#okay but it's the biggest single controllable hazard here

[brennacedria]

brian's on one of his games with the guys. I'm about 5 seconds from throwing the box with his new headset in it at him cause the cord on the existing headset stretches across the room at almost hip height and it's just enough that I can't go under or over it to get around.

[clumsyclifford]

i can’t focus when you’re with me (i can’t sleep when i’m alone)

hello i wrote some jalex because i had XO by nightly stuck in my head and this came from that

thank you @tirednotflirting and @reveriesofawriter for the love i love you guys so much all the time

title from XO by nightly

read it here on ao3

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It’s on a pink sticky note on the fridge.

back soon. xo

The sign-off is familiar. The sticky note is also familiar, though Alex doesn’t really see why Jack leaves them anymore. There’s no point to the sticky note when Alex already knows Jack will be back and is no closer to figuring out his system for deciding when. Maybe there is no system. Maybe he truly just appears whenever he feels like it. 

Alex knows about variable-ratio reward schedules; he knows how the lottery works, promising an eventual reward and paying up just often enough to maintain the ruse. He isn’t an idiot. He can understand he’s not really winning the lottery when he spends every single night wondering if this will be the one Jack decides to grace him with his presence. One victory is nothing when it’s borne of a thousand failures. But Alex will take one night with Jack for two weeks without, and Jack knows that, too.

So maybe Alex is an idiot, but it’s worth it to be. Nights spent with Jack are some of Alex’s favorites. Mornings waking up without him are just an occupational hazard.

Jack doesn’t belong to him. That was never part of the agreement.

The spontaneity of Jack’s visits also cause a lot of problems in Alex’s life. He can’t plan his work around Jack when Jack has no schedule. And if Jack shows up while Alex is in the middle of something, forget it. As soon as the lock clicks and the door swings open — as soon as Alex hears the familiar footsteps and the toneless humming of Jack’s entrance — everything else becomes static.

It’s distracting. It’s infuriating. It’s intoxicating.

A cool breeze edging on warm sweeps through Alex’s open window tonight. He has a textbook open on the desk and his laptop beside it. The contents of the textbook are entirely failing to stick in Alex’s brain, and he doubts taking notes is helping in any way. It’s important that he learn this, especially when they’re moving on so swiftly from this section of the material; Alex can already foresee the late night he’s going to have trying to reteach this chapter to himself once he finishes reading it.

Three excruciating pages later, Alex decides the textbook can wait for a cup of tea.

It’s quiet around Alex’s place as he treks into the kitchen to put the water on. It’s quiet more often than not these days, as Alex has gotten more and more entrenched in his coursework. He’s had less time to play music. When he has free hours now, he typically uses them to sleep. It’s not an exciting life, but it’s the one he needs to lead so he doesn’t collapse from exhaustion at any given moment.

Still, the staticky hiss from the kettle as it starts to boil is comforting. Alex leans against the counter with his eyes closed, somehow simultaneously trying to refresh his memory on everything he just spent two and a half hours reading and trying not to think about that. As much as he knows he needs a break from all the studying, he’s not sure he can really afford it.

Naturally, this is when the lock clicks and the humming starts.

Alex’s eyes fly open. He stares out across the kitchen. The kettle finally reaches a loud conclusion and clicks to let Alex know it’s officially done boiling the water. And through the open doorway, an off-key rendition of ‘American Idiot’ announces Jack’s presence.

He’s humming the guitar solo. Of course.

Warring parts of Alex’s brain fight to react to this unexpected arrival. He wants to groan, because this is the worst time Jack could have fucking chosen, on tonight of all nights. He’d like to spin Jack by the shoulders and push him back out the door where he’d come in before he gets too comfortable. Sorry, not tonight, too much stuff to do that I can’t afford to let you distract me from, he’d love to say.

But the other part of him is imagining pushing Jack by the shoulders against a very much closed door, and Alex, in his weary state, isn’t disciplined enough to ignore that thought. 

Jack won’t come into the kitchen —  he says it’s too domestic for him. Alex pretends he hasn’t heard the door open and close and makes himself a cup of tea anyway, fully prepared for it to go cold. Maybe Jack will understand if Alex lays it out for him. Maybe if Jack sees the textbook he’ll latch on.

Not that Alex thinks Jack doesn’t understand how much work Alex has. Jack is an intelligent person. He knows. It’s just he doesn’t care. 

And Alex has to take some responsibility, because it’s not like he’s trying very hard to express that it matters to him if he passes his classes. When Jack shows up, Alex gives up. He could try harder to focus on his work, to send Jack away, but he doesn’t want to. He likes when Jack is here. He’d just like it not to overlap with nights when he has an entire textbook chapter to read, memorize, and internalize.

Steam is rising off Alex’s mug like wispy cirrus clouds. He brings it to his lips, burns his tongue taking a sip, and sighs.

Jack is sitting in Alex’s desk chair when Alex finally returns to his room.

He looks up with bright eyes when he sees Alex come in. “Hi, finally.” As he clocks the mug: “Ooh, whatcha drinkin’? Did you make me any?”

“Tea, and no,” Alex says. “I made it for me, because I’m trying to study.”

“Operative word being try,” Jack says.

“Yeah, and hopefully soon I will be succeeding,” Alex says. He’s not sure why he insists on pretending to refuse Jack when they both know with one hundred percent certainty that this is not what Alex wants nor a hill he plans to die on. For his own dignity, though, he has to at least look like he’s making the effort to be responsible. “You wanna learn about childrens’ development in their first year of life?”

“Such a hard no from me,” Jack says. “But be real. Do you want to learn about that?”

“No,” Alex says. “But I have to.”

Jack sighs. He holds out a hand and Alex places his mug in Jack’s grip. “What’s this? The usual?” Alex nods. Jack brings it to his lips, barely drinking any before exhaling harshly. “Fuck, that’s hot.”

“Yeah, I just made it. As you came in.”

“You want me to go?”

Alex sighs. “Obviously I don’t want you to go. I’d love to get some advance notice for when you’re gonna show up, though. Tonight’s such a bad night.”

“Tonight’s a bad night so far,” Jack corrects him, setting the mug down on Alex’s desk. It’s dangerously close to the laptop; Alex nudges it further away, and Jack just shakes his head a little, smiling.

“I mean tonight is a bad night for you to be here,” Alex clarifies.

“Then I’ll leave.”

“But I don’t want you to leave.”

“So I’ll stay.”

“Yeah, but then I’ll be distracted.”

Jack shrugs. “I’m honestly okay with that.”

“I’ll be distracted from my work,” Alex says, although he’s sure Jack had understood the first time. “By you. Like always.”

“And I’m okay with that too.” Jack tilts his head, stretching his neck to look up at Alex, deliberately baring his throat. He drives Alex insane, in whatever way is most accurate to the moment. Alex wishes he had more self-control, but thinking about turning Jack away and instead spending several more hours at a desk reading page after page of information he won’t absorb makes him want to cry. 

And it would be rude, after all this time, to mess with the rules of the game. Jack shows up expecting that Alex will surrender, and Alex being taken aback and generally inconvenienced by this is all part of the guidelines for playing. He signed his agency away the first time he kissed Jack against the door. It’s too late to ask for it back.

(It’s not really too late — if Alex wanted it, he’d have it. He just doesn’t want it.)

Alex holds up one finger and with his other hand he lifts the mug to his lips. It’s still too hot to drink but he lets the liquid scald the tip of his tongue and the roof of his mouth as he swallows. 

“You could call me,” he says.

“I don’t have your number,” Jack says.

“You could ask for it.”

“I don’t want it.”

“It’d make my life a lot easier.”

“But way less exciting.” Jack stands up, and he’s taller than Alex, and he’s so close now that Alex can count his eyelashes as they flutter shut and then quickly open again. “You can’t plan for everything, Alex.”

“Okay, I realize that, but I could definitely plan for you,” Alex returns. “Like if you just told me when you wanted to come over I could plan for that to happen. Instead of just appearing out of nowhere and—”

“What, ruining your night?” Jack casts his gaze to the open textbook. He looks back at Alex, quietly smirking. “I’m so sorry for distracting you from the absolutely fascinating timeline of child development.”

“Yeah, you should be.”

“Alex, this is a rescue mission.” Jack’s fingers land feather-light on Alex’s wrist and travel up his arm, pushing his sleeve up to his shoulder and bracing against the slope of his neck. His grip tightens as he massages the tense muscles under his fingertips. “I’m like your guardian angel. I show up when I can tell you need saving.”

“Saving from the horrors of developmental psychology?” Alex mutters, posture slipping like a landslide. Nobody on the planet can ease the tension permanently at home in Alex’s shoulders, but Jack is welcome to try. 

“Yes,” Jack says seriously. “From the horrors of developmental psychology. And because I can literally feel the tension in your shoulders. When’s the last time you relaxed?”

Last time you were here, is Alex’s real answer. “I’m not clear on the relevance of this.”

Jack frowns. “I don’t want you to be stressed.”

“Then stop showing up out of the blue,” Alex huffs.

“Really? I’m the biggest stressor in your life?" Jack sounds genuinely incredulous at this.

“No, you’re not.” Alex sighs, looking anywhere except Jack’s face. “But you’re not not a stressor. You know I’m busy. You know I like to have a schedule. A little warning goes a long way.”

Jack is quiet for a moment. His fingers dig into Alex’s skin, working muscles that ache under his firm touch. It feels improbably good for something that kind of hurts. Alex closes his eyes.

“Forget I said that,” he mumbles. “We’re not gonna get anywhere. I’ve made my peace with it. You’re just going to be absolutely unpredictable and I’m just gonna be fine with it, I guess, because I like when you’re here, even if you never want to tell me when that’s going to be. It’s fine.”

Jack’s hands still. “I just think you’re overthinking it. I’m not complicated, Alex. I’m so easy. This is easy. If it were that important to you, you would kick me out, and I’d go. But you never do.” He resumes his massage, this time on the back of Alex’s neck. “You’re always working. And I’m here on a rescue mission, like I said. To keep you from drowning in it. It’s just a question of if you’re willing to be rescued.”

Alex groans. Even he’s not sure if it’s from the frustration of knowing he won’t get through anything else tonight or an effect of Jack’s halfway massage, though he figures it’s probably both. They’ve exhausted this topic and they’re making no progress. Alex is out of patience.

“Okay,” he murmurs. “Rescue me.”

Jack’s warm hands move to Alex’s face, and he’s still smiling a little bit when their lips meet.

The sticky note is gone from the fridge. Alex is not surprised. 

Sleep is still clinging to him, weighing from every limb. There’s a stiffness in his neck that has returned from wherever Jack apparently banished it to last night. Out the window, a blanket of clean morning light covers everything it can reach. Inside, a blanket is still dragging on the floor around Alex’s shoulders.

It’s when he’s reaching for the kettle that he remembers his cup of tea.

The blanket drags behind him as Alex treks back to his room, and there he halts in confusion. The mug is gone. He’d definitely left it here last night, and now it’s not here anymore. It had been completely full and now it’s missing.

Huh.

Alex glances at the textbook, open to exactly the page he’d left it at the night prior. There’s a pink sticky note he’d failed to notice earlier.

good luck, this seems boring as hell. xo

p.s. put your tea in the fridge xoxo

A smile crawls into the corners of Alex’s mouth and stays there.

He returns to the kitchen and finds his mug of tea in the fridge, as promised. There’s aluminum foil over the top, which seems pointless but a nice gesture. A confusingly nice gesture. Why is Jack changing the rules of the game all of a sudden? It’s unusual for him to move anything around, for him to leave any indication of his presence other than one single sticky note stuck somewhere for Alex to find.

Now, not only has he moved Alex’s tea, but there’s another sticky note. Alex finds it on top of the mug.

you’re cute when you sleep. xo

Alex stares at the piece of paper until his fridge starts beeping at him that the door has been open too long. He pulls the mug from the fridge and closes it. And then he stares some more. What is happening? What is Jack doing? Is this just going to be another new rule to which Alex is oblivious?

As the microwave reheats last night’s tea — Alex wondering as it spins how Jack had known that Alex is the kind of person to reheat the tea rather than toss it and make a new cup — Alex shuffles into the bathroom to splash some water on his face and deem himself presentable for the day.

And there, on the bathroom mirror, is another pink sticky note.

It reads:

I want to make your life easier. no pressure. xo

Underneath the words, there’s a phone number.

Alex smiles.

[charminglyantiquated]

Hello! I’m currently a minor but in a two years I’ll be able to apply for a volunteer position at my local tallship. I’ve got two questions for you. The first is if the ships you’ve worked on are comfortable spaces for minors (I’m assuming it is, but I wanted to double-check). The second might not be one you can answer but do you know how easy it is to practice Judaism while working on a tallship. I don’t think there would be much conflict, but I haven’t found any information. Thank you!

Hi! Answers are below the cut, as this got long.

This sounds like a cop-out answer, and I apologize in advance, but it being a comfortable space for minors depends on the ship, and the crew culture. Tl;dr is that most boats prefer to hire 18+, and most crews should be fine, although a handful have a longstanding reputation of drunken debauchery. (I should note here that I began sailing when I was 22, so this is based not on my own experience; rather on the experiences of my younger shipmates).

Firstly, some ships - pretty much every educational program, and Toronto Brigantine Inc’s teen-crewed ships - are obviously across-the-board minor friendly. That said, a lot of ships - the majority of day sailors and windjammers, I think? - prefer not to hire people under 18, given the occasionally hazardous physical nature of the job. The one time we had a 17yo deckhand, they were the younger sibling of another sailor.

However, as a community, the crews I’ve been part of (and almost all of the ships I know of) have been entirely welcoming to their youngest members over the last few years - 18 or 19, usually. My ship has a great community of sailors and ex-sailors in the area, built up over years, that look after each other and take a lot of joy in taking in new shipmates. I can say honestly that it’s a really welcoming, supportive place for all new crew members, whatever their age. The only real hurdle is that there is definitely a bit of a bar culture, which has the potential to alienate people <21 (or people who don’t drink). In order to include everyone, we went to the gelato shop a lot instead when we hung out last year, or to nearby restaurants - it’s an easily solvable problem.

(I do want to note that the bar culture doesn’t necessarily translate to a heavy drinking culture; in some smaller towns the local pub is one of the only places open where you can spend some time once you’re off the boat at night. Especially when you’re living on board during the spring and fall maintenance periods, when you routinely wake up to find the drinking water has frozen overnight, a $1.25 beer in exchange for an evening inside a heated building is more than a fair exchange.)

The biggest factor in whether a ship would be a comfortable place or not is primarily dependent on the ship’s culture - the ship’s particular crew for the season, and who the ship’s established reputation attracts, and what the captain encourages. There’s two or three tall ships I’m aware of with something of a reputation for frat-house drunken debauchery, including one that my grandmother, who grew up around the harbor, still calls a ‘skinship, because of all the hanky panky that goes on’. I’d rather not list them publicly, but if you’re comfortable messaging me privately, I can let you know which ones have a reputation for that kind of thing. As I said above, though, it’s a very small number, and the majority are spaces most college-age people would be comfortable in. Trust your gut, talk to the mate or captain if you’re uncomfortable, and don’t be afraid to bail if it’s a toxic place to be.

For your second question, I can’t answer it myself, so I referred it to my marvelous friend @queenrinacat (they asked me to note that their experience is limited to 2 ships and captains, but they’re happy to talk more):

“Keeping kosher is fairly easily done by letting the cook know ahead of time that you have dietary restrictions. However, you obviously can’t control what others do. Ultra/Orthodox-level kashrut is pretty much impossible. The kitchen is the realm of the cook, not you. Unless the cook never makes anything with meat, you can’t ask for cooking utensils to be separate.

A lot depends on what the captain is okay with you doing. On one ship I worked on, I was allowed to light some candles on the deck, provided they were safely encased and there was no chance of anything else catching fire. I had a lot of fun inviting other crew members (including goyim) to sit there as I went through the Shabbat ritual with candles and grape juice and challah. You can do the same if you do Havdalah.

If you’re Shomer Shabbat, again, it depends on what you’re comfortable doing and what you define as work. I suppose it’s possible for one to ask the captain to always have Saturdays off so you can observe Shabbat, but there’s no guarantee of a yes. (Note from Sam - windjammers typically run pretty much every single day in season and need all of the crew every day they’re sailing, but many day sailors can accommodate certain days off, since most rotate out crew over the course of the week). Your bed is a good place to sit and read Talmud, or whatever it is you want to do on Shabbat, and all the beds I’ve seen on tall ships have a curtain you can draw for privacy. (That said, good luck not getting roped into helping somehow if you’re physically on the ship.) I personally felt like a tall ship was excellent for keeping Shabbat in my own way. Actually, it was more conducive to observing the spirit of Shabbat than my life off-ship.

Excluding sailing sans-sails, when the generator was needed, tall ships don’t really use much electricity, so it’s easy to avoid using electricity directly. On the ship I was most recently on, the genny rarely worked. It was easy to just not plug my phone in during the scant minutes the genny was on. If I’d wanted, I could have asked someone else to turn the light on or off for me, which you rarely need to do anyway. Side note: I don’t think I’ve ever felt more at peace than when on the deck on Shabbat, the ship at rest, sitting with the Shechinah and the sea.

Tl;dr: As long as you don’t feel the need to stick to Ultra Orthodox practices (which I mostly skipped describing because there are so many), a tall ship is better than any other for practicing Judaism. In fact, it might be easier to practice on the tall ship than at home. B’hatslachah, and fair winds and following seas.🙂”

I hope this is all helpful! Best of luck!

[bleakcreek]

If it’s almost the end of the year, and we think i can safely say that this has been an AMAZING year for fic in the rhink fandom! there have been so many incredible new authors, on top of authors that have been around for years who are still writing about our boys, and i wanted to give a little bit of recognition to some of my personal favorite fics written in 2019!

i am not in any way implying these are “the best” fics, just the ones that i’ve personally enjoyed. i’m mostly sticking to either completed mutli-chapter fics or longer one-shots, and i’m limiting myself to no more than one fic per author so i spread the love.

without further ado, my (personal) top rhink fics of 2019. (behind a cut, because this post is very long.)

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If You’re Wondering If I Want You To by @ssodangdark Rating: Teen Chapters: 5 Words: 10,234

Summary: “The year is 2006 — you just crafted the perfect away message, The Fray is playing on your clock radio, and you're trying to figure out what band t-shirt to wear to school today. Meanwhile, two teenage boys meet for the first time and navigate their feelings for one another through the songs on one of their iPods.”

this fic is everything you could want in a high school au. it’s sweet, and full of pining, and comes with it’s own built-in soundtrack. i can’t recommend this fic enough. this fic is so sweet, you might get a cavity reading it.

Honorable Mentions: most of em’s other fics are oneshots, so i wanted to feature a longer fic, but i also have to acknowledge her oneshots too! Three’s a Crowd (rhett/link/jessie) and Chris Springs are two of my favorite fics and i would highly recommend reading them.

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Don’t Hold Back by @likeaswitchinheat Rating: Explicit Chapters: 26 Words: 86,501

Summary: “Link has a lot of responsibilities resting on his gorgeous shoulders. It’s Rhett’s job to unburden him of all that. When Link is Rhett’s, he doesn’t have to think about a thing. Rhett will take care of him.”

laika is another ridiculously prolific author, and i’m actually ashamed that it took me until a few weeks ago to read this fic even though it’s been finished for months. this fic is basically half shameless filth and half feelings and angst, which is pretty much exactly what i look for in a fic. 

Honorable Mentions: i absolutely love all of laika’s oneshots, of which there are far too many to name, but i’ll put myself on blast for my particular tastes by giving special mention to Man Bites Dog and Selfie. 

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Candids by @captainsourwolf Rating: Explicit Chapters: 8 Words: 19,635

Summary: “Rhett is a photographer fresh out of SCAD. He lands his first gig soon after graduation, just a simple print ad for a high school advertising their new senior class wear. At the shoot he meets in-demand fashion model Link Neal. It's tense from the start. Rhett ends up being his photographer on most of his shoots, and at every single one Rhett starts a collection of candid shots that he keeps for himself, in a box of trinkets he finds comforting.”

i absolutely loved this fic. i loved the premise, and the slowburn and build up, and the tender longing between rhett and link in this fic. i’m such a slut for pining, which is why this ultimately won out over a couple of elizabeth’s other fics, which are also very good. 

Honorable Mentions: a very close second for this my favorite fic of elizabeth’s was None Like This, but i ultimately had to give it to Candids because i’m a sucker for that softness. Aftercare and hump a little also deserve to be mentioned, too, if you’re looking for oneshots. 

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Rhinestone Cowboy by @soho-x Rating: Explicit Chapters: 15 Words: 26,439

Summary: “If he was honest with himself, he could admit the glamour of being on tour for one of Country Music’s biggest acts had clouded his better judgement. He’d quickly dismissed all apprehensions regarding living in a conversion van for three months, instead focusing on the idea of working a stage during a live show, standing in the wings while country maverick Roy Walker played to crowds bigger than the population of the town Rhett grew up in. It was a dream come true for a small town boy like him.”

this fic hooked me right from the first chapter! i was absolutely in love with the premise of rhett and link as country music stars, and this fic did not disappoint. if you like tender slowburn and pining, you’ll absolutely love this fic. it killed me in the sweetest possible way.

Honorable Mentions: for how recently em jointed the fandom, she’s written a ton of fic! Stolen Moments, No Good Very Bad, #Dormlife, and Only For Your Very Space (unfinished) are some of my other favorites from her.

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Apartment 69 by @apparentlynotreallyfinnish Rating: Explicit Chapters: 18 Words: 86,501

Summary: “Link has it all figured out. He has a plan for his life. He has a nice girlfriend and a nice job and a nice routine. It really doesn't mean anything that sometimes he gets off on watching men fuck each other. He's just curious. But when a famous gay porn star moves next door to him, his perfect plans start to fall apart.”

appa is one of the most prolific writers in the fandom, so it was really hard to narrow it down to just one fic from her. i actually almost put another fic of hers on here instead, but apartment 69 was the first fic of hers that i read, so i felt like i had to give it the edge over incognito if only for that.

this fic had me on the edge of my seat with every update, and it should be a testament to how much i loved this fic that i was genuinely shocked by how long it was, because i could have sworn it was less than 10 chapters. that’s how quickly i tore through it all.

Honorable Mentions: while i didn’t officially include them, i also want to mention her fics Incognito, I Only Want You to See Me (unfinished), NSFW, Wingman, and Let Me Be Your Light, as well as her entire library of oneshots. she is INCREDIBLY prolific so you can easily spend weeks going through her ao3 page and never run out of things to read.

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remember that time in college I found your handcuffs? by @egocentrifuge Rating: Explicit Chapters: 3 Words: 10,435

Summary: “Rhett feels antsy, wants to leave this entire conversation about the fetish gear he found in their dorm behind, but he still wants to know despite his better judgement.

“Okay, the - dom? takes control of a scene. Why wouldn’t the dom just do whatever he wants?”

“Because it’s all about trust, man.” Link’s face is open and sincere in that way he only gets when he believes in something; Rhett can’t look away. “The sub trusts the dom to make it good for them, and so the dom does their best to. It can be a lot of pressure, but it’s - good, too, being able to make someone feel safe and taken care of, you know? For someone to be willing to be that vulnerable…”

Something in the way Link says it trickles warmly down Rhett’s spine, and he puts his beer down.

“Alright,” he says firmly. “Fine. I don’t understand it completely but that’s - that’s fine. As long as you’re both happy or whatever.” There are more questions Rhett wants to ask, but it’s - too much, for some reason. Not just knowing weird kinky details of Link’s sex life, but the way he’s talking about it.

It's twenty years before they discuss it again.”

eggsy has the market cornered on a very particular genre i like to call “porn that makes you cry.” this fic mostly gets the spot because a lot of eggsy’s other fics are much shorter and/or not on ao3, and for purposes of a fic rec, i really wanted to give something long enough to really sink your teeth into, but i an assure you that every single one of their fics should and would be on here if i didn’t limit myself to one fic per author.

eggsy packs an incredibly amount of feeling into a small amount of words, and strikes a perfect balance between hot, angsty, and loving. i cannot recommend eggsy’s work enough.

Honorable Mentions: what of eggsy’s fics isn’t an honorable mention? Reciprocation, You Know What They Say, Men Who Dress Like They Do in California, Reprobates, Unbuttoned, and literally everything on their tumblr (which has a lot of stuff that isn’t on their ao3).

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The Murmur of Yearning by @its-mike-kapufty Rating: Explicit Chapters: 35 Words: 108,811

Summary: “When burnt-out professor Link Neal is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that whisks him to the farthest reaches of the world, he isn't as ready as he thought he would be for the biting cold or the overwhelming darkness of Antarctica. Though at least he'd been given fair warning of those hazards.

The same couldn't be said of his new boss and research partner.”

mike has so many amazing fics that it by all rights should have been impossible to narrow it down to my one favorite, but honestly, this was a surprisingly easy choice. in spite of how much i love every single fic of mike’s, this one was so beautifully written and poignant, and i don’t think any other fic has ever made me cry the way this fic did. it hurts — in the best possible way.

i started reading this fic one evening after work, and was so captivated by it that i stayed up until 3 am, passed out midway through a chapter, then went home early from work the next day (sick! i was legitimately sick!) and laid in bed with a fever reading through the rest of this fic. the last written work i plowed through with that kind of speed and determination was harry potter and the deathly hallows...ten years ago. 

Honorable Mentions: truthfully i could just link to mike’s whole ao3 page here, but i have to at least give special mention to You Have (1) New Message for making me sob (and being the first fic of mike’s that i read), Feel Good for being delightfully fluffy and soft, Untethered for being so incredibly creative and exciting and having me on the edge of my seat for the entire month it was coming out, and And Sundowns Mend Rhett for making me feel things, as mike is wont to do. 

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The Traveler by @the-average-bear Rating: Mature Chapters: 13 Words: 52,712

Summary: “Rhett's on a journey.”

this fic is probably tied with The Murmur of Yearning for my favorite rhink fic of all time, but i had to give The Traveler the edge only because it’s not...quite an au, and while both fics gave me a lot of feelings, this fic focuses on the rhett and link we know and love. it explores what might have been and what could be — and it touches on my favorite genre of fiction, which is sci-fi. 

rhett finds himself accidentally traveling between timelines, exploring what his life could have been like under different circumstances. the build up to the rhink content is slow, and while there’s some smut, it’s pretty minimal, so this is a very different type of fic than a lot of the others here. but god, if you want to feel every feeling possible about these boys, if you want to cry, if you want to be overwhelmed by how much rhett loves link (and vice versa)...? 

please, please read this fic. 

Honorable Mentions: a lot of their other stuff is from pre-2019 so it’s kind of cheating to rec them on a post of the best fics of 2019, but seriously, please read any and all of their stuff. 

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More Honorable Mentions: i was going to do a lot more, but this list got really long and time consuming and i wasn’t able to do as many as i wanted. but some other authors i absolutely adored this year (in no particular order) are:

Rhincoln | @bloodbros

evenlypaced | @youdidinthedark

cockymclaughlin | @cockymclaughlin

pringlesaremydivision | @pringlesaremydivision

ohmyflavors | (not sure if they have a tumblr?)

LinksLipsSinkShips | @linkslipssinkships

missingparentheses | @missingparentheses

festivalofpudding | @festival-of-pudding

RileyRooin | @rileyrooin

crackers4jenn | @crackers4jenn

TheMouthKing | @themouthking

chronicallyilltrashcan | @chronicallyilltrashcan

[the-god-of-nihon]

Writing Idea: It’s called an AU pt1

RWBY characters interacting with alternate versions of themselves and their friends from different universes.

Future Jaune wakes up in his bed back at Beacon, which is odd considering he went to sleep on a ratty couch in an abandoned house. Also Beacon was destroyed 20 years ago.

_______________________________________________________________________

Jaune roused from his slumber, the softness of his bed urging him to stay where he was, in that moment he knew something was wrong. Jaune distinctly remembered falling asleep on a lumpy couch in an abandoned house within which he took shelter. His eyes shot open, met with the sight of a plain ceiling with a single light fixture in the center; a ceiling he knew but hadn’t seen in nearly 20 years. He sat up stiffly, eyes darting from side-to-side taking in the details of the darkened room around him. The bookshelves, the wallpaper, the curtains, three beds to his right it was all the same; this was undoubtedly his dorm room back at Beacon. Which shouldn’t exist anymore. His fists balled in the sheets underneath him, the sensation should have comforted him.

Who would even know what it looked like, let alone the exact placement of everything? Jaune reasoned, thinking the ability to touch things ruled out visual illusions, an ability to alter perceptions to this extent seemed unlikely, even more so due to the nature of what exactly was presented before him. He glanced at the other sleeping figures in the room wondering half-joking to himself that perhaps he fell into some kind of wormhole. He slowly stood, taking deliberate and careful steps towards the bed closest to him. Where Lie Ren, his former teammate, and brother in all but blood slept as he always did, like a log, so still you could mistake him for a corpse. Ren had been gone for years, and yet here he was, younger than he last saw him, but here all the same. “Then that means . . ,” Jaune hazard a look to the other side of the room, and his feet carried him to the furthest bed from him; He leaned over the sleeping girl in it, and gazed down on the face of a beautiful young woman with long crimson hair.

He couldn’t believe it, “Pyrrha?” Jaune extended his hand to touch her, but stopped partially due to how creepy he suddenly felt, partially due to the fear of finding out this really was a dream. The girl in the next bed over turned over, throwing off the covers off her body revealing Nora Valkyrie in all her glory, snoring and drooling. Jaune felt tears burn at the corners of his eyes, this had to be a dream, it was too good to be true.

A quiet gasp drew his eyes back down to the girl he was still leaning over, whom appeared very confused and shocked, Jaune pulled back quickly sputtering out words to explain himself.

Obviously waking up to find a dirty, armed old man leaning over you, even the bravest of individuals would be at least a bit surprised. So Pyrrha sat up and screamed, and almost immediately a blur of pink and orange slammed him into a wall.

Jaune rolled out the way of Nora’s next attack, but found the barrel of a gun pressed against his cheek. Ren staring him down with a look that promised pain, “Who are you?”

“Ren, Jaune is gone!” Pyrrha who had stood and grabbed her own weapon, was near hysterical not due to intruder, but because their leader had apparently vanished into thin air.

“What have you done with Jaune?” Ren pressed again, rage clear on his face.

“If you did anything to Jaune, I’m gonna make you wish you had never been born!” Nora returned with her warhammer, her usual bubbly disposition nowhere in sight.

“I know how this must look, but please listen to m-“ Jaune held his hands up to show his surrender, and try to explain the situation when Team RWBY busted through the door falling in a heap.

The youngest and leader, Ruby climbed out of the pile, worried expression juxtaposed against her pajamas and sleeping mask. “What’s wrong? Who screamed? Did something happen?” Questions streamed out of her mouth as her teammates worked to untangle themselves. Finally taking in the situation at hand, Ruby saw three of her friends in their pajamas holding a middle-aged man at gunpoint.

“What’s going on here?” Yang asked following up on her sister, “who’s the old guy?”

“We were just getting to that,” Pyrrha replied moving closer to her, letting Ren and Nora keep an eye on him. “When I woke up this man was standing over me, I screamed and Nora tackled him. Then we got the situation under control.”

“So he’s some kinda perv?” Yang cracked her knuckle angrily taking a step towards Jaune.

“But how did he get in the first place, we’re not on the first floor, and the doors require a pass code. He’d have had to break in first, which obviously wouldn’t have been quiet, as you noticed when we made out entrance, and there isn’t any sign of forced entry.” Blake straightened out her yukata, pointing out a logical question.

“We think he did something to Jaune as well, he was gone when we woke up!” Pyrrha threw out quickly, indicating to the empty bed against the far wall.

“What!?” Ruby clearly distressed advanced on the man, shouting at him as she got closer, “Why?! Where is Jaune!?”

“Please just let me explai-,” Jaune attempting to start again gesturing with his hands for everyone to calm down.

“Oh dear, this looks like a mess,” the even tone of Ozpin’s voice clearly not fit for the tense situation, inspecting the broken doorframe, then his eye falling onto Jaune.

“Yes, more people just what we need,” Jaune let out a sigh, he would have face-palmed if not for the weapon digging into his cheek. “Just get CRDL and SSSN we can have a party.”

“There had better be a good reason for breaking school property and causing a racket so early in the morning,” Glynda moved into the room riding crop at the ready, soon finding herself glaring at the man sitting on the ground with weapons pointed at his face. “I do not believe we know you sir, and unauthorized individuals are not allowed on campus.”

“Can I finally explain what’s going on,” Jaune snapped, only to find Glynda’s crop pressed against his nose as well, “right.”

“Now now, let’s at least hear what he has to say, there is a process to these kinds of things,“ Ozpin moved as if he had all the time in the world, “if he is found to be unsavory, he will be dealt with.”

“Always with the dramatics Ozpin,” Jaune wanted to snark more, but his position made it a bit difficult.

“Oh, so you are familiar with me, are you a Huntsman?” Ozpin took a sip of whatever he had in the mug, even after 20 years Jaune had never found out.

“In a way,” Jaune replied as Ozpin motioned for everyone to lower their weapons, “I never actually graduated from an academy, but yeah I’m classified as a huntsman.”

“I’m afraid I can’t remember your face, would you mind telling me your name?” Ozpin smiled his Ozpin smile, friendly, but somewhat disconcerting.

Jaune contemplated for a moment, then exhaled deeply causing his shoulder to sag before looking Ozpin straight in the eye, “my name is Jaune Arc.”

Silence. A beat, then all hell broke loose. A flurry of accusations, threats, and various swears were sent his way.

Glynda’s voice drowned out the other voices, gaining a handle on her students, she once again pointed her crop at Jaune staring him down, “I have little patience for games, if you continue to try my patience you will regret it. Where. Is. Jaune Arc.”

“I am Jaune Arc,” Jaune grabs onto the shaft of the crop returning her intense gaze.

“I’m afraid we are a bit reluctant to believe you, because while there is a Jaune Arc at this institution, he is undeniably a young boy, around the age of 17.” Ozpin gazed at the man over the rim of his glasses, who in turn met his eyes, “which you are obviously not.”

“Clearly. How bout some proof?” Jaune proposed, letting go of his grip in Glynda’s weapon, “I can prove I’m really Jaune Arc.”

“We’ll be the judge of that.” Nora spoke up, a sentiment of which all the other students present agreed on. Since the teachers had arrived she and the other students had calmed down, although clearly they were more than ready to lay into him.

“Okay, my name is Jaune Arc, when I was 17 I started attending Beacon Academy in Vale. I have seven sisters, never went to a combat school, and got into Beacon using fake transcripts.” Jaune gestured with his hands as if to ask if that was enough, “need more? Blake is a faunus, and uses her bow to hide it. When Pyrrha and I first met, she speared me to a wall, and again in initiation. Growing up I had a collection of lucky Pumpkin Pete’s hoodie, and the code word Nora and I agreed on to use in case of body snatchers, or mimics is. ‘Chrysanthemum.”

Nora gasped the biggest gasp to ever gasp, pointed at Jaune shouting, “Oh my god! It is Jaune!”

“Ozpin?” Jaune directed the unspoken question towards the headmaster.

“Hmmm, Miss Belladonna who is aware of your heritage?” Ozpin asked without looking at Blake.

Blake seemed surprised by the question, ‘uh, only my team, who told JNPR with my permission. And a student from Haven who is also a faunus.”

“Miss Nikos?”

“Ah. Uh. . .,” Pyrrha blushed slightly, and coughed into her hand, “Y-yes, I did spear him. His hoodie, I mean, of which he has a surplus.” She finished and opened a dresser, revealing a drawer full of identical black bunny hoodies.

“There, that fit the bill?” Jaune crossed his arms leaning against the wall, “or do I need to go into my family history?”

“How about Crocea Mors?” Ruby piped up, her eyes shift from person to person before settling on Jaune, “I mean, if you’re really Jaune you should have his sword. He told me it was a family heirloom.”

Leave it to Ruby to identify by weapon, “unfortunately I am no longer in possession of Crocea Mors, it was destroyed in a battle, sorry Ruby.” Jaune shrugged, “but that does give me an idea, Ruby do you remember when you first met me- er Jaune?”

“The day when we all arrived at Beacon on the bullheads?” Ruby tilted her head, finger on her chin thinking back, “the day Jaune puked on Yang’s shoes, and I exploded?”

“That’s the one,” Jaune pointed in affirmation, then pulled back his hand and looked at Yang, “Sorry about that. Again. But uh- do you remember how I introduced myself?”

“Yeah, he said ‘The names Jaune Arc, short sweet, rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it!” Ruby quoted, Jaune joining in and repeating the exact same words along with her.

This man so different from the boy she had met that day looked up at her and smiled, the same smile she had seen many times, “Then you asked if they really did, to which I said that they would, or at least I hoped. Then went on about some advice from my mom. We ended up lost, and had to backtrack to find the auditorium.”

“Oh. It- it is you.” Ruby was dumbstruck, not sure exactly how to feel about the revelation. She extended her hand to touch him, but stopped short, “but how? Why are you?”

“Old?” Jaune laughed, “if I had to guess I’m not actually your Jaune, but a Jaune from a point in the future in another timeline.”

“Future? Timeline?” Weiss spoke with a dissatisfied tone, “as in time travel?”

“Another timeline’ implies more than one, it sounds more like multi-verse theory,” Ren replied instead, “essentially a timelines exists for every possible difference, or outcome. Say one day Nora has a choice to eat pancakes or waffles. In one timeline, she chooses pancakes, in the another waffles. Both are equally valid timelines, the only difference being that choice.”

Nora oddly enough seemed to understand fairly well, while playfully smacking Ren on the back. Yang rubs her head in frustration, “so for every possible difference an entirely different timeline exists? Even stuff that doesn’t matter like breakfast food?”

“Breakfast most certainly does matter, it’s the most important meal of the day!” Nora interjecting a bit indignantly at Yang’s words.

“That’s why it’s called the many worlds theory,” Ozpin states swirling the contents of his mug idly, ”although I suppose it’s not much of a theory if this is true. I must say I surprised you’re familiar with the concept, Mr. Arc.”

“Multiverse plotlines are pretty common in comics,” Jaune replied making a bit of a show of being bashful, and clearing his throat.

“How can you be sure you’re from another timeline, and not the future of this present?” As nonplussed as usual, Blake’s even tone and expression helped to mellow the situation.

Jaune shrugging, and giving a small chuckle, “cause this didn’t happen in my timeline, if this was my timeline I’d remember it. In theory at least.”

“In theory, how would all this have happened?”

“I’m not exactly sure how, but I ended up in the bed of this timeline’s Jaune,” Jaune pressed his fist against his mouth in thought, “which doesn’t bode well for your Jaune if we switched places.”

A wave of fear spreads through the students present at this realization, before Jaune speaks again, “if he stays put he probably won’t get into too much trouble, provided he keep calm. But knowing me back then- uh now, he’ll be freaking out, and that might bring Creatures of Grimm to him.”

“We have to do something!”

Jaune spoke crossing his arms, face twisting into a grimace, “not much we can do, considering I don’t even know how I got here, or how I’ll be getting back.”

The fear circulating between the group, turned to dread, as looks were exchanged back and forth.

“Uh, what’s the date?” hoping to change the subject, Jaune drew the group’s attention elsewhere.

“Does it matter?”

“how long until the Vytal Festival?”

“A few weeks,” Glynda replies quickly, “the majority of the students from other kingdoms have begun to arrive.”

“So it hasn’t happened yet,” Jaune’s brow furrowed, “But the breach happened, and security control for the Festival was given to Ironwood, correct?”

“How do yo-“ Glynda began to ask shocked by the question.

“Yes.” Ozpin cut her off, “Roman Torchwick was apprehended and the causalities were kept to a minimum due to quick response of the combined forces of Vale’s huntsmen and huntresses, and the Atlas Military. Why is this significant?”

“Well in my timeline during the finals of the Vytal Festival Tournament, the matches are sabotaged, and a combined attack of the White Fang, Grimm and hacked Atlas machines destroys Beacon, and nearly does the same to Vale.” In that moment Jaune swore he could hear a pin drop, all eyes directed at him in shock.

“W-what?” Ruby squeaks out, taking a step towards Jaune, “is that really going to happen?”

“No way to know until it happens, or doesn’t. Who knows this timeline could be completely different,” Jaune shrugs, and then moves to stand up finally. “But at least considering the events of the Breach are the same, this timeline bears some similarities to mine.

“Whoa wait, isn’t you telling us this gonna like paradox or something?” Yang still reeling places her hands on Ruby’s shoulders.

“Nah, like I said this isn’t my timeline so any changes in this one isn’t going affect mine, probably” Jaune pats Ruby on the head, and grins.

“Do you have any actually proof that’s true?” Weiss asked, always the skeptic.

“Nope, but it’s already done, and we haven’t imploded, so no use worrying about it now,” Jaune waved his hand noncommittally. Weiss prickled in response, reared back about to point out how irresponsible that is.

Ozpin stepped forward directly in front of Jaune, “if it is not too much trouble I would like to hear more about this event.” “Of course not right now, if seems everyone could use some time to process this new information, and tidy themselves up,” the older man analyzing the man in front of him as he sipped away at his mug, “please drop by my office when you feel like continuing.”

“Can do. But yeah should probably let everyone get out of their pajamas at least,” Jaune gestures to his friends still in their sleepwear, with their bed-head.

[blazehedgehog]

After Forces, is it a good idea to try the boost gameplay again? Or is a new idea for Sonic in the cards?

I think the boost gameplay is always a good idea.

But here’s the thing with game development, okay, and this is something you realize when you get really deep in to the weeds:

Nothing is impossible, it just requires the right team to do it. A good, fully 3D Sonic game? 100% possible. And I’m not talking about Sonic Adventure or anything like that, I mean better than that.

But it requires the right team to do it.

If I had the time and the skill, I’d make a boost-focused Sonic game that emphasized the race track aspects. Build looping circuits that let you run laps with tons of side roads to take you to different parts of the level. Make it a big, pseudo-open world, but unlike most modern driving games where you’re punished for leaving the track, in my game, that’s where you put all the platforming.

Give it a mission based structure, so some missions require you to race down the track at maximum speed, take specific routes to a goal, and other missions require you to jump off road and platform around slower areas. But it’s all in the same big huge playground environment.

I realized this because it suddenly clicked in my head that Sonic games get better the more you replay them. I hate Sonic Rush the first time I played it, because a lot of the fun of that game is learning its levels and mastering them, and this is true of a lot of the faster Sonic games. I’d like to think Sonic Team realized this, too, but they always handle it poorly, like making you grind out resources in Sonic Rush Adventure or Sonic Unleashed. Even as up to Sonic Lost World, you had to grind out resources, which meant revisiting prior levels.

But it’s all about context. In one context, it looks like grinding to stretch out the play time (and I’m sure that was also intentionally part of the design), but it’s also getting you to go back and replay levels, to learn their layouts a bit more. No matter what, though, it feels forced. So how do you fix that? You look at games like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, those old collect-a-thon platformers of old, where you could spend upwards of an hour in a single level and never realize it. The same is true of Super Mario Odyssey. You become intimately familiar with these worlds.

To encourage that kind of familiarity in a Sonic game, you build the biggest race track in the world with dozens of inroads and shortcuts. Tons of space to run around and go fast, with lots of spaces in between the roads where you can slow down and explore.

I think kart racers like Mario Kart, Crash Team Racing, and Sonic Racing Transformed are good places to look for ways to bring action game elements in to a racing environment. Different surface types like slippery ice or mud that slows you down, enemies that wander in to traffic, hazards that block the road at set intervals, etc. I’ve always had this vision of Sonic racing through Mario Kart DS’s Airship Fortress track, quickstepping around the barrage of bullet bills at the start, doing big drifts around the hairpin turns, and so on.

Sonic Team could do something like that, but they are their own team, with their own ideas for what Sonic should be, and it’s a very hyper-tight experience where you don’t even get camera control anymore.

I fully expect Sonic Team will do something different for their next Sonic game. Because that’s kind of just what they do; they are only consistent at being inconsistent.

[marshmallow-phd]

The Experiments

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller, experiment au

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Exo (????)

Summary: You were a med school graduate who just wanted to help research cures for the world. Instead, what you got was a dream job at EXO Applied Sciences. That is, until you discover the secrets of Level Sixty-Six and the nine inhabitants that inhabit there….

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 I 15 I 16 I 17 I 18 I 19 I 20 I 21 I 22 I 23 I Final

Another six months had gone by and you still hadn’t seen a single face of any of the subjects. By now you had memorized all the facts of their lives, you could rattle off their heights in centimeters and their different weights and cell conditions, but you didn’t know details like what even their hair color was. It drove you a bit crazy. You preferred to operate on a more personal level.

Dr. Wang loved your progress and suggestions as you analyzed their blood. However, after that first day, you thought you were going to be fired.

Deciding to look over the blood cell slides before diving into the technical language of the files, you were surprised by what you saw. No one was lying when they said your suggestion on molding human and animal DNA together would fit right in here. But what you found scared you. The way the cells moved on the slide was not how you expected. Your research had been focused on mixing the DNA with that of those who fit in the same class, i.e. mammals. And that seemed to be their main staple for the foundation. Each subject had wolf DNA as the basis for the fusion, but that was where things changed between them.

Subject Zero-One had a donation from an unknown fish species while Subject Ten had a diverse range of reptiles in him. This mixture of classes was dangerous and unstable as their entire makeup was completely different and non-compatible. You voiced your opinion to Dr. Wang, who just patronized you.

“I know you haven’t been here long, Dr. (l/n), but trust me. We’ve been running these tests for years.” The way her tone was sent down on you made you feel like a child being scolded for not knowing how the TV worked. “The subjects we have here are the ones who stabilized and have shown wonderful progress. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we expanded the results to start more trials on average humans.”

That expansion never came. Part of you wondered if that little piece of information about moving on with the trials was really just something she made up to pacify you. As the months went on, your rose tinted glasses that you’d been staring at EXO Applied Sciences with all these years were starting to fade to a less extravagant gray. 

One shining light, however, was your ever growing friendship with Nada. Although she was technically your senior, she always treated you as an equal. Every Friday after work, the two of you would grab drinks at a bar, complaining about some of the nurses that worked down in your ward and gossip about the attractive security guards that checked in on the two of you every so often.

“I especially think that Marcus is totally into you,” Nada giggled about three cocktails in.

You waved her compliment away. “No way. He’s just nice. I wouldn’t be surprised if some lucky girl had already snatched him up.”

Marcus was anyone attracted to the male sex’s dream. He was handsome, with a chiseled chin and well tone body and a tender personality to match. In fact, you weren’t entirely sure how he ever made it as a security guard. He was of about average height and a slim build and you couldn’t quite believe that man had a mean or aggressive bone in his body. But somehow he stuck around. And while all that he possessed was like a perfect check list from a catalog, you just couldn’t quite bring yourself to stray that way with him.

Nada was only a little put out about that. “Well, if you don’t want him, than you wouldn’t mind if I tried to jump his bones?”

You clinked your glass against hers in a cheeky cheer. “You have at it.”

The playfulness of your friendship is what really made you excited to go to work every day. While the research was exactly you had been dreaming about doing, something still felt wrong deep down. Just a year into your dream company and you were losing your way.

“Have you ran those tests on Subject Sixty-One yet?” Nada asked, not looking up from her microscope.

Crap. “No,” you whined. This day had just been overly frazzling to you.

Nothing seemed to go right and now you had almost forgotten to do your main project for the day. While writing down your planned process for the test, you reached over with your other hand to grab your drink. Apparently that was too much of a multitask as you managed to knock over your thermal cup, which in turn pushed the exact vial of blood from Sixty-One that you needed, sending it crashing to the hard tile floor, shattering it in the process.

“Shit!”

Nada looked up to see what the commotion was about and saw you close to tears. You started cleaning up the mess, releasing a string of curses under your breath.

“Wow, now that was a klutz move,” she laughed. You simply sent her an evil glare. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve done it a dozen times. Just get a new vial out of the fridge.”

“I can’t,” you groaned. “I have to use the latest sample and the next one in there is at least three months old.” And on top of that, Dr. Wang was in meetings all day and not available to get a new sample.

“What happened?”

You shot up to your feet at the sudden appearance of your boss, now terrified of the consequences.

“I’m sorry,” you murmured, tossing the glass from the dustbin into the hazard can. “I spilled the vial for Sixty-One’s test. I don’t have another fresh tester for the trial.”

Dr. Wang frowned, but she didn’t yell like you’d expected. “Well, that’s unfortunate. I don’t have time to fetch it myself.” She walked over to a desk in the far corner, pulling out a sheet of paper and filling in a few blank spaces. “You’ll just have to go get it yourself. I’ll sign off on it. Just show them this paper if they question you.” Dr. Wang handed you the slip and you attached it to your clipboard after gathering up a sterilized needle and clean vial.

“Was there anything you needed, Dr. Kher?” Dr. Wang asked. Nada simply shook her head. “Okay, I just wanted to come check on you two before my next meeting. Don’t be afraid to let me know if you do.”

Nada stared at you wide mouthed as Dr. Wang left.

“What?” you shrugged. You were just thankful you didn’t get a verbal beating.

“She’s never done that before. Usually, she’d make me put it off until she could fetch a new vial.”

You picked up your supplies and head towards the door. “Well, first time for everything.”

The door to Sixty-One’s room was right in the middle of the first hallway. You’d never gone passed the first set of doors, too scared of getting in trouble to carelessly walk down there. It was never explicitly said that you weren’t allowed in this area, but since you’d never been given outright permission before now either, you hadn’t wanted to risk it. Unsure of what the protocol was now that you’d made it this far, you simply swiped your badge and pulled open the door.

Instead of a bedroom set up, you entered a viewing area. A large glass window gave you full sight of the white room beyond. Just below that was a control board that stretch across the whole length of the window. Sitting front and center was an orderly in black scrubs, leaning back in his office chair, feet resting up on the board.

He immediately sat up when he saw you over his shoulder. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah,” you breathed, your entire body going into overdrive. You were about to come face to face with one of level sixty-six’s biggest secrets and you weren’t sure how to handle it. “I need to get a sample of the subject’s blood.” You handed over the slip with Dr. Wang’s signature. “Dr. Wang has signed off on it.”

The orderly’s eyes flickered from the paper in his hand to you and back again. “All right. He’s been sedated, so you shouldn’t have any problems. But I’d make it fast. It usually doesn’t last too long on him.”

A loud buzz rang through the viewing room as the locks on the thick metal door clicked back. The door slid open in front of you and closed with a loud bang as soon as you were in the room. You bit back a gasp at the state of the room. It really was a jail cell.

In one corner was a porcelain sink and matching toilet. Shoved in the other corner and pushed back into an indention was a metal bed with a too thin mattress. The bed was welded into the walls, making it immovable. But what really broke your heart was the man who was strapped to the bed with thick leather restraints holding down his wrists and ankles.

The bed was just barely long enough to hold his tall frame. Thick, dark brown hair stuck to his forehead from the sweat dripping down his temples. His face was soft, save for the pinched skin in between his eyebrows. The sight of his large ears that stuck out from his head almost made you grin, but you couldn’t go through with it due to his current condition.

Grabbing the chair from the other side of the room, you tried not to dwell on the swelling sympathy in your heart for this person. You sat down by his side and started sterilizing the inside of his arm, right at the crease of his elbow. He thrashed a bit at your touch, obviously familiar with the feeling of the rubber gloves against his skin. Making quick work of getting the sample, you put the vial safely in your pocket and removed your gloves.

The amount of sweat that covered the subject’s skin worried you. Placing the back of your hand on his forehead, you flinch back at the contact. He was burning up.

Scared at what was going on with the subject and thinking he might need immediate care, you went straight into doctor mode. Thankful that you thought to bring it along, you poured over his file trying to find the right way to treat his fever. Until you reached the third page. You’d never read that far into his file, all the main information you needed being on the first two. Near the bottom of the page was a note from Dr. Wang dated four months ago.

As of day 768, Subject 61 still maintains his internal body temperature at 40 degrees Celsius.

It didn’t make any sense. With a core temperature that high, he should have been dead. But there he was in front of you, breathing. Reaching out one more time, the moment your skin made contact with his, his eyes flickered open, making you jump back and out of the chair.

Big, round brown eyes stared up at you in desperation. He only gave the restraints a few tugs before giving up. Without breaking his gaze, he parted his lips and let two little words escape before he drifted back to sleep.

“Help… us….”

You put the chair back against the wall, and walked briskly up to the metal door, pounding on the glass to get the orderly’s attention. He opened the door for you and you ran back to the lab. Barely acknowledging Nada when she asked you how it went, you got straight to work on the blood sample, wondering what the hell you had gotten yourself into.

[marveloverthinker]

Space Orcs- The Monster

Gallion wasn’t the sort who believed in tales of monsters or space barbarians. Sure, he’d heard the tales of humanity, the species that had crashed into the Intergalactic scene like an asteroid through the Crystal Spires, but reading between the lines, he saw what the frightened sheep of the Federation had missed... a planet rich in minerals and exotic life, populated by a species that, for the most part, still might as well have been pre-space flight. Ripe for plundering. And if the timidity of the Federation made them slower to acclimate, hey, just more time to do business. He had picked the locale carefully, a particularly backwoods corner of nowhere on the continent the locals referred to as “North America,” delightfully located equidistant from at least five major population centers. People had ignored this place purposefully, which served his own purposes just fine. His crew had been nervous, likely caught up in the stories about humanity that they had heard, but Gallion had no patience for such nonsense. What was real, what mattered, were the scans he was picking up, with insane biodiversity and mineral resources, completely unexploited. The hazards that concerned him were easily dealt with, as well. If the primitives survived here, well, then so could they. The biggest worry was that infernal star, soaking the planet in the same stellar radiation that had likely spurred so many mutations in the first place, but humans had dealt with that, developing lotions and easily applicable salves that could block the worst of it, so long as exposures were kept brief. Discovering a large, run down structure to hide the ship, he’d started the initial foraging, eager to see what there was once he’d sunk his claws in. Near the structure (planetary records indicated it was a “barn,” a container building for ancient agricultural methods) was another, even more dilapidated structure that had likely been an abode once, now a rotting derelict his engineers had deemed unsafe with a single unaided look. His crew had eyed it warily, said it made them nervous. Gallion had laughed off the superstition, and most had dropped the issue, but Rangar, a Soravian who didn’t spook easily, had snapped back. “You only ever see profit, Gallion, but I say that building is wrong. My people are slightly psychic, and the echoes around that place...” Gallion had risked another laugh, trying to keep control of the situation. “Your species barely cracks a 10 on the Suros Continuum. Most Psi Sweeps wouldn’t even read you unless they’d already crawled up your nose. You’re seeing shadows, or whatever the telepath equivalent of that is. Now shut up, and let’s get to work. If the house makes you so damn nervous, focus on getting me some of those squirrels, they may be more your speed.” Rangar had shut up, but the seed had been planted, and the house kept coming up in reports. Odd noises. Lights in the windows. Night watchmen kept reporting odd shadows, or rolling mist, or the crunch of dead foliage behind them. And always from the direction of that house. “FINE!” Gallion had roared when presented with a plan to just level the place, as if that wouldn’t pull attention all over them! “We’ll go. It’s stood this long, it’ll stand a little longer. We’ll go in, enforced, and show you all ONCE AND FOR ALL that there is nothing in there!” He encouraged them to take any weapons they could hold and still fit through the door, and they had, bundling through the cramped quarters looking ready to blast even the smallest mouse to hell if it dared to show its ears. The inside was even more rancid than out, with massive mold growths and scattered burn damage. Then they’d found the bodies. Just a pile of them, mostly skeletons but with the grime of dessication dripping over the whole mass. Human, the lot of them. With smashed, or severed, skulls. “By Tholian...” one of the men had gasped. “What happened here...” Gallion chose an analytical tone. “The deaths of this many sentients. This enough for that psychic noise, Rangar?” The Soravian had nodded, dumbly. “Well, then I owe you an apology. Here’s the culprit. Some maniac killed all these people and dumped the bodies, but this plainly happened a long time ago, and you’ve seen human living quarters. None of them would choose to live...” He frowned. “Where’s Orayan?” Suddenly a croaking scream came from behind them. Before Gallion could say a word, three of his men had opened fire, hot plasma ripping through the walls. There was an alarming creak, and in that moment, Gallion knew that at least one of them had been load bearing. “GET OUT!” He shouted, bursting for the door, but all around him was chaos. In the air and through vox he could hear cries of confusion, pain, and even horror. The floor collapsed and he saw the flailing tentacles of an Athalan rogue desperately trying to find purchase, only to be knocked down it by the mountain of bone crashing into him on it’s way to the basement. And then he saw it, a figure, impossibly huge, holding his twin Croteks by the throats, crushing them together with its bare hands, it’s own skin crisp and smoking from near misses with plasma weapons. “It’s a human!” He shouted, and the panic increased. The ceiling was coming down, and Gallion lunged for a window, grimacing through the pain of piercing shards of glass he picked up along the way, cringing as the roar of the collapsing building precluded all other sound. Slowly, he stood. His readouts showed most of his crew dead. Damn. Still, they had grabbed some good specimens already, certainly worth enough to hire a new, less skittish crew for when he returned. He knew he should have picked the smaller landmass. Australia had sounded so wholesome. As he turned to walk to his ship, he felt something grab his shoulder. “Okay, okay, Rangar, you were right, I’ll buy you a...” Then his eyes focused on the blackened, charred fingers that held him. Humans were frightening, but not immortal. No WAY he had survived... A blade thrust into his sternum, lifting him clear off the ground, and as he looked down at the figure that held him, trying to think of a suitable curse for what it had done, the look in it’s empty, milky white eyes stilled his vocal cords. Gallion had never been superstitious, but eagerly took his chances with whatever lay on the other side of death than look at them for even a second longer. ------------------- Rangar gasped in vain, desperately trying to pull in the oxygen he needed through the sack that had been tied around his head, past the gag that had been shoved between his teeth. There were voices outside, but so desperate was he for air, that calling for help never even occurred to him. Well, the air, and the voice. Always there, whispering in the back of his mind. It had spared him for a reason. For now. “It’s a damn shame, Billy, but frankly I think it’s for the best. Your granny’s house otter have been knocked down decades ago, anyway.” “I s’pose you’re right, officer.” “Federation has already sent a full apology by way of the aliens. These ‘ins weren’t official, as it goes, probably crooks, but they’ve offered some credits to set you up someere’s else, if you like. Better’n your tent, anyway.” “i s’pose you’re right, officer.” “Anyway, lad, they say you get full salvage rights, as well, and the ship looks in fine shape. You take that out, head past jump zero, get you a pilot, you could go anywhere.” “I s’pose you’re right, officer.” A pause. “Ok, Billy, you stay outta trouble, now.” “Bye-bye, officer. Bye-bye.” The voice was frustrated. The officer was meat and bone and blood but had been friends with kin and always played nice, which meant he lived. Granny had always said be good to kin, even if they were race traitors as let filth roam on family land. But now house had burned, and maybe granny would rest with all those Billy had sent her for company. Or maybe she was in the sky, where the smoke had gone. In the sky she could be lonely. Granny hated to be lonely. So more had to burn. The door opened, and Rangar recoiled as best he could from the hatred that roared in his brain as Billy stared at him. This one knew how to fly. Where the others were. And how they best could burn.

[notrodolphus]

Mary/Rab/Amos do it u coward

*sounds of distant thunder rumbling except oh wait that’s not thunder it’s just thEM SMOOCHING*

“We’re just three people who have no idea what real relationships look like but we like each other and are open” era:

does the cooking - Amos ends up taking the responsibility of this one. Mary will help out sometimes, but more often than not she and Rab are banned from the kitchen because Amos hates it when they try to pick bits and pieces of the meal apart before it’s even on the table.

is more protective - It’s a very very close margin, but Rab takes the cake because “whAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO MY MUGGLEBORN GIRL AND HALFBLOOD BOY?!?!”

is better with kids - Mary. Mary is all-around fun, understanding, and tries her best to make sure they’re not just eating candy.

wakes up first in the morning - Rab or Mary, depending on who has the worst nightmare Usually Mary, since she at least tries to stick with her morning runs. It’s a 50/50 on whether she’ll come back to the boys still in deep sleepy cuddles, or bickering because Rab stole the covers and almost kicked Amos off the bed again.

controls the TV/radio/remote - Mary.

sings in the shower - It eventually has to be an established rule that there should be no singing in the shower at all, because once someone starts it’s not long before the other two try to cram themselves in to join in and it’s a safety hazard. But nobody ever follows the rule. Nobody ever wants to follow the rule. Their three-part harmonies are amazing.

is responsible for trapping/killing the spiders - The first time a spider has the unfortunate chance of running in to all three of them, it lands on Rab’s shoe and Amos has to squish it while Mary calms the other boy down. It’s the first time Rab kisses Amos not during sexy times, so it becomes Amos’ job.

always falls asleep on the couch - They’re often all found passed out on a couch during parties, and nobody’s sure how they all fit but it’s very clear that they’ve got their assigned cuddle arrangements.

takes care of the other when they’re sick - Amos, the brave brave soul, lets his Hufflepuff glory shine whenever Mary or Rab get sick. But it does become an important rule for no kissing allowed when one of the boys starts feeling sick, after the one time Rab gave Amos his fever and poor Mary was left with two hopeless drama kings refusing to leave her dorm room.

sets the house on fire - All three of them, and it took a good while for them to want to try candle play again.

is horrible at budgeting - Rabastan, and Mary and Amos try to have a talk with him about “you don’t have to get the penthouse suite every single time you get a hotel room for us” but come on. They all enjoy the Jacuzzi that fits all three of them.

brings home stray pets - Mary and Rab, and Amos hates it.

would cook the better romantic dinner - Amos cooks the dinner, Mary sets the ambiance, and Rab makes sure they’re both getting kissies while they’re busy.

starts the holiday decorating - Rab and Amos ask Mary what her family does for holidays and try to get things set up, and they don’t always get things right but her boys are trying.

eats the others uneaten pizza crusts - Amos eats the crusts, Mary picks random toppings off both their plates, and Rab steals all the pineapples.

watches jeopardy and calls out the answers - All of them and it gets heated.

clings to the other during scary movies - So the couch setup is this: Amos and Rab on each side, Mary in the middle with her head on one’s lap and legs propped up against the other. Rab and Mary both cling to Amos.

surprises the other in the shower - It’s never a surprise so much as “you’ve been in here for fifteen minutes and I need to get ready for class too”/”hey, guys! Saw you both wandering in here, just gonna scooch in and grab some shampoo.”

initiates hand holding while the other is driving - Mary drives, Rab is clinging to Amos in the backseat.

asks weird questions in the middle of the night - they all do this, but nighttime is also usually reserved for blissed out pillowtalks about what they would do if this situation ever came up, or how to be more open with each other, or “hey, was it okay that I did that? Can I try doing this next time?”.

“Hi, I’m Cedric Diggory-MacDonald. My dad was a Hufflepuff, my mom was a Gryffindor, and my pop was in Slytherin. And I’m gonna change the world.” era:

does the cooking - They all get decent with cooking, because Cedric Diggory is a growing boy who needs three healthy square meals a day. Amos is the best by far though, and Mary eventually gets really good at baking. Rab is in charge of cheat days, with his famous Anything You Can Put In A Bowl Chili.

is more protective - Let’s just get this straight: nobody messes with Cedric unless they want high and holy hell brought down upon them. Mary handles any problems with Hogwarts because she’s the most reasonable, and it’s a coin toss between Rab and Amos on who gets to accompany her. It’s been decided that all three of them aren’t allowed to go defend their child anymore, after an unfortunate incident where McGonagall had to turn Rabastan into a guinea pig after he got in a fight with another parent whose kid was bullying Ced.

is better with kids - Cedric doesn’t become Hogwarts’ Golden Boy due to negligent parenting. Sure, they’ve all got different parenting styles, but it’s undeniable that all three of them love their boy and do their best to raise him into a good and honest man. Mary is the biggest disciplinarian, but she’s also the one he always talks to first. Amos builds up his ego, but is the biggest inspiration of being kind and strong. And Rabastan teaches him how to throw a proper curse, but to always remember that he should only do so to defend the ones he loves.

wakes up first in the morning - They all get pretty good at forcing themselves awake because Cedric was a very fussy baby. But Mary is the most alert in the morning, while the boys are still dragging their feet and (sometimes) accidentally pouring butterbeer into the cereal bowls instead of milk.

controls the TV/radio/remote - Amos, who has an uncanny knack for always choosing a song that everybody gets dancing to.

sings in the shower - At this point, they’ve gotten a shower big enough for all three of them with amazing acoustics, and are seriously considering starting a band together. But they don’t, because that would mortify Cedric.

is responsible for trapping/killing the spiders - “Call your DAD!” “Pop, it’s okay! I’ve got this!” “MAAARYYYYY!” “It’s okay! Pop, I put it outside already!”

always falls asleep on the couch - Rab, who often did so with Baby Ced, because he refused to go to bed until all three of them were home safe and under their sheets.

takes care of the other when they’re sick - Amos is superman. He’s got a box of tissues ready before Mary realizes her nose is stuffy, cough syrup before Rab even thinks to complain about his sore throat, and forces Cedric to take two tablets of Vitamin C every day. 

sets the house on fire - none of them, they’ve got the candle play down at this point lmao

is horrible at budgeting - It takes a while for Rab to get a hold of himself, especially those first couple horrible years after he got locked out of the Lestrange Gringott’s vault, but he still struggles sometimes. Especially when “if Harry Potter has a firebolt, then our boy should have a firebolt!”

brings home stray pets - Still Mary and Rab, and Amos has a hard time coping up once they get Cedric on their side.

would cook the better romantic dinner - Once Rab learns how to use the stove and is confident enough for the others to actually leave him alone with it, he gets really good at this. Friday nights are Family Dinner and Board Game nights, but Saturday nights are “Rab tries a new recipe but even if it doesn’t turn out super well we’re all gonna be satisfied later” nights.

starts the holiday decorating - Mary and Amos go all out every holiday in order to distract Rab from getting depressed about the fact that his family burned him off the Lestrange tapestry and are never gonna visit.

eats the others uneaten pizza crusts - Same routine as above, except Cedric joins in on the pineapple stealing and he and Rab make faces at Mary from across the table.

watches jeopardy and calls out the answers - Cedric is literally the only one who knows the right answers. Mary, Amos, and Rab just sit there on the couch and grin about how damn smart and awesome their kid is.

clings to the other during scary movies - everyone is clinging to Amos, and he complains about it every time but they all know he loves it.

surprises the other in the shower - Still no surprise, the biggest splurge they got was getting a ten foot x ten foot shower that fits all of them. Their water bill is ridiculous, but having someone to scrub your back is the best feeling ever and they wouldn’t give it up for the world.

initiates hand holding while the other is driving - Once Cedric learns how to drive, they alternate on who gets to sit in the front seat and hold their son’s hand. The other two are in the back pestering them to change the radio station/stop by McDonald’s/honk your horn at that asshole, Ced!

asks weird questions in the middle of the night - they all still do this and blissed out pillowtalks about their relationship is still a thing because they have finally all learned that the best way to love each other is to keep learning about each other, and it’s just a happy time where they snuggle together and gush about how Ced’s doing amazing in the TriWizard tournament our son is so awesome and life is grand.

@mary-whoisleft @amos-wil

[smolfangirl]

You should take it as a compliment and think about the consequence

I am super tired so here are the basics: The title is a little mix from Taylor Swift’s “Gorgeous”, the whole OS is not proofread and I want to thank @silveranchor for helping me figure the plot out and @huffletiika especially for Gastón’s opinion on Matteo’s appearance. Also, the basic idea comes from this post.

Matteo Balsano was mainly three things.

First, good-looking. The kind that filled Luna with rage and gave her the desire to melt into a puddle at his feet as soon as she set eyes on him. The kind with soft brown curls and chocolate eyes, along with a smile bright enough to count as a hazard. (Not for her eyes, but for her heart.)

Second, a snob. A true chico fresa. Damn, his attitude raised all flags, it crossed lines she never even knew existed. It made her lose her mind when he smirked at her, raised eyebrow and all, with this sophisticated audacity. Worse enough, he knew exactly she fought against windmills when she tried to ignore him or compete against this level of smugness.

But the worst? The worst thing was it also made him so much more attractive.

Lastly, and least, Matteo was not hers.

Luna had grown used to that. To the rush of blood and flustered cheeks and tight feelings in her chest. To the many, many daydreams involving him. She harvested these ideas as if they were precious seeds in her own little secret garden. These seeds never turned into anything, she knew that, they’d always died at the light of reality. Except for this one drunk night, but alcohol – no matter how sweet it tasted – killed plants, and this one dreamy plant was no difference.

Months after this incident, she stole a quick glance at him when he entered the room and turned away again. She chuckled at his comments and threw him off with a single sentence. In boring classes at university, she let her mind wander to a universe where he wanted her as much as she did. And it was enough to keep her happy.

Luna considered it a lucky coincidence that she saw him before training started. Running late, he hurried to his locker to put his skates on, hair slightly messy and breaths that came out as little pants. He barely noticed her. She, however, did. She noticed the glasses he threw into his backpack without a care, the way his hand ruffled through his curls in a rushed attempt to fix them and she noticed the stubbles on his cheeks, creating an illusion of shadows that hadn’t been there before.

It looked the hottest.

Her heart stopped for a moment. Then, the adrenaline pulsed through her veins like she went on a rollercoaster, but she forced herself to stay put until Matteo left again.

By the time she reached the rink, she felt stable enough to not swoon at his view.

“So”, Yam sat next to Luna on the bleachers, an expectant glimpse in her eyes that both confused and scared her. Training had been over long enough for the others to disappear, and Luna only wanted to send Matteo the song of their choreography like she’d promised.

“So what?”, she asked, attention still on the phone. The curiosity in Yam’s voice made her careful, and she’d learned the advantages of creating a quick distraction.

“How did you like Matteo’s beard?”

Luna huffed. “I wouldn’t call it a beard just because he didn’t shave for once.” Obviously, Yam refused to let this topic go yet. This girl showed a persistence that gave her songs their greatness and her designed outfits their beauty, but right now, it only gave Luna cold sweats. “I’ve seen the way you looked at him. Jim too, actually, I’m sure everyone saw it except for your chico fresa.”

“Well, he does look good with it”, Luna admitted, although it felt like the biggest understatement. Matteo didn’t look good, he looked gorgeous. As if he starred in a perfect romance movie, with a perfect girl and a perfect happy ending. Every time their eyes met during skating, Luna wished she was brave enough to lean forward and run his hand across his jaw, to explore the feeling the stubbles would give her.

Her hand clenched around her phone. By the stars, she wanted to shout at him for daring to be so stunning. For stealing her heart and her mind and her sanity.

“Just good?”, Yam countered.

“Ugh, okay, Matteo’s too much to handle”, her hand only increased its grip on her screen, a little more and she’d get a cramp, but she rambled on, overwhelmed by the hurricane inside her. “If he keeps growing it, I think I’d have to fuck him, someone needs to stop him from being so… so pretty.”

Yam stared at her. Chin pushed back a bit, shoulders straight and eyes solely focused on Luna as if she had told her a disturbing secret. Then, her expression softened, and she leaned against Luna’s shoulder. “You’re in deep, huh?”

Luna sighed. “Too deep. He just talks to me and my brain fries. At least he told me he has to study for his final exam, so I won’t see him the next days. I have no idea how I’d survive this beard phase otherwise.”  

“Luna’s in loooove”, Yam teased, a laugh so loud on her lips that she immediately got shushed. “Shh! Don’t scream this around, okay? If you tell anyone…”

“He might hear it and end your suffering?”

“Oh boy, I will never tell you anything ever again.”

16:05

1 audio message from Chica delivery

“If he keeps growing it, I think I’d have to fuck him, someone needs to stop him –“

Message received 16:05

Message played 16:18

It was way into the evening. Luna finished her assignments, read some parts of her class lecture and now laid on her bed, bra off and leggings on. The day ran through her head, classes, lunch in the university cafeteria, training, stubbles. Stubbles.

Matteo. The song!

Pausing the movie on her laptop, Luna jumped up to grab her phone. No missed messages, which surprised her. Usually, if she forgot something, Matteo wouldn’t let her live. (This cockiness. No wonder he managed to mess with her so well, he was a natural.)

That’s when she saw the voice message.

16:05, that was after training. But she felt certain she hadn’t send it to him over her embarrassing meltdown in front of Yam.

Frowning, she pressed Play. A few seconds later, pure horror filled her whole body.

22:25

1 message from Chica delivery

This voice message was an accident, I’m really sorry, I have no idea how this happened

Message received 22:26

Message read 22:33

The idiot didn’t answer.

He read her apology, and half an hour later, he still made no attempt at replying. No ‘It’s okay, don’t worry’, no teasing. Not even teasing!

Just silence in which Luna discovered her personal hell.

With every second that passed without a reply, she found herself closer to the edge. The ground under her feet crumbled away and the painful realization hit her that soon she’d be falling, no safety net attached, no control.

At least she hadn’t said his name – Luna had checked the audio multiple times. Hearing these words out of her mouth shocked herself, she didn’t dare to imagine Matteo’s reaction to them. How bad did it have to be that he didn’t text her, not even to ask who she was talking about?

Oh no.

Matteo was as smart as he was pretty. It was simply a matter of time until he figured it out.

If he hadn’t already.

By now, their friendship probably already belonged to the past.

“Ah, I see your shaver is still missing. Or do you still have no time to use it?”

“Cut it, I need your opinion on something important.” Matteo walked into the apartment of his best friend, not giving a single damn about how rude he might sound. This was an emergency, had been for two days, and he almost failed his exam because of this.  

“Is it about this dead animal in your face? Or whatever it is”, Gastón grinned. Matteo settled on sending him an annoyed look before he let himself fall onto the couch. “Just kidding”, his best friend said, “It really suits you, you look even more handsome than usual.”

“Thank you.” It sounded hoarse, the lack of sleep took its toll after all, besides he wasn’t really interested in what anyone thought about his beard. Except for one person.

“Okay, why do you need my help?” Gastón sat down. Instead of explaining, Matteo decided to just play the voice message. He still searched for the right answer, and Luna hadn’t texted him either, maybe too embarrassed, maybe even over this little incident already. Anyway, it was easy to find the message.

“If he keeps growing it, I think I’d have to fuck him, someone needs to stop him –“

Despite all the times Matteo listened to Luna’s voice, to her words, they caused a shiver on his spine. He never heard her talk like this before. Never. Call him naïve, he never thought she’d be capable of talking like this. After all, she was sweet little Luna, his little ray of sunshine.

Over and over again he pondered over the meaning of this. His head felt worn out from studying and internally arguing whether she meant him or not, the sleep deprivation didn’t help either. He needed Gastón to reach a conclusion.

“Why again did you two only made out once?”, said boy asked as a hint of annoyance slipped into his tone. “Oh, right, because you are like lesbian sheep incapable of making a move.”

For a painfully long moment, Matteo wondered if he a) fell asleep and ended up in a weird dream that felt way too realistic or b) Gastón went nuts in the few days they hadn’t seen each other.

“What?”

“I’m saying, don’t be a lesbian sheep! Make a move!” (He settled on option B.)

Matteo stared at his phone, the chat with Luna still open. His mind flew back, to this afternoon. They hadn’t talked much, less even compared to how much time they usually spent in each other’s company. And with a sense of shame he admitted to himself that he never considered it an option for her to be into someone. Someone that wasn’t him.

He put his phone away. “What if she’s not talking about me? I mean, it could be just wishful thinking.”

Gastón frowned, his usual expression when he disagreed with Matteo, and this time, Matteo couldn’t blame him. For Gastón, this seemed to be crystal-clear, there was no room on the picture in his mind for a cloud of doubts. “Even if it is, one look at you like this and she will jump you.”

“Dude.”

“I’m just saying!”

She made peace with herself.

Matteo had an important exam, and the last one of this semester at that, of course he didn’t answer. He simply was too busy.

That’s what she told herself, and if doubt tore these excuses apart, she slowly accepted the inevitable death of her dignity.

It was early Saturday morning, she watched Netflix in her pajamas and with enough ice cream for breakfast to freeze her brain. It was a good morning - until someone rang at her door.

It wasn’t just someone. When she opened the door, she found Matteo himself in front of her. With a three-day beard.

She couldn’t help but stare.

“… Fuck.” Although she never meant to, the word slipped. Her cheeks heated up, and she condemned herself for not putting a bra on before opening, or at least a bathrobe. Compared to him, in perfectly fitting jeans and a light blue shirt, she felt too vulnerable, naked.

Matteo raised one eyebrow, his face the picture-perfect definition of smugness and his voice carrying his question in a mix of sweetness and confidence that made her shiver. “Fuck you or fuck me, which one is it, Luna?”

She stepped back, arms crossed in front of her chest. His eyes followed her movement and she really, really wished she would have gotten dressed. It got worse when the space between them decreased as he closed the door behind him and walked in, only stopping at what wasn’t even an arm length in front of her. (Not even half an arm length.)

“No – nothing”, she whispered.

Her brain went through a short-circuit pretty much the moment she saw him – the ice cream freeze gave her the rest – and she both admired and hated Matteo for keeping his cool at the same time she was about to lose all self-control and jump him.

“Are you sure?”, he wanted to know, “Because from what I heard, and I quote…” She interrupted him before a single word she said in that awful record could leave his mouth. “Come on, I told you it was an accident!” A sigh hushed past her lips, it sounded too heavy for someone as young and cheerful as Luna. “I knew you’d be a fresa about it, I knew it, you are just unbelievable and I didn’t even tell you I was talking about you –“

For the second time this week, she froze. Blinked. Looked away only to steal a glimpse at him.

He grinned.

She looked away again. Her face felt hot, she’d bet he could cook an egg on her forehead now if he was hungry. Matteo looked hungry, sort of.

But not for eggs. Or anything else to be found in a kitchen.

He leaned in. His breath tickled her skin, he glanced down at her lips and at the same time she met his eyes, her knees began trembling. Before she could fall, his arms secured her, holding her. Instantly, she wrapped her own arms around his neck, almost casually stroking his jawline in the process.

It felt better than she ever imagined.

Her back hit something hard, the door, but it didn’t matter, because Matteo’s lips hovered over hers, too close to back away anytime soon.

Luna closed her eyes.

She didn’t daydream about being more than just a friend to him anymore.

[assistedlivingmilwaukee]

Aging Options Republication DeskYou Say You Plan to Age in Place? Here are Three Home Renovations That Might Help Make It Possible

At least three-fourths of American adults age 50 and older have one thing in common: they want to grow old in their own homes. According to a 2018 AARP survey, 76 percent of respondents prefer to stay put in the houses they’re living in now as they age, enjoying the familiar surroundings of the community they love – and our guess is that the coronavirus pandemic has boosted that figure even higher. But will they be able to? Unless they start now to make their homes appropriate for aging in place, the answer is probably no.

Home Renovations are Usually Overlooked in Retirement Planning

There are some improvements you should consider making to your home today if you hope to age safely living there in the future. This 2019 article from the Money website outlines three home renovations that the author, Alix Langone, claims will help you live independently as you get older. “Many Americans spend decades preparing for retirement financially, but overlook another key aspect of planning: housing,” Langone writes – a statement with which we agree completely.

Since so many older Americans want to remain in their homes as they age, it’s ironic that “few are making modifications to help them accomplish that goal. Indeed, most people don’t try to make their home more navigable until there’s a crisis,” says one Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist who spoke to Money. “One day everything is okay, they have their home, they can function okay, but then they fall,” this planner says. This kind of crisis “changes the whole trajectory of their life.”

Seniors Seem to “Stubbornly” Resist Making Necessary Home Renovations

In spite of the obvious risks inherent in aging in a poorly-designed home, seniors seem to remain stubbornly resistant to recommended alterations that would make their houses safer. “Sixty-five million households in the U.S. are now headed by someone over the age of 50,” says the Money article, quoting a report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Yet less than four percent of the country’s housing stock “incorporates three vital features for aging in place: single-floor living, no-step entries, and extra-wide halls and doors, the report says.”

Depending on the age and design of your home, you may have to move in order to find such age-friendly features. But before you give up your home, it’s worth considering whether some strategic renovation is feasible.  The Money article gives you a place to begin. “Here are some of the most practical home modifications older adults can make to continue living independently for as long as possible, along with cost estimates for each,” says Langone. “If they seem expensive, consider that the cost of inaction could also be high, in the form of pricey medical bills following an accident, or even the expense of relocating to a care facility if you can no longer stay at home.”

Three Home Renovations That Belong on Your To-Do List

Let’s look at three upgrades that top the Money list of age-in-place upgrades:

Update Your Bathroom. “One in four Americans age 65-plus falls each year,” Money warns, “making falls the biggest cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries in older Americans. And the place where people fall the most? The bathroom.” Installing grab bars by the shower and toilet generally costs around $150 each, the article says. If you feel you want to undertake a more costly change, you can remove your bathtub and install a walk-in shower – but figure on spending a minimum of $4,000-6,000. A full bathroom remodel can quickly run well into five figures, but for your peace of mind (not to mention resale value) it just might be worth it.

Upgrade Flooring and Lighting. Consistency is the key here, says the Money “Muscle weakness, joint pain and other issues can make it harder for older adults to navigate different surfaces, moving from hardwood hallways to a carpeted living room to tile in the kitchen,” writes Langone. Ideally each room will have similar flooring, with no fall hazards such as area rugs. Using similar lighting levels throughout the house is easier on a seni0r’s declining vision, since aging eyes don’t have to adjust from room to room. New flooring will generally cost $12-plus more per square foot (installed), and non-glare, long-lasting LED lights can run about $6 each. Motion sensor lights and even remote-control lighting can be helpful for those with mobility issues.

Widen Entryways and Install Wheelchair Ramps. Current recommended home-building standards require doors 32 inches wide, but older homes typically have doorways too narrow for wheelchairs and walkers, says the Money The ideal width is 36 inches, and the upgrade can cost a minimum of $400-$800 per door. Wheelchair ramps are not only helpful as you age, they can also add value to your home, but they will set you back: Money quotes $5,000-$6,000 for a temporary aluminum ramp and $12,000-plus “for a permanent structure attached to a house with around eight steps.”

The Real Key to a Solid Estate Plan: an AgingOptions LifePlan

When it comes to retirement planning, most people focus on one fairly narrow issue: money. Financial planning is an important component of retirement planning. But people heading towards retirement often make the mistake of thinking that a little financial planning is all that’s required, when in fact most financial plans are woefully inadequate.

What about your medical coverage – will that be adequate? What if you have to make a change in your housing status – will that knock your financial plan off course? Are you adequately prepared legally for the realities of retirement and estate planning? And is your family equipped to support your plans for the future as you age? The best way we know of to successfully blend all these elements together – finance, medical, housing, legal and family – is with a LifePlan from AgingOptions.

Thousands of people have discovered the power of LifePlanning and we encourage you to the same. Simply visit our website and discover a world of retirement planning resources.  Make certain your retirement planning is truly comprehensive and complete with an AgingOptions LifePlan.  Age on!

(originally reported at www.money.com/money)

The post You Say You Plan to Age in Place? Here are Three Home Renovations That Might Help Make It Possible appeared first on AgingOptions.

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Authentic Communication | 6 Tips that will Transform your Relationships

Authentic Communication takes an entire truckload of bravery and courage to apply often.

It’s straightforward to as an alternative fall into making assumptions, projecting our fears, nervousness and shame onto others, and shielding ourselves from our personal fact! This occurs so simply because to see our fact would pressure us to go into our depths, and our depths can require great stamina and power to swim in once we’re not used to it! Authentic Communication is HARD!

Its understandable, as human beings we frequently favor the trail of least resistance, to remain inside the consolation zone, to avoid such scary conditions.

It’s truly onerous wired into our very DNA to avoid danger.

Nevertheless, our bodies really don’t know the difference between actual danger and perceived hazard they usually simply tell us to run and hide from the scary monster, even if the scary monster is simply something we created in our minds!

Stress issues, nervousness and melancholy all feed off this course of. As Angela Grippo said in Psychology Right now…

“If we perceive something as stressful, our brains release hormones into the blood. These hormones change our behavior, mental experience, and physical functioning.” — Angela Grippo

That scary monster for many of us is fact, authenticity and personal integrity.

Why? As a result of we know that if we’re utterly trustworthy with ourselves then…

We’ll all the time be pulling ourselves out of the comfort zone of denial, projection and duty avoidance.

We gained’t be capable of ignore our personal conduct and avoidance of dealing with the one individual that we will control, ourselves.

It will mean we’ll have to be absolutely accountable.

We Can Face Our Fears and Honor Ourselves & Others

As soon as we understand that our relationships are instantly influenced by our degree of talent in relation to communication, we will need to slay the demons and dragons of our personal ‘shadow side’ so that we will really have the connections with others that we crave.

Assumptions, lack of communication, false beliefs, insecurity, jealousy, and other low vibration feelings and feelings are weapons of nice destruction to healthy relationships that thrive on authentic communication, honesty and most necessary of all — belief.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place” ~ George Bernard Shaw

So, how can we start to plunge ahead into that forest of perceived doom to get to the opposite aspect the place fact, honesty and belief reside in our relationships?

There are some actions you’ll be able to take immediately to start out integrating the ‘practice’ of genuine communication. And sure… it does take follow, as it’s a brand new method of connecting, both to yourself and to others, that you study and master step by step. Apply makes Everlasting.

When you determine you need to study, the doorways will open, the monsters will shrink away into the shadows, and you’ll find your option to the land of constructive and nourishing relationships.

1. Get rid of the minefield of assumptions from all your communications

Assumption is the follow of deciding what is within the coronary heart and mind of another individual without talking with them and discovering out if what we consider is true.

It’s as ludicrous because it sounds — how can we probably know what one other is considering and feeling?

We don’t — the one approach we will know is to have the respect and presence of mind and coronary heart to ASK if our fears and beliefs are true — then, to have the courage to pay attention.

Most of the time we will be improper, and this is something you need, isn’t it? You need to be mistaken, to be free of the upsetting emotions on account of your assumptions about this other individual. However, as people, we tend to like to seek out proof of the slights carried out to us in this world to justify our insecurities and shame that we really feel inside. Subsequently, the journey inward is so essential.

Don’t assume — ASK and be ready to pay attention and let in what you hear.

2. Be trustworthy with yourself

To comply with step number one, you will have to be utterly trustworthy with your self.

Have you assumed?

Have you ever talked to the opposite individual?

Have you listened once they talked?

OR are you extra involved in proving to your self that you’re alone in this world and no one understands you?

Be trustworthy, but in addition be mild. This work might be alarming initially as we start to uncover our personal unhappiness, disgrace and worry.

Uncover your fact slowly, permit it to only be and don’t decide it.

Most frequently, we decide and make assumptions about others unconsciously because we aren’t aware of our own degree of self judgement and shame. Look inside with compassion. Your discovered compassion for self will unfold to those you relate with day by day. Tell your self the truth, and be mild about it when you’re doing it.

3. Use your words to properly categorical your emotions

Communication could be exhausting. We should find the suitable phrases to elucidate feelings that can typically be so complicated we don’t know where to begin. That’s okay. Share your overwhelm, share your frustration with not having the fitting phrases. Not everyone is a word smith, and you will have to discover ways to be trustworthy with who you’re and what you are feeling in each second.

The apply of non-judgement will assist here in addition to you purpose to speak out loud the method you’re experiencing. This will permit others a window into your own discovery, and it will permit others to pay attention and hear you as you will not be judging them or making assumptions. You’re taking duty for the one feelings and thoughts you will have true information of, your personal. Communication isn’t about being good, it’s about allowing your imperfection and trusting enough to share that with another.

4. Properly take heed to your self first, then you’ll be able to take heed to others

Take heed to your self first, so that you understand how to take heed to others.

The easiest way to start out doing that is to combine a every day meditation apply into your life. Hook up with the quiet voice within. The intuition, the interior steerage.

Our insecurities and ego run the show most of the time, so once we permit ourselves to get still and simply observe the craziness happening in our minds, we will access the wisdom we have now within. Listening to your self might trigger spontaneous therapeutic moments, joyful laughing matches or other releases of trapped emotion — this is all fantastic as it’s simply your body responding to the setting of belief and safety you could have taken the time to provide it.

Consistency to this self love apply will rework your means to pay attention actively to others. Only whenever you pay attention will you develop into aware of your own projections on to others and assumptions you’ve made.

5. It’s not them it’s you!

Sure. It’s the reality.

If you find yourself blaming someone for your feelings however have taken no effort to succeed in out and speak to them, to share your own emotions and to take heed to them and the way they feel, you’re projecting.

This can be a widespread follow to keep away from dealing with our own duty for the assumptions we are making to venture how badly we really feel with all our shame, insecurity and guilt on to another person in a weak try and get it away from us.

Like with any substance we will abuse, or habit — this will only work briefly. Ultimately you will have to do it increasingly to feel any peace.

And the peace you assume you are feeling is fleeting and you then need more of the thing to make it go away, and the cycle repeats. Proudly owning your personal perceptions and judgments is tough to do, because you will need to take a look at the emotions within that are so scary you’d somewhat throw them out to eliminate them. However, be patient.

For those who take heed to yourself, create a protected place for yourself, give yourself the time and compassion to explore your depths, you will study more about your self and also you will begin to see the self-imposed obstacles in place to keep you from the happiness that is yours.

6. Respect your self and respect others

With one comes the opposite. Respect is the power to allow open and free communication. It’s also the power to instill boundaries where crucial. It’s the capacity to assess your personal half in it and remove the sufferer mentality so that you possibly can see the state of affairs clearly.

If the opposite social gathering is just not capable of communicate freely or makes assumptions with out speaking with you, then it could be greatest to place in place boundaries and understand that you’ve accomplished all you possibly can. Maybe the opposite individual just isn’t capable of see the reality right this moment as they are grappling with their own demons. Have compassion now that you’ve discovered how to take action and stay on your aspect of the web. Respect the others proper to study at their own pace, or never study — that is their selection.

Respect yourself enough to not make assumptions, use your phrases, follow authenticity and fact all the time, and personal what’s yours to own.

In case you apply these steps you will gracefully begin to move in the direction of effective and respectful communication with those around you. You will also study who you’ll be able to and cannot talk genuinely with. Most importantly, you will have discovered easy methods to have a dialogue with your self so that you’re not hiding within the bushes afraid to return out and see the monster. You will study self respect and self love. As all communication starts from inside, this will rework your relationships and your life.

“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen” ~ Brene Brown

Glad learning and exploring your depths! Come on in, the water is very nice once you get in here!

Initially revealed at www.thedailypositive.com on July 9, 2018.

Are you wondering how one can transfer your enterprise to a relative ‘unknown’ to an authority on-line? Join with us in the present day to discuss how we will help you with your digital advertising to get you into the spotlight!

Want these updates delivered directly to your inbox? Then subscribe under!

Kaare Long focuses on Social/Digital Advertising as a coach and marketing consultant together with her business a Cue Artistic Consulting– creating artistic, revolutionary and ‘outside of the box’ on-line campaigns and supporting businesses to construct engaged and efficient social media communities on-line around their brand. Kaare also writes in her own personal weblog which was just lately chosen as one of the Prime 30 Mom Bloggers for VancouverMom.ca in Vancouver for 2016. Her writing focuses on being a single mum or dad in the Entrepreneur world and how one can survive and thrive by rocking the boat – www.kaarelong.com Volunteering frequently in the Vancouver group, Kaare sponsors and supports many native artists and group pushed companies and social causes and has been nominated for the ‘Power of Peace Award’ with YMCA the Wendy McDonald award – Vancouver Board of Trade for Group Catalyst and the ‘Group Impression Award‘ from Small Enterprise Awards B.C. Kaare’s driving pressure is her robust sense of group help to each challenge she undertakes and she or he is the founding father of the #sayhitoastanger social undertaking in Vancouver.

The post Authentic Communication

[iteddybearboyfme]

Authentic Communication | 6 Tips that will Transform your Relationships

Authentic Communication takes an entire truckload of bravery and courage to apply often.

It’s straightforward to as an alternative fall into making assumptions, projecting our fears, nervousness and shame onto others, and shielding ourselves from our personal fact! This occurs so simply because to see our fact would pressure us to go into our depths, and our depths can require great stamina and power to swim in once we’re not used to it! Authentic Communication is HARD!

Its understandable, as human beings we frequently favor the trail of least resistance, to remain inside the consolation zone, to avoid such scary conditions.

It’s truly onerous wired into our very DNA to avoid danger.

Nevertheless, our bodies really don’t know the difference between actual danger and perceived hazard they usually simply tell us to run and hide from the scary monster, even if the scary monster is simply something we created in our minds!

Stress issues, nervousness and melancholy all feed off this course of. As Angela Grippo said in Psychology Right now…

“If we perceive something as stressful, our brains release hormones into the blood. These hormones change our behavior, mental experience, and physical functioning.” — Angela Grippo

That scary monster for many of us is fact, authenticity and personal integrity.

Why? As a result of we know that if we’re utterly trustworthy with ourselves then…

We’ll all the time be pulling ourselves out of the comfort zone of denial, projection and duty avoidance.

We gained’t be capable of ignore our personal conduct and avoidance of dealing with the one individual that we will control, ourselves.

It will mean we’ll have to be absolutely accountable.

We Can Face Our Fears and Honor Ourselves & Others

As soon as we understand that our relationships are instantly influenced by our degree of talent in relation to communication, we will need to slay the demons and dragons of our personal ‘shadow side’ so that we will really have the connections with others that we crave.

Assumptions, lack of communication, false beliefs, insecurity, jealousy, and other low vibration feelings and feelings are weapons of nice destruction to healthy relationships that thrive on authentic communication, honesty and most necessary of all — belief.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place” ~ George Bernard Shaw

So, how can we start to plunge ahead into that forest of perceived doom to get to the opposite aspect the place fact, honesty and belief reside in our relationships?

There are some actions you’ll be able to take immediately to start out integrating the ‘practice’ of genuine communication. And sure… it does take follow, as it’s a brand new method of connecting, both to yourself and to others, that you study and master step by step. Apply makes Everlasting.

When you determine you need to study, the doorways will open, the monsters will shrink away into the shadows, and you’ll find your option to the land of constructive and nourishing relationships.

1. Get rid of the minefield of assumptions from all your communications

Assumption is the follow of deciding what is within the coronary heart and mind of another individual without talking with them and discovering out if what we consider is true.

It’s as ludicrous because it sounds — how can we probably know what one other is considering and feeling?

We don’t — the one approach we will know is to have the respect and presence of mind and coronary heart to ASK if our fears and beliefs are true — then, to have the courage to pay attention.

Most of the time we will be improper, and this is something you need, isn’t it? You need to be mistaken, to be free of the upsetting emotions on account of your assumptions about this other individual. However, as people, we tend to like to seek out proof of the slights carried out to us in this world to justify our insecurities and shame that we really feel inside. Subsequently, the journey inward is so essential.

Don’t assume — ASK and be ready to pay attention and let in what you hear.

2. Be trustworthy with yourself

To comply with step number one, you will have to be utterly trustworthy with your self.

Have you assumed?

Have you ever talked to the opposite individual?

Have you listened once they talked?

OR are you extra involved in proving to your self that you’re alone in this world and no one understands you?

Be trustworthy, but in addition be mild. This work might be alarming initially as we start to uncover our personal unhappiness, disgrace and worry.

Uncover your fact slowly, permit it to only be and don’t decide it.

Most frequently, we decide and make assumptions about others unconsciously because we aren’t aware of our own degree of self judgement and shame. Look inside with compassion. Your discovered compassion for self will unfold to those you relate with day by day. Tell your self the truth, and be mild about it when you’re doing it.

3. Use your words to properly categorical your emotions

Communication could be exhausting. We should find the suitable phrases to elucidate feelings that can typically be so complicated we don’t know where to begin. That’s okay. Share your overwhelm, share your frustration with not having the fitting phrases. Not everyone is a word smith, and you will have to discover ways to be trustworthy with who you’re and what you are feeling in each second.

The apply of non-judgement will assist here in addition to you purpose to speak out loud the method you’re experiencing. This will permit others a window into your own discovery, and it will permit others to pay attention and hear you as you will not be judging them or making assumptions. You’re taking duty for the one feelings and thoughts you will have true information of, your personal. Communication isn’t about being good, it’s about allowing your imperfection and trusting enough to share that with another.

4. Properly take heed to your self first, then you’ll be able to take heed to others

Take heed to your self first, so that you understand how to take heed to others.

The easiest way to start out doing that is to combine a every day meditation apply into your life. Hook up with the quiet voice within. The intuition, the interior steerage.

Our insecurities and ego run the show most of the time, so once we permit ourselves to get still and simply observe the craziness happening in our minds, we will access the wisdom we have now within. Listening to your self might trigger spontaneous therapeutic moments, joyful laughing matches or other releases of trapped emotion — this is all fantastic as it’s simply your body responding to the setting of belief and safety you could have taken the time to provide it.

Consistency to this self love apply will rework your means to pay attention actively to others. Only whenever you pay attention will you develop into aware of your own projections on to others and assumptions you’ve made.

5. It’s not them it’s you!

Sure. It’s the reality.

If you find yourself blaming someone for your feelings however have taken no effort to succeed in out and speak to them, to share your own emotions and to take heed to them and the way they feel, you’re projecting.

This can be a widespread follow to keep away from dealing with our own duty for the assumptions we are making to venture how badly we really feel with all our shame, insecurity and guilt on to another person in a weak try and get it away from us.

Like with any substance we will abuse, or habit — this will only work briefly. Ultimately you will have to do it increasingly to feel any peace.

And the peace you assume you are feeling is fleeting and you then need more of the thing to make it go away, and the cycle repeats. Proudly owning your personal perceptions and judgments is tough to do, because you will need to take a look at the emotions within that are so scary you’d somewhat throw them out to eliminate them. However, be patient.

For those who take heed to yourself, create a protected place for yourself, give yourself the time and compassion to explore your depths, you will study more about your self and also you will begin to see the self-imposed obstacles in place to keep you from the happiness that is yours.

6. Respect your self and respect others

With one comes the opposite. Respect is the power to allow open and free communication. It’s also the power to instill boundaries where crucial. It’s the capacity to assess your personal half in it and remove the sufferer mentality so that you possibly can see the state of affairs clearly.

If the opposite social gathering is just not capable of communicate freely or makes assumptions with out speaking with you, then it could be greatest to place in place boundaries and understand that you’ve accomplished all you possibly can. Maybe the opposite individual just isn’t capable of see the reality right this moment as they are grappling with their own demons. Have compassion now that you’ve discovered how to take action and stay on your aspect of the web. Respect the others proper to study at their own pace, or never study — that is their selection.

Respect yourself enough to not make assumptions, use your phrases, follow authenticity and fact all the time, and personal what’s yours to own.

In case you apply these steps you will gracefully begin to move in the direction of effective and respectful communication with those around you. You will also study who you’ll be able to and cannot talk genuinely with. Most importantly, you will have discovered easy methods to have a dialogue with your self so that you’re not hiding within the bushes afraid to return out and see the monster. You will study self respect and self love. As all communication starts from inside, this will rework your relationships and your life.

“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen” ~ Brene Brown

Glad learning and exploring your depths! Come on in, the water is very nice once you get in here!

Initially revealed at www.thedailypositive.com on July 9, 2018.

Are you wondering how one can transfer your enterprise to a relative ‘unknown’ to an authority on-line? Join with us in the present day to discuss how we will help you with your digital advertising to get you into the spotlight!

Want these updates delivered directly to your inbox? Then subscribe under!

Kaare Long focuses on Social/Digital Advertising as a coach and marketing consultant together with her business a Cue Artistic Consulting– creating artistic, revolutionary and ‘outside of the box’ on-line campaigns and supporting businesses to construct engaged and efficient social media communities on-line around their brand. Kaare also writes in her own personal weblog which was just lately chosen as one of the Prime 30 Mom Bloggers for VancouverMom.ca in Vancouver for 2016. Her writing focuses on being a single mum or dad in the Entrepreneur world and how one can survive and thrive by rocking the boat – www.kaarelong.com Volunteering frequently in the Vancouver group, Kaare sponsors and supports many native artists and group pushed companies and social causes and has been nominated for the ‘Power of Peace Award’ with YMCA the Wendy McDonald award – Vancouver Board of Trade for Group Catalyst and the ‘Group Impression Award‘ from Small Enterprise Awards B.C. Kaare’s driving pressure is her robust sense of group help to each challenge she undertakes and she or he is the founding father of the #sayhitoastanger social undertaking in Vancouver.

The post Authentic Communication

[digiscreen]

Okay, so in today’s blog I want to address my love and passion and that is, video games. Shocker there, isn’t it? But Josh, what in particular do you want to talk about? Video games are a huge, ever changing and evolving medium, and there’s so much you can possibly cover, how will you ever choose? Well today, I want to approach games from a more textual point of view. We’re going to look at them as if we were looking at them as a film, and in particular, we’re going to look at Naughty Dog’s 2013 release The Last of Us. I am sure that many of you have no doubt heard about this game, and how it has been hailed as an ‘outright masterpiece.’  If you haven’t, don’t worry. I am intentionally leaving things vague for the time being. Just know that it is a story driven game, set in a post-apocalyptic world where zombies roam. Though plenty of narrative heavy games have come before hand, including the Uncharted series, also created and published by Naughty Dog, The Last of Us is a game that truly broke out of the gaming “bubble” and into the cultural zeitgeist. Now there could be several reasons for this; in the years leading up to its release, zombie/post apocalyptic film and television had flooded the market (the superhero boom that is still present today was just beginning to take off) (pardon the pun), with shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead garnering a large amount of attention. It could also be due to the fact that discussions about gaming had started to change and be reshaped. The time of its release (in terms of where consoles were) is also something I personally feel factors into its huge success. Microsoft and Sony were preparing to move into their next generation of consoles (with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 respectively) and so the The Last of Us was a swan song of sorts for the PlayStation 3. But I digress.

Let’s address the claim then, that “given video games are non-linear, does this mean we cannot study them using traditional textual lenses?” Well let’s first establish what traditional textual lenses actually mean in this context. What we’re thinking of here, is the ways in which we would normally analyse film. We’d look at shot composition, mis-en-scene, sound, lighting, camera movements; all the technical aspects that go into what is on the screen in front of you. These are all physical, malleable objects that are based in reality. Jean Douchet posits that filmmakers deserve to be called “great precisely because of their near obsessive focus on capturing reality and respecting it.” They know what is in the real world and what can be accomplished. But what about animation then? David Bordwell notes that the “classical model has adapted itself to different media and technologies, adjusting to the introduction of sound as well as to other technical innovations.” The whole discussion on what film is becomes very blurred when you combine those two mindsets, and that argument only gets more muddled when you bring in something like remediation. This idea that cinema takes old outdated forms and repurposes it when it creates new technologies. However, despite this mess I’ve laid out before you, and despite cinema having evolved so much, we can still break it down to it’s bare form.

Looking at the 1st Academy Awards, the categories Best Director, Best Picture, Best Cinematography and Best Story were present, just like they are today. The core elements are all still there. (Wow that was a much longer break down of that concept than I meant it to be) Thankfully non-linear is a bit easier to define. A film/tv show is linear as you as an audience member are passive in the watching of it. That is to say, you have no control over where it is heading, the story and events have all been shot and edited, and you are just experiencing them. Video games give you control, and despite games (generally) having an established story and path they want you to follow, you are by no means obliged to follow that. We won’t delve into it much further than that, or we end up in some weird reality where by my definition, Candy Crush is a linear story because I know when I play that game I have no control over anything happening in it. Anyway, point is, textual lenses=physical things we can look at in the frame or within the frame of a movie, non-linear= multiple ways of progressing (or not) through a story.

Now, the more traditional elements are not lost in The Last of Us at all. Watch the credits for the game below (fear not, you don’t need to watch them all, just the beginning):

As you can see, the game has two listed a directors, Game Director Bruce Straley, and Creative Director Neil Druckman, who is also the writer. You have visual effects artist Eben Cook, Editor Ryan M James, Composer Gustavo Santaolalla, like any credits scene at the end of a film, the list goes on and on. Now of course this isn’t the strongest argument to say that we can look at games through the same textual lenses as film because they have credits, by that logic if I added a list of names to anything they could be classified as “film;” but I do raise the credits first because I’d hazard a guess that if you’re reading this you hadn’t realised that video games could have directors, or composers, or editors.

So let’s watch the opening of The Last of Us. Remember how I told you not to worry earlier and I left the description of the game vague, now’s the time to fix that. Now just a quick note that there is violence in this clip, as well as horror themes. Nothing too intense, but worth mentioning.

Now this probably hyperbole, but I feel that there are little to no other mediums that establish so much about everything you are about to experience in 15 minutes as well as Naughty Dog has done here. The clock ticking immediately creates a sense of unease, and one of the first things we hear Joel see is “I can’t lose this job.” We know he’s down his luck. The relationship between him and Sarah is established as a loving, playful one, as shown when Sarah gifts her father a nice watch, and his response is to pretend it’s broken, and their subsequent casual discussion of selling drugs. This nicely juxtaposes when Sarah is wandering the house alone looking for Joel. Cold, muted colours now fill the pallet, and bits and pieces begin to frame the world we’re entering (the newspaper report on spiking admittance to hospitals, the news report in the background). When we see Jimmy break through the glass the camera places us behind Joel, with out eye line at his back, really conveying the vulnerability and fear Sarah is now experiencing. As the scene progresses the camera stays linked to Sarah as we control her and begin to experience the world as it descends into chaos. The fear she experiences, as well as the emotional bond between Joel wanting to protect her at all costs, is really conveyed through this introduction to the game. It sets up the protagonist Joel, and gives the player a clear understanding of what he has been through to make him the man he is when the actual game commences some 15 years later. All these emotions, the world building, they’re entirely based of cinema conventions and tropes. A small American suburban town is the originating point of a virus; chaos slowly descending as the military desperately try to contain the outbreak. A father doing everything he can to protect his child. It’s all classical Hollywood, but the story it ultimately tells is one of relationships and family, and it achieves this through perfect uses of camera movement and placement, a well written script, a score that encapsulates the emotional resonances, and fantastic acting from the cast. Markku Eskelinen excellently points out that “outside academic theory people are usually excellent at making distinctions between narrative, drama, and games” and The Last of Us is an excellent example of why those sorts of theories need to be re-worked and re-examined. HOWEVER, with all this being said, the question isn’t about whether we can or cannot apply traditional textual lenses to video games, but is actually whether we should. Eskelinen’s full quote finishes saying “If I throw a ball at you I don’t expect you to drop it and wait until it starts telling stories.” Video Games are a medium of their own, and they will always try borrow from other mediums in doing so. They, like cinema, are constantly remediating themselves, only they have a much larger pool they can remediate from. 2018’s God of War is one single take for the whole thing, and has received praise for how cinematic it is (citation needed) and would be very easy to analyze, much like The Last of Us under a traditional lens, but throw something like Epic Games’ Fortnite, one of the biggest games right now which is being enjoyed by millions of people, in the mix, and there is no chance you can study it under traditional means. In the same way that you wouldn’t study a book on its cinematography, you shouldn’t be assessing a video game under that same guise.  

References: Moriarty, Colin. 2013. "The Last Of Us Review". IGN. https://au.ign.com/articles/2013/06/05/the-last-of-us-review.

Elsaesser., Thomas. 2016. Film History As Media Archaeology: Tracking Digital Cinema. The Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press.

Bolter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. 2000. Remediation. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

"The 1St Academy Awards | 1929". 2018. Oscars.Org | Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences. https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1929.

Eskelinen, Markku. 2001. "The Gaming Situation". Game Studies 1 (1). http://gamestudies.org/1801.

Druckman, Neil, and Bruce Straley. 2013. The Last Of Us. Video. Naughty Dog.

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Prepaid Debit Cards As an Alternative to Bank Accounts

Many human beings might anticipate that having a pay as you go debit card is just like having a bank account with a debit card tied to it. However, those finance options are hugely specific. While the general public of the populace does have a financial institution account, few humans realize all of the added benefits of the usage of a prepaid card as an alternative. Prepaid debit playing cards provide international economic get admission to and user control. These advantages and others might be discussed greater in-depth below.

One component which could make starting a financial institution account tough are the high minimums required to open a new account. This isn’t so with pay as you go debit cards. Deposit quantities may be chosen by means of the person and there’s no minimal stability to worry about. Additionally, deciding on which sort of bank account is right for you may be difficult as properly. There are various account alternatives all with their personal quality print, no longer to mention the reality that there are regularly strict rules approximately usage relying on the type of account you pick. Prepaid debit cards keep away from all of this, and make dealing with and gaining access to your cash smooth and convenient.

A pay as you go debit card is a tremendous opportunity as they allow users to withdraw coins at ATMs and make purchases worldwide. Also, pay as you go alternatives permit customers to view spending and add extra funds on line, making the system easy and quick. One of the biggest blessings of a pay as you go debit card over a bank account is the incapacity to overdraft and incur costs. Spending is completely described by way of the quantity loaded on the card. This allows you to have complete control over your spending and placed your very own private limits on it.

Direct deposit is any other not unusual function of financial institution debts where paychecks can be robotically deposited every month. Prepaid playing cards additionally have this feature to be had, which offers users get right of entry to their price range at once. Another option each financial institution bills and prepaid playing cards have in common are transferred among debts. Just as you can switch cash among financial institution debts, you may switch it among prepaid cards. Users of prepaid playing cards additionally have the choice to place a number of their money right into a financial savings account, just as they may with a bank. These savings accounts offer a 5% annual percent yield hobby charge, a similar rate to those to be had with an average bank savings account.

A pay as you go debit card has most of the conveniences of a traditional bank account without any of the hassles or fees. Prepaid alternatives are an exquisite way to have clean and safe get admission to for your money.

  Setting Up Your Emergency Savings Fund

  One of the primary steps to getting your budget in order is putting in place your emergency fund. This fund is for emergencies only. I am sorry however that ultra-modern outfit at Macy’s or the brand new android tablet at Best Buy does no longer qualify as emergencies, okay?

So what might be taken into consideration emergencies? Emergencies would include things like your vehicle breaking down, sudden health center bills, dropping your activity etc. Try your pleasant no longer to dip into this account if you could.

How Much to Save

Most professionals agree that you need 3 – 6 months of your family charges stored for your emergency fund. In a tough economic system to be safe, you could learn greater toward 6 months if you are conservative.

If you lose your task it’ll probably take you a bit longer to locate any other one than in a terrific economy. However, in case you are a little much less conservative three months have to be simply excellent.

So let’s say you’ve got family fees of $3,000 in keeping with the month. So you would want your emergency fund to be between $nine,000 and $18,000. It can also take you some time to get there, relying on your income, however slow and regular wins the race.

Little via Little

Building wealth is a marathon, now not a sprint. If you’re setting away $500 consistent with a month then it’ll take you 18 months to get to $9,000 and 36 months to get to $18,000.

If you are able to put away $1,000 in keeping with a month then you may get there in 1/2 the time. Regardless just do the most that you can afford and pass from there. Increase the amount later in case you are able to decrease your charges or if your profits are going up.

You can be amazed at how smooth it will seem while you begin saving money every single month, even if it is a small quantity. Start at $25 in keeping with month if you bought too.

I do not care, simply start someplace. You will be inspired to begin increasing the amount after you begin. Look at wherein you could cut your expenses to be able to keep even extra each month.

Make it Automatic

The simplest and first-class way that I have determined to keep cash into your emergency fund is to do it mechanically and Pay Yourself First. At your job, you get your paycheck every week, every 2 weeks or but you receive a commission.

Taxes pop out each week. We have a look at it and whinge approximately it, however, we live based totally on what we’ve left over. At the stop of the year relying on how your taxes are set up, the majority both get money back or damage even.

Why is that? It is because you have been paying your taxes all for the duration of the year and was not even thinking about it. You can do the identical with saving cash.

You can install your account in order that it routinely comes out every single month.

Most accounts will let you choose the date when it debits your bank account. This way you are not even considering it, similar to while you pay your taxes.

Where to Save

So in which do you save this cash? Well, you could open up a financial savings account along with your bank and store it there if you like.

The most effective element about saving it there’s that the interest price will now not be that wonderful. You can store it in a cash market account via a brokerage firm.

Again the interest will possibly be small and then you definitely might want to go through the technique of putting in an account through a brokerage and things will get a touch more complicated.

My concept, even though, via my enjoy, the quickest and easiest region to store is through a web savings account. These bills commonly offer better interest fees and are pretty clean to installation.

Granted the interest costs on all financial savings debts are currently now not very excessive in view that they may be based totally on the high price. So, to place it certainly while loan quotes are low then the hobby fees on savings accounts are low.

When loan costs go up then the hobby fees on financial savings bills also pass up. Since loan charges are down now so are financial savings hobby quotes.

But the most crucial aspect proper now is to get into the habit of saving cash and constructing up your emergency fund, the interest is secondary. Once your financial savings increase then the rates emerge as greater essential.

However, You might as well get the high-quality rates that you may and the quotes for online financial savings debts are a good deal better than traditional bank financial savings accounts.

  If humans pick out to follow this path, then this is their selection. The predominant difficulty right here is that many people have been only taught one manner to stay their existence. Ironically, some people will say that the so-known as elite or pinnacle 1% meant for it to be that manner. The abnormal issue is maximum of the amazing wealthy have decided to go approximately their existence in a manner that is going in opposition to the grain.

Of direction, as tons, as they will want to, the rich have not uncovered a manner to live all the time. But you higher consider they’re looking to parent it out.

Continuing on, as a youngster in excessive school we have been now not informed to come to be entrepreneurs, spend money on inventory, or invest in actual property. We did now not have any investment classes or business classes to be had to us in high faculty. As a end result, you have many people who’ve no idea of how to begin a commercial enterprise or the distinctive investment opportunities to be had to them.

So what’s it that the wealthy do that is so special?

The wealthy do many stuff otherwise from the common man or woman, however the giant distinction is that wealthy people choose to invest money as opposed to saving it. The rich understand that they could make more making an investment their money as opposed to putting it in a bank account. In spite of all that, if there aren’t any proper investments available, then they may most probable take into account placing their cash in a low interest financial savings account. However, the rich are usually attempting to find investment opportunities that will earn them the exceptional go back for their cash. When they find that money making investment, the coins in that low hobby account is coming out.

Here is the difference between the thinking of a wealthy individual and the average man or woman.

The common person might instead keep $a hundred a month in a retirement account for 25 to 30 years and then start amassing their pension take a look at of $3000 month at sixty-seven years vintage after they retire.

The rich also perspectives making an investment as a hazard, however, they study investing as a possibility to make more money as opposed to dropping money. Rich humans might as an alternative invest $6,000 in an undertaking with a view to earning them $one hundred a month in cash float for the following 10 years. In addition to that, they recognise that the undertaking or funding will be increasing in fee.

If you, in reality, need to be rich, then should not you try to do what the rich do? If you wanted to be an awesome soccer player, you’ll not emulate Micheal Jordan.

With that said, you have to don’t forget mastering approximately your funding options outside of your 401-k and bank financial savings account. You actually need to take into account that there are other investment options apart from a easy financial institution financial savings account like actual estate and inventory making an investment.

Lastly, whilst you start to find out those opportunity investment motors your family and pals will try to discourage you. Many humans will endorse you that those investments are risky and that you will lose your money. These same humans will let you know which you ought to maintain to stay the way which you are living and that money isn’t everything.