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juminly · 4 years

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Chasing The Sun

Summary: The story of how you fell in love with the Devil King’s right hand, Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Tags: Canon-Divergent, Fluff. *Matchup written for the lovely @kamesama , I hope you enjoy your love story with your suitor.

How on Earth were you able to just sit like that in front of the Devil King? What in the name of the seven heavens and eight hells were you thinking, sitting with your arms crossed and a nonchalant look on your face before the man who was on the quest of ruling all of Japan?

Not only did you suddenly appear in Azuchi, creating a ruckus in the gardens of Lord Nobunaga’s castle, looking for what you called “a cellphone” and “a police station” but you were also giving these grown men a piece of your mind while they looked at you incredulously.

You obviously thought that you were in some sort of play or the universe was pulling some prank on you. Was there something even called time travel?

After taking in your surroundings, everyone was speaking in Japanese and you were somehow able to understand them and speak the language too. Not perfectly, but enough to get by and find yourself before the man that all of Japan feared the most.

Was this a curse or blessing? You looked around you to find the most heartachingly handsome men that were apparently warlords and they were sitting around you in what they called the Council Room. They were:

Bewildered by what you had to say. So… after much explanation from your end and getting some clarity from the panicked Hideyoshi who had been rambling to his Lord (and dropping lots of hints that helped you get to the conclusion of where and when you were), you claim to be from the future?

Either utterly amused or baffled by your behaviour and demeanour before their Lord.

Nobu’s crimson eyes were locked on you with a faint smirk drawn on his lips, Hideyoshi was obviously mortified and had been silenced by a simple “enough” from his Lord, Mitsuhide was snickering joined by Masamune who was trying to muffle his chuckles and Ieyasu rolling his eyes at them for acting like young boys. Mitsunari though? The angel was looking at you like a cat with big wide curious eyes that just wanted to know (play) with you.

The most impressive thing about the whole situation: you were so composed when facing someone with a commanding presence, not even flinching under his studious and heavy gaze. Nobu couldn’t help but be impressed and thought that you would be entertaining to keep by his side.Same shit, different day when it comes to the Devil King. If something entertained him, he would keep it around until he deemed it of no use to him (or that’s what you would think).

Seeing how unfazed you are and how you met him with a passive gaze that challenged something within him. Nobunaga decided to make a bet with you: become a Sengoku woman within less than a month and he will help you find a way home and back to your time. If you didn’t, then you would have to stay in the Sengoku Era and wed him.

First thought: What the actual….

Second thought: This man did have the power to do something like that. Thinking over your non-existing options, you would just have to agree.

Who would even want to marry a man like him? Nothing about him but his appearance was alluring to you in that moment, even though something inside did tell you that he would be more than able to show you a good time but you just pushed that thought to the back of your mind.

The golden-haired annoying beauty, Hideyoshi dared to open his mouth to protest… and being the mischievous Devil King that he was, Nobu put Hide in charge of you and you were officially under his patronage, tutelage or whatever you wanted to call it but from what you’ve seen, you definitely thought that the Sengoku Era was not for you… and most probably, a big nightmare that you were just waiting to wake up from.

While Hideyoshi and even you wanted to protest (yet again), the man called an end to the meeting and winked at you, wishing you good luck.

You weren’t going to be able to become a Sengoku woman, nor were you interested in becoming one, to be completely honest, but you needed a guide. But... Why… Why did it have to be him?

Living in a mansion with a man as fussy as him was going to be a huge headache. By the way he acted, he seemed to possibly be a clean-freak and the super organized micromanager type about everything in his life. But when you arrived at his mansion, you were surprised to be greeted by a swarm of smiles and simply… so much feel-good vibes.

It was hard to pinpoint it but there was this aura that surrounded the warlord, or more like, the ambience would change when he was around. You noticed it even when you followed him through the streets of Azuchi while on the way to his mansion. However, it was still your first day in Azuchi, you would have more time to figure things out later after you’ve had some much needed sleep.

He had the maids prepare the second largest room in his castle, with a hot bath and almost a dozen of kimonos, yukatas of all colours for you to choose from. You didn’t need all of this, anything would do but someone was going over and above… For someone who was so reluctant to have you stay with him and was awfully disgruntled about the prospect of you marrying his Lord, you did not expect to have such a warm welcome into what would become your new home.

In order to get things on track and yeet you out of the Sengoku Era as soon as possible, you woke up to the soft knock on your door and the sound of a man clearing his throat. Not only were you greeted by the sight of the gorgeous man entering your room with the rays of sunlight shining through your window making his hair look like actual tresses of gold and his bright smile, making you feel a weird fuzzy feeling in your chest as he set your breakfast tray before you. What did you deserve to be spoiled like this? It honestly felt like you had woken up in a reverse-harem maid cafe that was actually a bed and breakfast hotel?

Your thoughts completely mislead you. Hideyoshi was taking you through a schedule that he had prepared for you in order to get you accustomed to the current times and its needs. It was a rotation where you spent a day with one warlord every day, acquiring whatever knowledge you could from all of them. Medicine with Ieyasu, History with Mitsunari, Culinary Arts with Masamune, Japanese Language and Art of Dance with Mitsuhide, Horse-back riding with Nobunaga. Etiquette with Hideyoshi.

Cue: your first fight. You butted heads and made his life a living hell. As peaceful and respectful as he tried to be during your discussion with him, you argued with him until he lost his breath and his face turned a bright shade of red (that was surprisingly adorable but you didn’t really care for that in that moment) because you wouldn’t let him dictate things for you. It was YOUR way or no way at all. Nobody else had the right to manage your time for you. That was up to you and you alone and you wouldn’t let some beautiful man change that. He had to concede… not for you, but for his own sanity and for Nobu’s sake. That’s what he told himself at least, but you had the first win. The first to many more to come.

After sorting that out, Hideyoshi took it upon himself to take you on a tour around Azuchi, showing you all the best places to get whatever you needed, even introducing you to every single merchant and townsperson wherever you want. How did he even remember the name of all of these people?

He was… the town’s busybody? No. You could not even find the best word to describe how he was because there were way too many words that you could use, but not one of them would be enough. Anyway, let’s get your thoughts back on track. Not only do all the women, young and old, fawn over him but he was so well-loved because of his good deeds.

His objective was only to show you around before conducting your first lesson with him for the day but you were saved by an old lady that owned a cute little teashop who happened to ask him for help. That was weird. How could someone ask something so menial of a warlord?

Upon pulling both you and him by the hand inside her shop, she went on and on about how she loved his company as he reminded her of her son that she had lost in a war. There was this look in the warlord’s eye that didn’t go unnoticed but you just put a mental note on it. It seemed like Hideyoshi felt indebted to her somehow? And you! Well, you were so warm and nice to the teahouse owner that she took a liking to you and began spoiling you with every type of dango and sweet that her teahouse and Azuchi had to offer.

Four words: Sugar overload + sugar rush.

While you were chatting with the teahouse owner, Hideyoshi had been gently giving you instructions on how to sit, how to eat, how to hold different utensils and what gestures to use when people say certain things. He included all these comments so smoothly in the discussion that by the time you were done eating, your lesson had ended. As Hideyoshi announced that, telling you that “you did very well, all the treats you ate were well-deserved”, he gave you a bright smile and winked at you, which totally, totally did nothing to your heart.

He suggested to the teahouse owner if you could fill in, in his place, since you got along pretty well together and the old lady was almost ecstatic, taking you in her arms out of impulse and thanking you for agreeing to help her. Looks like you had no choice.

For a brief moment, Hideyoshi just stared at you before bursting into jolly laughter. You looked like a child so high on sugar, you were basically radiating energy and there was a spring in your step that you didn’t even have before. He took you by the hand and began running, looking back at you and shouting “Faster!! Time is of the essence. We’re going to chase the sun!” What he was saying made absolutely no sense but you found yourself giggling under your breath, running beside him until you reached the stables, he jumped on his steed and pulled you behind him. “Hold me as tight as you can. Don’t worry, I’m not fragile.” he joked as he clicked his tongue and you flew with the wind, beyond the bounds of Azuchi.

You smiled and looked up at the sky, letting the breeze tickle your skin and your hair flying around you. As you inhaled deeply, you couldn’t help but rejoice in the smell of fresh air and sandalwood… Hideyoshi. So rich and sweet, it made you dreamily sigh without even realizing. When you suddenly came to a stop, Hideyoshi’s warm voice reached your ears and pulled you out of your daydream. He was showing you the sunset as it fell behind Azuchi castle, the colours of dusk blending with the fading flames of the sun that shines over the town that would become your home.

As you were slowly coming down from your high and before you fell asleep on the warlord’s shoulder, you made him promise you to show you the sunrise and he gladly agreed to do so.

The next few days were quite busy for you. Following the schedule that you had set for yourself, you visited the teahouse of the old lady before your classes with “the warlord of the day”, as you called it. you went to help around the old lady, as Hideyoshi had promised on your behalf and began to understand him more, know even more about him without even having to ask any questions. You were also able to reach your own conclusions, after heaps of townspeople swarmed the old lady’s humble teahouse, talking about their different encounters with the Devil King’s right-hand man.

The old lady loved him so much, saw so much in him and was so willing to gush about him as if he were her own son. He was charming…. Incredibly and unbelievably so. Just a simple glance at him and people were beaming at him. He came from the lower class, but you had no idea. He had this humility in his smile even though the way he held himself was graceful and his tone, the words that so eloquently spilled out of those lips of his would never indicate that he grew up as anything other than a nobleman (which made you like him even more).

By the end of the week, the teahouse owner no longer was in need of your services since her daughter, who had been sick, was feeling all better and ready to help around. (Hideyoshi didn’t even tell you but your experience in the teahouse was part of your on-ground training and he didn’t even need to give you more lessons, yet he chose to so he could spend more time with you)

After your first round of so-called lessons with all the warlords, Nobunaga held a banquet in your honour, his own questionable way of formalizing the bet and challenge between you. You weren’t entirely sure whether he was mocking you, testing you or just playing mind games with you but that didn’t stop you from having your own fun. As everyone drank themselves into oblivion and upon discovering that you did not indulge in any type of liquid courage, Masamune had dedicated his night to stuffing your mouth with all the delicacies imaginable, sweet, sour, savoury and even bittersweet. The man was a masterchef genius (that Gordon Ramsay would definitely envy and admire but that’s a discussion for another time/day) and didn’t even mind.

In the corner of the room, your eyes reluctantly yet instinctively crawled to cast a quick look on Hideyoshi. A quick glance wouldn’t be enough to appreciate the sight before your eyes. The Adonis of Azuchi was seated languidly like a beautiful courtesan, intoxicated as she nursed her sake while prattling to others in a banquet. His emerald kimono slid down one shoulder, along with his white haori, slowly and teasingly exposing more of his bare skin, his chest was almost fully on display, his lips glistening with remnants of sake as the inebriant seeped and coursed in his veins. This was an image that you would have trouble getting out of your head, not that you wanted to. He was utterly breathtaking, the way his lashes fluttered over his cheeks, his eyes slowly falling shut then opening lazily as he fought to stay awake.

Whenever one of his retainers came to take him back to his castle, he moaned and refused to let anyone touch him except for you. All the warlords began chuckling as Hideyoshi gladly let you embrace him in your arms, holding him up with the help of his retainers as he mumbled about sweet nothings that made your heart flutter. “Your hair looks so silky and beautiful, Kame… Would you ever let me touch it or maybe even brush it for you? You smell exquisite, not even the cherry blossoms of Kyoto could rival how sweet your scent is…” His face was dusted in pink from the sake but yours turned red for different reasons. You couldn’t wait to plop him down in his room and get away from him. You could no longer feel your face with him being around you.

As the days went by, you found yourself growing more accustomed to your routine and starting to actually like your life in Azuchi. Yeah, there probably wasn’t any technology around but you still managed to occupy yourself most of the time. Thanks to the fussy warlord who spouted so much nonsense when he was drunk.

One night, he was out drinking with the other warlords after a Council Meeting. You had absolutely no idea what it was about but it seemed like things were stirring up in a nearby area and action would have to be taken soon. That was none of your business so you spent the writing while staring up at the moon, the silver light invading your room as you wallowed in the dark pits of your mind.

As he came back from his night out, he tried to sneak, not too sneakily into your room. As he stood before your sliding door, he could hear your muffled sniffles and cries. Acting completely on impulse, Hideyoshi slid the door open, rushing to you, the fear of anything bad befalling you crushing his heart. As he kneeled before you, your cheeks were tinted in a deep shade of red, your eyes puffy as you sobbed helpless. In his drunken state, his eyes darted everywhere to check if you could possibly be injured, but there was no sign of anything.

Even as you protested meekly, Hideyoshi pulled you into his arms, holding your waist tightly and one of his arms around your shoulder, keeping you safe and secure in his embrace, letting your tears dampen his kimono while he caressed your hair softly with one hand, and the other rubbing soothing circles on the small of your back.

“It’s okay if you do not want to tell me what is on your mind. But do you mind if I say a few things myself? Yes? Okay, good. Well… I wanted to let you know that I’m happy that it was you that came from the future and not another young man or woman. I am pleased that a bright woman such as yourself made her way back through time to be with me… I mean with us, in Azuchi. You’re talented and you learn things quickly… only when you put your mind to it, obviously.” That earns a small laugh from both of you. “But I want you to promise me something. Please. If you ever feel like this again, and you wouldn’t mind me being around you… Call for me. Light a candle and place it in front of your door and I’ll be here with you in a heartbeat.”

Whenever you did light a candle, he came through with his promise. He only spoke if you wanted him to, he listened to your rambling, wiping the tears trickling down your cheeks and kissing your temples whenever he felt the need to say something but held himself back. He didn’t like to see you say such self-depreciative things but he wanted to let you know, through his actions, that he was prepared to shoulder all your burdens with you and wash away all those insecurities, if you would let him, showering with words of comfort that were only based on true facts and hints of how he truly felt about you.

After that night, he never lets himself drink and be around you when he does. Especially after sneaking into your room, he wasn’t sure what he was capable of or what he would do in an intoxicated state. He made it a rule and let all the warlords know that if he’s drinking, he’s staying with one of them.

He would scold you for staying up so late at night but he secretly liked to see you actually enjoying yourself. He would sometimes invite himself in your room and ask you about the things that you drew and what you enjoyed writing, his eyes narrowing with avid interest and curiosity to learn more about your time. He knew the right questions to ask you in order to unlock the “rambling” button in you and the warlord would be so pleased to be able to get you to speak to him so openly, looking so animated with excitement brimming from your voice. At that point, he no longer exuded this air of distrust, especially after seeing that you truly knew nothing about the Sengoku Era.

He often ended up falling asleep while hanging with you. It was easy to find yourself admiring his masculine beauty. His expression was so soft and vulnerable, without the usual crease between his brows caused by his constant micromanaging. His schedule was crazy busy but he still managed to find the time to hangout with you, pick you up and drop you off from each lesson of the day. It only made sense that he would be so exhausted. If he didn’t take good care of himself, you would at least try to do so, repay him for his kindness but also, try to make his life easier. Somehow.

During one of your late-night chats, you both got pretty hungry and decided to treat yourself to something. What exactly? Well… messing around the kitchen with Hideyoshi was so much fun but neither of you were good enough cooks to make anything that could be more than just… edible. Masamune would have a heart-attack if he saw what you were doing but thanking the heavens, he wasn’t around. Hideyoshi got intimately acquainted with your peculiar taste in food on that fateful night, blinking through tears as he tried to eat the odd creation that you had both made. At first, he thought he would be appalled but after a few bites taken out of courtesy to you, he actually started to like it. Thus, the beginning of “Kame and Yoshi” late-night cook-offs to come.

The more you got used to each other, the more you teased one another. You weren’t entirely sure if you should call him “Hide” or “Yoshi” but you noticed how he would get boyishly flustered when you called him “Yoshi”, it just stuck and became your thing. It wasn’t necessarily a nickname given out of affection (or that was what you told yourself) but more of an expression of a blooming friendship. On another hand, he absolutely loved trying to find ways to make you blush, your cheeks reminding him of apples and, truth be told: he wanted to playfully bite them so much.

One day, you completely lost your shit on Hideyoshi for asking the maids to arrange your room since it was a complete mess. Little did you know, Hideyoshi had informed them maids to clean the entire castle spotless, but admittedly forgot to tell them to stay away from yours, fully knowing how you did not like anyone touching your things. He didn’t say anything to defend himself, standing completely silent and absorbing the frustration that radiated from you with the grace that he was known for. You refused to talk to him after that or even look at him. It was an invasion of your privacy and Hideyoshi believed that you had all the right to feel the way you did.

Wanting to be as far away from his castle as possible, you hiked your way up a hill to find some peace in the loneliness that nature had to offer. You spent a few hours just drawing/writing, letting off some of the pent up steam. It was much needed since you were able to clear your thoughts while breathing some fresh air. Looking at the broad horizons before you, you couldn’t help but think of the light brunet who made you feel so frustrated yet did everything possible to make you happy. Something in the back of your mind told you that it was all because he wanted you out of Azuchi and this era. But you were gravely mistaken.

Relying on your non-Sengoku era street-smart ability was not the wisest move. You had no idea where you were even though your surroundings were very familiar. After going in circles for what seemed like hours (40 minutes), you did manage to find your way back to Azuchi just in the nick of time! Being true to yourself, you know you had a lesson with the Devil King for some horse-back riding, still wondering why he even bothered spending time with you.

Who was the one waiting for you at the stables? None other than the handsome man that you were avoiding. His head was lowered in apology and he begged you to let him make it up to you. And he did, big time! You rode to a nearby village that was around 45 minutes away and they were holding a festival! There were fireworks, food stands and game booths and you ate almost everything that caught your eye, competitively played against Yoshi in most games before you saw the light of dawn appear. Have you been out for so long? Your pleasant outing ended yet again, with another chase of the sun.

You didn’t necessarily apologize for your behaviour the next day but he heard the maids whispering about you spending all night trying to make food, stuff that they didn’t even understand and his heart did melt at the thought. You were fussy about it and not having the same materials of the future, making the process much harder for you. Your go-to place to relax was on the top of that same hill where you had been sulking. He obviously tried to look for you and found you there, just watching the sunset. He smiled softly at you and you raised a brow at him with an unspoken “what’s up with you? what do you want?” But he said nothing, just sitting by your side, enjoying just being near. And you did the same.

The more time, you go out to the city where he is supposed to be spending time with you, you get a bit flustered as to how every single person in town is trying to steal his attention from you. Various scenarios would occur but you would mainly stop even following him and go your separate way. Why did you even do that when the voice in your head told you that you wanted to be near him? (smh) Being the gentleman that he is, he’ll come find you and hold your hand, frowning at you. “What do you think you’re doing? If you’re planning on running away from me, then I guess I’ll have to find a way to keep you by my side.” He squeezed your hand, the top of his cheekbones blushing slightly as he pulled you closer to him, whisking your way through the alleys to wherever the sun would take you.

Being so close to him... felt natural.

One night before Hideyoshi had to travel, under Nobu’s orders, you and the warlord rode your steeds to a nearby river where you had a small picnic and spent the night stargazing. As you rambled on and on about what you knew of the stars and constellations, he gently pressed a finger to your lips. “I’m going to Kyoto at dawn. Things might get bad but I’m going to make sure that everything will be under control. I don’t want you to worry. Just wait for me and… as long as you are, I’ll be okay. Now.. Please... no word of this. Tell me more…”

His voice sounded as empty and lonely as you felt when he was away. Only 2 days had passed and you felt like something was missing. You went on with your day as if nothing was different yet the stinging feeling in your heart told you otherwise. Who were you lying to?

6 days later: He was finally coming home!!

You didn’t even realize that you laughed as a few tears fell the moment you saw Hideyoshi when he came back from whatever skirmish he was dealing with. Cuts, bruises and bandages everywhere. He even needed a few soldiers to carry him since he could barely move on his own! The words escaped your mouth without even knowing before you turned your back on him and rushed to the castle to prepare his room for him.

You said something along the lines of (it was all so blurry so you weren’t even sure anymore): “Are you dense? I literally just had to hear about what you’ve done and that’s absolutely not acceptable. You’re always keeping your eyes on me and you don’t think you owe me just a small heads-up about your own buffoonery?”

You glared at Nobunaga and basically hissed at him. “This is all your fault. I was going to lose him because of you!”(little did you know, your small outburst made Nobunaga happy, especially after seeing the look on his right hand’s face.)

When he finally settled in and was laying on his futon, you kneeled beside him and brushed his hair away from his face, locking your eyes with his golden ones, a serious and intense look painted over your features.

You: You look like shit, Yoshi. I knew you were going to do some reckless shit. I was hoping you’d prove me wrong but here you are.

Hideyoshi: Watch that mouth, young lady.

You: You think you’re in a position to chastise me, Yoshi? You stopped giving me lessons days ago.

Hideyoshi: That doesn’t mean that you’ve learned your lesson, Kame.

You: Those are big words for a man that can barely lift himself off his futon. So much for promising to go chase the sun when you got back.

Hideyoshi: Hngh… I feel bad enough about that. I’ll make it up to you but please, do not tease me.

You: Mhm… what are you going to do if I don’t, Yoshi?

Hideyoshi: I did have something in mind… Come here.

Gently cradling the side of your face with one hand, his thumb softly rubbed over your rosy cheek as he groaned while lifting himself from the futon, a soft smile gracing his lips as you met him halfway in a tender kiss, filled with so much love and reverence. As you broke the kiss and tried to look away, he snaked his hand to your nape, threading his fingers through your hair and pulling you back to him as his back hit the floor, joyful sighs filling the silence of his room as you both finally allowed the love between you to flow freely.

Hideyoshi can get so uptight about things, nobody even bothers to question him because he’s a stubborn mother hen and once he puts his mind to something there is no changing his mind. Except when it came to you, so the other warlords would often try to get their way with things by attempting to use you against your lover. Unfortunately for them, you were a mischievous minx and instead of helping them, you made things worse by making it known to Hideyoshi, in one way or another what their true intentions were. Masamune loved you for your playful nature and Mitsuhide thought that your skills could be put to better use (don’t tell Hideyoshi or he’ll literally lose his mind).

He will say “I love you” as many times as he needs to for you to believe him. He’s the type of man that would say it in the morning and before going to sleep, even if you were having an argument, he always wanted you to remember that he did. Considering that he could die in the battlefield any day, he wanted to make sure that he had absolutely no regrets when it came to you. He would express his love to you in his gestures, with his actions and wait patiently for you to say the same to him, only when you want. He feels it in the way you tease him, the way you touch him.

His kisses are usually tender and soft like a light summer breeze eliciting the faintest shivers in your body. He usually would cradle your face and trace your cheeks or the column of your neck, a pleasant tingling sensation tickling your skin as he poured all his devotion for you in the soft whispers of his lips against yours. When things tend to get a bit more heated between you, he lets his hands roam to hold the small of your back and press your against him, his tongue licking between your lips, coaxing you to open up for him (always the gentleman, he needs to get some sort of permission from you before doing anything, out of fear of overstepping or upsetting you).

He would often pray to the heavens that you’re tall enough so that he doesn’t have to lean too much to meet your lips. His other hand would either be at your nape or the back of your head, fingers through your hair, the heat of passion taking over him and the taste of you is so irresistible, he doesn’t want to give you the chance to break the kiss.

He didn’t even blink an eye when you both sat before the Devil King to tell him that your challenge was off. Whether you won or lost, it didn’t really matter. Hideyoshi was the only man you could ever be with and the prospect of even possibly marrying another was not acceptable. Not for you or for Hideyoshi. Nobunaga simply stared at the both of you, seeing how Yoshi sat there, unwavering before his Lord, unaffected by the possible severity of the situation if things were to go south.

He respects your time and your own space, fully trusting you now that you were knowledgeable enough to know the do and don'ts of the Sengoku Era. He just urges you,.. no, begs you not to stay out late at night unless he, the warlords or any of his retainers are with you. Azuchi was a safe city but there were still ruffians lurking in the night. He didn’t want to take a chance when it came to you.

He gets way too flustered at any public display of affection but he’s a man that gets easily jealous so he likes to make sure that everyone knows that you’re taken. He would usually just walk around while holding your hand, linking your fingers together or with an arm around your shoulders, kissing your temple or your crown.

He loves sporting the love bites you’ve marked on his skin and doesn’t even try to hide them, even if you both get teased about them, your lover just beaming with happiness and pride. Whenever he feels like your hands are too cold, he would pull you into a bear hug and let you wrap your arm around his waist, under his kimono, so that his body heat and the fabric could help you warm up a bit better.

If you ever thought of pressing a kiss to his neck (which you’ve obviously done before), your lover would chew on his lip out of embarrassment while his cheeks turned into cherry tomatoes. He would obviously try to mask his shyness with a mock angry tone as he calls your name in admonishment. Looking into your eyes, he saw that glint of mirth in you and that beautiful smirk that he would very gladly wipe off once you returned to the castle.

Little gestures he does to express his affection for you and things he loves: he loves brushing your hair and smelling it, he loves biting your cheek playfully whenever you blush. Whenever you’re chilling with him and he starts teasing you, you bite him and he chuckles. He actually loves it when you do.

He absolutely loves sleeping next to you. Period. But especially having you koala-cuddle him because he’s your human heater. Knowing how cold you are by nature, he asked you to light a candle to place it in front of your door (just like when you are feeling down), so that you can both cuddle and sleep together. He doesn’t like to be intrusive and invite himself into your bed, although he does, on occasion because a relationship goes both ways and it would be wrong just to rely on you to initiate things. The most important thing was consent. As long as he had that, nothing else mattered.

Oh boy, if he wakes up with morning wood, Yoshi gets flustered as hell, especially if you’re awake. He’d excuse himself with the most boyish and embarrassed chuckle and rush out of your room or to his bathroom (depending on where you were both sleeping). If you were lucky enough to be in his room, you would hear a symphony of unadulterated moans and muffled grunts that only made you wonder what the future held for you when you became even more intimate with one another.

Sometimes, when you’re lying beneath him, and let him shower you with kisses and love bites, he worships you as he is completely devoted to you, whispers against your skin, over and over again.

“I want to make you mine, I want you to be mine, I want to claim you and let everyone know that you have chosen me to be your lover, to be your partner, to be the one you share everything with. As much as I would’ve hated to admit it before, I don’t feel an ounce of remorse for what I have discovered in you. I love you… You are my everything and nobody could ever change that. Whether you decide to stay in Azuchi or return to your time… I’ll always be with you. Take me with you.”

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crispyapplepies · 4 years

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AkuRoku Defense pt 2

Axel and Roxas’s ship has had one of the most bizarre fandom journey’s i have ever come to witness. It has gone from being one of the most popular ships maybe ever, to being dead cancelled over a supposed age gap and I find that completely unfair, especially when it speaks to so many innocent people who emotionally depend on the ship, (yes innocent includes the spicy people because art literally is not a crime). So its time to defend it.

Brief Review on Nobodies vs Aging

First of all, l already explained in part 1 what the Nobodies Don’t Age thing means but I’ll go over it again briefly, since it can be confusing, though also many people seem to demand their hands be held rather than use their imaginations to understand. Even so, here’s the short version just for a review:

-A person in KH is made of a heart, body, and soul.

-The body reflects the heart in KH. (See: replica bodies taking on the appearance of the heart that’s inside them).

-A nobody lacks a heart, making them just a body and soul. They’re advanced zombies of sorts.

Nobodies do not age because they have no heart for the body to reflect. This is why they won’t change until they form one. Change includes age

-Ergo, you can imagine any age you like for Axel to be nobodied, cuz he was frozen at that age and did not change for 10 years. Not until he met Roxas.

We’ll come back to this again later.

Axel Loves Roxas Canonically

Second of all, Axel loves Roxas and you are allowed to interpret that as platonic, familial, or romantic, I don’t care as long as you’re not forcing that idea on others like the ship police. That said, people are allowed to explore how romantic this love potentially is.

And what you might like to know is that the canon is even open to this. Axel’s love for Roxas is canonically expressed, and if you would like, you can even interpret that love as romantic. See below:

We are going to look at the japanese translation because AS ALWAYS good old SENA is here for the straights and erases the gay, like clockwork.

In English, Axel says this:

Axel: I wanted to see Roxas. He...was the only one I liked... He made me feel...like I had a heart. It's kind of...funny... You make me feel...the same...

Axel’s line here in Japanese:

Axel: I wanted to see Roxas... I loved him. Being with him... it made me feel like I had a heart. I feel it from you, too... the same kind of....

You may notice that as romantic as the line “he made me feel like I had a heart” sounds, the original can be read as wAY gooier, specifically cuz of this word:

好き: "suki"

Now here’s the thing. Japanese is a pretty vague language which is why context is so important for these things, as well as what you say, and what you don’t say.

“Suki” is a very key word here because it is often used in romantic confession scenes.

(I have no idea what this panel is from, I apologize lol)

It CAN mean something casual, like “I love video games”, but considering Axel is saying this with his dying breath, I don’t think we should be treating it as some hyperbole. He is referring to a person and it is meaningful. However. It is still a word with plausible deniability. Japanese has several words for love, “ai” for example being one of the most inarguable means of referring to romantic love. So choosing “suki” still leaves room for the homophobes to disregard it as something not romantic. Which makes it objectively inconclusive. Here is the thing though… they specifically chose that word, suki, a word which IS so often used in a romantic context in many anime and manga.

They also chose to use that word rather than something objectively platonic. Which means you also cannot conclude Axel did NOT mean it romantically. Given his devotion to Roxas, and the fact that they chose this word of all words for him to say… I’m personally going to assume it’s romantic. You are free not to interpret it that way. But I am because I am considering the fact that they did not choose something strictly platonic.

(My translator friend actually freaked out when I showed her this, she’s translated and seen enough confession scenes to know what connotations that particular word comes with lol).

If you’ve read my queer coding doc, you may recall I also go over how this is one of the most important tricks with queer coding. You write something that CAN be viewed as queer but with plausible deniability for straight people to ignore it. It’s a means of protecting oneself and the text from homophobic oppression. It is a legitimate practice. So even though it can be denied as a queer text, it can also very very well be viewed as a definite queer text. We are choosing to queer it here. It is not as explicit as it could be, but it is still very bold, suggestive coding considering the homophobic world we live in, and especially with KH2 being released in 2004.

“But Age Gap!” (ughhhhh)

We’re back to this cuz I also finally have the Japanese version of that infamous page in the Day’s novel to look at.

I hope you’ll forgive me if I get a little bit salty but I don’t like to repeat myself lol so I’m gonna try to keep this section short and to the point.

In this interview with Nomura, he expresses that nobodies do not age, and they exist as they were at the time of becoming a nobody. He then suggests Xemnas seems 30 ish.

Now I truly do not care to hold your hand through the process of thinking creatively because you should be using your own imagination, if you have one, to think critically and creatively about what this idea means.

Kingdom Hearts is a FANTASY game. Nobodies are a FANTASY concept. They can break ALL the rules about real life that you want them to. But I will go ahead and explain this for you even though I’ve already done it many times, in this very document even and in other meta posts.

The body reflects the heart. Nobodies are frozen as they are from the moment they are “born”, which is to say the moment they are created. Glorified zombies. They aren’t going to age unless they form a heart. Why does Xemnas look 30? He has a heart! Or he was formed 10 years after TerraNort defected. You tell me. Why did Ienzo age? I dunno, you tell me! Either he formed a heart and didn’t know it, (he’s passionate about his work, he loves Ansem the Wise, any number of things could’ve made him form a new heart), or he was nobodied later in life. Axel is frozen at whatever age he was when he was nobodied, all the while Ienzo could’ve been nobodied 10 years later. It’s a fantasy, and these are fantasy rules. That scenario can happen. YOU decide. Until the canon tells us for sure, your imaginations can run wild with explanations. Even if the canon does tell us, you can still imagine whatever you want for your own headcanons. Freedom is amazing, it’s salty and sweet.

Now let’s talk about that annoying page in the Days novel people keep shoving in my face.

This one right here. The official english translation is this:

That’s not the worst translation I’ve seen them put out there. But let’s look closer at the Japanese:

Here, Axel says he thinks Roxas is about 10 years separate from himself, but things like age don't exist for nobodies.

Already that’s making a lot more sense to me for nobodies since we are told nobodies do not age. As such Axel speaking like he is 10 years older would feels almost contradictory when he has no heart and cannot change.

This wording is important. Recall me saying that Japanese is very vague so all of the context matters. No one is denying that 10 years passed between Birth By Sleep and Axel meeting Roxas. However. Nobodies don’t age.

(please dont make me explain that a third time in this essay alone)

The Japanese and English both express that age does not apply to nobodies, (as discussed above^^^^) and the Japanese furthers this with its wording. They have 10 years of separation between Axel being nobodied, and Roxas existing.

Axel saying in English that Roxas is simply 10 years younger than himself is rather misleading considering the ambiguity of the original. I can’t fault the translators too much for not understanding this nobody concept so well because it is obviously confusing. However, I do not think Axel was saying Roxas is literally, in real life human somebody terms, 10 literal physical years younger than him. He is expressing that he became a nobody 10 years ago whereas this guy became a nobody very recently, and it shows with how little he can even function right now. A zombie who has been wandering around with no heart for 10 years meets a fresh zombie wandering around with no heart for 1 day.

I know antis are gonna use it against us no matter what, but at least know that akuroku is not inherently pedophilia nor is it inherently an adult/minor ship.

In many of our headcanons, Axel was frozen at age 18 or 19, with Roxas being 16. Absolutely no one is required to view them with a big age gap because imagination is free and you literally have no right to police it, but also because the canon expresses these nobodies as beings outside of the realm of age. They do not operate under real life rules or somebody rules. Think of Steven Universe where Rose was thousands of years old but only “grew up” as a person when she fell in love with Greg, a human in his 20s-30s who asked her to consider other people’s feelings. Consider the mind of a nobody as a state of Neverland. You aren’t gonna age unless you step out of it and change. Mature. Isn’t it sad that Axel did not feel like he had a heart until Roxas? No wonder people ship it!

Coding is Obvious

Finally I wanna conclude on a simple thought. This interview right here? I’d be curious what the original Japanese actually says lol but the english translation of it says that romantic akuroku was not Nomura’s intent.

Here’s the thing though. If you know anything about queer coding, you know that using romantic coding between 2 male characters is signaling something. It is not something you should ignore. It would not be there if the characters were meant to be viewed as objectively straight. And for something “unintentional”... there sure is a lot of coding at work here.

From Axel pinning Roxas down and asking him to come home in a very sexually suggestive pose,

to watching the sunset in sheer bliss together just enjoying the peace of reunion,

to watching the sunset together while talking about what LOVE is, specifICALLY romantic love,

To this. And I already told you what this was in Japanese.

I’m not saying Nomura lied…

But I am saying that a whole staff worked together to create these games, and it is very difficult for me to believe that no one thought to say “these characters appear to be romantic, let us change the scene to be more platonic” if the characters were not meant to be romantically suggestive.

Tl;Dr I wanna live in the timeline where people let you ship akuroku lol

#akuroku #akrk #axel kh #roxas kh #kingdom hearts

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penebui · 4 years

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Lgbt manga pt.1

If you had to put up with my sorry ass for a few years then yes you know that I have been searching for lgbt mangas!! I put up with the pain of going through most genres that sexualize/fetishize gender identities and sexualities (like yaoi and gender bender) and reading mangas to find if they have lgbt content so you dont have to suffer the pain of trying to! Clown on this post and please face my wrath

Keep in mind that these aren’t in order of ratings!! Its just a list. I also give summaries of the plot, the things that make it lgbt, and some content warnings!!

1. Welcome to Room #305! by Wanan

Kim Jung Hyun moves into an apartment (room #305) with a friend of a friend, named Kim Homo! Who (you guessed it) is gay! As Jung Hyung begins to live with Kim Homo, he slowly learns to accept him for his sexuality. Once he overcomes his homophobia and completely accepts him for who he is, other lgbt characters pop in too!! They all have their struggles with their identities, and it is very realistic, but the art style helps keep all that angst at bay! As far as english translations go, we have several lesbian characters, and a trans guy. You can read the english translation on several manga sites, but if you want the link to the original since this is a webcomic, here’s the [link]! Unfortunately english updates are very slow since translation teams have other projects, and legal companies who translate take their sweet precious time.

2. Bokura no Hentai by Fumiko Fumi

The title might seem misleading, however it can be translated as “Our Transformation”! Buckle up buttercup cause this manga will fuck you over emotionally. Three crossdressers meet up after being in a crossdressing group, with different reasons as to why they crossdress. Parou crossdresses to fall in love with a straight guy, Marika is actually a trans woman, and Yui crossdresses as his dead sister to “help” his mother with her grieving. There are some other characters who don’t fit within the gender norms!

Now let me tell you if you are dealing with some trauma and can’t handle very sensitive topics, this manga might not be the one for you. Although it isnt just homophobia and transphobia, it also contains content of sexual harrassment, pedophilia, and suicide. However these topics are not glorified or sexualized. They are trauma of some of the characters and they must learn how to overcome from it individually. However, there is a happy ending for them!! Please let that be known! I enjoyed reading it if sobbing your heart out counts as enjoying it, because it has indeed pulled my heart strings (although I am not a trans woman, I am a trans guy and I can identify with only some of the things Marika goes through, as trans women go through different experiences than trans men and have it harder on them.)

3. Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son) by Takako Shimura

This manga is one of the most well known mangas realistically depicting trans identity. It became popular when an anime adaptation came out! However the anime adaptation only covers the middle school part of our protagonists lives, however it encourages you to read the manga to find out what happens to them and their life! We have two protagonists. Shuichi who identifies as a girl, and Yoshino who identifies as a boy. Shuichi is the primary protagonist while Yoshino serves as a secondary protagonist.

This manga also realistically depicts how hard it is for transfeminine people to come out and be themselves while transmasculine people seem to have it easier (dont clown on this dear fuck). We have lesbian, gay, and genderfluid characters galore! Although they do have some touchy topics like transmisogyny and transphobia in general, it is less heavier than Bokura no Hentai.

Some people might not like the outcome of this story when it comes to Yoshino, however I am content with it because it shows that people should be able to explore their gender identity, and they are welcome to change it anytime as they see fit. Sometimes you won’t figure out your identity if you don’t explore.

4. Shimanami Tasagore / Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani

Also one of the more well known ones, the mangaka of this beautiful story is X-gender and asexual! It follows the protagonist, Tasuku is contemplating suicide as rumors circulate that he is gay at his highschool (he is). He sees a woman jumping off a building nearby and runs to her aid. Her name is Anonymous/Somebody and she sees herself is asexual but other than that she does not like labels, she invites Tasuku inside the building she just jumped off, which contains a group of exclusively lgbt characters.

We have both trans, lesbian, and gay people. We see their struggles. We see how they overcome it. We see how even we ourselves can harm others even if we’re both lgbt. Of course there is homohpobia, transphobia, etc. however it is all handled perfectly and we get the satisfaction of these characters speaking up for either themselves or for each other. I also love Anonymous simply because she doesn’t like labels and chooses not to use them (excluding the asexual part). Not everyone whos part of the lgbt community has a label, however they are still a part of us!

5. Fukakai na boku no subete o (Fukaboku)/ Love me for who I am by Konayama Kata

Fukaboku is a very special manga to me, as it goes in depth on gender identity and sexuality. There are two protagonists, Tetsu who is a cis guy and supposedly straight (we later find out that he is not), and Mogumo, who is both intersex and nonbinary.

Tetsu works as a chef at Question Cafe, and everyone employed in fanlations are called girlyboys, however in the official translation they use otokonoko which is anyone crossdressing as a girl regardless of their gender. There are plenty of transwomen, gay people, etc.! Tetsu falls in love with Mogumo, so he isn’t straight, however he isn’t explicitly gay because he recognizes Mogumo as what they identify as, nonbinary. It is safe to say that he could either be pan, bi, omni, etc. however we can’t confirm since it hasn’t been explicitly stated.

We learn how transfeminine people have certain struggles, like shoes that dont fit them, breasts, and voice feminization. We also have a dose of family struggles when it comes to Mogumo in later/current chapters.

Before you dm me, yes. Yes I know about the shit prequel. The prequel actually features a gay couple in fukaboku. I have read it. Reluctantly even if it was only 24 pages. However just because the prequel is shit does not mean we should cancel Fukaboku. There is a thing called being critical of the content you’re enjoying. If we treated it like cancel y because of x, then things like persona 4 and danganronpa would be cancelled, but lets not get into that.

6. Kanojo ni Naritai Kimi to Boku by Umi Takase

I haven’t heard of this one as much as I have the others, so I was very much pleased when I heard about this! There are two protagonist (yes there are a lot of lgbt mangas with two protags I’ve noticed too), Hime and Akira. Hime has a crush on Akira, who identifies as a girl. However this manga is also realistic, as Akira doesn’t fully ‘pass’ as a girl herself. Hime wants to do anything she can to help Akira feel comfortable on her first day of school wearing a girl’s uniform. Because of Akira being made fun of, Hime shows up to school in Akira’s male uniform to help Akira in solidarity.

Their teachers are fully aware of Akira’s situation, however instead of discriminating her they accept her. Their homeroom teacher helps Hime overcome her internal problem about lashing out at others who try to befriend Akira, and she slowly realizes that just because people can’t accept Akira straight away, they will slowly get used to her and come to terms with the fact that Akira is trans in their own time rather than have it being forced on them.

Hime and Akira make friends slowly and we see that even little things (like calling Akira cute and/or a girl) helps Akira, even if theyre small things we dont usually notice. Hime also struggles with her crush as she sees Akira as a girl, yet she cant accept the fact that shes attracted to girls.

Although Akira doesnt feel the same way as Hime does, she doesnt just like her as a friend, but also not as a lover either. Its safe to say that these two have a quasiplatonic relationship with each other.

7. Yuzu no Koto by Arai Shou

I have noticed that there are plenty of mangas with transfeminine characters as the focus, rather than transmasculine, so heres one for the transmasculines! Ichigo’s best friend Yuzu comes back to school, however he is enrolling as a boy! It is very humorous as Ichigo tries to understand and get used to her best friend’s new identity. Although it is slow as each chapter is a single page, it is hinted that Yuzu has a crush on Ichigo (or if thats just me squinting really hard).

8. Ohana Holoholo by Torino Shino

It is a story about two bi women who are ex-girlfriends, raising one of the women’s baby together as a little family! There is also an idol/actor who helps them out and visits them occassionally! If you want something warming and wholesome, this is the manga for you!!

9. My Androgynous Boyfriend by Tamekou

Wako, a woman who works for a publishing company is in a relationship with an androgynous/genderless man! Her boyfriend wears dresses, makeup, and is an instagram model! It is not necessarily treated as crossdressing. It is handled pretty well, and the chemistry between Wako and her boyfriend is very strong. They both love each other so much and help each other with their hobbies and interests. This is what a loving and healthy relationship is supposed to look like!!

10. Inside Mari by Shuzo Oshimi

It is debatable if this is actually considered lgbt, considered the circumstances, however I put it on this list because it shows how mental illnesses and disorders really feel to the person whos suffering from it. Please read throughout this whole section to understand why.

Inside Mari is about a man named Isao who stalks this young girl named Mari. He follows her back outside of a little convenience store, but when she turns back and looks at him he wakes up inside her body and doesn’t know how to cope with it. He tries to find Mari while putting on a facade and living as her. He meets a girl named Yori who instantly recognizes that Isao isn’t actually Mari from his mannerisms. This girl has had a crush on Mari, just like Isao. Isao tries to prove to Yori that he switched bodies, and when he goes to his apartment, he finds someone living as him, but it isn’t Mari.

The more we delve into this manga, the more we figure out exactly what happened to Mari and Isao. As Isao and Yori visit and retrace his steps, Isao gets flashbacks to memories of Mari. Isao soon realizes that he isn’t actually the real Isao, but a introject of Isao, and that Mari actually has DID because of childhood trauma. The ending is bittersweet, as Mari comes back but Isao unfortunately becomes dormant/disappears since I don’t think what happened was them merging.

11. Seibetsu "Mona Lisa" No Kimi He by Yoshimura Tsumuji

In the world, people can choose what gender they want to be when they’re 12. When they’re 14 their appearance corresponds to their gender. Hinase however, is 18 years old and they still haven’t chosen a gender. They prefer to be neither. However when their two best friends suddenly confess to them, their hormonal development suddenly starts to increase.

Imagery and symbolism is very clear in this manga!! As we revolve around the color blue/cyan and the debate and interpretations of Mona Lisa’s gender. I’m very hopeful that Hinase will stay as nonbinary rather than choosing a gender, simply because both of their best friends confessed and asked them to become the opposite gender to be with them. It is very much hinted that Hinase will be in a romantic relationship with their male best friend however. I love this manga simply because the protagonist doesn’t want to identify as either male nor female.

12. Jun And Kaoru: Pure And Fragrant by Neiki Zui

Jun and Kaoru have a special condition, by midnight they both switch genders. Because they both have this condition, they hang out with each other and help each other with clothing, etc. It should be addressed that these two do not have the “I wish to be a girl/boy” etc. The problem that they have though is their growing crush on each other. They are either genderqueer, or genderfluid, or whatever you prefer since it isn’t directly stated within the manga. They’re not cis or straight! It is a very fun and comedic love story and I wish to see further updates on it!!!

13. Sakura-Chan to Amane-Kun by Asazuki Norito

This story revolves around Sakura who identifies as a girl and Amane who identifies as a boy. Amane spots Sakura dressed as a girl and instantly recognizes her, however instead of belittling her he asks her out on a date, only if she goes as a girl. During school however, they have to pretend to be the gender theyre assigned with while not interacting with each other.

Since there is a lot more but I dont want to break tumblr, I will be making a part 2 and I’ll post it tomorrow!

#lgbt #lgbt manga #manga #lgbtq #lgbtq manga #trans #gay #my post #long post #i enjoy doing stuff like this #prolly because its how i found out i was bigender

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queentaylormademedoit · 5 years

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How Scott Borchetta’s Statement ‘Exposing’ Taylor Swift Actually Proves Her Point Completely

First, here is Taylor Swift’s open letter:

https://taylorswift.tumblr.com/post/185958366550/for-years-i-asked-pleaded-for-a-chance-to-own-my (if the link is being weird you can find it on her tumblr)

And here is the link to Scott Borchetta’s responding statement:

https://t.co/OqGI4GoN3P

(If the link is being weird you can find it on his twitter)

Think he just revealed shocking information that Swift is an evil, crazy, lying woman who just wants to make ~drama~ for no reason? Think again. Let’s break down his statement piece by piece from the beginning.

To refute Borchetta’s misleading opening statements, Taylor Swift’s father was NOT on the shareholders phone calls because NDAs would not have allowed him to communicate any information to his daughter. Instead 13 Management Lawyer Jay Shaudies and Big Machine LLC Shareholder Frank Bell were on the call to represent her side. The hilarious thing is that Borchetta tries to call into question Taylor’s statement that she “woke up to the news (of the sale to Scooter Braun) with the rest of the world” by saying he thinks it is “possible” that they “didn’t say anything to Taylor over the prior 5 days” and “possible” that she “might not have seen” his text, but that he “truly doubts she woke up to the news when everyone else did”. During the time between June 25 to June 27th, the possible deal in SCOTT BORCHETTA’s OWN WORDS, was a “PROPOSED TRANSACTION”. Meaning, the deal was still in discussion, a vote had not occurred yet and Taylor was hoping that the majority of shareholders would not vote in Braun’s favor. On Friday, June 28th Borchetta says 3 of the 5 shareholders voted yes on the proposal.

Scott then says “I personally texted Taylor at 9:06 on Saturday, June 29th to inform her prior to the story breaking on the morning of June 30th so she could hear it directly from me”. That’s right. He said “so she could hear it directly from me” meaning that he knew he would be the first person to contact her with this information, my guess being that for “courtesy” as he puts it (aka image), he wanted it to come from him. Now, he suggests that Taylor must have seen this text message but here’s a couple things: #1: 9:06pm Nashville time IS nighttime and I imagine when you’re Taylor Swift you’re probably doing something or exhausted and sleeping, #2: MORE IMPORTANTLY it is extremely unlikely that Taylor was in Nashville. many believe that she was in London at this time (where she has a residence with her sweet British man), in which case it would have been 3AM for her. Even if she was in New York it would have been 10pm and she’s TAYLOR SWIFT she probably gets a million messages to go through a day, not to mention probably tries to have some semblance of a personal life. So yes, she did in fact “wake up to the news” that this deal was officially made, with the rest of the world. This is such a stupid detail that Taylor has absolutely no reason to lie about but Scott Borchetta tried to call her character into question with it so there ya go, it’s been addressed.

Moving on.

Her 13 Management team attorney is Donald S. Passman (also known as ‘the author of music law’-Roy Trakin, Grammy.com) who went over the initial “offer” (if you can even call it that) which Scott Borchetta made to Taylor. As Passman has explicitly said in public statements, “Scott Borchetta never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a check in the way he is now apparently doing for others”. This “offer” was NOT for such a purchase.

Taylor Swift had expressed to Scott Borchetta multiple times that she wanted a chance to bid outright for control of her masters, but was always denied. Considering how much her body of work of the last 13 years means to her (6 record-breaking, award winning albums with songs she penned from the heart), Taylor was reluctant to walk away, because she knew Borchetta would likely sell, and she’d never own her masters. So, her team discussed the possibilities of what control she could get over her works if she stayed for 7 years, but Scott Borchetta “offered” back that she stay on for 10 more years and could essentially earn these rights in trade for new materials created with the label. That is basically trapping her into a continuous cycle.

Scott is aware that this was not a good deal, as he defends himself in his statement saying, “We are an independent record company. We do not have tens of thousands of artists and recordings. My offer to Taylor, for the size of our company, was extraordinary. But it was also all I could offer as I am responsible for over 120 executives and their families”. While he tries to tug the heartstrings of readers to make him look so caring, the fact of the matter is this: Taylor Swift was the ONLY massive superstar that Scott Borchetta was ever able to get onto his label (not to mention she was his first client and the label was literally created because he found her and convinced a 15 year old girl and her family that in signing a 12 year contract he would remain loyal and supportive because ‘music has value’). Without Taylor’s works on the label, no big deal executive would likely want to buy it and certainly wouldn’t be worth $300 million. If Scott Borchetta really cared about the fact that he is “responsible for over 120 executives and their families” and believed that “music has value” he could have been open to the possibility of Taylor staying on for 7 more years and having greater ownership of the art she creates.

So, when Scott Borchetta stated that “Taylor Swift had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated with her career” he really means that she had the chance to very slowly gain these things back over the period of 10 YEARS in exchange for new music (which many have compared to a scare tactic, because he knew losing her would make his label next to worthless). That is not an opportunity for a purchase. Borchetta says Taylor chose to leave, and that is true: she made the excruciating decision to leave because she realized that if she stayed with Big Machine she would never be treated with the respect she deserved to own all that she creates. Also, I imagine being the only pop superstar on a small country artists label likely had its downsides. So, she sacrificed the rights to her past in exchange for a freer future. A painful choice, knowing that Scott Borchetta would likely sell one day, but she never imagined that he would be so disrespectful as to sell to Scooter Braun.

Now, let’s get into that part where Scott Borchetta gets EXCEPTIONALLY DESPICABLE :)

He says that he “certainly never experienced” Taylor “‘being in tears or close to it’ anytime Scooter Braun’s name was brought up”. That’s pretty much her word against his, but regardless of wether or not he knew she was about to cry in such moments, he knew that there was conflict. Borchetta writes, “Was I aware of some prior issues between Taylor and Justin Bieber? Yes,”. Those “issues” as absolutely everyone knows, DIRECTLY INVOLVED Scooter Braun, as was evident when Justin Bieber posted that photo to Instagram of himself FaceTiming Kanye, Scooter Braun, and another man I have yet to identify, captioned “Taylor Swift what up”.

That post showed that these men were publicly laughing at what a lot of people thought would be Taylor Swift’s downfall. At that time, Kim Kardashian (Kanye’s wife) had released snippets of an orchestrated phone call between Kanye and Taylor which was recorded without Taylor’s knowledge. In that “scathing phone call” Kim shared with the world, Taylor agreed for Kanye to include the line “I think me and Taylor might still have sex”, in his new song, which she said was provacative but fine. In that phone call Kanye said he would have her listen to the full song later, but this never happened. He then went on to release the song and music video in which he used the line “I made that bitch famous” (supposedly referencing when he grabbed the microphone out of her hand during her VMA speech when she was 19 years old, to say he thought Beyoncé should have won, much to the disdain of Beyoncé), implying that he was the reason for her (actually hard-earned success), and showed her naked likeness in a hyperrealistic wax figure lain next to him in a bed. He also showed other celebrities nude in this same way, which I personally found equally disturbing. The figures were so realistic that articles immediately came out with headlines like “Was Anyone Real In Kanye West’s Famous Video?”. I agree with Taylor Swift’s statement that this was a form of revenge porn. He visually stripped her naked without her consent in front of the entire world because instead of taking accountability for his own actions (HE is the one who ran onstage and grabbed that mic in 2009 and made himself look like a huge jerk), he decided it was in some twisted awful way her fault that he did that. It tarnished his image, and he dreaded having to publicly apologize to her afterwards even though Taylor was very accepting and actually thought they’d started fresh and new, happily sharing this news publicly.

So yes, I agree with Taylor Swift that those actions should be classified as a form of revenge porn. And I think that anyone who dares to say that her suffering isn’t ‘bad enough’ to call it that, I say you don’t get to determine how profoundly damaging someone else’s level of pain from an experience that you did not have is.

There no possible way that Scott Borchetta was not aware of the extremely difficult position Taylor Swift was in at that time, because the ENTIRE WORLD was aware of it. And Scooter Braun’s implications as manager of Kanye West were without a doubt, known to Scott Borchetta.

In his post, Borchetta continues, claiming, “there were also times when Taylor knew that I was close to Scooter and that Scooter was a very good source of information for upcoming album releases, tours, etc, and I’d reach out to him for information on our behalf. Scooter was never anything just positive about Taylor,”. Taylor being fine with Borchetta communicating with Braun to get information about things like upcoming albums/tours hardly means a thing. If Borchetta had a business source he could ask for information without Taylor’s direct involvement, of course she wouldn’t care. And of course Scooter Braun would not be dumb enough to say bad things about Taylor Swift directly to the owner of Taylor Swift’s label. Obviously, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t share such thoughts to others (go check out Todrick Hall’s recent tweets).

Now, here is where Borchetta goes for a REALLY LOW BLOW:

Borchetta writes, “He [Scooter Braun] called me directly about Manchester to see if Taylor would participate (she declined). He called me directly to see if Taylor wanted to participate in the Parkland March (she declined),”. In this disgusting last-ditch attempt to suggest that Taylor didn’t care about the victims of Manchester or Parkland, Borchetta is actually making it clear that TAYLOR SWIFT REFUSED TO ACCEPT AN INVITATION FROM A MANIPULATIVE MAN WHO SHE KNEW HATED HER. Meaning, Scott Borchetta was FULLY AWARE that Swift did not want to work with Braun. Everyone reacts to tragedy differently. Taylor Swift went on to show her love for the victims of those terrible incidents and her opposition to hatred that caused them. Taylor immediately expressed her sympathies on Twitter and honored the Manchester bombing victims on her Reputation stadium tour, on the night when she performed in Manchester. With Scooter Braun being the manager of Ariana Grande, the artist who was performing the night of the Manchester attacks, it makes sense that Taylor wouldn’t have felt entirely comfortable with the situation. She publicly announced her support for the March for Our Lives movement (started by the students of Parkland High School), and made a generous donation to the cause. Furthermore, Swift has gone on to discuss her personal fear of such attacks (many people have stalked her/broken into her home/tried to get onstage etc), her belief that in the importance of preventing such tragedies and the extra preventative efforts she now goes to in order to keep her fans safe in various interviews. Borchetta’s attempt to suggest that Swift has anything but the deepest sympathies for those tragedies is absolutely revolting.

Finally, Borchetta closes his list of lies with the text message he received from Taylor when she told him of her news to leave Big Machine. In this message, she is kind, heartfelt and respectful of the past that they built together. Borchetta tried to take advantage of this kindness by placing it there as if her politeness and choice to go means she had no interest in a better deal with Big Machine at all.

I’ll include this message in its entirety below, so you can read it for yourself:

Scott,

I hope this finds you well. Since communication ran dry on our negotiations, I’ve done what I told you I would do and gone out exploring other options. Owning my masters was very important to me, but I’ve since realized that there are things that mean even more to me in the bigger picture. I had a choice whether to bet on my past or to bet on the future and I think knowing me, you can guess which one I chose. I also saw a rare opportunity to effect positive change for a lot of other artists with the leverage I have right now. I know you believe in the same things I do and I’d like to think you would be proud of what I’ve negotiated for in my deal. I wanted to tell you first that I’ll be signing with Lucian. I honestly truly cherish everything you and I have built together and I plan on saying so in my announcement of the new deal. What we accomplished together will be a lasting legacy and a case study on excellent partnerships, and may it continue. I still view you as a partner and friend and I hope you feel the same. Sending you a hug and my most sincere gratitude.

And SO much love,

Taylor

I think she makes it very clear that although she was disappointed, she weighed her options and decided to “bet on” her future instead of her past. Meaning, when Borchetta refused to offer her the ownership she wanted, she had to respect her own capability enough to make the difficult choice to walk away. She closes with the statement, “I hope you feel the same. Sending you a hug and my most sincere gratitude, and SO much love,” which shows that she hoped he would continue to regard her and her work with the same care and respect she showed him, even when disappointed.

Scott also includes the email he sent Taylor letting her know about the decision to sell to Scooter Braun:

Dear Taylor,

Hope all is well and congratulations on the success of your first two singles from “Lover”!

I can’t wait to hear the entire album…

I wanted to pass along to you the same courtesy that you passed along to me in regard to my future.

Tomorrow morning (Sunday, June 30th) at 10a central, the Wall Street Journal will announce that I am entering into a merger/acquisition with Scooter Braun and Ithaca Holdings. This move will give us more pop culture super-power than ever before and I’m so excited about the future.

I want you to know that I will continue to be the proud custodian of your previous works and will continue to keep you and your team abreast of all future plans for releases of you work.

Nothing but the best,

Scott

The letter is polite and to the point, because he has no need to say something nasty. His actions speak loud enough. He was greedy. Taylor knew Borchetta would sell to someone, but that fact that Borchetta went through with selling the life’s work of a talented woman he knew since she was fourteen years old to one of her greatest public intimidators is the ultimate betrayal.

For everyone saying, “well, that’s just business”, I have some news for you. There are good, loyal people out there in business. There doesn’t seem to be many of them, but they exist, and Scott Borchetta pretended to be one of them. This is a matter of moral principle. Of loyalty. Of ‘valuing music’. Taylor Swift isn’t ‘playing the victim’ and she didn’t ‘send people to attack a good man’. She wasn’t ‘bitching’. She isn’t ‘feuding’. She’s speaking her mind. She’s speaking the truth. She’s warning other artists to look out for themselves and she’s holding people accountable for their actions.

I am so, so proud of her.

Forever a Swiftie,

Grace

@taylorswift @taylornation

#we stand with taylor #yes i write essays about taylor swift in my free time #swifties #taylor swift #taylor nation #taylurking #swiftie blog #Lover #Big Reputation #taylor swift blog #share with people who dont understand whats going on please #artists deserve better #artists deserve to own their own work #give taylor her music back #give taylor her masters

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ask-de-writer · 5 years

Text

Today’s WIP is INSURANCE, a Grumpy Goat <tail>

This WIP is not age restricted. Like all Grumpy <tails> it is rated YA.

INSURANCE

a Grumpy Goat <tail>

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

7813 words Presently written The story is incomplete

THIS A WORK IN PROGRESS

Writing begun 02/08/18

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Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions. All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions are actively encouraged.

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I was down in the Ponyville Hall of Records, doing one of my most favorite things. I was paying Mol, the somewhat elderly mare who ran the place, seventy bits in contract registration fees. She was happily sorting my most recent contracts and doing all of those clerkly things connected to registering them and making them all into totally legal ruin, bad luck and doom for ponies in and around Ponyville, all paid for in advance by OTHER PONIES from in and around Ponyville! My business is Non Equine magic, conducted by carefully drawn and publicly registered contracts.

Mol was looking at the pile as she shook her head. “They certainly are keeping you busy with your Non Equine magic practice, aren't they, Grumpy, my favorite dead goat?”

The glamor spell that lets any other being see my otherwise invisible spirit body smiled as I replied, “They certainly are, Mol, my lovely. Seven contracts yesterday alone and not a one that is a minimum fee job. All from 500 golden bits on up.”

Mol smiled as she filed the papers. It always tickles her fancy that I pretend that she is both young and beautiful. It is our game. “I am surprised that any of Ponyville is still standing, Grumpy. Before you started registering your Non Equine magic contracts, I had no idea that so many ponies wished each other such ill will.”

Mol sighed and leaned on the polished hardwood of the counter. “There is something that you should know about, Grumpy. One of the agents for Canterlot Casualty and Life got caught trying to sneak a registered policy out of the files here. It was your old Home Owner's and Life Insurance policy. You know, the policy that they gave you so much trouble settling when your old house here in town got burned down by that anti goat mob.”

That captured my attention entire. “Perhaps I should take a look at that policy, Mol, my beauty. I was led to believe that it was over and done with after the court ordered settlement was paid on my house.”

Grinning like she had just performed a magical trick, Mol reached under the counter and produced a fat envelope. “Somehow, Grumpy, I suspected that you would want to take a look.”

Whistling tunelessly, I leafed through the pages of a policy that I had last seen while being bullied by a Canterlot Casualty and Life agent. I was younger, less experienced and recovering from serious burns along with some broken bones at the time, so I was easier to mislead than I am now. I could easily see WHY they wanted to steal the only copy of this little time bomb.

When I took out the policy, I was new to Ponyville and had named MYSELF as the beneficiary. At the time, I did not know anybody else well enough to just hoof over the whole 5,000 bits to, should I die. True, though it took suing them to get it, they had paid off on my house and contents after the Celestian Church anti goat mob attacked me and set fire to my home.

It was Mol who pointed out to me the deadly part of the policy that was being stolen. Attached to the policy was a Royal Chancery copy of my death certificate with a note of the date that the company was notified that I was formally deceased and must be paid the death benefit of 5000.00 golden bits.

Serenely she hoofed over a separate sheet with the interest and penalties calculated on it. Mol said, “Due to the fifteen year delay so far, the wonders of compound interest, not to mention late fees, based on the total amount owing, Grumpy, they owe you just over 1,000,000 Golden Bits!”

I looked up in something like shock. Batting the eyelashes that I don't actually have, I commented, “Mol, my darling sweet pony, I thought that I was the evil one here! What led you to check this out for me?”

Gone dead serious and weeping just a little, she leaned heavily on the counter as she replied, “A few months ago, my brother Brownie was killed in a cart accident over on the Falmire Cutoff. He was pulling a two wheel delivery wagon and a big brewery wagon cut too close to him. Their front axle end took out spokes on Brownie's right wheel. That flipped his cart and dumped him onto his side. The brewery wagon ran over his neck with their rear wheel. It killed him on the spot.

“Canterlot Casualty and Life tried to bully poor Vanner, his widow, into taking only half of his standard life insurance value. They tried to tell her that Brownie had set up the accident and that his death was a suicide! They claimed that they did not have to pay anything and were being GENEROUS in offering her HALF of the standard death benefit.

“Judge Coldheart listened to the case and ordered them to pay the full double indemnity for accidental death forthwith. Even so, Vanner did not get her check for nearly three weeks.”

I looked up (goats like me are little guys) and asked, “Would it be too much trouble to request full copies of this policy and attachments, my lovely mare?”

Her smile returning, Mol slid the documents that I had been studying across the polished hardwood of the counter. “I was pretty sure that you would want them, Grumpy. These are official copies. I paid for them myself. If anyone can kick Canterlot Casualty and Life in the rump, it is you!”

I neatly folded everything back into its envelope, reached up to take Mol's hoof in my own glamored ones and gave her a kiss on the hoof. “That my lovely sweet young mare is for your kindness. Adieu, my lovely mare, until I next have business for you. You may be assured that I will keep you informed about this little matter, too.”

I took my leave, tail flipping about with pleasure.

Nearing the offices of Canterlot Casualty and Life, I thoughtfully let the glamor spell on my invisible spirit body go. I did cast one more small glamor to make my very solid saddlebags turn invisible as well.

I waited until some ponies were going in and joined them, thus entering the office without being noticed. Even if nopony could see it, I smiled. This was my idea of fun!

The Ponyville branch manager's door was shut. I did the simplest thing possible. I knocked. At his call of, “Come in!” I did. And shut the door behind me. The dark blue unicorn with a pale purple mane and tail sitting behind the desk looked up after a few moments of determined looking but bogus paper shuffling.

Irritated that his act of being terribly busy but managing to find a little time for the client was apparently wasted, he returned to actually doing some sort of paperwork. I let that drag on for a few moments before returning his 'shot across my bows' with a broadside of my own!

Without bothering to become visible in any way, I stated, “We need to talk. Specifically, we need to discuss the fifteen year delayed payment of the Grumpeter Goat life insurance claim.”

He gave away that he knew exactly what I was talking about by his ghastly start and near choking before he managed to snap, “I have no idea what you are talking about!”

“Really? Then your agent, or should I say accomplice, was lying to the nice police officer? You know, the one who arrested him for trying to steal the original registered policy from the Hall of Records. He said that he was just following his boss' orders. HIS boss. That would be YOU.”

Trying to shift the conversation to safer ground, he demanded, “At least have the courtesy to show yourself!”

That gave me an idea that was so mean and evil that I just had to do it! I faded slowly into view, my glamor spell taking the form of a maggot and corruption leaking goat zombie!

I love glamors. They are such easy spells, once you get the hang of them. And I have had YEARS of practice!

From his expression, Mister Stallheart (at least that is what his desk sign said) was not having the best of days! Score another one for the 'evil goat'!

I reached into an apparently rotting saddlebag and produced my nice clean papers! I laid them on the desk in front of Stallheart. He recoiled from them as if they were deadly serpents. From his point of view, maybe the serpents would have been preferable.

They were the copies of the policy with attached death notice, my death certificate, and the calculation of just how much they owed by trying to be cheapskates and not pay a goat.

Stallheart tried to gather them all into one of the files on his desk. I placed a corrupted appearing but sturdy hoof on them. “Those are MY copies. If you need copies, I can make them for you. Only five copper a page. If you already have copies, then simply give mine back.”

Stallheart had to open the file to get some of my papers back out. There, right on top, was THEIR copy of my death certificate. There were other papers under it. Considerably more than just the policy. More importantly it proved that the Grumpeter Goat file that he 'knew nothing about' was right there on his desk! Even worse for him, it was the file that he had tried to sweep my copies into, meaning that he knew EXACTLY where it was.

With ill grace, he returned my papers, stating, “I thought that you were giving me those copies.”

The nice blank cover of the file turned bright red. Truth testing spells are easy and quick to do. And VERY useful. My grin appeared to be losing several teeth and some maggots seemed to be leaking out!

I pointed to the red cover and and suggested, “Next time that you know that you are facing a being who knows Non Equine magic, lying is not a good idea.

“In two days, another 2,500 golden bits late penalty will be due and added to the balance owing and subject to interest. I will not be back down from my cave in that time. If you wish to discuss the payment or terms for payment, you will have to come to me.”

I took my papers and my leave. Corrupted appearance or not, I felt far cleaner after I left Stallheart's office. I did not bother to remove the zombie glamor until I was well away from the offices of Canterlot Casualty and Life. I resumed my usual town glamor as a handsome piebald black, brown and tan goat with full curl horns, just like I used to be before the little necromantic accident that killed me about fifteen years ago.

I wended my way through the “cosmopolitan downtown” of Ponyville and turned up Mane street. I figured that a nice big clover top burger with onion rings and a clotted cream milkshake would be just the ticket to clear the bad taste of dealing with Mister Stallheart.

Caramel Treat's Sweets is a restaurant that is always good for what ails me. Caramel Treat and her mate Fangrin are two of the finest werewolf ponies that a goat could hope to meet. Their extremely heightened werewolf senses make them superb cooks. Their waitress, Peanut Brittle is another treasure. She is a true golden palomino, a rare color pattern among ponies. She is also the reason that I don't hate all ponies, only most of them!

Peanut took in a badly burned goat with broken bones and nursed me back to health. That was just after Caramel and Fangrin, in their wolf forms, rescued me from an anti goat mob fomented by the now defunct Celestian Church.

Such times are now thankfully behind us all. Even more thankfully, the friendships formed back then are still strong.

Peanut saw me coming up the street and called, “Your usual, Grumpy?”

As I settled myself at an outdoor table, I replied, “Of course! Am I so predictable as all that, Peanut?”

Flirting her tail playfully as she went in to deliver my order, she chirped, “Yes, you are!”

That settled, she began to industriously set up my tray.

Looking into the interior of the shop, usually only opened in bad or cold weather, I noticed a nanny with two kids at a table. They appeared to be about as happy as a dying creature is when seeing vultures spiraling overhead. Having a well developed curiosity bump, I pointed to them and asked Peanut, “What is their story?”

Peanut explained, “They are Graymak's family. He was a really nice goat who helped us with our first Nightmare Night celebration and lots of them since. He passed on about a month ago. Canterlot Casualty and Life has been refusing to pay his insurance and his family are on really hard times.” As she mentioned Canterlot Casualty and Life, Peanut's lovely snout wrinkled in disgust.

She went on, “Caramel found out and she is feeding them for free. I wish that we could do more.”

I paused in sucking on my milkshake. Squinting my eyes in thought, I offered, “I can help. Find out what they need. This evil old dead goat will pay it. I will collect it back later from Canterlot Casualty and Life.”

Peanut actually gave me a hug and said, “Thanks, Grumpy. I am sure that Nalit and the kids will appreciate your help.”

Werewolf hearing and other senses have to be experienced to be believed. The lovely caramel tan colored pony that is Caramel Treat in her pony form came out and sat by me. “I heard what you said, Grumpy. Graymak and his friends were really important to me. If you are going to take care of Nalit, this meal is on me.”

I shrugged. “It is not a problem, Caramel. Have them bring all of their receipts, bills and notices here. I will pay it all out of my funds. I will give them a living stipend too, while this business of their life insurance is sorted out.”

Caramel nodded thoughtfully and asked, “Got any of your blank contract forms along, Grumpy? Perhaps we could, um, you know, sort of expedite the payment?”

I just had to grin at that one! A grin with fangs in it! I do so love the flexibility of appearance that glamors allow me! I stated, “Capital idea, Caramel! It just so happens that I do! I also have another claim that might get sort of folded into the contract! Here, take a look at this.”

I fished out my old policy and and the sheet of figures on how much Canterlot Casualty and Life owed ME.

Whistling tunelessly, Caramel stared at the total due. Then she offered, “You know, Grumpy, it could be really fun to put those scavengers in a corner where they had to pay EVERY outstanding claim HONESTLY.”

I blinked about three times, stunned by the sheer beauty of the idea. Recovering quickly, I fished out a blank contract and started to fill in the cover page! I innocently pointed out, “I do have to be paid for this, you know, Caramel. Would ten copper bits be too much?”

Caramel smiled, a wolf's tongue lolling out between fangs that normally had no place in a pony! “I see, Grumpy! That is the smallest sum that you can make exact change for your 10% refund, if the contract fails! Somehow, I think that if Fangrin and I try REALLY hard, we can manage to raise the sum!”

Chuckling, she hoofed over a single silver bit, worth exactly ten copper bits.

I quickly filled in a results page that would have horrified the Canterlot Casualty and Life Board of Directors that sit in Canterlot if they had seen it.

I became aware that I was being watched by more than just Caramel. The nanny, Nalit and her kids were watching in fascination too. She bleated quietly, “How does something like this work? I mean, it just looks like a simple contract to cause something that is totally out of our hooves to happen.”

I nodded cheerfully. “Completely correct, Nalit. The fly in reality's ointment is that little thing called Non Equine Magic. I won't go into detail about how it works or is done but the results spelled out here on the results page will appear to work out by entirely ordinary means no matter how bizarre those means wind up being. Point is, that those 'ordinary means' will be guided by this contract to leave us with the results that we want. Nothing flashy, just the world deciding to go OUR way, instead of THEIR way.”

Peanut interrupted to bring out my clover top burger, onion rings and seconds on my shake. She also had the food for Nalit and brood.

Caramel looked over the results page and laughed out loud. She also signed the contract on the spot! Chortling, she suggested, “Looks like you are going to have to go see Mol again today, Grumpy!”

That brought a most welcome spectator. Coalsmoke's lovely voice asked, “Doing a contract here at Caramel's, Grumpy? I thought that you only did your business up at your cave. What is this, may I see? It is going to be publicly registered, after all.”

I smiled with delight that was only partly due to the presence of Ponyville's most beautiful and smartest business mare. “I would be delighted to have you look over this particular contract, Coalsmoke, my dear friend. While you are at it, have whatever you want, on me. Consider it a consultation fee. I want to be sure that I have done this particular piece of business as well as I can.”

Coalsmoke turned her beautifully conformed head to Peanut and said, “You heard our favorite dead goat, Peanut. I will have your surf and turf, with the clover steak done rare. Put an asparagus salad on the side and I will have the honey apple cocktail, thank you, dear.”

Turning back to me she took the contract and her eye brows shot up in surprise. “Only ten bits? You must really have it in for them! Let's see who it is!”

She flipped past the legal boiler plate first page and started to read the results page. She put it down and chuckled deep in her throat. “Don't change a thing, Grumpy! I really want to see this one work out. I used to use Canterlot Casualty and Life as a benefit for my workers. When I found out how bad their payout policy was I dropped them like a rock.

“I got together with Ponyville Trust and Loan and we set up an honest insurance system for my workers.”

I picked up everything, folding and sorting the pages into three envelopes. One, I tucked into my saddlebag for my files. I gave the second to Caramel, who had paid for it and signed it.

The last one I took with me as I bid my friends and company adieu. “I must away to the registry! See you later!”

Coalsmoke held up a book, calling, “Catch you up at the cave, Grumpy! I have the new Daring Do for our reading!”

With a spring in my step, I dashed back to the town hall and the Hall of Records. Mol greeted me, “Goodness, Grumpy! Your business must really be brisk today! In here TWICE?”

She took the envelope and opened it. As fast as she saw the target of this contract, she beat me to paying the registry fee! As she hoofed over the few bits, she commented, “This couldn't happen to a better company! I can't wait to tell Vanner about this!”

Back up at my cave, I heard familiar voices. Coalsmoke was speaking to somepony with a voice that was both soft and dream like. I had to wonder what could have brought Princess Luna to my humble abode. More to the point, I had wonder what happened to her usual squad of guards.

I kept the glamor of my handsome piebald black, brown, and tan goat self as I stepped up onto the ledge in front of my cave. Princess Luna, Coalsmoke and the Litch King, Lord of the Dead, known to his few friends as Clarence were quietly chatting. Luna's Royal Guards were sitting off to one end of the ledge and not even trying to be the officious, class conscious pack of clowns that they usually appear to be.

Luna cheerfully called out, “Grumpy! I am playing hooky! Lord Rockbottom's lawn party will have to do without me. Thank whatever goodness there is for that. In over three thousand years, I have never attended any event more boring than one of Lord Rockbottom's lawn parties.”

I pretended to be stunned by the thought. “You came here instead of going to one of Rockbottom's wonderful parties? How astounding.” It was an act. A bad one. I have been to ONE of Lord Rockbottom's lawn parties. It was TWO too many.

The Guard Major, in charge of the squad and a veteran of Luna's service, spoke up with mild good humor, “Sir, we have all had his lawn parties inflicted on us.” He raised a hoof to point to the Princess. “She threatened to make us go to his next one if we interfere with her visit to you.”

I grinned as I replied, “That is inhumane! What did you do to bring out the Nightmare in Princess Luna?”

Clarence, sun glinting off the polished bones of his skeleton, observed cheerfully, “I believe that I know what I should do for Lord Rockbottom's eternity! I could inflict an unending lawn party of his own devising on him!”

Princess Luna recoiled and stated, “Clarence! That would be utterly inhumane! And totally appropriate!” She smiled, saber toothed fangs showing in her otherwise perfect face. “May I suggest a guest list, Clarence?”

He tapped his bare front teeth with a bony hoof and pretended to consider the possibility. “That depends, Luna, my dear. Are you sure that you hate all of them that much?”

Coalsmoke, ever the truly practical one, pointed out, “While you are considering that, I have Daring Do and the Adventure of the Singing Sands. We can listen to Grumpy's reading and be serene in the knowledge that WE are NOT at Lord Rockbottom's!”

We were just settling ourselves for reading when Coalsmoke noticed a pony, tiny in the distance, struggling up the trail to my cave. Only grumping a little, the whole entourage trooped into my cave and went on into the back room, closing its iron sheet covered door behind them.

They knew that even though my contracts are publicly registered, many of my clients are quite shy about being seen dealing with the evil dead goat. Got to admit, they mostly do have good reasons for the secrecy. I mean, nearly all of them are trying to cause some sort of meanness or evil for other ponies and don't want to be known as the one responsible. If they stay secret, they can (and do) blame the “evil goat up on the mountain.”

That bothers me not at all. Some of my best friends are ponies, in spite of which, I have an overall detestation of ponies in general. Helping them along the path to an unhappy meeting with Clarence (Lord of the Dead, remember?) and getting well paid for it does not bother me at all. If ponies had been a bit nicer years ago, I would not be dead now. I would also be a lot poorer.

I first raised the Lord of the Dead to gain revenge on ponykind after the afore mentioned mob caused me to hate ponies in general. He and I did make a bargain in regards to my revenge. There were two flaws in what I did. One was a printer's error in the gramarye that I used. The second was that the Lord of the Dead turned out to have a sense of humor.

After I summoned him to make a zombie to rampage among those that wronged me, he advised me not to, pointing out the problems with the idea. He suggested that I have him create an invisible spirit body, controlled by my will alone. On the face of it, it was good advice, so I took it.

The printer's mistake with the pentacles let him take MY body and leave my mind in charge of the invisible spirit body! He left me my skull, neatly aged looking, to wear like a hat for letting others know where I am, unless I take it off, that is.

It has worked out really well, actually. Clarence and I are now friends. He comes and goes freely in my cave.

Back to the unpleasant present. Stepping up onto the ledge in front of my cave was none other than Mister Stallheart, of Canterlot Casualty and Life.

I smiled at him as I inquired, “Mister Stallheart! Do you have money for me or perhaps a payment plan? I am willing to accept either one. A payment plan with a reasonable interest rate would be most welcome!”

He stared down his prominent nose at the apparently ordinary goat speaking to him and replied distastefully, “I have a simple settlement agreement for your signature, Mister Goat.”

I nodded. I am well used to ponies who look down on me because I am a goat. Their disdain is returned with a side helping of disgust at their meanness. Still, gold is gold.

I gestured at my steel fronted cave entrance with its siege rated door. “Do come in, Mister Stallheart. I do all of my business inside, away from prying eyes.”

Without waiting to see if he was following, I trotted in and took my ease in the only easy chair in the front room of my cave. I reached over and lifted my skull with its everburning candle between the horns and glamors of glowing snake-like eyes and big fangs from its stand. I settled it onto my spirit body, replacing my apparent head.

The smooth talking dark blue unicorn with the pale purple mane and tail sat on my carpet and opened his briefcase. He smiled, but not with his eyes. “Now, Mister Goat, I just need you to sign this simple settlement paper here.”

He proffered a pen and sheet that was folded back so that only the signature line showed.

Since I already had a glamor spell on my invisible spirit body to appear as the handsome piebald black, tan and brown goat that I used to be, except for my skull, I reached out a hoof and snagged the whole sheet off the top of his case and unfolded it.

Rattling the largely blank page in front of his eyes, I pointed out, “This is NOT a settlement of my claim! It is a quitclaim on my policy and, in violation of Crowns Law, there is blank space above the signature line.

“That practice was made illegal after sharpers like you conned ponies and others into signing documents and then later filling in ruinous terms that were not there at signing.”

He snapped, “A quitclaim IS a settlement! We will let you off from fraud charges if and only if you sign the quitclaim!

“You cannot sit there in front of me, living and breathing, and pretend to be dead!”

I snickered. “Totally wrong, Sir! I am absolutely deceased! I only breathe when I talk. That is only for appearances and can be dispensed with. The fact of my death has been proved in both the local and Kingdom courts.

“As you are well aware, my death certificate is formally registered in the Ponyville Hall of Records. It is irregular in one regard. The Signing Physician, who also put her seal to the document is none other than Princess Luna herself.”

He snapped, “Canterlot Casualty and Life rejects that document as fraudulent!”

I raised my eyebrows at that. “Really? Well, as this quitclaim demonstrates, you are experts where fraud is concerned! The Royal Seals cannot be counterfeited. Besides my death certificate there are five rulings by both the local and Kingdom courts.”

“Name one case to prove that insanity!”

I promptly returned, “The case was decided under the Royal Wing, from which there is no possible appeal. It is Ponyville Medical Society vs. Grupeter Goat.

“The basis of the case was the Ponyville Medical Society refusing to pay a slander and libel settlement to me. Their grounds were that since I was dead, by my own admission, that any payment had to be made to the executor of my estate, not to me.

“The joint ruling of the Princesses was that the Edict of Equality applied to me. As a still conscious and reasoning being, I remain not only a citizen but am the lawful executor and sole owner of my estate.

“Both Princesses also agreed that the Edict of Equality and Equestrian Citizenship do apply to all deceased individuals whether they be ghosts, vampires, zombies or any other undead being if they retain consciousness and the ability to reason.

“The issuance of my Royally sealed Death Certificate was a part of that case. It so states on it in the actual horn writing of Princess Luna herself. That is why I picked that particular case. You have a copy of the certificate and connected case, I saw them when you tried to swipe my copy of the insurance policy.”

Just at that moment, we heard the creaking of hinges. The door to the back room of my cave opened. Princess Luna and her guards entered, quietly filling the front room and securing the only door to the outside and escape!

Mildly, she said, “Your pardon for the interruption, Grumpy. The reason that I am here and this business of yours that I could not help but overhear are connected. Lord Rockbottom, whose lawn party I am dodging, is the CEO of Canterlot Casualty and Life.

“Do you know of any other problem payouts that they have had?”

I nodded. “Two others, your Highness. The pony Brownie, a brother of Mol, at the Ponyville Hall of Records, was killed in a carting accident. Payment was offered at one half of face value with the claim that the accident was a suicide. They had to sue. When they did, they got an order for double indemnity because of the accident. Their payment was slow in coming after the court order.

“The other is Graymak the goat, a friend of Caramel Treat. His widow Nalit and their kids are on hard times due to the slow payment of the policy death benefit. I have paid their bills and given them a living stipend out of my own pocket.”

That was too much for Stallheart! “You what!? We were holding back on him to be sure that he wasn't murdered! He died under unexplained circumstances!”

I nodded and said sarcastically, “RIIIGHT. He spent his last week in Ponyville General Horsepital with a terminal cancer. His death was attended by his physician, his family and Reverend Smallflower. Which one of them is the murder suspect? Why did you fail in your legal duty to notify the Ponyville authorities of your suspicions?”

Princess Luna was watching and listening with interest.

Stallheart snapped, “You screwed up the foreclosure on the Graymak house and land! That is a valuable property that no mere goats have any right to!”

I pounced on that! “Really? Bleatin' Hallow was the worst land in the Ponyville area. Ponies ignored it for nearly seventy years. It was only after the goats moved in and put a lot of work into the land that it became worth anything. Now it is too good for mere goats? What kind of scavenger are you?”

He growled back, “This ain't got nothing to do with why I am here. Just sign off the quitclaim or get sued for claiming to be dead. Those are your only choices!”

I just smiled serenely as I hoofed over the quitclaim paper to Princess Luna. “Here, my dear Princess, is what he wants me to sign. Could you perhaps educate him on just how deep the cesspool is that he just jumped into?”

She took one look at the sheet and demonstrated that she had learned a great deal in her three thousand years. “Major Lightning, please formally detain Mister Stallheart for multiple violations of Crowns Law.

“This altercation has just become a case under the Royal Wing. Not only have I personally heard violations of the Edict of Equality, I have been presented with a PRINTED contract form from Canterlot Casualty and Life that is in blatant violation of Equestrian Business Law. I have heard what appears to be a criminal conspiracy to deprive the beneficiaries of policy holders of both their proper disbursements and to further victimize the beneficiaries through improper seizure of homes and land.”

Stallheart struggled against being put into restraints but to no avail. There were more guards than he could resist and they were stronger, too. The Royal Guard might be made up of petty nobles, but they are first and foremost, a well trained military unit.

That he was not thinking too clearly became evident in mere seconds! “If this is going to be a trial under the Royal Wing, I demand that Celestia hear the case too!”

Luna grinned in delight! Pulling out a Magic Net mirror, she tapped a few well practiced codes. As soon as Celestia showed in the mirror, Luna began, “Tia! Guess what? I have got you out of Lord Rockbottom's lawn party! We have a demand for both of us to hear a case under the Royal Wing.

“Be sure to let Lord Rockbottom know that the case dragging you away from his excellent entertainment is due to his Ponyville Branch Manager, Mister Stallheart. It appears that he may have involved the company in some minor transgressions.

“One more thing, be sure to stop by the kitchens and pick up the ingredients for Grumpy's clovertop scramble. Enough for about fifteen.

“See you soon, Sis.”

Stallheart was aghast. “You just blackened my name with the CEO of Canterlot Casualty and Life! How could you?”

Mildly, Luna replied, “So far, you have violated the Edict of Equality in my hearing. You have stated that those who developed Bleatin' Hallow from a worthless waste to some of the richest farmland in the area have no right to it.

“In addition, you have stated that a Death Certificate that I personally filled out and sealed was fraudulent. I assure you that it is not. Grumpeter Goat's death was the accidental result of a misprint in the book that he was using as a guide to his Working.”

Stallheart slumped. “OK, we will pay him the million golden bits that he is after. No need for all the rest of this. The big thing is gonna be taken care of.”

At the word “ACCIDENTAL” Coalsmoke's ears pricked up!

Coalsmoke suggested, “Perhaps Her Highness would like to look over your old policy, Grumpy.”

Shrugging, I hoofed it over to Princess Luna. As she flipped through the pages, she frowned. She set the policy down and pulled out a big circular sliding rule. Consulting the policy, she began flipping the sliding rings and the hairline about with the ease of long practice.

Putting down the policy and the calculator, she said, “Canterlot Casualty and Life does not owe you any million golden bits, Grumpy.”

Stallheart curled his lip and sneered, “Been trying to tell him that since I got here! Thanks for confirming it, Princess.”

She looked at him as if he was a lump of sludge that learned to speak. “He was trying to cheat you even here at the last, Grumpy. They owe you about FIVE and a quarter million golden bits. Your death was ruled an ACCIDENT. Double indemnity applies. Just amazing how it grows when the starting sum is TEN thousand instead of five thousand.”

I was simply stunned.

I turned on Stallheart and replied to his earlier attempt to weasel out of this, “Right. We can just forget about all those other policies that that you are cheating on, even to the point of getting the beneficiaries evicted from their homes before you pay them a dime. Not likely.”

In the uncomfortable silence that followed, Stallheart looked like he might want to hide under the carpet or somewhere else inconspicuous.

It was just then that there came a gentle knock at my very solid steel front door. Luna opened it eagerly. She hugged her sister, exclaiming, “Celestia! It is so good to see you! This will be a fun one! Before we can reach a complete verdict, we are going to have to do total audits of both Canterlot Casualty and Life AND Equestrian National Bank! We are going to be free of the Court stuffed shirts for at least a week!”

Celestia snickered, “Thanks for the rescue, Luna. There is only one thing wrong with what you just said. If we are going to be doing a Royal Wing audit of BOTH Canterlot Casualty and Life and Equestrian National Bank, how much do you want to bet that we are going to be horn deep in nobles trying to find ways to stop it? An awful lot of them are heavily invested in one or both of those companies.”

Coalsmoke grinned and replied, “Simple really. Just let it be known that you are looking for some financial wrongdoing by an interlocked cadre of executives in both institutions. Don't say WHAT the wrongdoing is, just that ANY attempt to interfere with your audit will be regarded as complicity and result in financial responsibility by the shareholders involved. ��That should keep them away from the investigation in droves!

“For now, simply require Canterlot Casualty and Life to make insurance payments to beneficiaries promptly and freeze the ability of the Bank to foreclose any properties Kingdom wide, until you directly approve them.”

Luna smiled serenely as she agreed, “We have just been given business advice by one of Equestria's best business mares. I think that we should take it.”

Celestia nodded. “Anything else that we should do, Coalsmoke?”

The lovely pure black mare batted her eyelashes at me as she pointed to me. “Him. Buy a customized truth testing spell from Grumpy, along with the questions that you need to ask of it. I have several of them myself. Great time savers. You can't believe how quickly you start to get honest answers purely by habit when the liars themselves turn ghastly colors according to the degree of the lies that they try to tell you.”

The twins chuckled. I volunteered, “I do have to be paid for the magic to work . . .”

Stallheart interrupted, “That's a greedy goat for you! He never does anything for less than a hundred gold! You are about to be robbed blind!”

I waited him out and went on, “Think that the Equestrian National Treasury can swing ten whole copper bits? We can discuss the exact contract terms over the clover bloom scramble. When we have the contract ready, one of the guards can fly it down to the Registry in the morning. Mol will have closed up and gone home by now.”

Guard Major Lightning spoke up thoughtfully, “We could put Mister Stallheart in a transport net and remove him to the Ponyville Jail as a Royal Prisoner. No point in having him here to listen to all that will be discussed regarding his company and the bank.”

“Well thought on, Major,” Luna replied. She paused to write and seal a note. “Deliver this along with the prisoner. Judge Coldheart needs to be aware of the terms under which he is being held.”

The guards efficiently wrapped Stallheart in the transport net and carried him out, the sound their wings fading in the distance.

The next morning, after a quiet breakfast, Princesses Celestia and Luna, accompanied by their guard, took off from my ledge. Watching them glide down toward Ponyville in perfect formation was an impressive sight.

Coalsmoke and I trotted down the trail, she to return to her many business interests and I to register the truth spell contract. I was chuckling at the idea of so many business ponies in the Equestrian National Bank and Canterlot Casualty and Life turning interesting textures and shades of amusing colors while trying to lie their way out this mess!

We parted company with the agreement to meet for lunch at Caramel Treat's.

As I trotted serenely along Ponyville's well shaded streets I noticed genuine proof that some ponies can actually learn from past errors! Several unicorns that I remembered from the days when they were Celestian Church bullies were quietly crossing the street to avoid any risk of meeting me . . . again! Those “superior” unicorns had provided the public of Ponyville with many amusing mishaps by running afoul of my simple and non lethal defensive spells back during the days of the “Celestian Church”.

My little glamored hooves that really aren't there pattered on the nice carpet runners of the Ponyville town hall as I turned into the Hall of Records. Mol looked at my happy smile and snickered, “A smile like that on you bodes no good for somepony! What is happening now?”

I just hoofed over the contracts and said, “Read them for yourself, my lovely young accomplice in justice.”

Mol was chuckling as she picked up the contracts. “With you Grumpy, those two words usually go together as one word. INJUSTICE!”

Her eyes caught the twin Royal Seals, along with the Seal of their mother, Skyglow, titular Queen of Equestria. Suddenly, Mol became all business, very carefully documenting the contracts. Looking up from her work, she asked seriously, “Why would their Highnesses need customized truth spells?”

My tail was happily flipping about so fast that I almost thought that I should be flying as I replied, “They were requested to do a trial under the Royal Wing! As preparation for the trial, they are doing a TOTAL AUDIT of both Canterlot Casualty and Life and the Equestrian National Bank.

“Besides that, their Highnesses have given both institutions Royal Orders to make immediate payment of insurance claims in full and to cease all foreclosures unless specifically and individually approved by both Celestia and Luna.”

Mol brightened up and suggested, “Perhaps you ought to suggest to their Highnesses that they extend their inquiry here to the Hall of Records. All foreclosures, insurance claims and payments have to be registered.”

“Mol, my sweet and lovely young mare, would you honor me by joining Coalsmoke and I for lunch at Caramel Treat's?”

Shortly, I was at the front door of Canterlot Casualty and Life. My way was blocked by a Royal Guard at first. “No pony or other is allowed in, sir. There is a Royal Audit in progress.”

“I know that, Sargent Cirrus. Please convey to their Highnesses that Grumpy Goat has a suggestion for further inquiry about the matters in question.”

To my surprise, he replied courteously, “Please wait here, sir. I shall relay your message.” He called a replacement to stand guard while he did just that. In only a few moments, he escorted me back to Stallheart's office, where Princess Luna was plowing her way through a stack of documents. She looked up and smiled.

“Hi, Grumpy! What have you got for me?”

“Two things, Princess. First, your truth spells are now registered and active. Second, Mol, down at the Hall of Records, suggested that you double check what you find here with the registry because insurance claims, payments, foreclosures and other title changes need to be registered.”

“I see. I am going to pass that along to Celestia. She is handling the Equestrian National audit. I am sure that she will find the notion as useful as I will.

“Now, I am really busy.” She looked up from her papers with a grin and added, “But not too busy to snag lunch from Caramel Treat's! See you there in about an hour, Grumpy!”

Coming out of the Canterlot Casualty and Life office, I ran into a lovely green mare with lighter green mane and tail. She had her camera along and was getting pictures of the closed office with Royal Guards standing sentry duty at the doors.

I greeted her, “Hi, Romane! If you want the best story on this and the Equestrian National being shut too, come on up to Caramel Treat's with me. Princess Luna will be heading up there in about an hour to get lunch. She is handling the Canterlot Casualty and Life side of the case.”

As we trotted up Mane Street toward Caramel Treat's Sweets, Romane asked, “What exactly is happening, Grumpy? You seem to be in the middle of it, whatever it is.”

I snickered as I replied, “I was just the pebble that set off the landslide. You are aware that I am dead, right? Have been for fifteen years now, correct?”

Romane nodded. “You even have a death certificate signed and sealed by Princess Luna. I remember the trial when you sued the Ponyville Medical Society. Princess Luna even went to the trouble to get your exact date and time of death from the Litch King.”

“Well, it turned out that Canterlot Casualty and Life knew it too. They convinced me that paying off my house ended the policy. Thing is, it had a β5000 death benefit too. They have been ignoring that for the last fifteen years. With interest and penalties, it has grown to a tidy sum.

“They realized that the last copy of the policy that was not in their records was in the Hall of Records. Mol caught them red hoofed trying to steal it.

“That and a few other shenanigans turned up a host of irregularities. Seems that Equestrian National is tied up solidly in the mess, too. There was a demand by one of the ringleaders for a trial under the Royal Wing.

“That has led to the present audits of both institutions as the Princesses gather their evidence.”

#INSURANCE #MLP Fan Fiction #The Annals of Grumpy Goat #Written by De Writer

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angst-in-space · 6 years

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Do you think klance could actually become canon??

in a word: yes.

if you want my very long-winded explanation:

obviously i’m not psychic, nor do i write the show. i’m also a big advocate for lgbt+ representation being a bi person myself, so part of it is just me being hopeful.

but! there are also a lot of things both in canon and hints dropped by the cast/crew that make me think it’s entirely possible.

first things first is of course their development on the show. they’ve been presented as a duo from the very beginning (you know, lance and keith, keith and lance...neck and neck). there’s obviously some kind of significance in their dynamic and they’ve had some of the most emotionally charged (and, i would argue, romantically-coded) moments onscreen––i.e. the iconic bonding moment, that scene where keith floats the black lion up towards lance in the red lion, the Bedroom Scene, etc. and also a lot of just very tropey/rom-com moments; for example, they have the dictionary definition of a meet cute, “oh no we’re trapped in an elevator together,” always swooping in to save each other at the last second, and so on. just from like a writing/narrative standpoint, a relationship between them makes sense, and they parallel a lot of canon endgame couples.

that, and they’ve been shown from pretty early on to work well together and to care about each other despite the “rivalry.” the show has made a point of showing time and time again that lance is often the only one who can get through to keith. lauren herself even said lance was keith’s stability so like?? yeah.

also generally, i’ve always felt that if their entire arc was just enemies-to-friends that it would’ve taken longer. the fact that they went from rivals to friends in the span of like 3 seasons makes me suspect that there’s some Next Step in their relationship. it may not be the main focus of the story, but it’s been there in the background since the first season.

in addition to that, i’m fairly confident there will be lgbt+ rep in the show and i will be really shocked if there isn’t. the cast/crew tend to kind of dodge questions about it––which is shitty, i know, but it also makes me highly suspicious that they wouldn’t be so weird about it unless there is some kind of major rep. if there wasn’t going to be anything they could’ve just shot it down by now, but them always giving kind of “we’ll see ;)))” sort of answers is....hmm.

tbh like 99% of my hope for rep comes from jeremy i.e. telling a fan who asked about lgbt+ rep “i can’t say but don’t worry, you’ll be happy,” as well as telling several fans who also asked about it that it was “spoiler territory” (and i believe saying something about it spoiling “plotlines” which to me suggests something major rather than just background rep), and also telling someone “keep watching, something might happen between two characters” in regards to lgbt+ rep. SO!!

if that wasn’t enough, there’s been some hinting that lance is bi. for instance, lauren’s official art in which lance is holding an lgbt sign (while all the characters seem to be holding signs that are significant to their identities somehow so...HM), jeremy’s comment that “lance’s milkshake brings everybody to the yard, i can say that much” sldkfjs, also jeremy’s iconic “flirting with every.......person with two legs.”

it’s also been more or less confirmed that lance has an endgame love interest (and that it’s something slowburn and someone he’s already met). sorry to quote jeremy for the one billionth time (i can’t help it, the boy runs his mouth a lot), but when asked about lance ever settling down he famously said “... I think there is, to some extent, at some point you’ll find that one person that above all you kind of fall in love with a little bit and realize that it’s nice to have that one person than kind of just going all over the place. Not spoiling too much, but yeah. He’ll mature in all ways.” (coughs, also note that he said “person” twice which is gender neutral, just sayin’). and when asked a similar question, lauren said that in regards to romance “what lance wants isn’t what he needs” and joaquim added something about how lance will “end up in a very different place than where he started” romance-wise so like...yeah. all this stuff about lance falling in love with someone, that there’s a strong indication it’s someone “”unexpected””, the likelihood of lance being confirmed bi, plus knowing there will be lgbt+ rep that involves a relationship between two characters......interesting!

and before a bunch of gremlins descend on my inbox with “but the producers/writers/whoever have used she/her pronouns for lance’s love interest!!!1!” i mean...yeah sure, but they’ve kinda flip-flopped between using she/her pronouns and they/them or avoiding pronouns so *shrugs* and also they’ve lied about a lot of stuff in the past to avoid spoilers (i.e. using he/him pronouns for pidge before the show came out, trying to mislead people into thinking shiro was dead after s2, saying allura’s role was piloting the castle so she didn’t need to be a paladin, acting like lotor wasn’t going to be in vld... i could go on but yeah) and they’ve like openly admitted to lying and skirting around the truth so as not to spoil things so....i take it all with a grain of salt.

anyway i’ve gotten really carried away with this so i’ll shut up now, but tl;dr klance is cannon king

#.....yeah #honestly i could've gone on even longer but my fingers might bleed #anonymous #brigidanswers

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bigjohnsadventuresintravel · 6 years

Text

Our Bicycle Ride Through Amsterdam

To begin, I must confess that the title of this post is a bit misleading. Our bicycle ride through Amsterdam makes up only a very small portion of the photographs you will see below. With 1.3 bicycles per person in Amsterdam, it just seemed easier for Rebecca and I to do most of our exploring on foot. Not only is Amsterdam the capital, it is the most populated city in the Netherlands. Its name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city’s origin around a dam in the river Amstel. Just like Venice, Italy and Bruges, Belgium, Amsterdam is a city of beautiful canals and extraordinary history. I know you’ll experience a desire to visit this city yourself once you view some of our pictures.

Our rental car, a Fiat Panda, fits neatly inside a mini-parking space alongside the canal.

Although driving in Amsterdam was nowhere near as perilous as driving in Rome, I was more than eager to park my rental car and leave it there for the duration of my stay. When driving to our Airbnb, I experienced a very close call when I nearly ran over a bicyclist with my Fiat Panda. I didn’t feel too bad for long though; it wasn’t more than an hour later when a bicyclist nearly ran me over on foot.

The view outside the window of our Airbnb in Amsterdam.

Our little studio apartment was centrally located in the Jordaan neighborhood and was in easy-walking distance to Amsterdam’s most popular sites and attractions.

It appears the owner of our Airbnb rental was a fan of Marilyn Monroe.

Big John walks his bicycle through Amsterdam’s Dam Square towards the Royal Palace.

One of the things many Americans do not know about the Netherlands is that they are a constitutional monarchy, as well as a parliamentary democracy. Resting in the middle of Dam Square sits the Royal Palace, Amsterdam. This beautiful structure is the official reception palace of King Willem-Alexander. The Palace also hosts other royal receptions, such as the annual New Year’s reception, dinners and prize ceremonies. Visitors are allowed to tour the palace during the majority of the year.

Rebecca stops for a break just outside the Voyagers Coffeeshop and Hotel.

In Amsterdam, coffeeshops are alcohol-free (and usually coffee-free) establishments that sell marijuana, hashish, and cannabis for recreational use. Amsterdam has a very liberal soft-drug policy and the city is widely known as the cannabis capital of the world. The are over 170 legally-operated coffeehouses in Amsterdam.

The Basilica of Saint Nicolas in the Old Centre district of Amsterdam

Amsterdam has numerous churches and cathedral for visitors to admire and worship in. The Basilica of Saint Nicholas is located in the Old Centre district of Amsterdam. It is very close to Amsterdam’s main railway station and is the city’s primary Roman Catholic church. The architecture was a spectacular sight to behold.

I told Rebecca that she should safely stay within eyeshot of my bald spot when cycling through the streets of Amsterdam. She informed me that under those guidelines, she could straggle at least two neighborhoods behind me and not lose sight of it.

No matter where you turn in Amsterdam, you’re likely to find more bicycles than people.

Chocolate is just one more reason to love Amsterdam.

Rebecca is hoisting up anchors outside the Teun Hotel Restaurant.

There are some words, regardless of language, that just sound funny. Rebecca was pretty amused with all the signs that read “Boomwortels”. Judging by the picture on the signs, I was pretty clueless that “Boomwortels” was the Dutch word for tree roots. I honestly thought the signs were alerting me to a set of carefully concealed double-speedbumps.

They say a picture adds twenty pounds to your frame. I’ll just blame the other twenty pounds on good ole’ Dutch beer!

The Van Speyk, pictured in the background, is a classic Amsterdam style brasserie that serves traditional French and Dutch cuisine. The building dates back to 1659 and is located in the the old warehouse district, between the Dam square and the Grand Central Station.

They say that the prettiest girls in all of Amsterdam can be found on Prinsengracht Centrum!

I love how she knows to wait for the “walk” light before stepping out into the street. I could learn a lot from this woman!

The Atlas scuplture affixed to the top of the Royal Palace signifies Amsterdam’s place in the world.

The Amsterdam Circle Line offers luxury canal tours at affordable prices.

Tourists stand outside the Anne Frank Home on the Prinsengracht canal.

Anne Frank hid inside a secret upstairs annex of this structure for a period of two years before finally being discovered by Nazis and shipped off to a concentration camp. During her time in the attic, the young girl kept a diary detailing her daily life as she and her family relied on faith, love and hope to keep them alive. Tragically, Anne Frank’s diary would be the only part of her that survived the holocaust. The Nazis were believed to have exterminated approximately 6,000,000 Jews during the duration of World War II.

In memory of Anne Frank (1929-1945)

Rebecca standing outside the door of the Anne Frank House.

Once the swelling went down in her feet, she realized he had bought them a just few sizes too big. She never listens to me!

This is another view of the canal just below our lofty studio apartment.

You can’t be Dutch if you don’t like cheese!

If you’re a bacon-lover like me, make sure you visit the Grillroom Twins in Amsterdam for the best sandwich that money can buy!

My heart flutters like a Dutch windmill every time she comes near (That may not be a good thing. I probably should get that checked out).

The setting sun painted a stunning picture of this Amsterdam canal.

Nightfall on the streets of Amsterdam.

She knows all too well how to work her voodoo magic on me!

Selfies are only good when you have nobody else around to snap the picture… or when you have a pretty girl to male them look a whole lot better!

While exploring the Spuistraat, Centrum district, Big John poses in front of a house built in 1627.

Rebecca needs to quit eyeballing my food and just eat her salad. This small snack has to last me until dinner!

Don’t hate! It’s hard being an international man of mystery without owning a good pair of shades!

Whomever rented this bike before me must’ve been over five feet tall! I had to stop and lower the seat.

I wonder if she knows how madly in love I am with her. Maybe one day I will get the courage to tell her just how I really feel.

She’s into the tough guys, what can I say?

Big John and the empty suit hang out in Marnix Park.

I suddenly just realized that I have the same stance in every picture. Come to think of it, I don’t believe I’ve ever really fully extended my left leg…. interesting.

Believe it or not, the waters of Amsterdam are home to an amazing variety of fish. There are perch, bream, pike, carp, eel, rudd, mullet, and their highly-prized zander. I highly doubt that you would need a boat though if you planned on casting into this canal!

I wish my job involved making waffles every day!

The best tulips in Holland can be found throughout the city of Amsterdam.

Rebecca poses in front of the Cafe Hoppe, a charming Dutch pub dating all the way back to 1670.

These are actually popup urinals that come up out of the street. I saw these in use in both the Netherlands and Belgium. Talk about culture shock!

“Excuse me Ma’am, do you know where the weight room is?”

Rebecca outside the Hard Rock Cafe, Amsterdam.

Big John poses in from of the iconic I AM AMSTERDAM sign.

The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum dedicated to extraordinary art and history of Amsterdam.

That is one very large game of chess!

Sitting alone on that bench, feeling like the Netherlands’ version of Forrest Gump.

Amsterdam had several fascinating murals in and around the city, like the one I captured here on the wall of this bank.

She looked so prim and proper riding her bicycle. She’s such a sweetheart!

This is the section of our tour where picture-taking was just a bit too risque! You’ll just have to trust me when I say there’s a lot in the Red Light District that wouldn’t go over well on a family-friendly blog such as this one.

I can’t believe I flew all the way to Amsterdam to buy some assless leather chaps and they were completely sold out… Joking, they had plenty in stock!

My cutie-pie posing in front of Café de Zeevaart, a traditional Dutch Bar situated in the heart of the Red Light District.

The National Monument on Dam Square was erected in 1956 to commemorate the casualties of World War II and other armed conflicts.

You can barely make out Rebecca as she tries to hide from me behind that pole.

Just the sign alone at Coco’s Outback was enough to entice me to enter inside.

Thorbeckeplein square is located right right in the center of Amsterdam and is well known for their diverse eateries and lively nightclubs.

Rebecca pedals her bicycle through a crowded portion of Chinatown, Amsterdam.

I just couldn’t go home home without first getting a picture in front of the Heineken brewing factory.

For me, the greatest thing about travel adventures is experiencing them with the one you love.

Did I mention that I really love a good Dutch cheese?

The Dutch Delicacy takes the grilled-cheese sandwich to a whole new level!

I would travel to the ends of the earth with this girl…. actually, I think I already have!

After spending three fun-filled days in Amsterdam, this beautiful lady and I hit the road and headed out towards the Rhine. We were off to Germany and then to Belgium where more adventure was sure to await us. Life is great when you have the perfect travel companion by your side!

A lone Dutch windmill on the outskirts of Amsterdam

I hope you enjoyed my post and thank you for taking the time to visit bigjohnsadventuresintravel.com. Please feel free to explore the rest of my blog site and leave a comment or two so I know you were here.

Happy travels,

Big John

#Amsterdam #Holland #Netherlands

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merryfortune · 7 years

Text

Golden Experience: Deluxe

Commissioned fic for fanfiction.net user Rarecasionul

Kofi

The year is 2001. It’s already been three months since the beginning of the Twenty-First Century. In the sci-fi movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”, humans have already travelled all the way to Jupiter, but the truth is far less exciting than a movie. Humans haven’t even been able to return to the Moon since the sixties after all.

But these travellers aren’t going anywhere too estranged from Earth, but it is quite the distance from their homeland of Japan. Italy is a country of ancient art and complex economics but in later days, it had become quite the vacation spot. But these two are not technically here to sight-see. Landing in Italy, is a seemingly unlikely pair, for the job, embarking upon a bizarre mission under the instructions of Jotaro Kujo.

An “unlikely pair” consisting of the oddball couple, Koichi Hirose and Yukako Yamagishi.

The airport bustled. It was a lot more orderly than Koichi and Yukako had expected. It was packed with people and noise emanated from every metre it stretched across but there were defined queues and the like. The couple found it easy to navigate through it all and find a place where they could exchange their money for euros.

Koichi went up to the counter. Yukako slunk around by his side and examined her nails. She smiled sweetly though and was ready to encourage the clerk into what she considered a fairer deal at a moment’s notice.

“We need enough taxi money for two thank you, how much will that be?” Koichi asked.

He thumbed through his wallet and stood on his tip-toes so he could exchange the money. Yukako smiled and by her numbers, they were getting a fair exchange. She was well aware of Italy’s reputation as being a corrupt country and she was ready to challenge such notions if it meant protecting her boyfriend.

“Thank you.” Yukako mentioned to the clerk before heading off with Koichi.

The goal of the mission Koichi and Yukako had been enlisted for involved an unknown youth in a photograph. Though saying he was “unknown” was slightly misleading. His connection to the larger context of the photograph is unknown. Some personal details about him, however, were known.

His name is Haruno Shiobana. He is fifteen years old and male. He is of mixed descent: Japanese through his mother but English through his biological father. He is Italian by his mother’s later marriage to an Italian man. He is currently attending a boarding school and is considered to not be a dependant to his mother or either of his fathers.

It is Koichi and Yukako’s duty to find him and acquire a DNA sample from him. That is where the mission becomes bizarre.

For mysterious reasons, Jotaro needs a skin sample from him so he can use resources from the Speedwagon Foundation to do some investigation into his genetic structure.

Koichi and Yukako, upon learning the goal of this mission, had been reasonably concerned by the raised notion. Ever the enigma, Jotaro deflected their questions and remained vague. He did, however, impress upon them that it was extremely urgent to have this information collected.

It also seemed odd to them that he would rely upon them over Josuke and Okuyasu for such a mission. He explained to Koichi and Yukako that unlike Josuke and Okuyasu, through Echoes and Love Deluxe, they had a more pliant use than the sheer brute strength present in the powers of Crazy Diamond and The Hand. Their Stands, however, were more applicable in stealth operations and the like thus their presence was more useful over the other two boys.

It was because of this stealth option present in uses of their Stand that Jotaro remarked upon incredible importance. Koichi and Yukako were not to engage at all with their target: neither in conversation and definitely not in a fight. He deemed Haruno Shiobana as a possibly dangerous character. Part of the mission was to discern if he was friend or foe, so an element of precaution was necessary. A trait neither Josuke or Okuyasu held in great abundance. They were the type to rush in.

As shallow as it was though, it was when Jotaro explained this mission would be all expenses paid that truly hooked Koichi and Yukako’s interests. They were both unemployed teenagers… adults? They were eighteen nowadays so perhaps that was apter. They would enjoy the opportunity to travel without cost; especially as a couple.

They were ecstatic at first but then, closer inspection towards the photograph made a strange connection arise. It had been Koichi to notice it – of course, it was Koichi, after all, he had picked out Yukako’s face from many too – but he realised that Jotaro vaguely resembled the boy in the picture. Their biracial features were eerily similar. It begged the question: would Haruno Shiobana bear the star like Jotaro, Josuke, and Joseph?

Neither Koichi nor Yukako brought this observation up with Jotaro. It seemed rude and invasive. Not to mention, he was already being evasive from both personality and level of confidentiality clearance. So, that was a secret they discussed only in private and now that they arrived, it seemed like it may become relevant.

The couple, with their money exchanged, decided it was time to catch a taxi. It was a little calmer outside than it was at the airport. Nearby, some voices caught their attention and it was almost like watching a circus sideshow.

Two police officers, judging by their clothes, were fawning over some youth. He was blonde and performing some sort of parlour trick for them both. The youth had managed to stuff the entirety of his ear inside of itself. It was grotesque; Yukako found herself near gagging at the sight of it. The police officers seemed to love it.

“Whoa, amazing!”

“No matter how many times I see it, it makes me sick to my stomach!”

Yukako made a face to Koichi. “Yeah, it’s pretty gross.” he agreed.

“Let’s get out of here.” Yukako replied. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

A bad feeling that was soon justified. The couple saw the blonde youth slip the police officers a carton of cigarettes. The lid opened slightly and the two saw that it was not packed with cigarettes but rather with money.

“Thanks for showing us a good time.” One of the men murmured before moving on.

Koichi gulped. Yukako went on the defensive. Italy was already living up to its reputation.

The blonde youth turned away from the police officers. He had a familiar face. His eyes lit up when he saw Koichi and Yukako.

“Did I overhear that you two need a taxi?” he asked. He had a charming, polite voice.

Yukako crossed her arms and stiffened. “Yes, but we are quite fine waiting for an available one.”

He shrugged and flaunted a golden smile that matched his golden hair. “Aw, come on, I’ll give you a discount. It’s only my part-time job. How about… eight thousand yen to take you into town?”

He spoke as though he had magnets on his tongue because he was strangely compelling. He most certainly got Koichi to pause and consider his offer.

“That’s still too expensive.” Yukako snapped.

Koichi looked over his shoulder. The official taxis all had queues and were utterly clogged with people.

“Are you both Japanese?” the youth asked. “You both speak Italian as though natively.”

“We are very good at learning.” Yukako said.

Koichi guffawed; thinking about how they had both been written on by Rohan.

Yukako raised an eyebrow. She could tell Koichi was slowly becoming fond of the idea of this unofficial taxi service. She scrutinised the young man. He looked younger than them both; a good two or three years younger.

“Are you old enough to be driving people around?” she asked. “You look like a high schooler, is all.”

“And what about that money…?” Koichi asked. He thought Yukako was right in her suspicions, despite his own temptations.

“Parking fee.” the youth replied choppily. “And what about one thousand yen? I will drive you into town for one thousand yen; no tip required.”

“One thousand yen? For both us?” Koichi gasped.

“Yes.”

The youth returned to his white car and loitered. He was beginning to look impatient.

“One thousand yen. Take it or leave it.” he said.

Koichi stole a glance at Yukako. He picked up their luggage and Yukako relented. The youth smiled and opened up his car for them.

“Put your luggage in the passenger seat. I’m working without tip so I won’t do it for you.”

It seemed fair. He got into the driver’s seat. Koichi placed his and Yukako’s things on the passenger seat: one, somewhat large suitcase between them so one had to go on the floor.

“Okay, take us straight to the hotel at the following location.” Koichi said, firmly as he made sure their belongings would not interfere with the youth’s driving.

“Of course, I’ll go straight to the hotel.” he said, a dazzling smile to accompany such a declaration. “But without you both.”

Before Yukako or Koichi could act, the doors slammed shut and locked. The youth drove off. Yukako’s eye began to twitch. Her hair began to stick together in near greasy clumps which was a sign that Love Deluxe was on the cusp of activation. Koichi was terrified, and not just because of her.

He looked around. Panicked. He saw the policemen from the before. They looked away from him and shuffled off. That was not a parking fee. That was a bribe.

“Koichi. Honey. We are going to have a very serious talk later.” Yukako said.

“I understand completely.” Koichi replied.

The youth chuckled to himself as he sped off. That was, until, something peculiar happened. One moment, the Japanese couple were in the distance. The second moment, Koichi was touching the rear of his car.

“What?” he sputtered.

Yukako smiled demurely as her hair began to snake about. The youth did notice such a thing, but it was the murderous look in her eyes which scared him more than her tresses of sentient hair.

“Don’t underestimate us just because we’re tourists.” Koichi warned.

The youth got out of the car. His tyres had sunken into cracking asphalt. Koichi was now accompanied by a third figure: an alien-looking humanoid shorter than him.

“We don’t want hurt you.” Koichi continued.

“Something I concur.” Yukako added.

“We will leave you alone so long as you give us our luggage back.” Koichi said.

The youth glared as he turned around to meet the ones threatening him. His glare was a peculiar expression. Panic or guilt would have been likely expressions for such a youth to wear; for a normal youth to wear but as his glare melted, that was not what was revealed. He didn’t seem to be feeling any of those emotions.

But rather, he was calm and composed. His expression conveyed a shining serenity. Or at least that’s what Koichi felt. Yukako would likely attest to something more akin to smugness but Koichi didn’t feel that emanate from the youth; as strange as he was.

Strangely familiar too.

“Looks like Giorno messed up with engine trouble.”

He fled as the cops talked about him, as casually as they would talk about the weather.

“Its what he gets for trying to trick Japanese tourists when he’s half Japanese himself.”

“Yeah, but no one would guess that Giorno Giovanna’s half Japanese. Not that’s dyeing his hair now. When it was black, you could tell straight away he’s mixed.”

“I heard he isn’t dyeing it. Says he got it from his white father’s genetics.”

Strangely familiar like a photograph indeed.

Koichi took it from his breast pocket and with a panicked expression, he turned to Yukako who had been inspecting the car.

“Our things are gone.” she said. “All I found in the front seat were like… frog eggs. Gross!”

“And this just got a lot more complicated... I think that boy’s a Stand user.” Koichi replied as he showed her the photograph. “I think Giorno Giovanna – that boy – is Haruno Shiobana.”

After all, there is an unwritten rule of fate. Stand users attract other Stand users.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #vento aureo #diamond is unbreakable #hirose koichi #yamagishi yukako #giorno giovanna #koichi x yukako #idk their ship name #merrys comissions #commissioned fic #merry writes stuff #as always this will be the only platform i publish my finished comissions #jjba

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michellelinkous · 4 years

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7 Creative Ways to Reduce Food Waste

You know that feeling when you open your refrigerator to discover that your bright green kale has turned straw yellow? You're not alone. In 2017, Americans generated more than 41 million tons of food waste![1] In fact, 30 to 40 percent of all food created isn’t used.[2, 3] This phenomenon of food waste is not just in private pantries and fridges, but also in restaurants, grocery stores, and farms. But there’s good news: many individuals, charitable organizations, and governments are working to turn the tide.

In 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a goal to reduce food waste by 50 percent by the year 2030. The goal is to have every person "only" throw away 109.4 pounds per year.[5] Households contribute to 43 percent of the food waste in our country.[6] You have the power to make a difference!

Companies are getting in the mix, as well. New food upcycling companies are doing everything from selling funny-looking "ugly" fruits and vegetables that would be tossed by grocers to turning pressed juice pulp into popsicles.

Reducing food waste is a great way to go green in your home. Try these steps to reduce your food waste footprint!

The Environmental Impact of Food Waste

When you waste less food, you save money and time while helping the long-term health of the planet. You also keep food out of landfills, or "dumps," which are the third-largest source of human-generated methane,[1] a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.

Food waste not only uses some of our water supply,[3] it also consumes land, labor, tons of energy, and toxic chemicals (try to choose organic when possible!).

Moreover, all the extra we don't eat could have helped people who are food-insecure. Many organizations are rescuing food that would become waste from grocery stores and restaurants to feed the homeless and individuals who do not have enough to eat. That’s pretty inspiring!

7 Ways You Can Reduce Food Waste

One woman, Loren T., an end-of-life doula from Glen Ridge, New Jersey, has learned how to maximize her food, letting little go to waste. She saves veggie food scraps in the fridge and then, at the end of the week, turns them into stock. She also thinks expansively about each item she cooks.

"I always plan multiple meals with one item," says Loren. For example, she’ll make black beans on Sunday and plan for tacos that night, a Mexican tofu scramble for Monday’s breakfast, and then pop a black bean dip with carrots in her son’s lunch the next day.

With these tips, you too can be creative, learning everything from the secrets of food storage to the wonders of composting can make the process simple, and even fun.

1) Plan Ahead

Try to make a plan. What's for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks every day? What will you require for each meal, per person in your household?

Write an old-school shopping list — or choose one of many apps that can help — and take it with you every time you shop. Going to the store with a list can help you limit impulse buying and may decrease the amount of food you waste by 20 percent![7]

Also, check the fridge before you go to the market. It’s a good way to avoid having triples of your favorite condiments. And unless you really want to stock up for you or your family, don't let extra-large packages of food tempt you — bulk buys are a major source of waste.[7] If you do buy in bulk and find you’re not going to use the items, check their expiration dates; when they near, donate to a food bank.

2) Eat Your Leftovers & Get Creative

Eating leftovers doesn't just mean reheating and serving as-is. Get creative! For example, you can:

Turn last night's quinoa or rice into a vegan breakfast porridge.

Sautée wilted greens for a baked sweet potato topping.

Stuff a pepper with cauliflower rice.

Make brown bananas into a creamy smoothie or banana bread.

Turn stale bread into breadcrumbs.

Blend beans into veggie burgers.

Chop flaccid carrots into a stir fry or carrot soup.

Hold a leftover night on Fridays, a creative meal of the week's scraps.

Also, label all food containers with the date you filled them. This can help you decide what to eat first.

Remember, when you see a post-peak vegetable, ask yourself: Is it bad, or is it just ugly? Funny-looking, bruised, and day-old produce can still be delicious.

3) Store Your Food Properly

Proper food preservation makes food stay fresh longer. Some fruits, like apples, avocados, melons, bananas, and mangoes, release ethylene gas, which causes other fruits and vegetables to ripen faster. Store each of these types of fruits alone, whether on a counter or in the fridge. Wrap the ends of bananas with plastic to lessen their ethylene release.

Certain vegetables are especially ethylene-sensitive; keep them away from ethylene-producers. For example, cucumbers, peppers, sweet potatoes, eggplant, grapes, leafy greens, and zucchini will ripen too fast when around ethylene-producing fruits.[8]

Tips:

Don't wash berries, cherries, or grapes until you're about to eat them. Water makes them rot faster.

Try gadgets like an avocado keeper; a berry box; and crisper drawer liners that absorb moisture.

Make sure your fridge is always set at or below 40 degrees F (colder is better).

Store the most perishable items away from the refrigerator doors; it’s coldest at the back.[9]

If something is going to go bad before you can eat it, freeze the food! You can freeze everything from baked sweet potatoes to watermelon! Frozen food is safe to eat for up to a year, depending on the item.[10]

Declutter your fridge often to unearth hidden items before they go bad. Organize your fridge so you can clearly see items that are perishable.

Wipe down drawers to get rid of bacteria and moisture that can make food go bad faster.[11]

4) Understand Expiration Dates

You may have noticed that some foods say "use by," while others say "sell by" or "best by." It's no wonder if you find them confusing.[12]

It turns out these labels are more art than science. While nutrition facts labels are pretty clear, there are no federal guidelines on expiration dates — other than infant formula[13] — leading to a whole lot of premature tossing. People throw away about 398,000 tons of food annually because of misleading expiration labels.[14] Labels are most accurate and important on produce and other foods that go bad — usually within a few days or a week.

The shelf life on canned goods or refrigerated items is more flexible than you realize. The FDA is currently encouraging consistent labeling of shelf-stable food. The agency prefers, "Best if Used By." This means, "This Tastes Best By" — and is a comment on food freshness and not safety.

The USDA has excellent guidelines for food’s general shelf-safety.[15] If any packaged food looks, smells, or tastes off, also toss. But if a bag of, say, rice, has passed its "best by" date by a few months yet seems alright, it's very likely fine in flavor and safety. If you prefer never to eat any food beyond the date, try to donate unopened items before they reach the expiry date.

5) Donate Your Food

If you have non-perishables that you're not going to eat, donate it! Locate a local food bank, food pantry, or food rescue program and see how they accept donations.[16]

Most food banks request things like canned goods, rice, pasta, sauce, peanut butter, jelly, and other shelf-stable foods. Whether they will take expired foods or not varies by state. Stay on top of your food expiry dates — if something you’re not going to eat is creeping toward its expiration date, donate it.

There are also food rescue programs, like soup kitchens, which have different rules than food banks. They may accept perishables like refrigerated food, cooked meals, or baked goods. Ask.

If they don't, your neighbors might! Start a group text with local friends who might want your avocados that will be ripe exactly in the middle of your vacation. (Why does that always happen?)

6) Start Composting

About 94 percent of wasted food ends up in landfills, where it emits planet-warming methane.[17] One way to divert it from the dump is to compost. This creates a simple way to extend your sustainable lifestyle to the outdoors.

You can easily try composting at home. It doesn’t require a big yard or extensive outdoor space to do it. Just collect food scraps in a non-stinky compost bin on your counter. It creates nutritious food for your plants or local gardens.[18]

You can find many resources online, such as step-by-step guides to create a compost pile, but it’s mainly a matter of dumping food scraps and other compostable items, covering them with leaves or grass clippings or dirt, and then layering more food. Always top it with plant matter so you don’t attract animals. After some time, the pile should be tossed and stirred. Eventually, it will decompose into rich fertilizer. Even if you don’t use it for a garden, it has reduced your food waste!

Every year, more cities and towns add public composting options. If you can join one of those, then it's as simple as setting out a bucket with your recycling or dropping it at a designated spot.

7) Speak Up to Reduce Food Waste

Though households contribute to 43 percent of the food waste in our country, grocery stores and restaurants contribute 31 percent.[19] One way to help is to let local businesses know they can participate in the USDA/EPA's 2030 goal of reducing food loss.

Share the Food Recovery Challenge[2] info with local grocers, faith organizations, and restaurants. You can also write letters expressing the importance of reducing food waste to your local, state, and national elected officials. Connect with politicians who are working on laws to allow restaurants to donate unused food to hunger organizations. Or start a letter-writing campaign to help gain momentum for food waste reduction legislation.

Points to Remember

Wasting food is an issue that affects not only your finances, but also the planet, as it’s a significant source of greenhouse gases. Living healthy involves not only involves embracing a natural health lifestyle, but also seeking sustainable solutions to everyday issues.

To reduce food waste, use a shopping list every time you go to the market, store produce properly, and understand expiration dates. Many expiration dates are really "best if used by" dates. And if you won’t use it, donate it.

Get creative about how you reuse your leftovers. Any waste you do create, consider composting or donating to a food bank. This keeps it out of landfills. Finally, you can help meet national food waste goals by advocating for change locally and nationally. Make it Earth Day every day!

Learning to waste less food reduces your carbon footprint, ensures that your food stays fresh longer, and curbs impulse buying. What’s not to love?

What have you tried to reduce food waste? Share stories from your community or your personal experiences below!

The post 7 Creative Ways to Reduce Food Waste appeared first on Dr. Group's Healthy Living Articles.

7 Creative Ways to Reduce Food Waste published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.tumblr.com/

0 notes

gordonwilliamsweb · 4 years

Text

7 Creative Ways to Reduce Food Waste

Reducing food waste is a great way to go green in your home. Try these steps to reduce your food waste footprint!

The Environmental Impact of Food Waste

Food waste not only uses some of our water supply,[3] it also consumes land, labor, tons of energy, and toxic chemicals (try to choose organic when possible!).

7 Ways You Can Reduce Food Waste

With these tips, you too can be creative, learning everything from the secrets of food storage to the wonders of composting can make the process simple, and even fun.

1) Plan Ahead

Try to make a plan. What's for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks every day? What will you require for each meal, per person in your household?

2) Eat Your Leftovers & Get Creative

Eating leftovers doesn't just mean reheating and serving as-is. Get creative! For example, you can:

Turn last night's quinoa or rice into a vegan breakfast porridge.

Sautée wilted greens for a baked sweet potato topping.

Stuff a pepper with cauliflower rice.

Make brown bananas into a creamy smoothie or banana bread.

Turn stale bread into breadcrumbs.

Blend beans into veggie burgers.

Chop flaccid carrots into a stir fry or carrot soup.

Hold a leftover night on Fridays, a creative meal of the week's scraps.

Also, label all food containers with the date you filled them. This can help you decide what to eat first.

Remember, when you see a post-peak vegetable, ask yourself: Is it bad, or is it just ugly? Funny-looking, bruised, and day-old produce can still be delicious.

3) Store Your Food Properly

Tips:

Don't wash berries, cherries, or grapes until you're about to eat them. Water makes them rot faster.

Try gadgets like an avocado keeper; a berry box; and crisper drawer liners that absorb moisture.

Make sure your fridge is always set at or below 40 degrees F (colder is better).

Store the most perishable items away from the refrigerator doors; it’s coldest at the back.[9]

Declutter your fridge often to unearth hidden items before they go bad. Organize your fridge so you can clearly see items that are perishable.

Wipe down drawers to get rid of bacteria and moisture that can make food go bad faster.[11]

4) Understand Expiration Dates

You may have noticed that some foods say "use by," while others say "sell by" or "best by." It's no wonder if you find them confusing.[12]

5) Donate Your Food

If you have non-perishables that you're not going to eat, donate it! Locate a local food bank, food pantry, or food rescue program and see how they accept donations.[16]

There are also food rescue programs, like soup kitchens, which have different rules than food banks. They may accept perishables like refrigerated food, cooked meals, or baked goods. Ask.

If they don't, your neighbors might! Start a group text with local friends who might want your avocados that will be ripe exactly in the middle of your vacation. (Why does that always happen?)

6) Start Composting

Every year, more cities and towns add public composting options. If you can join one of those, then it's as simple as setting out a bucket with your recycling or dropping it at a designated spot.

7) Speak Up to Reduce Food Waste

Points to Remember

Learning to waste less food reduces your carbon footprint, ensures that your food stays fresh longer, and curbs impulse buying. What’s not to love?

What have you tried to reduce food waste? Share stories from your community or your personal experiences below!

The post 7 Creative Ways to Reduce Food Waste appeared first on Dr. Group's Healthy Living Articles.

7 Creative Ways to Reduce Food Waste published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

0 notes

miguelmarias · 5 years

Text

Something Really New: Starting Over

Il faut recommencer de zéro. - J.-L. Godard (around 1966)

In order to be clear, let me tell you three seemingly unconnected stories.

In 1983, my phone rang. A young man I had never heard of named José Luis Guerín, who was then, it turned out, aged 23, and who lived in Barcelona, was to have some sort of preview of his first feature film in Madrid, and wanted me to present it. I told him I had to see it and like it enough. Which I did (both) some days later. Once I had agreed to present it, I asked him why he had thought about me. He replied that he had read and liked some of my reviews, especially one, about 9 years before, on Bresson's Lancelot du Lac. I was doubly intrigued, because very few people (and he was only 14 at the time) had liked that particular Bresson movie, and I had detected some Bressonian attitudes in his film, Los motivos de Berta. Thus began one of our usually spaced but very long conversations, which make him always late at some appointment (I feel guilty that he once kept Marcel Hanoun waiting for a very long time). It was already then quite unusual for such a young man to talk about Flaherty, Griffith and Dovzhenko as his contemporaries, just like Godard, Eustache or Garrel, not that even the latter trio were very popular or even widely known among Spanish cinéphiles or filmmakers in the early '80s.

Guerín was, no doubt about it, one of a kind. And he not only kept but steadily surpassed the promise of his first feature. He made, in Ireland, Innisfree (1990), in English and Gaelic, about the memories left around Cong, County Mayo, by the shooting of John Ford's The Quiet Man (1952); in 1996, he shot Tren de sombras (Le Spectre de Le Thuit), practically with no dialogue, in France, which was a fascinating inquest starting from a "found footage" home movie (actually shot by Guerín); in 2000, he filmed at long last his native city of Barcelona, in the copiously awarded (including the National Cinema Award) and very personal documentary En construcción, which made of him a relatively known figure. I seem to have been the first to watch each of his movies, although I must state (since people wonder when they see your name in the acknowledgements section of the end credits) that I merely encouraged him or supported his stand against producers or other people who wanted him to shorten his pictures, a step which would have impoverished them and damaged their precious rhythm. Since En construcción, he has continued lecturing and teaching, spurring youngsters to make unconventional movies, and has been busy preparing a new film.

In a medium-sized cinema like the Spanish one, which is not really an industry but rather a mixture of small business and individual craftsmanship (not always on good terms with each other), the only truly original, ambitious, and interesting films are made by a shrinking group of independent filmmakers, devoted enough to suffer long periods of forced unemployment, frustration, and even poverty. They still believe film could be an art, and try to do something about it. The reluctant "father figure" or model of most of the younger promising filmmakers is, of course, Víctor Erice, and they incur the risk of doing almost as few pictures as he. There are better and worse seasons in such a fragile cinema as ours, depending on how many of these filmmakers succeed in making something (even a short), but 2005 has yielded, for me, a very poor harvest, despite the official, corporate, or complacent opinions voiced by most critics and filmmakers and the depressing box-office success of some of the worst. And, fittingly, the best film of the year does not exist.

Of course, it does, since I've seen it eleven times, in three different versions so far. But it has no official or administrative existence: the Ministry of Culture does not know about it, has not "reviewed" or "registered" it, and therefore, it will not appear in the catalogue of Spanish Cinema: 2005. It has never been publicly shown. At my insistence, Guerín has screened it privately to only a handful of friends, and has so far refused to allow anybody from festivals to see it. All that on the dubious ground that it is not really a film, but merely a sort of photographic blueprint for a future feature, purportedly to be shot on 35mm film stock (instead of with a small, low-definition digital-video camera and partly at least with a digital still camera), in color (the "prototype" is in black and white, since Guerín completely de-saturated it), with dialogue, noises, and music (instead of being absolutely silent, which I feel is how it should stay), without intertitles (whereas it is a film to be read, and it is a vital part of its experience to see the words appearing on the screen, as in some of Godard's later films), and with full normal movement (actually, it looks almost like a feature-length La Jetée, since most of the images are stills; there are only, occasionally, some slight, brief, rather tentative movements, a bit like in some Godard films starting with Sauve qui peut [La vie]).

But it is not at all true, as its author pretends, that this film is a blueprint, or a collection of random notes taken in order to prepare a film, or a preliminary sketch of a film to be made — which, I feel, would be wholly redundant, since Guerín has already made it, and very successfully, in a more innovative and cheaper way. Far from being a pre-production "scale model," it is a minutely edited, carefully structured and rhythmed marriage of narrative and reflection, of recollections and speculation, full of mystery and with an acute sense of unceasing, perhaps endless search, which often makes one think of Hitchcock's Vertigo only to remind you, a moment later, of Jonas Mekas's Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania, or suggest a longer, more complex development of Eustache's late short Les Photos d'Alix. I throw out all these references not in order to boost the film, but to help readers to grasp the very particular nature of a film they are unable to see, and perhaps will never have the chance of getting a glimpse of. And it is something so unique that I find it very difficult to describe.

By the way, it is provisionally titled Unas fotos... En la ciudad de Sylvia... y otras ciudades. Which could be translated as Some Photographs... In the City of Sylvia... and Other Cities. Or perhaps as Some Stills... In Sylvia's City... and Other Cities, or maybe Some Snapshots... In Sylvia's City... and Other Cities. In any case, the title is what I like least about it. It is self-derogatory (although partial, like everything in the world, the film is far from being merely "some photos") and utterly misleading as a description. Its present title does not even suggest the narrative drive that makes the film move (in every sense of the word), even though its images are mostly still and its pacing quite deliberate. It should be called, for example (to change it as little as possible), In Search of Sylvia through Her City... and Other Cities. Even if Guerín wants to conceal how personal and subjective a film it is (I wonder how, and even why? He's shy, of course, but...) and would rather pretend that Unas fotos has nothing to do with an intimate journal.

However, what is really meaningful is the personal starting point of what finally becomes a very peculiar kind of speculative fiction, which made me think of a daylight version of André Breton's Nadja, a book that, surprisingly, the filmmaker has not read. In 1980, in the city of Strasbourg, Guerín (or the unseen, nameless narrator who addresses us silently, in brief written phrases) met a girl named Sylvia, who spoke a little Spanish because she had studied nursery in Salamanca. He either never knew or forgot her family name. The only "mementoes" of their meeting are a box of matches from the café "Les Aviateurs," where they met and talked, and a beer mat with some annotations on it: the address of a local old bookstore that, twenty years later, when Guerín tried to find her, wasn't there anymore.

Considering her profession, Guerín takes a city map and locates the places where she could be: hospitals and clinics, the Faculty of Medicine and such. He roams around these places with watchful, hopeful anticipation. Looking at every girl on foot or bicycle, standing in wait for a date or a green light at a pedestrian passage, sitting in a café or a restaurant. Seemingly without realizing at first that, since twenty years have passed when the search starts, any young girl resembling Sylvia would more likely be her daughter. Looking at women, finally of all ages, without finding Sylvia, he becomes interested, intrigued or attracted by several others, many of them utterly different from Sylvia, and even follows some through the streets of the city, while recalling the love of Goethe for Charlotte (or Lotte), who was also from Strasbourg and who felt jealous when the character in "Werther," who so closely resembled her, happened to have eyes of a different color from hers.

I will not disclose more about Unas fotos, because part of the excitement it produces comes from the surprising connections and associations that Guerín spins. It would lose its almost Hitchcockian suspense, its Bressonian drôle de chemin where "the wind blows where it wills," the sense of strolling through different European cities — what the French call flâneries — which account for a large part of its most peculiar charm. It is enough to suggest that it is a truly European film in its spirit and its cultural references — Petrarca and Laura, Dante and Beatrice crossing paths in the past of cities visited once and again, and making the narrator wonder where exactly, and from what point of view, the poets first saw the women they would become obsessed with — typically a filmmaker's concern.

Only on one point can I understand Guerín's reluctance to show his new film: it is perhaps a new kind of movie, probably too far apart from the commonplace, and the times are not too open to experiences like this. As a matter of fact, I have difficulty in imagining a time when such a film as Unas fotos would be normally shown at your nearest theater, no matter where you live (even in Paris). It is perhaps too intimate an experience for people you don't know to be sitting around you. And the total, hard silence I find so necessary to look at it properly, without the rhythms of any music interfering with those of the film, without sound or dialogue or music announcing, underlining, stressing, or "poeticizing" any part of it, probably would be as dangerous in an almost empty theater as in a crowded house. Most people react quite aggressively towards prolonged silence, they would think the sound was not properly working and start yelling and guffawing, only to realize, aghast and angry, that the film is really, wholly silent. Which would cause a self-defensive reaction against a film that commanded so much attention and concentration on its images as to give no rest, no truce, no clue, no hope of distraction from the screen. Maybe a new kind of cinema calls for a new way of communication with the audience, which could be not a crowd, but individuals or small groups of friends sitting before a TV set, in the intimacy of their own homes. Perhaps it would have to be distributed on DVD or bought online.

On the other hand, I find that Guerín's new film should be seen everywhere, because it provides an exhilarating demonstration of freedom. It proves that, thanks to new, ultra-cheap technology, you can make a great, daring, personal film without money, on your own, with only (of course) a lot of talent, effort, and time, and I find that this could be extremely encouraging to aspiring filmmakers who almost despair at the difficulty of getting started, of convincing producers, and even — the film once made — of getting a fair release. Since the film really does exist, it should be seen. After all, what are films for whose goal is not merely making money? For seeing and for helping others to see.

Guerín has been collecting images for this project during almost four years, and building it up and reshaping and refining it incessantly. For that he needs no money, no funding, no producers. His main investment is his own time. Time to travel and walk, to read and think, to choose angles and frames, to look around and to edit his recollections, the traces of his search. Modern technology allows that for almost no money at all. But DV may be used — it is often — too recklessly; it is too easy. And for a true filmmaker, it should pose some questions. With digital video you can shoot as much as you want, and make very long uninterrupted takes, rather than carefully thought shots; the cameras are so small you may become easily a Peeping Tom or a voyeur, and so light you can hold them in your hand, forget about tripods and move it around all the time, with no apparent need to care about continuity or even about properly framing and composing. As a matter of fact, digital technology has no photograms, no frames, no 24-frames per second speed, no Maltese Cross, no persistence of vision, no projection, almost no shots to cut and link; that is, almost nothing of what has defined cinema for about a century. Even editing is a different issue: digital video encourages a new, quite passive conception of "montage." I'm sure Guerín has read at least some of Serge Daney's disquieting writings about freeze-frame, about stills, about the variable nature of images. I gather he's given these issues some deep thought, and I believe he has, perhaps unconsciously, found a way of avoiding the temptations and facilities and dangers of digital video filmmaking.

His instinct has made him start at the very beginning. With the new, cheap, almost cost-free equipment, and taking as his model not D.W. Griffith or Louis Feuillade, or even Louis Lumière, but rather the very earliest of pioneers, Étienne Marey and Edweard Muybridge, he has found again the true essence of cinema, its forgotten, invisible, taken-for-granted secret: that there are in fact no real images of movement, but only stills, a succession of photographs whose succession creates the illusion of movement. Between each, there is always at least a diminutive, almost unperceivable ellipse, the black blank piece of film between each frame. Godard was hinting at this very problem, I think, when he began employing videotape and started stopping the movement of images, or slowing it down, then accelerating again, so as to render visible the original isolation and the willful, deliberate linking of the frames that allows the passage from one photogram to another, which also explains Bresson's insistently calling what he did cinématographe instead of cinéma: after all, he was writing with the articulate movement of fixed, still images. That's why I consider it some sort of "poetic justice" that Guerín, reinventing cinema with digital means, has returned to the very beginnings, without any sort of sound, not even music or noise, without color, and has employed only the minimal, bare elements, those available when cinema was not yet entertainment, not even a show, but almost a scientific tool intended to look at what you cannot see with the naked eye, and to register it and keep a record, to take notes, to make annotations. But Unas fotos is not merely a remake of the early steps of cinema before Lumière: I don't recall a single silent film that used titles as some sort of inner monologue, as a kind of silent, written equivalent of voice-over commentary, as Guerín does. As the W. B. Yeats poem quoted at the beginning of Guerín's Innisfree announced, "I will rise now, and go...."

http://fipresci.hegenauer.co.uk/undercurrent/issue_0106/guerin_marias.htm

#Miguel Marías #José Luis Guerin #unas fotos en la ciudad de sylvia #fipresci

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heyymonkey2 · 7 years

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First Night Back in Fuuga Chapter 17: The Art of Misleading

AO3 Link to Chapter 17

Summary: Secrets, a proposal, and the weight of two countries

Hak’s eyes flash as he turns to see Tae-Woo. It’s only moments since the princess left their morning encounter in the woods.

Tae-Woo approaches, red-faced and trying not to look at Hak, “The king called for the Wind’s troops to join at the border of Kai. Gramps thought I could catch up to warn you. Things are getting tense over there,” then with apology, “I didn’t mean to see.”

It’s the wavering voice of a boy trying to be respectful despite having just seen the image of his idol put into question.

Hak is mortified, embarrassed, not sure what to say, “...thanks for the message.”

Before, they might have joked around or caught up in this moment. Today, they stand in awkward silence. Tae-Woo finally turns and walks away with his head down.

Hak can’t leave it like this, calls after, “The princess and I’s relationship is complicated. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to Gramps.”

Tae-Woo’s eyes go wide at that thought, “Yeah, I’d… rather not, “ he stops, turns his face, “This is why only you can be her bodyguard and you won’t come back?”

“Mm,” Hak confirms with a grunt.

“Going that far could get you both into a lot of trouble, Lord Hak.”

Argh, so complicated, but Hak can’t explain, “...that’s true.”

“Pretty soon she’s probably gonna have to marry some important person’s son or something, right?”

Hak also cannot answer that.

“You should still think about coming back. Some other guy is gonna take your place with her. But no one can be who you are to the Wind Tribe.”

For a split second that stings Hak -- old insecurities die hard. He exhales in defeat, then lies, “I’ll think about it.”

Hak gives Tae-Woo a parting fistbump while secretly cursing this secrecy crap in his head. And that he can’t put his brand all over a certain troublesome, intoxicating, “out-of-his-reach” redhead.

“Thank you,” Yona whispers with embarrassment to Jae-Ha as they ride with the Dark Dragon and the rest of the Happy Hungry Bunch into Saika. He had suggested she ride side-saddle when he noticed her wince in pain during mounting. Riding astride was only going exacerbate the issue with every step. He also took off his overcoat so she could use it as a cushion for her bottom. Ever the gentleman. A very experienced gentleman.

Jae-Ha very much enjoys imagining what happened to make her so sore. Hak, that animal. So shy with her all these years, then the second she’s his… my, my. As his indecent smile only grows...

Fucking the princess against a tree?! Hak seriously questions what the hell has gotten into him as he rides alongside everyone. He lost his mind back there. If he had thought he was at her mercy before, well then, now he really has something to think about. He glances over at the small woman watching forward majestically on Jae-Ha’s horse, head held confidently, red waves now down to just below her shoulders. There is no other woman like this one.

And he had been a virgin, too, you know. Since experiencing sex with her… it’s been hard to think about anything else. She should really take care of herself, though. I know that was hurting her, he grumbles internally. Maybe he needs to be more clear she doesn’t need to push herself for his sake. Maybe he needs to be stronger about playing his part in keeping their relationship invisible. Tae-Woo seeing that was troublesome enough.

Between winces, Yona glances over and wonders why Hak is cringing. Jae-Ha sees it too and lets his imagination go wild.

“We were overjoyed when we heard you were alive,” Kyo-Ga welcomes the princess with what would appear to be warm affection. She’s guarded with her trust of anyone connected to Soo-Won these days, though the welcome at Saika Castle this afternoon has been grand and respectful.

“The peace negotiations with Xing have revealed a wealth of potential for Kouka,” Kyo-Ga continues, glancing over at Shin-Ah, Zeno, Kija, and Jae-Ha, of whom through Tae-Jun he’s heard stories of great strength though not of their otherworldly powers, “And to have your warriors fight alongside the Fire Tribe’s troops, we are honored.”

Seated across from Yona, he takes a drink, his eyes falling on Hak over his glass. Yona’s dark-haired companion stands at the perimeter of the great room watching the scene with piercing eyes. While news of the princess’ survival spread like a joyous wildfire after Xing, any official commentaries on her bodyguard, rumored kidnapper and murderer of King Il, were snuffed out… leaving many with lingering suspicion.

Kyo-Ga confides to Yona, “While I know the king waits for you to join his side at the border with Kai, I want you to know that you are always welcome to the comfort of our castle here in Saika.”

“I appreciate that, thank you. Though I’m most comfortable visiting each tribe in my country and learning the struggles of the people directly.”

“...it’s clear why my brother is so taken with you.”

“Tae-Jun has become a great man for this tribe,” Yona offers sincerely, only to look up and see him standing there with tears in his eyes.

“Your Highness…”

Yona rises and hugs Tae-Jun, to everyone in the room’s surprise. A curious smile rises on Kyo-Ga’s face while Hak for the first time averts his gaze to an opposite wall.

“Perhaps a more private reunion is in order?” Jae-Ha chimes in after noticing Kyo-Ga eyeing Hak and Hak looking away from Tae-Jun, “A walk in the garden? The princess could use some fresh air. Me too, for that matter.”

“The beacon worked!” Tae-Jun is overjoyed as he walks alongside Yona, still wildly emotional just by being near her, “As soon as I heard that peace was reached with Xing -- though I never doubted Your Highness for a moment -- but to hear you succeed at saving thousands of lives… I am in constant awe.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible without your help, Tae-Jun,” Yona beams back, “It delayed Soo-Won long enough for the Wind Tribe to create a peaceful atmosphere with Xing,” she flashes bright eyes back at Hak who follows directly behind with Jae-Ha, then, “By the time the king arrived, it was clear war would have been exorbitant.”

With sincere worry, “Are you sure you want to go to Kai, Your Highness?”

‘You’ll be there too, right?”

“Yes, alongside my brother and our troops. But now that your identity is known… I worry about your safety. I know how passionately you serve your subjects, but I can’t bear to imagine…”

Yona places a hand on Tae-Jun’s hands clutched against his chest in dread, “I need to do this.”

He nods understanding, then suddenly meets eyes with Hak, who looks murderous.

“My apologies! I know… you two…”

“No, no, no… no, no,” Jae-ha inserts, “That didn’t work out. Very sensitive subject,” then whispers in Yona's ear, “Dear, Hak and I need to discuss an important matter. We’ll be right back,“ then takes her hand from on Tae-Jun’s, gives it a gentle peck, and then walks away signaling Hak follow.

Hak, of course, does not follow, so Jae-Ha ends up practically dragging him away.

Tae-Jun and Yona are left in a mild wtf was that situation. Yona picks the conversation back up, “To be honest… I’m worried that this war with Kai is my fault. To prevent one war, I’ve caused another.”

“War with Kai was imminent, Your Highness,” Tae-Jun comforts.

“If I’d had a chance to speak with Li Hazara this time--”

“Your Majesty!” Tae-Jun is now desperate, “You must not--”

“I’m so sorry!” Yona remembers the death of Tae-Jun’s father Soo-Jin in the failed coup d'etat with Li Hazara, “I spoke before thinking... now forcing you and your brother to face him again,” she feels awful.

Her pain troubles Tae-Jun further, “Forgive me for doing this, Your Majesty, but I care for you too deeply. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t make this known to you,” he gets down onto one knee holding her hand -- Hak watches in shock from afar with Jae-Ha pressing his dragon’s foot into Hak’s foot to hold him put -- Tae-Jun professes, “You are the most precious gem in this kingdom. Through cruel injustice you have been forced to travel in discomfort and rogue company, challenged with meeting unreasonable and ruthless leaders. I cannot bear the thought of one of them laying harm to you… if at any point your heart is moved to this end, I would welcome you to live here with me in comfort. I could provide for you a life almost matching what you once had. You would still be able to visit your subjects. I would be supportive of and faithful to you in every way.”

Yona’s draw is dropped. She immediately glances over at Hak and shakes her head “no” for please don’t come over here and kill this man. The aura of the fury of the Dark Dragon can be felt all the way from where she’s standing. Jae-Ha is amused but getting a no-joke workout.

Yona then looks back down at Tae-Jun, “I’m touched by how you see me, Tae-Jun. I can assure you I’m a more difficult girl to care for than you might imagine. But I’ll carry your words with me and honor them by doing my best to stay safe on my journeys.”

He rises, still glowing toward her, “As long as my feelings are known to you and you always remember you have a home here, then I am happy.”

Soo-Won walks through the Sky Tribe’s camp at the border with Kai. Keishuk and Joo-Doh walk in pace behind him and altogether they are one regal, frightening trio.

They pass by tent after tent after tent, thousands of men camped, preparing weapons, training. Li Hazara better be prepared, because it looks like Kouka is ready for a serious war.

As Soo-Won makes the round into his personal tent, he finds Lili waiting for him there. Keishuk and Joo-Doh’s eyes go wide -- how. Inappropriate.

“Why did you ask for me to come in here?” Lili complains.

Keishuk and Joo-Doh look at each other to make sure they’re both hearing this.

“If you’ll please excuse us,” Soo-Won asks innocently.

The two men leave in mutual frustration. This frickin’ king.

“I wanted to ask you about Min-Soo,” Soo-Won explains, “And ask if any of the men here are giving you a hard time.”

Lili is surprised by both inquiries, “You don’t need to worry about me…”

“You’re the only girl in a group of ten thousand plus men, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m thinking of your father.”

“Ho,” Lili raises her eyebrows, “I’ve been able to take care of myself just fine. Want me to send a letter to inform my father?”

Totally ignoring all her sass, “I’d like you to draft a letter calling Min-Soo here.”

“Huh?”

“A favor.”

“Ok…” Lili watches him leave just like that. Argh, this guy is infuriating! She wanted to at least ask him about Yona getting here...

The Fire Tribe leaders begged Yona and her bunch to stay at Saika Castle for the night, but she declined… citing she really needs to get to the Kai border asap. And though she didn’t mention it, somehow she’s even more comfortable sleeping in the wilderness these days. Just she and her boys and the moon.

They left in two groups -- the first to set camp up -- Hak, Kija, Yun, and Shin-Ah -- and the second to finish up alignments in Saika -- Yona, Jae-Ha, and Zeno.

Yona is on horseback with Jae-Ha when they hear it -- a child crying. They quickly ride toward the sound to find a little dark-haired boy and his mother huddled against a tree.

“Are you alright?” Yona reaches out to them.

For the longest time they are reluctant to speak. Seeing their distress, Yona offers them her coat and the little food they have on them. After an hour of quiet sitting and occasional comforting smiles, the mother finally confides, “We’re from Kai.”

Yona looks to Zeno and Jae-Ha, the weight of this falling on them.

“How did you end up so far away from home?”

“We live near the border. The troops have been camped out there for days. Thousands of men, with weapons that look like…” there is true terror in this mother’s eyes.

Yona runs a caring hand over the small child’s head, then looks into the mother’s eyes, “You were trying to get him away from the war?”

She nods.

“When is the last time you ate?”

The mother looks at Yona in a way that she immediately understands. Too long.

Yona turns to Zeno, “Take them to Tae-Jun. Tell him it’s for me. He’ll take care of them.”

Zeno nods, “Of course, Little Miss,” and offers them up onto his horse.

Before they leave, the mother, clutching her child, meets eyes with Yona -- eternally grateful for this kindness. For saving them.

As Yona heads to camp with Jae-Ha, she starts sobbing between his arms. He moves the reins into one hand and uses his free arm to pull her close against him, “My dear, it’s alright.”

“This is my fault. And I’m not sure how to stop it this time.”

All the masculinity in Jae-Ha screams for him to kiss the top of her head, to pull her into his arms and make her forget about her pain, but he abstains, “We’ll do whatever we can to help the people on both sides.”

“I’m not like him, Jae-Ha. He’s always thinking so far ahead. I just see the person crying in front of me and help them, not realizing who it might cost down the road.”

This angers Jae-Ha, he knows who the "he" she's talking about is and he's glad she's nothing like "him," “There’s rarely a cost down the road. What you do is beautiful, Dear, the most beautiful…,” he stops himself again, rephrases, “Never change. Never question the value of you.”

When Jae-Ha and Yona arrive at their little camp for the night, Hak is waiting for them, all nerves. When he sees Yona’s tear-strewn face, he’s hit with a painful shock.

“What happened?!”

“Give me a second,” Jae-Ha pleads. He gets her into her tent, takes his coat off of her, and looks into her eyes, “I find rules to be too restrictive in life. So you tell me -- do you need him tonight?”

Within moments, Jae-Ha is walking out of the tent to Hak. When he stops, he begs in a command, “Comfort her.”

#akatsuki no yona #fanfic #hak x yona #first night back in fuuga #akayona

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