deep meaning hidden in that map. He took two deep breaths, letting those memories resurface for a moment. "There are thumbtacks of three different colors. When you come back to the office I will show you in more detail." He offered her a weak smile, while Emma stroked his hand lightly, encouraging him silently to continue.

"The blue ones indicate the places that my brother and I have visited together." His eyes closed for a moment as he tried to put himself together. "The red ones indicate the places I visited with Milah." Killian paused for fear his voice would break.

"It's okay, Killian, you don't have to do this." Her voice was heavy with worry, but strangely, it had a calming effect on him. She continued to trace delicate patterns with her fingers on his hand, getting his breathing to calm down.

Killian swallowed the lump growing in his dry throat, the worst was over. "And the green ones are the places I want to visit with my family."

"Like in that dream of yours, the one to go around the world on your ship with your family?" Her voice was soft, her hand never leaving his.

"Aye, I intend to take it out someday, Swan. I don't know when, but I will." He was thankful for the subtle change of topic. It was one thing for him to have decided to move on, but he still had to work hard to get any mention of Milah not to reopen the wound.

"I'm sure of it, Jones, if there's one thing I’m aware of is your persistence." Emma paused for a moment, averting her gaze, while her teeth made their way back over her lower lip. "I imagined that the thumbtacks meant places you had visited. I guess I felt jealous, since I would only have a handful of thumbtacks scattered all over the country."

His heart clenched in his chest at her confession. Before he could say anything, though, she turned her gaze back to him. "Anyway, I also intend to fulfil my dream of visiting Europe, by the way."

Before answering, he decided to set a new goal on his way to winning Emma's heart, to do everything in his power to make that map of hers more and more full of thumbtacks. He could even add one more color to his own map. Maybe yellow was an appropriate color for her, matching her car..."You and I make quite the team, Swan. You already have a house in Ireland, you know, and maybe I need a first mate on our trip."

She tilted her head, arching an eyebrow suggestively. "So you're offering me a position on your boat, Jones? I might take that offer, but I think someone promised me some sailing lessons first..."

"Of course, love, the promise still remains. I'll check my schedule to find a free hour next week."

A quiet silence fell over them. Maybe this was what Emma had meant at the beginning, that feeling of liberation, of lightness, having once again confronted one of his demons. The affection he felt for this wonderful woman did not stop growing and growing to the point of almost physically hurting.

Emma extended her arm, holding out her beer. "So, a toast so that our dreams come true?"

Killian hit his bottle against hers. "May all our dreams come true." He brought the bottle to his lips, letting the bitter liquid drag all his worries.

"And now, are you willing to go through some scary scenes while we watch Fringe?"

For an answer, Killian threw her a cushion. "For you to hide behind in the more gory scenes."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Please, I'm a tough girl who chases bad guys. I'm not going to be scared by a little blood on the screen."

A chuckle bubbled in his throat at the conviction of her words. Maybe he would be the one who needed that cushion after all.

Three hours and three episodes later, the television was still on, the bowl of popcorn forgotten on the table, along with the empty bottles of beer. They had been watching the show attentively, despite having seen those scenes on countless occasions. Little by little, however, the comments between them began to be more scarce, to the point of disappearing altogether.

That's when Killian noticed an extra weight on his shoulder. He turned his head slightly, noticing how Emma had leaned her head against him, her face hidden behind a lock of hair that had come loose from her bun. Her quiet breathing was a sign that she had fallen asleep beside him. He noticed how his eyelids began to get heavy, a clear invitation to accompany her in her sleep. For a moment, he was tempted to do so, to succumb and fall asleep beside her as he held her.

Something told him that it was not appropriate, though. He moved her gently so as not to wake her and he managed to get up by holding her in his arms. Emma stirred slightly in her sleep and wrapped her arms around his neck, but did not wake up. He walked down the corridor with hesitant steps, searching for her bedroom.

When he found it, he set her on her bed and she immediately turned on one side, her face still partially hidden by her hair. Killian leaned down as his fingers slid lightly over her forehead to pull back her hair and then traced their way to her cheek. He was spellbound for a few seconds as he contemplated her quiet beauty while she slept, as he fought against his desire to stay by her side and never leave. Finally, he brought his lips to her forehead and kissed her gently.

"Sleep well, Emma." He whispered before standing up ready to leave. When he was about to turn in the direction of the door, he heard something, causing his eyes to search for her again.

"Thank you. For everything." The murmur of her voice had been so faint that Killian wondered if he had not imagined it. Her eyes remained closed, but a placid smile was drawn on her face.

After casting one last glance in her direction, he finally left the room. His heart was pounding in his chest, the magnitude of his feelings towards her hard to control. Within two weeks the pact between them would end and he was not sure if he would survive if Emma decided it wasn't worth it and left him behind. He still had two weeks to keep winning her heart, though. If the smile on her lips was an indicative, he was on the right path.

Something caught his attention on the way to the exit. His phone, the one that had brought them to this situation, rested on a shelf in Emma's living room. His lips lifted slightly at the irony. Only a month ago, he would have felt an irrepressible tug toward the device. Today, however, he was in no hurry to get it back. And it was not only because now his mind and his heart were focused on Emma. He was afraid that when he had access to the contents of his phone, his wound would begin to bleed again. Shaking his head as he looked away, he buried those thoughts in the back of his mind, trusting that these two weeks ahead were enough for his wound to heal once and for all.

Thanks for reading. I'd like to know what do you think.

Some clues about the next part: Fishing, Queen and... Emma's decision :)

@rouhn @couldnthandleit @teamhook @malec4everr @kmomof4

#cs ff #cs au #captain swan ff #cs au ff #call me #mayquita writes #my cs writings #captain swan #my edits

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brazilroom28 · 4 years

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Personal Trainer Qualities.

5 Necessary High Qualities To Seek In A Good Trainer.

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Content

Why My Individual Trainer Is Worth It.

Why Is It Important For A Personal Trainer To Collaborate With Clients To Concur With Goals As Well As Objectives?

5 Method Fitness

Just How To Become A Fitness Tutor (2020 Update).

Choosing The Right Personal Trainer.

Layout Your Own Program.

Level 3 Personal Trainer Diploma.

Given fitness analyses and also demonstrated methods and also approaches of engagement. Executed thorough fitness analyses as well as developed positive connections within the Dublin Entertainment Center. Performed fitness assessments routinely to track muscle strength as well as endurance, flexibility, and cardiovascular capability.

Execute instructional workshops, body composition screenings for fitness attendant workers and fitness connected special events. Take an aggressive strategy to participant retention by developing strong customer relationships and also serving each participant above and beyond assumptions.

And also the majority of will intend to educate either before or after job, so your busy hours will commonly be extremely early or late during the night. There are no time at all limits for this course.This program works with all modern devices as well as browsers.On conclusion of the program you will be awarded a certificate.We are here to aid if you have any type of issues. If you do not pass the test very first time you will certainly obtain a 2nd possibility to take the test once again after further study. As soon as you have actually completed all of the components there is a 30 inquiry test. The concerns will be on a variety of topics discovered within the components.

In addition to your hourly rate, your income will certainly additionally be linked to the number of hrs you work and can fill weekly. Peak hours are those most hassle-free for the client.Clients might need to terminate or reschedule without much notice.

Why My Personal Trainer Is Worth It.

Support always handy if required, plus a bonus of being able to print off each component to add my own notes. Use any kind of gadget to access the components online, allowing you to examine from anywhere at any time. Obtain a mutual understanding of the significance of extending, dealing with handicapped customers and also outside exercise routines. Weight problems has actually come to be a serious issue in the United States with more individuals being detected with diabetes mellitus on a daily basis.

The examination, like the course, is on the internet and can be taken a time and also area of your picking. I particularly suched as the fact you do not come to be bewildered by the program's quantity of modules, and also in the long run you need to answer a particular amount of concerns within a particular time frame.

Is a 30 minute personal training session enough?

If you have not exercised before or it has been a long time, fast paced 30 min sessions will likely be too much and potentially dangerous. Half hour sessions are quick and should remain for those that are way beyond the basics. In order to get the most bang for the buck, these workouts need to be high intensity.

Why Is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_trainer For An Individual Trainer To Work With Customers To Agree With Goals And Goals?

Reserve as well as do out fitness assessments, contact new members for entrance examinations and also make follow-up phone call to present participants. Performed wellness analysis and also program referrals for all new members. Registered new participants and also Supervising tools upkeep, safety auditing and also facility housekeeping.

5 Way Fitness

Every component's design is spick-and-span, fresh and extensive when it comes to its explanation. I am just 5 components into the training course but is supplying above what I expected. Content is well clarified and easy to absorb as well as I like that I can do it at my own rate and without time pressure. I located in this manner of discovering best for me, as I might research at my very own pace in the comfort of my residence.

Do personal trainers fall in love with their clients?

'During my many years in the business unfortunately I can recount many a tale of personal trainers becoming romantically involved with their clients, and an unsurprisingly 99 per cent of the time it does not end in a loving, lasting relationship.

maintaining an on the internet existence through your personal internet site, blog and social media. Establishing objectives suggests taking the connections between your values and visions and building those links to make them stronger. Objectives are never ever uncompromising and also needs to be reevaluated at crucial intervals, significant life adjustments, as well as when you feel stagnant, bored, worn, or out of sync with life. Do this by literally noting the things that are important to you. The Locate a work service can help you with your search for work and send out notifies when new tasks appear.

Love Fitness Education And Learning is a London based Fitness Training Service provider delivering Individual Training Courses, Fitness Instructor Qualifications as well as CPD's to budding fitness specialists in London. We have extensive experience in delivering fitness qualifications both in the UK and also worldwide and we satisfaction ourselves on our credibility as the sector professionals. a huge organisation which supplies staff members with workplace fitness facilities. For those utilized by a fitness center or comparable, anticipate to begin on a salary in between ₤ 14,000 as well as ₤ 16,000, increasing to between ₤ 20,000 and ₤ 30,000 with experience.

Is it normal to have a crush on your personal trainer?

"So yes, it really does happen!" Sure, your relationship with a personal trainer is a professional one. But it's intimate too, Sussman says. "You're both in workout clothes, he or she is touching you, he or she is probably in pretty good shape Plus, you're working out, so your endorphins are pumping," she lists.

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Launch as well as develop new client relationships, keeping existing across the country acknowledged PT certifications. Grown client connections leading to increased client satisfaction, client retention and also net sales.

Just How To End Up Being A Fitness Tutor (2020 Update).

Enlightened members of brand-new information pertaining to stamina training security as well as effectiveness. Aided in the creation and monitoring of a non-profit 12 week weight management competition sponsored by At any moment Fitness of Flat Rock.

You can also establish Google Informs for any subjects that pertain to you. As an example, just key in 'fitness fads' and afterwards you'll obtain notifications whenever a write-up including these keywords shows up online.

Be prepared to meet clients early in the morning, or late in the evening as well as all the hrs in-between. Clients desire your time, as well as for your time they want to pay you great money. Rushing from one client to an additional isn't going to give them the return on investment they are worthy of, so make sure you are punctual, expert, regular, and also reliable. Empathy also enables you to anticipate the demands and unvoiced questions of your customers, and because of that customers will be attracted to you.

Dealt with the managers to aid improve the moral of the gym as well as rise subscription sales with the affordable bordering fitness center. Recruited to function as the lead Membership Sales Get in touch with to enhance subscription sales while bringing continuity and training to sales group. Kept an eye on customer progress with Fit Examine worksheets, follow-up calls/emails, as well as dish strategy referrals along with goal setting/goal reviews.

One of the most comprehensive one is the Register of Controlled Qualifications which can be found on the Ofqual official website. Nationally approved qualifications are those that are examined, recognised and checked by main UK regulative bodies in order to see to it that they fulfill specific standards and high quality requirements. Those credentials are after that noted on the Register of Managed Certifications, where you can likewise find a list of acknowledged awarding organisations that have the power to award certifications. Once you obtain certified as well as get some work experience, ultimately you might decide to set up your very own business as a sole owner, limited responsibility firm, or corporation. If you are an independent contractor for a health club instead of a staff member, you must learn the advantages and drawbacks of these forms of organizations as well.

Taken care of all facets of everyday trainer activity, which involved the evaluation of trainer to client relationships and overall client success. Create effective customer partnerships to improve high quality of solution and also inspiration to accomplish.

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Goals Your personal trainer will certainly start you out with little objectives that will eventually cause your last goal and reveal you specifically how to get there.

Creating a time table that maps out your objectives will reveal you what to anticipate along the way and also aid you be sensible regarding your progression.

The outcomes you'll see with a trainer rely on the moment invested weekly and the goals themselves.

Beginners usually see more fast changes in their body as their bodies reply to novel stimuli.

Thinking you're adhering to a calorie-controlled diet plan as well as striving in your cardio as well as strength-training sessions, you could see weight loss of as much as 3 extra pounds weekly in the beginning.

David Arroyo is a 20th degree geek with specialized classes in fitness as well as arts.

While obvious results in muscle mass as well as weight loss can use up to four weeks, many people see a rise in inspiration, enthusiasm and power from the start.

When not eaten with composing, he's seeking his purple belt in BJJ.

Focused on making sure customer contentment including setting goal and also success. Collaborated with any ages yet concentrated on youth weight problems and also geriatric osteoporosis resistance training. Train and educate course using weights, metabolic conditioning, TRX, etc . Diversified previous training by accomplishing more education and learning in Pot Bell, TRX, as well as Fighting Ropes.

Choosing The Right Personal Trainer.

How do I approach a personal trainer?

How To Talk To Your Personal Trainer 1. Hiring a personal trainer is worth a dozen barely used gym memberships, not least if your willpower is as poorly defined as your abs. 2. Don't be afraid to ask questions. 3. Be clear about your goals, but be realistic, too. 4. Be honest about your lifestyle. 5. Trust your trainer's advice. 6. Don't demand only cardio.

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If you love working out, why not use your passion and drive for fitness to motivate others whilst making money. An instance would be to acquire a credentials in weight problems as well as dibates monitoring, or you may intend to function extra with youngsters and for that reason might be interested in a program on exercise for kids. It is necessary that you have a first aid qualification in case a client has an injury whilst they are working with you. Train people of varying ages, one on one in addition to little groups of as much as 5 participants.

Led tiny group training courses and large group training courses focusing on strength, adaptability and also core conditioning. Work varied including one on one training, little group training, group training, and performing seminars. Give group classes/small group training, 14 hours per week and also give coverage as an alternative when ever before able.

Prior to buying with any type of training company, ask whether their programs are country wide certified and ASSOCIATES accepted. It is not likely that the organisation would certainly be unethical specifically in composing yet you may want to be absolutely certain as well as speak to the granting body likewise as well as ask if this course supplier is among their approved training centres. https://easyfitpersonaltraining.co.uk/results/milton-keynes/ granting organisations are noted on the main websites of the regulatory authorities.

Work cross functionally with subscription sales, front workdesk partners, management, and team exercise division. Developed Health incentive program that enhanced subscription sales as well as rate of interest in classes and tasks supplied by Goodyear Training Personnel.

Stopped injury by launching interventions and also offering direction when brand-new participants were unfamiliar with equipment. Promoted Personal Training packages, as well as any kind of existing price cuts or specials the branch was featuring at the time. Given specialist customer care with member interaction as well as company of equipment.

Possess over ordinary customer service abilities and also supply personalized experiences to everyone. Supplied superior customer service to maintain membership levels as well as high retention rate. Delivered outstanding diamond degree customer support per participant in every communication. Provided customer care, workout support, security ideas and total facility safety. Advise potential vendors in interpersonal interaction and customer service abilities essential to guarantee buyer/bidder fulfillment.

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Be able to motivate a selection of personalities to enable them to reach their potential. Find out about just how to have an effective job as a Fitness Instructor including the needs, credentials you'll need, hours, income and also just how to get started.

Can you get fit without a personal trainer?

1. Get a good workout app. While there's no doubt a trainer can help motivate you to push harder and work out more consistently than you would have otherwise, a good workout app is be the next best thing. Try one of these five workout apps to get fitter in no time.

Licensing companies have their qualification procedures and procedures recognized by an independent 3rd party, such as the NCCA. If there a certain employer you intend to benefit, figure out what certifications they require or identify. To be an effective trainer, you ought to appreciate working with various sort of people, be self-motivated, and also an excellent listener. There is a variety in pay.Personal trainers can make anywhere from $15 per hour to more than $100 per hr, depending upon where you live and work.

The tiny enhancements of your clients, invisible to a lot of others, are clear indicators of possible know. Those are the sort of enhancements that you can encourage your customers with, and that will ultimately bring you one of the most complete satisfaction. Soft abilities, after all, are the abilities that a person need to have to get and protect a task. In contrast to difficult skills, soft abilities are personality characteristics centred on a person's psychological knowledge. Skills are available in all sizes and shapes, from having a newbie understanding of the body's skeletal system, to holding expert qualifications in giving the very best Paleo recommendations for customers.

Layout Your Own Program.

Carry out different administrative jobs including duplicating, purchasing office materials and also quickly answering all client phone calls and e-mails. Carried out phone calls for corresponding training session as well as to upgrade participants on subscription details. Pay rate was based on client session and also as a MOUTH-TO-MOUTH RESUSCITATION/ AED accredited change supervisor. Preserve currently training in MOUTH-TO-MOUTH RESUSCITATION, CIT Level 1and 2, Medicine courses, and also posts on People' legal rights.

Cleansed and also maintained storage locker rooms, team space, general fitness floor in addition to front desk/reception area. Acted as the intermediary between trainers, sales staff as well as front desk staff as well as was the customer support leader. Help front desk staff in giving excursions, responding to phones and also handling requests in a courteous and also prompt fashion. Program design and also have the capability to progress and also regress various movements based off of the individual's needs. Customized program design consisting of equilibrium, versatility, toughness, endurance as well as cardio components.

Making use of material found at skillsyouneed.com is cost-free offered that copyright is recognized as well as a recommendation or link is consisted of to the page/s where the details was located. Material from skillsyouneed.com may not be sold, or released for profit in any kind of kind without share composed consent from skillsyouneed.com. Our eBook is excellent for any person that wants to improve their abilities and also learning prospective, as well as it has lots of easy-to-follow, practical details. We'll never ever share your email address and also you can unsubscribe any time. You can find some of the best Fitness Teacher work with some terrific brand names like Fitness First, Everyone Energetic, PureGym and also much more.

Learn more concerning the cardiovascular system from the heart's function to respiratory system function as well as exactly how these are impacted by workout, in addition to the benefits. Comprehend the human composition of the bones, their feature and also just how exercise can impact the bones. You will certainly also find out about how bones are influenced as component of the aging procedure. Of course it also assists if you're flexible, like being around various sorts of individuals as well as you want to work hard to market on your own for new business.

Created and facilitated wellness workshops relating to weight reduction and total conditioning. Consult regarding injury avoidance, fat burning, bodybuilding, balance/flexibility improvement, athletic efficiency, rehab and also recuperation. Conduct fitness analyses and also performance testing to establish baseline metrics.

The six most typical abilities discovered on Personal Trainer returns to in 2020. Below we've compiled a checklist of the most important abilities for a Personal Trainer Personal Trainer. We ranked the leading abilities based upon the percent of Personal Trainer resumes they showed up on.

For instance, 16.8% of Personal Trainer resumes contained Fitness Evaluations as a skill. Let's figure out what abilities an Individual Trainer Personal Trainer really needs in order to achieve success in the office. Learn more about what a typical day appears like for a Pilates Teacher as well as what you need to do to turn your interest into a job. Read our Individual Trainer guide where we share the skills as well as qualifications you'll need to become an expert PT. The overview includes essential pointers such as the wage you can expect to gain as well as the number of hrs you ought to work.

What questions are asked in a personal trainer interview?

Personal Trainer Interview Questions – What to AnticipateTell us a little about yourself. Describe your experience in the industry? Tell us about your training philosophy? How do you keep clients motivated and engaged? How do handle conflict or work with challenging clients? What do you see as your greatest strength? More items•

Job description consisted of the testing of high blood pressure, elevation, weight, neurological experience as well as dermatological screening. Carry out fitness assessments, which included seven point skin fold evaluation, VO2 MAX, wheelchair screening, and also high blood pressure. Worked as a staff member making use of customer care skills, doing front workdesk obligations as well as engaging with members.

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fromtheground39-blog · 5 years

Text

The All-ROG Gaming PC!

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Recently we checked out the three cheapest 144 Hertz gaming monitors that we could get on amazon.com and we were pretty impressed well mostly, except for one common problem that they all had they're all running out by modern standards, lower 1920 by 1080 resolution. So today we've got something new for you guys. We'Ve actually never covered a product from AOC before, but this the CQ 27 G 127 stood out to us for a number of reasons, one its 144 Hertz, which means theoretically, it should be great for gaming too. It'S running at 2560 by 1440 resolution 3. It'S got a V a rather than a TN panel and four it comes in at just 280 US dollars. We couldn't find anything else that has this feature set at this price point. So we've got high expectations and hopefully they don't disappoint us instantly, see your current and past network activity detect malware and block badly behaving apps on your PC or Android device with glassware use, offer code Lynas to get 25 % off glass wire at the link routerhosting in The video description, [ Music ] - I'm actually pretty excited about this, because we've had a ton of requests to cover AOC in the past, but the main reason that we haven't done it is that ever since the CRT days, their presence in North America has been fairly Limited so I've been aware that they're kind of a big deal over in Europe - and I believe Asia, but over here they've, had basically very little availability and certainly no marketing. So I don't really know what to expect, because even from other media outlets, I haven't like read a ton of reviews of their products or anything like that. First, impressions of the stand are pretty good. It'S got a nice metal base under fairly tastefully if a touch gamer II top to list assembly is always a nice touch. Honestly, I got ta, say initial impressions, pretty positive, so far height adjustable stand. I mean to be clear. This is not like a 140 dollar gaming monitor or anything like the ones we looked at last time, but considering how much higher their costs would be to get this better panel technology, it's a larger display. Ah, I am I'm pretty pleased so far with the overall fit and finish now. I can't say that this is a perfect job that they've done of the the plastic housing here. You can actually see some of the tape that they've used. To probably put the see this unit in the back here that houses, the power supply and the scaler you know, and all that stuff you can see some of the tape that used to it like tape it on, but in terms of the like. The overall feel of it it doesn't feel cheap, it doesn't feel crappy and we've got a reasonably fun, exceptional i/o. So there's no built-in USB hub, but you've got dual HDMI ports, DisplayPort a headphone, jack and power supply built into the monitor, rather than as an external brick, which some people care about. It'S not a huge deal for me, but it is considered a a better feature. All right, the two lessness continues here and we're just gonna peel. This off bezels are looking pretty slim actually, and this is nice, not just power, cable included, but also DisplayPort and HDMI. So in terms of adjustability, we've got your tilt. We'Ve got your swivel no pivot, but we do have height adjust. I still remember when that used to be like site a super premium feature. Now, it's only really cheap stuff that it's not included on. It'S really. Nice makes a big difference immediately. The deep blacks on this monitor are quite noticeable compared to if we were looking at like an entry-level, IPS or especially a TN like, as this wallpaper fades off towards the edges. It'S it's quite dark, not bad. At all. All right, 144 Hertz fuckin showed up just fine there, yes, and because this is a variable refresh rate monitor. That means that, even if it is not certified g-sync compatible, we can enable G sync, and it is in fact enabled right now. So without further ado, I don't fire up. Some games now feels like a good time to have a look at the on-screen menu. Everything here is reasonably intuitive. Personally, I prefer just an instant switch rather than animation. I can see how they might do that right frame. What even am I looking at here? Can you see anything? Let'S see? Oh, what the crap? Oh, what it just brightens the top corner of the screen. So it's like a faded out washed out section in the top-left corner, so there you can change the brightness contrast. You can move the position of it around. Actually you can put it wherever you want guys. Let me know in the comments. What is this feature for? I would love to know. I thought that was interesting. Game mode is off by default. Oh that's! The FPS mode! That looks terrible, okay hold on a second, let's get, let's get our settings adjusted here I have to say I have just never understood these weird color profiles that they create for particular genres of games. The correct color profile is the accurate color profile, because that's the way that the developer intended it quite frankly at least they've got customizable ones. So you can have gamer one gamer, two gamer three, and then you can just things that might actually be meaningful, like whether you want the low blue light mode on. So you have like nighttime gaming mode, whether you want the built in frame counter on. That'S pretty nice to have so their gamer display modes are not necessarily useless. Just the canned ones are stupid. Okay, overdrive can be adjusted to weak, medium or strong. Medium is usually the best bet there, but we'll play around with that. A little bit and low input lag we will leave on. I will say that there's no discernable increase in input lag compared to what I'd expect from a 144. It'S gaming monitor, so that's nice to see really responsive. I touch on the smeary side, so these are not the fastest pixels that I've ever seen by a long shot. If you pick up a like a decent TN gaming monitor - or you know, even one of those really high-end IPS - is that LG released recently you're gonna see better readability of things like text as you're as you're. Moving around like this, you see that everything's got kind of a trail behind it, but for a VA panel. I would consider this perfectly reasonable and acceptable. Now. One thing that's hard for me to tell right now, because I'm playing kind of a dark and gloomy game is whether this gets any brighter. So what I'd like to do is get rid of doom, let's switch to something like csgo and see. If my impressions here are correct, cuz, it seems like our maximum brightness, I mean even just opening up something. Like you know, our own website here by the way tech tip song is awesome forum. You guys should go check it out. This is supposed to be pretty much white white and it's kind of a gray and not like we're at a very, very low brightness. Even actually, the brightness is cranked 100 % already actually before we do that. I wanted to play around with the overdrive settings. A little bit off is clearly terrible, like you guys, I'm sure you can see these comet trails behind icons, as I'm dragging this around on the desktop here, but as usual, strong also yields a really kind of over sharpened, visual artifact e-type look and our best bet Does once again appear to be medium overdrive in fairness. White to dark is a very challenging scenario, so let's actually get that game fired up now. So this is a little bit more fair, and it's not great and coming out here into the the daytime. Arabic, freaking Sun here I've been informed from off camera. This is a 215 it peak brightness display and I believe it because, while the blacks are deep - and that was impressive - it's a lot less impressive to have deep blacks. When your monitor is just dark. I mean maybe this would be the monitor for you if you're trying to game at night and be stealthy and while you're at it, you could grab a hoodie like the one, I'm wearing it's the LTTE, stealth hoodie LTT surakameth. Now, to give credit to the strength of this monitor, the 1440p resolution does look a lot clearer than what we were dealing with with those 1080p monitors, but something that you guys have got to consider is that there is more to perceived sharpness of an image than Just the number of pixels and contrast is actually a big part of what makes an image look, clear and sharp and crisp so yeah. The lines are fine, but the image doesn't look great, so it just feels like the monitors a little self-defeating, because it's key feature is that it manages 144 Hertz and higher resolution, but it gives up so much contrast that you a lot of the perceived image, quality And that's not a problem just for like scenic games, it's it's a problem in general like it's noticeably bland. This is a bland looking game in the first place, but it's really bland. Like. Can you tell on camera how bland this is new it nope hold on? I think what we need to do is grab another monitor and swap it out for you guys so David hold, as still as you can, or even put the camera on sticks, but the camera on sticks. Now this monitor costs about twice as much, and actually you might have noticed that, especially in terms of brightness, it looks pretty similar except funny story. This is actually the monitor that we use for b-roll shots, so it has its brightness turned down to 20 out of a hundred in order to make it appear not too bright for certain shots that we do so putting it up at something more reasonable, like around 80 Wow - that is a really really different experience back to our AOC. The difference is very clear and I'm just gonna double-check. Yes, we are at a hundred percent brightness. On this thing, that's a little unfortunate. This looks a little bit more palatable official site right. I think that's why all the gamer modes have this game. Color option turned up because it might hurt the accuracy of your color, but it'll certainly make your games as long as you don't go too far like their fps and their RTS modes. It'Ll certainly make your game look a little bit more vibrant. You can see I've overdone it a little bit here. So I'd probably say that if it's purely for gaming use, knowing that you're giving up some of the color accuracy that you might have gotten in the native profile, going to a game color of somewhere in the 11 to 13 range, improves the playability a lot like It makes it not look like I'm looking at a super cheap. You know washed out, monitor and what's interesting, you saw how that flashbang wasn't even bright. What'S interesting is part of the reason, for that is that the way that humans perceive brightness is affected by the saturation of the color, so looking at a more saturated color makes you think that your looking at something brighter, even though the panel itself is not particularly Bright and if we were to alt-tab out of the game, you can see things like my icons look way overdone here. So this is a monitor that you're definitely giving something up at the price point. But if you're willing to fidget around with your on screen menu, which to their credit, is quite usable, actually has workarounds that work if you're willing to go around them so bringing our 8020 7qd back up on the table. This is a clearly better display. It looks great not only in games when you adjust this dial or on the desktop if you adjust it the other way, but in both all the time, thanks to its 10 bit IPS panel and it's much higher brightness. But if you think find here about it as paying yourself, two hundred and fifty dollars to adjust a knob every once in a while, I still think there's a very compelling value argument to be made for a OCS display here. Even if it does give up some of the creature comforts that you might get with a higher-end panel, so guys, let us know, does this look like a great option or do you want us to explore some of the other 1440p 144 Hertz monitors on the market? They are a bit more expensive, but there's options from vo-tech Roxul dell has one that's fair, bit more expensive and make sure you're subscribed. So you don't miss it. If you do leave a comment about that, do you need to create a beautiful website without the hassle we'll check out Squarespace their all-in-one platform makes it easy to get up and running quickly, and there are word winning templates can be used as a starting point for A wide variety of projects, if you're having trouble Squarespace, they offer webinars a full series of help guides and you can even contact their customer support via live chat and email 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you already have a third-party domain, you don't have to give it up. Just transfer it over to Squarespace and every Squarespace site includes ecommerce features. So you can easily sell merch or services online and manage your inventory and orders so go to Squarespace, comm /l tt. To get 10 % off your first purchase we're gonna have that linked below. So thanks for watching guys - and we will see you in our next budget - monitor video - which I guess we're kind of coming now - hey budget OLED. But you know that we've done all the we'll find something

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