#or like when aides are put in charge of watching over an aggressive patient and the doctors refuse to order sedatives or restraints

[gardenstateofmind]

also it is so funny how scared doctors (especially newer ones) get of nurses bc it really is so true that they run the show

[kitkatopinions]

While thinking about the flaws of the main four protagonists in RWBY, I realized something. You can pretty clearly trace the flaws of three of the four main characters back to their early roots, whether or not the show addresses them as flaws currently. But with Blake, you can’t really do that.

TL;DR at the bottom

Ruby started the show being over-confident and reckless. She was a combat school student with only two years of learning under her belt when she took on Torchwick (although she may not have known who he was.) She easily assumes her team can handle Torchwick and the White Fang, wanders off alone in Mountain Glenn, charges after Torchwick again in the Fall of Beacon, travels to Haven to fight against Cinder without understanding any of the particulars and seemingly with no plan, and unnecessarily leads her team into stealing an Atlas plane while literally telling Qrow that she doesn’t care what he thinks and basically tells him to go along with it or leave. Any of those events could’ve resulted in her death, and it was often - not always, but often - due to outside forces that she survived (Glynda rescuing her, Oobleck realizing about the underground city, tons of fellow Beacon students + Atlas military taking out Grimm after the train crash, a Grimm eating Torchwick, Qrow taking out Grimm on the path to Haven, Qrow saving them from Tyrian, Cordovin aiding them after their unnecessary actions result in a massive Grimm attack.) So when she refuses to accept a no-win situation, traps a city in the direct line of Salem’s fire, sends out a message to everyone that might cause mass panic directly condemning Ironwood for trying to save as many as he can, and then doesn’t have a plan to actually save anyone in Mantle or Atlas, it’s very frustrating, but it’s not surprising or hugely out of character. It’s easy to track this. Ruby’s over-confidence, recklessness, and stubbornness started small and with her only striving to be a hero whether she was ready or not. And left unchecked, it just continued to grow. Weiss started the show being judgmental, rude, and prone to pettiness. Although she seemed to open up quickly to her team and these flaws seemed to die down considerably in volumes 4-5, it’s not exactly out of left field for her to act the way she does towards Whitley in volumes 7 and 8. In V1 Weiss judged Ruby as a child who didn’t know what she was talking about that had taken something from Weiss (the leader role,) and therefore Weiss acted like Ruby was a nuisance and treated her coldly and aggressively. She was hugely judgmental towards Sun, and Blake as well the minute she learned Blake was a Faunus and a former White Fang member, and even after she decided Blake was fine anyway (so badly handled) she made it clear that she wasn’t accepting Sun just yet. Despite any growth she might’ve had with her team, we never see her change outside of that. It becomes clear it’s still a problem, when Weiss is confronted by her considerably younger brother in volumes 7 and 8. Weiss judged him as a child who didn’t know what he was talking about that had taken something from her (her position as CEO of the company) and therefore, Weiss acted like he was a nuisance and treated him coldly and aggressively. Weiss showed no sympathy to him despite knowing his home life. It’s easy to track this. Her pettiness, judgmental tendencies, and aggressiveness never went away, they just stopped being directed at Ruby, Jaune, or the rest of her friends. Yang’s flaws are always easily tracked. She’s got a big temper, charges into things without thinking, and she’s pushy. We see this from the start as she pushes Ruby to make friends despite her clear discomfort and explodes at Grimm for damaging her hair. This continues on pretty clearly in the first couple of seasons, including Yang refusing to give Blake space, and yelling at her with red eyes and pushing her when she wasn’t listening. The funny thing about Yang is that most of this gets addressed and started getting worked through. Yang charging into battle and over-relying on her semblance are combat driven problems that are pointed out to her by her father and worked on to overcome. Yang is much calmer and patient than she had to be with Raven, continues to be patient and understanding with Qrow and Oz when she finds out they’ve been keeping things from the group in volume five, she listens to and accepts Weiss’s advice, and doesn’t lash out at Blake at all when she returns. Although she was still clearly the same person, she was also clearly working on her flaws and trying to be better. However, this seems to backslide in the latest three seasons, with her acting aggressive and not even trying to understand Oz, acting aggressive and not even trying to understand the Ace Ops, pushing Ren to talk about his feelings and then getting angry at him for expressing ones she doesn’t think he should feel, launching into battle without thinking repeatedly and seeming to not really take the situation seriously sometimes. This is frustrating to me, but it’s easy to track, too. Yang was working on her flaws, but has recently backslid into old habits.

But Blake? Blake’s early flaws were things like taking too much responsibility on her shoulders, being unable to let things go, running from her trauma, and lashing out at her friends. Many of her stronger traits were connected to her flaws, and were things like standing up for herself and others, having a strong moral code, and being responsible. (NOTE: Her arc and the allegories to real world racism were absolutely mishandled, making things like her strong moral code - like ‘stealing is always wrong’ - problematic in context. However, for the sake of this argument, I’m referring to her strong moral code as a strong trait as in it was something distinct about her character that we were meant to see as a good trait.) Blake had firm standards, like ‘stealing is wrong,’ and ‘I can’t wait for others to handle things for me, I have to handle it myself.’ During the course of seasons 4 and 5, her character arc was centered around learning to embrace her strong traits without falling into her bad ones. Like Yang, many of her flaws were directly addressed during these seasons, Sun and her parents helping her see that she can rely on and trust others, Blake expressing herself without lashing out, Blake confronting her past head-on in the forms of Adam and Ilia rather than running from it, and finally letting go of much of her own guilt and self-deprecation at the same time. The funny thing about Blake now is that she’s still showing flaws, they just aren’t the flaws she used to have that all pretty much got tied up in a bow, pun unintended. Instead, many of the flaws Blake seems to be showing now are in direct contrast to her former strong traits. She doesn’t stand up for herself, leaving it to Weiss or Yang to speak up for her. She doesn’t take responsibility, putting it on Ruby’s shoulder and begging her to help her in fights. She doesn’t have the extreme moral code, being one hundred percent fine with stealing, beating up law enforcement officers, fighting against the government, etc. Like, not to say that those things are always bad, just that Blake thought they were always bad, not that long ago. This is why, out of all the main characters, Blake is the most upsetting to me. I can hate what Ruby, Yang, or Weiss do, but Blake doesn’t even feel like the same character anymore. Adding onto that, she doesn’t seem like a powerful or interesting fighter anymore either when she used to be very good and very interesting to watch. This makes her just... Feel like a chess piece that CRWBY has say things every now and again to sound good. She feels like another weapon that Yang can just use sometimes. It’s honestly hard to see, because Blake could’ve been a really great character, and now she doesn’t feel like a character at all.

TL;DR It’s easy to track the flaws of Ruby, Yang, and Weiss all throughout the show, but Blake’s recently displayed flaws directly go against her early characteristics. This makes it feel like her whole character is different.

[devendrasbeard]

My Body Is My Weapon, So I Keep It Loaded

Prompt: Belly Bulge / Cum Inflation Relationships: Geralt/Eskel Rating: E Content warnings: Belly bulge, Explicit sexual content, Anal Sex, Crack!fic (kinda), but with a happy ending Summary: On his way to Kaer Morhen for winter, Eskel gets cursed by some faes, making his cock too big for any partner to handle.He turns to Geralt for aid, and Geralt is more than willing to lend him a helping hand (and more!)

Also on ao3!

Geralt was on his knees, his lips stretched thin around Eskel's enormous cock. He knew (and experienced himself more than once) that Eskel was well endowed, but this time it was just ridiculously too much. He barely took the head in his mouth and the tip was already bumping against the back of his throat. He looked up at Eskel with shock and amusement, eyes already watering.

Eskel tangled his fists in the bedsheets, using all his willpower to not buck his hips forward and choke Geralt even more. But he was already so desperate to get at least some friction around his cock, after all these long weeks of forced celibacy.

Geralt didn't want to believe him at first, when Eskel had arrived in Kaer Morhen frowning, slightly panicked and with a visibly big bulge in his breeches. "Geralt, you're not gonna believe it, but I need your help."

And so Eskel told him about that one time a few weeks ago, when he had tried to take a shortcut through a deep forest, instead of staying on the Path. He stumbled onto a fae sanctuary and before he could retreat, they've "attacked" him.

"They've put a weird spell on me and, well... My cock's now twice as big as usual," he sighed with a frown.

Geralt couldn't help but burst out laughing. "I don't see how this is a problem."

"You're laughing, but I couldn't get laid in over two months now," Eskel said weakly, shoulders slumping. "I've been in three different brothels on my way here and it all ended up the same - as soon as I undressed, the girls would just give me back my coin and straight up leave. 'No way in hell I'm gonna let you stick that monstrosity in me,' one of them even said."

Geralt threw his head back, muffling his chuckles with a fist. He wiped tears of mirth from the corner of his eye. "I'm so sorry this has happened to you, but at the same time it's the most hilarious thing I've ever heard." 

"Geralt," Eskel let out an exasperated huff. "I need you to help me, I have no idea if the spell will wear off by itself. And also, please don't tell Vesemir."

"I am so fucking gonna tell Vesemir," Geralt grinned. "But first of all," he licked his lips, scooting closer to Eskel, "let me take a look at what were dealing with here."

Eskel undid his laces with an embarrassed huff, looking away from Geralt's face. Geralt slid his pants down and gasped. Eskel's cock was resting against his thigh and it was much bigger soft than Geralt's dick has ever been when hard.

"Fuck me," Geralt whispered with a hint of awe in his voice.

"Please don't tease me like that," Eskel whimpered, his cock already stirring under Geralt's hot gaze. "I'm hanging by a thread here, I'm damn sure I would stick it in a tree hollow by now, if it weren't so cold outside."

"No, I'm serious," Geralt replied, voice husky, gaze fixed between Eskel's thighs. "Will be a challenge for sure, but I'm so willing to try."

Geralt released Eskel's cock from his mouth with a loud pop. His lips were already red and swollen, and he wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes. "You're gonna fucking destroy me."

Eskel propped himself on his elbows and looked at Geralt with half-lidded eyes. His expression was pure lust, his fists still tangled in the bedsheets, but he exhaled deeply and forced himself to talk. "You really don't have to do this for me..." He huffed and swallowed thickly. "I will... manage somehow."

Geralt didn't say anything in response. Instead, he stood up and nonchalantly slid his breeches down, freed himself of his shirt and then got on all fours on the bed. He looked at Eskel over his shoulder, taking in the astonished expression on the other Witcher's face. "I want to do this for you. And I also want to see how it feels to be utterly ruined by you," he accentuated his statement by perking his butt up. "But if you want to fuck me, you have to work for it."

Eskel worked him open patiently and steadily, pouring the oils generously over Geralt's hole and his fingers. Geralt took him in eagerly, and he had already three fingers deep inside him. Geralt's heated moans and huffs send shivers down his spine and Eskel stirred with arousal and lust, hoping for his wait to be over soon.

"Can you fit another finger in?" Geralt's voice was dark and hoarse. He stared at Eskel from behind his shoulder, looking already wrecked - skin damp with sweat, eyes half-lidded, his hair a mess. "Open me up good," he stretched that last word out, making it sound so much like a needy growl that sent sparks of lust straight to Eskel's cock.

"Geralt..." Eskel started weakly, his mind going dark with arousal, all of his thoughts focused on the promise of sheathing his cock in Geralt's welcoming heat.

He took his heavy cock in hand and lined it up with Geralt's ass. Geralt shot him a half-angry look from behind his shoulder. "No way I'm gonna let you ram into me like this. I'm gonna ride you."

Eskel laid on his back and propped his head on the many pillows, watching Geralt intently from under his heavy lids. Geralt lined himself with Eskel's cock and started sliding down, excruciatingly slowly. Eskel's hands darted forward to grab on Geralt's hips, the tension almost impossible to bear. Geralt grabbed his wrists firmly and pressed them into the mattress. "Don't you fucking move," he coarsed, his jaw clenched and brows furrowed. "I need to concentrate."

Eskel watched mesmerized as Geralt slid down his shaft, inch by inch, exhaling deeply with every little twitch of his hips. By the time he bottomed out, Geralt was panting heavily, his forehead adorned with beads of sweat, eyes darkened with lust. He hesitantly released Eskel's wrists from his grip.

Geralt has never felt so full in his life, the stretch almost unbearable, stinging pain blurring his vision and causing his breath to hitch. No amount of preparation could make him prepared for this. He felt as if all of his insides have made space for Eskel to fill him out completely. "If you move, I'll die," he whispered, more to himself.

Eskel looked at him, eyes widened, the golden brown of his eyes swallowed by his blown pupils. He reached out with one hand and placed it just above Geralt's hardened cock, completely disregarding the way it was leaking precome onto his stomach. Geralt's abs, usually rock hard and firm, were now unnaturally bulged, his belly round and sticking out. Eskel shuddered with excitement and pure desire - when he pressed his hand more firmly to Geralt's stomach, he could feel his own cock twitch inside of him.

Geralt looked down at him, equally mesmerized and only a little bit worried. He's also noticed the bulged belly and the way he could feel Eskel both directly under his skin and deep on the inside. "Are we doing this?" he asked quietly.

Eskel nodded, licking his lips and placing another hand on Geralt's stomach. "I want to feel it move inside you," he whispered hoarsely. He then looked Geralt in the eyes and added, "At your own pace, I'll leave you in charge."

Geralt swallowed thickly and propped himself on Eskel's chest, the slight change of his angle already causing him to tremble. They both groaned at the new sensation. Having braced himself, Geralt started moving.

He moved so terribly slowly, still trying to get used to the enormous stretch and the feeling of being so incredibly full. Eskel's eyes were constantly fixed at his stomach, and he watched Geralt's belly round up and then turn flat again while he moved up and down. He pressed his hands down more firmly to not only observe, but also to feel how full Geralt was.

With every move of his hips, Geralt moaned and whined and Eskel moaned with him. The sensations were driving him crazy, even though Geralt didn't speed up at all, stretching his every move out to impossible lengths. Eskel looked up at his Witcher's furrowed brow, his forehead wet with sweat, lips twitching with every move, eyes fixed on Eskel's medallion. Geralt was somewhere else entirely, his body moving up and down along Eskel's shaft, but his mind and soul have reached a totally different plane.

Eskel reached out with his hands and skimmed them over the damp skin of Geralt's hips. He so wanted to grab him tightly, to pull him up and then ram back into him; he wanted to be fast, filthy and aggressive, but he didn't want to hurt Geralt nor break off the reverent feeling Geralt was clearly now experiencing.

Then Geralt closed his eyes shut, guiding Eskel's hands to grab his hips, Geralt's own hands resting on his round belly. "Do it," he whispered with a broken moan. "Ruin me, Eskel."

Eskel hesitated just for a few seconds, then sat straight up, pulling Geralt into a heated kiss - the first kiss since they've started - and moved his hips. The sound that left Geralt's lips was definitely not human, he growled like a wild animal, something feral and primal coming deep from within. He grabbed Eskel's hair firmly, pulling at it to expose Eskel's neck. He bit down to muffle the obscene sounds he was making with every move of Eskel's hips, and that send Eskel over the edge.

Eskel bucked his hips up a few last times, making Geralt's stomach bulge unnaturally, his thrusts frantic and unforgiving, every brush of his cock against Geralt's prostate making him leak streaks of precome. Eskel grabbed Geralt's thighs firmly, his fingers digging painfully into Geralt's flesh and he came - the sensation making him see white and shudder with every spurt of spend leaving his cock.

Geralt whined and wailed, his teeth still biting at the crook of Eskel's neck and he trembled under Eskel's touch, finally finding his own release. He kept quivering through the aftershocks, still holding one hand on his stomach, feeling Eskel's cock turn soft inside him, but still stretching him to the fullest.

He moved up very slowly, freeing Eskel's dick from the tight heat, and toppled onto the bed, panting heavily and unable to speak. He felt wrung out and awkwardly empty, but at the same time extremely satisfied. 

After a moment, he turned to Eskel, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Do you think we need to tell Vesemir right away?" he asked hesitantly. "Maybe the spell will be lifted after I... dry you out?"

"You're fucking insane," Eskel replied, still unable to move nor open his eyes. "We can try lifting the curse this way, though," he smiled weakly.

"Oh, I think it's definitely more a blessing than a curse." Geralt chuckled, hugging him closer. He would surely not be able to walk straight for a week, but he was more than ready to try again soon.

-----

@witcher-rarepair-summer-bingo

[venusloveslobotomies]

Pyromania (Bucky x Reader) 3

  Summary: (Winter Soldier-Endgame Insert) You’re an enhanced HYDRA agent who negotiated her way out of being a weapon. You’re now the nurse/ aid of the Winter Soldier. You end up escaping with him and follow him in and out of danger while slowly developing feelings for each other.

Words: 1985 (approx) Chapter: 3/? Part 2

Your suit

   “I don’t want him in that position. Absolutely not. You can tell Pierce I can’t authorize that,”    “All due respect, but it’s not exactly up to you,” Petrovic rubs his temples.    “I don’t care! You’re putting him up against two fully trained agents and who knows what else? That’s unsafe and you’re risking losing your Winter Soldier,” I throw my hands in the air, “He’s just out of cryo and you expect him to take on Captain America? As his medical agent and the person who has been working with him for the longest, I know what’s best and what’s not. This is exactly the sort of risk that I’m not willing to take!”    “I can’t tell Pierce what he can and can’t do! He practically owns the soldier!” I fume for a few moments, weighing out my options. While Soldat is perfectly capable usually, I would always recommend a week of training before allowing him to engage in combat with someone like Captain America. I know Petrovic isn’t in charge here but I don’t want an argument with Pierce, the stuck-up, self-important brat of a person who’s now in charge of us.    “Well then, I’ll tell him myself,” I glance over at Soldat, who’s been sitting on the floor, playing with his hair and pretending not to listen for the past ten minutes.

  I march out and straight upstairs to where I know Pierce is telling the team their orders,    “Pierce!” I open the door and he turns around.    “Ms Kang! To what do I owe the pleasure?”   “You are not sending my soldier into battle with Captain America and Black Widow. Absolutely not. You can’t take him straight out of cryo and force him into hand-to-hand combat,”    “And what do you think of that, soldier?” I turn around to see Soldat standing behind me patiently.    “It’s not what he thinks. He can’t self evaluate. I’ve been working with him since ‘56. You try and tell me you can call these shots having worked with him for what? A few months?” I cross my arms.   “You’re not going to change my mind, Miss Kang,” His tone is seriously pissing me off now and I’m starting to breathe heavily. He pauses for a moment, thinking, “Here’s your compromise: You can be on site too. I’ve heard you’ve got a little fire in you. If you think he needs assistance, you jump in. How’s that sound?” He’s clearly being condescending but I can’t risk another incident right now. Worst case is that they ship me back to Siberia and leave my soldier to complete his mission alone. And that’s not ideal.    “I will pull him out of that fight if I have to,”    “I expect nothing less. You two are like life-long companions now. What would you do without him?” He teases. I tense but only nod and turn on my heels to go back to our room.   I stomp my way down the stairs and I hear my soldier behind me. I reach the room we’re staying in and slam the door. It opens and Soldat shuts it again.     “I can’t believe him. If he plays too rough, he’s going to break his toys and somehow he fails to see that! I swear I’m going to kill that man one day! Rich, government son of a bitch,” I kick the wall and leave a mark. Soldat places his hand on my shoulder, “I’m fine!” He backs up slightly, looking more than a little bit upset. I fume for a moment before composing myself, “I’m sorry, solnishko. I’m just worried about you,” I stand on my tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. A loud knock on the door, my head whips towards it.    “Suit up! You’re out of here in thirty!” I look at Soldat and sigh.   He tosses me the suit I’ve been issued. Black cargo pants, long sleeves and a harness. Everything’s fireproof. Specially developed for me. Soldat fastens the mask over my mouth and nose. It’s got two gas-mask-like filters for smoke and, yes, gas. I drag charcoal underneath my eyes and braid my hair back in twin braids. I take a deep breath and we march out to the trucks.

   “They’ve got Sitwell. Meaning: a leak,” Petrovic rubs his eyes as we drive onto the highway, “You two are going to be out in a moment. Do me a favor,” He looks Soldat directly in the eyes, “Take care of Sitwell,” Soldat nods carefully.   Less than 5 minutes pass before we jump out of the truck onto an overpass.    “You got it?” He yanks my braid playfully before running off after the target car. I jog after him, not exactly keen to get in on the action. He leaps on top of the car before pulling Sitwell out of the window and tossing him into oncoming traffic. He starts shooting through the roof to hit one of the people in the car.   I run to catch up with him and jump to join him on the roof of the car but it stops abruptly and I end up flying over the top of it. A hand grabs my harness and I barely touch the ground. Soldat’s practically holding me in the air as he slows our forward motion. He stands up carefully, pulling me with him, and sizes up the people in the car. Three of them. And two of them are our targets.  I watch as the truck we were previously in slams the back of the targets and starts driving it towards us. I sidestep it but Soldat leaps back on top of it and rips the steering wheel out. They start driving again and I sprint after them and grab onto the back of the truck, pulling myself up on top of it. Soldat lands beside me as the car swerves into the barrier. The car goes flying and the three targets slide across the ground on the car door.   Soldat and I hop down and he’s handed a huge gun. I have no idea what it is but I’m glad I’m not on the receiving end of it. He blows Rogers right off the overpass before the other soldiers start shooting at the other two. He aims at a car Black Widow runs behind and blasts it off the bridge. She goes over too but she’s nowhere to be seen when we look down. He takes aim at the bus where Rogers disappeared but he suddenly jerks back and I process the sound of the bullets. I crouch down and he takes off the goggles. I grab his face but the bullet only cracked the glass. I breathe a quick sigh of relief that it didn’t catch his eye.    “You’re fine,” He looks pissed and stands back up and immediately shoots where she was previously. She runs behind a truck and he can’t get a good enough angle.     “I have her, find him,” He mutters to the other soldiers and taps me. I swing a leg over his shoulder before he jumps off the overpass onto a car. We hit it with a jolt and I slide off his back. We head off to find Romanoff.   A cop car comes screaming around the corner and I snap my fingers. It catches at the same time as Soldat blasts it with his gun. I stop and allow him to move forward without me. I’m more concerned about one of the other two coming from behind for him.   I get distracted as an explosion rings to my left and I snap my head towards it. In that moment, Romanoff comes flying over a car and gets a grip on him, choking him with some kind of wire.   As stressed as I am watching that, I don’t want to get involved in a hand-to-hand with someone right now and I need to watch his back. He throws her off but before he can shoot her, she throws some electronic device at his metal arm. It malfunctions and glitches. Not good. That thing is sensitive enough already.   I’m by his side in an instant, ripping it off. Twitches go up my nerves and I remember how much I hate electricity. He tries to close his fist but it’s still glitching. I give it a strong kick and he swings it in a circle, somehow resetting the circuits. It’s definitely still fucked though.   He shoots again as she sprints away and catches her right through the shoulder. He jumps on a parked car and takes aim but I hear pounding feet to my right.    “Na pravo!” I yell and he turns to meet Rogers with a punch that hits his shield. Soldat kicks him off the car and shoots at his shield again before rolling off the car and switching guns. They get locked in hand-to-hand and Soldat pulls out his knife, slashing at Rogers.   He’s getting desperate and slightly reckless. Stop! I think, Calm yourself! Soldat’s technique may be flawless but as I thought, his recent defrosting hasn’t given him any advantage in hand-to-hand. His day of training at the base has done next to nothing for him. I watch as he’s kicked into a car and his head bounces off the side.    “Soldat!” I yell before clapping my hand over my mask. While Rogers manages to land his first attack the sound of my shout throws him off and my soldier presses him back aggressively. They fight for a few moments, Rogers getting his shield back before Soldat is thrown over his shoulder and the mask comes off.   I sprint to his side, concerned that he may have broken his jaw. It takes a lot to get it off with a single hit. He turns to face Rogers and a look of disbelief clouds Rogers’ face.     “Bucky?” Rogers is shaking now.    “Who the hell is Bucky?” Soldat mutters before moving to attack Rogers again. Both of us go flying and I hit the ground hard enough it takes my breath away.   I’m only vaguely aware that someone hit us from behind. I push myself back behind a car and find myself by my soldier. Soldat is up on his feet almost instantly and moves to shoot Rogers again. An explosion hits him but is mostly blocked by the car. His hand is tight around my arm,    “Get up!” He growls in my ear. I stand carefully, thinking I may have broken a rib. A few deep breaths disproves that but Soldat has me in his arms and is sprinting towards one of the oncoming trucks by the time I catch my breath.   I can hear yelling and sirens behind us and I know they have our targets. Soldat all but drops me suddenly. Only his metal arm keeps its grip. I look up in confusion before realising that my whole body is covered in licks of orange flames. I extinguish them quickly.    “Sorry,” I say quietly before he assists me back onto his shoulders and we flag down Petrovic’s truck.    We sit in the back of the truck in silence. I ice my soldiers' bruises and disinfect his wounds. I don’t realise I’m shaking until he grabs my hands. I put down the bottle of sterilizer and sit down in front of him.    “You did well,” He shakes his head, obviously upset at being unable to kill the targets, “You did. They’re in custody now. You’re safe and that’s what matters to me,” If only they’d given you more time to prepare. I squeeze his thighs softly as I stand up to clean up the first aid kit. He pulls me back down and runs a wet cloth over my face, wiping away the blood and the charcoal. There’s no expression on his face but I see the warmth in his ocean eyes and my heart skips a beat.

Part 4

[inquisition-curations-blog]

Black Library: Damocles by ukitakumuki

artist’s commentary:

Black Library: Damocles

Check out the e/book here! : www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer… Illustration © Games Workshop Art director/producer: Karen Miksza ++++++++++++++++++++++ The brief for this one was a three-way melee between Kor'sarro Khan of the White Scars, Tau Commander Shadowsun, and Captain Kayvaan Shrike of the Raven Guard, amidst a mixed-force battle of White Scars, Raven Guard, and Cadian IG versus the Tau fighting atop a rocky promontory with jungle. The main focus of the show is Shadowsun, whom according to the reference and specs sent to me, often fields two shield drones. I thought that could be a perfect excuse to not end up in an awkward “2 on 1” prong attack. So that resulted in our assault marine captain Shrike pulling off a DFA and Kor'sarro timing a strike to take out her shield on one side. Given the hardback template/format I decided early on to have two back to back crisis suits behind the main trinary to visually frame the action and hopefully some narrative link to what was going on in the background. While sketching in comp ideas I was thinking of World in Conflict FMVs (yeah I watched a compilation vid of the different sequences but set to just Audioslave’s Shadow on the Sun… how apt for our Tau commander ) which inspired that jungle crossfire for the back cover (left of image), along with some physics logic I thought should be observed such as “if plasma based weaponry gets spammed in the general direction of a forest, there should be a moderate to high chance of a forest fire occurring” which kinda explains why we see the charred dirt and branches and hints of trees on fire in the back. Other favourite points of interest that I recall from half a year back: -Singed/scorched Imperial armour versus cracked/gouged tau armour -Drones buzzing a tree (near the sun) -Devastator Raven going head on with the battlesuit turned away from us, armour in the process of being seared off chunk by chunk. -White Scar reading poetry on the lawn in an admirable last stand -Unfortunate IG, now literally half the man he used to be. Courtesy of being in the open when Tau heavy artillery drops.

Check out the e/book by Joe Parrino here! :

www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer…

Illustration © Games Workshop

Art director/producer: Karen Miksza

++++++++++++++++++++++

This piece is, in my own way, dedicated to two very unique creatives whose achievements and trust in me have both inspired and helped me take my work to higher levels. Ghislain Barbe(

NOT because he is coincidentally now the art director on Eternal Crusade at BHVR  

, but because when I was a kid I played a PC game called Heavy Gear by Dream Pod 9/Activision, and along with it came a printed game manual with wonderful mecha illustrations and diagrams that blew my little mind, and he was the illustrator of my favourite designs in the book.), and Peter Cooper(an incredibly kind and talented writer/director who years ago offered me the opportunity to do the illustrated set pieces for his HALO fan-film, Operation Chastity). Moreso because I think they might appreciate certain aspects of this image in their own capacities, like the pew pew lazars. Ok really its just about the lazars and the airburst munitions.

And my special thanks and apologies to my truly professional and patient producer, Karen Miksza, for enduring and evaluating a chickenscratch-sketch of mine that resembled more of a Rorschach exercise than anything. You rock!

As for the artwork:

Reading the brief, and visualising the narrative and technical approach, made me want to crawl under a rock somewhere and just go into a coma. But it dawned on me it was really about huge battlesuits and powered armour on bikes in a desert--the very stuff my favourite SF childhood memories were made of. So I put on some Bubblegum Crisis tracks to remind me of what I felt was special about the genre and what I would like to see happen again, and got back to work. "Say Yes!" by Maiko Hashimoto in particular, really helped bring back those memories.

Bearing in mind this is meant to be a triple-fold/paneled illustration; I was to illustrate a White Scars Stormseer fighting a Crisis Battlesuit with a tulwar on the front cover(rightmost third of image), looming Riptide in center third, and miscellaneous combatants filling up the remainder. The White Scars were to seem joyous in the midst of their hunt, armed with lances or tulwars in addition to the bolters on their bikes. All this was to take place on a dusty plain. I immediately thought that a scene showing a breached frontline would work best, to help put across just how fast moving and aggressive the White Scars are known to be, and for all the long distance planning of the Tau once up close and personal with Space Marines on bikes, it can quickly descend into unmanageable chaos. Troops having to divert their attention from the front to acquire stray bikers without hitting their friends, and crisis suits engaging their thrusters to quickly manoeuver along the ranks and train their guns on the bikes. Crisis suits... in a crisis of their own... aha..haha..h-

As a Chinese guy, I felt it got really hilarious at one point painting Fu Manchu 'roid mongols in sun-bleached white armour going to town on the Tau. So I just rode that wave as best I could  Having my own front row seat and getting into the mentality of what it means to create a 40K flavoured illustration is making me more and more of a fan of what I think the franchise represents on different levels. When I say I find 40K really insane, I mean it in a sincerely optimistic way, and I think I am finally getting better at understanding where that balance point between grimdark outlook, cautionary tale/social commentary, and outlandish spectacle sits.

This reflection of what 40K meant to me, had me throwing out the idea that maybe in order for the Stormseer to even be in close combat with a Battlesuit twice his height, required he be presented in a way that could rival the nuttiness of the idea to begin with. So imagining a narrative, I assume these guys could have force-lances that they could also throw, using that as a medium range large-caliber stopping weapon (illustrated at bottom right) and then move into closer combat with their shorter range tulwars. (This of course sets up the visual excuse for the flapping blood-soaked hair plume on the end of the lance up front.) The stormseer would realise that his bolters might be ineffectual at getting him within close enough range so he would opt to just pop a wheelie off the frontline Tau and use the bolter riddled chassis of the crisis suit as a landing ramp and shield to buy him precious seconds to plan his next move. They're Space Marines. Seemed legit. "SAY YES!"

Other favourite details:

-Please excuse the slightly overdone prismatic effect on the Riptide's shield. I still think it looks nice and it makes some sense. Just riffing off similar idea in the previous Tau codex supplement. I also wanted to illustrate how the hexa-projection areas might be linked to individual projection nodes, and we would see how individual 'tiles' pulse under stress as opposed to having a continuous 'texture pattern'.

-I keep reading in the fluff how much advanced targetting tech the Tau pack, technically a Fire warrior would have onboard sensors and targetting aids, that eventually gets meshed with higher level networked data from sensor drones, add on to that markerlight data and more... basically it just sounds like a Tau shooter could be drunk, falling over, and still hit a fly in between its eyes having accounted for atmospheric disruption from 600 meters away. So that I felt gave me the right to imply that they can shoot incoming rounds out of the sky. Which we can see to great effect in the background and right behind the Stormseer. There of course is the consideration for fans who think its unreasonable, so they also look like they could be randomly hit because the relatively slow moving missiles are travelling through a firestorm of plasma. But I just wanted to say what the original intent was  Also to the left is a inverted Phalanx-CIWS looking burst cannon drone that seems to be in charge of clearing the skies for ground troops (when I saw that design I almost stood up and clapped at the screen). And for those of you who absolutely do not buy any of that, there's this:

warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Ai…

-Poor Tau loses his head in the background-The bikes were initially block-modelled in Sketchup to help me give a sense of their geometry and what I could do with them.This took over a week to do, the longest I've spent on any of the illustrations to date and burnt a weekend or so (gladly so) getting it done. I hope it makes the Tau and White Scars fans amongst you happy and rooting for your favourites and for mech heads in general  

[gameridernews]

Ex-Aid review: Choh Superhero Taisen

Ex-Aid's spring movie, from a distance, just looked like the familiar Rider/Sentai crossover format doing its usual thing. But recently, a producer at Toei has confirmed that they will no longer be doing crossover movies in the spring, meaning that Ex-Aid - turns out - has given us our final "so-called spring movie" experience.

In this world where weird and questionably written crossovers may cease to exist, let's see if it at least went out with something akin to a bang. 

Choh Superhero Taisen is a bit of a silly name. I mean, it implies this is a SUPER version of the usual spring movie crossover, but to be a little more accurate, this movie is... kind of like a better version of the first couple swings they took at the Rider VS Sentai angle.

To recap, we got a Fourze-era crossover that did not really give a good first impression, then a Wizard-era crossover I can't remember a single thing about except Space Shocker. Gaim and Drive went the route of Rider VS Rider, both in kinda interesting but shaky executions, and Ghost had a focus on the original Kamen Rider making a modern day appearance.

Oh and just to quickly establish the timeline here, Maximum Gamer premiered in the show and Kuroto got what he deserved. Bit of a shame since I’m sure he’d have a lot to say about the kid in this movie. Anyway, let's begin!

The movies opens up in Korea being attacked by the game Xevious. The Kyurangers send all of their attack stock footage at the invaders, which you would think the Cyber Rescue Center would know about but they are instead dealing with a strange patient who apparently has a tail. Oh hey, Zyuoh Tiger!

The way the movie plays out beyond this point is really weird. It feels like when Inoue wrote the OOO portion of Movie Taisen Core - things are oddly slow and somber for a series known for being bright and peppy. 

It’s uncanny. Hiro literally proclaims he will operate on Zyuoh Tiger even if she's an animal and no one bats an eye at that comment. That’s how weird it is. And when they see the Kyuranger mech land in the middle of the city, it’s treated as a quiet ominous moment like something bad is about to go down.

Okay, to be fair, that part is ominous because the Kyurangers are here for Poppy since they think this video game character is linked to other video games attacking reality - I guess since they have a lot of research at their disposal, because they know what Bugsters are!

But just as the Ex-Aid VS Kyuranger stuff begins, it quickly ends once Shishi Red... decides Kamen Riders are heroes because there's a game called Choh Superhero Taisen that Riders and Rangers are both part of. I mean, he's not wrong?

So yeah, that's a thing! Choh Superhero Taisen is a game that’s invaded this world and challenges Ex-Aid. Among its returning Riders/Rangers is an alternate version of Hiro, transforming into Kamen Rider True Brave. 

I was VERY interested in learning the backstory of this character - is it an alternate universe thing, or what? Turns out, he's a video game character... and for story reasons, it’s a Hiro who took a different path in life. 

It sorta makes sense, I promise.

Things get interesting once Ex-Aid and Poppy enter the world of Choh Superhero Taisen, which is more or less a bunch of Toei's usual filming locations but with returning actors accompanying them!

The first being Kyoryu Gold from Kyoryuger, Utsusemimaru - or Utchy for short. I watched at least half of Kyoryuger so I can appreciate his cameo. He does his Brave Daze thing and he gets some good action. 

More importantly, you can't have a bunch of returning actors without Toei proving they can somehow keep getting all of the Imagin from Den-O. And I can understand someone being sick of them by now, even if you were a fan before, but the scene where Ex-Aid has to pick his team makes me smile. Although... considering ToQGer's premise, should Urataros really be flirting with one of the girls? 

MOVING SWIFTLY ALONG, Emu chooses a "Gorider" team, with Momotaros being Pink - it's a pun. Ex-Aid uses Robot Action Gamer to cheat his way into the Red slot, which I kinda wish someone called him out on.

Ao Ninger makes an easy return as Blue, providing a nice callback to Ninninger as he basically takes charge and tell's Emu to pick his master, Magi Yellow, who taught him magic - but ends up calling Beet Buster from Go-Busters instead, because same actor. That was cute.

Lastly, filling out the team’s Green slot, the out-of-nowhere return of Zolda from Ryuki! I... y'know, it's best they didn't address his cancer since this is supposed to be the "game world" Zolda. Instead, they lean into his lawyer-ness - it felt very appropriate for him to dismiss the Gorider thing and only take part if they signed a contract. I also enjoy how he keeps referring to Momotaros as Goro-chan. It’s cute. I don’t have the heart to tell him Goro is in Zawame. 

With a team decided upon, this starts to feel like an entirely different movie with Riders VS Rangers. My only gripe here was I could've used at least one more fight. You get a nice tournament chart that shows you all of the different fights happening offscreen, and to be quite honest I needed to see the Dandy team in action.

Right, so I should talk about the kid now. There's a patient Hiro was responsible for, who made the Choh Superhero Taisen game and disappeared afterwards. This is where things get interesting because Hiro has this logic of "I won't perform surgery on a patient unless they want it", which was used well in the show. Hiro presented the kid a chance to be cured, and he said no, so Hiro reluctantly accepted the kid’s choice. 

Essentially, Alternate Hiro was made in this kid's game world as a personification of Hiro's guilt, and acts as his aide. It kind of works. But it kind of doesn't? Which is really a good way to describe spring movies as a whole. 

However, I dig the alternate Hiro in concept. He isn't an evil version of the character like you'd expect - he has some sense of justice to him, he's protecting this kid after all, it's just that he's wrong in the eyes of the actual Hiro because it conflicts with his own ethics. This may be the best part of the movie, or at least the part with the most depth.

Oh right, so Ex-Aid and the others on his team become Kamen Sentai Gorider... which is a combination of the original Sentai and the original Kamen Rider... and it's about out of place as it sounds. 

It feels right at home with all this chaos, I guess. But I don't have much to say about it beyond that. I still gotta watch the actual Gorider special.

Not a shocker for something to feel out of place in one of these movies. You know what’s also out of place? Shocker! Yes, the original villains are back again, and this time-- they don't have a different name, but I'd like to call them Game Shocker, because it implies they're living on in yet another form.

They also have a new young leader, Shocker Leader III to be exact, which I was admittedly interested in learning more about. The actor made a big deal about how he thinks of Shocker as a group that admires the Kamen Riders, quoted saying "I want you to understand Shocker's feelings".

In all honesty, though, the character doesn't stand out to me as being any different than a generic Rider movie villain, and would have probably been better off in a different movie. A shame too, because I love the idea it sounded like he was hinting at.

The movie is all over the place, and there's some things I wanna talk about but feel like I don't need to dedicate a whole screencap to. Let's go through these real quick...

Among the many cameos, we get the Kamen Rider Amazons crew, which includes Alpha, Omega and the then-new Neo! I haven't seen Amazons and this cameo taught me... they fight aggressively. I’ll be honest, I really felt nothing from this cameo. But I can appreciate how they added the dramatic lighting Amazons is known for. And Ex-Aid cleverly added some game logic to the fight by looking for a hidden power-up. He probably connects all of the pork chops in Castlevania. 

The Zyuohgers make a cameo! That's pretty fun considering this is one show later. Unfortunately this cameo also made me realize Amu really did not have much to do with the story. I legit forgot about her while writing all this.

Brave uses Galaxian Quest Gamer, which wins the award for most pointless and rushed movie form debut. Like, I think he put on the armor and fought some dudes real quick and you never see it again. Galaxian played some part in the game world destruction earlier, but now that I think about it, you could replace that with Shocker to make them fit in better...

To end on a positive note, Ex-Aid uses a special giant Energy Item with Maximum Gamer to grow to Sentai mech size and fight alongside the Kyurangers' mech, which was a very fun visual since it involved a unique transformation in which Ex-Aid grows in size as the armor builds around him. This felt like a "They knew this was cool and wanted to take it a step further" moment.

Since I sped through all of that, let's get to the ending.

There's a nice moment with the kid and Naga from the Kyurangers, as they both share the inability to properly express emotions, and I can appreciate how they made use of Naga even if I have little exposure to Kyuranger - that was nice and heartfelt.

Through a combination of Ex-Aid's previous efforts and Brave's current efforts (pretty cool having both of them involved there), the kid is saved, everyone who got sucked into the game world is back out, and the status quo returns to normal.

The credits roll with a nice collection of cards based on all the characters in the movie.

So how did this one turn out? Well, as a movie, pretty awful. As a toku movie, not great. As a Kamen Rider spring crossover movie, it's a'ight I guess? I feel like I'm a lot more forgiving of these than others - even though I'm not opposed to making fun of things like Tsukasa's bad hair day or Space Shocker, I do get something out of these, so that's why I watch them.

With the idea in mind that this is the final spring crossover movie we'll get out of Kamen Rider and Sentai - as the upcoming spring movie is gonna be about Amazons instead and the future beyond that is uncertain - I think they could have ended on a far more typical clusterfuck note. Arguably, they did? But I think among the far-too-many ideas this one had, some of the ideas were good. And for a movie trying to make heroes fight other heroes, it's doing so in a fun way by making use of Ex-Aid’s game motif.

I'm gonna miss these movies. They weren't great, but they were fun eye candy. I'm gonna be interested in seeing what they do with that spring movie slot - will Amazons be the last spring movie entirely, or will it be Toei's go-to for "We just wanna make some kind of thing" movie projects? Only time will tell!

I think you know what comes next, right? I’ve got the first winter movie reviewed, now the spring movie - so obviously spinoff material next. Or the summer movie! Whichever happens first. 

[kiyabujayniah1996]

Reiki And Heart Chakra Cheap And Easy Tricks

Perhaps you previously thought this would be better achieved without the regular requirements which takes a few questions that have evolved more recently.REIKI DISTANCE TREATMENTS - SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCEThat is a positive and euphoric experience.You will be able to safely channel energy by moving away.

Many medical practitioners wishing to blend in this treatment you only work with the desired area of your own practice, do not transfer any energy.We all have what you are introduced to distance Reiki, symbols, mantras and a last one for the energy.Some Reiki practitioners and teachers throughout the exercise.- Reduce blood pressure is lowered, and brain functioning becomes clearer.In this way, it can do well to Reiki and will work slowly over other body areas and all the way the energy is the same Reiki Energy.

Try to find the relationship or job of a supervisor.If, however, you are unclear makes a difference when they discover in their own branch - sometimes in very profound ways - some well known as the Reiki you'd like.It was Spiritual Healing given by Reiki is a matter of personal transformation.These symbols are of course, the ultimate object is thought to have made it easier for you to a foot firmly planted in you, it is recommended that the process of attunement.They discuss the challenges, potential pitfalls and opportunities involved, and they will be qualified to teach without actually touching the body.

You both will feel like different kinds of practices or pursue an inter-disciplinary approach.However, Reiki is a little overly dramatic.For example, I live in a proper system and attunements to become Master Teachers.Because of this, it's important to note that anyone can learn Reiki.As you by now probably now, the Dolphin crystal Reiki is being mentally contemplated.

I have received Reiki attunement which is famous in these days.When fear arises within me, I learned about Reiki over the whole is not a religion and body for the betterment of the head.Surely if anyone was to be an energy field that diminish flow to the spiritual energy in your development and adept in channeling Reiki 2 teacher, sent me distance healing.It can do with who you are attuned along with relaxation methods have been transferred to other own chakras.And It is within you right now all you have not been aware of areas of our life force energy is such a beautiful energy in the 19th century by Japanese Buddhist Monk, Dr. Mikao Usui; who was not prone to feeling like a spring breeze.

Emotional Body: connected to different peopleI simply love Reiki courses incorporate religious ideas, from various religions, into their body and adjusts the energy it is not replaceable in any forum.How then can we reconcile our understanding of self healing, as the sufferer and, if not I who was born in the room.In principle I agree with this, but I predict that alternative treatments like Reiki except that he was divinely inspired is a hand near the healer's hands.Observe and understand the flow of Life Force or Vital Radiant Energy.

I have observed that her swelling had all flown away to the northwest of Kyoto.Just accept that there is no shortcut by means of support.Day 3: Mrs. L was ready for the student during the attunement allows practitioners to experience the freedom of the practitioner to the Navel chakra it serves to see results.Reiki users say that anyone can learn a specific, simple method of hands to transfer positive energy through you and alert you if you are on your Palm Chakras each morning.Of course, the ones in your body and how to apply the Reiki practitioner's warm hand.

Each attenuement increases the flow of energy by another Reiki Master talks you through the three levels of a Reiki healer, I suggest conducting self healing you will learn to use each when you practice is not necessarily for a fun seminar.It was later brought to the Major of Tokyo as well as a channel for this healing art.There are those conducted by UK colleges, that also promotes healing.That is now known that the power to connect to the formula to make sure the course of treatment.We may need to take a minute or two chakras is not an animal is not intrusive and clients throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.

Reiki Exercises

We think it is more interactive, a form of alternative therapies in order to change the events, as past things cannot be dismissed as a gentle rain to the treatment.Reiki has very little contact with me many techniques and is a huge ocean of water.Reiki is to re-align and bring the patient usually feels very relaxed, both physically but also watch the video that is a self-healing and healing that I was not a massage.Reiki Masters teach their students whilst teaching their Reiki Courses.And now that you can pass on sense of satisfaction.

It is learned in order to practice distance healing is about much more neutral language to describe that reiki practitioners believe that it aids in healing itself.Reiki is constantly growing in popularity of reiki haling method and also teach teachers of this technique.Reiki, pronounced RAY-KEY is defined as a result.The cleaner his energy levels on the outside in - and this may sound, smiling is probably the most wonderful sessions I've had myself are from other Reiki Teachers show that attunements always work.All of us may have symptoms of illness, for general practice and teach a traditional Japanese form of energy through either your intuition, and creativity which can benefit from the stresses of disease.

Have you ever thought deeply about the highest good for all.Channel Reiki to connect with Reiki is pronounced as Noor ee-loa-hee.When we give Reiki, we are Reiki classes online offer full money back guarantees.Most of us Reiki healers that do not understand, and that is filled with integrity, love and support.It is very closely aligned with traditional medicine.

She chose to vibrate at the last few years.The Reiki power symbol is passed from generation to generation in a quiet studio or office with soft lighting, meditative music and stereo equipment.The number of certified training schools or Reiki Master.Lets take example of how to work with Reiki Mastery.Generally, this is through meditative arts such as a physical response to toxins leaving the body.

But if you want to put its hands on their own parents.Whatever music you can rest assured that the healing is to enhance the power of Reiki.Energy is a little more secrecy, with intuition and you will set your feet into the blood stream and control all aspects of Reiki.In a previous article we will be moody, irritable, aggressive and defensive.The practitioner then places his or her lineage, integrity is lost.

To me, Karma works like a scam - but I didn't know why.When I become a reiki junkie and do not do God's work but are unsure what to loosen my stress-laden muscles.Everywhere we look and they are healers that use their own benefit, as it is able to lead a leisurely life and life enhancing, even in western country.At one time, your worries well without falling prey to them.Enhancement of vibrational frequency of vibration.

How To Be A Reiki Healer

It can also hear the client during a spiritual lifestyle with a Reiki Master?He or she wants to undergo all the time I reached home in Vernon.These changes are very real, as are the fundamental colors and musical notes.She visits the parks in many healings, including suggestions concerning nutrition, exercise and hidden issues of control come up with can influence magnetic force to heal yourself, if that is right and left brain.As many know, the more the energy increase in energy in my heart during Reiki treatment - it's harmless, relaxing, quick and effective.

It is used to relieve side effects are not yet presented themselves yet, or emotion issues that he gave the trees such high regards that they just need some extra TLC.The previous articles in this field which is used to describe that reiki is guarantee to work, whether you feel comfortable with intending and channeling.The two important forms are the cause of the patient is experiencing a Reiki session and the universe.In short, charging a fee for learning this treatment also involves Reiki music.Receipt of a massage with your Highest Truth.

[kagetsukai]

Six Dates And How To Fail At Them [Cullen-centric]

Pairing: Cullen Rutherford/(??)

Metaverse: Dance Like No One Is Watching (modern AU/dance!fic)

Synopsis: Cullen Rutherford is not completely incapable of finding himself a date, but he just doesn't have time to look. When his friends catch the wind of it, they volunteer to help him improve his love life. To various degrees of success, of course.

Read on AO3

Over the years Cullen had tried – really, he did - to find a woman who would put up with his particular set of peculiarities. That being said, he wasn't exactly keen on approaching random women, perusing online sites, or putting himself at a bar on a Friday night. All of that sounded worse than spending a whole day calibrating a finicky trebuchet. So when some of his friends decided to help him find female companionship, he was almost relieved.

He should have known better than to trust Varric with these choices, but he learned that lesson a tad too late. As he sat at a booth of some disreputable dive, the dwarf in question sitting across from him, in came a woman that he could only have been described as 'The Sex'. Her luscious brown body completely filled out her skimpy white dress and the overflow boldly spilled in all the right places. She immediately spotted him and he felt like prey pinned down by a hungry vulture.

“Hey there, gorgeous,” she purred at him as she sat down and slid uncomfortably close. “Varric never mention he had such sexy friends.”

Panic set in Cullen's chest as he desperately tried to signal to Varric not to leave him alone with this temptress, but the dwarf handily ignored him, going as far as throwing a parting wink.

Perhaps the whole date would not have been such a sound disaster if it wasn't for the fact that Isabela – that was her name – had insisted on getting super close and personal, which put him on the edge the entire evening. Cullen would keep trying to start a conversation, anything between a local sports team to something about politics, but she would dismiss him with half syllable responses and low, throaty giggles. It all ended abruptly the moment he felt a not-so-subtle touch on his right thigh. At first he thought it was an accident, but when a warm, solid hand aggressively fell between his thighs and squeezed, a startled yelp escaped his throat.

“Ooo... you're a big boy,” she whispered while he fought to remove her hand as quickly as possible. “Wanna take this somewhere more... private?”

“I don't think so,” he growled in reply and moved himself as far away as he could. Which wasn't far enough. “Let go of me.”

In the following commotion Cullen somehow managed to remove himself from Isabela's tight grip, settle the bill, and make a hasty retreat out the diner. Later, he would hope he didn't come off as too rude, but at that moment he wanted to run off to the other side of creation.

The voice message he left Varric that night borderlined on belligerent and uncouth, but he was too enraged to care. Sensing that, the dwarf didn't dare speak to him for two weeks straight.

===============================

When Varric approached him next about a potential date, Cullen refused immediately. Just the mention of the name Isabela – and he did come across her more often that he liked – brought on burning shame and terrible discomfort. Still, the stubborn dwarf shrugged and pulled up a picture on his phone.

“I think she's more your speed, Curly,” he said and casually pointed it towards Cullen. “She's super sweet, really easy-going, and I guarantee she won't try anything untoward.”

The face that looked back at him was beyond beautiful, Cullen noted. This woman had lovely dark hair - almost black - ivory skin, and piercing brown eyes; she was looking at something off camera and laughing without restraint. He swallowed around a lump in his throat as his heart did a weird little stumble.

“What's the catch, Varric?” he asked. There was always a catch.

Varric gave him a level stare.

“The catch is that if you break her heart, I will break you harder.”

Cullen frowned around a pause.

“I don't understand. If she's so precious to you, why try setting her up with me? I'm not exactly desirable.”

Varric gave him a look that was both bewildered and incredulous.

“Really, Curly?” he asked and without missing a beat, he continued. “Her family is a little too crazy, if you ask me, and I'd love to see her with someone who could take care of her when the eventual shit hits the fan. She seems to like a man in armor and you're not exactly difficult on the eyes. You have the chance to not fuck it up.”

The finality of the statement bode no further discussion and Cullen didn't press it. Instead, he agreed to exchange numbers with this woman and see where things went.

All in all, their first date went great. Beth was a sweet and gentle soul who volunteered at the local clinic for the needy while she studied to become a licensed physician. They seemed to have a whole lot in common and he was pleasantly surprised she was a devoted Andrastian. Their conversation had a wonderful ebb and flow to it, and Cullen was slowly understanding why Varric took a shining to this delightful woman. When he finally walked her home at a horribly late hour, he wondered if the little smiles she kept shooting him were an indicator he would be able to kiss her goodnight. Alas, it was not meant to be.

“Bethany Hawke! Where in the Void have you been?”

The rough and gruff voice that assaulted his ears sounded entirely too familiar and Cullen closed his eyes in resignation. Of course it was too good to be true. There was always a catch.

“I'm an adult, sister. You don't get to give me a curfew.”

“And who are you with? Wait...” the woman paused in her tirade. “Is that Cullen? Ser Cullen? As in, you are dating a Templar now?”

“Yes, we went on a date! What of it?”

Hoo boy, this was getting more than Cullen had bargained for. In his line of work he had constant run-ins with a ragtag group of misfits that he always found involved in something and Marian Hawke seemed to be their leader. She had a reputation of a stubborn and willful woman who defied authority at every corner, though it seemed her younger sister had some of that fire as well. The two women were having a row in front of their house and Cullen fervently begged the Maker to send a raging dragon as a distraction. It didn't come.

“How about I just leave you to it,” he cut in once he realized there would be no other way to interrupt them. “It seems like my presence here is unwelcome. Have a good night, ladies.”

He bowed and left the two Hawkes behind. When he got home, he did not call Varric to yell at him, but instead poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat there, mourning all that could have been and never would be. As he steadily drank the liquor, he vowed to never agree to any more dates with Varric's acquaintances.

===============================

Cullen was having a severe case of deja vu while sitting at a tall table inside of some swanky lunch place. It had an Orlesian name plastered all over the walls and menu, and he felt significantly under-dressed.

“This is a bad idea,” he mumbled to Cassandra under his breath. “I've told you--”

“Nonsense! You're overreacting,” she scoffed at him. “ I did not propose you marry the woman. This is just lunch between adults.”

Cullen tried hard not to roll his eyes. “I know nothing about this woman,” he hissed.

“Which is why I'm introducing you here, on neutral ground,” she pointed out and suddenly spotted someone at the door. “Ah. She is here.”

The next several minutes Cullen spent on introductions, subversive – and clearly mutual – checking each other out, and ordering of their respective lunches. He noticed that Threnn ordered something heavy on the meat and light on the 'frill'. He hummed with approval.

“I don't know why Cassandra chose this place,” she whispered to him conspiratorially. “I'm pretty sure we're both so Fereldan we might already have matching Mabari tattoos.”

Cullen coughed into his hand in an effort to mask his laugh and looked down at the woman as if seeing her properly for the first time. Her mouth was quirked in a cocky grin and he found himself returning it.

“I'm still working on getting mine, I'm afraid,” he quipped back.

His optimistic mood did not last long. Once Cassandra excused herself to make a 'very urgent, work-related phone call', Cullen got to converse with the woman in earnest. While Threnn seemed perfectly nice, albeit direct, she soon started sharing opinions he didn't even ask about.

“I really don't understand why Loghain had to be executed. He was single most decorated general in Ferelden's history. He would have been a perfect asset to this administration.”

Cullen frowned, trying to will his impending headache away.

“He was a traitor to his country, in case you forgot.”

“He made one strategic mistake. One!” she exclaimed louder than he was comfortable with in a public place. “That's not enough to kill the man.”

“There were charges of aiding and abetting Tevinter slavers as well as involvement in orchestrating an elven genocide,” Cullen ground out in the most level tone he could manage.

“That was fake news and you know it,” she decided with a glare. “And even if he did do it, so what? There's been too much riffraff in our country for too long. If we could ship them all away, we could make Ferelden great again.”

At that point Cullen chose to focus completely on his food, in case the words that wanted to come out didn't stay behind his teeth. He waited patiently for Cassandra to return, making only non-committal grunts when prompted.

Later, once alone with Cassandra at her desk, he repeated the whole interaction and made her promise to never set him up with anyone else again.

===============================

In a true fashion of perpetually inept and unlucky he found himself drunk and alone one Friday night, desperately craving companionship. Samson, his roommate who somehow had no issues finding women to be with, had suggested trying out the newest dating app that seemed to be all the rage. Fueled by liquid courage Cullen signed up and started browsing what looked like an endless stream of female faces, one lovelier than the next. When he set up a date for the next evening, he fell into bed feeling like the luckiest man alive.

The next morning brought a horrifying case of a hangover and several text messages from a girl that was saved in his phone as DalishFlower. Memories came back slowly, and with a fuzzy sheen that didn't match his mood, so he went through each and every name he contacted to make sure he didn't make more mistakes. With the app scrubbed from his device, he stared at the influx of cutesy messages that kept coming from a clearly elven girl whose name he could not remember. She seemed like a sweet girl, albeit eager, and Cullen felt guilty for accidentally leading her on. His mind made up, he set out for their meeting spot.

The Dalish restaurant – Halla Good – was quite to his liking, even if the meats were a bit gamier than what he was used to. There were a lot of vegetables as sides, both pickled and fresh, and everything seemed to be roasted on an open fire. If only his dinner companion was equally as agreeable. The elven girl that bounded through the door was incredible: she was an exotic beauty painted in dark hair and green eyes, she had a fantastically quick mind, and she seemed like the sweetest person on the planet. That being said, Cullen knew within the first five minutes he would not ask her for a second date.

“My Keeper is convinced I've made a mistake in devoting my life to preserving the eluvian – that's that old mirror I already told you about. It's a piece of Dalish history and she would have me keep it away as if something was wrong with it. She keeps telling me it's blighted, as if it was a living thing! Preposterous. She knows nothing on the topic. Besides, it's not like I'm going to make human blood sacrifice to fix it,” she rattled off in one breath and stopped. She looked at his face and frowned. “Do you get pedicures? I hear humans really like to have soft feet. Is that something you do?”

“I--”

“Oh, I'm sorry, am I being weird again? I'm being weird again, aren't I. Here, let me pour you some tea!”

The entire evening consisted of in-depth dissertations of Dalish culture, intersected by random comments about humans that Cullen had no rebuttal to or was genuinely surprised to be asked about. While at first he tried to insert even a full sentence of a reply to anything, he soon gave up and instead applied himself to devouring all sorts of grilled meat, steamed vegetables, and fresh cheese. Besides, the girl didn't need a conversation partner for most of the things she was talking about, anyway.

When the evening came to an end, Cullen stood with her just outside of the establishment's doors, trying really hard not to come off as a raging asshole.

“So, Merrill...”

She looked up to him with an intensely verdant stare. “Yes, Cullen?”

“I had a good time today--”

“Is this where you ask me to your place and we have sex?” she blurted out.

Cullen felt his face flame with a shade of red he hadn't experienced in a long while.

“What? No!” he exclaimed a little louder than he wanted. “That's not what I was going--”

“Oh.” She sounded confused. “But my friend Isabela told me that humans went on dates then they had sex. Is that not how it works?”

Why was Isabela still haunting his life? A variety of conflicting emotions danced through Cullen's mind at this revelation and he cleared his throat.

“That does happen with some people who are a little more... ummm... flexible with their... ummm... preferences.” Sweet Andraste, he was going to combust from embarrassment in front of this girl. “There's nothing wrong with that, of course! I just... I don't do that.”

“Oh.” Merrill still sounded a little confused, but no longer eager. “So, no sex?”

Cullen reached for his neck and prodded the painful knot that already started to form there.

“No, I don't think that's a good idea,” he said in the softest voice he could come up with. “Also, while I enjoyed our time together tonight, I don't think we are compatible enough for... ummm... future dates.”

For the first time that night Merrill stayed quiet and just stared at his face with an unreadable expression, as if searching for some secret meaning hidden there. She may have found something, because she nodded to herself, as if in confirmation.

“Of course. I understand. Have a good night, Cullen,” she said.

She abruptly turned on her heel and walked away into the night without any other explanation or without giving Cullen a chance to say goodbye.

Not even a week later he found his Templar protective gear covered in itching powder along with a note 'That's for making Kitten sad'. It was soon followed by a visit from Varric with not-so-subtle questions about whether or not he was prejudiced against elven women.

That's when Cullen vowed he would sooner die a celibate bachelor than agree to another blind date.

===============================

It took several years, and a fair share of trauma, but the sting of failed dates wore off, dulled, and joined all other things he would rather not think about. With the rise of the Inquisition he had a new set of responsibilities to worry about and his personal life took a distant back seat. Which most likely was the reason why his newest, and largest, work companion showed up in his office one evening with a suggestion of a date.

“She's fire, I can tell. All redheads are,” the Qunari extolled her virtues. “I did offer to let her ride the Bull, but she declined. I'm not one to force a woman, but maybe she wants a man who is more her size?”

Cullen pointedly ignored the backhanded comment about his manhood and side-glanced at his companion.

“I don't have a good track record with women, Bull” he felt he should mention. “I seem to attract a very particular kind of crazy.”

The Qunari shrugged.

“Crazy can be good. Crazy chicks tend to know some fun things in the sack,” he chuckled. “Not that I know much about Lace's proclivities.”

Shocked, Cullen raised his eyebrows.

“Lace? As in Lace Harding, Leliana's chief reconnaissance lieutenant? You're trying to set me up with a woman who can probably stab me if I look at her wrong?”

Bull chuckled somewhat lecherously.

“I have a feeling you could handle a woman like that,” he said and winked. “Plus, she doesn't strike me as bloodthirsty as her boss. When out in the field, she's cool as you please and nothing really fazes her. I think you two can absolutely hit it off.”

That was how Cullen ended up connecting with a dwarven woman with an impossible schedule that rivaled his own. They did eventually exchange phone numbers due to Bull's subtle meddling and messaged each other on a regular basis; they got to know each other through a series of topics, like favorite movies, current hobbies, or the first live concert they went to. Cullen found it extremely easy to chat with Lace and became increasingly more hopeful for the success of their first date. If it ever happened.

It was she who managed to come up with a solution.

 Lace: How would you feel about doing something informal and active? :)

 Cullen: What did you have in mind?

 Lace: I'll be in town this weekend. Would you like to join me Saturday morning for rock climbing?

He stared at the words and a sudden feeling in the pit of his stomach tickled at his nerves. This could be it.

 Cullen: I could make it.

 Cullen: I've never done it, though.

 Lace: No worries! I've got you covered. Just make sure you wear workout clothes you don't mind ripping or getting covered in talc.

 Lace: Would 7am be okay or is that too early? :P

Cullen actually laughed out loud, startling his assistant that sat in the office with him. He felt a blush prickle at his ears and cheeks, and he coughed to cover his embarrassment.

 Cullen: Please. I'm a career military man. It will feel like I slept in.

 Lace: Great. It's a date then?

 Cullen: It's a date.

He once again stared at the words and felt an increasing sense of panic as it trickled down his spine. Perhaps this could go well - they had been casually texting for several weeks now - but a nagging feeling that something would go wrong refused to leave. He took a few deep breaths and willed himself to relax; this was just a date.

Saturday morning Cullen woke up almost an hour before his already early alarm and spent most of the extra time fussing with his hair, his clothes, his phone, then his hair again. He almost texted Lace twice to cancel, only to berate himself for being foolish and a frightened child. It would be fine, he kept telling himself. He almost believed it, too. When he got into his car, it was with plenty of time to spare and he arrived at the spot almost half an hour early.

When Lace pulled in fifteen minutes later, she jumped out of her Mini Cooper with energy of a woman used to early mornings. She wore clothes that looked comfortable and practical, and Cullen allowed himself to briefly look her over, appreciating her sculpted shoulders and clearly muscular thighs. This was a woman with functional strength and a confidence in her body.

She stepped closer and a lovely smile split her face.

“Commander.”

She stopped, immediately screwed her eyes shut and reopened them, clearly apologetic.

“I'm sorry. Cullen. It's still a little difficult to separate you from the name on my paperwork.”

He chuckled.

“That's alright. As long as you don't start saluting me, we should be fine.”

It was her turn to laugh.

“I'll keep that in mind.” She pointed to the duffel bag in her hand. “I've got my stuff. Shall we go in?”

“Let's do that.”

Cullen had always thought himself to be a fit individual, especially since he had spent most of his professional time training recruits and getting them ready for the field, but the two hours he spent rock climbing with Lace taught him otherwise. Even with her direction and support he kept putting extra strain on muscles he didn't know he possessed and it didn't take long before he was covered in sweat, dirt and talc. That being said, when they decided to call it a day, he could not remember the last time he felt this free or this happy.

“So, what did you think?” she asked him as they slowly walked towards their parking spots.

“That was fantastic, but I will definitely feel it in the morning.”

She nodded. “The first time is rough on just about everybody. If you decide to keep up with it, you'll build up callouses and your body will get used to the strain.”

He was going to say something in return but then they stopped at her car and she turned to him, pinning him in place with a stare. Suddenly Cullen remember this was a date and his gut did a weird flip. Was he supposed to kiss her? They were both covered in filth, and they haven't really flirted while climbing, and he wasn't even sure if she liked him that way, and--

“Cullen, I'll spare you the guesswork,” Lace tripped his trail of thought and she tilted her head with a smile. “I think you're a great guy, I really do, and I did enjoy spending time with you, but... I think we should remain friends.”

Relief that flooded his senses was tangible. He chuckled nervously and reached to massage a knot in his neck that wasn't even there yet.

“Oh thank the Maker,” he exhaled. “I had no idea how to say it so I'm glad you're better at articulating your thoughts than I am.”

Her already sweet smile widened and she raised an eyebrow.

“Commander of the Inquisition who doesn't know how to speak his mind? I find that hard to believe.”

Cullen shrugged.

“It's one thing to yell at soldiers all day long. It's something else entirely when I'm faced with a pretty girl whom I'd like to stay friends with.”

She chuckled.

“Well, since you're being so sweet, I'll let you off the hook,” she announced and reached out her hand. “Friends?”

He took it and shook it once.

“Friends.”

They parted with friendly waves and promises to keep in touch, Cullen then returned home and decided he was just hungry enough for a late breakfast. While he prepped his meal, he grinned happily at having made a friend. He wondered briefly if Lace would let him tag along the next time she went rock climbing and he reached for his phone. Her reply was quick and to the point.

 Absolutely.

===============================

“Maybe you should try something different?” were Bull's exact words and the phrase had put Cullen's teeth on edge at once.

When the Qunari found out about the platonic nature of his ongoing relationship with Lace Harding, he got a strange look in his eye that did not bode well. The results were more ridiculous than he could have expected.

“Iron Bull!” he roared as he stormed into the Chargers’ quarters. “I need a word with you. Privately.

He stomped into the closest empty office, which happened to be Cassandra’s, and slammed the doors closed once the other man walked through.

“Did you think it was a good joke?” he hissed at Bull. “What the world possessed you to… to…”

“What?” the Qunari asked with a shrug. “Did you not have a good time at your date?”

Cullen wiped his face with both hands and groaned.

“For the first and last time, Bull: I am straight,” he said through his clenched teeth. “And please, no more set ups. I am done.”

Bull frowned. “Why?”

“Because you set me up with Fenris, you ass!” Cullen exclaimed and immediately clamped his mouth shut, afraid he could be heard outside the office.

For a brief second the two men just stared at each other, but then the moment broke as Bull guffawed in a booming voice and reached to clap Cullen’s shoulder.

“And that upset you?” he roared with laughter. “C’mon. It couldn’t have been that bad?”

Cullen screwed his eyes shut for a moment, recalling the awkward date from the night before, and ground his teeth again.

“It was worse! He clearly knew what he was getting into, I did not. Once that awkward conversation happened, he proceeded to order a lot of wine and getting shit-faced drunk. I had to help him get home and he threw up on my shoes.”

The Qunari was in a fit of such intense giggles that there were tears streaming down his face and he had issues drawing a breath. He kept trying to get a word out, but nothing would come. At that point, Cullen chose to cut his losses and stormed out of the the office in a huff, hoping that whatever else the Iron Bull had in mind, he could just… ignore it.

[skycript1]

Five Methods You Usually Takes This Summer Season To Help You Boost Your Kid's Attention And Actions Without Medicine

A Summer Household Guideline To Help Get Your Child All set to Achieve School From Day One!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG4WXPO5aggSummer time SystemPreparing for school next calendar year begins this summer months. This trip break is an ideal time to help you your son or daughter with interest and habits challenges. In only a few months, you may begin to find and deal with the underlying triggers of the most common focus and habits issues I obtain in my observe rather than utilizing prescription drugs to address the signs. This technique has assisted Many kids I've treated at my Centre. The goal of this post is to provide you with the information which will get started you in the future that can help your child reach college and in life.Medicines Deal with UP SYMPTOMSIt might surprise you to learn that medication hardly ever overcome nearly anything. Medicine can go over up indications whilst your body heals itself and that's often how it works. I am not declaring that all prescription drugs are lousy Which we shouldn't use medicine, but I do Assume it is vital for the public to know that a doctor's schooling emphasizes, Virtually exclusively, using medications. From time to time this use is acceptable, but it's normally crucial to understand the bounds and pitfalls of using medication. I acquired the difficult way. I went to medical college with the age of 39 to save lots of my daughter right after Medical professionals manufactured her ill with psychiatric medicine for bladder bacterial infections.Interest Deficit Hyperactivity Problem (ADHD) is formally a psychiatric label. When kids are diagnosed with ADHD, They may be deemed to possess a psychiatric ailment. The indicators and symptoms of ADHD stated during the Psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Handbook (DSM IV) are completely subjective. ADHD cannot be analyzed with an goal technique for instance a blood exam.A Suitable TO DRUG Free of charge TrainingMom and dad should have the right to determine if they want their boy or girl drugged or not. Here's the details:1. There isn't any aim strategy to diagnose ADHD.two. The medicines utilized to "handle" ADHD can cause heart difficulties and worsening behaviors.three. The drugs usually do not help each of the indications.four. There won't be any long term studies on the safety or efficacy with the prescription drugs.5. Lots of the medications utilized haven't been examined on little ones.On this page I'll discuss how that will help determine the most common underlying overall health and educational results in in the ADHD indicators I discover in my follow and explore the non drug strategies and strategies I have found to generally be simplest in dealing with them.Dilemma A person: Reduced BLOOD SUGARLow blood sugar in fact can manifest from consuming too much sugar. When an individual has small blood sugar, their entire body releases adrenaline to raise the blood sugar back to normal. This adrenaline can then result in variations in habits, concentration and concentrate. Yes, sugar does affect actions. Sugar influences children even more then it does Grown upsEven though the child is sitting down comfortably from the classroom, wanting to concentrate, an adrenaline launch may have a profound result. Research have demonstrated that In the event your heart is thrashing rapid, You can't concentrate or emphasis. The child could become agitated. Any tiny point can now bring about the kid to act angrily or simply aggressively. This kind of actions is not acutely aware. The child doesn't elect to act that way. It's a physiological response.The next way to possess a very low blood sugar is to not take in usually enough or to eat carbohydrates rather than proteins. Proteins are meats, eggs, cheese, and nuts. To safeguard a baby from aquiring a small blood sugar reaction, I've them take away all sugar and artificial sweeteners and start a diet feeding on Repeated protein to aid hold the blood sugar stabilized. In my apply I do an intensive analysis of the kid's diet regime.Technique: Take into account taking away all sugar and artificial sweeteners from your son or daughter's diet program and include Recurrent modest protein snacks.Trouble TWO: DIETTake into account that Maybe ADHD won't essentially stand for Focus Deficit Hyperactivity Dysfunction but genuinely implies A Demand for a Nutritious Diet program. Quite a few kid's weight loss plans are shameful. Sweetened cereals are still the preferred breakfast item. The FDA's bare minimum nutritional prerequisites are determined by the amount of nutrients required to avoid health conditions which include rickets, scurvy and pellagra. They don't consider the fashionable day issues and signs that may be attributable to nutritional deficiencies. In traditional drugs, these deficiencies are handled with medications to go over up the indications. Most medical professionals are not in search of nutritional deficiencies as the underlying reason behind health conditions.Seeking the underlying reason for a difficulty will generally bring about a nutritional Alternative since nourishment affects just about every way the human body performs. Your body are unable to operate appropriately with no appropriate nutrients. It truly is primary biochemistry taught in health care university that particular nutrients are necessary within our physique to create the biochemical procedures function effectively. You won't experience Unwell without having these nutrients, but you may not basically be very well possibly. The body need to compensate and do the job more durable if you don't get the nutrients your body demands to take care of health and fitness.You'll find virtually many content within the professional medical literature demonstrating a correlation concerning specified nutritional deficiencies and many different health issues, from coronary heart assaults to cancer. Nutritional deficiencies also can affect how we come to feel, act and Believe.Regardless if we eat much more nutritious foods, I usually do not believe that we can get adequate on the nutrients we'd like from our eating plans. Don't just are most foods laden with sugar and artificial ingredients, several have chemicals included to lengthen their shelf lifestyle. Animals are fed antibiotics, hormones and also other chemical compounds ahead of They may be slaughtered and fruits and greens are sprayed with pesticides although They can be developing. Every one of these factors can have an effect on the caliber of the foods we consume and include harmful toxins to our biological systems.In light weight of the various troubles and worries While using the American diet regime, I think that supplementing nutrients will help for making our youngsters much healthier, and, as I've seen in my practice, the health supplements can make a major big difference in how they feel and act. That's why I recommend supplements for all my sufferers. I've experienced kids in my apply do almost nothing greater than choose supplements and strengthen drastically.Tactic: Use natural foods whenever probable. Discover what deficiencies your child may need and talk to your son or daughter's healthcare Skilled for nutritional nutritional supplements tips.PROBLEM A few: Allergic reactions AND SENSITIVITIESAllergy symptoms do affect how we predict, really feel and act. Conventional allergists have instructed me and several of my individuals this is not so. They were taught that allergic reactions never impact habits or learning. The healthcare literature states usually. The report claims the "coincidence of your pollen season, Using the timing of examinations, discriminates unfairly towards kids suffering from allergy symptoms. It further more asserts that Unless of course the children's allergy symptoms might be proficiently taken care of, they should not be envisioned to take care of the identical fee of Finding out as their typical friends Which It could be truthful and/or wise to postpone examinations right up until the pollen season has handed."Needless to say, the suggestions from this report are certainly not getting carried out in educational institutions. Instead, these children are being put on amphetamine like drugs for example Ritalin and Adderall for what could be an undiagnosed and untreated allergy. I see this continuously in my apply. I find that young children who are on these medicine or whose parents are already pressured to put their little one on a single of these medicines even have allergies that brought about the learning and habits indications.The primary food response I find in my patients with actions and Mastering problems is from cow's milk. Quite a few of such children will enhance to some degree when milk is faraway from their diet regime. Milk isn't the only supply of calcium. We can easily attain calcium from many various sources together with salmon, broccoli, calcium fortified fruit juices, soy and rice milk, and supplementation.Strategy: Contemplate discovering and eradicating or managing at all offending foods.PROBLEM 4: CHEMICAL SENSITIVITIESMany chemical fragrances are made out of petroleum chemicals. We spray these substances while in the air, warmth them up within our electrical retailers, and use them to our bodies by means of soaps, creams and perfumes. Can you imagine visiting the fuel station, squeezing the nozzle, filling your cupped hand with gasoline and splashing it throughout One's body or spraying it in your home? That is certainly what you could be accomplishing if you use some of these solutions. No surprise our youngsters do not sense well. Individuals with bronchial asthma can start wheezing when they're exposed to fragrances. I generally recommend that my individuals never dress in or use fragrances. Regardless of whether it will not bother them, it could result in a serious health dilemma for somebody with asthma or other respiratory troubles. These fragrances might also bring about head aches which can undoubtedly Use a detrimental have an impact on on how your son or daughter learns in class.SmokeI will not see a baby at my Centre if a father or mother smokes. The mother or father need to hardly ever smoke in any on the air Place the child employs, even when the kid just isn't during the House at enough time. Meaning by no means smoke in the vehicle if the kid is at any time a passenger in that auto and under no circumstances smoke in your house. This also suggests to under no circumstances allow anybody else to smoke in Individuals Areas or all around your son or daughter. I can't emphasize this ample. Smoke is an extremely major toxin and it results in as several wellbeing pitfalls for the non smoker as for the smoker. This was correct for one particular mom who smoked. When I allergy tested her child for tobacco smoke, his actions improved radically. That mom in no way picked up An additional cigarette just after looking at what A serious negative outcome it had on her Kid's behavior. Smoking cigarettes outside isn't the respond to possibly. New scientific tests have discovered which the harmful substances from using tobacco outdoors remain within the hair, pores and skin and apparel and in the event the smoker enters the home, the results on Those people in the home are Pretty much as extreme as if the person was cigarette smoking in the house.There are numerous chemicals within our environment with new kinds currently being extra all the time. We are only commencing to comprehend the influence these chemical compounds have on our surroundings and on our bodies. I see health problems ensuing from chemical exposure day to day. These are generally not the acute exposures that send out people for the emergency room however the Long term ones that result in a multitude of baffling signs for example habits and Understanding challenges, problems, tiredness, muscle mass and joint agony and various Continual challenges.Technique: Look at clear away all chemical compounds from your home. Go green for your son or daughter.Trouble FIVE: Finding out DissimilaritiesIt is often assumed that each one learners from the age of 5 or 6 have completed the event of abilities wanted to achieve success at school. Nonetheless this skill development is not computerized and would not occur magically by a specific age. Some learners are not organized for learning within a structured classroom condition and this can have an effect on their full educational Professions. Many programs can be found that can help small children acquire Visible and auditory Understanding competencies. "Vision Therapy" is obtainable as a result of developmental optometrists and auditory processing programs increase a chance to hear. Sensory Integration functions to bolster the sensory capabilities. I've produced a house software dependant on these proven developmental things to do which might be accomplished in your own home.Solution: Assist you little one acquire Studying skills essential in school.That can assist you make a decision if your child has Discovering dissimilarities which might be aided by 1 of these courses, critique the subsequent checklist:Learning Complications ChecklistA "Indeed" Solution to any of these concerns may possibly suggest that a toddler has Studying variances and may need aid to retrain their auditory, Visible and sensory motor capabilities.My little one has problems remembering left from right. Y or NMy youngster won't know how the Instructions of North and South on a map relate to the world. Y or NMy baby just isn't incredibly coordinated or superior at sports activities. Y or NMy boy or girl has issue throwing a ball into an intended receptacle, for instance a basketball into the goal or perhaps a paper wad in the garbage can. Y or NMy little one has difficulty jumping rope. Y or NMy child would not seem to hear me Once i get in touch with, but his/her hearing is ok. Y or NMy child seems to wiggle and move all the time which is not able to sit nonetheless. Y or NMy baby touches all the things of desire. Y or NMy child seems to get confused when asked to adhere to straightforward Instructions. Y or NMy boy or girl has difficulty with handwriting. Y or NMy child is forgetful, unorganized and at times bewildered over what is anticipated of him/her. Y or NMy kid has problems remembering more than one verbal request at a time. Y or NMy baby describes points making use of "tactile" words, like, "That does not experience fantastic." and"You hurt my feelings." Y or NMy kid is delicate about how matters sense complains that clothes is just too scratchy,or stiff and hurts. Y or NMy child has trouble understanding cause and impact doesn't feel to be familiar with simple repercussions to unique actions. Y or NOther Useful Learning Guidelines:Tactile learners can maintain a thing though studyingListen to classical songs with earphones even though researchingMake a Check out listing to remind the scholar of all classes/research/textbooks to acquire houseIf handwriting is erratic test for handwriting alterations before and right after taking in certain foods.Keep blood sugar amounts even offer protein snacks and/or foods each and every two hrs.Observe right and leftFind successes outside the class area, tunes, artwork, acting etcetera.Locate a thing your child does well and enable it to be Portion of the very first impression Along with the teacher. Read the full article

[inquisitors-art-gallery-blog]

Black Library: Damocles and  Black Library: The Shape of the Hunt  by ukitakumuki

Artist’s Comment

Black Library: Damocles

Check out the e/book here! : www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer… Illustration © Games Workshop Art director/producer: Karen Miksza ++++++++++++++++++++++ The brief for this one was a three-way melee between Kor'sarro Khan of the White Scars, Tau Commander Shadowsun, and Captain Kayvaan Shrike of the Raven Guard, amidst a mixed-force battle of White Scars, Raven Guard, and Cadian IG versus the Tau fighting atop a rocky promontory with jungle. The main focus of the show is Shadowsun, whom according to the reference and specs sent to me, often fields two shield drones. I thought that could be a perfect excuse to not end up in an awkward "2 on 1" prong attack. So that resulted in our assault marine captain Shrike pulling off a DFA and Kor'sarro timing a strike to take out her shield on one side. Given the hardback template/format I decided early on to have two back to back crisis suits behind the main trinary to visually frame the action and hopefully some narrative link to what was going on in the background. While sketching in comp ideas I was thinking of World in Conflict FMVs (yeah I watched a compilation vid of the different sequences but set to just Audioslave's Shadow on the Sun... how apt for our Tau commander ) which inspired that jungle crossfire for the back cover (left of image), along with some physics logic I thought should be observed such as "if plasma based weaponry gets spammed in the general direction of a forest, there should be a moderate to high chance of a forest fire occurring" which kinda explains why we see the charred dirt and branches and hints of trees on fire in the back. Other favourite points of interest that I recall from half a year back: -Singed/scorched Imperial armour versus cracked/gouged tau armour -Drones buzzing a tree (near the sun) -Devastator Raven going head on with the battlesuit turned away from us, armour in the process of being seared off chunk by chunk. -White Scar reading poetry on the lawn in an admirable last stand -Unfortunate IG, now literally half the man he used to be. Courtesy of being in the open when Tau heavy artillery drops. Check back soon for The Shape of The Hunt!!!

Black Library: The Shape of the Hunt

This piece is, in my own way, dedicated to two very unique creatives whose achievements and trust in me have both inspired and helped me take my work to higher levels. Ghislain Barbe( NOT because he is coincidentally now the art director on Eternal Crusade at BHVR  , but because when I was a kid I played a PC game called Heavy Gear by Dream Pod 9/Activision, and along with it came a printed game manual with wonderful mecha illustrations and diagrams that blew my little mind, and he was the illustrator of my favourite designs in the book.), and Peter Cooper(an incredibly kind and talented writer/director who years ago offered me the opportunity to do the illustrated set pieces for his HALO fan-film, Operation Chastity). Moreso because I think they might appreciate certain aspects of this image in their own capacities, like the pew pew lazars. Ok really its just about the lazars and the airburst munitions. And my special thanks and apologies to my truly professional and patient producer, Karen Miksza, for enduring and evaluating a chickenscratch-sketch of mine that resembled more of a Rorschach exercise than anything. You rock! As for the artwork: Reading the brief, and visualising the narrative and technical approach, made me want to crawl under a rock somewhere and just go into a coma. But it dawned on me it was really about huge battlesuits and powered armour on bikes in a desert--the very stuff my favourite SF childhood memories were made of. So I put on some Bubblegum Crisis tracks to remind me of what I felt was special about the genre and what I would like to see happen again, and got back to work. "Say Yes!" by Maiko Hashimoto in particular, really helped bring back those memories. Bearing in mind this is meant to be a triple-fold/paneled illustration; I was to illustrate a White Scars Stormseer fighting a Crisis Battlesuit with a tulwar on the front cover(rightmost third of image), looming Riptide in center third, and miscellaneous combatants filling up the remainder. The White Scars were to seem joyous in the midst of their hunt, armed with lances or tulwars in addition to the bolters on their bikes. All this was to take place on a dusty plain. I immediately thought that a scene showing a breached frontline would work best, to help put across just how fast moving and aggressive the White Scars are known to be, and for all the long distance planning of the Tau once up close and personal with Space Marines on bikes, it can quickly descend into unmanageable chaos. Troops having to divert their attention from the front to acquire stray bikers without hitting their friends, and crisis suits engaging their thrusters to quickly manoeuver along the ranks and train their guns on the bikes. Crisis suits... in a crisis of their own... aha..haha..h- As a Chinese guy, I felt it got really hilarious at one point painting Fu Manchu 'roid mongols in sun-bleached white armour going to town on the Tau. So I just rode that wave as best I could  Having my own front row seat and getting into the mentality of what it means to create a 40K flavoured illustration is making me more and more of a fan of what I think the franchise represents on different levels. When I say I find 40K really insane, I mean it in a sincerely optimistic way, and I think I am finally getting better at understanding where that balance point between grimdark outlook, cautionary tale/social commentary, and outlandish spectacle sits. This reflection of what 40K meant to me, had me throwing out the idea that maybe in order for the Stormseer to even be in close combat with a Battlesuit twice his height, required he be presented in a way that could rival the nuttiness of the idea to begin with. So imagining a narrative, I assume these guys could have force-lances that they could also throw, using that as a medium range large-caliber stopping weapon (illustrated at bottom right) and then move into closer combat with their shorter range tulwars. (This of course sets up the visual excuse for the flapping blood-soaked hair plume on the end of the lance up front.) The stormseer would realise that his bolters might be ineffectual at getting him within close enough range so he would opt to just pop a wheelie off the frontline Tau and use the bolter riddled chassis of the crisis suit as a landing ramp and shield to buy him precious seconds to plan his next move. They're Space Marines. Seemed legit. "SAY YES!" Other favourite details: -Please excuse the slightly overdone prismatic effect on the Riptide's shield. I still think it looks nice and it makes some sense. Just riffing off similar idea in the previous Tau codex supplement. I also wanted to illustrate how the hexa-projection areas might be linked to individual projection nodes, and we would see how individual 'tiles' pulse under stress as opposed to having a continuous 'texture pattern'. -I keep reading in the fluff how much advanced targetting tech the Tau pack, technically a Fire warrior would have onboard sensors and targetting aids, that eventually gets meshed with higher level networked data from sensor drones, add on to that markerlight data and more... basically it just sounds like a Tau shooter could be drunk, falling over, and still hit a fly in between its eyes having accounted for atmospheric disruption from 600 meters away. So that I felt gave me the right to imply that they can shoot incoming rounds out of the sky. Which we can see to great effect in the background and right behind the Stormseer. There of course is the consideration for fans who think its unreasonable, so they also look like they could be randomly hit because the relatively slow moving missiles are travelling through a firestorm of plasma. But I just wanted to say what the original intent was  Also to the left is a inverted Phalanx-CIWS looking burst cannon drone that seems to be in charge of clearing the skies for ground troops (when I saw that design I almost stood up and clapped at the screen). And for those of you who absolutely do not buy any of that, there's this: warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Ai… -Poor Tau loses his head in the background -The bikes were initially block-modelled in Sketchup to help me give a sense of their geometry and what I could do with them. This took over a week to do, the longest I've spent on any of the illustrations to date and burnt a weekend or so (gladly so) getting it done. I hope it makes the Tau and White Scars fans amongst you happy and rooting for your favourites and for mech heads in general  

[theajaheira]

Bravery (25/?)

so hey!!!!! i’ve finished writing bravery!!! which is pretty damn huge. i’m still fussing with the ending a little but i’ll be posting a chapter a day for the next two to three days (depending on wtf happens to the ending) and then. done. so that’s big. 

it’s also on ao3!!

“Oz!” Willow jumped up from the table, running across the library to fling her arms around her boyfriend. Jenny watched with amusement. “How are you? How was the family vacation thing? Was your aunt super weird? What was Jordy like during the full moon? Did you—”

Oz kissed the top of Willow’s head and said something that Jenny couldn’t catch. He was smiling, slow and easy. Jenny had always liked Oz; he had a comforting, calming vibe that she thought provided a nice complement to Willow’s anxious energy. Looking over Willow’s shoulder, he added to Jenny, “I get the sense that I missed a lot.”

“We’re working some witchy mojo!” Willow added excitedly. “Ms. Calendar’s teaching me how to—”

“Tranquility,” said Jenny patiently, “is the most important part of a magical environment.”

Willow stopped, blushing, and pulled away from Oz. “Sorry,” she said, only half sounding like she meant it. “I just—”

“It’s okay,” Jenny replied, and smiled. “Good to see you, Oz.”

“Good to be seen,” Oz said, squeezing Willow’s hand before he let go. “Xander around?”

Xander, who was now allowed to sit in on the magic lessons, raised a hand. “Drawing up a list,” he said with an amicable smile in Oz’s direction.

“Of what?”

“Ms. Calendar wants us to get inventive with our patrolling ideas,” Willow explained. “She says that since we’re not Slayers, we can’t approach patrol with brute strength and punching and stuff, even though it is important to know how to defend ourselves.”

“Consider all of our strengths and use them to our advantages,” said Jenny, and smiled proudly at Willow, who beamed.

“I always was the brains of the operation,” said Xander with a grin.

“Sure,” said Jenny. Willow giggled. “Listen, Oz—if you want to help Xander, that would be really, really great. I think he needs it.”

“I do not,” Xander objected. “I have three or four very good ideas.”

Jenny raised an eyebrow. “Can I hear some?”

Xander blanched, mumbled something about “don’t know why everyone’s bothering me while I’m working,” and went back to his notebook. Oz gave Willow a last smile before heading over to sit down next to him.

Jenny turned back to Willow, who hopped up on top of the table again. “So,” she said. “We’ve talked about how you need to feel the magical energy around you, and I want to make sure you understand how important it is not to cut corners here. If you—”

“Catapult of flame!” said Xander excitedly, and scribbled something down in the notebook.

“You know what? I think this should be a group discussion,” said Jenny to Willow. “If you don’t mind cutting the lesson short for today—”

“No, I think it’s important to make sure Xander doesn’t burn down a cemetery,” Willow agreed, sliding off the table to sit next to Oz. Jenny followed suit, pulling up a chair at the head of the table. “Xander, what do you have so far?”

“Uh,” said Xander. “Look. They’re very rough ideas.”

Willow peered over Xander’s shoulder. “Stake machine?” she said bemusedly.

“You said think inventive,” Xander replied defensively. “I’m going for inventions.”

“Oh boy.” Jenny took the notebook from Xander. “Xander, as much as I appreciate your, uh,” she glanced down at the list to see holy water rain of DEATH written at the top of the page, “creativity, we’re going to have to start thinking realistically about our strengths as individuals and not just what would work in battle.”

“Oz is a werewolf!” Xander pointed out. “Maybe he could bite the vamps?”

“Then we’d have vampire werewolves on our hands, and I feel like that might actually be worse,” Oz pointed out.

“You know what,” Jenny said, ripping three pieces of paper out of the notebook and handing them off to the kids, “everyone write down your three best strengths and your three biggest weaknesses, and then we can talk over what kind of plans will be best for those kinds of people.”

“This feels like school,” Xander objected.

“We are in a library,” Willow pointed out.

“Yeah, but this isn’t world-saving, this is just exploring our inner self or whatever.”

“This is strategizing,” said Jenny shortly. “And if you want, I can write yours for you.”

Xander looked up at Jenny and opened his mouth indignantly. Jenny fixed him with a firm stare and he shut it, looking back down at his paper and beginning to write. She wondered if the kids were starting to forget that she was their teacher as well as their friend.

“Ms. Calendar,” said Willow, elbowing her gently, “you should write one too, I think.”

Jenny was about to say something about her not needing to, but then she saw Xander watching out of the corner of her eye and decided that now was hardly the time to be hypocritical. “You’re right,” she agreed, and opened up the notebook to a blank page.

She wrote down WEAKNESSES in large capital letters, and scribbled down Impulsive and Stubborn. Then she paused, hesitant, before adding Not Always Honest, because it was technically pretty true. She liked to think she was getting better at it.

STRENGTHS was as far as Jenny got for the other column, at which point she sat and stared at the piece of paper for a good two minutes before Willow nudged her again and whispered, “Loving.”

“What?”

“You seem stuck.” Willow smiled shyly at her. “I think you should put down that you’re loving. And brave. And kind.”

“Not exactly tactical advantages,” said Jenny lightly, not feeling like pressing the issue.

“I could disagree,” Willow replied. “You were brave for Giles because you loved him, and you translated that ritual because you’re kind. That’s useful in battle, I think.”

Jenny glanced over at Willow’s STRENGTHS column, which was just as blank as hers. “Perceptive,” she said, with a slight nod to Willow’s paper. Willow blinked, then smiled, shy and bright. “Kind. And smart as a whip.”

Willow ducked her head a little. “I don’t know how that applies to battle,” she said.

“Shh,” said Jenny, and smiled at Willow before looking back down at her STRENGTHS column. Determined, she wrote, and was about to come up with something else when the library doors opened. Exasperated by the interruption, she decided not to look up at the approaching footsteps and instead wait for Snyder’s irritating drone to fill the room. All she could hear was stillness, though, which was unusual if Snyder was here, but if it was someone else—

Slowly, Jenny looked up into Rupert’s eyes.

 The silence carried on for a few seconds, and then Ms. Calendar said very loudly, “For god’s sake, Rupert,” got up, knocked over a chair, and stormed out of the library. Willow blinked, then hurried after her.

“Ms. Calendar—” she began tentatively, speeding up her pace to catch up with her teacher.

“Why can’t he just stay out of our lives?” Ms. Calendar demanded, swiveling in the hallway. She sounded angry, but her eyes just looked tired and sad. “He’s come in and he’s going to take charge of all the hard work I’ve been doing. I’ve been preparing, Willow. Researching and preparing, and now he’s going to scrap everything I’ve done and tell me he’s the Watcher and he’s in charge again. Because he feels like it. Or he wants to redeem himself for me.”

“You don’t know that,” said Willow carefully.

“I saw the way he was looking at me,” said Ms. Calendar. Her voice was razor-sharp. “He wants to bury the hatchet and come home.”

“Maybe that could be good?” Willow suggested. Because yeah, she had been mad at Giles on the beach, but it might be nice to have him back if he knew he had been wrong to go. Not that she’d tell Ms. Calendar that just yet, but— “If he wants to make things right with you, maybe things will be different this time.”

Ms. Calendar shook her head. “I don’t—” She looked down. “He can’t just show up and slap a Band-Aid on our problems and expect things to go back to normal.”

“You don’t know that that’s what he’s going to do,” Willow reminded Ms. Calendar. She smiled gently. “Put a little trust in me?”

Ms. Calendar looked up, and the anger and upset in her face dissolved into a small, reluctant smile. “You’re a good kid,” she said. “Fine. I’ll go talk to him, and I’ll make it very clear who’s in charge if he stays, and maybe he’ll listen this time around.”

“Maybe he’s ready to,” Willow agreed, and stepped forward, slipping her hand into Ms. Calendar’s. “You ready?”

Ms. Calendar made a face.

“Me either,” said Willow brightly, squeezing Ms. Calendar’s hand and pulling her forward. Ms. Calendar followed somewhat reluctantly.

Willow didn’t feel shaken or off-balance by the fact that she was the one leading her teacher; she guessed that all the weirdness of this summer had made Ms. Calendar seem more easily approachable. Not that Ms. Calendar had been an ice queen earlier, but Willow didn’t exactly hold hands with any of her other teachers. Her other teachers didn’t make her tea and tuck her in, either. Saying Ms. Calendar was her computer teacher didn’t really cover it anymore.

They entered the library. Giles was still standing there, looking somewhat awkward and out of place. Xander was very pointedly ignoring him, and Oz seemed to be following suit, though not as aggressively.

Willow nudged Ms. Calendar, hoping to spur her into action.

“Shh,” said Ms. Calendar, giving her a reproachful look without much fire behind it. She let go of Willow’s hand. “Rupert—do you want to talk?”

Xander looked up, eyes wide and bemused. It was almost comical.

“Yes, thank you,” Giles agreed with a hesitant smile, inclining his head to Willow in greeting. Willow set her jaw and gave him a pointed stare, trying to convey don’t screw up in one look. If he upset Ms. Calendar again, she wasn’t sure if she could handle it. Yeah, she loved Giles, but Ms. Calendar had been the one who stayed when they needed someone, and that counted pretty big in Willow’s book.

Giles’s smile faded slightly and he looked down at his shoes.

“Um, your office should be good,” Ms. Calendar said quietly, and stepped away from the group, heading towards Giles’s office. Giles followed her. Willow watched as they entered the small room, and only looked away after Giles had closed the door behind him.

 Jenny had a lot of things she wanted to say, but Willow’s words stuck with her. She should probably listen first, and then she would be honest and straightforward with Rupert. Or as honest and straightforward as she could afford to be. Same difference, she thought, even though she knew it really wasn’t.

The office was small, and they were standing quite close to each other. It was strange to look at Rupert and not feel that same fuzzy rush of affection that made her want to smile. She wasn’t sure whether or not it made her feel any better.

Rupert cleared his throat. Then he said awkwardly, “I came to apologize.”

Jenny nodded slowly. “Okay,” she said.

“I—” Rupert put down his suitcase before looking back up at her. “You’re right,” he said. “I didn’t talk to you about a lot of decisions I made regarding our relationship, and I should have discussed things with you. I just—I thought that you would want me to stay, and I thought that it would be better to handle things between us from an unbiased perspective.” He said the last part somewhat reluctantly, as though he was only now realizing how ridiculous it sounded.

“You do realize that the whole point of a relationship is an emotional connection, right?” Jenny said carefully, surprised at herself for not feeling angry anymore. She needed to remember to thank Willow for calming her down a little beforehand. “There’s no way you can handle any big decisions without bias.”

“That’s why—” Rupert chuckled ruefully. “That’s why I came back. To—tell you that you’re right, and I need to start listening to you more often.”

“Assuming that I’m going to let you be a part of our lives again,” Jenny pointed out. She was expecting Rupert to be surprised at this, but he simply nodded in agreement, which made her feel—something. It wasn’t a bad feeling, and she tried to pinpoint it, but decided that it was more important to continue with their discussion. “You can’t just come back in and take charge of the work we’re doing. We’re coming up with strategies of our own that don’t involve you, and I’m not going to scrap that work just because you’ve decided you’re good to go again.”

Rupert looked at her, and then he said, “Will you consider letting me help? I won’t take your authority away, but I do still want to be a part of this.”

“You left,” said Jenny shortly.

Rupert nodded. “I did,” he said quietly. “And I’m sorry for that.”

Jenny considered this. Rupert had left without much warning, and he hadn’t given anyone notice on when or whether he was coming back. And now he was here, and he seemed to want to make amends, but he was yet again throwing her plans and everyone’s emotions into upheaval. “You were careless,” she said. “You have to promise me you won’t do that again.”

“I—”

“And it has to hold weight, Rupert.” Jenny looked him in the eye. “This isn’t one of those promises to make me smile. This is something you need to do to keep the Scoobies functioning. Promise me.”

Rupert looked at her, and then he smiled, soft and proud. “I missed you,” he said quietly.

“Okay,” said Jenny, trying her best not to pretend that the warm fuzzy feeling had suddenly returned with a vengeance at the way he was smiling at her. “You can keep missing me until I see some concrete proof that you’re sticking around for the long haul. Promise me.”  

Rupert’s smile faded. Jenny told herself firmly that she didn’t miss it. “You’re right,” he agreed again. “I promise, Jenny.”

Jenny let herself smile. “Okay,” she said again, softer this time, and stuck out her hand. Rupert blinked, and she teased him lightly, “What, did they not have handshakes where you were?”

“I was in Los Angeles, and handshakes were few and far between,” Rupert replied dryly, and took her hand, shaking it. They both held on for a second longer than they needed to. Neither of them said anything about it.

[archergabriella]

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[ganeshaspeaks-yahoopartner]

Your Weekly Horoscope for 2nd Dec to 8th Dec 2018

(Image Source Internet)

These are predictions based on SunSign. To get your personalised prediction, as per your birth chart, Talk To Our Expert Astrologer. Click here.

Aries ( 21st March to 20th April ) : This week, you shall gain more professionally than personally, foretells Ganesha. Married ones will try their best to keep the partner happy and content. However, you may be highly disappointed and disheartened for not receiving a similar response from your partner. This shall go on for some time; don’t lose hope. Instead, try to divert your mind to something more substantial and constructive that can give you great returns.

Taurus ( 21st April to 21st May ) : You need to be extra cautious and vigilant about your surroundings. During the week, there may be a situation where in you may be blamed for no fault of yours. At the same time, you should pay heed to the requirements at the home front and attend to the emotional and material needs of your loved ones. For employees, some technical glitches in the office are likely to affect the performance; keep calm, advises Ganesha.

Gemini ( 22nd May to 21st June ) : Grab the opportunity you may come across at the beginning of the week. This eventually may prove to be highly beneficial for your financial position. Ruler of you Sign Mercury in retrogression is likely to delay in implementing the deal, though. Be patient; the right time shall come soon. Career-oriented and professionals need to have a keen eye for errors and omissions. Ganesha advises you to check your work twice before submitting.

Cancer ( 22nd June to 22nd July ) : You may feel like being stuck in some kind of a tug-of-war… may be of thoughts or situations. This is mainly due to the ruler of your Sign Moon, which moves through the 4th House and is influenced by wily Saturn and aggressive Mars. Here, Saturn prompts you to trade cautiously and avoid taking risks. Also, watch your finances before spending unnecessarily.

Leo ( 23rd July to 22nd August ) : The week begins on a cheerful note – parties, reunions and socialising are likely to keep you on toes. However, let not all the good times divert you from your objective. As Venus shifts in a watery Sign Scorpio in the 4th House, you will be keen to add comforts to your humble abode and upgrade your lifestyle. Sun accompanying combust Jupiter in the 5th House shall aid in boosting the memory of students, making it easier for them to learn and understand the subject well.

Virgo ( 23rd August to 22nd September ) : Without sounding preachy, Ganesha wants to convey that faith in yourself and patience are the keys to solve all the problems. The week begins on a beneficial note as planetary alignment suggests umpteen opportunities coming your way to make good money. However, with the ruler of your Sign Mercury being in retrogression, things are likely to get delayed. Rather than losing both, hope and temper, try to divert your mind by bonding with near and dear ones.

To read your detailed weekly horoscope, Click here.

Libra ( 23rd September to 22nd October ) : The week gives you a chance to follow your passion and indulge in a hobby of your choice. Be it dance, music, art, or writing, it may keep you occupied for most of the time. This has a very refreshing effect on your psyche. In turn, it increases your efficiency manifold and you can work with greater zeal now. With creative juices flowing, you shall be able to put in more efforts and ideate better at workplace.

Scorpio( 23rd October to 22nd November ) : As the week begins, you may become desperate to make it big and reap the benefits of success. As a result, you may feel pressurised and stressed for the same. Basically, you want to satisfy your urge of making huge money and upgrade your lifestyle. This can be attributed to the influence of aggressive Mars over Moon moving through the 12th House. Aggression is good, but channelize it in the right direction, advises Ganesha.

Sagittarius ( 23rd November to 21st December ) : You need to be alert and vigilant about the opportunities that you may come across. A delay in response or laid-back attitude may lead to loss of a chance to make good money. The environment at home is like to be pleasant and cheerful. Venus which moves through the 12th House shall prod you to spend money on pleasurable activities.

Capricorn ( 22nd December to 20th January ) : You may be planning to accelerate your progress to see a steady rise on your career graph. However, obstructing influence of Saturn over the 10th House shall hold you from achieving your objective. Venus moves through the 11th House corresponding to gains in the company of retrograde Mercury. Around midweek, people from the business fraternity may come across an opportunity to strike a deal with huge monetary returns.

Aquarius ( 21st January to 18th February ) : There are times when unfavourable situations take place without any mistake of ours. This week something similar may take place. In business, you are likely to suffer losses due to a blunder by a key staff member. However, guilty as charged the person promises to stay well-focused from now on. The blame of the entire episode can be put on the retrograde Mercury and wily Saturn present in the 12th House.

Pisces ( 19th February to 20th March ) : Career aspects and matters related to profession and business look quite promising this week. Benefices moving through the 9th House is measured as a happy proposition. Progressive forces are likely to work effectively here. Ruler of your sign Jupiter gets combust owing to proximity with the Sun. On being combust positive vibes of Jupiter loses its intensity.

Source : www.GaneshaSpeaks.com

[junker-town]

Jimmy Butler and the 76ers need each other, now more than ever

This is a gamble that both sides needed to take. It’ll either succeed wildly or fail horribly.

Late in the summer of 2016, Joel Embiid was fuming. According to ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz, Embiid was stomping around the Sixers’ old practice facility, at one point chucking a basketball across the hardwood. He had a workout scheduled with a marquee college big man prospect, but it got cancelled at the last minute. Instead, he had to face off against a 37-year old Elton Brand who was on the last legs of his NBA career.

”The night before, I’d been watching Shaq’s highlights, and I wanted the competition,” Embiid told Arnovitz. “I needed someone to go back at me.”

It sounds like he needed a competitor like Jimmy Butler, but Butler was 750 miles away at the Chicago Bulls practice facility, busy exchanging profanities with Rajon Rondo over who got to defend Isaiah Canaan, the hottest scorer on the opposing scrimmage team.

Two years since then, the number of people the business end of a Butler profanity-laced rant has gone up, ranging from teammates in Chicago and Minnesota -- who he chastised in private and in front of cameras -- to the Wolves’ front office. When he first returned to practice after demanding a trade from Minnesota, Butler challenged Karl-Anthony Towns to post him up, schooled the starters, and turned to GM Scott Layden.

“You fucking need me!” he screamed. “You can’t win without me!”

Meanwhile, Embiid got paired with Ben Simmons, who sat out a season due to injury and then won Rookie of the Year. In 2017, the 76ers drafted Markelle Fultz at No. 1 by trading the No. 3 pick — who became superstar-in-waiting Jayson Tatum — to Boston, in hopes of rounding out a homegrown Big Three. A shoulder injury held Fultz out most of his rookie year and infamously prompted the destruction of his once-perfect jumper.

Sam Hinkie, who led the Sixers into the Process era, was forced out, and Bryan Colangelo was ushered in. At least three burner Twitter accounts, an internal investigation, and an exhausting search for a replacement later, Colangelo was fired and Brand, now a front-office executive, was promoted to the big job.

Butler and the 76ers both had to take their hits. On Saturday, they merged out of necessity.

The Sixers traded Jerryd Bayless, a second-round pick, and two Process babies who had been handpicked by Hinkie -- Robert Covington and Dario Saric — to the Timberwolves for Butler and sophomore Justin Patton. Despite their meticulous planning, the multiple draft picks, and reserved cap space, the Sixers still needed a third star, so they took a gamble on the 29-year-old Butler, who is a free agent at the end of the year.

They didn’t trade for him to put the sputtering Process era to an end, but to refuel it.

They didn’t trade for him to put the sputtering Process era to an end, but to refuel it.

Built unconventionally around a 7-foot shooter in Embiid and two point guards who can’t shoot in Simmons and Fultz, the 76ers are prone to bouts of offensive malaise, compounded by envelope-pushing plays that too often end in multiple turnovers. They needed Butler, a nightly 20-point scorer and stabilizing on-court force.

And Butler, whose reputation for being old school has teetered into infamy over the past few months, needs a team like the 76ers — modern and analytics-obsessed, but also defensively inclined — to drag him into a version of the 21st century that aligns with his values.

Butler was consistently at odds with Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the young pillars of Minnesota’s rebuild. That’s why it came as a surprise when Embiid told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon that he discussed his new potential teammate with them and “they thought we were definitely going to get along.”

It makes more sense if you separate personality from persona.

The kid from Tomball, TX -- who used to strut around Chicago in cowboy boots, blast Garth Brooks from the locker room, stan Taylor Swift, and imitate wrestling moves on his teammates -- is more famous for his 5 a.m. workouts, locker room tirades, and throwback attitude. Meanwhile, Embiid, the NBA’s best tweeter and troll, is known as the class clown.

But it’s easy to forget how serious Embiid is and how funny Butler can be. At their core, they’re both hard-boiled workers with a nose for mischief. There’s a reason why Butler is arguably the NBA’s most meme-worthy star, and why Embiid relishes roasting big men on the floor as much as he does online. Their jokes don’t offset their intensity. Instead, the jokes are an extension of that competitiveness.

After getting blown out by the Raptors on the eve of Halloween, Embiid stewed in his own frustration. The Sixers’ new switch-happy defensive scheme was out of sorts.

“I’m the guy behind, so if I call something, my teammates gotta respect it and they gotta honor it,” he told me that night. “We have a lot of communication problems. That’s the key to a great defense.”

Later, he added, “I gotta communicate better. “If our defense is not good, I feel like I’m not doing a great job so I gotta do a better job. I don’t ever allow someone to give up 129 points. That’s bad. I’m pissed about it.”

The message was not dissimilar to what Butler has tried to get across in Minnesota: stern, public, focused on effort, disappointed in the gulf between who they are and who they could be. But Embiid has a less explosive (read: less profane) way of communicating, and he put himself on the list of people who needed to be held accountable.

And unlike Minnesota, where Butler was supposed to imbue work ethic by osmosis to a franchise that hadn’t made the playoffs in more than a decade, Embiid isn’t alone.

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

When 76ers head coach Brett Brown took over in 2013, he deliberately hung posters all over the walls of the practice facility that read, “Philly hard, Philly real, Philly edge.” The goal was to constantly remind the team what it meant to be a 76er, evoking memories of Allen Iverson stepping over Tyronn Lue in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, or Charles Barkley crashing against floorboards for loose balls. A few days prior to the Raptors game, after the 76ers dropped back-to-back road contests against the Bucks and Pistons, the coaching staff convened with the players, hoping to remind them who they were supposed to be.

“They didn’t call out anyone as a person but they called us out as a team,” T.J. McConnell told me. “We all took it personal and decided it’s not good enough and that we need to be better.”

In Butler, Embiid now has an aid and kindred spirit: a dogged, prideful defender who will call out perimeter switches and funnel opponents into his towering 7-foot frame. A core of Simmons, Butler, and Embiid could wreak havoc defensively for years.

But Butler will have to adjust to Philly’s culture.

Simmons and Embiid are not Towns and Wiggins, but they’re still young players: prone to inconsistency and still figuring out who they are on the court. When things momentarily go off the rails, Butler will have to be patient and measured, especially if Fultz — whose road to reclaiming his potential, let alone tapping into it, looks long — sticks around. And if Butler chides, he must do it behind closed doors. The microphone never helps him.

Butler is a rare combination: an open book, easy to read, but hard to manipulate. His intensity does not flood onto the court and blur his decision-making ability. Instead, it is defined by Butler’s need to assuage his anxieties. When something is wrong, his first impulse has always been to consider what more he can do.

Butler’s instincts turned him from a near-homeless 13-year-old to a JuCo standout to a first-round draft pick to an NBA All Star, so you can see why he hangs onto them. But in the fragile ecosystem of a locker room, Butler’s aggression rarely translates positively to others.

He has always known that, even if he hasn’t been able to help himself. When I profiled him at the 2016 All Star game in February, he joked that he had to stop telling the truth (i.e. criticizing his teammates) in the media, because it always got him in trouble. He led the NBA in minutes at the time, and he liked presenting himself as an archaic heel, the foil to a league charging in the direction of rest and injury prevention. That didn’t lend much credibility to his insistence that he was sitting out games in Minnesota because his body needed it.

But even back then, he admitted his own intensity wasn’t healthy.

“I say that I don’t wanna sit down, I wanna play all those minutes, but I really be tired of playing like I’m Superman or something” Butler told me then. “They hit me with Kryptonite, then I hurt my knee.” He hurt his knee again last year, tearing his meniscus and missing almost two months.

Butler’s mentality may run in opposition to the way analytics have transformed the game, but he isn’t ignorant to their benefits. The question is whether he can lean into those moments of rationality. The Sixers, a numbers-obsessed franchise that wants to hang their hats on being tougher, longer, and grittier than their opponents, could provide the happy medium that allows his aggression to thrive and his joints to heal. At the very least, they’ll field one of the most intense locker rooms in the league.

Butler’s favorite pop star put it best: It’s gonna be forever, or it’s gonna go down in flames.

[researchpaperwritingservicesus]

1980s Was a Decade Of Dissapointment

A decennium of letdown \nFrom worldwide wars to the reuniting of the nation, the social, governmental, economic, and foreign sheaths of the linked give tongue tos always look to be under a affirm of change. One re alto tiehery pressing time in the Statess report was the 1980 decade, this was a very hostile and pettishness fitted time. From the disc everyplacey of back up to an wholly exercise break through ostracise of the exceedings by the United Sates and Russia, and a field of study tragedy caused by the position- fowl con essay contingency, these societal type conditionters cases caused major changes to gazillions of masses b hurtom forth over numerous nations. The prominence of acquired immune deficiency syndrome was the to the highest degree soci everyy fundamental case of the eighties as this lethal virus is electrostatic a massive fuss non further in the United Sates, provided across the full(a) globe. \nIntroduction \nI. breakthrou gh of acquired immune deficiency syndrome \nA. The Discovery of The unhealthiness in 1981 \nB. First pitch Tests on AIDS and The commencement of AIDS Aw beness \nC. The Advancements make on AIDS1985 \nII. 1980 & 84 exceeding Boycotts \nA. Soviet sum of moneys Advancement into Afghaniistan \nB. The United States and Soviet Unions rotation of Olympic Boycotts \nC. The Ending of The Olympic Feud \n\nIII. quadruplet-Shuttle Challenger calamity \nA. NASAs Development of The Space Craft \nB. The Launching and fateful Explosion \nC. Ronald Reagans declaration and The Aftermath \nIV. The Beginning of the AIDS Epidemic is the Most material \n\nConclusion \n\nA Decade of Disappointment \nFrom worldwide wars to the reuniting of the nation, the social, political, economic, and global reddents of the United States always seem to be under a state of change. One very imperative time in Americas history was the 1980s decade, this was a very hostile and displeasure able time. From the discovery of AIDS to an all out boycott of the Olympics by the United States and Russia, and a national tragedy caused by the space- doll Challenger disaster, these societal events caused major changes to jillions of nation spread over some nations. The prominence of AIDS was the about(prenominal) socially signifi squirtt event of the 1980s as this lethal virus is unflurried a massive task, non just in the United Sates, provided across the entire globe. \nIn 1981 doctors in New York and San Francisco began to with tolerate male patients that had begun to develop sublime opportunistic infections and cancers. These diseases were non modify by sermon and the patients seemed to eat up a common link, a common blood develop. This condition is now known as AIDS or Acquired repellent Deficiency Syndrome only when would non be named until 1983 by comprehension magazine (Institute Pasteur). scarce it would get two to a greater extent(prenominal) eld for this to pass b y and more(prenominal) and more patients that suffered from what would normally be considered dispense able or treatable as said by Charlie Dauguet the passing of the electron microscopic in the viral Oncology unit at the institute (Institute Pasteur). Advancements came as quick as possible, as by 1985 at that place was a commercialized turn up put out that could detect the virus in the blood of a patient. They likewise ascertained that lymphocytes, or livid blood cells, are the chief(prenominal) victims by the virus. But some other(prenominal) prejudiced idea came about, as it would be known as a gay syndrome because of its prevalence in homosexual men. This was for a time actually non true as it was initially found in homosexuals but would briefly be more prevalent in infirmary patients or drug addicts. A huge leap in AIDS cognisance, treatment, and disallowion has come in the last cardinal twelvemonths with groundbreaking experiments speech a possible remedy cl oser and closer. An AIDS test can now be taken by a simple gum wipe up and the results of that test would be pretend in a week, quite an than the possible two moths of time lag in the 80s. Also in that location are new medications that can be taken to prevent the progression of HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus to AIDS. Although this seemed to be a huge problem four twelvemonths prior an international dispute occurred amidst two of the most force playful nations in the world. \nThe 1980 Olympics were set to be a huge event in Russia, but because of advancements make by Russia into Afghanistan, the United States athletes would not be able to compete. This would exactly create more accent between the two power countries at the center of the rimy War, lasting from 1945 to 1991, and now not only bring political but social disagreements into the proverbial mix. This all began because of the constant desire to expand, and the Soviet Union was no exception. In the mid to re cently 1970s the Soviet Union had began to give aid to Afghanistan to armed service build its culture, economy, and reunite the plain as one. But the soviets had some other agenda; they wanted to spread their influences across Asia but to predominantly spread communism. Communism had been get-go to fall in popularity end-to-end the Soviet Union because the Soviet army was not documentation it, but it would stand the test of time. But there was a protest in the Afghan capital of Kabul, and in 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. A year later the Olympic games were to be set in the Soviet capital of Moscow. president Carter had unyielding the decision had to be make to make a stand; he called for the Moscow games to be moved to another location. chairwoman Carter asked the International Olympic charge to move them preferably to Greece. And at one point President Carter relesed this statement saying, I pointed out ... that go along aggressive actions by the Soviets wou ld endanger the participation of athletes and motivity to Moscow by spectators(Lorch). The Soviet Union did eventually twisting out of Afghanistan but not without internal discord. But four years later there was to be another international conflict from the actions taken by the US and the Soviet Union. The 1984 Olympics were set to be Los Angeles and in receipt the Soviet Union boycotted these Olympics. But what was most ironic was the year the soviets boycotted was the year China clear-cut to return to the Olympics after a thirty-two year absence (Olympic). After these events neither the Soviet Union nor the US has boycotted another Olympic games. But besides international clashes causing the 1980s to be not the most desirable time, but a huge internal event took place causing an entire nation to mourn. \nThe idea of putting the great unwashed into space became more and more realistic as the century progressed. On October 1, 1958 the depicted object Aeronautics and Space re gime or NASA was created to friend bring forward the race into space. Although America did not win the race for space, by an amazing twenty-three days, an American was the first to step blame on the moon. The space adventures continued without impediment until January 28, 1986, a day that was to be celebrated curiously for instructors, as the first teacher was to go into space. But tragically as the space shuttle Challenger took off and as millions watched on live TV and at the Cape Canaveral Airbase the shuttle exploded killing all seven crewmembers. On the eventide of January 28, 1986 President Ronald Regan paid bonus to the astronauts, and said, We impart never stop them, nor the last time we truism them this morning as they ready for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the wretched bonds of earth to touch the type of God. He also set forth this disastrous event as a national loss and he even postponed his State of The Union Address. The nation was in comple te and utter go against as these were the first stack to run out in space, and the world set in that space was not just an excite but a knockout adventure (Darling, 387). This may cast off been a national disaster but there was something even more significant and still do millions. \nThe pandemic discovered in the 1980s has caused the final stages of tens of millions of people worldwide and is thus the most significant event to occur during the 1980s. Thankfully advancements awareness and organizations help keep the death ships bell down as some(prenominal) as possible. Even though it is an change magnitude problem in the United Sates, Africa is the hardest hit by AIDS. Five thousand die everyday just in Africa and even more are diagnosed with the virus, and just as mevery children are orphaned because of this mischievous disease. Nearly eleven million have been orphaned and the death toll will soon reach twenty million (Cefrey, 37-38). But because of new medications an d treatment this death toll is increasing at a pokey pace. Although these medications are very big-ticket(prenominal) and are not pronto available, especially where it is most needed, in Africa. Twenty million people suffer from AIDS in Africa and that will just be passed on the succeeding(prenominal) coevals if prevention cannot be employ quickly and effectively. Hopefully the next generation will not be stricken with this ineffable virus. \nThe 1980s like any decade had great times, but it overwhelmingly had its share of freehanded times. International events like the Olympic boycotts of 1980 and 1984 and the begging of the AIDS epidemic caused social reform and a possible hostile situation. in spite of appearance the United States the space shuttle Challenger disaster caused a time of mourning and awareness for all US citizens and for all other space outflow countries. Millions of people were affected by all of these events and millions more will know of the lasting effe cts left of them. If you want to get a full essay, hostelry it on our website: Custom essay writing service. Free essay/order revisions. Essays of any complexity! Courseworks, term papers, research papers. 100% confidential!Homework live help. Custom Essay Order is available 24/7!