#what a lucky coincidence that it is currently on sale

[ravangie]

Never read The Locked Tomb, but everyone who's recommended it to me were late twenties to thirties in age

Ok, it is decided, then! I am buying "Gideon the Ninth"!

Thank you, everyone!

[statementlou]

https://www.tumblr.com/louisupdates/754934426217152513/goodbye-faith-in-the-future-world-tour-272024?source=share

did he or did he not lose fans then?

I will answer this because this anon actually brings a concrete question to the table rather than just "hurhur but you're a larrie??" (tell me you can't actually refute any of our points…). Anyway this post shows the decrease in Louis instagram followers between the screenshots taken directly after the release of Faith in the Future in Nov '22, when he changed his bio to promote that album and the tour tickets, and now, when he changed it again to mention the current release. But I'm putting that response under a cut because I'm tired of the actual POINT of all this nonsense getting lost in a sea of made up things people insist are important:

There is no rational argument you can make to say that Louis has less fans now than he did 2, 4, or 6 years ago. You don't need a spreadsheet of details you need to USE YOUR EYES! He has gone from filling theaters to filling arenas and stadiums. His second album made a higher chart position than his first album. His festival has doubled in size EVERY year of its existence. And for that matter: his insta post engagement numbers remain about the same (despite the fact that older posts should have way MORE likes due to having been there longer, even aside from follower counts.) SO WHO FUCKING CARES ABOUT HIS INSTA FOLLOWER NUMBER???? Serious question: what does the word "fans" mean if these things aren't what matters? ALL of this quibbling about what he should do to make things better and people can't even see that THINGS AREN'T BAD.

Anyway to address the specific question- (con't......)

NO- HE DID NOT LOSE FANS. HE LOST SOME INSTA FOLLOWERS. THESE ARE NOT THE SAME THING. As I said above, literally what does it mean to lose fans if that number change coincides with him having higher sales, more audience members, and higher engagement than ever before? Whatever he lost ISN'T FANS. I wouldn't be surprised if a significant factor was something like a bot purge, but also yes: I'm sure a lot of casuals followed him around the time of his big album release and later unfollowed him. That's extremely normal because that's how casual engagement works, and why the definition of fan really matters. Louis and his team understand this and have referenced it repeatedly, talking about how lucky he is to have *us* specifically, to have the kind of dedicated fanbase he has, to have the KIND of fans he does who will allow him to do what HE wants. @dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram named the issue of depth vs breadth with regard to fans a long time ago, and pointed out why having DEPTH is so much more important. It's like this- artists who are on top 40 radio have more numbers on things like insta follows, and for a time on sales and tickets. But those aren't FANS- they're people with a casual interest. And as soon as that person isn't being forced in their ears 10x a day, those people lose interest and stop supporting them, stop buying stuff and unfollow, and those artists end up doing the 'opener on the jingle ball' circuit rather than their own tours. One Direction as a whole, and Louis maybe most of all or near to at this point, have something MUCH MORE VALUABLE than that- DEPTH FANS. Louis has fans who will support him even if he takes years to release music, or stops parading around with a pretend girlfriend to stay in the headlines at least once a month, or completely changes his image and genre, and that is UNHEARD OF. It's ASTONISHING and worth SO MUCH MORE. And they get that! THAT is why he always bragging about us, why industry people he works with are always so agog about us, why he will do anything for US- not for randos. He is also growing his breadth- and it's OBVIOUSLY WORKING whatever his follower counts are, but that is always going to be secondary to doing things for THE FANDOM because that is his sustainable business model. That is what keeps him onstage and reaching number one. And not coincidentally, the things they do are also working to grow that- much more valuable- commodity. So the fact that that's exactly what these chuckleheads complain about- that he does things that are just fandom facing or serving rather than everything being aimed at recruiting casual fans- does nothing but betray how completely they, unlike Louis and his team, misunderstand the actual drivers of his (actual, existing, happening) success. Luckily for Louis, he and his team rely on their own data harvesting (they do a LOT of it) and growth metrics (they're off the charts) rather than the smug assumptions of random (mostly quite new to this) fans and the few bitter people leading the complaining about everything Louis does.

[murumokirby360]

Title: Another 90s Camera: Olympus Camedia C-2000 Z

DeviantART Version [CLICK ME!]

Hello, January! Sorry for the long delay, though. Because I have a lot of things that happened at the beginning of 2024. And GOOD NEWS, I've bought something that makes my PC bring back to LIFE, after 7 months of being inactive (since Jun 9th, 2023)! 🖥️🔧😀 Although I'm still working on the topic, maybe I'll submit it this Feb 2024! 😁

Right now, it's time for my 1st throwback item share of 2024, with this neat-old camera (as my improvise).🙂

• Here's another '90s camera, this is the Olympus Camedia C-2000 Z 📷 inherited from my late grandpa named Jim, who passed away on Jun 6th, 2020 owing to complications, as well as the victim of the COVID-19 virus. Once again, R.I.P, grandpa Jim. 😔⚱️🥀 Believe it or not, I used this '90s camera for submitting on dA, back in Jan 2010. 🙂📸🖼️

Here are my snapshots from the 2010s, so far using the 90s Olympus cam: ○ Jan. 4th, 2010 #1 - [CLICK ME!] ○ Jan. 4th, 2010 #2 - [CLICK ME!] ○ Jan. 19th, 2010 - [CLICK ME!]

BTW: #1: All these three we're stored to my dA private storage, but at least I've already posted on tumblr, couple of years ago.

(and) #2: Also, picturing & submitting these photos on whole "January" calendar was utterly coincidence. 😊📸

1st & 2nd Image(s) [took photos on Jan 19th, 2023]: ↑

• Anyways, the 90s Olympus cam possessed 2.1 megapixels of camera 📷✌️, which was pretty clear & and crisp at the time. However, as of 2024, it is considered a pretty low megapixel that no other modern high-quality companies make that, anymore. 🤷‍♀️ Except for cheap gadgets, of course. And when you compare to your (flagship/mid-range) smartphones 📱/digital cameras 📷 that possessed a whopping 150+ Megapixels, and sometimes 200+ megapixels for the Pro-DSLR camera brands 📷🖼️ speaks volumes to the consumers. It was simply an evolution of the camera lens. Today, like the brick phones from the 90s, the 90s cameras we're now a relic status of the past, meaning no one's using them, anymore due to outdated hardware. They now act as a throwback collection, which simply refuses to throw the trash 🚯, like this ancient 90s Olympus camera. 📷🫳 But hey, if your 90s camera still functions, then you're lucky to used it, but please be careful. 😉

• So, what about the "Olympus" 🇯🇵📷 brand? What happened? Are they still producing cameras? 🤔 Well, according to "quora.com", quote "Olympus has announced in June 2020 that it is selling its camera division to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) and will exit the camera business altogether. The sale to JIP was completed in January 2021, and the new company created from the sale is called OM Digital Solutions." This means the Olympus camera brand is already off the camera wars; with Canon, Sony, and other Japanese camera brands still running the camera business. However, the Smartphone cameras became more advanced than the old-style digital cams. Here's hoping, that the digit cams will have the same treatment, or maybe still be around in case the smartphone's camera pixels weren't enough, in terms of the raw image.📷🤞

3rd & 4th Image(s) [Took photos on Jan 29th, 2024]: ↑

• Uh yeah, I forgot that the camera includes a soft case fitting for this model. And look, my paper dolls were delighted to see a throwback camera & they wanted a snapshot using it. 🙂📸 Yeah, but it's no longer working 📷❌, and I tried (using 4 Eneloop AA Batteries) 🔋🔋🔋🔋🤷‍♀️. So much so, that I decided to pretend to take snapshots with the old cam while taking photos with my actual camera from my current smartphone (Honor 8C). Was that a coincidence? 🤔 I'm not so sure 😅, but they're delighted. 😊

Well, that’s the end of my topic, more things to come this 2024. 😊

And if you want to see my Yearend Items Summary - 2023, then please → [CLICK ME!].

Tagged: @lordromulus90, @bryan360, @carmenramcat, @leapant, @paektu, @rafacaz4lisam2k4, @alexander1301

[bonky-n-steeb]

𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐵𝐸𝑆𝑇 𝐷𝐴𝑌

𝘽𝙐𝘾𝙆𝙔 𝘽𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙀𝙎 𝙭 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙀𝙍

𝗥𝗘𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧: doctor!reader has no clue that Bucky is a secret agent and she soon finds out.

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦: Fluff, minor angst.

ᴛʜɪs ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇᴛᴀ ʀᴇᴀᴅ, sᴏ ᴀʟʟ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ᴍʏ ᴏᴡɴ

MASTERLIST

Bucky was finally back from his business trip. He had been gone for two whole weeks and you both had missed each other terribly.

Today he had decided to make it up to you, and had taken a day off from his work, and so had you. Instead of a simple date, you both had decided to spend the entire day idly roaming around the city. It was a nice reprieve from all the stress that came with being a surgeon.

While walking, you stopped in front of your favorite boutique. The dresses there were expensive but chic and you were friends with the owner and designer, Maria. Whenever you wore one, you used to turn all the heads in the room. Currently there was no special occasion coming up, and you already had enough of the dresses so you decided to window shop.

“Why don’t we go inside?” Bucky asked. “Buck, I already have so many of the dresses and I don’t need another one as there is no special event coming up anytime soon.”

“My doll doesn’t need a special occasion to look good.” He said kissing your temple. “Buck...” you tried to protest but he nevertheless dragged you in.

“Welcome! And congratulations you are our lucky customers.” You looked at her dumbstruck, Maria wasn’t a person to give any discounts. “Lucky customers?” You asked.

“Yes, today is the 7-year anniversary. And we had agreed that the first person to walk in the boutique would get 75% off on any dress of their choice.” She said with an infectious smile.

“75% off? On any dress?” You squealed. You looked up at Bucky and he gave you his signature smirk. You were a sucker for sales. As you looked around, your eyes were captivated by a dress. It was maroon, with long bell-shaped sleeves. It had a V-shaped neckline and was a flowing gown.

“You like that one doll?” Bucky asked as he saw you staring at the gown. He knew you would like that one. “Yes. I love it.” You said excitedly. “Alright then, pack it.” In your excitement you failed to notice the understanding nod shared between Bucky and Maria.

You were super excited and were talking nonstop. That was one of your traits when you got excited. You couldn’t believe you walked in at the right time, and the credit was Buck’s, he was the one who dragged you in. You couldn’t believe your luck.

The next you decided to visit the bookstore you usually frequented. The moment you entered, the book store clerk, Simone happily waved at you as if she was waiting just for you.

“I have something for you.” She said as she bent down and produced a book. It was your favorite one. “Open it. It’s a signed copy.” You couldn’t believe your eyes. Your favorite author had signed that book along with a sweet message scribbled just for you. “Oh my goddddd!!”

You couldn’t believe that this day was even real. “Bucky, I don’t know what is happening today, but it’s already the best day of my life.” You squealed and he pulled you closer to him, “It’s definitely the best day of our lives.” He pressed a chaste kiss to your lips.

After around an hour later, your beauty salon lady called up and informed you about her latest offer. And so, you decided to give her a visit while Bucky went home. Once you were done, you were looking exquisite.

You were too euphoric to notice all the coincidences. Everything was perfect until you went home. Bucky face was worried. “What happened? You look worried.”

“It’s Nat’s birthday today. We both forgot. Don’t worry, Steve has arranged a party. So now let’s get dressed and go.” Nat and Steve were Bucky’s colleagues and best friends.

You knew this universe was giving you signs. After all the shopping you did, it was worth it. You decided to wear the new elegant dress.

When Bucky saw you and his jaw dropped. He himself was wearing an expensive navy-blue suit. “I swear to god, if it weren’t so important, we would’ve never left this house.”

Once you reached the location, you were surprised to find no one was there and it was completely dark. But then a sudden focus of light was out on where you stood with Bucky.

Just then Bucky got down on his knees and produced a velvet box. “Will you make me the luckiest man alive by marrying me?” He looked flustered and scared. Without thinking twice, you squealed “YES!”

Apparently, Bucky had already bought that dress for you, there was no offer at Maria’s. Also, he had arranged for the signed copy and the salon well. He just wanted it to be the best day of your life in all sense.

———

Maybe you had been wrong. It had been a week since your engagement, but today was the best day of your life.

After learning the news, you had been euphoric. You wanted to tell Bucky as soon as possible, but he was too busy today and you knew better than to disturb him.

Before going home, you decided to celebrate a little and went to the nearby cafe. You ordered your favorite pastry and sat at one of the tables.

Suddenly there was a small pat on your shoulder. You turned around and saw the last person you expected in this cafe. “Tony?”

Tony Stark was a billionaire. Despite having all the money in the world, his heart wasn’t as healthy. And that’s when you came in. When he had first come in due to an emergency, you had treated him and ever since then he had become your patient.

“What are you even doing here?” You asked as he took the seat in front of you. “Having some coffee, I guess.” He said shrugging. And then his eyes fell on your ring.

“Woah! I see someone is engaged. Didn’t think you’d break my heart so ruthlessly.” He said pretending to be hurt. You excitedly nodded, “Just a week before.”

“Well, so who is the lucky man?” He asked. “Bucky Barnes.” You said smiling giddily. “I’m sure he must not be more handsome than me.” Tony quipped.

“You’ll be disappointed!” You took your phone out and showed him a picture of Bucky. Tony squinted his eyes and took your phone into his hands. “This is Bucky?” He asked skeptically.

“Yeah. Why?” Tony seemed confused and then pulled out his own phone. “As long as I remember, his name is Andrew and he is already married.” Your eyes widened at that.

“What? You just be mistaken. Are you sure it’s him?” Tony nodded. “Yeah, see this. I met him around a week ago, that’s why I remember. Not gonna lie his wife, Sonya was impressionable.”

He said giving you his phone. There was a picture of Tony and a couple. You couldn’t believe your eyes. It was indeed Bucky, and the worst part was, his ‘wife’ was none other than Nat.

~~~

You were sitting on your couch and crying when Bucky came home. “What happened?” He quickly kneeled on the floor besides you.

“I’m gonna only ask once, because I can’t emotionally afford to ask twice; what is going on between you and Natasha?” You ask, your eyes were blood red and puffy from all the crying.

“What?” Bucky took your hands in his and pressed kisses. “Don’t lie, I know everything. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

“I don’t get what you are saying, doll.” You took out your phone and showed him the pictures Tony had sent you. At that Bucky scoffed, “Oh this!”

“Oh yes Andrew! What the fuck is even your name you liar!” At that Bucky’s demeanor grew serious. “Listen, it’s not what you think. Wait right here.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead and went upstairs.

“See this.” He said running downstairs and giving you a file. “And what is this? Your marriage certificate?” You asked incredulously. “Just read it once please.”

You took it and started reading. First it didn’t make sense but after some time it did. Bucky was an agent working for a secret government organization called ‘Avengers’.

“What is this Bucky?” He slowly started wiping your tears. “I’ve wanted to tell you for so long now. But I always thought that I’ll tell you tomorrow; but turns out tomorrow never came.

I know you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, so this is the proof. My own file. I’ve worked as an Avenger for years. That day at Tony’s party we were undercover. And we pretended to be married. The ‘two weeks business trip’ was actually an undercover mission.”

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “Bucky seriously! You couldn’t tell this to me before? Do you know what I’ve felt in the past two hours? I literally found out in the worst way possible, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did.” He pulled you closer to him and pecked you on your cheek. “This was some True Lies level shit.” You said laughing.

“So... now that you know this, I might as well confess something more.” You raised your eyebrows and wondered what all news today’s day was going to bring.

“Do you remember the first time we met?” You nodded, you remembered that day very clearly.

It had been an excellent day. Your surgeries had gone perfectly but you were tired. So, you decided to do what you did every time you had a good day; go and eat a pastry.

As you entered the cafe, you could see the pastry section to be completely empty. You pouted and were sad to break the tradition. You inquired but they weren’t going to make any more pastries for the day.

As you were about to turn around and leave, you came face to face with the most handsome man you had ever met, his eyes were so captivating, you feared you’d get lost in them.

“I saw you wanted a pastry, well, I guess I have one and you can have it.” His voice was smooth and you swooned. “Uh, no it’s fine.”

“Oh, I insist.” You looked up at him and gave him a pleasant smile, “Why don’t we share?” You asked shyly. You spent the entire evening chatting and decided to meet the next day for a proper date. And that is how you had met.

“It wasn’t actually my first time. I had seen you before that at the hospital but I was undercover and so I couldn’t approach you.

But then I just got too shy to ask you out so I used to follow you around. I didn’t mean to creep or stalk. I just... God! This is embarrassing. But I kind of learnt your routine and habits.

I knew when you had a good day you would go and have a pastry at the cafe. That day before you went in, I bought all of the pastries. So, when I asked you whether you wanted to have mine; I actually had at least 23 pastries with me.”

You giggled at that. “Wait you are not mad?” You shook your head. “Actually, I would’ve been, but now that I know how you are, and that I love you so much, this is actually pretty cute.”

You stopped laughing and said, “Well, now that you’ve shared your secrets. I’d like to share something too. I fear I won’t be able to love you in the future as much as I do now.”

Bucky tensed up. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked adorable. “Because when a mini version of you will be running across the house, I swear to god I won’t be getting any reprieve.” You said snuggling him.

“I... what? Are you? Wait, is it what I’m thinking it is? Are we pregnant?”

“YES! You’re gonna become a daddy, James!”

[providencepeakrp]

“SPRING IS NATURE’S WAY OF SAYING - LET’S PARTY!”

Come one, come all for Providence Peak’s Annual Spring Extravaganza! Browse the local shop windows as they’ve worked hard to display the most creative blooming displays to welcome the new season in and while you’re doing so, be sure you don’t miss out on the sales and special treats being offered during this week! If that isn’t enough to keep busy as Spring hustle and bustles its way into the doors of the city, there will be a mountain of daily activities offered alongside a truly fantastical downtown festival. As the winter snow finally melts away from the city, allow yourself to relax and welcome spring and all it has to offer.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

All Week (April 30th - May 7th) - The downtown extravaganza will begin on Saturday and run all week long. This portion of the event fills the downtown area of Providence Peak with vendors selling local goods and foods, stalls offering free merch, activities for the children, and even a petting zoo! You can find the full list of vendors HERE.

Saturday (April 30th) - Prepare yourself for The Jagged Yard’s monthly Coyote Ugly Night! While it’s not officially part of the city’s spring festival, it might as well be, and since the night coincides with the beginning of the spring season in Providence Peak, the bar is doing it up big and offering a special spring-themed cocktail, a Spring Fling, with more liquor than you can actually name for half-price! And if you can name every ingredient used in it, your bill will be comped on the house!

Sunday (May 1st) - If you’re not too busy sleeping off that inevitable hangover, take a trip to Summit Lake to The Jade Palace where you’ll be able to brunch your way around the city for just $25 at the door. From spring-flavored lattes handcrafted by Expresso Yourself, Turkish sweet treats from The Sweet Spot, a bit of high noon presented by Twice Baked, smoothie bowls from Main Squeeze, and from scratch bagels by Lucky Joes - grab a taste test list at the entrance of the hotel and begin your journey through The Jade Palace’s various outdoor areas in search of the tastes of Providence Peak.

Monday (May 2nd) - Hopefully you’re not too tired from the busy weekend, because as the festival carries on downtown, Take It Outdoors is hosting a boat and kayak race across Summit Lake. Feel free to bring your own equipment or they’ll have more than enough for participants to rent during the event. And what’s the prize for crawling out of bed and standing outside under the sun all day only to row across the largest lake in Providence Peak? Well, two brand new personalized kayaks, complete with paddles and life vests, of course!

Tuesday (May 3rd) - Find your way to Mayor Harris’ stand in the midst of the festival for a spring raffle. Each person has the opportunity to purchase 5 raffle tickets and are about to bet them on a chance to win some of this seasons grand prizes. Then, join Keola and Mya for a dance party in the center of the festival where they’ll be playing all of the current hits and rocking along to each one with the citizens of Providence Peak.

Wednesday (May 4th) - May the Fourth be with you on this hopefully sunny Wednesday. If you’re finding yourself in a mid-week slump, try visiting the Wonderwell Science Museum for a fun space filled, admission free day. Join a presentation in the planetarium, take a stroll through the galaxy, and grab some intergalactic grub in the well stocked cafeteria.

Thursday (May 5th) - It’s time to get back outside again with True Color’s Rainbow Color Run, a truly spectacular and colorful delight coordinated by none other than the director himself, Miles Cohen. Registration for the race begins at 9am at The Grape Escape with the race starting at noon. Attempt to make it to the finish line while being blasted with every color powder imaginable along a two mile trail and obstacle course.

Friday (May 6th) - We hope you’ve had a moment to browse your way through the floral window displays of local businesses downtown, each shop challenged with creating a marvelous spring display using fresh flora and fauna provided by Silver Sun Flowers. Throughout the week festival attendees have had the opportunity to vote on their favorite store display which will be announced at noon in the center of the festival downtown by the one and only Victoria Carlyle, a rare public appearance for the face behind the most coveted newspaper column in the city.

Saturday (May 7th) -  After the downtown festival wraps up at noon, join the city at Frederick’s Farm in Bighorn Hills where everyone will be treated to fresh popped popcorn, apricots picked that day, and lemonade while waiting for their turn to fly in one of dozen hot air balloons sponsored by Providence Peak University.

EVENT DETAILS

This event will be kicking off Friday, April 29th at 12pm EST. It will run until Sunday, May 8th at 12am EST. No new starters should be posted after this time, but members may take the next few days to wrap up their threads.

Previous threads should be paused or completed by the end of Friday, April 29th.

Activity checks and acceptances will be held as usual.

Dress is casual and temperature is expected to be in the mid to high 60s, possibly reaching 70 some days with the sun shining brightly all week!

Have fun and be sure to relax and enjoy this event! Please tag all event related posts with providence.event and be sure to check the starter blog for open event starters.

[blouisparadise]

Upon request, here is a rec list of fics where Harry, Louis, or both boys come out during the course of the fic. We hope you enjoy! Happy reading.

1) Down On Your Knees, You Don’t Look So Tall | Explicit | 3445 words

Louis and Harry are friends, and best ones at that. Louis loves Harry more fiercely more than he's ever loved anyone, so he doesn't really have a problem with it when they start doing this thing. This wonderful, wonderful thing.

2) There’s Magic In This Life | Explicit | 7326 words

Harry comes out to the band as bisexual on a Tuesday.

3) Just Walk My Way | Explicit | 10271 words

Louis is a Victoria's Secret Angel, and Harry is the main act of the night.

4) End Of The World Tonight | Explicit | 12069 words

“You remember when you told me that you wanted to live with me for the rest of your life?” Louis asks. His voice trembles a bit, exposing exactly how much he hates what he’s about to do. How much he wishes that he wasn’t about to do it.

“I remember,” Harry says. His expression is a little lost, like he thinks that they’re about to have a fight and he’s not sure what they’re supposed to be fighting about. Louis closes his eyes because he has to, has to take a second to regain his courage. He can’t keep doing this. He can’t keep suffering, can’t keep killing himself trying to hide this. He’s ready. He’s been ready for a long time.

5) No Bleeding Hearts | Explicit | 12651 words

“I’m going to come out,” Louis says abruptly. His grip on the controller is tight, knuckles whitening. He doesn’t look at Harry when he says it.

“What?” Harry says. Louis sucks in a breath through his teeth.

“When we re-negotiate our contracts. I’m going to come out.” Harry fumbles with the controller and manages to set it down on coffee table without cracking it in half.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Harry says. Louis is still pointedly not looking at him.

“I’m not having this argument with you again, Harry,” Louis tells him. He leans forward and deposits his own controller on the table beside Harry’s before standing up. “I’m gonna go to the hotel.”

6) One More For The Stars | Mature | 16099 words

It's different, and Louis knows that, because Harry's got so much riding on this - a career and a future and his whole life. There's talk of him going first overall in the draft, of entering the NFL after only two years in college, of going to New York or Seattle or Green Bay, and Louis wants to be there for him, wants to support him and help him make decisions, but he also kind of wants to pin him to the bed and cry and scream, What about me what about me what about me?

7) Then We Talk Slow | Explicit | 20493 words

A famous/non-famous AU in which Louis banters back and forth with his new record company on Twitter, only to find out that Harry is the man behind the tweets.

8) Monsters At Home | Explicit | 21566 words

High School!AU. Everyone's eyes are on Harry, the beautiful, charming new student. Harry's only got eyes for the school golden boy: football captain Louis Tomlinson, whose homophobic father complicates matters a bit.

9) Brooklyn Saw Me | Explicit | 28537 words

In the cold and unforgiving city of New York, Louis doesn't have a home and Harry wants to give him one. But as their heartstrings become increasingly intertwined, and the snow continues to fall, home is getting harder and harder to find.

10) If Ignorance Be Bliss | Mature | 30429 words

Uni AU: Harry is too experienced, and Louis just wants to get to experience him.

11) Something Great | Explicit | 31064 words

In which a coincidence, instagram, a party, a piano and a planned coming out all come together to make two people fall in love. As it happens, it turns out to be a rather effective combination.

12) What Our Souls Were Meant To Do | Mature | 34106 words

All Harry’s father wants is for his son to marry as soon as possible and give their family another heir. All Harry wants to do is fall in love.

13) And Touch Me Like You | Explicit | 35971 words

The one where Harry and Louis agree to be each other's New Year's kiss and it ends up being a lot more than they bargained for.

14) The Reason Is You | Mature | 37429 words

Louis is running out of time to find a summer job. His best friend offers him one that promises early mornings, late nights, long hours, and the best people he'll ever meet. Lucky for Louis, one of those people is Harry Styles.

15) The Sun Will Rise With My Name On Your Lips | Explicit | 37927 words

When Eleanor breaks up with Louis he finds it hard to keep pretending that Harry isn’t what he’s wanted since the day he first met him.

16) We’ll Get It Right In The End. | Explicit | 53612 words

Harry Styles is what the media is currently revolving around. He's young, he's attractive and apparently good at everything. A singer song-writer and the new face of Captain America soon encounters himself amidst a problem when he finds himself falling for the person he's not supposed to, an elite professional escort, Louis Tomlinson.

17) Cameras Flashing | Explicit | 81733 words

With his breakout single platinum three times over and his second album still selling out in stores around the world, Louis Tomlinson has made it to the top. However, his position as Pop Heartthrob of the Decade is threatened by the edgier, more artistic Zayn, who happens to be releasing an album a week after Louis’ upcoming third. Louis needs something groundbreaking- scandalous, even- to push past him in the charts. Much to Louis’ dismay, his PR team calls in The Sexpert.

Consulting with PR firm Shady, Lane and Associates pays the bills so that Harry Styles can spend his down time doing what he really loves: poring over data. On weekends and late into the evenings, he researches gender, presentation, and sexual orientation, analysing the longitudinal study that is his father’s life’s work. That is, until his newest client, the popstar with the fascinating secret, drags him off his couch and frighteningly close to the spotlight.

As the album’s release date approaches, will Tomlinson and Styles be able to pull off the most risky PR scheme of the millennium and beat Zayn in sales or will the heat of their feelings for each other compromise everything?

18) Electing Strange Perfections | Explicit | 84757 words

Back for the summer from university, 19-year-old Louis is faced with a massive problem: their new gardener is quite possibly the most gorgeous man he's ever met. Over the course of the summer, Louis and a 25-year-old Harry will learn that love can be found where you least expect it.

19) Here In The Afterglow | Not Rated | 88659 words

1970’s AU. In a tiny town in Idaho, Louis’ life is changed forever by the arrival of a curious stranger.

20) For Reasons Wretched and Divine | Explicit | 94655 words

Note: This fic is locked and can only be read by AO3 users.

Ten years ago, Harry Styles was just a nerdy kid with one friend and a debilitating crush on the captain of his school’s football team. He thought the stars were smiling down on him the day he and Louis Tomlinson were paired for their end-of-term Literature project. But because Harry’s life is decidedly not a fairytale, the budding friendship quickly leads to the least happy ending of all time.

Now, Harry Styles is a household name. Barely twenty-seven with two Grammy nominations to his name, the singer-songwriter is poised to take the music industry by storm with his highly anticipated third album. So, what happens when the best producer in the business is also the only person Harry’s vowed never to speak to again?

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

[houchlife]

Top 7 Law Of Attraction Tips To Manifest More Of What You Want!

By Heather Mathews Author of Manifestation Miracle      “Everything is within your power, and your power is within you.” ― Janice Trachtman Charlie, a stay at home dad, works out of his living room while looking after his three-year-old toddler. As a social media consultant, he depends on his laptop to make a living. The problem is that his beat up computer was as old as his kid, and it was always glitching on him. So Charlie kept focusing on getting a new computer – a 13-inch Macbook Pro in particular. Eventually, his old laptop gave out, which made him panic a bit. So Charlie went online to look for another one while having the shiny new Macbook in the back of his mind. After hours of searching, he couldn’t find a reasonably priced model. So he was about to settle on another type of laptop and was close to closing the sale. But at the last minute, Charlie decided to check the price listings for a used version of the computer that he REALLY wanted. And just like that, someone was selling a six-month old Macbook Pro for a price significantly cheaper than a store-bought one. So Charlie got what he wanted, and at a better deal than he had hoped for! Now, Charlie’s incredible stroke of luck seemed like a fluke to him at first, but then another awesome thing happened shortly after. You see, Charlie was also looking for a new job because he felt stuck in his current one. So he had his sights set on another company with a position in mind. The truth was that he wasn’t all that confident he was even qualified for the position, but he went over the job description again and again. Charlie even printed the job ad and put it on his refrigerator door so he could see it every day. A couple of weeks after his interview, he got a call from the company and said he got the job. On Charlie’s first day, his new boss told him, “Honestly, your skillset isn’t an exact match for what we were looking for. But I really liked how you did at the interview…and besides, we can train you for the other things you need to learn, anyway. You have a great attitude and that’s more important than being 100% qualified for the job.” Click Here To Discover the Lazy Person’s Secret To Get Everything You’ve Ever Wished For      Is It Coincidence - Or Something Else at Work? It’s easy to brush off Charlie’s streak as plain dumb luck, but could he have WILLED his good fortune to happen? After all, the common element between getting his new laptop and the new job was that he focused on both things intensely. Charlie kept it in his thoughts all the time. More than that, he created a detailed picture of his desired state in his mind. He imagined what it would be like to hold his new laptop and how he’d feel working in the new job he was aiming for. Charlie visualized both scenarios so vividly that he could almost taste it. Whether he knew it or not, he was putting the basic principle of The Law of Attraction to work - and it served him well. As the name implies, this law decrees that “like attracts like.” There’s a global movement behind this belief, and it says that the kind of thoughts you send out to the Universe emit a certain frequency – be it helpful or harmful. And you have the power to control the wavelength you operate on, which in turn attracts circumstances that match your energy. So by focusing on positive outcomes and giving out positive vibrations, you can turn your thoughts into a tangible force of good in your life! On the other side of the coin, dwelling on the negative aspects of life and focusing your attention on the things you resent attracts even MORE negativity into your world. Like Charlie, you can think of something specific you want, and hold that image in your mind. Create all the details that bring the picture to life, then believe that you already have it. When you go about your day thinking that the object of your desire is already a matter of fact… …this sends out a clear, strong message to the Universe that you truly WANT and BELIEVE it. But this is just the tip of the iceberg; there are other ways to raise your frequency even higher. By following these 7 Tips to Create the Life You’ve Always Dreamed Of, you’ll naturally attract everything you’ve ever wanted – and MORE:

#1: Set aside time to focus on what you desire

    The first habit is simple enough: give yourself at least 5-7 minutes daily to visualize the things you want to turn into reality.

You can do this by finding a quiet place to contemplate, then sit upright with your eyes closed. While keeping your desires front and center in your thoughts, breathe deeply in and out.

Focus on your breath and the sensations your body is feeling, and use that as anchor to keep your thoughts from straying.

If your mind does go on a tangent, gently bring yourself back to your breathing AND your desired future state.

You’ll get a lot of benefits from doing this for just a few minutes every day. For instance, many studies have proven the stress-reducing properties of meditation.

A study at the Massachusetts General Hospital showed that people who tried their meditation program experienced significantly less health problems than before.

They ended up not having to see a doctor or go to the emergency room, saving them about $2,300 in medical costs for EACH person!

On top of that of course, meditation also helps you keep your eye on the prize and give you the determination to make it happen.

Some people however, have trouble meditating and get easily distracted.

If you need a little guidance with this habit, I’ve got a special gift for you – but more on that later…

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#2: Be grateful and practice gratitude

    Ever hear the expression “Thank your lucky stars”?

Back in ancient times, people believed that celestial bodies played a huge role in someone’s destiny.

Today, many still believe that these same external forces affect our lives.

The Law of Attraction draws from this belief, and it states that we should be gratefull whenever the Universe sends something good our way.

This is another way of fine tuning your frequency. When you actively pay attention to the positive things that happen around you, it acts like a magnet that attracts similar things.

And by being thankful for your blessings, you’re sending a powerful message to the Universe that essentially translates to:

“Thank you, that was awesome! More please!”

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#3: Take a leap of faith

    The main challenge that people have with manifesting their desires is dealing with the world of the intangible.

It can be daunting (and even discouraging) to imagine a future outcome that hasn’t happened yet.

It takes some faith to push past that hazy uncertainty, and not everyone has it in them to do so.

So you need to check your inner Doubting Thomas at the door for a moment and appreciate how other people have used the Law of Attraction to succeed.

Consider the great figures from the past: Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Marie Curie, Vincent Van Gogh and Nikola Tesla.

All of them were shining examples of how they used their mind and willpower to create something valuable in this world.

They raised their own frequency and as result, had a different energy from the rest of humanity.

Even though they’re gone, their legacy lives on, and we can still feel its impact today.

It’s all because they took a brave step into the unknown.

Even though they couldn’t see how their work would ripple through the next several decades, they still powered through.

The skepticism that people have is the result of growing up.

As you get older and have more experiences, a certain amount of jadedness sets in.

That’s why you won’t find any of that in kids. Just think about how children play make-believe.

When they yell, “The floor is lava!” you can bet they’ll be scrambling for the nearest couch or chair to avoid getting “burned.”

On a certain level, they TRULY believe that the floor is literally molten rock.

They can see the hot, glowing lava, burning everything its path…

…and they do everything to stay out of its way.

That’s the power the mind and imagination in action.

Learn how to see the world on this level again. That way, you can see a bright future before it happens – then go on to make it a reality.

Click Here To Learn How to Force the Universe to Manifest Your Dream Life 

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#4: Keep on keepin’ on

One of the realities of this world is that you can’t eliminate adversity.

It’s always going to be an uphill climb at some point, especially when you’ve just taken on a new challenge.

You’ve been eating right and working out, but the pounds aren’t quite flying off as you’d hoped.

You started a side income project, but your cash flow hasn’t been anything more than a trickle.

You’ve tried beating your depression with exercise, therapy and medication, but the dark thoughts still charge at you like a freight train.

That’s called RESISTANCE.

It will always be there, even as you dig deep and do everything in your power to manifest the reality you want.

Being a grown-up means expecting those external circumstances to work against you.

Your best response? PUSH BACK.

Keep your inner world together, and the outside world will follow suit.

Dumbledore once told Harry Potter, “Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.”

Remember: the hero of the story is never a one-person army.

Harry had Hermione and Ron.

Luke had Obi-Wan and Yoda.

And you don’t have to fly solo in YOUR journey.

Think about the people in your inner circle – are they giving you the energy, motivation and inspiration to succeed?

If the company you keep sneers at growth and being better, maybe it’s time to look for other friends to round out your squad.

Seek people who lead by example and can show you how to overcome that resistance in your life.

Learn from them and let their enthusiasm rub off you.

While you’re at it, use technology to connect to like-minded folks who can help you in your quest. Open your phone or laptop and fire up YouTube, Vimeo or any other video streaming site.

TED talks, self-help lectures and tons of other empowering content are literally at your fingertips.

The Universe has too much abundance for you to ignore.

We’re part of a vast human network, and our collective energy affects everyone else in ways we can’t yet fully comprehend.

This network has always been around; the Internet merely accelerated it. Tap into it and unleash its power.

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#5: Tune out your Negative Ned (or Nancy)

    There’s always that voice in the back of your head that kicks in when life gets tough.

It loves whispering things in your ear, usually at the height of your frustration and despair:

- “You totally blew that one, why do you even bother trying?”

- “You had one job and you screwed it up like always…I’m not even surprised.”

- “Getting back on the horse, are we? I give it a week before you go back to your old ways. Better to quit while you’re ahead!”

- “You actually thought he was complimenting you? Oh, bless your heart…it’s called ‘small talk’ and ‘being nice’.”

If you’re like the rest of the human species, you’re going to run into those nasty folks called insecurity, self-doubt and fear.

They’re going to take up space in your head and try to drown you out with their noise.

Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet and scholar, knew this well. It his poem “The Guest House”, he spoke an ancient truth about the human condition.

He likened all our thoughts and feelings – both good and bad – as visitors who stopped by the guest house of the soul.

And this line struck me the most:

“The dark thought, the shame, the malice. Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.”

Once I understood what it meant, I realized that I didn’t have to resist it. I could simply let my obnoxious guests do their thing, and see them out.

It’s not about covering your ears and going, “La la la la! I can’t hear you!”

Acknowledging their existence in your head is NOT the same as letting them win.

The world’s greatest achievers go through bouts of darkness and anger like everyone else.

The main difference is that they use their failures as material for an instruction manual called “What NOT to Do and How to Do It Better The Next Time Around”.

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#6: Ditch your story

    You shouldn’t stop at managing your negative thoughts, however. You need to peel back another layer and go deeper.

Here’s the thing: you grew up on a set of beliefs, whether you’re aware of it or not.

Your parents, teachers, friends and pretty much everyone you knew growing up contributed to your programming.

You don’t know it, but you operate on this programming on a daily basis.

And it influences every decision you make – and how you choose to see the world.

Now this can be a good thing if you grew up around people who were positive, motivated and had a good outlook on life…

…but this is the real world we’re talking about, so NOT everyone had that kind of effect on you.

Somewhere along your journey, someone discouraged you in a subtle way, or put some sort of label that you can’t shake off.

Words like “Underachiever”, “Oddball”, “Loser”, “Nerd”, “Small Fry”, “Ugly Duckling” and “Black Sheep” come to mind…

…and each one is damaging in its own toxic way.

Sadly, most people carry this invisible weight their whole life.

But starting today, you can lay those bricks on the ground and walk away for good. You don’t have to carry that weight for anyone, especially not for THEM.

Stop living your story based on the false narrative that your negative programming created.

All those preconceived beliefs need to go if you want to attract happiness and prosperity in your life.

I’ve seen people achieve INCREDIBLE things – even the impossible – just by doing this one thing.

Lionel, a heroin addict from Michigan, was in and out of jail for the longest time.

But after overdosing within an inch of his life, he decided to ditch his old story.

Even after everyone gave up on Lionel and called him a “screw-up”, he turned it all around.

He let go of the labels that people had been putting on him for YEARS…

…and Lionel decided he didn’t have to be any of those things anymore.

Lionel created a NEW story for himself – one where he was finally free of his crippling addiction and lived a clean, sober life.

What kind of story do YOU want to live out?

MORE ABOUT  Motivational / Transformational

#7: Make your affirmations “pop”

    You might have heard of people making declarations about themselves to manifest them as truth, and not just as an opinion.

When you affirm some truth about yourself, it validates the awesomeness within you.

Words of kindness heal the soul and help forgive past failures.

In short, it’s about LOVING yourself.

After all, you can’t give what you don’t have.

However, saying “Boy I sure love myself!” doesn’t quite do the trick.

To make your affirmations stick in your subconscious, it needs to have a little something extra.

Don’t stop at “I love me!”- take it up another notch to really drive the point home.

Try these on for size:

- “I love myself so much that I want to use my gifts and share them with the world. I want to take this love inside me and use it to lift other people up.”

- “By sharing the love I have, I possess the power to change myself for the better, and the world around me.”

- “I am love, light, peace and prosperity. Anger, hate and scarcity have no power over me.”

- Aside from loving yourself, you can also infuse a dash of humor in your affirmations. Who says you have to be so grim with his Law of Attraction stuff, anyway?

When you add a bit of levity while you affirm yourself, it shushes your Negative Ned (or Nancy) into silence.

Try coming up with statements like these:

- “I’m so awesome that I kick mediocrity in its big fat butt!”

- “I’ve come here to be awesome at everything I do and kick major butt. And I’m all out of butts to kick.”

- “Did you say something, self-doubt? Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of my awesomeness!”

It’s all a matter of finding the right attitude and tone that suits you. Take a crack at making these affirmations, and you’ll soon find your true inner voice.

What matters is that you inject your affirmations with a serious amount of attitude, and above all, ENERGY.

Without that energy, you won’t give your messages enough “juice” to reach the Universe and show up on its radar.

Those who practice the Law of Attraction often combine these affirmations with their meditation sessions to hit two birds with one stone.

And the results are nothing short of phenomenal.

Now, about that gift I promised you earlier…

To make the MOST out of your meditation, I’ve got a series of audio tracks to help you manifest incredible benefits in your life.

If you want to be the picture of health…

…naturally create wealth wherever you go…

…and enjoy authentic, fulfilling relationships…

…you can achieve ALL of that by simply claiming your FREE gift below:

100% FREE Meditation MP3 Audio Tracks – DOWNLOAD THEM HERE 

[crazeestuff]

Lucky 9's Venture Journey

• Defining the Hypothesis

As we continue exploring our hypothesis which is online selling, we've undergone another set of validation among 3 interviewee in order to gain additional ideas to tighten our business concept. Given that online selling is one of the most efficient way of purchasing products without necessarily going to the mall, this business is to be launched within Valencia City proper with an aim of serving each costumer the best shopping experience and satisfy them with our products.

• Hypothesis Testing and Narrative Report

The hypothesis was validated through conducting a face to face interview among 3 person with existing business. The interview was composed of five questions; (1) what is the problem that your business solves? (2) How do you make money with your business? (3) Which aspects of your business are losing money? (4) Will your customers recommend you (your business) to their friends and family? (5) What are your most valued (and most expensive) customers?

The results we've gathered from the interview are the following; for the question 1, the respondents mentioned that the product sometimes arrived with damage and there is a big possibility that the fixed price for that particular product will be lesser than the regular price which will affect the profit of the reseller. In question 2, similarly they actually make money by tallying those sold products to maintain or to record the run of the business. However, in question 3, this question relates to question 1 in which they lose the money if there are more damage product arrived. In question 4, recommendation of friends and families and other companions of at least 1 of our customers will continue. Lastly, for question 5, these customers buy more or higher-value products than the average customer. This means that our most valued customers will receive a badge as being loyal and aside from this, we also give them a discount in every purchase of bundled items.

The results found that each interviewee with existing business were having different concepts on how they make their marketing strategy unique. In this sense, their idea coincide to ours wherein, they were able to address information that could help us with the concept of our business. Therefore, a continuous validation from various entreprenuers is necessary to be able to conceptualize well especially on what will be the flow of the business to prevent failures in a realistic view.

• Decisions and Options

Taking those idea from the respondents, the team came up with two options namely; (1) the monthly biggest sale particularly every 9th day of the month, and (2) the “saver’s choice” or promo which means that upon purchasing the items, the customer pay lesser than the original price.

Finally, the team decided to pursue the two options provided that it would gradually make an impact to our proposed business.

• Lessons Learned

The team learned that every people has its own needs and wants however, people's personal desires gradually change over time due to the influence of society such as the current trends. With that being said, planning and deciding a business is never an easy task especially when your business idea relates to fashion. That is why, it is important to consider and identify the various factors intelligently beginning from making hypothesis up to the testing of hypothesis to assess the opinions from other people. And to visualize the possible outcomes when we are going to launch a business. Moreover, a unique marketing strategy and a competitive edge will greatly provide an impact to the business because this would be a major tool which encourage potential customers to entertain the business. And in this online selling set up, we really have to be cautious on the things present in the online world especially with the bogus buyers and sellers. Lastly, with a positive mindset and motivation towards the business, the skills in handling the challenges in this venture will eventually develop.

Lecture series 2 discussed by Ms. Keren Lacadin talks about the team formation and the funding. The thoughts I gained from her very spontaneous discussion is that, team formation starts on how to understand the difference between working alone and working with the team. We are all aware that there is a significant difference in terms of the outcome when the work is done individually and with a team. Team work usually results to a more satisfying outcome than those done individually. But we cannot invalidate the fact that there are people who still find satisfaction when working alone. Moreover, the formation of the team is important and should understand one’s weakness and strength of the different field in the business. Funding on the other hand simply pertains to resources needed to finance a program or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization. The team funding is the fuel that starts and run consistently the business.

Lecture series 3 discussed by speaker Ma’am Geisha Mae Getuaban talks about the incubation program and how this signifies to start ups like us. The incubators refers to the one who help the start ups by giving an advice, resources, and bootstraps in the early stage of the business. This is important for us to become aware and knowledgeable enough as an entrepreneur especially in transforming a small business into successful one which also takes time and effort. Thus, for the entrepreneurs to enlighten their uncertainties, incubation programs really provide an advantage.

• Documentation (Lucky 9's validation)

[jumukus]

A3! Event: This is the Inner Palace, the Flower Garden Chapter 1 Translation

Homare bumped into Tsumugi at a book store before Izumi let them know about a request from certain theme park.

Homare: ...Suspension of publication?

Editor: The editor-in-chief has tried their best to prevent it from happening, but… I deeply apologize for this.

Homare: ...I did hear sales have been a bit rough in the publishing industry these days. It’s truly unfortunate, but there’s nothing that can be done since this is the company’s decision.

Editor: However, I’d like you to continue writing your serialized column online.

It’s very popular among our readers. Furthermore, ending such a wonderful column would be such a waste.

Besides, if we move your serialized column online, we can update even faster. It’s truly advantageous.

Say, will you accept this offer?

Homare: Online, huh… It’s saddening to know that I can no longer have my column printed on a paper, but I have no reason to refuse if you say so.

Editor: Thank you!

Homare: So, have you decided on the next theme?

Editor: As for that one… I actually have a few ideas, but I haven’t narrowed them down.

Homare-kun, if you have something you’d like to write, feel free to throw in your suggestion. We still have time until the deadline.

Homare: Very well. For the time being, I’ll go home and try coming up with a theme that will fit the current me.

Homare: Oh my? The person over there is…

Tsumugi-kun?

Tsumugi: Oh, Homare-san.

Homare: To think that we bumped into one another at this place, what a coincidence.

Tsumugi: One of my students lives nearby, so I stop by this book store quite often these days.

Homare: I see. But isn’t here… the historical novels corner? You have a quite refined taste.

Tsumugi: Ah no… My student isn’t very good at Japanese history, so…

Since she likes reading novels, I’m thinking to give her a book that will help her gain interest in history.

Maybe a love story will be a great choice, given that she’s a girl. ...For instance, stories about shogun’s harem are interesting and often made into films.

Homare: What a good teacher you are, Tsumugi-kun. If that’s the case, I have a recommendation.

...There it is. What do you think about this one?

Tsumugi: Anthology of Japanese poetry…?

Homare: This is a collection of poems composed by the ladies in the Inner Palace. This book also has an explanation in modern language.

I think this book is a great choice for those who have never read classic Japanese poetry.

Tsumugi: Yes, I think so too! I feel like she will like it since this one is easy to read. I’ll buy this.

Thank you for the recommendation.

Homare: No need to thank me, though I hope your student will like it.

Tsumugi: Hm? I got a LIME message from director.

Izumi: I’d like to hold a meeting regarding our year-end plan. Please gather at the lounge tonight.

Tsumugi: Year-end? I wonder what it is about.

Homare: Who knows…?

Izumi: Is everyone here? I’ll start the meeting, then.

First, I’d like to discuss the business-related matters.

For our year-end plan, we will be holding our annual year-end party and talent show. Please let me know if you want to participate. I’ll wait until next week.

I’ll appreciate it if you guys also tell me sooner whether you will return home or stay in the dorm.

...Moving on to the main subject, we’ve received a request to perform a play at Edo Park.

Yuki: By Edo Park, you mean…

Taichi: That’s the place where the Spring and Autumn Troupes had a training camp! It’s a really awesome place; you’ll feel like you’re living in the Edo era for real!

Tsuzuru: Since this is the Edo Park we’re talking about, that means we’ll be performing period drama?

Izumi: They only told me they wanted some of us to perform a play in the Edo castle.

Is there anyone who can do it…?

Kumon: Period drama seems fun! I wanna do it!

Muku: But Kyu-chan, didn’t you say you have supplementary lessons during winter break…?

Kumon: Y-You’re right…

Kazunari: I’ve got tons of homework too…

Tsumugi: Exam season is approaching, so I’m busy with part-time work…

Izumi: Ah, I knew it. Everyone is busy during this season…

Azuma: I can’t do it since I have some business to take care of. How about you, Homare? I think you should accept the offer. You looked really good in Kimono during our “Die by the Sword” play, after all.

Homare: I’m actually very interested in joining, but I’m afraid it’s going to hinder my work. I still need to write for my column.

I apologize I can’t lend you any help, director-kun.

Izumi: It’s all right. This is a sudden request, after all…

Itaru: Shall I do it? That way, I have an excuse to skip my company’s year-end party.

Yuki: Your motives are too impure.

Azami: I’ll join the play too. I have some time since I’ll be returning home later than usual.

Sakyo: If anyone can’t make it, I’ll join too. I needa thank them for taking care of us during our training camp.

Azami: Yikes, shitty Sakyo is joining too. What a letdown.

Sakyo: Do ya have any problems with that?

Azami: Tch, not really.

Muku: Umm… Can I participate too? I’ve been wanting to go to Edo Park since a while ago.

Izumi: Of course.

Kumon: Lucky you, Muku… If only I don’t have supplementary lessons…

Izumi: Four people, huh… We still need a bit more.

For now, please check your schedule and let me know if you can join the play.

Banri: Gotcha.

Hisoka: ...Okay.

Masterlist | Chapter 2 >

[kanene-yaaay-o-retorno]

You’re a WHAT

Kanene’s Notes:

I’m weak for carzy scenarios  and glitter, so BOOOM!! Why don’t get these two things together??? :D)/ This fic marks the end of my break, I will be (trying to) going back to my old projects and probably won’t be writing for some weeks kjnhgfvghjkjhg. Wish me luck! <33

This wasn’t suppose to take so much to be written but I lost my PC and life got in the way :v   Buuuut! I manage to finish it and I already count this as a victory! xP

Warnings, fun facts, random things and stuff:

* That fanfic has Remy and Roman. They’re friendos yay :3. Oh, and this is pretty crazy. Context: The morning after Black Friday when you’re grumpy and wanting to kick the society in the face. A LOT of swearing, Patton does not approve.  

* This characters do not belongs to me. They all belongs to the amazing Thomas Sanders in his series of Sanders Sides.

* Something around 2.900 words. -w-)b.

* Sorry for any spelling, pontuation and grammar mistakes! Any advice is very very welcome!

* Tô com preguiça de postar a versão em português brasileiro aaaa! Thankys for reading, my lollipops! Try and have fun with new hobbies, be safe, talk with the one that you love, drink water and sleep well! Byeioo!~

                             [~*~]

Roman thought himself as a really lucky human being. Unbelievable lucky.

 It wasn't due to the apartment where he currently lived - Too much dull for his personal taste and space, getting even smaller from the day he admitted a messy, sassy and with sleep problems roommate, since Roman just started his musical career and couldn't afford an own house yet. - or the fact that was finally able to pursue his dream after years and years of just picturing, painting this moment on his future, only to find out his fantastic breathtaking and incredible goals weren’t nearly close of the cold reality, at least for now (Who would know that, after umpteenth days of hard studying and training he would need years and years of experience in order to even START wondering in get out of his partial-time job on that Electronic Store) or any other reason someone would be able to consider himself a receptacle of pure, brute luck, enlightened by the spotlights of the good, pleasant destiny...

 ... Or at least the most pleasant it could be in the horrible and exhaustive middle of the night after a whole day filled with his attempts to survive and treat respectfully the unmerciful, dirty jungle that humanity was at Black Friday. Something around fifteen  hours working with massive hordes of unscrupulous zombies starved for a sale and able to even kill and die (more likely the first option) to get what they want and with souls (if they still got one) free of any slight sight of education, patience and morals to be inserted in a society which, as it seemed, was equally rotten as them. View point only proved as Roman was obligated to be working after his shift to "clean all the mess" - more like hide the bodies of exhausted warriors after such bloody battle. – the store because those sons of a...

 "... Bitch, YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!!" The poor, frustrated employed shouted to nowhere specific, his face turning towards the sky, seeking in some way to show his all his hate to the cinematography - because this was too much coincidence to NOT be part of a movie or some random fanfic on the black hole that was internet - rain falling at full force leading the weather to became even more freezing as soaked them both with its cool, thick drops.

Anyway, what he was daydreaming about?

"Roman." Oh, yeah, the reason why he viewed himself as a truly lucky person. "My gurl, if you try to impersonate a fucking, dramatic, bitch crow in my ear even again, I swear in the name of my life juice bean that I'm going to KILL you with my bare hands and these sunglasses."

 At least his best friend since, honestly, diapers, who coincidentally was his roommate and even more coincidentally, his coworker was just screwed as Roman himself. Which automatically made the duo less screwed, however equally pissed off, something that neither of them discovered if that was a good or bad thing, yet.

 "Fuck you, Remy" Roman whispered between an tired yawn, too much tired to even think about some nickname or to put real heat in his words as he got instinctively closer to the other, the one called taking off his jacket and lazily throwing it over their heads, doing his best to cover they both with the small available black leathered fabric, the act intertwined with grumpy grumbling and motions which would probably slap Roman's face if he wasn't careful. "I'm the one who buys your coffee."

 "Having my incredible, unique personality in your life should be motivation enough for you to buy me the entire Starbucks Company, be glad I'm weak to your cute face and am going easy on ya."

 " 'Cute'? Excuse me, I'm the most handsome, hottest and fabulous man you will ever met in your lowly life, mortal."

 Remy snorted at this "Whatever helps you sleep at night, babe, but if it's going to be like that your ego soon will have to pay his part at the rent."

 "Well, this 'ego' here was the only thing between your highness and jail after stopping you from committing all those murders today."

 "Bold of you to assume I wouldn't use my contacts to hide the evidences." Their tune were already completely sleepy, bodies instinctively leaning onto each other as the words stumbled, mixed and almost lost themselves in the soundly wind as slipped from their lips. Roman just laughed.

 "Well, if by ‘contacts’ mean 'Virgil' good luck getting him out of his bed on his free day. You would became the fucking new King Arthur." Roman rubbed his eyes, trying to physically force his eyelashes to not close, a new yawn finding its way to his mouth. He didn't even know about what they were talking anymore.

 "I roll the dice to cast Badass Nerd Bitch."

 “Logan??”

 “He likes to study nature stuff, especially at night, I’m sure he already knows some good spots to hide bodies. Glasses.”

 “Glasses?”

 “Glasses.”

 “OMG, the anime character with glasses.” Roman stopped, his mouth wide open as if all the secrets of the universe had been revealed to him.

 “Exactly.” Remy extended each syllable, grinning smugly.

 “I’ve never-“

“THIS IS A ROBERY!!”

 The sentence, which appeared to came out from nowhere, cut the air in a harsh, sharp tune, breaking the barriers and tying them up in the same place in a frozen position and wide eyes staring astonished the hooded form and their unreadable features under the bad illumination of the light poles helped by the increased storm. The wind trespassed them, stirring their clothes and making the muscles shake both of the alone employees in the middle of a dark, empty street at the dawn, even if the dangerously shiny knife directed towards their direction still in a hatred silence. 

 “My.” Roman knew he probably should be afraid, the freezing feeling running across his veins and frightening his brain and actions as infected his words in an unspeakable terror impossible to ignore nor escape. “fucking.” However, the only thing that slipped through his next was the purest, deepest, truest... “ASS.” Indignation.

 Roman thought about a lot of things. He thought about running away, grabbing Remy’s arm and sprinting across the street, about scream in the top of his lungs the waterfall of swearing already racing half way to his throat and even about kicking the knife out of the other’s hands and then kicking him - with a couple of cool moves he saw in some actions films - together with their frecking audacity to try to rob him of all the people in the world. Roman, who asked himself if he would have enough money to eat in the next week with a concerning frequency, who wondered if this is the life he will have until the end of his existence, if he will ever be able to accomplish his dreams.

 His gaze changed to Remy, who was paralyzed, trembling between the poor light of the street and the massive rain. Roman swallowed. Everything was in his hands.

 For a piece of Roman felt the strange urge to spill to the figure before him the story of his life, all his tries, all his battles, his everyday fights to make his dreams real. Blow by blow. Day by day. A life destined to go after everything he wished to himself, everything he wanted to life, to experience, to savor, to do everything in his hands to ignore and one day maybe, hopefully forget all the ghosts - these ones always accompanied by those emotionless, sharp whispers - asking, doubting nonstop if he ever would be able to do all of this, if he was doing the rights thing, if it was really worth all of it.

 However, before the first word even slipped of Roman’s tongue or his mind came fully back to Earth, Remy was already positioning himself strategically between the robber and his friend, the currently only one with the leather jacket falling on his shoulders. However, Remy didn’t seem nearly soaked as he should be, and for a heartbeat, the same one which Remy moved his hands to his jeans’ pocket, his fingers touching and firmly holding something there, Roman could swear that the unexpectedly shiver running across his spine wasn’t due the cold wind.

 Nor the sentence hurled in the clouds.

 “You know what?? Fuck it.”

 And then he unsheathed his magic wand.

 Roman loved with the entirety of his heart all kind of magic, he could easily spend an entire afternoon (which he already had, by the way) listing his favorites movies, musicals and stories with that theme. That also could be easily said by the thousands and thousands of worlds, universes and lifes he invented – in and out of his head - about the subject trough his childhood and handful of teenage years, random ideas and inspirations appearing and dancing in his mind until nowadays. If that only wasn’t enough to convince someone then the umpteenth memories of mornings and afternoons bathed in the smell of books, rocked by the calm silene of the public library as he turned one more page, his back lightly aching by the bad position assumed behind the shelters, in a place he strategically found and claimed as his own Bridge to Terabithia, enjoying every moment as if nothing else mattered. Perhaps you wouldn’t even need to swim in such deep, ancient waters to find out his love, since at least fifty percent of his day was dedicated to shout, hummer or murmur Disney songs.

 However, as rays of pure energy  - shiny and kind of glittery one - involved and swirled from Remy’s, who now was floating a few centimeters above the ground, wand in stripes that got lighter and lighter, begging to spin faster around the aforementioned, creating a spere of a power stunning and big enough to stop the rain in the corner.

 The silence resulting from the lack of the storm didn’t had the opportunity to fill the moment, being obligated to give its space to a soft, intense melody whispered in their ears. The notes standing some more moments in the air, the beating following the changes in the shadowed figure inside the spere. Hesitations taking over the loud, quick heartbeats when the song finally stopped.

 The power’s spere finally exploded, the impact leading to an unbelief and intensive force push both human meters away.

 “Get. Out.”  Remy’s tune still the same, his form – Now adorned by a gleaming crop top, his fluttering skirt over shorts floating in synchrony with the veils which surrounded his clothes and wrapping his arms, the ending spreading in the air as a bunch of angry powered and fancy snakes. - even with the new vestments full of glitter (this probably would be a hell to get off, later) still the same, his gaze, powerful – a new meaning pouring from this word – strong, still the same. But yet…

 Yet his wide eyed, heart hammering in his chest friend since he could remember found himself struggling to connect the same Remy who he had known – if he could still say that? -  all his life with the same being who gleamed dangerously before him.

 The magic wand danced in a quick flick and a trash can came of what seemed nowhere to hit the wobbled and absolutely terrified robber, who fell with a soft thumph in the ground, unconscious.

 “-man, Roman!!! Don’t just stay standing there like a tree, help me here, gurl!” Suddenly the called snapped from his own sea of thoughts, submerging and astonished blinking in Remy’s direction. The rain started to fell on them again, and when their eyes met, when Roman saw the same guy who spent afternoons climbing trees and pretending they were knights and dragons attacking or saving the world, when he recalled the silent sleepovers where they just sat near of each other enjoying the mutual company, the grumpy mornings in their apartment, the comfort hugs, the looks full of words, the smiles filled with meaning, the friendship stuffed with so many, many memories... 

 Nostalgia. The feeling that everything was changed albeit something… something important always stayed. Roman felt, truly felt it and fixed his glare into that brilliant – quite literally - glare adorned with a ‘I’m about to punch your cocky face if you keep fucking narrating every freaking second of your life, ya bitch’ he realized... 

 It was Remy.

 He took a deep breath, moving closer and gradually relaxing as the aforementioned focused in trying to lift the guy, swearing more frequently than raindrops fell from the sky.

 “Remy?”

 “Yeah?”

 “First crush.”

 The other stopped, frowning confused. Roman didn’t quiver, feeling he deserved some sort of answer. At least about this. “What?”

 “My first crush. Who?”

 “Kovu.” Remy maybe was a bit cold hearted, maybe he wasn’t the best with human interactions or knew exactly what Roman wanted with that… but he knew Roman enough to realize this was important. Essentially when the said seemed to relax, his form untensing itself and being allowed to get closer of the magic being.

 “Okay. Okay, okay…” Roman took a deep breath, grounding himself. Their gaze met, his next words coming a little calmer. “Okay.”

 “Please don’t make me sing that serenate you made for him. I’m gonna fucking quit.”

 “Oh, shut up!! Our first love is something special, mister I-Can’t-Choose-Between-The-Beast-And-The-Beauty.”

 Remy decided to ignore the words, slightly lowing his sunglasses with his special Judgmental ‘Bold of you to assume I have enough shame to be mocked’ Look. Roman just flipped in his direction, taking advantage that the other’s hands were occupied.

 It was still Remy, with a whole more of style and glitter – Why are there so much glitter here?? - but it was just Remy. Like just any other day.

 Before he even realized, Roman was already at his friend’s - and as it seems a magical being - side, helping him to carry the robber’s body to somewhere dry so he wouldn’t die of hypothermia.

 “Why don’t you- Ouch!! My feet, dammit!” His breaths came out as puffs, the effort leading to his already exhausted muscles only protest even more and very much probably curse him later with sore movements for the audacity to transport anything heavier than a pen. “Why don’t you use your... Wizard magic or something to carry him??”

 “Oh. My. Gosh. Roman, you are sooo intelligent, why aren’t you in Harvard? Ow! Ow! Ow!!” Remy’s sarcasm was cut when the other kicked, or did his best to with their actual position, him in protest.  “Homophobic.” He exhaled a mix of irritation and a snort, receiving a playful punch in his arm by their inside joke.  “I’m your Fairy Godmother, brainless. Unless it was you laid in this stupid, cold ground I can’t use my magic anymore... Except if this is someone of your family but I doubt-”

 “Wait, wait, wait, WAIT!!! YOU ARE MY FAIRY GODM-”

 “No, no way, nope, we are NOT having this conversation right now.” Remy, the Fairy Godmother let go of the unconscious body in a way that probably will make the guy wake up sore, perhaps with a concussion even, directing his index finger in Roman’s direction in a deep, determined stare full of darkness and things that Roman could swear would make Remy be expelled from the group of Friendly Fairy GodmotherS  or whatever... thing he was inserted. “Let me tell you what we are doing right now: We are going to home, change our clothes then I’m getting coffee and you will get sleep so I don’t have to face nor care about the freak consequences of my damn actions.”

 ...

 “That...” Roman stop, as if was considering his next words. Remy’s face just scrunched in a bigger, firmer frown. “That would be hella scary if you didn’t look like someone who just stole a store of glitter and got attacked by the gay, glitterly, shiny fairies who protected the place.”

 “Go fuck yourself. I’m locking you outside when we get there.”

 “Noo, please don’t! My evil stepmother didn’t let me go to the prince castle and now I need help! Crying emoji, crying emoji.” Roman mocked, imitating sad sobs and sniffles as quick his pace to follow the other, who flipped him.

 “I’m this far from knock you out with my magical wand and then you will see who is the evil stepmother.” His wand gleamed in warning, the red color getting mixed and trembled by the fast movements of his veils, one of them getting dangerously next to Roman’s face, who cleverly got silent for some heartbeats, the sound of the rain slowly calming their heartbeats and rocking them, the tiredness gaining the space which, piece by piece, was being unhanded by their adrenaline.

 They arrived home, both still quiet, feeling free as a relieved sign left their lips. Remy threw his soaked jacket in some dark corner, the bed being the only thing which was allowed to take over all his thoughts and will. 

 An awed gasp echoed behind him and he immediately regretted his move.

 “YOU HAVE WINGS????”

 Before his eyelashes closed, the shiny of the wand disappearing gradually as an ungodly amount of sleepiness gained complete control over his body, relaxing each one of his fibers and as a warm, magic good feeling fills every single cell in his being, Roman wondered if ‘Fuck it’ was the name of Remy’s spell.

[bentonluna]

Top 7 Law of Attraction Tips to Manifest More of What You Want!

By Heather Mathews Author of Manifestation Miracle  

Everything is within your power, and your power is within you.” ― Janice Trachtman Charlie, a stay at home dad, works out of his living room while looking after his three-year-old toddler. As a social media consultant, he depends on his laptop to make a living. The problem is that his beat up computer was as old as his kid, and it was always glitching on him. So Charlie kept focusing on getting a new computer – a 13-inch Macbook Pro in particular. Eventually, his old laptop gave out, which made him panic a bit. So Charlie went online to look for another one while having the shiny new Macbook in the back of his mind. After hours of searching, he couldn’t find a reasonably priced model. So he was about to settle on another type of laptop and was close to closing the sale. But at the last minute, Charlie decided to check the price listings for a used version of the computer that he REALLY wanted. And just like that, someone was selling a six-month old Macbook Pro for a price significantly cheaper than a store-bought one. So Charlie got what he wanted, and at a better deal than he had hoped for! Now, Charlie’s incredible stroke of luck seemed like a fluke to him at first, but then another awesome thing happened shortly after. You see, Charlie was also looking for a new job because he felt stuck in his current one. So he had his sights set on another company with a position in mind. The truth was that he wasn’t all that confident he was even qualified for the position, but he went over the job description again and again. Charlie even printed the job ad and put it on his refrigerator door so he could see it every day. A couple of weeks after his interview, he got a call from the company and said he got the job. On Charlie’s first day, his new boss told him, “Honestly, your skillset isn’t an exact match for what we were looking for. But I really liked how you did at the interview…and besides, we can train you for the other things you need to learn, anyway. You have a great attitude and that’s more important than being 100% qualified for the job.” Click Here To Discover the Lazy Person’s Secret To Get Everything You’ve Ever Wished For Is It Coincidence - Or Something Else at Work? It’s easy to brush off Charlie’s streak as plain dumb luck, but could he have WILLED his good fortune to happen? After all, the common element between getting his new laptop and the new job was that he focused on both things intensely. Charlie kept it in his thoughts all the time. More than that, he created a detailed picture of his desired state in his mind. He imagined what it would be like to hold his new laptop and how he’d feel working in the new job he was aiming for. Charlie visualized both scenarios so vividly that he could almost taste it. Whether he knew it or not, he was putting the basic principle of The Law of Attraction to work - and it served him well. As the name implies, this law decrees that “like attracts like.” There’s a global movement behind this belief, and it says that the kind of thoughts you send out to the Universe emit a certain frequency – be it helpful or harmful. And you have the power to control the wavelength you operate on, which in turn attracts circumstances that match your energy. So by focusing on positive outcomes and giving out positive vibrations, you can turn your thoughts into a tangible force of good in your life! On the other side of the coin, dwelling on the negative aspects of life and focusing your attention on the things you resent attracts even MORE negativity into your world. Like Charlie, you can think of something specific you want, and hold that image in your mind. Create all the details that bring the picture to life, then believe that you already have it. When you go about your day thinking that the object of your desire is already a matter of fact… …this sends out a clear, strong message to the Universe that you truly WANT and BELIEVE it. But this is just the tip of the iceberg; there are other ways to raise your frequency even higher. By following these 7 Tips to Create the Life You’ve Always Dreamed Of, you’ll naturally attract everything you’ve ever wanted – and MORE: #1: Set aside time to focus on what you desire The first habit is simple enough: give yourself at least 5-7 minutes daily to visualize the things you want to turn into reality. You can do this by finding a quiet place to contemplate, then sit upright with your eyes closed. While keeping your desires front and center in your thoughts, breathe deeply in and out. Focus on your breath and the sensations your body is feeling, and use that as anchor to keep your thoughts from straying. If your mind does go on a tangent, gently bring yourself back to your breathing AND your desired future state. You’ll get a lot of benefits from doing this for just a few minutes every day. For instance, many studies have proven the stress-reducing properties of meditation. A study at the Massachusetts General Hospital showed that people who tried their meditation program experienced significantly less health problems than before. They ended up not having to see a doctor or go to the emergency room, saving them about $2,300 in medical costs for EACH person! On top of that of course, meditation also helps you keep your eye on the prize and give you the determination to make it happen. Some people however, have trouble meditating and get easily distracted. If you need a little guidance with this habit, I’ve got a special gift for you – but more on that later… #2: Be grateful and practice gratitude Ever hear the expression “Thank your lucky stars”? Back in ancient times, people believed that celestial bodies played a huge role in someone’s destiny. Today, many still believe that these same external forces affect our lives. The Law of Attraction draws from this belief, and it states that we should be grateful whenever the Universe sends something good our way. This is another way of fine tuning your frequency. When you actively pay attention to the positive things that happen around you, it acts like a magnet that attracts similar things. And by being thankful for your blessings, you’re sending a powerful message to the Universe that essentially translates to: “Thank you, that was awesome! More please!” #3: Take a leap of faith The main challenge that people have with manifesting their desires is dealing with the world of the intangible. It can be daunting (and even discouraging) to imagine a future outcome that hasn’t happened yet. It takes some faith to push past that hazy uncertainty, and not everyone has it in them to do so. So you need to check your inner Doubting Thomas at the door for a moment and appreciate how other people have used the Law of Attraction to succeed. Consider the great figures from the past: Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Marie Curie, Vincent Van Gogh and Nikola Tesla. All of them were shining examples of how they used their mind and willpower to create something valuable in this world. They raised their own frequency and as result, had a different energy from the rest of humanity. Even though they’re gone, their legacy lives on, and we can still feel its impact today. It’s all because they took a brave step into the unknown. Even though they couldn’t see how their work would ripple through the next several decades, they still powered through. The skepticism that people have is the result of growing up. As you get older and have more experiences, a certain amount of jadedness sets in. That’s why you won’t find any of that in kids. Just think about how children play make-believe. When they yell, “The floor is lava!” you can bet they’ll be scrambling for the nearest couch or chair to avoid getting “burned.” On a certain level, they TRULY believe that the floor is literally molten rock. They can see the hot, glowing lava, burning everything its path… …and they do everything to stay out of its way. That’s the power the mind and imagination in action. Learn how to see the world on this level again. That way, you can see a bright future before it happens – then go on to make it a reality. Click Here To Learn How to Force the Universe to Manifest Your Dream Life #4: Keep on keeping’ on One of the realities of this world is that you can’t eliminate adversity. It’s always going to be an uphill climb at some point, especially when you’ve just taken on a new challenge. You’ve been eating right and working out, but the pounds aren’t quite flying off as you’d hoped. You started a side income project, but your cash flow hasn’t been anything more than a trickle. You’ve tried beating your depression with exercise, therapy and medication, but the dark thoughts still charge at you like a freight train. That’s called RESISTANCE. It will always be there, even as you dig deep and do everything in your power to manifest the reality you want. Being a grown-up means expecting those external circumstances to work against you. Your best response? PUSH BACK. Keep your inner world together, and the outside world will follow suit. Dumbledore once told Harry Potter, “Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.” Remember: the hero of the story is never a one-person army. Harry had Hermione and Ron. Luke had Obi-Wan and Yoda. And you don’t have to fly solo in YOUR journey. Think about the people in your inner circle – are they giving you the energy, motivation and inspiration to succeed? If the company you keep sneers at growth and being better, maybe it’s time to look for other friends to round out your squad. Seek people who lead by example and can show you how to overcome that resistance in your life. Learn from them and let their enthusiasm rub off you. While you’re at it, use technology to connect to like-minded folks who can help you in your quest. Open your phone or laptop and fire up YouTube, Vimeo or any other video streaming site. TED talks, self-help lectures and tons of other empowering content are literally at your fingertips. The Universe has too much abundance for you to ignore. We’re part of a vast human network, and our collective energy affects everyone else in ways we can’t yet fully comprehend. This network has always been around; the Internet merely accelerated it. Tap into it and unleash its power. #5: Tune out your Negative Ned (or Nancy) There’s always that voice in the back of your head that kicks in when life gets tough. It loves whispering things in your ear, usually at the height of your frustration and despair: - “You totally blew that one, why do you even bother trying?” - “You had one job and you screwed it up like always…I’m not even surprised.” - “Getting back on the horse, are we? I give it a week before you go back to your old ways. Better to quit while you’re ahead!” - “You actually thought he was complimenting you? Oh, bless your heart…it’s called ‘small talk’ and ‘being nice’.” If you’re like the rest of the human species, you’re going to run into those nasty folks called insecurity, self-doubt and fear. They’re going to take up space in your head and try to drown you out with their noise. Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet and scholar, knew this well. It his poem “The Guest House”, he spoke an ancient truth about the human condition. He likened all our thoughts and feelings – both good and bad – as visitors who stopped by the guest house of the soul. And this line struck me the most: “The dark thought, the shame, the malice. Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.” Once I understood what it meant, I realized that I didn’t have to resist it. I could simply let my obnoxious guests do their thing, and see them out. It’s not about covering your ears and going, “La la la la! I can’t hear you!” Acknowledging their existence in your head is NOT the same as letting them win. The world’s greatest achievers go through bouts of darkness and anger like everyone else. The main difference is that they use their failures as material for an instruction manual called “What NOT to Do and How to Do It Better The Next Time Around”. #6: Ditch your story You shouldn’t stop at managing your negative thoughts, however. You need to peel back another layer and go deeper. Here’s the thing: you grew up on a set of beliefs, whether you’re aware of it or not. Your parents, teachers, friends and pretty much everyone you knew growing up contributed to your programming. You don’t know it, but you operate on this programming on a daily basis. And it influences every decision you make – and how you choose to see the world. Now this can be a good thing if you grew up around people who were positive, motivated and had a good outlook on life… …but this is the real world we’re talking about, so NOT everyone had that kind of effect on you. Somewhere along your journey, someone discouraged you in a subtle way, or put some sort of label that you can’t shake off. Words like “Underachiever”, “Oddball”, “Loser”, “Nerd”, “Small Fry”, “Ugly Duckling” and “Black Sheep” come to mind… …and each one is damaging in its own toxic way. Sadly, most people carry this invisible weight their whole life. But starting today, you can lay those bricks on the ground and walk away for good. You don’t have to carry that weight for anyone, especially not for THEM. Stop living your story based on the false narrative that your negative programming created. All those preconceived beliefs need to go if you want to attract happiness and prosperity in your life. I’ve seen people achieve INCREDIBLE things – even the impossible – just by doing this one thing. Lionel, a heroin addict from Michigan, was in and out of jail for the longest time. But after overdosing within an inch of his life, he decided to ditch his old story. Even after everyone gave up on Lionel and called him a “screw-up”, he turned it all around. He let go of the labels that people had been putting on him for YEARS… …and Lionel decided he didn’t have to be any of those things anymore. Lionel created a NEW story for himself – one where he was finally free of his crippling addiction and lived a clean, sober life. What kind of story do YOU want to live out? #7: Make your affirmations “pop” You might have heard of people making declarations about themselves to manifest them as truth, and not just as an opinion. When you affirm some truth about yourself, it validates the awesomeness within you. Words of kindness heal the soul and help forgive past failures. In short, it’s about LOVING yourself. After all, you can’t give what you don’t have. However, saying “Boy I sure love myself!” doesn’t quite do the trick. To make your affirmations stick in your subconscious, it needs to have a little something extra. Don’t stop at “I love me!”- take it up another notch to really drive the point home. Try these on for size: - “I love myself so much that I want to use my gifts and share them with the world. I want to take this love inside me and use it to lift other people up.” - “By sharing the love I have, I possess the power to change myself for the better, and the world around me.” - “I am love, light, peace and prosperity. Anger, hate and scarcity have no power over me.” - Aside from loving yourself, you can also infuse a dash of humor in your affirmations. Who says you have to be so grim with his Law of Attraction stuff, anyway? When you add a bit of levity while you affirm yourself, it shushes your Negative Ned (or Nancy) into silence. Try coming up with statements like these: - “I’m so awesome that I kick mediocrity in its big fat butt!” - “I’ve come here to be awesome at everything I do and kick major butt. And I’m all out of butts to kick.” - “Did you say something, self-doubt? Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of my awesomeness!” It’s all a matter of finding the right attitude and tone that suits you. Take a crack at making these affirmations, and you’ll soon find your true inner voice. What matters is that you inject your affirmations with a serious amount of attitude, and above all, ENERGY. Without that energy, you won’t give your messages enough “juice” to reach the Universe and show up on its radar. Those who practice the Law of Attraction often combine these affirmations with their meditation sessions to hit two birds with one stone. And the results are nothing short of phenomenal. Now, about that gift I promised you earlier… To make the MOST out of your meditation, I’ve got a series of audio tracks to help you manifest incredible benefits in your life. If you want to be the picture of health… …naturally create wealth wherever you go… …and enjoy authentic, fulfilling relationships… …you can achieve ALL of that by simply claiming your FREE gift below: 100% FREE Meditation MP3 Audio Tracks – DOWNLOAD THEM HERE

[vegalocity]

I wanted to do some designs that were more Magical Girl Esque for Miraculous Ladybug, and by the time I started drawing Chat it was officially a Sleepless Domain AU  because Sleepless Domain is a really interesting deconstruction of Magical Girl tropes and conventions without being overly hopeless like other deconstructions usually are.

(if you’re thinking ‘where’s Nino?’ he’s at the bottom of the cut so please don’t reblog this asking that)

for those who aren’t usually into webcomics, here’s the basic rundown and how the ML crew would fit into it:

The world of sleepless domain is... I suppose one could call it a post-post apocalypse along the limnes of Nausicaa and the Valley of the wind. Where something deeply magical and horrible ravaged the lang long ago. But this one city, currently unnamed, has been rebuilt in thanks to the magic they have sustained. This magic takes two forms. The barriers, and the Magical Girls.

The Barriers are in fact two of a kind, the outer barrier and the inner barrier. The outer barrier keeps the monsters out for most of the day, it’s a huge dome like structure that surrounds the city, no one can go in or out when the outer barrier is up. But the Outer barrier needs recharging for about 4 hours every night, from 10pm to 2am. And when the outer barrier goes down, the inner barrier forms. The inner barrier is a sort of seal along every closed surface of the city, it can be breached if a monster is strong enough or has enough time to chip at it, but it can also be opened from the other side by the people inside. 

Which is where the Magical Girls come in. It’s currently rooted in mystery just how and why they get their powers, but when a girl gets her powers she’s usually around age 14, where she gets a mysterious, cryptic dream (some claim their dreams are creepy or depressing, while others find them almost serene) which ends with something, everyone knows there’s more to their dream but can’t remember it for the life of them. and when they wake up their hair and/or eyes have changed to some unnatural color, and a mark of the same color has been left somewhere on their body.  The powers usually leave when they become a young adult. it’s not been specified if there’s an exact age, but the 18-20ish area seems most likely.

The Magical girls are tasked with fighting the monsters as the outer barrier goes down so as to make sure they don’t attack any helpless civillians on the inside of the inner barrier. there’s a lot of commentary on how Magical Girls are treated as both quasi-diefied saviors and straight up commodities throught the story. And as such it’s encouraged that Magical girls work in teams to maximize profit. 

So this is the real shit on how Team Miraculous fits into the story

So Team Miraculous is a Non thematic team, in that despite all of them being based off of animals, they weren’t recruited with the intent on being a matched set. Thematic teams are usually shown to be thematic by having similar outfits, complimentary color schemes, and matching Marks.

Team Miraculous’ Animal theme is mostly coincidence.

So, as for the Ml kids themselves:

Marinette is the daughter of a former magical girl, Sabine Cheng AKA Shooting Star from the thematic Team Star. Sabine was... one of those kids that the city doesn’t like to talk about, someone who had a kid while she was still an active magical girl. Thankfully Team Star was only quasi popular and more of a ‘cult following’ than more overtly famous, so when Sabine quietly retired less of a fuss was kicked up than it could have been. It’s not a very common thing to have a kid while still a magical girl, but there is a precedent. When Marinette was born Sabine’s magic left her, and went into Marinette. There wasn’t much of a change other than her eyes. the color of Sabine’s magic. So when Marinette got The Dream it was inevitable. Sabine herself mostly encouraged Marinette to persue becoming a proper Magical Girl and as it turns out, the Magic that had left Sabine is now hers to channel.

Miraculous Ladybug’s power is not only Unlimited Lucky Charms (because we have no need for ML’s nerfing of the main characters anymore) but also ‘Lucky Streak’ which is based on her PV powers a little. Basically for a limited time whatever she’s attempting to do will turn out well for her, like the marvel lady Domino. 

For the sale of a Five Man Band, and also the iconique nature of the black Cat, Adrien had to be here too, so since there’s already one instance of ‘trans women are real women you fuckwads’ in Sleepless Domain, i’m throwing another in the ring. Adriana Agreste. However unlike Zoe, Adriana was thankfully allowed to come out on her own terms. Mr. Agreste took it... surprisingly well. It was when, two weeks later, that Adriana woke up with black hair and her scleras turned green that he freaked out. THAT’s the fight of the century right there. that’s Daddy dearest confining her to her room, insisting any tutor he could hire would be EONS better than anything at the Magical Girls Only Highschool in the city, and that’s when Adriana sneaks out. She’s not sneaking out to go to Future’s Promisce, she���s sneaking out to register herself she wants to fight, to have this peice of her mother, and maybe understand her sacrifice a little better, her father finds out of course, but adriana’s refusing to stop, After she got registered her counsilor offered to move her into Future’s Promisce’s dorms. So she’s given Gabriel an ultimatum. Either he lets her go to public school and fight, or she’s moving out, needless to say, Gabriel relents. And that’s how she meets Ladybug and the two become the founding members of Team Miraculous.

As Miraculous Cat Her powers have been tweaked a bit from canon. Altering Cataclysm to only work on Monsters, but only on monsters that have solid physical forms. If she can grab hold if it she can turn it into dust. But this pwoer takes a lot out of her. She can either do it one time a night on a large monster, or multiple times a night on small monsters. But alongside that she has that Calamity power that was hinted at in earlier notes and the PV, in that she can summon bad luck and cast it on monsters. Creating damages based on their surroundings. 

Alya’s as she always was as a character backstory. Her mother’s a chef, her father works with animals (though likely he just runs a shelter instead of a zoo since you know... dome city) But her older sister is an MG who just very recently lost her magic and is going to college. Alya still wants what she always wanted, to be a journalist and discover the truth. After what Nora went through as a Solo Magical Girl she wants to be the champion of the MG’s, since most news sites tend to lean into the idea of magical girls as they’ve been socially percieved as, Alya wants to show the world that magical Girls really are normal girls. That they don’t just exist to fight and die for the city. They have their own hopes and dreams. Sleepless DOmain seems to have decided that home technology ended around the mid 90′s since CD’s and corded phones are the norm, so Alya’s Self published journalism outlet is a newspaper instead of a Blog. She’s barely into making the deals with the printing company when she gets the Dream, and decides that’s even better, giving the city a first person perspective as a Magical girl. She opts to join her childhood friend Marinette’s team and become Miraculous Fox, since they’re already non thematic and it’d be easier to work with someone she already knew.

Alya still has an illusion based power of course, unlimited Mirage and all that. but most notably she’s the recon lady. able to summon a small orange fox that can do low level damage to enemies and more importantly she can see through its eyes so they don’’t have to rush into battles blind. She communicates with her fox with her flute when the little guy’s away from her. And she’s almost always seen taking notes on battles and what she learns from other MG’s for the next edition of The Magical Girl Banner

Chloe, of course, doesn’t initially go into this with the right intent in mind. when she was a kid she’s often try to dye her hair and draw marks on her skin in marker, claiming that she got her magic early. She wants the notoriety and fame that comes with being a Magical girl, and using the unfounded rumor that her family is actually descendant from the Founder herself as a reason why she DESERVES to get her magic early. of course, when her frequent target arinette is first to transfer out of their class due to actually BECOMING a magical girl, Chloe is pissed an flips a 180 on her stance, saying that being an MG is overrated anyway. then Cesaire transfers out too, then Lahiffe is asked to be their group’s manager. Chloe is so enraged by seemingly everyone around her becoming MG’s and not her, that whens he finally DOES get her magic she almost turns it down. especially since, for all her attempts to look like she got her powers early, they actually developed in her a year LATER than they should have. Straight up when she comes to class the next day to boast her ACTUAL magic, nobody belives her, thinking she simply put in yellow eye contacts. her hair doesn’t look particularly darker than it was before, her scleras don’t turn black until she’s transformed, and her mark is barely visible when stood against her skin. She ends up on Team Miraculous initially out of necessity, but that’s only the START of her character arc.

Chloe’s magic is more similar to Queen Wasp than Queen Bee. not unlike Alya she has a swarm of bees at her disposal, magic bees of course, they in fact help her fight. her most notable move is sending them swarming on monsters. But instead of paralyzing anything, the bees will turn into small lightning bolts, turning into an inescapable fury. She probably COULD use her bees to paralyze a monster, but that’s more being a team player than Chloe can do right now.

And Finally Kagami. Kagami is also as she always was. a long standing family, rumored to have had Magical girls in the line since Magical Girls first came about. The eldest daughter in every generation of theirs has become a Magical girl, and that runs true again in Kagami. She was groomed form childhood to fight, learning swordsmaship, archery, fighting with a bo staff, and learning any and all magical theory. her family are one of the ones that worship the deified idea of the founder, so it’s no surprise that Her Mother’s first step after Kagami becomes a magical girl is to get her registered and enroll her at Future’s Promisce. What she DIDN’T expect was her mother to dump her off at the dorms, give her a quick ‘behave yourself’ talk, and then leave. Kagamis’ mother was the second oldest, the only reason she inhereited the family name was the fact that her sister had died long ago. Kagami justifies being arguably abandoned at age 14 with her mother holding a secret resentment toward magical girls. The magic that took her sister away, and threatens to take her daughter too. That’s why she traiend Kagami but then sent her away. that’s why her life makes sense. She’s initially against joining Team Miraculous, that None of the Tsurugi’s before her had ever been in a team. But through her own lonlieness, about two years after she got her powers, she gives in and lets herself go from ‘Dragon’s Fang’ to ‘Miraculous Dragon’

Kagami’s got the sharpest deviation from her Canon power. I really coudln’t think of a way to make the Magic aspect work, so the best I’ve got is the transformative aspect. That’s right, Kagami’s magic lets her literally transform into a dragon. She has a sword to fight with when not transformed but the bulk of her magic is in the dragon form. She’s a mix of japanese dragon and western dragon, I don’t have the design finalized yet, but she’s got fire breathing and gold aesthetic, but also more directly japanese looking in design. 

And as a bonus for sitting through all of this absolute garbage:

Nino, long time friend of Marinette’s was asked to be her team’s manager when they realized they couldn’t represent themselves.He instantly clicked with Adriana and became best buds. After which he was given the honorary title of Miraculous Turtle.

As a deal with Mr. Agreste for him not to hire a more experienced manager, Nino has to look presentable when doing managerial things. That means a suit. He can wear the hat and headphones, mostly because he hides them when They’re going to grab Adriana at around 9, but he has to wear a suit if he wants anyone to take him seriously.

[trang-tnm]

Marketing - Here, there and everywhere

If you asked me “What is Marketing?” five years ago, I probably could not come up with a proper answer. Likewise, marketing was not something I recognized much at all. All I knew was that companies tried to attract me and persuaded me to buy their products. However, the more I study and engage in the marketing concept, the more I find it interesting – because it literally takes place everywhere! For example, a hotel with high guest traffic not only needs someone to clean and refresh the rooms after the previous guest checking out but also need to make sure the restrooms in the lobby lounge are also neatly cleaned. Because dirty restrooms can link to a negative marketing message at the hotel. And in this way, the cleaning staffs have no idea that they are also involving in “marketing”.

Lesson I: You do not need to start off in Marketing, to pursue your career in Marketing

I did not initially want to be in marketing and indeed, I have built up my experience in hospitality. Therefore, at the beginning of the Strategic Relationship course at George Brown, I have had no idea how I am going to find a Marketing job after graduate. But it is interesting to find that I am not alone. The GBC alumni - Jordan also started off in Hospitality, Natasha had a career in childhood education and Asta was a full-time graphic designer. None of them took Marketing in the first place, but all have become successful young marketers now. That is really inspiring because I am exactly like them a few years ago. And what does it take to turn your initial career path into Marketing? It’s continuous learning and a passion to know about new things. All of the alumni have finished their degree and been working in other fields, but they all came back to GBC to get the certificate in Digital Media Marketing to help pivot their careers.

Lesson II: Networking = Jobs

By participating in the course, I have had tremendous opportunities to expand my network, which will eventually benefit me with a better chance of getting a job in the future. That is the second lesson I learned from the alumni – It’s all about networking. How coincident it is to have a job offer from a mutual friend? That happened to Asta, and could happen to me too. Networking is the best advice for the question “How to increase my chance of getting a job offer?”. And while networking, you are also marketing yourself to potential employers. Once again, marketing does really exists in every aspect of life.

Lesson III: How is it like to work in an agency?

There have been many controversies over the pressure and stress for working in a marketing agency – you have to meet the deadlines from the clients, get flexible and accommodate their ever-changing requirements, or even having to work overtime frequently to be able to finish the projects. However, it really depends on the company and the position that you are in charge of. As for Natasha, she was lucky enough to find a company that she can dedicate all her effort during a regular 9-5 work and she does not necessarily have to stay longer for getting credit. After all, the ultimate goal for any marketer, despite working in a client or an agency company, is the same – that is to “create happy customers”. As happy customers equal to more sales, and more sales mean increased revenue for the company.

Lesson IV: Adapting to “The New Normal”

This term has undoubtfully become popular in the past few months and the words speak for itself. The way we are doing business now isn’t the same as we did several months ago, at least for the rest of the year. The alumni also gave me a sneak into how business is running during this pandemic. From having to be prepared and properly-dressed for virtual team meetings even though you are working from home, to adopt the marketing campaigns to meet with the current situation. The pandemic has severely affected many businesses, and it has changed how brands market themselves. Take a look into how the top brands' response to the pandemic:

Coca-Cola spaced out letters in the Times Squares, USA

DoorDash #OpenForDelivery Campaign

> The campaign was run on multi-platform with the initial purpose to inform customers that restaurants are open and in need of patronage more than ever to survive through the COVID-19. The 30-second video campaign starts with the title sentence “Restaurants have always there for you” is an homage to essential restaurant workers that continue to work for the others staying at home and it triggers a call to action the help them.

People are more engaged in data points and the internet than ever while practicing social distancing, which has made brands pivot away from their previously scheduled campaigns. Apart from grocery stores and cleaning products that are experience a surge in demand without the need for marketing, other brands have to follow the trend of adapting to “the new normal” to weather this pandemic. Jordan revealed an interesting fact that his marketing team has recently get used to Tiktok as the platform has been over popular and opened a new way and opportunity to reach prospective customers.

All in all, marketing can happen in any form of our lives and it is everchanging. Thanks to the sharing of the marketing professionals who were once out-of-the-market, I have broadened my knowledge about marketing and got myself a hint of what to do next with my career. It is always a pleasure to listen to others’ stories to succeed and expand my network.

[vael]

2019 Annual Review

Each year, I look back at the previous year’s annual review and note that things didn’t go as planned. For some reason I am always surprised, but this time it’s a little painful, too. From 2018′s Annual Review:

“2019 outlook? Sunny! I hope it will be my best year yet.“

Oh, Vael. You built your house, you moved to the promised land. But your year did not go as planned. You are not even close to the zen you craved.

It has been a wild year. This will run long. All I can do is stick to the format and hope my memory and average writing skill will do the year justice. So, as usual, we start with the positive.

What went well this year?

We like our house. We do. The builder was no good, resulting in some warped walls and a lot of headache getting them to finish everything properly, but the layout is very suitable for us. My office is exactly what I needed, our TV room has just the right space for us. We finally have a respectable kitchen. Since I’m living and working in the house 24 hours a day, it’s important to have a comfortable space.

Game development. For the past five years, I’ve put in some serious work. A lot of it was within my game engine, GAM3, and tinydark’s gaming network, The Orbium. While I put in a lot of work, not much came in the way of actual games produced. I finally rallied in 2018 and put out Bean Grower. It was designed to be a supplemental game, not a main driver, so it will not bring in sustainable income. I went on to think that I should open GAM3 up to other developers, license the engine out and collect a share of what they make.

I resolved to refactor GAM3: a word which means to rewrite and modernize many parts of it so that it’s easier to work in, and for it to present better. I would come to realize this desire to share GAM3 was due to a lack of confidence in myself to produce something great, and financially sustainable. Around the time I was realizing that multiplayer was the answer, I discovered Marosia.

Then we moved, I took on contract work, and things generally slowed for me for a few months, eking out what development I could. I played Marosia throughout and in August, it died. I wrote a teardown for it. The stars had aligned: though I had a lot of prelim work to be done, I would make a successor to Marosia. I managed to hype a few people in the community with a demo of GAM3 and I spent the next few months coding a chat prototype and generally organizing myself, and finally mid-November began the refactoring. It would end there, but just this morning (seriously) we learned Marosia was coming back. I had a momentary freakout but it’s ultimately a good thing for my own game.

I haven’t been more excited for a project in a long time. I never thought I’d be so excited to create a standard fantasy world, but it’s a ton of fun, with intricacies I never considered. The game’s design lends itself to a sustainable monetization model: I’m thinking $3/mo for quality-of-life upgrades, with a discount for buying in bulk. I would have paid double for Marosia, so I think this is fair. (6 months of die2nite is currently priced at $69, 6 months of Hattrick is $90!) And most important of all, I can do it ethically, with a game that truly means something to people.

Web development. I’ve learned quite a bit this year! I am so grateful for svelte. I liked but never loved React.js. It always felt ponderous to me. I have no doubt The Orbium’s refactoring would have taken me half the time it did if I were learning svelte vs. React, simply because React is so much more convoluted than svelte, and all in the name of uglier syntax. Svelte seamlessly integrates style and functionality into UI components, which means that if I’m working with a button that clicks to open a modal, everything I need for that button is in that one file.

Due to my contract work (with Harley Davidson, I can reveal) I also got some experience with Symfony and other modern development practices in PHP. PHP doesn’t really excite me these days, loathing having to produce views with it, but it is at least comfy.

My job. “Yeah, yeah.” I got a raise, most of which was contributed to getting Eve and my son onto my badass healthcare plan. We’re developing like it’s 2012, which is frustrating and makes even simple tasks take forever, but I can’t complain about the pay nor the stability of the company and my position there. I also work mostly remotely.

What didn’t go so well?

2019 was dominated by the bad. Eve’s not putting out an Annual Review, but our pain is shared.

The move. 11 months after the contract was signed, our builder was finally ready to let us move in. The house was not finished, just livable. So we rushed out of Rhode Island. We packed my car with everything we could fit, even removing the spare tire, but we got almost all of it. Me, Eve, our son, and our two cats.

At around 7:30 PM, we were driving on a dark highway when we were struck by a muffler that had fallen out from the truck in front of us. It destroyed the front-end, spilling radiator fluid onto the road. I had no idea what was going on, but it so happened that a mechanic had broken down right near us and was able to help. The engine barely carried us to the nearest motel, and I was in shock. I carried all our stuff to our second-floor room, it was even lightly raining. And I was defeated. Eve reports she had never seen me so bad. I had no idea how long we’d be in this ghetto-ass motel, what it would cost us during this time of great financial need, and mostly: I was just miserable. We could have died. If it had hit one of our tires, we could have spun out at 70+ MPH. All I wanted to do was get to our house the next day, and here we were.

I won’t detail the rest here, but I do want to thank my friends for their support and appreciate the good fortune that we got through this time.

We got to the house at 11PM on a Sunday; I still appreciate our builder taking the time to show us around so late. And... it was not at all what we were expecting. We had no driveway, and it had rained. We were tracking in some mud but that didn’t even matter because the entire house had to be cleaned. There was dirt all over the floors, they’d forgotten I didn’t want a chandelier over the dining room table, and the feeling was that we’d gone through Hell (and austure financial practices) to get here and this was it. So much wasn’t done. We knew that, but we didn’t think we’d be sweeping and wetting the floor with paper towel just to have a place to put our stuff. Shoutout to my friend Cody for setting us up with a supply drop.

We spent a lot of time buying furniture, aided by our rental SUV, all the while worrying about our newly purchased things sitting around the house without our protection as workers came in and out. I had to go back to Virginia to pick up the car and through exhaustion, caffeine, stupidity, and anxiety, managed to go 88 MPH and get myself a ticket: a misdemeanor, even. I spent the entire day picking up that damn car (5 hours up and down) and returned home in the worse state I’d ever felt. I was emotionally, mentally, and physically depleted.

But there was no stopping for me: I took on contract work and I had to get it done just to stay afloat. And then we got a fucking dog.

The dog. At some point in 2018 we determined that our son could use a companion and that a dog really completes the family. Leading up to the move, we put a down payment on a rough collie: the “Lassie” breed. They usually run around $800 and we got her for $500. I was a fan of the breed and Eve had done research that proves it’s a great breed. (it is) Even after the accident, we thought we should pay the rest for her and bring some joy into our life.

We named her Esme, and getting a dog was definitely one of the worst macro decisions I’ve made for the family yet. I couldn’t last more than a month with her. It was my decision to get rid of her, which made my wife and son sad but we were getting so little out of the experience. The cats beat her up, she was afraid of everything, and all she wanted to do was run around but we kept her cooped up in the house because we had no fence. I hated that there was still a dog smell, and I hated that it farted during Game of Thrones. It was over when we went grocery shopping and came back to a poop-filled crate, which the circumstances of the night dictated I must clean.

Young Living. Eve was supposed to sell essential oils for some side money. We knew it wasn’t going to be big money, unless she got lucky or turned out to be a natural-born saleswoman, but it was something to do and we believe in the products. I really trust in Young Living and I personally have seen the benefits of their oils and products.

So she went to the YL convention in Utah to learn to sell and, hey, have some fun. She returned feeling even less confident: they’d changed some numbers, and the truth that we always knew was that the market’s highly saturated. There are memes trivializing the effects of oils and there’s no denying the company’s an MLM. A lot of the big earners made their sales early on. Coinciding with the bad feels of Autumn, we decided to put the oil dream aside and focus on mental and physical health.

Eve mental/physical health. The muffler changed a lot for us. It morphed what should have been a very happy time in our lives into a very stressful one. Eve felt fatigued and broken down, and I wasn’t much better off. One day before her planned back-to-action, pick ourselves up and get ready to enjoy Summer, she sprained and tore a ligament in her ankle while coming down the stairs. We hoped it was just a sprain and did everything we could to avoid going to the doctor, but a week later she hadn’t gotten better and so began the PT and bullshit regimen. Our plans of hiking the blue ridge mountains were crushed.

But she recovered, and I shit you not, the very day before she planned to return to action, it was Father’s Day. She was making me my special breakfast and was using a hand-blender to blend pumpkin french toast mix when she went to clean some gunk out of the blender with her finger. It was a split-second decision to help make breakfast faster. Her finger twitched, caught the irresponsibly sensitive power button and tore her finger up. Immediately took her to Urgent Care and then the Emergency Room. $3,000 and some luck later, she kept her finger, but has permanently lost some feeling in it.

That was a bad time for us. I was overworked, she was miserable, and yet she still managed to get to Utah to learn how to sell. To salvage our year. In Autumn, all the anxiety, stress, and the damage from her upbringing finally culminated and she broke. 

Her physical health tanked in tandem with her mental. She suffered frequent menstrual issues and her EDS (a joint disorder) flaring up. It is hard to detail all the pain and frustration, and it really is beyond the scope of what needs to be said. My wife is depressed, prone to feeling overwhelmed, and I’m happy to say that we are getting her professional help soon.

What’s remarkable is that I can’t recall a period of time that she didn’t try her best to recover. Every month, most weeks, she would constantly express that the next day or month was her time. She’s done it for this month and 2020 as well. And I don’t think she’s lazy or unmotivated. She is just defeated and I am a poor comforter. Honestly, I am just shit at helping people if the solution isn’t “well just force yourself to do the thing.” That’s how I get through my problems and it doesn’t work for everyone, not even always myself. Still she is strong. I think writing this out has helped me remember that.

Relationship with my son. I had hoped my increased efficiency and happiness would improve our relationship. I planned for more structure: things like “once we’re upstairs for bedtime rituals, no going back down.” Each night I make a point to spend a minimum of 30 focused minutes with him. But I have only succeeded in making our relationship worse. I don’t think he needs professional help, but there is something within him, from when he was three years old, that just prevents him from being a hard worker. Respect is important to me and I don’t respect him. He is a frustrated child, often not understanding the world, often forgetting things he was supposed to do. I’m not doing a good job of helping.

I think I could have done better, but there were simply too many fronts to fight.

Mental performance. I haven’t gotten any better from last year. I am still not as sharp as 2017-Vael. It is a matter of stress and lifestyle.

What did I learn?

How to be a homeowner! Generally how to manage a home. I got my tools, all cute with my little leaf blower.

SLOWWWW DOWWWWN. The outside of the house needs some work. We need to extend our driveway, clear an acre, and put up a fence. I could take a loan out to do this and be fine, but I could also just slow down. Take a deep breath. Enjoy what we have for the Summer. It sucks I won’t be able to use that acre for farming, but I think I have a good place to plant a single apple tree this year. And hey, less mowing.

A shit ton of web development.

Probably became more cynical. But I think The Good Place has helped remind me to be a good person.

To just accept Eve needs help. And that I really suck at helping her.

Future Outlook

All that bad stuff that happened? Pfft. Shitty year. 2020′s here, it’s a brand new decade. I’ve got a cool game I want to make, we’re gonna get Eve some help, and...

Get pregnant! Yeah! Right now we definitely aren’t ready for kids. We need to use our new health insurance to make a bunch of appointments, recover  financially, mentally, physically. But we very badly want more children. I feel it all the time. I have begun to suspect that genetics do matter, and I wonder if Abel’s laziness mirrors his biological father’s laziness. My dad loved to work and I do too. It might be possible to pass these traits on.

Better office. I need to get some furniture and improve my work environment.

Vacation! We desperately need a vacation. We’re going to Disney this year, either May or June.

Zen Vael. I will attempt to be “the person I want to be” as detailed last year. My soft goal for this is March 15th, as I set last year. I will undoubtedly fail that date. There is no way I’m wrangling my sleep and attitude in the next two months, but surely by the end of the year?

Thanks for reading.

Vael

[noona-clock]

First Impression - Part 2

Genre: Museum!AU

Pairing: Youngjae (Got7) x You

By Admin B

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 

You loved your job. To be honest, you hadn’t expected to, but now you could safely say you really and truly did.

For about three years, you’d been a curator at the art museum. It hadn’t been part of your life plan, though you actually hadn’t even had a life plan to begin with. You were the kind of person to live totally in the present, living life practically day to day and going wherever the wind took you.

You’d only landed this job through a series of lucky - and sometimes slightly odd - happenstances and coincidences. After graduating from college with your Bachelor’s degree in Art, you’d been given the opportunity to intern at a museum back in your hometown. This led you to getting your Master’s in Museum Studies, and a curating job in a city hours away just kind of... landed in your lap. Not really, but things had worked out too well for you to refuse.

So here you were. Three years later, still loving life. Which was quite an accomplishment seeing how resistant (and, dare I say, downright scared) you were regarding anything long-term.

Maybe the reason you loved this job so much was that just about every day was different. You were never bored. Working in a museum was actually a lot more unpredictable than you’d imagined, especially as a curator. Opportunities for new exhibits almost constantly popped up, and you frequently traveled all over to do research and negotiate which artworks would be coming back with you. Plus, the immense pride you felt when an exhibit came together and looked spectacular was something you couldn’t quite explain.

This Renoir exhibit was most definitely the pinnacle of your career so far. You’d traveled to New York, San Francisco, Paris, and London to build this little collection, and if the ticket sales and patron comments were any indications... it was a huge success.

But it was only the second day after opening, so you didn’t want to count your chickens before they hatched.

You were currently out on the gallery floor, observing and wanting to see if maybe the paintings could be arranged better or if the walls were too close together. You wanted all of the visitors to enjoy themselves, but you also didn’t want them touching or even brushing up against any of the pieces.

Things seemed to be going all right, and you had just finished whispering to a security guard to keep an eye on the lady with the huge purse... when someone caught your eye.

You weren’t sure if he’d caught your eye because he’d just been looking at you or if it was simply because he was eye-catching. Either way, you now found yourself studying him.

The way his dark hair hung just so, exposing his forehead. It was shaggy but not messy, and you could so clearly (you weren’t sure why) imagine running your fingers through it. His eyes were curious and sparkling, his lips full and pensive. The way he was focused on the paintings and whatever he was writing made you want to pick his brain. What was he thinking? What was he writing?

And then you noticed he glanced at you. You quickly looked away, glad he wasn’t able to know your heart had started to beat just a little bit faster.

But... why? Why was it beating faster?

You saw people at the museum every single day. What was so special or different about him?

The security guard standing near you shifted his stance, and it was just enough movement to pull you out of your own head. You blinked quickly, your head jerking the tiniest bit. 

Come on, you thought to yourself. No time to be daydreaming.

You were at work, after all, and you had to focus on the exhibit.

Not the really cute guy stealing glances at you.

When you left work that evening, you figured you would completely forget about whoever that guy was by the time you returned the next morning. You would go home, cook some dinner, watch some Netflix, do a face mask, get some sleep... and tomorrow morning, you would sit down at your desk and carry on with work as usual.

So, riddle me this.

It was tomorrow morning. Yesterday was officially behind you, and you were sitting in your comfortable office chair, replying to emails and still thinking about that guy. That dark-haired, wide-eyed, sweet-faced guy. You almost wished there was a plausible way to figure out his name, but you knew that was toeing the line of being a stalker.

Besides. If he enjoyed the exhibit as much as he seemed to, judging by all the notes he’d scribbled down, he would probably be back.

You let out a huff of a sigh, blowing your hair out of your face and attempting to blow thoughts of this mystery guy out of your head. You’d never let any guy distract you from your work before; you would most certainly not be starting today.

He was here again.

That really cute guy.

It was the third time in two weeks, so you really had to wonder if he was here to admire the Renoir exhibit or if he was here to admire… something else.

Or someone else?

Maybe it was because, despite your efforts, you had been thinking about him for the better part of those two weeks which made you hope he was in the same situation.

Because... you’d asked around. You hadn’t tried to look through the system for his name attached to a ticket, but you’d asked a couple security guards and tour guides if they’d noticed him. If he’d come any other times when you weren’t there.

One security guard, a buff, young man who secretly loved gossip, informed you he, too, had noticed the guy. But he’d only seen him here the three times, just like you had.

So. He only came during your shifts, as far as you knew. Interesting.

Whether or not that was a coincidence…

Well, you wanted to find out. You couldn’t keep your curiosity at bay any longer.

Even though talking to the museum patrons was nowhere to be found in your job description, you walked up to him and cleared your throat gently.

“Hi, can I help you with anything?” you asked, smiling politely.

He smiled back at you, though his smile was a lot brighter and more beaming than yours. It kind of made your heart skip a beat if you were being honest.

Damn, he’s got a perfect set of teeth.

“I actually have a lot of questions about the new exhibit,” he told you with a soft, somewhat timid laugh, breaking through your super random thought about his teeth.

“Oh?” you breathed. “Well… I’m the curator, I can tell you anything you need to know.”

“Really?” He looked surprised (and incredibly adorable), so you nodded.

“Really,” you smirked. And then you held your hand out and introduced yourself.

“Youngjae,” he replied as he shook your hand. 

“Shall we?” You held your arm out, gesturing toward the rest of the exhibit.

The two of you began slowly strolling through the gallery, stopping at each piece for however long it took you to answer Youngjae’s questions. He had a lot, which was not surprising, but you easily supplied all the answers.

“You really know which questions to ask,” you pointed out as you stepped away from Dance at Bougival. 

Youngjae smiled bashfully, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. “Well, I’m an art student.”

“Are you?” Oh, god, if he was an art student, he was much too young for you, damn it--

“I’m getting my Master’s in Art History,” he continued, much to your relief. Like, literally, you almost let out an audible sigh because thank the lord. A graduate student, not an undergraduate student. “I’m actually in my last semester, writing my thesis on Impressionism.”

“Aha,” you chuckled. “That would explain why you’re here.”

He nodded, and you could’ve sworn you saw his cheeks flush a little.

“You know,” you began, stopping in front of Dance in the City. “I have to admit. I’ve… noticed this isn’t your first time here.”

Youngjae blushed a little, his smile growing ever wider and even more bashful. “Yeah, I just – it’s for my thesis, and I wanted to –”

Everything about his expression and his body language (he was currently gently kicking the ground and slightly avoiding eye contact with you and drumming his fingers against his jeans) told you he hadn’t come here just for the art.

So you had to assume he’d felt that same strange, intangible pull you’d felt toward him.

“I’m not a tour guide or anything,” you interrupted. “But I know just about all there is to know about Renoir and a few other Impressionist painters. I would be happy to... maybe sit down and go through your thesis with you? If you’re having trouble with it.”

Youngjae’s head snapped up, his eyebrows raised halfway up his forehead as he looked at you with surprise. “You -- really?”

“Absolutely. I was a grad student once myself, not too long ago. And I’ve just spent the last couple months putting this exhibit together. My brain is in full-on Impressionism mode,” you told him with a chuckle. “I can give you my email?”

Because, to be quite honest, giving your phone number to a museum guest - and one you’d just met - was a little crazy. Right?

...Right?

You were probably overthinking the situation, but whatever.

“Oh -- oh, sure,” Youngjae nodded. He flipped to an empty page in his notebook, turning it toward you and handing you his pen.

You quickly jotted down your email, a soft smile pulling at your lips as you wondered if anything would even come of this. Maybe your assumption was totally off-base, and he really was just here for the art. 

But he at least had your email address now. If you heard from him, great. If you didn’t, you would get over it. I mean, there was really nothing to get over at this point. You’d never been one to dwell on the past, anyway, so you were used to taking these small kinds of risks.

“You’re sure about this?” Youngjae asked when you gave him his pen back.

“Very. I love talking about art,” you assured him. “It would be selfish of me to keep all this knowledge to myself!”

A quiet laugh escaped Youngjae’s lips, and even though it was quiet, it was enough to melt your heart. You instantly wanted to hear him laugh fully. A loud, robust laugh. In fact, you wanted to make him laugh.

(You were almost second-guessing your own thoughts about being fine with him never contacting you...)

You were just about to start talking about Dance in the City, but you saw a flurry of movement out of the corner of your eye. Your brow furrowed as your gaze shifted, seeing your boss standing nearby and waving you over.

“Excuse me,” you murmured to Youngjae before slipping away and hurrying over.

“What are you doing?” your boss asked with a curious chuckle.

“Oh, I just -- he’s an art student, I was offering to help --” You realized he probably didn’t even really care, so you cut yourself off. “What’s going on?”

“Did you forget about lunch?”

...Yes. Yes, you had. You remembered now that your boss had announced a celebratory lunch for you and the staff members who’d helped you with the exhibit. He was taking you all to a nearby four-star restaurant, and you would surely get a little too tipsy from all the wine you’d drink. But if your boss was paying for it, could you really refuse?

You spared a glance back at Youngjae, but he was too busy studying the painting to notice your gaze on him.

I mean... you’d talked to him. You’d given him a way to contact you. Sure, you would like to continue talking to him, but there was no way you would choose a guy you’d just met over free lunch courtesy of your boss.

So you simply shifted your eyes back to your boss, smiled softly, and nodded.

“Lunch, of course. Lead the way, sir!”

You’d thought Youngjae hadn’t been paying attention when you’d glanced back at him. And he’d done a good job of looking like he was studying the painting.

But he’d been watching you out of the corner of his eye.

Not watching in a creepy way, of course. Just... watching. Waiting to see what was going to happen.

He was, as you can imagine, a bit disappointed when you left. He wasn’t expecting you to come and say good-bye to him or anything, but... still. He’d been having an excellent time asking you questions, actually getting to talk to you.

But he had your email, at least. And if you thought, for some reason, he wasn’t going to contact you... oh, how wrong you were.

Youngjae slid his backpack around so he could slip his notebook inside and enjoy the rest of the exhibit (though his mind was a bit distracted, thinking through the fairly long encounter he’d just had with the magnetic curator he’d been daydreaming about for days now).

About an hour later, Youngjae was making his way out of the museum. He’d skipped yet another French class for this, so he felt like he needed to go to his professor’s office and ask if there was any extra credit work he could do to make up for the time he’d missed.

When he passed the front desk, though, a sign caught his eye. Just like he had a couple of weeks ago when another sign caught his eye, he stopped walking, his foot lifted up in mid-air. He took some steps backward. He read the sign again.

Interns wanted. Apply here if interested.

Part 3

[alitheamateur]

The Grind-Chapter 29

I helped clean up the dishes, and he emptied all our trash into the dumpster behind the shop before we journeyed to the next stealthy location on his to-do list. I made sure to cork the pricey wine bottle so I could take the last bit home to sip on in bed with him, not wanting to waste a drop of the bittersweet goodness. Colton peeled off his jacket to drape over my bare back since the evening temperatures had chilled noticeably, then we locked up and he offered his aid to the car, considering my acutely inebriated state.

Instead of following the traffic further into the eventful side of town, we made a left and headed off towards the outskirts. It was a part of Pittsburgh that normally would have me on edge consider the late hour, but with Colton at the wheel there was truly never any reason to fear. He wasn’t a certified superhero, or a proclaimed savior of humanity, but I felt he was my own personal, daunting vigilante. I was independent, and capable on my own, but with him I could be fearless.

I looked out the side window as the streetlights and skyscrapers became scarce, and felt the dizzy aftershock of the merlot floating through my veins, creating a warm blaze over my cheeks. Rolling the window down a crack for some cool breeze to chill my alcoholic hot flash, we turned on the very familiar street where Mac’s gym used to sit. I stretched in my seat to get a good look around, continuing the trend of confusion.

“You okay, Livvy?” Colton tested as he parallel parked directly in front of the cloudy, dust stained windows of the unoccupied building.

“Yeah, just a little hazy from the wine is all. And wondering what we’re doing here.”

He only half-smiled and opened the door, gesturing for me to follow suit. Checking carefully for any oncoming vehicles, I slung open the passenger side to meet my offered escort on the sidewalk. The “A” of the sign above the doorway was cracked and barely hanging on by some sketchy wires, and the street number that was stickered on the glass was pared and faded. I felt instantly sad for Colt seeing the current state his once second home. In fact, it had probably been more of a home to him than the old, dingy apartment he was held up in when we first met, considering the innumerable hours he spent training here.  As our steps accidently synced in speed toward Mac’s, Colton tore away a graffiti marked “For Sale” sign heftily tapped to the glass. He disconnected our hands to pull a key tucked away in a pocket of his wallet…

Shards of broken glass from the overhead lights furthermore shattered as we walked over the polluted floor of the abandoned gym. Most of the equipment remained intact and the ring still stood in its place, only now stained a bit with the passing year of lacked maintenance. A red-wrapped box, taped with a black bow had been placed in its center, which I gathered was exactly where Colton was dragging me. He gaped the stretchy, leather-like ropes open and grasped my forearm to keep me from woozily face planting. From side glance, I watched him drink in the sight of my leaning figure, and the spilling out of cleavage as I did so.

“I hate seeing the place like this. I know it has to be pretty brutal for you too, babe.” I weakly slurred in a sympathized manner.

“This place got a lotta memories, for sure. For the both of us, hm?” He approached me from behind covering me in a bear hug, kissing the crook of my neck, and inhaling in my most customary scent. A reminder of the first night we spent together standing in that very spot made the echo of our moans, and the feel of his hands on me play back like a fantasy in my mind, and I sunk further into his body.

“Be careful talking about such things, Ritter. I might just be drunk enough to let you take advantage of me right here again.”

“As much as I need to get my hands on you, you should open ya’ present first.” He suggested, nudging me onward with a pat to the behind.

I squatted to lift the box, and felt the barely-there weight of its contents. Colt remained in observance over my shoulder, quietly inspecting for a reaction as I worked my nails over the knotted, silk bow closure. It fell to my feet, tickling over my exposed toes in the stilettoes I wore, and I then dropped the cardboard lid shortly after. Lined with tissue paper inside, the black gloves Colton wore to fight Danny Mendez were laid next to each other. The grained leather was softer than when I had first gifted him with them, now broken in and loose due to the blows thrown, and punches blocked.

“Colton. These belong to you, babe. I don’t even deserve a pair this nice. And besides, they have your name on ‘em, silly.” I reasoned, turning slow to face my one-man audience.

“I think I can maybe do somethin’ about that little name issue, pretty girl.”

Suddenly, the crisp box and its contents crashed to the floor, falling buoyantly from my now numb hands. Instead of spinning around to meet his smiling eyes, I had to sink my sights to discover him knelt a few feet from me, caressing a square velvet case.

“Colton, what ar-.”

“You listen, ‘n let me talk this time, baby.”

Uncontrollable outlines of mascara black tears initiated abruptly, and the white noise of passing traffic, and distant sirens ceased.

“The second I looked into those bright emerald eyes of yours Livvy, a fuse kicked inside me. All those emotions that I had turned off a long time ago, fuckin’ came roaring back. The typical me, woulda walked right out that morning with a coffee to-go, without a second thought. But it was like every time I looked back at ya’, I swear I could literally feel my heartbeats inside of me. I coulda counted them out loud, Liv. You had me in this… this trance or somethin’. You know I ain’t gonna say all this the way you deserve to hear it, but I need you to know what you are to me, Elliott. How much you mean t’ me.”

I could hear his voice crack under the pressure he had put on himself, and the lump of tearful release he was trying to choke back into his throat.

“There’s a billion damn reasons why I don’t deserve ya’. We both know that. But there’s another billion reasons why I want to. You’re the most intelligent woman I’ve ever met, and the only one I know who could get me laughin’ like a damn idiot the way you do. I love that you always have a little smudge of leftover makeup unda’ your eyes when you wake up every mornin’, and that you can have me beggin’ in desperation the second you put on a pair of those shoes like the ones ya’ wearin’ now. And don’t even get me started on how thrilled I get seeing you strapped into a pair of sparring gloves. As nervous sick as it gets me, I love it all the same. I ain’t never wanted to be a better man, babe. For myself, and sure as hell not for anyone else. But the man I am with you, the man you turn me into, is a far better one that I ever thought I could be. C’mere, Livvy baby. I ain’t gonna bite.”

Following the suggestive direction of his nod, I weakly closed the distance between us, and he took my chattering hand into his. He laughed, and tried to still the very obvious nervous, euphoric emotion coming through my skin.

“You are such a beautiful, loving, kind heart. Not to mention sexy in the most subtle ‘n real way. You’re strong as a fuckin’ ox, inside & out, and you sit my ass straight in line every day. God knows I need that. I want to spend the rest of my life being ya’ sidekick, and watchin’ you succeed with whatever your heart wants. I can’t promise I’ll be as perfect as all the otha’ men you truly deserve, and I need ya’ to be patient wi’ me when I get all caught up in me head. There ain’t nobody else I’d rather have nursin’ my wounds after a fight, or eatin’ a whole gallon of ice cream with on a cheat day. You’re my only light, and any chance I have at bein’ a decent man is only because of you. So, Liv Caroline Elliott, will you marry me?”

The flawless solitaire sent iridescent beams of sparkle bouncing across the ceiling as the light caught it in Colton’s suddenly shaking hand. The stone was impressively hefty in carats, and was uniquely chiseled into the shape of an octagon. I knew that little quality wasn’t just a coincidence, and Colt had made this purchase with careful consideration and lots of preparation. His dedicated search for the perfect diamond to join the two of us together was a thoughtful sentiment no one could refute.

He bore his soul without question, so unnaturally against his nature, and let his every emotion spring forth for me to potentially criticize and dismiss. The metamorphosis I had witnessed overtake him the last months satisfied my hearts every yearning, and I knew fully that Colton Ritter was the only man who would ever fill the shoes of my true love. As tears began saturating his soft, bristle-like eyelashes too quick for him to conceal and rub away with his shirt sleeve, I wordlessly nodded an accepting, smiling ‘yes.’

“You ain’t gettin’ off that easy 2-1. A man’s gotta hear you say it.”

“Yes, Colton. Yes, yes, yes! A hundred times over, yes. I will marry you. Only if you promise me, to stop selling yourself so short and trying to convince the world what a monster you are. When it comes to the cage, sure you’re unforgiving and dangerous. But otherwise, we both know that’s so far from the truth. Whether I’m the only lucky individual who gets to see it behind closed doors or not, you’re so kind. And you’re the most loyal man I have ever met. Any time I’ve been lucky enough to spend with you, have been the best minutes of my entire life. And when I happen to think about the time passed without you, I cringe at the memories we could’ve made. I want nothing more than to spend whatever life I have left by your side.”

The feeling of the cool silver band as he slid it with ease over the knuckle of the proper finger sent a tsunami of wedding color schemes, and potential venues flooding into my train of thought. Never was I the girl for fairy tales, and tulle and princes riding in to rescue the damsel, but the countless possibilities of marital bliss with Colton had birds chirping and singing around my head.

My newly crowned fiancé lunged in to seal the celebration with a deep kiss, pulling me into him by a hand on the back of my neck. The sticky tears wetting his face mixed with my own as our faces touched in embrace, and Colton dipped me like the closing move of a Salsa dance, laughing when I yelped in surprise.

“What is it about this little place, I wonder? It seems Mac’s has been pretty important to us over the last years.” I pointed out, as he kissed the fine jewelry now situated on my finger.

“Yeah…… Well, uhm... About that…”

I looked at him through slit eyes, and cocked a quizzical, suspicious brow at what had him so apparently tongue tied.

“You’re right. This shit hole has been pretty damn important t’ me. And a’ course, to us too. I can’t stand to see it just sittin’ here. Rotting.”

“I’m sure if there was anything Mac could do, sweetheart, he would’ve already. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the next owner will give it a good makeover, y’know? Freshen it up.” I attempted to cheer him up with positive outlook, and cheery suggestions.

“Oh, I think you right. The next owner is gonna get this place back on its feet, and back to it’s roots. Some new bags first thing, and a definite fuckin’ fumigating.” His nose crinkled as he looked around at the mildewed ceiling.

“It sold? Someone finally bou-“

I froze, and Colton’s instantaneous smile furthermore proved my suspicions. He had torn down that weathered ‘for sale’ sign before we came inside, and the little key tucked in his wallet should’ve been my tell-tale.

“COLTON?! It’s yours? You bought it? How? Whe-“

“Hey, hey, hey, hey. Take a breath, ya’ crazy chatterbox. Yes, I bought it. And yes, it’s OURS.” Colton annunciated the significance of ‘ours’ in his confession, assuring I understood that this cherished little corner of a rickety, dark corner block in Pittsburgh now belonged to us. Together.

“I was thinkin’… How does 21 Punches sound to you? I mean, I’d like to have Mac maybe be a manger for me, y’know, when I can’t be here ‘n stuff. But I do wanna change that sign out front.”

Invisible atoms of a tranquil fog consumed the every corner of being, and my legs felt insubstantial on a cloud of celestial contentment. This stiff as cement man, who seemed to turn to near wet, molding clay in my presence wanted to name his most prized possession after a silly, what I viewed as irrelevant, high school basketball number from my ancient days as a Westfield Warrior. I half expected a hidden crowd to jump out into a surprise party, or a horse drawn carriage to wheel up outside to seal the finishing touches on an evening of unadulterated shock and romance.

“I think you’re the best thing about this smelly, foggy, freezing city. And I think you should take me home right now, and let me show you exactly how amazing I think you are.”

Forgetting any class or feminine daintiness, I grabbed firmly around the bulge of his thin, extremely well-fitting slacks and parted two buttons of his shirt to tickle his beating chest.

“Home? We own the place now, ya’ naughty lil’ thing. I could just take ya’ right fuckin’ now if I wanted to.”

“Slide your hand under this dress and get to it then, Mr. Ritter.” I sighed fervently into his ear, sloppily sucking his neck just under the line of his beard.

The lack of undergarments he discovered as he used two fingers to crawl up the side of my leg caused him to groan out hauntingly.

“Your wish, is my fuckin’ command, Mrs. Ritter.”

tags: @torialeysha @eap1935 @mollybegger-blog @littleluna98