#one of the reasons i started doing the birthday spotlights was actually to solve the

[not-poignant]

Hi! I probably missed it in your writing but what are the age differences (if any) in UtB and Spoils between Efnisien and Gwyn?

Hi anon!

You haven't missed it because I don't think I've made it explicit. When ages are very close to each other I tend to get confused a lot more easily because of the dyscalculia. The reality is I rarely specifically work out many character's exact ages, or the years that they were born. (As an example, if I say a character is 29 then they mentally stay 29 for me even if we jump ahead 10 years).

I would say Efnisien and Gwyn were actually born within about a year of each other, but don't quote me on that, because there might be references to them being in different years in school etc. But I always imagine them as being very close because I imagine Penny and Crielle sort of timing things to be close together.

In the canon, Efnisien was born first. But they were still fairly close to each other.

[ennunanaiurov]

I saw some tags and even a comment asking me why I didn't like The Song of Achilles, but I can't reply to comments for some reason, so I'll just write my thoughts on the book here. My score for it on goodreads was 3/5, though it was very close to a 2/5

I hope those who asked will find it :'D

Also please be aware there are spoilers mentioned for the whole book, including the ending.

First, I would like to say that I am very into Greek mythology. I love the myths, the legends and the stories, I love gay shit and I love angst. So by all means, this book should have been straight up my alley.

And yet... it wasn't.

I'd like to start off by saying some good things!

I received the hardcover edition as a birthday gift and it is gorgeous. The cover is textile, it has gold accents and the paper quality was really good.

I also have to give huge props to Madeline Miller for bringing Greek Mythology into the spotlight and getting a new generation of people interested and invested in the stories of those times.

Story wise, I was glad to see it respecting the original story of Achilles and not trying to rewrite it in a fanfictiony-style, but more so just introducing a perspective that not many show. Achilles' relationship with Patroclus has long since been looked at as one of lovers, yet many have tried to diminish that and leave them as friends. it's nice to have a book explicitly following them as a couple.

I also liked the fight scenes. They were nicely executed and described, which is why it was such a pity to get so little of them. And this is where we get into the parts I didn't like.

The story is extremely slow-paced when almost nothing happens (the borderline slice-of-life aspect of almost the entire first 2/3 of the book had me banging my head on a table) and too fast-paced when interesting things do happen (the fights, the arguments, conflicts, etc). I understand that the author was perhaps trying to put an emphasis on their life outside of the mythos, but that made it a real chore to get through, because everything interesting was condensed to a paragraph.

An example of this that really pissed me off when I read through it was when Achilles disappeared and Patroclus went after him. You had (1) Patroclus finding out Achilles is missing, (2) him going to the king and basically threatening him into telling him where Achilles was, (3) Patroclus getting on a ship to take him to Achilles, (4) a few weeks to a month (I can't remember the exact time) of him sailing, (5) him reaching the island, (6) him asking to speak to the king but instead speaking to the princess, (7) the princess shooing him away only to call him back later to then (8) show him her famous dancers, (9) Patroclus recognizing Achilles as being one of the dancers, (10) the two of them reuniting and the princess desperately trying to claim Achilles as hers, (11) her revealing they slept together, (12) her revealing that Thetis basically married them, (13) her revealing that she's pregnant, (14) Patroclus storming off only to be followed by Achilles who tried to explain the situation and apologies, (15) Patroclus, obviously, forgiving him. All of this happened in 19 pages (note that the font is also big and the spacing between the text and the edge of the page is also big, so really, this is at most 10 normal pages).

This blew my mind. I was genuinely so upset I almost stopped right there. Like are you kidding me???? How are we going to breeze through so much stuff so god damn fast. it felt like I was reading a resume, not an actual story. And on the other hand you have entire chapters describing one uneventful and borderline boring evening on the beach. Like explain to me the logic there?

It just feels like the the focus was placed on the least interesting things. It made the story not have any real moments of tension for me. Every issue or argument was solved almost on the same page it started.

Another problem I had was the rule of "Show don't tell" which is very popular in movies. I feel like it is as important in books as well, and it is definitely a problem here. We are constantly being told that Achilles is a great fighter, yet we barely see it. We are told Achilles commands his armies with his words, yet we never know what he says. We are told they learn a lot under Chiron yet we never actually see what. It bothered me a lot.

Speaking of the writing, it is overly-poetic. That doesn't really fit my own taste, though I understand why other may like it, so this point is entirely subjective.

One last thing that bothered me quite a lot was the way their gay relationship was talked about or treated. It felt like it was a relationship that was kept carefully, that other characters eyed them because of it. Yet in Greek history, gay relationships like these were extremely common, and not just that, Achilles would have been looked at with even more respect for having a lover. It was a sign of power and status. So the relationship being shown more in the lenses of today bothered me.

My favorite parts of the story were definitely at the very end, where we finally got to be on the battlefield. Like I've mentioned earlier, Madeline Miller is very good at writing fight scenes. They feel real and believable and are described in a way that makes it easy to visualize. But they were short and only really consisted of two or three chapters tops.

I also didn't understand some design choices.

For one, after a space break within chapters, the very first paragraph always misses the first-line indent, yet every other paragraph has it. I do not understand why this is so. Another thing is that the chapters sometimes have a break marked by *** which usually would indicate a scene change or something. Yet the following paragraphs, more often than not, pick up exactly where it left off. So I wonder, then, what was the point of it being there? At the very end of the book there are also 12 blank pages, and I couldn't help joking that they were trying to see how many trees they could kill per book. It's just weird, having so many useless pages for no real reason.

In conclusion, I did not like this book.

The only reason it's a 3 star and not a 2 star review is that the interactions between Achilles and Patroclus, few as they were (and they really were very few. Most of it is just Patroclus crying and waxing poetic after Achilles, but their actual interactions are few and far between), were quite adorable.

I understand where the hype comes from, there are a lot of tropes that are popular, not to mention the gay TM. And booktok did it a lot of good by posting about it everywhere.

However, the book was, in my personal opinion, meh.

[punkscowardschampions]

Rio & Liam

Rio: I still can’t believe all that mess just happened

Rio: I swear to God my friends aren’t usually that trash like… what the fuck

Liam: it was unbelievable, are you ok

Rio: Like not at all but there’s nothing you can do

Rio: and you’ve already done loads more than I could ask, so don’t worry

Rio: This has really blindsided me, I’d never have expected this from her

Liam: sometimes you don’t know people how you think you do, or you did but they change on you into somebody else

Rio: So true

Rio: I never knew her, clearly

Rio: and she didn’t know me if she thought I was ever going to take her side over my family, was that the plan?

Rio: I genuinely do not get why she did this, tbh

Liam: she probably wasn’t planning further ahead than getting your other mate to take her side, she did things without thinking when I knew her

Rio: Who in their right mind would take her side

Rio: even without the full story

Liam: I dunno, I could be looking at it wrong and what she wanted was for all this to come out

Rio: Now I’m just worried there’s something seriously wrong with her

Rio: it’s not normal, no shit but

Rio: there has to be something going on to drive her to this, right?

Liam: if it’s a cry for help, getting this many other people involved and doing it tonight is a weird twist

Rio: It’s fucked, on so many levels I can’t even get into

Rio: Poor Edie

Rio: Is she mad at me now?

Liam: you don’t have to worry about Edie, she saw what Lex was like before this, she’s a good judge of who people are underneath whatever they put across

Rio: at least one of us is

Rio: I just don’t want her thinking I was out to ruin her night or make it about me and my friends’ bullshit

Rio: I was trying to do the opposite, draw a bigger crowd, you know

Liam: she understands where you were coming from, and it’s like you said, the two of us are in a bubble, I’m not gonna let anything ruin her night or switch up what it’s about

Rio: I’m really glad

Rio: At least that good still came from tonight

Rio: she doesn’t need to feel involved with all this Lexie business, it’s definitely about me, not Edie and you, I can see that now

Liam: I’d be a dick when you’re still going through it if I said I was buzzing we’re both out of it but I was questioning when it started if it was a bit about me, and her, I dunno what I could or would do if Lexie was, like, in love with me or something

Rio: But perfectly valid, this is a shit show

Rio: You don’t need to worry about her, she’s not going to come anywhere near me or mine ever again

Rio: it’s a betrayal beyond what she said in the text, and she knows that

Liam: she don’t worry me, and you don’t have to worry about anything but what she’s trying to involve you in

Rio: Oh we’re done

Rio: now I know she can’t fuck with me any more

Liam: loads of good came out of tonight then

Rio: I suppose that’s true

Rio: it doesn’t feel like that right now but hey

Liam: being done with her shite is gonna feel better in the long run

Rio: Sorry, I am not trying to dump this on you

Rio: that’s how I got here

Liam: Edie’s not mad at you but she would be at me if I just dipped on her sister in the middle of this

Rio: I appreciate that you took the time to do the digging

Rio: can I ask how you went about it?

Liam: not if you’re asking bc you wanna do more on her, that’s not being done or gonna make you feel better

Rio: Oh, no, it’s not about her

Rio: It’s for personal reasons

Liam: if you don’t know what you’re doing you’re gonna end up alerting the person you’re looking into before you find out what you wanna know

Rio: and it’s not something you can teach me?

Rio: I’m not a totally technophobic 👵 I swear

Liam: I don’t even know what you’re looking for

Rio: If Lexie had done more to me, behind the scenes, how could I find out if it was her

Liam: you’d know bc she can’t cover her tracks, it was easy for me to find the things I did

Rio: you don’t think she could keep it up then

Rio: yeah, that’s probably true

Liam: I don’t know, maybe if she wanted this to blow up as fast as it did and didn’t want something else to

Rio: She’s shot herself in the foot if it was her

Rio: anyway

Rio: I still feel bad, I should make it up to Edie

Liam: we could be giving her too much credit or not enough

Liam: Edie meanwhile deserves full credit for how the show went

Rio: I’m going to take her on an actual decent night out

Rio: you’re invited too, of course

Liam: thanks, if she wants me there, I’ll be there

Rio: We could go [somewhere bouj and your vibe] next weekend

Liam: where 😏

Liam: now I’ve searched it, yeah, alright, she’ll feel 👑 going there

Rio: Right?

Rio: I know it was technically your birthday but a girl can never feel like a 👑 too much

Rio: I’ll take her shopping first too but you don’t have to come to that bit, don’t worry 😉

Liam: wouldn’t be the first time I’ve waited outside a fitting room with a bag or the extra clothes they won’t let you take in

Rio: Bless

Rio: sisters are good training for girlfriends, for sure

Rio: I went out with a guy who had like all brothers and he was hopeless

Liam: my ma’d claim it’s more to do with her, however much of me is well behaved

Rio: well of course, that goes without saying

Rio: you aren’t a mummy’s boy type though, are you? 🤴

Rio: ‘cause I hadn’t even thought to warn her about that possibility yet

Liam: you’re too late with any warnings now

Rio: god, don’t say that, sounds so 😬 like 😂

Liam: if she calls me a mammy’s boy when you ask her, I’ll see myself out, like

Rio: I highly doubt she’ll say anything negative about you

Liam: your ma didn’t order me out when I met her, but you can give me a clue if she was just being polite, yeah

Rio: She was as surprised as the rest of us

Rio: but she’s pretty chill, and you aren’t a serial killer, so you’re good on that one

Liam: bit soon to crack a joke at Lexie’s expense or yours about how we don’t all get caught doing what we shouldn’t

Rio: 😏

Rio: if my sister goes missing, I think I’ll be able to put 2x2 together on that one, babe

Liam: the boyfriend did it every time, no technological skill required to solve the case, only luminol and an awareness of toxic masculinity

Rio: no wonder my ma liked you if you came out with all that

Rio: that’s just her energy

Liam: liked could be a bit strong but I’ll work on it, I get that everyone’s not gonna be celebrating as hard as mine is

Rio: that’s so cute 😫

Rio: it’s sweet, no one’s hating now

Liam: it’s the looking older thing, putting me at a disadvantage one time, but she knows I’m not 24 or something crazy now

Rio: No offence, but it could be a lot worse

Rio: she’s gone around with some strange people 🥴😷

Rio: and yeah, you aren’t that much older, really, so along with what you clearly have in common

Rio: I see it

Liam: not gonna get offended you think I’m normal, it’s a massive asset when I’m going round being a huge criminal, clearly

Rio: Ha, is it

Rio: stop with your jokes I’m tryna be sincere 😅

Liam: stop being sincere, you’ve had a fucked up night and if you don’t 😂 you’ll be 😭 is the cliche

Rio: God, too real

Rio: How tragic of me

Liam: nobody’ll hear it from me 😂 or 😭

Rio: Cheers, like

Rio: I’ll go get another drink and toast being free/drown my sorrows

Liam: I’d offer but you could be 3 drinks in while I’m still waiting to be served

Rio: I look older too 💁‍♀️

Liam: 🥂

Rio: I’d offer to get you guys some but I can’t 👀 yous and I’m sure you’re gonna go do something better now

Liam: I'll think of something to put the spotlight back on Edie and keep her feeling special until it's your turn

Rio: 🥰

Rio: Good job

Liam: she could teach you how to find out if Lexie did mess with you at all before, instead of giving a stranger like me access to your devices

Rio: Ah, I don’t wanna worry her

Rio: I’ll just forget about it, it’s no big

Liam: is it that worrying

Rio: Maybe I’m just over-protective, I’m sure that’s what she’d say

Liam: yeah, honestly, but I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing

Rio: She’ll thank me when she’s not a crazy teen

Liam: probably true

Rio: It sounds like wishful thinking, I know

Rio: but I’ve been there

Liam: wishful thinking you ain’t a crazy teen no more

Rio: Charming! 😂

Liam: not a 👵 you wanted me to know

Rio: If I am you are, and you want me to know you’re not too old for her soooo 🤫

Liam: you already admitted it could be loads worse

Rio: You aren’t some sleazy ‘producer’ who pretends you don’t know how old she really is

Rio: or some wannabe rockstar

Liam: unwishful thinking or did it happen

Rio: She’s not stupid, thank God

Rio: just nightmare scenarios that would be way more worrying if she remotely was

Liam: it’s that you’ve been afraid to come to her shows before now then

Rio: Pretty much

Rio: and idk

Rio: contrary to how it seems, I try to let them have their own things

Liam: I get your motives

Rio: If she wanted me there, she’d ask, wouldn’t she?

Liam: if it’s that simple between you two

Rio: Simple ain’t the word

Liam: which sounds like her coming out with what she do or don’t want ain’t likely

Rio: She’s been vocal about what she doesn’t want but I can’t do that for her, that’s the problem

Liam: confrontation where you don’t expect anything to change is easier than getting vulnerable over something you could have, or wish you could, but dunno if you’ll get

Liam: her music matters to her, but you playing along and 👏 bc you’re her big sister isn’t enough

Rio: I know it does, doesn’t she know that

Liam: she thinks you don’t take it serious

Rio: That’s not true

Liam: to her it is or she wouldn’t have told me and I wouldn’t be telling you

Rio: I don’t know why I’ve said any of this to you

Liam: there’s some anonymity as you don’t know me, but I’m kinda invested so you’re not just venting to someone who isn’t

Rio: Honestly, forget about it

Rio: I can talk to my own sister when I need to, we’re fine

Liam: yeah, but you can let me help too

Rio: What can you do about it?

Liam: you’re here bc I invited you

Rio: She could’ve said no

Liam: and she didn’t, she said it was a good idea

Rio: yeah

Rio: me and Edie are fine

Rio: despite any efforts from ex-friends or otherwise

Liam: nobody’s crediting Lexie to that level

Rio: what are you saying, Liam?

Rio: if there’s a problem you know about, then just say

Liam: if it was about her it’d be over, it’s you saying it ain’t simple between you and Edie, I’m not saying anything

Rio: It never is, is it

Rio: were things simple with your sister?

Liam: yeah, a terminal illness is gonna make things pretty simple, like

Rio: Oh, I would’ve imagined the opposite

Liam: not for a relationship dynamic, she gets what she wants

Rio: I guess so

Rio: well, obviously, it can’t work like that long-term, sorry to be blunt

Rio: but I’m not telling you anything you don’t know

Liam: I wasn’t telling you to follow the example of me and my sister

Rio: I know

Rio: Some things can’t be fixed, that’s the truth

Liam: don’t mean you throw round a statement like that and stop trying to

Rio: All I do is try

Rio: you don’t know

Liam: I know Edie’s worth the effort

Rio: and so do I

Liam: you’ve got time and loads of chances to keep on trying is the truth

Rio: Look, it’s not a secret I’m dating our cousin, so I know you know that

Rio: it’s also not a secret that plenty of people, Edie being one of them, are not fans of that

Rio: I can’t change any of that, that’s something we’re all going to have to live with

Liam: there’s stuff you can change though that’d make things better than they are

Rio: I’m not doing anything else wrong

Rio: in her eyes, anyway

Rio: that’s where the problem starts and stops

Liam: if you say so

Rio: You’ve known her five minutes

Rio: I really don’t need a lecture when I’ve known her her whole life

Liam: I wouldn’t keep it this vague if I was putting you in your place instead of trying to spare your feelings

Rio: Spare my feelings? Like she hasn’t said it all a million times worse? 😂

Rio: worry about what you know about her after-all, but thanks

Liam: I’ve got no worries about her

Rio: ‘course not

Rio: look, I sincerely mean drop it

Rio: it’s been an intense night and a weird one on my end, let’s act like we left it there, yeah

Liam: you not wanting my help don’t mean I’m retracting the offer, it’s still there

Rio: You’re dating her, you don’t need to impress me, like

Liam: it’s about her, not you

Rio: You don’t reckon she’s better off without me then

Liam: I wouldn’t admit to it, isolating someone from their family and mates is a huge red flag

Rio: 😏 Encouraging as ever that you just bring that shit up in lieu of nothing

Liam: you brought it up

Rio: no I didn’t

Liam: when you asked me if I think she’d be better off without you

Rio: that’s hardly accusing you of being a psycho abuser

Liam: it’d be a toxic thought for me to have, especially bc I’ve not known her long enough for you

Rio: you haven’t known her long enough to have a go at me on the matter, that’s what I meant by that

Liam: I’m not having a go, I’m having a convo you started and I think is worth keeping going, for Edie’s sake

Rio: I’m not mad at you

Rio: so agreed

Liam: she’s already helped me loads with shite I’m struggling with, I wanna help her too, if I can

Rio: that’s nice

Rio: genuinely

Rio: you clearly care, I don’t have to worry about that

Liam: we did just meet but everyone’s gotta start somewhere

Rio: of course

Rio: you know people usually don’t go this fast though, I’ve not just imagined that up

Rio: most lads ‘refuse to put a label on it’

Liam: most lads think they’ve got as much time as they want to fuck about, my brain’s not wired for wasting it

Rio: I get that

Rio: but you don’t have to skip ahead, miss the fun parts, you know

Rio: like, you don’t feel forced, right

Liam: what do you think she’s rushing me into or vice versa

Rio: I know our experiences shape us, and we have no control over that, trust me, I do

Rio: but idk, it’d make me sad to think you end up doing things you didn’t actually want to, or miss out on the little things, for the sake of fitting it all in, in pursuit of those milestones

Rio: you know

Rio: neither of you deserves that

Liam: you’ve described the opposite of what we’re both doing, it’d be funny if I’d never done any of it before or I was pretending to you I hadn’t, but I’m not with her

Liam: I want it to be different and she knows it is

Rio: If that’s what you both want

Rio: then that’s all good with me

Liam: after that’s what Lexie did, I fully expected Edie to want me to do stuff I wasn’t down to, but that was before I really knew her

Rio: What did Lexie do?

Liam: you know how she can be, it was intense, and asking too much of me

Rio: that’s fucked up of her

Rio: are you okay, did you tell anybody?

Liam: what would I have said, she fancies me too hard, I had bigger things going on, it barely registered until I said about it to Edie and she was upset for me

Rio: She shouldn’t have gone out with you

Rio: even if she thought she was doing a nice thing, she clearly wasn’t mature enough to even attempt to go about it in a good way

Liam: I shouldn’t have agreed to it, she wasn’t forcing that bit, it was on me

Rio: You were grieving, bad decisions are expected

Liam: nobody was mature enough back then, it was ages ago

Rio: so young

Liam: too late now to use the rushing things chat on her

Rio: I don’t think she’s been an evil bitch the whole time

Rio: she got it wrong back then

Rio: but this time she’s crossed a line

Liam: and got caught out for it

Rio: yep

Rio: oh well, at least it’s over

Rio: even if I never work out what I did to make her do that

Liam: it’s clearly a her thing, whatever her damage is, not your fault somehow you could point at and say yeah there’s what I did

Rio: yeah

Rio: I think I’d rather I could know, what it was about

Rio: that over thinking she did it just ‘cos

Liam: I could look again, see if there’s more to find, but it ain’t gonna be a folder called why

Rio: ha

Rio: nah, you’re alright

Rio: I can move on without it

Liam: drowning your sorrows or doing a cheers, wasn’t it

Rio: 🥂

Liam: I can see you

Liam: but we're gonna head off, direct from your sister is she already feels high

Liam: I'll pick her up if you wanna 👋 [and do pick her up before Rio can answer lol]

Rio: I saw your ma commented, are you going home?

Liam: not straight back

Rio: okay, well have fun

Liam: and you

Rio: 🧡🧡

Rio: and tell her I’m sorry, yeah?

Rio: and that she was really good

Liam: yeah, I'll let her know

Rio: thanks, Liam

Liam: she'll wanna hear it

Rio: I hope so

Liam: and about [wherever they are going on this double date] too

Rio: convince her if not

Rio: she’ll 🧡 it when she gets there

Liam: both of us getting to dress up will have her 😁

Rio: absolutely

Rio: I’ve not completely forgotten who she is, like

Liam: I was hyping up your plan not calling you out as being blackout drunk this fast

Rio: you know what I mean

Rio: blackout is now the mood but hey

Liam: don’t let Lexie get to you

Rio: I’ll do my best 🙃

[gascon-en-exil]

FE16 Golden Deer Liveblogging

Chapters 16-18. Just like the Lions route, until it isn’t. There’s also some Dimidue content here, but not enough for its own post.

Chapters 16 and 17 are virtually identical to those chapters for the Lions apart from which army you’re controlling. Ferdinand still shows up to die on the Great Bridge, with a generic taking the place of Lorenz. (Oh, and I’d forgotten to say last time that Ashe appears in Ailell. I read somewhere that he can be recruited somehow here, but I didn’t see it.) The big battle at Gronder Field is a fair bit easier with the Deer; the Lions are less mobile and I believe fewer in number, with the only thing that surprised me being Sylvain and Ingrid coming from behind with reinforcements a few turns in.

Keeping Dedue alive is fairly simple in Chapter 17 since you only have to defeat Edelgard and Dimitri to end the chapter, but I’m not entirely certain I got anything special out of it? In any case, I did so by rushing Edelgard’s lines as fast as possible to get close to taking her out before the Lions start moving. Once they move it looks like Dimitri and his two boyfriends’ AI is specifically trained on Byleth (...why?) unless that’s only because mine was about 30 levels below the rest of my army and cowering in a bush because I’m not using him. It’s therefore not too hard to leave a few units behind to rush Dimitri on his way north as soon as Edelgard is down.

Chapter 18 at first looks like it’s going to be a retread of the Lions’ Chapter 20, the showdown vs. the Death Knight in Fort Merceus, but then the plot happens and you’ve got a bunch of Almyran NPCs led by Nader backing you up while everyone other than Claude assaults the fort from a different starting location. Then the DK surprises everyone by retreating, turning it until a rout map unless you can kill him before he leaves. On that plot point, see below.

Claude’s paralogue is technically the first new map I’ve seen on this route, although it’s really just the story map for the Sreng desert one used for skirmishes. It’s not completely awful to navigate once you realize that there’s a path of normal terrain circling the central structure, which was very helpful when trying to grab the loot from a bunch of thieves determined to commit suicide by dragon. The Wind Caller/Macuil wasn’t particularly worse than any other major monster boss I’ve yet encountered, and he was great for dropping little worldbuilding hints. It’s funny to me that the other house leaders’ paralogues target major military installations while Claude goes on a field trip to another country for information.

Character/Story observations

Let’s start with the Dimidue. The reason I say that I’m not sure that sparing Dedue accomplishes anything is that he retreats from battle and the post-chapter cutscenes play out as if this had happened anyway. Hilda describes Dimitri charging after Edelgard alone before collapsing and getting run through by Imperial soldiers. Claude then asks after Dimitri’s vassal whose fate was unknown - and then it cuts to Dedue alone, saying this: “Your Highness! Your ambitions are my own now! I...I will bring you Edelgard’s head... I swear it!” This is indeed the route where these two go full Quan/Finn, and although Dimitri’s offscreen end lacks the poignancy of Yied the results are no less tragic or less gay. And because Dimitri has no son to be fueled with righteous anger, Dedue has to carry within him not only Finn’s unbroken loyalty but Leif’s rage. I know he’ll be making a reappearance in a later chapter, too, so this isn’t the end for them. I wouldn’t be surprised if the anons I’ve gotten on the subject were really about the chapter where you kill Edelgard.

I made a point to defeat Dedue first before rewinding time to see what would come of it, and actually I think that adds even more to where their relationship is/was on this route. In this version of events it’s left ambiguous who’s leading the mysterious Faerghus army until Dimitri appears on the battlefield, and apart from the bit about Cornelia’s coup right after the timeskip no explanation is given for why Dimitri is his one-eyed feral self. Unless the game says otherwise, I’m going to assume that events played out as they did in the Lions, with Dedue rescuing him from prison but needing to sacrifice himself and inadvertently leaving Dimitri to wander alone as a vagrant for five years. This Dimitri is as such violent, contemptuous, and obsessed with revenge, and when his allies die in battle his “mourning” quotes are nothing but ellipses (Sylvain), dismissive grunts (Mercedes), or their names (Felix, Ingrid). For Dedue, though, who protests that he can keep fighting after being defeated, Dimitri says this:  “Shut up and retreat. You must live, Dedue.” So I was right about how this storyline plays out; per his Gilbert support, Dedue has to have his prince command him to live for him to have not charged to his death alongside Dimitri. Also, way to have all that homoromantic co-dependence flow both ways to have even a feral, death-seeking Dimitri insist on Dedue’s survival while all his childhood friends (and Mercedes) are dying around him and he barely spares them a word.

Anyway...let’s talk about lighter things. Not many supports left for me to get; I finally finished off Catherine and Shamir’s line, and it is blatantly romantic down to marriage propositions. As a counterpoint Claude’s last support with Shamir is one of his more romantic and one of the few endings that sees him eventually abandon Almyra. Flayn/Manuela dances around prostitution - good thing Flayn is secretly hundreds of years old, right?

Monastery tidbits: an NPC soldier confirms that the Fódlan year begins with the Great Tree Moon - the April equivalent. This means that numbering the months to match up with the Gregorian calendar was solely so the player could give Byleth a real world birthday. So worth it. I’ve also noticed that there’s a line of minor quests for supplies and skirmishes in Part 2 that are the same across all routes, with the only difference coming from who’s handing them out. For Edelgard it’s Hubert and for Claude it’s Hilda, but for Dimitri it’s Gilbert as yet another thing Dedue misses out on by being dead by default.

In a rare bit of honesty that’s kind of hilarious, Claude admits that he’s using Byleth for their connection to the church, now as a means of smoothing over tensions within the Alliance.

I complained about how the Alliance’s presence and behavior at the Gronder Field rematch on the Lions route has little explanation, and unfortunately the way the Kingdom remnant is handled is only slightly better here. Claude’s forces don’t try allying with them first because their movements have been erratic, and then later because it’s foggy at Gronder...fog that doesn’t stick around for the map itself, thankfully. Dimitri may be feral and unable to be reasoned with, but what about Gilbert or Rodrigue? The rematch is a big marketing moment, but having the Kingdom and Alliance fight each other instead of unifying against the Empire feels like a contrivance either way.

One thing I think Three Houses does really well compared to earlier games is that there’s less of a sense of what I think of as arbitrary chorus characters: people aside from the leads who show up in most dialogue scenes for the protagonist(s) to play off, who get to be there because they have plot armor or are NPCs so they can’t die in battle and therefore don’t need to be written around. FE16 goes out of its way to include every character in your army at one point or another in story cutscenes, sometimes even in plot critical ways. For example, after Chapter 17 it’s Lysithea who provides the plot hook to bring Those Who Slither back into the story by sharing her traumatic past. Meanwhile in Chapter 18 it’s Hilda who comes up with the ruse of invading Fort Merceus disguised as Imperial soldiers...as well as a gag about dressing Claude in drag that’s mildly amusing but goes nowhere.

Oh, right...I need to talk about the DK, and Those Who Slither’s nukes. The DK retreats from Fort Merceus because his side has “javelins of light” that totally obliterate it in the same way that Arianrhod gets obliterated in Edelgard’s route. As this happens in a cutscene I assume the DK doesn’t die there if you defeat him, as he does in the Lions route. If it seems odd that I’m not dwelling on the fact that the enemy now has anachronistic nukes, it’s nothing compared to Claude, who takes the opportunity to have an extended discussion on racism. Lorenz takes him to task for allying with the Almyran general Nader, and Claude reveals his plan to solve racism with imperialism. As silly as that is, he’s still deft (and manipulative) enough not to do so by revealing his own heritage but rather by dragging Cyril into the spotlight as an example of an Almyran among their own forces. Cyril protests, but that’s just how Claude rolls.

Part of Claude’s big speech references the Officer’s Academy bringing together people from many different backgrounds, among them the princess of Brigid and a man of Duscur. You know, an Imperial hostage and the vassal/boyfriend of the mentally unstable crown prince of Faerghus, because those are completely normal circumstances for adding diversity to the student body. It’s also strange to me that he considers Duscur as outside Fódlan. Ethnically and culturally distinct from Faerghus, yes, but Fódlan is a continent with three independent political entities that also includes the peninsula on which Duscur rests. To use a real world comparison close to how I imagine the relations in question, this would be comparable to saying that the Basque people do not live in Europe because they are an ethnic group distinct from the people of France/Spain. I’m clearly putting more thought into this than the game does, but still.

[mychaosacademia-blog]

Different jobs that My Hero Academia characters could have (as adults)

*LONG POST WARNING! MORE UNDER THE CUT*

1. Midoriya- The Good Cop™

Deku always wanted to save people and before One for All became a part of his life everyone advised him to simply go for the police. If he didn’t become a hero, he would probably become a policeman, and he’d probably make a damn good one, taking into account his perfect balance of righteousness, selflessness, and empathy. If all cops were like him, the world would be saved.

Midoriya: *holds back tears* I-it’s okay now... Because I am here...

2. Bakugou- The Impulsive Soldier

Is there any job that Bakugou could like doing more than fighting? He could initially struggle with being at the very bottom of the military hierarchy, but being put in his place for a while could perhaps help him get over his problems with accepting losing and help. And anyway, he’d climb up fast. After all, this boy’s strong and smart as heck. Just imagine him getting to drill the new recruits...

Bakugou: *yells* I’LL KILL YOU, LAZY SCUM!! 500 PUSH UPS, starting NOW!!

New recruit, terrified to the core: Aye sir!

3. Uraraka- Bob The Builder

Uraraka’s quirk would be perfect to use on a construction site. She’s a strong girl, practical and determined, and would even manage to deal with any potential accidents at work. Plus she comes from the working class, but that’s just an addition.

Uraraka: I can work hard and earn money for my parents this way too!

4. Todoroki- The Vengeful Firefighter

Get it? FIRE-FIGHTER. Now THAT would be a way to go against Endeavor and his plans, wouldn’t it? Tbh much sassier than becoming a hero.

Todoroki: It is then... *15 minutes of traumatic flashback* when I decided to devote the rest of my life to fighting fire. After all, it reminded me of my father... the reason I got this scar...

5. Tsuyu- The Lifeguard

Taking into account what hero internship Tsuyu chose, it is quite easy to determine what she would do with life if she wouldn’t become a hero. The sea is her area, and water is her friend. But she needs some contact with the land too like frogs do and she liked saving people so...

Tsuyu: Kero... *blows the whistle* Please get out of the water, a storm is coming!

6. Iida- The Pure Lawyer

Iida is the most Lawful Good person in existence, probably. He likes rules, knows them all, and is really dedicated to reminding others of them. Cases with his involvement would be guaranteed to be solved justly, regardless of the benefit of his client.

Iida: *gesticulation intensifies* Your honor, I urge you to consider Article 137, paragraph 3! And wear warmer clothes tomorrow, this weather can make you sick!

7. Kaminari- The Portable Phone Charger  Disco Bartender

Kaminari is surely someone who likes people and a good party. Even if his quirk would make him perfect for an electrician, quite certainly he’d just regard it FAR TOO DULL. This boy wants to be COOL. He’d probably try to work his way up to a manager or owner of his own club; but with his intelligence stats, this could take a while. For now, he’d make SHOCKING drinks and chat with everyone around.

Kaminari: *obviously flirting with customers and showing off his cool electricity tricks* yEAH MY FUTURE CLUB WILL BE THE COOLEST! Imagine like... MEME THEMED PARTY

Customer: *quietly* That sounds kind of cringy...

8. Mina- The Kids Entertainer

Mina just seems like someone who’d be simply ADORED by kids. She’s sweet, bubbly, so so fun, and looks like she’s dressed up already! The Alien Queen parties would be booked months in advance. And every kid would dream of getting one for their birthday...

Mina: IF YOU’RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS!

Kids: *climb on her back trying to touch the horns* ALIEN QUEEEEEN!!!

9. Kirishima & Testutetsu- The MMA stars

STRONG BOIS. MASCULINE BROS. GOTTA BE THE MANLIEST and gayest. MMA ROCKS AND HAS A HEART OF STEEL! Also Kirishima would be quickly voted the greatest cinnamon roll of MMA

Tetsutetsu: *screaming and wrestling*

Kirishima: *screaming and wrestling wholesomely*

10. Ojiro- The Veterinary Assistant

Ojiro isn’t the greatest fan of the spotlight, and probably would enjoy a calm, but helpful job as a veterinary assistant. Plus, his tail can give him instant connection points with scared, caudate pets!

Ojiro: *waggles his tail*

A normally aggressive dog: *waggles the tail back and jumps to lick his face*

Ojiro: *giggles, petting the dog* See, there’s nothing to be scared of!

11. Toru- The Shop Assistant actually secretly a CIA Covert Investigator but shhh it’s a secret

We know that Toru likes shopping and would probably be great as a boutique employee. She’s sweet, she has great social skills, and she certainly has style! But at the same time... it would be hard to believe that with her quirk she didn’t get a suggestion to become a spy alongside her job. Did she agree? Did she not? I guess we’ll never know...

Toru: You look amazing in this suit, Mr. President! I think you should really buy it! *places a tiny hidden camera inside the pocket*

12. Koda- The Wildlife Rehabilitator 

There is no other job where the ability to talk to the animals would be more life-saving than a wildlife rehabilitator. Also, taking into account how shy Koda seems, he’d probably prefer to work with animals rather than humans...

Koda: Don’t worry, sweet bunny! You’re safe now!

Bunny: *noms on his plushie*

13. Aoyama- The Sparkling Model

Was there ever any doubt? Aoyama would be a STUNNING model. Just imagine...

*LIGHTS OFF*

*A REFLECTOR ILLUMINATES A SINGLE SPOT ON THE STAGE*

*EPIC MUSIC PLAYS, THE CROWD WHISPERS EXCITED*

AND THERE HE COMES......

Aoyama in his new pajamas collection!

Aoyama: I cAnNoTu StOpPu SpArKLiNg!!

14. Yaomomo- The Patient Teacher

Lecturing Mina and Kaminari among others before the exams just HAD to take lots of patience and supreme teaching skills. If she managed to make these two pass, she can definitely deal EVEN with a class of 30 10-year-olds.

Momo: *for the 13th time* Now, let’s try again! 2 times 3 is?

Some kid with IQ of Kaminari an ameba: ....4?

15. Jirou- The Sound Engineer

She’d definitely keep playing music as her hobby but she seems like a person who’d like to have a stable, technical job as her primary source of income nonetheless. Plus, her quirk would be perfect to hear out the slightest inadequacies of sound!

Jirou: So we have to add gain here, equalize there, distort over here, and probably remaster the whole thing too.

A very confused beginning artist: Uh-uh...

16. Tokoyami- The Subculture Shop Owner

Tokoyami is such a goth birb. So dramatic. So dark. If any goths or emos saw his room in the dorms they would all LOVE this aesthetic. As such, he’d make a good job at picking and selling clothes and accessories for fellow goths and other subcultures. And having Dark Shadow would just make him more famous...

Some goth girl: So you’re like... REALLY filled with a Dark Shadow of you? That’s so spooky!

Tokoyami, who already heard this question 20 times in the past 2 hours: What do you want to buy?

17. Sero- The Steeplejack

With that quirk, he pretty much wouldn’t have to worry about falling. Not to mention THE POWER OF FLEX TAPE

Sero: *swinging on the tape on top of a cathedral* This is pretty fun!

Other steeplejacks: *clinging to their ladders* Watch out!

18. Satou- The Pastry Cook

Mmmm his cakes. The world lost a treasure when Satou decided to be a hero instead of a pastry cook. Truly heartbreaking. Think of all the tasty things he would make constantly...

Class 1A, plotting behind his back: We have to make Satou fall out of the hero course

Satou, terrified: G-guys! I can bake you cakes without that!

19. Mineta- The Pimp *mild NSFW*

I am so sorry. Oh, wait, actually I’m not. Why is Mineta even trying to be a hero? I mean, should THAT be the job of his dreams?

Mineta: *manic laughter* OH MY IT’S LIKE A WET DREAM

20. Monoma- The Professional 4chaner  Internet Troll Actually why did I cross it off, that’s exactly what he’d do

I have no words.

Monoma: *sips Red Bull, typing* HA! CLASS 1A! YOU SPECIAL SNOWFLAKES REEEEEEEEEEE CUCK

21. Shinsou- The Questionable Detective

Ah yes. The police for introverts. Like Midoriya, Shinsou would probably want to save people a lot, so I reckon he’ll choose this path if he wouldn’t become a hero. Just think of how useful his quirk could be...

Shinsou: *having a suspect hypnotized* Knock on the table three times if you did it.

Suspect: *knocks*

Another detective: ...Are you sure this is ethical?

22. Hatsume- The Weirdly Motherly Engineer

I mean, she sort of already is one... But she could probably design much more than just hero costumes! What if she went to robotics... Then her babies could actually talk back to her!

Hatsume, turning on a new robot: My new baby!

Robot: *turning to Hatsume* Mama!

Every human being around: *assessing Hatsume’s age and judging hard*

23. All Might- The Hollywood celebrity specializing in superhero movies!

#LETALLMIGHTPLAYCAPTAINAMERICA2018

All Might: *looking at the shipping fanarts following the movie world premiere* ...........why has my life come to this

24. Aizawa- The Cat Cafe owner

CATS ARE BETTER THAN PEOPLE. If he had the money and time, he’d FOR SURE set up his own cafe of purring babies. And he’d be very protective over them every time he’d visit...

Aizawa: *thunder in eyes* Don’t you DARE disturb Marshmallow’s sleep, you can pet her when she wants to and ONLY IF she wants to

Mic: AWWWW MARSHMALLOW THAT’S ADORABLEEE

Aizawa: *aggressive whispering* I swear if your screams wake her up I WILL assassinate you

25. Present Mic- The Full-time Radio Host

I mean, this one is kind of obvious. How does he have 3 jobs at once anyway?

Mic: *PLAYS AFRICA BY TOTO FOR THE 3RD TIME DURING HIS 4 HOUR PROGRAM* I BLESS THE RAIN DOWN IN AAAAAAFRICAAAAA yo what do you mean I’m being cringy

26. Midnight- The 18+ Domina

Another kinda obvious one? Oh well. She’d be happy and empowered doing that, so don’t judge.

Midnight: Ah, so exciting!!

27. Tomura- The Unemployed

Tomura’s personality doesn’t seem exactly suited for any kind of work... or society, for this matter. At least as long as All For One is around, he’d certainly rest on him, gaming his days away. And after that... even though his sensei already planned for him to take over his company, Tomura prefers not to think about that.

Tomura: *hissing at any opportunity of a job* I don’t like this quest *hides in the hoodie*

28. All For One- The Plotting CEO

All For One seems to love his suit and wears it quite well, so he could certainly do well at a largely formal, managing job. And he’d be the first to exploit ALL for ONE, something that large businesses unfortunately often do...

All For One: *ruining someone’s life and fortune with a smirk* How unfortunate... for you, of course.  

29. Toga- The Professional Cosplayer

Toga’s quirk and erm... interests seem to be perfect for her to be a psycho fan of real-life celebrities, whose blood she steals for her cosplays. As these “cosplays” she makes are literally perfect, she manages to get quite a lot of money from the photoshoots. The celebrities are just very surprised noticing a fresh needle wound on their arm when they wake up in the morning...

Toga: *jumping up and down* I want to become them all! I will become them all! I want to cut them! Blood!

[kissmeaboutit]

Fic recs part 1

The Intern- https://archiveofourown.org/works/979988/chapters/1929352#main

Armin was convinced that it was the opportunity of a lifetime, but Eren just saw it as just another chance to fail. Nothing good could possibly come out of an internship in a stuffy office at Survey Corporation. Eren would have been content to sit and watch the remainder of his senior year pass him by. However, after one elevator trip, Eren finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew about life and himself.

Tentative Bliss- https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131646/chapters/2286009

In the D/s community, a contract is the agreement between the Dom and sub: It outlines the structure, expectation, rules, and limitations of the temporary relationship. After Eren nervously signs one with his new Dom, Levi, they both have a month to decide if they're right for each other and to see if Eren can fit in the household without clashing with the others. Although, Eren is a little surprised by Armin's kindness and Levi's actual objective...

1994- https://archiveofourown.org/works/875756/chapters/1683367

Before cell phones. Before the Kardashians. Before internet porn. The year is 1994. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, poor kids from the wrong side of the tracks, have been transferred with the rest of their neighborhood to the posh, uptown Trost High (Home of the Titans). Mikasa and Armin seem to fit in well enough, but Eren isn't quite so lucky. Of course, most of this has to do with Eren's personality. When he accepts a bet to lose his virginity (and actually prove that someone likes him) by the end of the semester, it's hard for him to deny the improbability of winning. After all, the only one he seems to be talking to these days is the weirdly pretty (and just plain weird) goth working at the donut shop down the street...

Louder Than Words- https://archiveofourown.org/works/1810396/chapters/3885151

My boyfriend, Eren Jaeger, disappeared ten days before his seventeenth birthday.

Six months later, he was found again, completely intact save for his mental and emotional scars. Oh, and the fact that he would never be able to speak again.

And so, we all started to rebuild from the debris that had been left in the destruction of our lives.

Little Titan Cafe- https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032582/chapters/2057524#main

Just another cliche AU in which Eren works as a barista in his mother’s café, specializing in latte art. And then there’s Levi, who’s not exactly your typical patron, because, well, he’s blunt and rude (which Eren supposes isn’t that much different from regular customers) but mostly he just confuses Eren’s poor little homosexual heart.

Chasing Summer- https://archiveofourown.org/works/4059769/chapters/9136579

Two more weeks left before Levi Ackerman graduates from high school and leaves the small town of Shiganshina. He can't wait for the moment that he can finally put that dreadful town behind him. But when a Grisha Jaeger becomes the new family doctor, bringing along his ill son that breathes new life into the town he desperately wants to escape, will Levi find a reason to stay?

A Forged Wedding- https://archiveofourown.org/works/1557026/chapters/3301223

Modern AU, based off of the Japanese game: "I... Don't think I heard you right. What did you just ask me, Rivaille?" "I'm asking you to marry me for a month. How did you not hear me right?" (Rated M for later chapters, mentions of other pairings, more warnings inside)

Don’t Let Your guard down- https://archiveofourown.org/works/5440217/chapters/12572078

Eren and his adopted sister were raised in an extremely Christian household and as a result, are very ignorant to the world around them. And there's one big problem with that. Eren is gay and has been hiding it from everyone since he realized it, out of fear of his homophobic father and other people finding out. One day he feels tested religiously when he meets some eccentric people as a result of him drawing attention to himself by exhibiting his athletic abilities. Little does he know, he drew their attention because they are all apart of their school's color guard team and are desperate for a new member. He's hesitant to join, however, it may not be his choice to accept the offer after all.

Trost Landing- https://archiveofourown.org/works/1622420/chapters/3458933

After a fire devastated their apartment, Levi and Eren move into a new housing community on the outskirts of town. However, after a little while, things don't turn out as happily-ever-after as they had planned.

A voice from the rubble- https://archiveofourown.org/works/5014987/chapters/11525746

It all just took 30 seconds. Thirty seconds that kept replaying in my mind over and over again, the details so vivid. Thirty seconds that would change my life forever.

Thirty seconds earlier we had all been safely tucked up in bed. Shiganshina Lodge was my home, my family was visiting for the holidays; it had now become our tomb.

Shiganshina District had been a second home to all of us ever since I was born. I know this place. I know its beauty... I'm now learning its terror.

OR: Eren's trapped in a landslide and Levi's the paramedic that finds him.

Freedom of the press- https://archiveofourown.org/works/3261971/chapters/7113611

Eren is just an ordinary college student, wondering how long he can put off his art projects and if it's possible to live off of only ramen and mac 'n cheese. Oh, and if his medical alert bracelet is really necessary, because honestly, it shouldn't be. His part time jobs as a barista and a photographer for a major newspaper help pay the bills, but when he gets assigned the task of photographing the upcoming professional soccer match, he can't believe his luck. He has been given permission to legally stalk his idol, center forward for the Scouts, Levi Ackerman!

Levi Ackerman is a famous soccer player, and the object of millions of girls' and guys' wet dreams. For Levi, the life of a celebrity is nothing to complain about. He can walk into any bar and leave with his choice of men to take home. And with a sexual appetite that can rival that of a porn star, this is a benefit of stardom he takes full advantage of. The only problem is, it's hard to keep secrets when constantly under a spotlight. What the world doesn't know is that he's gay, and he's determined to keep it that way. Levi struggles to keep his deep, dark secret out of the public knowledge, but a certain green-eyed brat is making that exceptionally difficult.

Both sides of the same coin- https://archiveofourown.org/works/1966659/chapters/4255494

Eren is a werewolf, captured by humans for experiments, and wakes up in a cell that he soon realizes he's sharing with a vampire. The two work together to get out of their unpleasant prison but the price for their freedom may end up being too high. How will they cope with the consequences of the choices they have made?

Help Me Stand- https://archiveofourown.org/works/934319/chapters/1818776

Eren's best childhood friend and high school boyfriend, Armin, dies in a car accident in which Eren had been the one at the wheel. Unable to keep from blaming himself, life itself becomes agonizing for Eren and he turns to the more negative side of coping mechanisms. Eventually, he meets a college student named Levi who seems like he has it all figured out, just to discover that they have more in common than he thought. Modern!AU.

Also, Levi has a motorcycle because it was definitely necessary.

Make You Feel My Love- https://archiveofourown.org/works/4863482/chapters/11146277

Levi is Trost's strongest soldier, he's Captain of the Special Ops Squad and he's also the only chance Trost has to end their long war with Maria. Eren is Maria's Prince, he's beloved and respected by all of his people, he's also the only hope Maria has to survive their long struggle against Trost.

What neither of them expected was an arranged marriage to try and solve all their problems. Fun fact: it doesn't.

A World Of Our Own- https://archiveofourown.org/works/2632715/chapters/5875388

Eren wasn't happy knowing his whole life that he'd have to be forced into an arranged marriage, but finding out that his fiance is one of the richest, most famous heirs of the modern age wasn't exactly helping. All about the struggles of being forced into a modern day arranged marriage.

And Eren being a little shit in the process. Cause he's a brat.

The Music Room- https://archiveofourown.org/works/5043655/chapters/11596453

Levi Ackerman resides in a facility for the terminally ill, angry and bitter toward the world for being stripped of his life before he's even allowed to live it. He keeps to himself and in fact shuns any kind of social interaction with anyone. That is, until he stumbles upon the music room, inhabited only by a cancer-ridden teenager who's just as lonely as he is.

Leave your Lover- https://archiveofourown.org/works/2062431/chapters/4482963

Levi is a 30 year old divorced Chef who works at his best friend's restaurant.

An ex military Sergeant, Levi lives his life according to a strict routine. One day, his strict schedule is thrown off when a mysterious cat makes it's way into his apartment from the open Balcony. When Levi hears it's owner knocking on his door, he wasn't aware that his life would be turned upside down and all because of this boy standing in his doorway with the biggest, brightest green eyes he'd ever seen and his name is Eren Jaeger.

The story in which Levi doesn't know he's gay and is in denial about it until a certain bright eyed boy moves in next door and steals his heart. The only problem is... he's got a boyfriend.

Comment On... - https://archiveofourown.org/works/7897357

Levi has come a long way since he started writing fanfiction, but there's always been that one reader who's stuck by him since the beginning. A fanartist for his fanwriter who goes by the name of Jaegermeister. After months of talking back and forth in the comments of AO3 one of them finally becomes brave enough to send a message on Tumblr that takes their conversations to a whole new level.

Promises Travel-

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5524034/chapters/12751232

One promise could lead to more.  

And for Levi, he intended to keep every one of them no matter where Eren may be.

A Place for Hearts To Rest- https://archiveofourown.org/works/7189850/chapters/16318364

Levi is Eren's captain, and Eren assumed it would always be that way. Captain and subordinate, the way it was meant to be. But, when Eren's heat hits and the two can't resist each other, will the change be for the better, or the worse? Especially with the extraordinary circumstances that follow. There were orders they were meant to follow, rules that were not meant to be broken, and repercussions that would be dire, but no one can withstand the battering of wild instincts indefinitely and even taciturn captains sometimes have slip ups.

Only with the help of their friends are they able to come to terms with the sticky situation they'd managed to get themselves into. But, will it be enough to save them?

[aster-ria]

Heirs of Prythian Profile

Name: Arianna "Ari" Archeron Vanserra

Age: (600 years a.A.) 498

Birthday: 21. October 102 NAP (New Age of Prythian)

Epithets/Nicknames:

Bonebreaker

Wing-Slayer

Illyrian's Nightmare

Blackhole

Little Night (by family)

Positions/Titles:

Princess of Night

Princess of Autumn

Future High Lady of the Autumn Court

Magical Abilities:

Winnowing

Glamouring

Healing

Deamenti Power

Magic of all Courts (Same as Feyre's)

Family:

Rhysand and Feyre (Parents)

Artemas and Asteria (Big Brother and little Sister)

Nesta, Elain, Leda, Morrigan and Amren (Aunts)

Cassian, Lucien, Azriel and Varian (Uncles)

Hemera, Helena, Aurelia, Callista, Felicia, Cadan, Cleon, Echo, Morena, Morpheus and Pluton (Cousins)

Eris, Berna, Ares, Garnet, Laverna, Jaicen (In-laws)

Sexuality: Pansexual

Romances:

A lot of Lovers

A lot of One-Night-Stands

Rubin E. Vanserra (Mate/Husband)

Best friends: Echo, Aurelia, Laelia, Imogen

Squads:

Future Autumn Court's Inner Circle

Night-Archeron Cousins

Ari-Echo-Aura Trio

Holy Night Guards

Hobbies: Sparing/Training, Going out/Partying, Flying

Three Characteristics to describe them:

Confident, Hardworking, Wild

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Aesthetics: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4

Additions: Arubin/Rubianna

So how do I start with my little whirlwind. ... I don't want to start with her like I started with Art. ... Let's see....

You could call Arianna the unofficial child of Nesta and Cassian, because she is personality wise a lot like a cross between them. Like Nesta, Ari acts and is a total Queen. She is "hard" on the outside, hiding her softer side behind a mask. And like Cassian, she is loud, inappropriately joking and teasing and is good at fighting.

Arianna loves attention and being in the spotlight. She loves being better than everyone else. It makes her feel really good about herself. And since Ari is very confident and slightly narcissistic, all of this fuels her huge Ego. She likes to brag, to show everybody how good she is and how much better she is than everybody else. But she also works really hard to be better than everyone else. And she is also very competitive and lives for winning. She will also never give up until she can do something perfectly. But she also doesn't care about the opinion of others, she herself just needs to know that she is better.

And she really doesn't care what people think about her. She did care when she was young, she wanted everybody to love her and fawn over her, and applaud and compliment her. Which was never that hard to get, since she was - at that point - the only princess of Night. And everybody spoiled her for it. But in the Illyrian training camps, she learned the hard way that not everbody will spoil her. So she toughend up and learned that the opinions of others didn't matter.

Which is a good thing because Ari has two major reputations. Both don't really put her in good lights.

The first one is, that she is infamously called - behind closed doors and in hushed tones - "The Slut of Velaris/the Night Court". She doesn't like the name, but she doesn't give a flying fuck about what other people think about her or her (former) sex life. It's her life and she doesn't have to do anything for anyone. So yes before she has accepted her Mating bond with Rubin and married him, she hooked up a lot, had a lot of One Night Stands and had a lot of Lovers. She wasn't in a relationship with anyone because she liked her freedom. And having sex with a lot of different people, was fun for her and she liked it. A rumor is that she slept with half of the training camp she was training at. But this rumor is false, she only slept with one fourth of the Camp, because most of them where total assholes or she wasn't really interested.

If Ari found someone sexually attractive and that someone was not a complete douche, there was a good chance that she would have hooked up with you. Neither the Gender nor the race of that someone mattered. Ari doesn't care about these silly notions. And if the sex was great, Ari would have seeked out that someone more often after that.

The second one is that she is a hot- and Short-tempered female, that is violent and only understands fighting und brutality. Also that only violence and hearing someone scream will delight her. People especially of the courts and Hewn city think of her as a impulsive and aggressive female, that knows nothing about and is to simple minded for politics. However most of this false, because that is what Ari wants people to think about her. It is her mask to hid herself behind (which she copied to a degree from her older brother Artemas. But this is also the reason why they (Asteria included) are called "The Masked Graces" in insider circles (a.k.a. Family and friends), because Art-Ari-Asta like to hide their true selfs to let people underestimate them and think that they can play them easily, and be shocked when they realized how much they just fucked up.). She likes when people let her guard down around her.

But in reality Arianna is kind and polite to people around her, she is very open-minded and really patient. Someone could insult her to her face for hours and she will not pay attention to them. But if you insult or disrespect some else especially her loved ones or someone undeserving of that treatment, oh boy you can say good bye to your unbroken bones and your ability to walk for the next few months, because Ari will break you, oh she will break you hard and painfully. She will not kill (probably, it depends), since she isn't an outright killer outside of wars. But still you would have fucked up so bad. Ari will be respectful, open-minded, nice and polite to everyone, as long as nobody disrespect or insult her first. She will not go off on them, but she will be rude, crude and sometimes insulting to them.

She also doesn't like to be unnecessarily ordered around. There are situations were she can recognize that the orders are important and nothing against her personally or not to order her around, because someone sees themself above her (like in an important situation where other people know more than her or in wars). But otherwise orders are not something she tolerates, especially when they come from some douchebag/ass or some who looks down on her. Than her reaction is pretty similar to when some insults someone she loves or someone who doesn't deserve the insults. But in this situation she will intimidate them first and make them either cry or pee themselves, regret making that comment. And than it depends on their response, she will either break some of their bones or let them go with a warning.

Fun story: Once on a Family-Visit to Hewn City, after the Feysand Family made a badass entrance and took positions in their Thrones. Keir started to fill them in, but after a while Keir hinted to Rhys in a very obviously manner that it would a good idea to marry off the princesses (Ari was 100 and Asta was 39), since both are off age now. Both Feyre and Rhys were shocked and disgusted about that, but before they could reprime him. Ari had already shoot out of her throne and started to beat up Keir and break half of his bones. It was a brutal sight. (and Art was so proud and according to him, that event in a whole was the most entertaining thing that happened that year) After that she winnowed with Keir to the peak of Hewn City and throw him down. After Keir hit the ground, he was slowly losing concussions, but Ari was keeping him awake with her deameti powers while she picked him up and winnowed back into the throne room. She throw him into the ground, took her place on her throne and ordered that he will heal naturally without any magical help and that nobody will ever again adresse that topic again or they will receive the same treatment. Of course everybody was looking speechlessly at Rhys and they were hoping he would reprime his unruly daughter and punish her for that. But Rhys only lifted a bored groomed eyebrow and asked them if they were deaf, because they just clearly got an order. And so Ari solved the whole arranged marriage situation for her and Asta.

Ari loves fighting, training and sparing. And she does these things almost daily. She usually trains two times a day. Ari is buff. Not at a first glance, but she has a six-pack and is seriously muscled. She loves exercising and working off her energy. She really loves physical excising.

Because of that, the Illyrian training camp was partly a blast for her, especially after she came to turn with her not being coddled and spoiled anymore. And since Ari is competitive by nature, she worked very hard to be recognized as a real opponent and thread. And she eventually ended up being just that. She was also very competitive with Echo about being the Best, but Echo beat her everytime. The closest Ari ever came to victory against Echo were draws in the beginning, but Echo just got better and better than Ari. Ari got better and better too, but it never was enough. And now Ari rarely will get a draw. Ari still is one of the best Fighter in both the Night and Autumn Court. And she is truly feared by everyone for that.

Yes, Ari and Echo did partake in the Bloodrite. They started both on different locations and first thing they did was search for each other. And after defeating a lot of opponents while searching for the other, they found each other. Then after that they started to act out their plan. Which was to the defeat as many other Illyrians as possible in 10 Days. Whoever has defeated more, will be finishing the bloodrite first. And after 4 days they decided to not give a fuck about being faster than their fathers and to give a fuck about beating almost all of the participants of the bloodrite. And they successfully completed the bloodrite one week longer than Rhys, Cass and Az, but they have beaten up 86% of the 86% of all the Illyrians they encountered. So they set up a new record.

"Fun" story:

Originally from here and edited

From here ...

Ari is the only child of feysand who actually likes fighting and had gone through the training camps very successfully, like one of the best. She loves physical fighting more than magical fights. Both her older brother Artemas, who in the beginning disliked close-combat and later avoided it like a plague, ended his training just barely within the standards and later never really did anything to anger the other Illyrians and they were also very afraid of him, and her little sister Asteria, who never sat a foot in the camps longer than she needed to and was trained together with Cleon by Ari, Cass, Cad, and whoever had free time at the moment at home, couldn't be the target of the old-traditional Illyrians who wanted a bit power back over both the females, because they rose to higher ranks faster and faster, and over the High Lord and High Lady and with that the ruling family. And with that Ari was one of their greatest fears because 1. She is an almost unbeatable female (Ari is only beaten by Cass sometimes, both Art's future General Commander Marcella and Commander Nikos and her best friend Echo) and 2. She is the daughter of the High Lord and Lady and Princess of Night and has with that ruling power over them.

It took a few decades but one day the "traditionals" had more than half of the Illyrians behind them. And they did kind of a protest on one of the visit of Rhys, Cass, Cad, Art and Ari (normally Ari wouldn't be with them but she was bored and wanted to visit some friends).

So they protested that Ari should have her wings clipped, because she has too much power for a "quarter"-breed (they actually wanted to use the word "abomination" but they also knew that would be their sure death and no results will come of that) but before either side could react ( Rhys, Cass, Cad and Art were shocked and angry) or continue with their ultimatum (the "traditional" had prepared a whole speech with conditions, consequences, benefits and all that bullshit), Ari stepped forward slammed her sword into the ground and preposed a Bargain.

It would be tournament-like, she would fight anyone who wanted her wings gone without real breaks and the one who would beat her can clip her wings off, but for that they will never protest about that especially over Asta's Wings. But if she wins all the fights or they give up, her wings will stay and that topic will never be discussed nor protested by anyone ever again. (There were some others rules like no killing, no use of magic or siphons and only one sword each etc.)

So the "traditionals" thought about it and agreed bc she can't fight and win forever. They could than at least cut a bit of her "power" off. Rhys let her do it because he knew she had a plan - what she actually planed to do he didn't know - but it was her choice even if he wasn't that happy with it and he was also a little confused.

So the tournament began shortly after the agreement and the "traditionals" have formed a strategy they start with "good" fighters to wear her done and go slowly over to their "best" fighters until one of them wins. Ari was mostly just angry not because of her Wings but that most of the Illyrians are such sexists, and amused by the whole situation in general.

So the first fight began and within 30 second Ari had not only won but also chopped/slayed the wings of her opponent off, who was lying on the ground, too stunt to react. Everyone was absolutely shocked, some were proud (you know Rhys Cass etc) and some horrified (the "traditionals"). The "traditionals" started to protest that that was against the bargain and the agreement, but Art had shut them down before they could even start and informed them, that cutting off the opponents wings while fighting was not stated as a restriction in the agreement and was therefore completely within Ari's rights to do. And with that they angrily accepted it (becausec when Art says that something is either not against the rules or is a loophole in itself, you should listen bc he's always right about that and also quite famous for finding loopholes in general).

So now the "traditionals" were a little bit more nervous about the bargain but they figured if she can do that and than they can as well. So they send one of their "best" next, one Ari at this point had not fought against yet and they were pretty sure he could beat her or at least cut her wings off.

This fight had the same result as the first one only just a little bit longer (over a minute). Now most of the followers of the "traditionals" got really nervous and scared, they wanted to give up and cut their loses before the situation could escalate farther in the worst direction for them because neither Rhys nor Art looked any kind of happy (internally they were proud) and that Art could possibly find a loophole to cut of all their wings as a form of punishment for defiance. But one of the most Vocal of the "traditionals", a camp-lord, called them weaklings and cowards and a shame for the Illyrians traditions and walked up to Ari. They fought and he insulted Ari and female Illyrians the whole fight through. And for that he not only lost his wings but also got both his arms and legs shattered. There's a reason why she is called "Bonebreaker". It's because she ends most fights with breaking the bones of her opponents except for friendly spares and some other fights.

Now that made almost all of the"traditionals" scared of her even more and they were debating to actually give up but they were still not entirely convinced but then Ari made a proposal that she would fight against three at once.

With that their confidence grow a little because they never seen her fight against three at once and thought that maybe at least one of them could chop of her wings when she is distracted with the other two. So they agreed.

Well what they didn't know was that Ari could fight against three at once with ease. The maximum number of opponents she can fight against at once and come out victorious was five at that time. So with that the fight didn't end much different than the first it just took her longer. Ari defeated them and slayed off their Wings in like 5 minutes.

At that point in total Ari fashion she growled at them and taunted them but that didn't work because the "traditionals" saw the uselessness of the whole situation for them and their inevitable crushing defeat by a spoilt, foul-mouthed, untameable, smug 112-year-old female ("abomination") "quarter"-breed. That would completly destroy their pride even more than it already was. So they give up in the most "honourable" way possible, with as much unwillingness and grunting as possible.

And with that Ari solved the whole problem with the "traditionals" and the wing clipping in her own totally Ari Way™ and neither Rhys nor later Art ever had any real big problems with them again. And all credit goes to Ari for that. She is going to be smug about it forever.

And with that the rumours spread and it wasn't long before she was known as the "Illyrian's nightmare" in the Night court and some parts of Prythian and "Wing-Slayer" in whole of Prythian.

But now comes the real kicker, the reason why Ari was amused and Rhys was mostly confused...

...

...

...

...

...

...is that Ari was actually born without wings. The reason she has wings is because she saw her mom Feyre shape-shift wings for herself when she was 4 and thought if mommy can make herself wings even if she shouldn't have them than I can do that too. So a 4-year-old Ari stomped her foot, growled and pouted in concentration and grow herself wings not long after. After that you could see her dance and jump around the house and Velaris to show everyone her wings. Everyone complimented her and she was so proud and happy. From that day forward Ari would wear her wings open everywhere until everyone had forgotten that she actually doesn't have wings in the first place. She only glamours/shapeshifts them away for parties, sex or when they are in the way.

So the whole situation was kinda ironic but also complete unnecessary because Ari doesn't have wings to clip off, so Ari just kicked their sexist asses for fun and to give them a lesson in how to treat her and most importantly other females. And also to give them a taste of their on medicine.

...to here.

Yes as a Child and when she was young, not having wings in a family like hers, really irked her and she didn't like being reminded of that. It made her really sad, since she couldn't fly on her own or with her brother. It was kinda her dream being able to fly on her own. And made her unbelievably happy to being able to shapeshift her own Wings.

Fun story: Art was the one who taught her how to fly. And Art did that by throwing her of a cliff. Have no worries, Ari was not one second in any real dangers. Art has set a lot of safety spells beforehand and had kept an eye on her fall down, always ready to winnow down and catch her. But in the last second Ari figured out how to glide down and stop her fall. Ari wasn't even mad at him, she found this teaching method a lot of fun. And agreed to not tell their parents about, because bith Feyre and Rhys wouldn't have been ok with it. So they continued their training and after a few months Ari was mostly done with everything important about flying. It was just a bit fine-tuning left. Of course some centuries later Ari and Art told in heat the story to Feyre and Rhys. Both didn't know how to react to that, since they couldn't "punish" Art anymore since it was so long ago. So they just accepted it.

But just as she learned discipline and patience, Ari slowly learned that being able to be rattled about that, is a useless and deadly. So she just decided to never really correct anyone about her wings. She just let's them think whatever they want, which is exactly her attitude towards everything.

Ok I think that would be enough for now. It's still not everything, but I think almost 2k words w/o the "copied and pasted" story and almost 3.5k with it.

I love her so much. She so amazing and awesome and badass. She is my Queen.

If you have any questions regarding her or any other character, please feel free to ask. I would love to answer them.

Tags: @iamthebonecarver | @mindnumbmikey | @thelaziestgeek | @starlightheir |

If you want to get tagged, just let me know.

[babblingbat]

Various Characters I meant to post Months ago

Various Characters of mine

I have so many I want to write (some) of them down! This is a suuuuuper long post so more under the cut! Includes a spy, a crime lord/activist, and a bargaining warlock (I have to reblog this later bc tumblr threw a hissy fit about the length)

X

- Kinda in a Bond-esque spy agency, but more of a contractor

- When everything goes to shit, you can count on them to fix it

- Nonbinary protege of whoever is in charge of the tech division (Mezza? Sloane? Dixon? idk, but they have a hell of a shady past and there’s like… noooothing that can keep Sloane out of computer systems)

- X isn’t formally recognized by APO (authorized personnel only, the spy agency) but they do have access to all information because of a backdoor Sloane made

- So I guess the name is Sloane

- Anyways, X goes on the black ops of black ops, typically with either mercenaries or no back-up at all

- Thus trust issues and like the opposite of dependency - they have so much trouble asking for things but are willing to help anyone or offer material assistance - if they have it

- X is nonbinary and really doesn’t have any preferences on pronouns, as long as they aren’t he/him or she/her

- They’re also autistic and shut down if there’s too much loud noise or if they’re just too tired for some reason - sometimes this means going nonverbal or just Not Functioning and their favorite way to feel better is to sit on the ground, wrap themselves in a blanket and listen to music - so in conclusion they don’t really use guns unless there’s a silencer, and they aren’t v good with them

- A huge part of their espionage function is language!

- They speak German, Spanish, Japanese, FSL, and ASL all idiomatically

- They also speak Russian, French, and Afrikaans, but not fluently

- They can swear and count to ten in Korean and Czech

- They’re pursuing a PhD in computational linguistics, though APO gets in the way

- They’re 24, and have a bizarre set of skills because both of their job, previous jobs and jobs they hold as a cover to pretend they pay their taxes, and special interests

- Sloane is only 7 years older than them, and recruited X out of high school

- At first it was small things, like ‘pick up this book from Elm Street and drop it at Main’ but it got bigger after they graduated

- When X turned 18, they went through formal training - protocol, combat, and analysis

- They’d done some martial arts before hand, but not much punching, mostly kicking, throws, and staffs (5 and 6 feet)

- X’s main job is to clean up messy situations, usually by stealing things or extractions, and their own ops are less combat oriented than the clean ones

- X is not the best at math, not by a long shot, but they can see patterns from a mile away

- “I am the fact guardian, guardian of the facts!” “Puzzles quiver before them!” “FUCK OFF”

- They do simple division when bored and solve a lot of math things by finding patterns and using them

- X is both their designation in the agency (as in ‘x factor’) and their actual name- they use an alias for college

- They live with a few people, most of whom complain at their erratic sleep schedule and ask that please, for the love of god, X gets sleep meds and just a solid 8 hours, for once

- Sloane eventually sends X on an op to extract Mel, Sloane’s girlfriend and top operative

- X doesn’t know what to tell Mel, so mostly they just tell them that things will be answered later

- Mel asks Sloane, who reluctantly explains X’s role, and this sets some things into motion of X eventually being brought into the spotlight

- They have several hearings about their activities

- Eventually, Seville (who runs things? I guess) tells them to carry on as they do, reporting directly to Sloane, but they are recognized now by the APO

- There are three other things I want to fit in:

- Goes missing for [period of time], leaving a very close friend behind, comes back after being presumed dead and no memories, apparently solved a conspiracy and now has many illegal friends who all enjoy thievery

- Magic is a thing (because it wouldn’t be my words if it wasn’t lmao) and common enough that people know it exists but rare enough that it’s kinda intimidating and sometimes people will freak out about it, despite plenty of people having it.

X has/develops magic at some point but is terrified to tell anyone and tries to hide it from their team (which is now their family, love that trope) because they don’t want to be barred from the APO, but it comes out accidentally during a mission

- X’s infodumping saves the day somehow

The Celestian

- K so this is more about an organization, but the Celestian lives in a like a 1920s fantasy setting and likes dancing

- They run a social activism group masquerading as a crime network that uses queer bars and stuff as fronts

- To get money, they dance competitively with their bodyguard and d8m8, the BFF (butch femme fatale) who identifies as a nb lesbian

- To get into any of the places where actual political dismantling and activism happens, who have to have very specific patterns on your nails - nail painting is a method of communication and is also a huge teambuilding exercise

- There are different codes for everything

- When cops try and get in (they can only find the places if they have a member of the Queer Folk), the code is “blue denim” and then the person caught tells the police they need nail polish and then laugh as they get caught, as if they were bullshitting the whole thing

- Other things are called “10:50 am” which looks like a sleepy eye

- Or “songbird rhapsody” which is also a popular song that the Celestian sings at clubs

- Or “money” which is just a green splotch on all the nails

- If you’re a member of the Queer Folk, you get a crate monthly of money and nail polish, and special things on birthdays and holidays

- The Queer Folk do everything from organize protests to take kids in and try to pay for their education through crime - as in robbery from different places

- Their crimes always have a certain flair to them - they value creativity and snazziness

- The Celestian is like 5’ 3” (which, to be fair, is 3 inches taller than I am) and the BFF picks them up a lot

- They don’t like alcohol or caffeine but drink herbal tea 24/7

- If they don’t, something is very, very wrong

- They have a prosthetic leg

Red

- Literally in high school

- A warlock! They traded their gender and all “gender identifying features” to a trans demon for magic powers

- The demon mostly asks them to get coffee and stuff because the demon isn’t very good at bargaining and just wanted Red’s gender, but it’s expected of a patron to keep using the warlock for things

- (on the demon phone) “hey so this is super duper important and if you could get it in the next half hour that’s the best thing”

“what is it”

“alright so go to the corner of Lincoln and Greenleaf, turn three times to your right, once to your left, and a door should open behind you. Don’t try to turn towards it, just fall backwards”

“if I fall onto poison ivy or concrete I’m breaking my fucking contract”

“No, no no no, you’ll appear in that good good heaven spot”

“… the coffee shop?”

- Red focuses on science in their school

- Every interaction is a deal. E V E R Y I N T E R A C T I O N

- Breakfast? “I’ll give you the salt if you hand over the pancakes”

- Entering a building? “Hold the door open and I’ll give you praise”

- School? “You want me to tell you what I do in my spare time? Give me an A on my midterm and I’ll tell you”

- The last one has left a lot of teachers confused and more than a little scared of the silly little nerd in their class

- Honestly, they have straight A’s because they make deal after deal about grades. They never cheat on tests, but they make deals, hold people to them, and know what they’re doing

- Red’s demon is getting a little worried with all the deals

- Red is most accustomed to deals rather than anything else because they think that unequal exchange (i.e., gifts) is really suspect

- That said, Red has no problems altering “equal” exchange to benefit them

- If they ever became a business owner, they would be terrifying

- They want everything to turn out the best it can for every one but… are not fans of laws

- They have many Opinions on law, its enforcement, and the government

- That cousin that will tell you constantly about how the government is corrupt and should be rebooted with the youngest people as the primary interest

- Anarchy? Not quite, but revolution? Most definitely

- No angst, just high school silliness and chaos

- Has no idea what’s going on 90% of the time - a kid on a sportsball team did something amazing, people started treating him like shit for adults liking him, and Red had no idea until like 3 months later

- Red just kinda lives in their head

- Did they hear what you just said? Nah, but they sure did hear that wristwatch every time it clicked on the second.

- Likes the sound of adventure, but mostly gets lost in Ikea and makes deals with the eldritch monsters in the mattress section

- SUCH A SHITTY SENSE OF DIRECTION, COULD GET LOST IN A GRID WITH MAPS AT EVERY INTERSECTION

- Charismatic, but mostly in the sense of lying their ass off and persuading people

- Once tried to go a day without making a deal (on a dare), ended by making a deal to not have to ever do that again

- Businesses both hate and love them - they pay for nothing but will bargain away odd things of equivalent value every time and catch shoplifters, dislikes shoplifters because it’s not a fair trade

- Bizarrely good luck with finding things in pockets, particularly to “pay” for things

[ichiroutas-other-eye]

Birth Chart Analysis ☆ Matsukaze Tenma

This is my first analysis of a character’s birth chart! I’m happy to start with Tenma he’s sooo cute and his birth chart suits him a lot! I’m still quite lacking on astrology knowledge but this should be accurate since I got the informations from some good astrology sites. However now that we’re (maybe?) getting the characters’ real birthdays this birth chart might be wrong since his real birthday probably isn’t the fanon one. With this in mind, let’s get started!

This one is for @linabigface ♡♡

Matsukaze Tenma ☆ August 4th, 2005 {1/?}

Sun ☉ in Leo ♌

→ Sun represents your relationship with the world and how you use your inner energy.

Sun in Leo makes Tenma an optimistic and idealistic person. He believes he can change the world and make it a better place. The most important thing for him is his loved ones’ happiness – he is motivated by their affection so he’d do everything to make them happy! He is hard-working and never gives up and he always, always has good intentions. The worst thing you could do to him is accuse him of bad intentions. He likes being appreciated and when people recognize his efforts and hard work, and might hurt if they don’t, or even worse, if they misunderstand him! He wants everyone to be happy and would never hurt anyone but if other people think he would he might get very angry! He trusts people easily, he is loyal and sincere. Also, he’s suited to be in charge. He’s an awesome captain, after all! (Shindou has probably read his birth chart.)

Moon ☽ in Leo ♌

→ Moon represents the emotional, inner world.

Since his Sun and Mercury are in Leo too, having Moon in Leo means he’s an outgoing person who likes to be in the spotlight, he is brave and knows how to take risks. Lunar Leos require lots and lots of love and care in order to function well in the world, he loves when his friends show him affection! He has a strong sense of justice, and is open to different points of view. If he gets angry, it is never for too long: he thinks about other people’s reasons, and tries to understand them.

Mercury ☿ in Leo ♌

→ Mercury represents communication and brain skills

He is a problem solver and will gladly help others solve their problems- he loves giving advices! He is friendly and positive, very enthusiastic about the things he loves! (Let’s take a random example… SAKKA). He is charming and his words can convince everyone. However, his Mercury is in retrograde: this means he can make errors of judgement and not be totally able to analyse his surroundings in an objective way.

Venus ♀ in Virgo ♍

→ Venus is related to love and relationships.

I LOVE THIS ONE. He is the kind of person who loves to know everything about his partner. He shows devotion and attention to details about his loved one, however, he doesn’t show his emotions in a very explicit way: you have to pay attention and you’ll see how much he actually cares (WHICH IS A LOT) in the little things he does for his partner. He is not the one to flirt, it’s totally the opposite: he might be a bit insecure about himself when it comes to love. GREAT LISTENER. Sometimes he might point out the other’s flaws a bit too much but if he does that it’s because he cares and wants to help them get better! Very very loyal and devoted. Would never cheat.

Mars ♂ in Taurus ♉

→ Mars represents how you act in order to reach a goal and physical energy.

He is calm and easygoing but if he gets angry, better be careful! It takes a lot to make him angry, it’s rare to see him so upset but if it happens… run! However, he will calm down almost immediately. He values stability so arguing isn’t really his thing. Very goal-oriented, he is not afraid to work for what he wants! He is patient, steady going. He won’t give up until he reaches his goal, even if it takes him years he will do it! A weak point is his lack of adaptability – once he’s made up his mind on something, he will never change idea. It can be good to be so determined, but it might be quite stressing for other people (poor Kurama.) He is very reliable!

These are only some of the planets on one’s birth chart - the most defining ones! (And the ones I know a bit better. :’D)

To sum it up, we can say he really is suited to be a captain – and we’ve seen that! He cares for others so much and his loved one is the luckiest person in the world. I envy this person I want Tenma all for myself now. (Jk, jk, it’s not fair.) This kid is too precious. ;w;

See you next time with Kyousuke! ~

[immortals-malec]

malec fic rec

 hello, once again lovelies! i’ve decided to do another malec fic rec! i had fun doing the last one. so i decided to make another one!  something there that wasn't there before . (wip) by toastbabeis   summary: Beauty and the Beast!Malec AU Alec is raised in an abusive household, causing a coldness to develop in his soul as he grows; a coldness far too similar to his fathers. A witch preys upon that weakness and gives him a chance to prove himself. But Alec fails, and is cursed to a life in the shadows, every move made to remind him that he is turning into the man he once feared. Magnus lives with his mother in a small, countryside village in France. Made an outcast by simply having an education, he longs for a life outside the confines of ignorant minds. When his mother is captured by a beast in a weathered castle, Magnus gives his freedom for her safety. A spell curses one, and freedom curses the other. Will they be able to get past their own troubles and find love? like the dawn (you broke the dark) . (completed)  by theonetruenorth summary: This isn’t happening. Alec watches, dumbstruck, as the peacekeepers pull Max from the crowd. The little boy is too frozen in shock to move. It’s his first reaping, the odds were in his favor, he’s not the one who was supposed to be picked. This. Isn’t. Happening. it’s a yes from me . (completed) by ketz summary: Reclusive singer Alec Lightwood has been taking some time away from the spotlight for a few years now. He has lost his inspiration, his reason to keep making music. That is, until his manager, Luke Garroway, asks him to enter the panel of the ridiculous singing competition The Angel's Voice. Alec only says yes because that means keeping an eye on Clary and Simon. He hates those fixed, degrading TV shows with a burning passion. Hopefully, Alec figures, he’ll get some inspiration back watching new comers try their luck on TV. Some of them are bound to be good. It isn’t until Magnus Bane walks on stage, however, that Alec realizes just how right he is. eyes on me . (completed) by clockworkswan summary: When a new same-sex dancing rule gets people talking, Magnus Bane decides to take the jump from Latin to Ballroom in order to prove that change is a good thing. Looking for a new challenge, he’s determined to win the Ballroom Championships and be crowned victorious in the first same-sex partnership.Now all he needs is the right shoes, the right music, and the right partner. ~ Alec is well on his way to securing another victory for his parents’ prestigious dance school, yet a new face, and surprising feelings, might change that. When Magnus turns up, he sweeps more than dancing traditions off their feet. As the competition rounds heat up, and dreams hang in the balance, can the pair prove themselves to a worldwide audience of fellow dreamers, critics and cynics? so bright . (completed) by lemonoclefox summary:  "You want me," Magnus says, "to pretend to be your boyfriend." He sounds wholly unimpressed, and Alec has a moment of panic when he hears it out loud. "Yes," he says. "Temporarily." "You want me to fake date you," Magnus says flatly. It's not even a question, but more a way of really driving the point home about how dumb the idea is. "Pretty much.". Magnus narrows his eyes. "You do realize that this never works out well in movies, right?" he says. "Ever." Alec feels a distinct sense of embarrassment creep up now. "Look, I―" "Ever." - Alec has come out, but that doesn't stop his parents from their continuous attempts to set him up with a nice shadowhunter girl. So, what better way to finally get them off his back, than to say he has a boyfriend? Problem solved. Except they now apparently want to meet this guy, who doesn't exist. Thankfully, Magnus Bane -- who encouraged Alec to come out in the first place, and whose silent crush on Alec is just as bad as Alec's crush on him -- is more than happy to help. Even if the night doesn't end up going entirely as planned. what’s it gonna be . (completed) by lemonoclefox summary: Fairchild’s bakery is a second home to not just Magnus, but also to most of his found-family. As a pastry chef, he works long hours and takes great pride in his craft – so much so that he has little time or attention for much else. Least of all romance. After plenty of experience with heartbreak and disappointment, he has come to expect the worst from anything in that department, and the arrival of the wealthy Lightwoods in the neighborhood isn’t about to change that. Especially not when their eldest son might just be the most insufferable prick Magnus has ever met, no matter what anyone else has to say about the guy. (aka the Pride & Prejudice/bakery AU no one asked for) ship of dreams  . (wip) by magicandarchery and maleciseverything  summary: The Alicante was called 'unsinkable' and the 'Ship of Dreams'; her maiden voyage would be taking many to a new life. For Magnus Bane it would be taking him back home, where he could start over again. For Alec Lightwood it would be taking him home in chains to a life his parents had meticulously planned for him. As the journey wore on they would find that their dreams for the future would change and as tragedy strikes they have to fight to survive to make these dreams a reality. Or: The Titanic AU that no one but Lion bribed asked us to write high expectations . (completed)  by  lecrit  summary: Magnus has had a long day. It was supposed to be a relaxing, lazy day in. He had planned on taking a long bath while listening to King Freddie and let the essential oils unwind the tension from his shoulders. Maybe he would have spiked up the whole thing with one of his homemade martinis. Or the one where Magnus learns he shouldn't make plans, Alec gets high on a potion, and the Chairman is sassy. Part 4 of the Drunk Alec series. expecto patronum . (completed)  by gaydemonium summary: Alec is having trouble casting his Patronus so Magnus helps him out. gardener for hire . (completed) by gaydemonium summary: Magnus needs a landscaper to help with his lawn. Alec isn't who he expects. [Based on everything Matt said during his livechat] the last thing i expected . (completed) by kouriarashi  summary:  On every warlock's 25th birthday, there's a ritual to choose their perfect match. Normally it isn't a big deal, but for Magnus Bane - the son of Asmodeus, an Underworld crime lord - it's the party of the century. Everyone is more than a little surprised when Magnus' match turns out to be the bartender, Alec ... who's actually an undercover police officer. Alec's bosses want him to play along to get close to the organization, but Alec isn't sure he can mislead the man who's apparently his soulmate... today your barista is... . (completed) by baneandgone  summary: alec works in a coffeeshop. one day jace hijacks the chalkboard out front (aka one of those 'today your barista is' sign aus)

[everythng-is-blue]

Sibling Rivalry

i randomly got the idea of making up a brother for harry and gemma and decided i should write it and post it now since it's harry's birthday, i hope you enjoy x

"You ready?" Harry asked, loading the last suitcase into the back of his range rover.

"Yeah," I nodded as I watched him close the trunk.

"Alright, let's go." He smiled, gesturing to the car.

Harry's birthday was tomorrow and he and I were going to spend it with his family. It had been a while since we both had seen them, and we were all excited. Gemma even picked on Harry and said she was looking forward to seeing me more than she was to see him. Harry put his stuff in the car and then came to pick me up, and now we embarked on our about three and a half hour journey. We stopped to get some lunch, then went on our way.

After jamming to music and playing “i spy” for a bit, which was Harry's idea, we finally arrived at Anne and Robin's house. We got out of the car and got our stuff, but before we could walk to the front door, Gemma bolted out if the house and hugged me tightly.

"I've missed you so much, (y/n). I'm so happy you're here!" Gemma squealed.

Harry crossed his arms. "Glad to know you really do prefer my friends over me."

Gemma rolled her eyes as she let go of me and hugged her brother. "I missed you too Harry, you know that."

Gemma helped us bring in our stuff, Anne grinning at us as we walked in.

"Oh my goodness, (y/n), you just get more gorgeous by the day." Anne said as she hugged me.

"I could say the same to you," I complimented her as I hugged her back.

"Even Mum likes her more than me." Harry all but whined.

Anne chuckled, walking over to Harry and hugging him. "Now, Harry, you know I love my children more than anything. (Y/n)'s just a really close second."

Robin walked into the living room, looking nervous but trying to hide it. "Hello!"

"What's going on Robin?" Harry questioned.

Robin sighed. "I know you expected it to just be the five of us, but your brother is coming as well."

Harry's confused look turned in to an angry one. "Since when was this planned?"

"Harry, don't be like that," Anne said almost sadly. "It was last minute, but Robert wants see you on your birthday just like we do."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure."

"Wait, you guys have a brother?" I asked.

Gemma nodded. "Yeah, he's the middle child and we haven't really seen much of him lately. He didn't even come here for Christmas, though he was supposed to."

"He was in Ireland and couldn't get a flight out here as they cancelled most of them because of the weather." Anne explained.

"Likely story," Harry mumbled.

Anne tapped his shoulder lightly with the back of her hand. "Enough, let's be nice, yeah?"

Harry sighed. "Yes, Mum."

A while after that, Anne and Gemma made lunch for everyone, insisting that Harry and I not help because we were guests. Though, she was a guest too, but I just did as she asked instead if bringing that up. Anne said we had about fifteen minutes until it would be ready, so Harry, Robin, and I sat in the living room watching tv. There was a knock at the door, and I could tell Harry was definitely not looking forward to seeing who was on the other side.

"Hello, Robert!" Robin said when he opened the door. "Come on in."

When he came in I was in shock. He was really handsome. He had short brown hair, similar to Harry's but a bit shorter as Harry's had grown out some, and he had a bit of gel in it unlike Harry. Harry didn't even look in his direction, but Robert looked over at us and smiled wide.

"Hello, baby brother!" Robert all but sang, causing Harry to cringe. Robert took off the sunglasses he had on,which were definitely unnecessary, and looked at me. "Who is this beautiful woman you have sitting next to you?"

Harry looked like he was getting more irritated by the second. "This is (y/n)."

"Ah, it is so nice to meet you," Robert said as we shook hands. "How long have you known Harry? A couple months?"

"More like four years," I corrected him.

Robert looked at Harry and I in shock. "Is that so? How is this the first time we've met?"

"Maybe because you're never around, you--"

"Dinner is ready!" Gemma interrupted Harry. I laughed at her timing.

"Gemma! How are you, my gorgeous big sister?" Robert said as he hugged her.

"I've been great, and yourself?" She said politely.

"I've been well," He nodded.

We all got some dinner and sat in the living room as we ate, making small talk.

"So, what have you been doing?" Gemma asked Robert.

"I've actually just finished up filming my second movie." Robert said proudly.

"Of fucking course he has," Harry muttered as he scowled.

"Really? In only a year? That's lovely!" Anne said, hugging her son. "I'm so proud of you, Robby."

"Thanks, Mum." Robert smiled. "So, what have my siblings been up to, hm?"

"Well, I write articles for a site called The Debrief and I also write for Mtv and other websites too." Gemma told him.

"That's awesome, Gem! You've always been such a talented writer, I knew you'd go on to do great things." Robert complimented. "And you, Harry?"

Harry completely ignored him, eating his food and acting as if his brother wasn't even here.

"Uh, he's finished up filming Dunkirk, and he did a cover and spread for Another Man Magazine, and he's working on his solo music and stuff now." I spoke for him.

"Ah, that's nice." Robert said. "And what are you? Are you his publicist?"

"Oh, no," I laughed. "I'm just with him a lot. Plus, he helps me write songs because I'm a singer too."

"Well isn't he lucky? He gets to work with you." Robert grinned at me.

"I'm not feeling well, I'm going to go lie down." Harry told everyone as he got up from beside me, taking his plate to the kitchen then going upstairs.

When everyone was finished eating, Gemma and I decided to do the dishes, telling Anne to take a well deserved break.

"So, Gem, what's up with Harry and Robert?" I asked her, taking the plate she just washed and drying it. "Harry seems like he despises him."

"They've had this sibling rivalry ever since they were young. Whenever Harry did something, Robert had to one up him. And he do whatever it took to do it. As you could probably tell, he likes to charm his way around, and Harry hates how fake he sounds." Gemma explained.

"Wow," I sighed. "I literally had no clue about that. Or him, for that matter."

Gemma nodded. "I'm not surprised, Harry never brings Robert up because of how much he dislikes him. That's why he's upset he's here and keeping to himself. He's probably afraid Robert's going to take his spotlight on his birthday."

"We won't let that happen, right?" I wondered. "I mean, I wouldn't want Harry's day to be anything but amazing."

"I feel the same way," She agreed. "We'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen."

Soon after, Gemma and I were finished and the dishes were put away. She made tea for us both, offering some to Anne and Robin, but they said they said they were going to bed. We sat and talked in the kitchen for a while, then right when Gemma said she was going to bed as well, Robert came in.

"You going to bed, Gem?" Robert asked her.

"Yeah, I'm tired from traveling and everything." She told him.

"Alright, well goodnight," He said as he hugged her.

"Goodnight," She said back, going upstairs.

"So, what is a stunning girl like you doing hanging around with a guy like my brother?" He asked me, making me raise my eyebrows.

"Um, I'm not sure what you mean by that." I lied.

He chuckled. "What I meant is, what do you see in him exactly?"

I gave him a look. "Excuse me?"

He sighed. "Look, all I'm trying to say is, if you're trying to be with Harry then don't bother. There are guys out there than can treat you much better than he can. Like me, for example." I just stood there in shock. "Go out with me, and I'll prove it to you."

"Why the hell am I not surprised?"

I sighed in relief as Harry walked into the kitchen, a smug but angry look on his face.

"You know, (y/n) and I are actually together, but if we weren't, there's no chance in hell she's do anything with you." Harry slighted.

Robert laughed. "Really? Because she was about to agree to go on a date with me before you rudely interrupted us."

"Cut the shit," Harry spat. "I heard the whole thing, and she didn't seem the least bit interested in you. And why would she be? You're nothing but a dickhead that kisses ass to get what you want, and the only reason you try your damnedest to beat me at everything is because of how jealous you are of me."

Robert scoffed. "Me? Jealous of you? Please, it's you that's jealous, Harry. You've always wanted what I had, ever since we were kids."

"Really? Is that why you're trying to flirt with my girlfriend? Because I want what you have?" Harry crossed his arms, waiting for Robert to reply.

"Look," I spoke up. "Think we should all just go to bed, arguing isn't going to solve anything."

"No, actually, Robert was about to leave." Harry countered.

Robert gave Harry a look. "And what makes you think I'm going to do that?"

"Because if you don't we'll have a big problem." Robin said as he, Gemma, and Anne all came in. Robert looked at everyone in shock.

"I cannot believe you," Anne said disappointingly. "How dare you treat Harry and (y/n) this way. You should be ashamed."

Robert started to look sad, but then a slightly angry look appeared on his face. "And everyone wonders why I never come around anymore."

"That's your own damn fault and no one else's," Harry glared  at him. "Now, get your things and go."

The next morning, I came downstairs and saw Harry helping Anne with breakfast, Gemma and Robin drinking coffee and talking. I quietly walked up behind Harry and hugged him.

"Happy birthday!" I cheered.

He laughed, turning around and hugging me properly. "Thanks, lovely."

"So, um, I have a question." I said.

"Shoot," He grinned.

"Why did you say I was your girlfriend last night?" I watched as he started to blush.

"Oh, I just said that so he'd, uh, leave you alone." He shrugged.

"Sure." I drawled out.

"Why else would I have done it?" He messed with his hair.

"I don't know," I said putting my finger on my chin. "Maybe, because you like me?" Robin, Gemma, and Anne tried to hold in their laughter.

Harry hesitated. "Well what if I do?"

"Then, maybe we should do something about it. Like go on a date?" I proposed.

"Maybe I'd like that," Harry beamed.

"Quit saying 'maybe', and just go out tonight." Gemma insisted, earning laughs from everyone.

"I think we should listen to your sister." I said as I put my arms around Harry, and him doing the same to me.

"I think so, too." He winked.

if you want to request something feel free to do so, requests are always open x

[kadobeclothing]

17 Email Newsletter Examples We Love Getting in Our Inboxes

When people first start doing email marketing, they often assume they need an email newsletter.

“It’ll have everything our customers care about, all in one place,” they rationalize. “Our list will be different — people will actually look forward to getting our newsletter,” they argue. “Since we’re only sending it once a month, it’ll be a breeze to put together,” they say.

And while all of those things may become true for a few lucky individuals, lots of email newsletters flop. They become an uninteresting mush of content people automatically ignore, archive, delete, or straight up unsubscribe from. And this isn’t great for you, your metrics, or your company’s success. So if you’re thinking about creating an email newsletter, read this blog post and think really hard about whether that’s the right move for you in terms of your marketing strategy. If you’ve decided that you want to start an email newsletter, or you want to revamp one that’s not performing well, keep on reading. We’ve compiled some of our absolute favorite email newsletters to inspire you to make the best email newsletter for your company possible. Each newsletter on this list is fabulous for different reasons. Some have exceptional design, some have exceptional copy, some have exceptional calls-to-action … but all are exceptional at solving for their subscribers’ needs.  Additionally, if you’re unsure what you want your own newsletter to be about, or how you should design one for optimal conversions, keep reading — we’ll explore that, next.  Email Newsletter Ideas Email newsletters can include a weekly round-up of blog posts, case studies regarding your product or service, upcoming company events and webinars, or even a behind-the-scenes look at your company.  Of course, you don’t want to create a newsletter just for the sake of creating one — instead, you should do thorough research on what your audience might prefer, and what your company is well-suited to offer.  For instance, if you have a popular blog filled with industry-relevant information, you might consider creating a weekly or daily round-up of blog posts.  However, if you work for an ecommerce company that sells workout gear, you might find a round-up of blog posts doesn’t resonate with your audience. Instead, you could consider a membership newsletter that includes deals and promotions on new items, as well as a round-up of workout apps, inspirational quotes, and training courses all revolved around fitness. If you’re looking for general email newsletter inspiration, you’re in luck. Here’s a list of some of our favorite ideas for email newsletters:  Round-up of popular or recent blog posts or videos New job openings at your company  New case studies or product launches Membership/customer deals and promotions New best practices or tips Industry news Quotes Recent survey results related to your industry  Internal employee news, including anniversaries, promotions, and birthdays  Listicles (i.e. “10 Best Vacation Spots of 2020” if you work for a Travel publication) A team spotlight with pictures and bios Photos or stories customers have shared Behind-the-scenes at your company, or interviews with company executives Monthly business recap New training opportunities FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and answers Upcoming webinars, or recordings of past webinars Next, let’s explore some newsletter designs to inspire the aesthetic of your newsletter.  Email Newsletter Design  Your company’s newsletter should be a true reflection of your brand. For instance, if your website features minimalist design and clean, plain black-and-white text, then you don’t want to create a super colorful newsletter, which might confuse new subscribers.  There are a few best practices, however, you can employ to ensure your design is up-to-par. Of course, you’ll want to A/B test whichever design(s) you choose, to ensure they resonate with your audience.  Here a few newsletter design best practices (although, again, the design should be industry and brand-specific): Clean, crisp images (no blurry images) Text (use same text throughout), company logo, and icons Try filters, memes, or video  Make the CTA clear and obvious — and just have one (i.e. “Click here to shop” or “Click here to read”) Create a hierarchy with CTA early-on  Mobile-responsive  Test the length of your newsletter to ensure it’s not too short or too long for your audience Of course, the design of your newsletter will depend on your brand, as well as the message. For instance, you might want to create a colorful, attention-grabbing newsletter if it largely focuses on visuals of new products — alternatively, if it’s a round-up of recent blog posts, perhaps you try a more minimalist look to mimic the appearance of a letter.  I’d also recommend looking into pre-made templates if you’re not familiar with designing emails. If you’re a HubSpot customer, you’ll have a bunch of pre-made templates in the email tool. However, if you’re still unsure about your newsletter design, there’s nothing better than looking at examples for further inspiration. Take a look at the following 17 newsletters that knocked it out of the park, and consider using some of their design elements as inspiration for your own.

Best Email Newsletter Examples NextDraft REI Austin Kleon FandangoNOW InVision Community.is Vox Sentences Fizzle TheSkimm Medium BrainPickings Litmus General Assembly This. SaaS Weekly The Ringer Hacker Newsletter

1. NextDraft NextDraft is a daily email written by a man named Dave Pell, which is a curation of the best web content of the day. As Pell describes it, “Each morning I visit about fifty news sites and from that swirling nightmare of information quicksand, I pluck the top ten most fascinating items of the day, which I deliver with a fast, pithy wit that will make your computer device vibrate with delight.” You can tell he’s a great writer. His copywriting is one of my favorite things about the newsletter. It starts with the subject line, which is usually a play on words or a clever one-liner on the top news of the day. It then extends to the body of the email itself, which is always descriptive, accurate, and clever. Finally, the minimalist design is fantastic. Not only is content delivery is clear, organized, and digestible, but also the inclusion of social share buttons underneath each story is brilliant. Rather than assuming that the reader is going to make it to a social sharing option at the bottom of the newsletter, Pell provides them with multiple opportunities throughout. Social engagement can play a big role in growing your newsletter, as every share on social opens up a valuable opportunity to attract more subscribers. For those who’d rather read news like this in a mobile app, the NextDraft app is free in Apple’s app store.

[Click here to see the entire email.] 2. REI REI, the recreational sports outfitter, is a model of success in several areas of content marketing — and their membership email is no exception. We included this email newsletter on our list because it does what many ecommerce and consumer product vendors find challenging: promote good products with good content. In the newsletter example below, you’ll see how REI delivers many different types of material to its subscribers, and each type relates to one another. Following the seasonal product offerings at the top of the email, the company offers trainings to help educate readers on its new products and blog posts for even more insight into the outdoor lifestyle. Did you notice something else about this newsletter? It’s dedicated entirely to runners. Catering your email newsletter to a single audience — even if that audience belongs to an even bigger buyer persona — can help you tell a story in your email that resonates with the recipient from start to finish.

3. Austin Kleon Not to play favorites, but this newsletter from Austin Kleon is one I really look forward to. First, I love the simplicity. It’s not flashy, nor is it overly promotional. That’s the hallmark of a successful email newsletter: The most effective newsletters aim to educate, not sell. I also love the overall informal tone he takes, as it makes it feel as though you’re hearing from a friend. If you’re looking to lower the barrier between your company and your audience, consider using language that is friendly and inviting, not buttoned-up and jargony.

[Click here to see the entire email.] 4. FandangoNOW FandangoNOW is a movie streaming app that allows you to build a library of purchased and rented movies around your interests. And it uses the below email newsletter as part of its customer retention strategy. The email below offers movie suggestions for the weekend, making it a well-timed newsletter if it lands in your inbox on Friday afternoon. In addition, its design is easy to digest, despite being so graphic-intense. Using numbered icons and consistent “Buy” and “Rent” CTAs in corners of each movie tile, the email compartmentalizes a lot of content while still connecting each movie to the FandangoNOW brand.

5. InVision InVision’s newsletter is a weekly digest of their best blog content, a roundup of their favorite design links from the week, and a new opportunity to win a free t-shirt. Not only is their newsletter a great mix of content, but I also love the nice balance between images and text, making it easy to read and mobile-friendly. They make great use of animated GIFs in their emails (which you can see when viewing the whole email here). I also love the clever copy on their call-to-action buttons: “Cat GIFs on Every Page” “Set Your Sights” “Why So Serious?” In addition to classic CTA buttons, they engage their audience at the bottom of every newsletter with a “You tell us!” text CTA.

[Click here to see the entire email.] 6. Community.is Community.is is a handcrafted newsletter created for people who “put people at the center of their work.” This unique concept attracts a variety of readers from executives at ad agencies, to community managers at startups, to marketers and creatives of all shapes and sizes. In an effort to cater to their melting pot of subscribers, Community.is adopted a three-tier format: Short, Mid, and Long. While an executive may only have time to skim the short stuff, a marketer might be looking for a more in-depth read to spark some inspiration for their next campaign. Organizing a newsletter in this way helps ensure that you’re serving the distinct needs of your audience without it being too confusing.

[Click here to see the entire email.] 7. Vox Sentences Vox Sentences is a nightly email meant to quickly get its readers up to speed on the best stories from the day. The content ranges from the day’s top news to fun stories from all over the web. They do a great job balancing their own content with external sources, and the stories they choose are always really high quality. You can read Vox’s entire newsletter from start to finish and get a great sense of the stories they’re covering — but you can also click through to any of the linked stories to get a more in-depth approach.

8. Fizzle Fizzle’s newsletter is aimed at entrepreneurs who want weekly tips on building a business sent directly to their inbox and all in the email itself. Although they have a business blog and a podcast, what makes Fizzle’s newsletter unique is that the email content is independent from those other content assets. In other words, it’s written entirely for their subscribers. The copywriting style makes the newsletter unique and appealing, too: It’s casual, honest, and written like the author is writing to a friend. The writing gives off the vibe of real, down-to-earth business advice — without the fluffy stuff. At the same time, it’s written with clear headers and sub-headers to break it up, and the important stuff is bolded, making for easy skimming.

9. TheSkimm If you want to stay up on what’s happening in the world and have some delightful writing delivered to your inbox first thing in the morning, look no further than TheSkimm. It’s a daily roundup of what’s happened in the news in short, punch paragraphs. The best part? You don’t have to click out of the email to read the news if you don’t want to — although they do link to their sources if you want to read further. And when it comes to more complex news topics (think: Brexit or the Cannes Film Festival), they’ll cover the most recent updates but link to their Skimm Guides, located on their website. These guides provide context for larger topics, and are written in the same style as the emails. For your own email marketing, TheSkimm is the place to go if you’re looking for writing inspiration or for emails without much visual content.

[Click here to see the entire email.] 10. Medium Medium is a blog-publishing platform that has been continuously building momentum since its launch in 2012. Publishing on the site has really picked up in the past few years, and nowadays, there are a ton of people publishing posts on the site every day. Of course, that means there’s a lot of content for the average person to filter through. To help bring great content to the surface, Medium uses email newsletters. And after I open this newsletter every day, I end up going to visit several Medium posts without fail. (Mission accomplished for Medium, right?) Here’s why: The newsletter feels pretty minimal. Because of the way that Medium uses colors and section dividers, they’re able to give you a ton of content in one email without it feeling overwhelming. Plus, they offer both a daily and a weekly version of the digest, allowing users to opt in for the email frequency they feel most comfortable with.

11. BrainPickings BrainPickings is one of the most interesting newsletters out there. In fact, the folks who write it call it an “interestingness digest.” Every Sunday morning, subscribers get the past week’s most unmissable articles about creativity, psychology, art, science, design, and philosophy — topics that are really appealing to a wide audience. At its core, it explores what it means to live a good life. This is one of the longest newsletters I’ve ever read, but what makes it still work well is how high quality and well packaged the content is. (Bonus: Check out the delightful microcopy in the top right-hand corner.)

[Click here to see the entire email.] 12. Litmus You’d hope that an email marketing testing company would have great emails … and Litmus definitely does. While the content of the emails is certainly interesting, I’m especially digging the design. The blocks of color help break up the newsletter into sections that are easy to differentiate. I also like that the text calls-to-action at the end of each post’s description don’t just say something generic, like “Read this post.” Instead, they are matched with specific actions related to the post’s content, like “Get the checklist” and “Discover why you should test.”

[Click here to see the entire email.] 13. General Assembly There are a lot of creative things you can do with images in your emails, from designing your own custom graphics to creating animated GIFs. General Assembly, an organization that helps expand professionals’ skill sets, likes to employ tactics like these in their newsletter. From their attractive and minimal layout to their concise copy and helpful information, this is a great example of a newsletter that gives subscribers quick information in an easily scannable format.

[Click here to see the entire email.] 14. This. This. (yes, the full stop is part of the brand name) is another great newsletter for finding — and sharing — the best and most entertaining content on the web. What makes their newsletter unique is that it isn’t just content curated by one person or one team; it’s content curated by a community of people on the internet. Members are allowed to share one, single link every day — presumably the best content they find the entire day. The result? “We’ve built something we hope will connect you to the best the web has to offer — all its weirdness and beauty and diversity and ambition,” reads the website. The newsletter consists of the editor’s picks from all the amazing content their community members have shared. Subscribers also have the option of signing up for a custom newsletter, which includes the editor’s picks and a custom feed from curators they can pick and choose. That’s some pretty cool personalization.

15. SaaS Weekly This is the ultimate SaaS newsletter, from a guy that kind of knows a thing or two about SaaS. (Hiten Shah is the co-founder of CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics). While his approach is simple, this roundup is packed with value and organized in a way that makes it easy to discover content around your specific interests. Shah does this by breaking the list of curated posts into different sections — Business, Product, Marketing Growth, Tip of the Week, etc. — which makes it easily scannable.

[Click here to see the entire email.] 16. The Ringer Remember Grantland, the sports and pop culture blog owned by ESPN that was started by sports journalist Bill Simmons? In October 2015, ESPN announced it would be ending the publication of Grantland. Shortly thereafter, Simmons formed Bill Simmon Media Group and recruited a whole bunch of former Grantland staffers to launch a brand new newsletter in March 2016 called The Ringer. Although The Ringer is written and run by many former Grantland employees it’s a different project than Grantland was. Where Grantland focused on sports and pop culture, The Ringer branches out into other areas like tech and politics. Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, is among the contributors. I like how focused they are on experimentation: “We want to have fun, take chances, analyze, theorize, obsess, and try not to take ourselves too seriously,” said Editor-in-Chief Sean Fennessey. Another differentiator? The Ringer’s website was developed in partnership with publishing platform Medium — which means the newsletter reflects that clean, minimal design.

[Click here to see the entire email.] 17. Hacker Newsletter Many marketers don’t frequent Hacker News, but they should still check out this hand-picked curation of the social network’s top stories of the day. Why? The newsletter is clean and minimal, but still sends a ton of really great content its subscribers’ way. The way it distills potentially overwhelming information is by bucketing content into sections. The newsletter also looks very similar to the site, so for those who love the site and how it’s laid out, the newsletter feels like a comforting, familiar way to consume content.

[Click here to see the entire email.] Even though newsletters are one of the most common types of emails to send, they are actually some of the hardest to do right. We hope these examples gave you some quality inspiration so you can create newsletters your subscribers love to get in their inboxes.

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Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Michael Reznik of Upcart, a brand that sells stair climbing folding cart/dolly.Michael laid out some super nice tips for sales and entrepreneurs early in their journey - so hope you enjoy this one.Some stats:Product: Stair climbing folding cart/dolly.Revenue/mo: $583,000Started: May 2015Location: Columbus, OhioFounders: 2Employees: 4Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hello, my name is Michael Reznik and I am the Co-Founder and CEO of TriFold LLC, the company that invented the UpCart ® line of products. We are dedicated to revolutionizing mobility with innovative products that give people the freedom to do what they love by enhancing their mobility. When people have greater mobility, they can do more and be more productive.Let’s be real, carrying stuff up & down stairs is the worst. The UpCart ® line of products solve this problem with a unique line of all-terrain folding carts and hand trucks that have been engineered to reduce effort while going up and down stairs and over irregular terrain. Our patented technology also allows all of our products to fold completely flat for easy storage or transportation.Our newest product the UpCart Versa Trolley (renamed from the UpCart City), the most compact stair climbing cart, won the Retailer’s Choice Award at the 2018 National Hardware Show and was successfully funded on Kickstarter. The UpCart Versa is the only folding hand cart to ever be offered with a LIFETIME warranty!Our first product, the UpCart Original, became available in August 2015 and promptly sold out of stock within 10 days of going viral on Facebook after Thanksgiving. We did $385,000 in sales from August – December 2015. Revenue continued to grow with $3.2M in 2016, $5.4M in 2017, and we are on track to exceed $7M in sales this year. We are excited to note that UpCart ® products are for sale in Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, Lowe’s and other major retailers.What our product looks likeWhat's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?Some great companies are started by very unlikely business partners.I was at my Dad’s birthday party and was sitting next to a long-time family friend, Leonid Khodor (my Dad’s age), an engineer and patent agent. During the course of the evening, after a few libations, Leonid shared that he had invented this new product but wasn’t sure how to turn it into a business.He had a rough Frankenstein prototype (made from baby stroller wheels, cannibalized part and some custom fabricated pieces) and showed me a little video of it in action. A light bulb went off in my head, immediately I saw so many applications/uses for this right away. We exchanged contact information that evening.Early prototype 1Early prototype 2After conducting some research, performing some due diligence and convincing my wife to let me make the investment of both time and money, I agreed to go into business with Leonid. I applied for our tax ID and trade name and TriFold officially became a company in February 2013. At that time, I had spent most of my career in the Fortune 500 as a Management / Operations Consultant.I already had a pretty demanding job but always had a passion for entrepreneurship. I had attempted to start a company in the mid-2000’s right before the 2nd stock market crash, but I wasn’t able to get it off the ground before the economy imploded. This time, however, I wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way. I believed wholeheartedly that this idea was going to be successful, we just needed to figure out how to make that a reality.TriFold started as a “side hustle” while I continued to work my corporate job, but it quickly became much more than that. 100+ work weeks became my new normal. During the day I was the good corporate steward, but evenings and weekends were dedicated to TriFold.Many people write/advise that you must be “All-In” to make a business successful… that’s easy to say if you don’t have a wife, two kids, car payments and a mortgage. I wasn’t in a position to just quit my day job and commit 100% to the business, and I wouldn’t be until December 2016 (3.5 years later).Describe the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing the product.Our first challenge was taking Leonid’s Frankenstein-cart prototype and turning it into a real finished product.DesignWe hired a good local design firm that conducted some market research and worked with us on several design iterations. While their designs were beautiful, we had concerns about their practicality and feasibility of manufacturing those designs at a reasonable cost.We parted ways with the design firm but learned enough through the process to finish the product design on our own. Leonid is a gifted engineer and designer and developed all of our 3D models and industrial designs on his own using CAD software (and still does to this day).PrototypingThe second major challenge was how to turn the designs into a working prototype. We explored many options ranging from 3D printing to full custom fabrication.The challenge was the exorbitant cost associated with all of these options. Due to the nature and complexity of our product design, the prototyping process would cost about 33% - 50% of the cost of the actual production tooling.So after much deliberation, and 3D modeling in CAD software, we decided to take a huge gamble and move forward with the production tooling without going through the prototype process first. Our logic was actually very sound. The cost of modifying and adjusting tooling would actually be less expensive than the cost of developing a working prototype.Moreover, by working directly from the production tooling, our samples would be real load-bearing fully functional samples. This also had the benefit of saving us months of time and allowed us to bring the actual product to market sooner.Finding a factoryOnce the decision was made, we set out to find a factory to help make our vision a reality. With the aid of an experienced sourcing consultant (who later became our sales manager), we visited many factories in China, asked for quotes from three and selected one to work with.Note: we did explore manufacturing in the USA but found the cost would have been at least 3-times higher to produce in the USA. One big advantage to the factory we selected was a very low minimum order qty, provided that we paid 100% for the tooling and assembly fixtures.Describe the process of launching the online store/business.Our plan was to get working samples from the factory and present them at the largest hardware show held annually in Las Vegas. There was one small problem, we were quickly running out of money.Despite countless pitches and meetings, at this point, we had very little success in raising capital. Everyone wanted to invest in tech, biotech, SaaS or mobile. In late 2014 we attempted to go to Kickstarter to raise capital. We rushed in and didn’t do it the right way. Our funding goal was too high and while we did raise over $27K we didn’t hit our funding goal, so no funds were received. We were quickly running out of operating capital.Fortunately, I cultivated a relationship with one of our backers who later became one of our angel investors. After closing our angel round, we had enough capital to pay for the remainder of the tooling, stand up a basic website, pay for a trip to the factory to finalize the samples (and pack them to take home as our check luggage) and pay the costs to attend the National Hardware Show in a tiny 5x7 booth in the Inventor’s Spotlight Area.We were the bells of the ball!From the moment the show opened, we had a crowd at least two deep at our booth almost the entire time. The UpCart won the “Most Innovative New Concept” award at the show and I was invited to a pitch contest hosted by QVC. I won the pitch contest and was live on the air three weeks later doing a live-sell on the QVC Sprouts program.Please note, these were still production samples – no actual product had been produced yet.This was May and we told QVC that we would not have actual product in the USA until August of that year. QVC was good with that and noted “Will Ship August 22” during the program.The UpCart sold out in 5 minutes and started taking wait-list orders! This was immediate validation that we had something customers wanted.Me on QVCLater that same year, I made product video on my MacBook and posted to Facebook. I boosted the post for $20/day and it ended up going viral. The video ended up getting 7.5M views and over 15.4M organic reach.This all occurred in about 10 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The UpCart completely sold out, we had zero inventory left with a couple weeks of Christmas shopping left. We weren’t complaining too loud, we were out of cash and purchased as much inventory as we could afford to head into the holidays. We were able to take the revenue from those sales and reinvest back into the business.We have bootstrapped this business from day one. After our initial angel investment round, we never did another funding round. We have been fiscally conservative and managed the business well. Due to our early profitability, I was able to work with small micro-lenders at first and then consolidate our debt with Huntington Bank through the SBA lending program. As we grew, Huntington continued to be a fantastic partner to us with additional lending when we needed.The faster we grew, the harder it was to manage cash flow. I never realized that being a manufacturer of a physical product meant that you would also act as a bank for your customers. Everyone takes payment terms ranging from NET 30 to NET 120! We have to pay for the inventory before it leaves the factory while the clock doesn’t start on payment terms until the customer physically receives the goods so in some instances (such as with QVC), we wouldn’t receive payment on the goods for up to 6 months!Our early success on QVC was both a blessing and a curse:The blessingI can’t think of a better way for a new product to get market validation than selling out on the air your first 5 out of 6 times Even better, once it sells out on QVC, your sales on your direct channels spike as customers look to buy it elsewhere.Also, when talking with prospective buyers or retailers, no one wants to be ‘first’, they want validation that your product can sell. Having the ability to tell our story about our sales on QVC was a big advantage for a small startup. It also helped keep our factory happy to be getting large orders at once.The curseCurse – QVC is VERY slow to pay. The larger their order, the longer you have to float the cost of the inventory, and cash is king for a growing startup.QVC has MUCH higher than average customer returns and all the returns come back to you. In most cases (especially for new vendors) everything they buy is consignment, meaning that at any point in time they can return the goods to you.However, the greatest curse is the visibility your success gets to the wrong audience. The vultures who make their fortunes by stealing the ideas of others and making cheap knock-off As-Seen-On-TV items.Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?As with many new products, the biggest challenge is educating the customers about your product and how it is different. While a picture is worth 1,000 words, a video is priceless. Without question the best platform for that is online. Ever since going viral on Facebook in late 2015, we have relied heavily on Facebook paid ads.No other platform provided a lower customer acquisition cost. Equally important, Facebook allows you to engage with potential customers and address questions, concerns, and complaints. However, it’s not as simple as boosting a post and sitting back to watch the customers come in.We made a lot of mistakes along the way and learned a great deal about managing audiences, optimizing ads, and refreshing creative to keep relevance scores up.We followed a 3-tiered strategy for advertising on Facebook comprised of Prospecting for new audiences, managing the core through lookalike audiences and retargeting. Each tier is allocated a percentage of our budget:1. Prospecting: 10% - 25% of ad spendProspecting is the process of searching for potential customers in order to develop new business.You should always allocate a percentage of your budget to Prospecting for new audiences/customer groups. We try to think through what specific group of individuals would benefit most from our product.A strategy that works for us is to think of specific audiences that we believe we can be #1 in that market. Then we test it with targeted ads. There will be a lower conversion rate and higher acquisition cost on these ads, but that is by design because not all audiences will convert. The goal is to find a new core audience.This assumes of course that you know and understand your core customer demographic, otherwise, ALL of your advertising will be prospecting ;-)2. Core Advertising: 60% - 70% of ad spendAdvertising to your core audience should be where the bulk of your ad spend goes and should have the best conversion rates and lowest acquisition costs. We handle these two ways. The first is to create ads that target the specific demographics (age, gender, geography, income, etc.). The second is to leverage information from existing customers to create “lookalike audiences”.Lookalike audiences are arguably one of the most powerful tools that Facebook offers advertisers. Facebook will take a list of your current customers and analyze their demographic information to find new potential customers that look like the list you provided them. So, if your customers are 25-35 year old’s living in apartments and very active in outdoor activities, Facebook will create a population of potential customers with the same interests and demographics.It is important to monitor and optimize these ads on a regular basis. Also, refresh the creative on these ads to keep them current and relevant.3. Retargeting: 10% - 20% of ad spendRetargeting, also known as remarketing, is basically getting your ads in front of potential customers who visited your site but did not make a purchase. For most websites, only 2% of traffic converts to a sale on the first visit. Retargeting is a way to try and reach customers who don’t convert right away. Many people don’t make the buying decision the first time they see something new, they need to see it several times before they are ready to make a purchase. For this reason, retargeting is very important. This should have a better conversion rate and acquisition cost than prospecting and ideally better than core advertising.A cautionary note on SEO (Search Engine Optimization)SEO is basically the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines.There are many ways to improve your SEO results and many companies/consultants that will offer you paid services for improving your SEO results. We hired a very good SEO firm and they did everything they promised they would. However, we realized too late we would have a very hard time monetizing the results sufficient to justify the cost of the services.It takes a very long time (12-18 months) to move up ranking on competitive keywords/search terms. You end up paying every month for SEO services but there just wasn’t a good enough ROI on the investment. Moreover, by trying to ‘game’ the results, you are locked into paying for SEO services forever. Once you stop paying for the SEO activities, your rankings will start to fall off.The best advice I can give someone about SEO is to focus on having good, meaningful and relevant content on your website. Follow the basic design rules for good SEO (submitting your schema, appropriate use of H1/H2 tags, alt text,

sections, etc.).Partner with good sites to get high-quality backlinks through blogs, articles, etc. Don’t waste your money on paid SEO services.Amazon - a knife that cuts both waysIf you are selling online, you MUST be on Amazon.It’s hard to attribute actual sales, but without question every time we increase our ad spend on Facebook/Google we see a corresponding spike in sales on Amazon. Many customers just feel more comfortable making a purchase through Amazon vs. [your name].com. For that reason alone, it is important to have your product listed on the platform… on Seller Central.With that said, I would STRONGLY discourage anyone from moving to Vendor Central and signing Amazon up as a direct wholesale account. If you have good sales volume on Amazon through Seller Central, you will most likely be approached by Amazon to let them buy direct from you and have your items listed as “Sold by Amazon” on their platform.They will sell you on all the benefits and claim that your sales volume will go up dramatically. Here is what they won’t tell you:You lose all control of pricingAmazon will not be undersold. If your product is listed anywhere on the internet for less, their automated bots will find it and automatically lower the price on Amazon. So if you have a MAP policy and ever do a sale with one customer or on your website, Amazon will find it and match it. Worse yet, if any of your distributors/retailers lower the price on their own, that will also trigger a price drop. On Seller Central, you control the pricing, on Vendor Central you don’tYou lose control of your productWe sell internationally and have exclusive agreements with distributors in other countries. We told Amazon that they could only sell in the USA, so you can imagine our shock when we found Amazon selling our product in Canada, Mexica and Europe?!?Good luck ever making sense of your billing and figuring out if you are actually maintaining margin.Pretty much from day one, we were buried in paperwork, false chargebacks and shortage claims, obnoxiously inefficient processes, and general frustration. It was almost a full-time job trying to stay on top of the amazon process and paperwork… and DO NOT fall behind else you will never get caught up and they will never pay you fully. They claimed shortages on so many orders that we had to submit documentation to try and prove that we actually shipped the full amount. Heaven forbid if the trucker didn’t sign the bill of lading and give you a photo copy, because that would be grounds for denying payment.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?As noted above, we went from $385K our first year to $5.4M our 3rd year and are on track to close around $7M this year with our highest margin thus far.We had always hoped but never expected this type of rapid growth. We have released several new models and are getting ready to re-launch our new UpCart.com website before Thanksgiving with a renewed focus on growing our direct channel. Additionally, for 2019 we are looking to increase our international sales by growing presence in Europe.Historical ad spend has only been about 10% of revenue because a lot of our revenue comes from retail accounts vs. direct to customer e-commerce. When we first started, our direct vs. retail was about 50%/50% because QVC was such a large part of our revenue. As we continued to grow, each year a larger part of our total revenue shifted to retail. Today, our direct channel only comprises about 10% of total revenue.Direct to customer channel has seen a steady increase in acquisition costs. We started around $18-$20 per acquisition and have stabilized around $34-$38 acquisition cost, but at the same time, our average ticket value has also increased from $80 to about $105.When we entered the market, we created a segment that didn’t exist, and the acquisition costs were very low. Over time, as competitors entered the market, the cost to acquire a new customer has gone up.Additionally, as we increased the number of retailers selling our product, we found that we were competing with our own retailers for ad space. We would see ads from Home Depot, Lowe’s and others bidding on the same keywords.So, while Facebook remains the largest part of our advertising spend, the increasing acquisition costs have led us to start exploring additional avenues of advertising that won’t have us bidding against the same ad space as our retailers and distributors.Additionally, as we re-launch our new e-commerce site, we have made a strategic decision that all new products will be launched exclusively on UpCart.com first for at least 6 months before they are released to retail. This will allow us to continue to grow our direct channel without competing with our retailers and distributors.As we look to the future, we will stay true to our mission and vision. We will continue to innovate and develop new products that make people more productive through improved mobility. Our product roadmap includes expansion of our products into different industries.Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageousIt would be impossible to summarize all the lessons learned in a couple of paragraphs, so I will share what I believe to be two of the most important characteristics of a successful entrepreneur.Be a “Life-long Learner”.You will be required to make countless decisions almost daily on things you are not properly qualified to answer. You will never have all the information or knowledge necessary to address the various topics and challenges you face.Get good at finding information quickly and qualifying the relevant facts. You must be able to learn quickly and never stop learning. At every stage of growth of your business, you will encounter new challenges and dynamics. What you thought you knew may no longer be relevant or apply to your current situation.I find that I'm reading a lot more about entrepreneurship after I started a company!? I'm learning how much I don't know about starting a company, LOLManage to your vision and convictions.Opinions are like rectums, everyone has one and they don’t usually smell too good.Early on, my natural inclination was to seek advice and guidance from the "entrepreneurial community" and people who have been down this road before. Sadly, most of the advice I received was 'wrong for me' and my company. To be clear, I don't believe people were intentionally providing bad advice. With rare exceptions the reality is no two companies are the same, no matter how similar. Therefore, one person's experiences will rarely translate the exact same way to your unique circumstances and situation.For your company to be truly successful you have to do something unique or different… otherwise why are you staring a business?! Your strategy must be uniquely your own. You are solving a problem for your customers in a new and special way. Your vision for your company must guide the decisions you make and the approach you take. No one else has ever had to balance the specific set of circumstances, constraints and variables you are required to contend with.By no means am I advocating anything other than trying to seek out as much advice and guidance as you can. HOWEVER, it is your responsibility to evaluate any and all "advice" you receive as a data point. Each data point must be analyzed and evaluated taking into consideration the source and context surrounding the data. What is the fundamental message or lesson behind the advice? Distill the advice down to the cause and effect and see how closely, if at all, those lessons apply to your actual situation. Further, you should never make your decision from just one data point… even a trusted source. It is your responsibility to seek out multiple data points and gather sufficient information before making a critical business decision.I've seen colleagues spend countless hours researching what TV to buy. They will go to multiple websites, watch YouTube reviews, go into the store and look at different sets, then ask everyone they know about what TV they have and why they purchased it, then return to online reviews again before making a final decision. Ironically, I've then seen those same individuals make significant financial business decisions based on 'advice' from one source or based on only one data point.Whatever your vision for your company may be, ultimately you have to live with the consequences of the choices you make. It's easy to get bullied down one particular path or cling to what seems like reasonable advice when it's the only source of information you have. I strongly encourage you to always evaluate the advice against how well the underlying lessons apply to your particular situation and if it aligns with your vision of the future.What platform/tools do you use for your business?My absolute favorite tool has been Microsoft OneNote. This is ironic since I am a die-hard Apple/Mac fanboy (note, there is OneNote for Mac and web-based).What’s so great about this tool is that it allows me to organize the most critical information necessary to run my business and be able to find/access it quickly and from anywhere in the world. I have also found that it is a remarkable tool for organizing the creative process, anything from writing blog posts to brainstorming marketing plans or user personas. Another good alternative is Evernote.A close second is Dropbox. I live on Dropbox. I keep every important file, picture, video out there. We have a Team account and all of my team members share the same team folders. This has been one of the best productivity tools for us.I am able to instantly create shareable links of files or folders and send them to retailers, reps or distributors. I also use Dropbox links to send files to my factories and partners overseas. We work remote very often and being tied to network drive only accessible at the office would not have worked for us.Honorable mention is QuickBooks Online. It is a fantastic accounting tool that is easy to use, integrates with our banks, credit cards, etc. and is reasonably priced for small-medium sized businesses. It allows me to grant access to different users for maintaining PO’s, Invoices, Inventory, and payroll.For most of our operations:Sales Platform: Shopify (migrated from Magento)User Reviews: YotPoAccounting Software: QuickBooks OnlineShipping Integration: ShipworksShipping Software: UPS WorldShip and Stamps.comEmail Marketing: MailChimpWhat have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?BooksThe Lean Startup by Eric Ries – my background was in management consulting and operations. I am a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, so the concept of applying Lean principals and Lean thinking to innovation and startup was extremely interesting to me. While the book was slanted towards IT/Tech innovation, the principals are applicable to any startup.Zero to One by Peter Thiel – As one of the best known and most successful venture capitalists and co-founder of PayPal, Peter knows a few things about entrepreneurship. The lesson that resonated most with me was competition is a looser, monopolies are the path to success.The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss – While a lot of the suggestions/tools in this book are a little dated and many of the principals are extremely difficult to implement in a practical setting, the core message is spot on and aspirational. There are countless nuggets of brilliance and valuable insights that I took from this book that I put into practice every day. More importantly, it allowed me to discover the best IMHO Podcast on the planet…PodcastsTim Ferriss – I started listening to his podcast after reading his book and I’ve been hooked ever since. Topics covered are not only relevant to my professional life but to my personal life. Tim has interviewed top performers in every discipline and profession and I have learned more from these podcasts than I ever imagined possible.Business Wars – If you are an entrepreneur then you love this podcast. It tells the backstory of some epic business battles such as Coke vs. Pepsi, Nike vs. Adidas, Marvel Comics vs. DC, etc. Just a fantastic and entertaining series.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?Run a good business first and foremost.I speak with many new entrepreneurs that have grand aspirations of raising lots of capital and hiring their ‘dream team’. A disproportionate amount of their efforts is tied to pitch decks and selling their vision. Trust me, I understand the importance of raising capital and cash flow more than most. But I never understood why so many people were so eager to give away equity in their company, take on investors and relinquish partial control.The best way to raise capital is to show that you can generate cash flow. Investors and lenders alike are interested in a return on their investment, not doing charity work. They want to make sure you have a sound business based on strong fundamentals. An impassioned pitch with a beautiful vision of the future might keep them awake, but it won’t open their checkbooks. A solid business plan with accurate figures and projections and real cash flow will.Everyone needs an angel, so did we. But after our angel round, we focused on running a good business first. We watched every penny spent. We looked for creative ways to be more productive and efficient without throwing capital at things. We didn’t take salaries, paid our own cell phone bills and cut costs wherever we could. We outsourced things that didn’t make financial sense to own and put sweat-equity in instead of hiring extra help. We kept the ego out of it and managed our Balance Sheet and P&L… and when we couldn’t go any further without extra capital, we were able to borrow the funds instead of giving up equity.The funny thing is that once we no longer needed outside investment, we kept getting approached by people wanting to invest. As long as you continue to grow, there will always be a need for additional capital. If you are running a good business with strong balance sheet and good cash flow/receivables, you should be able to take on debt to finance your growth.NOTE: There is absolutely a good time and place for raising capital through equity/investors, but you should do it for the right reasons and at the right time.Where can we go to learn more?Main Website: www.upcart.comFacebook: facebook.com/upcartTwitter: @upcartYouTube: youtube.com/user/UpCartInstagram: @theofficialupcart/Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos.

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 103, May 2018

Last Saturday morning, my parents and I drove down to the 9 Grams Cafe and the Armstrong Playground, Mount Duneed for Hunter’s 2nd birthday party. I was feeling a bit nervous about it considering I hadn’t seen certain family members for years and so there’s always social difficulties: remembering names, feeling socially, awkward, wanting to fit in and belong plus dealing with other’s peoples personalities. https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongMtDuneed/

Thankfully it wasn’t too bad despite the gale force winds threatening to blow all the food, presents and decorations away. We literally had to tie and tape down the black balloons and giant number 2 balloon a few times. Because I only knew a handful of people, I was huddling around near my parents, aunties and uncles. I actually had a really good laugh with my Mum, Auntie Kathy and Auntie Gaye which helped to reduce those anxiety levels and made me feel more included on this special occasion.

When it comes to kids and being a Dad, I feel like Dr. Alan Grant from Jurassic Park who was lumped with John Hammond’s grandchildren. You could tell that he was very hesitant and desperately needed an instruction manual to look after them. I think the distance and lack of connection with my own Dad explains why I’ve always been so reluctant and awkward around kids. I literally don’t know what to say or do around them.

But baby Hunter seems like a good kid. He’s filled with boundless energy and has a cheeky smile. He was running around the playground, climbing onto the equipment with no issues at all. All the adults took it in turns to keep a close eye on him as he didn’t seem to have an off switch. We all sung “Happy Birthday” to Hunter three times as a group before having some cake and departing the playground.

Later on that afternoon, we drove down to Queenscliff Harbour to check out Gaye and Clint’s new houseboat, The Catamaran. It was difficult for me adjusting to the swaying motion of the boat even though it was tied down and moored. I guess I’m just not used to it. But I did try to relax and enjoy the experience. The interiors of the boat were really glamourous with plush red leather seating, a mini kitchenette and row of bar fridges, a dining area, downstairs galley, a front deck and top deck upstairs. We all enjoyed a couple of beers and wines each before checking into the Seaview House. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catamaran

The Seaview Guest House is an old English-styled motel featuring rustic wooden furniture, narrow corridors, low pile carpet runners, floral-patterned bedspreads, heritage coloured walls, floral print wallpaper and a selection of abstract and landscape paintings. The motel itself contains guest rooms with ensuites, TV, Wifi, central heating and cooling, a lounge area, dining room, cafe and art gallery. Outside my window of the guest room, there were some beautiful oak trees with large green and brown autumn leaves. A pile of these were all piled up at the foot of the building and scattered across the pavement. It was such a lovely place to stay the night in.  http://www.seaviewhouse.com.au/

Last Saturday night, we went down to Gaye and Clint’s place located in Clifton Springs to help them set up their shed for a garage sale tomorrow. Considering they’re actually selling the property and retiring on the houseboat, this was pretty much an “everything must go” affair. The shed was really dusty, dirty and cluttered with junk. Admittedly, I felt a little lost and uncertain being in there with Rod, Warren and Clint.

A big part of my autism is needing structure and clear instructions when doing a task. Thankfully that’s exactly what I was given which made it easier for me. I can’t stand the thought of standing around awkwardly and not being useful. I ended up putting all of the Styrofoam blocks in a big pile together, sorted out the extension leads into separate piles and putting some items out on the fold-out trestle table. I felt pretty proud of myself seeing how I arranged all of the handbags, lamps, towels, throw rugs and cushions out, ready for the garage sale tomorrow morning.

Later that night, we headed off to the Springs Bistro at Clifton Springs Golf Club for dinner. After feeding the dogs, Clint took me for a spin in his two-door red Nissan Coupe sports car. I really know next to nothing about cars so everything Clint was telling me about the features of this car went in one ear and out the other. However, the rev was really loud and fast. It felt like I was in the passenger seat of the Batmobile or an Aston Martin from the James Bond movies.

Being a Saturday night, the bistro was really buzzing with people so it was a good thing that Gaye booked us a table in advance. I ordered a beef burger with onion rings and a side of chips. I find that it can be really challenging dealing with my family but tonight we had plenty of laughs together. I was able to let go of some of my emotional issues at least for the time being. Even in the most stressful and dysfunctional of circumstances, we all have to stick together somehow.

Last Sunday morning, we checked out of the Seaview Guest House and had breakfast at the Panache Cafe & Creperie Edgewater, which is just a few minutes walk away. It is a French-styled cafe with beautiful lead-lighting, wooden tables and chairs, interior brickwork with torn plaster walls and large market umbrellas outside. I ordered the sweet crepe with strawberries and vanilla ice-cream which was absolutely delicious! https://panachecafeandcreperie.com.au/

Later on that morning, we drove back down to Gaye and Clint’s place in Clifton Springs to help them out with their garage sale. I felt a little out of my depth being one of the “helpers” but I just tried to be myself and decided to adopt my door greeter role from work. Greeting other people is something I can definitely do even when they’re total strangers to me. There we met a bubbly lady named Rosalyn Dodds who was quite easy to talk to. She is a friend of Gaye and Clint’s.

I decided to buy a few things to help contribute to Gaye and Clint’s sales including a table lamp with a bright purple shade and a sky blue coloured cushion. I was technically broke today but I really wanted to buy something even for a few dollars. My parents ended up buying a large floor rug, twin lamp shades, an extension lead, a handful of old records, some cushions, a throw rug and an antique tick-tock wall clock.

On Monday night, I attended my first Zumba class in probably over a year at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. I still remember back in 2016 when I tried my very first Zumba class and was literally shitting myself at the back of the group fitness room. Back then, my anxiety levels were in overdrive and I was very self-conscious about my body. I was also really worried about people looking at me, keeping up and messing up the dance moves. Five years ago, I wouldn’t be caught dead doing a Zumba class. All this shows how much I have progressed not only with my fitness goals but also my personal development.

I think I’ve really learned to not take life as seriously and be comfortable having a laugh at myself. It’s honestly the only way I could ever actually enjoy a Zumba class. I know right off the bat that I can’t dance to save my life and so I’ve already accepted how uncoordinated my dance moves probably look to most people. Plus I’m not there to be a technical Latin dancer. I’m there to burn off calories and have fun.

The instructor Geri certainly helps to make Zumba accessible to everyone. Nobody really gives a shit about how you dance or what you look like so being judged is not a concern for me. Of course it’s still pretty challenging for me both keeping up and articulating the dance movements at least to some extent. If I get really stuck, I always try to follow along with the person in front of me. But I had a ball tonight. I was shaking my hips, swinging my arms overhead, wiggling my chest and man boobs and sweating a whole heap. https://www.fitnessfirst.com.au/find-a-class/zumba/

On Tuesday morning, I started the first week of my Employ Your Mind - Phase 2 program at WISE Employment in Cranbourne. This phase of the program is very different compared to the first phase for several reasons: you work in a group rather than 1 on 1, you do individual work on a project of your choice and start working on the Thinking Gym, which are computer-based puzzles designed to help improve your cognition skills.

Of course for me, meeting new people is still a barrier for me and initially my social anxiety was flaring up a bit when I met the other learning coaches and EYM students. But once I was settled in, I was generally fine and more relaxed. We started the first session by introducing each other to the group in pairs. Then my learning coach went through the guidelines and group expectations.

The computer program that is used in Employ Your Mind is called HAPPYneuronPro. Each of the puzzles or games in the program focuses on a different area of thinking including long term memory, working memory, attention, reasoning and problem solving and thinking speed. I found these games to be a little difficult but mostly enjoyable and educational.

The last part of today’s session involved doing a mini project called Introduce Yourself. We each had to present information about ourselves regarding character strengths, general facts, interests, goals and thinks that we’ve discovered during Phase 1. For me, this has always been an area I’ve struggled with...oral presentations in groups and just public speaking in general.

Every time it feels like the spotlight is focused directly on me and I always seem to get flustered, anxious and shaky. But I think I did pretty well considering it’s only a small group of us. I would have been much worse in front of a larger group, on a stage, with a microphone and no notes in front of me. No thank you! http://www.fifeemploymentaccesstrust.com/employ-your-mind.html

On Tuesday night, Mandi Herauville, Rodney Millar and myself did a wet session together at P3 Sports & Recovery in Berwick. It was my first time visiting this place even though I’ve driven past it many times in the past year or so. I was feeling slightly apprehensive about it seeing as this centre is mainly designed for athletes and sports people but honestly who cares? I deserve to recover just as much as anyone else. I suppose you could say that I’m from a fitness background considering my participation in Crossfit and Strength Training.

In a way, P3 does have similar facilities compared to a traditional aquatic centre such as swimming pools, a spa bath and a sauna room. But the difference is that there is more of a focus on hydrotherapy and being able to recover from sport-related injuries and soreness. There are also plunge pools, a 12 metre swimming pool and a hydrotherapy pool. There are so many benefits from using these facilities from increased blood flow and muscle strength to reduced joint tension and relaxed muscles. http://p3sportsmelbourne.com.au/wet-therapy/

Of course being my first time being at P3, the usual questions flooded my mind: Where am I going? Am I heading in the right direction? But that stems from my need for clarity and certainty in new situations. But it didn’t take long for me to find my way around and bump into Mandi and Rodney. I think the most challenging part was adjusting to the sudden change in water temperature. It’s not everyday that you’re suddenly jumping from a hot spa into an ice cold water pool and visa versa. http://p3sportsgoldcoast.com.au/wet-therapy/

My cheeky side really came out tonight as I was making jokes about my sexuality. I’m a gay man and of course I’m going to be appreciating the masculine form of the male species. There were whole sports teams worth of guys flooding into the wet therapy area and I was not complaining at all, just saying! (IT’S RAINING MEN. HALLELUJAH. IT’S RAINING MEN, AMEN!). I’ve become so relaxed about being gay now that it doesn’t bother me if other people know. I don’t exactly yell it from the rooftops either.

There was a 3 minute timer constantly ticking over as you generally “cycle” between pools. You really had to be switched on and ready to move when the timer hit zero. It was certainly a different experience to your typical aquatic centre type pools. The added bonus is that the water contains magnesium chloride, which is similar to the Epsom salts used in baths to relax and soothe your muscles. Despite the blokey atmosphere, I really enjoyed tonight’s session at P3 probably due to the company of Mandi and Rodney. It certainly made things far less daunting for me. http://p3sports.com.au/try-the-magnesium-hydro-pool-or-a-session-in-the-recovery-lounge/

On Thursday morning, I had an appointment with my support worker Ally Lamb at Colourfield Cafe Casey Central in Narre Warren South. I was feeling pretty drained today, probably due to how eventful work was last night and also the sudden change in weather (insert “WINTER IS COMING” meme here). But it still felt good sharing my thoughts and feelings with Ally today. People can really drag you down sometimes but it’s important to build yourself back up again. I still have moments where I get upset, emotional and overwhelmed at work but I’m learning to deal with it better. https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/mental-health/programs-services/personal-helpers-and-mentors-phams

I decided to finish off my Mother’s Day shopping and get some groceries at Woolies. But that, I had to drop into Centre Management. I actually won a prize advertised on the Casey Central Shopping Centre Facebook page for Mum. It was a homewares gift pack from Habitania - Casey Central including a clock, bird and succulent. I’ve also got my mum a pink poinsettia plant, notepad and weekly planner, a coffee mug from The Pancake Parlour, a teal coloured cushion, some lavender scented bath salts and an animal door stopper (corduroy dog). http://caseycentral.com.au/

On Friday morning, I attended a Vinyasa Flow yoga class with Dell Brown at Just Be Yoga and Meditation in Beaconsfield. I was actually intending to do a yoga class last night but I was feeling really off for some reason. My energy levels crashed sometime in the afternoon and even though mentally I wanted to go, physically my body said “No Way!”. So I made the decision to wait until tomorrow morning and hopefully I’d feel more up to going.

It was a really wise decision despite the torrential rain and traffic on the roads at 9am. Considering how cold and wet the weather conditions were, it was a large turnout in the studio this morning. I still wasn’t 100% but I had enough strength and energy to get me through today’s class. I heard that sudden changes in weather temperatures can affect a person’s mood and energy levels and I can very much attest to that.

We did several flowing sequences (Downward Facing Dog, Plank, Chaturanga, Seal or Updog), a Sun Salutation (Standing Forward Fold, Half Lift, High Lunge, Warrior 2, Revolved Triangle pose, Reverse Warrior), balance sequence (Tree pose, Dancers pose) and some supported handstands into the wall. https://www.livestrong.com/article/332693-what-are-the-benefits-of-vinyasa-yoga/

I was actually really proud and impressed that I was able to pull off and hold an L-Shaped handstand into the wall with no assistance needed (thank you Aaron Petty!). I think patience, practice and confidence have had a huge part to play in that considering I could barely place on foot on the wall a couple of years ago. https://www.doyouyoga.com/how-to-do-l-shaped-handstand/

Later that morning, Mum and I treated ourselves to a Classic Victorian-styled High Tea at Baked Bakery Cafe and Patisserie in Narre Warren South. We only decided doing this a couple of days prior to celebrate Mother’s Day and I’m glad we did. The staff at the Bakery were all very accommodating and polite with Irish chef David being our host. We enjoyed a glass of sparkling non-alcoholic champagne, a teapot of English Breakfast tea, two types of scones: white chocolate and cranberry, cheese and herb, a selection of finger sandwiches, brownies, jelly slices and green macrons. All of this for $25 per person. Easily the cheapest high tea I’ve ever had with excellent service and beautifully presented food and drink.

On Mother’s Day, my parents and I went out to dinner at The Pancake Parlour (Fountain Gate). I wisely decided to book the table a week in advance as I knew how packed the restaurant would be for Mothers Day. I couldn’t help but spoil Mum with everything she does for me. Luckily I bought a large gift bag to put all the pressies in. I ordered the Royal Canadian pancakes with bacon, eggs, pineapple and banana fritter. It was a good night out enjoyed by everyone especially my Mum. https://www.pancakeparlour.com.au/

“Open to everything happy and sad. Seeing the good when it's all going bad. Seeing the sun when I can't really see. Hoping the sun will at least look at me. Focus on everything better today. All that I need and I never could say. Hold on people that slipping away. Hold on to this while it's slipping away.” Moby - Slipping Away (2005)