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dangercocktail · 3 years ago

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Ranger Danger

The vibrational dance of Noah’s cell phone dragged him away from the horror movie splaying blood across his television. As a young starlet screamed and ran with poor coordination through the woods, Noah scanned the stream of incoming texts.

“Damn,” he muttered, running a hand over his dark hair. The incoming texts were from work. As his supervisor implored Noah’s help, he discerned they needed him to come in even though he was off duty. Some sort of mild emergency that he couldn’t quite put together. Glancing at his phone’s clock, he read that it was a little after midnight. He quickly replied ‘be there soon’, flipped off the movie, and headed into his bedroom.

Noah slipped off his gym shorts and quickly dressed in the forest ranger uniform all his coworkers wore. He gave himself a routine glance in the mirror to finish buttoning his shirt. Noah filled out his uniform with a lean beefiness acquired from miles of hiking and lifting fallen trees, his sizable biceps straining the short sleeve cuffs of his shirt. With his striking brown complexion, easy smile, and muscles, Noah was a handsome representation of the Forestry Department, frequently called in to give tours to visiting government officials or bored tour groups of sexually frustrated housewives. He always maintained a calm demeanor in the most straining of circumstances, deftly handling questions with charm. He assumed the ‘emergency’ he was needed for now was something that required his level headed thinking. Weaving his belt into the buckle of his trim waist and grabbing his hat, he headed out to his Jeep.

As Noah drove into the darker recesses of the woods where his ranger station was located, he lowered the windows on his Jeep to take in the bracing smell of pine trees and cool night air. He inhaled deeply. He loved these woods. Having worked as a ranger now for almost five years, he felt at home in this forest, having hiked its expansive trails many times over.

Pulling up to Ranger Station #04, Noah saw his District Ranger standing in the soft yellow light of the station doorway waiting for him. Taking the only remaining parking spot next to the station, Noah observed that Ben and Daniel were on duty tonight, their cars parked next to the DR’s own Ranger Jeep.

“Hey Jim,” Noah said, lifting a hand in acknowledgment as he approached the station. “How’s it going? You were slightly ambiguous in your texts...what’s going on?”

“Hey Noah, thanks for coming on such short notice,” Jim said, his smile tired but friendly. Jim was middle aged and handsome, having served in the military for several years before leaving service for a position in the Forestry Department. His body was slightly thicker than Noah’s in the middle due to Jim’s fondness for doughnuts but the small rounded softness there was offset by thick arms that easily heaved many forest obstacles.

“Ben and Daniel missed their last two audio checks so I drove over to check the station,” Jim explained, walking with Noah into the small station. He gestured to the radio log. “Last I heard from them was at nine thirty, then radio silence.”

Noah raised an eyebrow but only slightly. This wasn’t a big emergency, the guys were probably taking their time on their latest rounds. Ben and Daniel were known for getting high on these late night shifts, then strolling deep into the woods observing the enhanced beauty of the stars.

“Where’s their observation log?” Noah said, shuffling a few of the scattered papers on the desk to the side.

“Here,” Jim said, handing a clipboard to Noah. Noah flipped through a few of the sheets before reading the top page. Ben and Daniel had logged every hourly observation walk up until 10 pm. The last two spots for the day, the eleven and midnight observation, were conspicuously blank. Still, Noah wasn’t alarmed.

“They’re probably sitting under a tree marveling at the Big Dipper,” Noah said with a smile at Jim, looking up from the clipboard. He handed it back to Jim who set it on the desk.

“You’re not wrong but let’s follow protocol and run our own observation. Shouldn’t be too hard to find these two” Jim said, adding a new sheet to the clipboard. “I apologize for making you come out here but safety first right? Two man teams always”.

Jim scribbled the time, his rank, and initials in the one o’clock slot then handed it over to Noah for his own initials. Both of them grabbed a flashlight and radio, locked the station door, and headed out into the woods, following the well worn starter path every ranger had trod day in and out.

The night air settled around the two rangers in a cool mist as fallen pine needles crunched underneath their boots. They made small chatter occasionally but mostly remained quiet, something Noah appreciated about Jim. They both enjoyed the quiet of the forest, preferring the majesty of their surroundings to the noise most humans make to fill the air.

Nearly halfway through their observational walk with no sign of other rangers, Noah stopped and looked closely at a break in the trail. The trampled and well worn path of the trail continued on but to the right, the undergrowth was disturbed. Pointing it out to Jim, the two concurred that this was a recent disturbance of the forest and most likely Ben and Daniel had veered off trail, high and looking for a place to watch stars. Picking their way through the flora, the two rangers followed the new trail.

Despite the circumstances, Noah was enjoying the walk into this new part of the forest. It was rare for the rangers to disturb parts of the forest beyond the trail without good cause. Finding Ben and Daniel was sufficient cause enough to walk in these uncharted paths and Noah took in his surroundings with a slight feeling of contentment and awe. The forest really was beautiful.

The upended pine needle path continued for some time, Noah estimating nearly fifteen minutes since they had veered from the main trail. He was starting to feel slightly concerned and opened his mouth to say something to Jim when he heard a sharp slapping sound. Glancing over, he saw Jim removing his left hand from his right arm.

“God damn mosquito,” Jim uttered, wiping the remains of the crumpled creature onto his pants.

“Yea, consistently the worst thing out he-...” Noah started saying then cocked his ear as his sentence dropped off.

“Do you hear that?” he asked Jim, tilting his head further. Jim froze in place and listened as well. Somewhere in front of them, not too far, there was a low rumbling noise. It sounded almost guttural to Noah, like water pouring from a giant jug.

Putting a finger to his lips to keep silent, Noah began carefully walking forward with Jim right behind him. The noise grew slightly louder with each step they took until suddenly, it stopped. They stopped in their tracks. Noah cocked an eyebrow at Jim and motioned with a questioning gesture of his hand, “keep going?”

Jim nodded and the two men pressed forward through the darkness of the forest and bush. Noah noted in a corner of his mind that he had never been to this part of the forest on any of his inquiries or observations; the wood seemed completely untouched by humans save for the newly beaten down path they were following. Jim stopped for a moment and appeared to be fidgeting with his belt but at Noah’s curious look, he waved them forward and they continued. Eventually they reached a small clearing by a pond that immediately struck Noah with its serene natural splendor. However as they stepped out into the clearing, they both heard and saw them at the same time. It took Noah a beat to fully comprehend what he was looking at.

Near the edge of the pond lay a blanket and small radio, still playing the local college station. On either side of the blanket were two enormous spheres of flesh, completely naked and wobbling slightly as Jim and Noah approached.

“What the fuck…” Noah said as he approached the shapes slowly, observing them not moving from their spot but jiggling and shaking in place.

“Oh shit, it’s fucking Ben and Daniel,” Jim uttered as he drew closest to the quivering shape on the right. Noah’s face took on incredulity as he drew close to the left. The flesh colored ball was indeed a man but blown up to enormous proportions. His legs and feet hovered almost a foot off the ground from the immensity of his ass, Noah judging it to be almost eight feet wide. The legs themselves were encased in roll after roll of fat to the point that Noah couldn’t discern where the knees might have been, the feet themselves swollen almost unrecognizable and sinking into the fat above them. Moving his eyes up, Noah took in a belly that covered half of the fattened legs and spread out in all directions, matching the width of that enormous ass, with a belly button itself six inches wide and receding darkly into the piles of belly fat.

Two enormous breasts sat atop the behemoth of a belly, swollen and perky like two plastic grocery bags filled with pudding. They shook slightly in the night air as Noah observed the entire body jiggle, then suddenly swell out a little more. The feet at the bottom of this mass had almost disappeared. Two arms lay to the side of the massive torso, seemingly stuck and disappearing into the expanding rolls of fat as well. As his eyes traveled finally up to the face, Noah saw the faint hint of the face that used to be Ben. His neck had ceased to exist as roll after roll of fat took up the space above his breasts and connected with his cheeks. Ben’s cheeks had become intensely rosy, swollen to a state that it looked like he had a baseball in each.

Noah saw Ben glance down at him and begin to grunt, uttering something that Noah couldn’t make out.

“Ben, what the fuck happened…” Noah said in shock, recalling the two fit men who he had joked with a week ago in passing shifts. This quivering mass of fat was at least eight times fatter than Ben had been.

“Moosh..” Ben uttered, slurping and trying to enunciate with his fat forced pouty lips.

“Moosh!” he forcefully said, his eyes darting wildly as that rumbling Noah had heard before in the woods sounded. It was coming from Ben’s belly. Glancing over quickly at Jim and Daniel, he saw Daniel’s belly start jiggling then begin swelling in all directions. The man was expanding massively. His arms and legs disappeared into the expansive fat of his belly, leaving him almost completely ball-shaped. He was nearly nine feet around, with only hands and feet still visible on his appendages. His breasts, the same size as Ben’s, inflated as they jiggled, nearing the size of basketballs.

Noah looked back to Ben, absentmindedly slapping the back of his neck as an insect bit him. The now almost unrecognizable ball of fat that was Ben was going wild eyed, trying in vain to shout something, his lips forced even more open from the recent gains to his cheeks.

“Msssh!” he sputtered, his whole body quivering.

“I can’t understand you..what the hell happened here Ben?” Noah asked in horror, then turned sharply when he heard Jim cry out.

Jim stood next to the enormous ball that was Daniel, holding his stomach and looking down in shock.

“Jim, what’s wrong?” Noah yelled, beginning to walk over.

“I..don’t...know…” Jim uttered, right before the first button on his ranger uniform popped off. It was quickly followed in succession by a second and third button as Jim’s dough middle rapidly swole into a beach ball shape. His love handles quickly expanded to the sides as his chest developed two breast shaped mounds. His cheeks fattened and a double chin wobbled into place as Noah heard Jim’s pants rip as his ass followed suit. In the matter of thirty seconds, Jim suddenly looked to be over three hundred pounds.

“Oh fuck, Noah, it’s happening to me!” Jim yelled, waddling slightly over to where Noah stood.

“The hell is happening here?” Noah exclaimed, his eyes shooting from the fat man in front of him to the unrecognizable blobs of men to his side. The rumbling noise came back then, but this time, it started with Jim. Jim’s eyes went wide as he clutched with chubby fingers at the fattened sphere now occupying his front. The noise rose exponentially as it began coming from Ben and Daniel as well. Noah watched as Jim’s belly began growing again, pounds and pounds of fat piling on in waves. Jim began waving his arms in shock as his entire body inflated and began to take on a generally round shape, his feet slowly slipping on the wet grass of the clearing until he fell with a thud onto his immensely fattened ass. Noah observed him begin rising in the air as the fat continued to grow and Jim began to become another ball.

Ben and Daniel themselves had also grown more, their faces beginning to sink into the sheer mass of their rolls of fat. Ben was still trying to tell Noah something but it was just sputtering noises at this point. Noah backed away from the insane scene like he had observed something otherworldly, his eyes wide and his feet stumbling occasionally. A pit in his stomach had developed which he attributed to terror but as he turned to begin running, something brought him up short. A small popping sound rang through the air as he tried to run and he felt something heavy bounce on the front of his body. Looking down, he cried as watched his own midsection, now the size of a fleshy basketball, wobble and grow double in size.

“No…” Noah uttered, stumbled a bit as his chest began to swell. He looked back to Jim who now was completely naked and becoming fully ball shaped.

“No!” Noah yelled, as he heard the rumbling begin again in Ben, Daniel, and Jim’s bellies. He grasped at his shirt as it fully ripped open, then felt his fingers clutch his doughy middle when he heard the rumbling start in his own belly. Turning to face the other fattened spheres that were once rangers, Noah felt his entire body begin jiggling then quickly begin to grow…

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10millionotters · 8 years ago

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minutesintohours replied to your post “I’ve read your post about heaven/hell/purgatory and why would you put…”

This hurts me

Let me make it even worse - what really bothers me about people judging the Washuu kids is that they don’t really fully understand under what kind of circumstances they grew up, that in the end made them who they are.

From this part on TW for rape, death mention, sexual abuse, incest, suicide and child abuse

The environment they grew up in was loveless, they were most probably all grown in tubes (Ishida hinted that so many times now, how can you still deny it for the sake of a sick rape fantasy) and their mothers most probably were only there to be pumped with oestrogen so they would produce more eggs to harvest.

That procedure is incredibly dangerous and even irl doctors who are ethical will tell you not to do it unless it’s really necessary because it wears the body out and is incredibly painful for the mother.

Now, due to incest and the fact that neither parent ever took proper care of the kids neither of them developed the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, the thoughts and wishes of a child and the actions of an adult.

They were raised to be tools, soldiers, puppets.

If you look at them separately, because you have to, it all just gets worse.

Starting with the oldest (we know of) Yoshitoki, he was clearly raised to be the official heir to Tsuneyoshi, so make him someone who knows how to behave in public. It is questionable how much of his gentleness and kindness was genuine and how much of it was just an act, he was someone that people looked up to and he was referred to as the one Washuu that always stood out because he just didn’t fit in the family’s traits.

But he did. All the time. Because all he did was follow his family’s orders and do what they expected him to do, which was further maintaining this foul game the Washuu played with both humans and ghouls. He was fully aware of his families actions the whole time, who knows with how much desire to break out of it, but of all children he probably had the most comfortable life.

We know next to nothing about his mother, so who knows if he grew up with her by his side, he loves his father dearly but you can see that his father is rather abrasive and formal, even with him.

In private he is trying to be a somewhat good father to Matsuri, but he ends up failing because I do think the lack of own experience when it comes to being a child that is properly cared for comes in play at this point. He just doesn’t know how to be a good parent, his behaviour sounds more like a text book or something he picked up on TV.

On top of that his kindness towards his subordinates only helped grooming them into the people they are now, ruthless killer that believe that they’re doing the right thing. One prime example has to be Marude, but that would take way too long to talk about and is included in a different meta I’m writing already so…

What I’m saying is… even the one that breaks out the most is still a Washuu through and through. He is not really an adult, he is a child that was forced to play the part of an adult. But he was brought up in an dysfunctional environment and so he is aware that his actions are harmful and in no way excusable, but for him it’s most probably the only reality he knows.

As for Kishou it is just the same. He was only 15 when they already used him as an undercover agent. A child. A 15 year old child that knew how to kill and he also knew that the people that told him to do so were not much different from the ones they wanted to see dead.

Kishou too is not a saint, he is aware of the fact that his actions (the things he does for his family) are wrong, so I do think his suicide was breaking free as well as a punishment at the same time.

He was proud of Haise, that something he ‘created’ was gentle and kind, soft and good, unlike everything his family ever made him do. The only thing he did out of ‘own free will’ as something he could look at and not hate, but just as Yoshitoki, he lacks the understanding of what is like to grow up in a normal and healthy family.

So even with the best intentions, he still ended up hurting Haise (Ken) and his own trauma lead to abusive behaviour towards the person he loved so dearly.

Now Rize… Rize is difficult because she already showed signs of being aware of her fate at a very young age and not wanting to go through that hell. Her line about eating Furuta up, fully aware that he’ll die honestly struck me so odd and made me shudder, because this wasn’t some innocent child’s play, she knew what she said.

Death is most probably something that is always looming over the Garden kids head, they just know it’s there, it’s inevitable and so they just accept it. Death is most probably the only constant in their life (how ironic).

Her trauma manifested itself in the hate towards young men (men seem to be the ones in power at the Washuu clan) and she was dire need to break free from this structure she was born into. So all the anger fount in outlet in her binge eating, she didn’t eat because she was hungry, but probably to fill the void that the anger, rage and sadness had left in her.

People expected her to be obedient, much like her family so they only made it worse. But she doesn’t even know who she is, who to trust and how it feels to be loved and cared for. Shachi did all of these things without a doubt, but I do think that once her trauma was triggered by something, maybe when she finally fully understood what she escaped from with the help of her half brother, she lost a good portion of mental stability and starter her vendetta against society by killing all these young men.

She doesn’t know how to handle her freedom, she doesn’t know how to cope with her emotions because that is something that no Garden child was ever taught. Emotions are impractical, they only hinder people from focusing on the important things. As for the Washuu that was to further build their army and play with the puppets they made of humans and ghouls alike.

Since this is getting pretty long I’ll end it with Souta. Souta is the most difficult case of them all and honestly you could write a whole book about him and his mental state and I’m probably not as good at analysing him as my friends @curiositykilledthefaux, @hysyartmaskstudio and my girlfriend @sunlitfuruta whom you should definitely ask about anything Souta related ;; but this was referring to why I put them in purgatory instead hell so let’s finish it -

I do think that out of all 4 of them Souta is the one who suffers the most under the condition of regression and not having the chance to grow up to be a functioning adult.

In my opinion he is not able to distinguish between anything anymore, right or wrong, true and false, he is just someone who stands above all. Expectation, reality, morality, ethnicity and sanity.

But at the core of it, just like all of his siblings, he is a child that was raised in an environment that never gave them the chance to develop anything beneficial for themselves, such as selfworth, empathy and love for themselves and others.

Of course that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exists in either of them, but what I am trying to say is that you can’t really say that one of them is just like Kanou, Kureo or who else I put in hell, as those were adults who know what they were doing (especially Kanou) and they had a chance to make things differently, well knowingly so.

But what about the Washuu children? I don’t think they ever had the chances to break out of it, they tried (see Kishou, Rize and Souta all in their own ways) but in the end they’ll always be part of the family and there will always be some of their influence, the trauma and the burden laid upon these kids there.

… to bring this to an end, I think of them as children who were robbed of their lives and choices before they were even born just because of the name and blood they carry. So yeah… they would all end up in purgatory. As all kids do that die before they got to live their lives.

#minutesintohours #w ah #these are just my thoughts!!#tg #tg :re #washuu clan #washuu yoshitoki #washuu kichimura #kamishiro rize #arima kishou

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justsomebucky · 8 years ago

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Ten Years (Part 4)

Summary: AU. When a major account is on the line at work, reader is forced to revisit some old connections at her ten year high school reunion for a chance at success. Will she let the past consume her, or will she see the future in her grasp?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Word Count: 3,215

Warnings: language, sarcasm, fluff, mentions of past cheating

A/N: I scrapped the original chapter four in favor of this one in which I went a bit overboard. Two more chapters to go, including this one, before the reunion. It’s trying to write itself, I can’t stop it. :)

You got so little sleep on Sunday night that you ended up calling off on Monday morning.

There was no way, no chance that you could have sat there all day with Sam and Wanda grilling you about your Friday night with Bucky. There wasn’t enough coffee in the entire world that would get you through that interrogation. You sent a quick text to Wanda to push back your lunch date.

Instead, you spent your day being totally lazy, perusing Facebook and the reunion page while the rain tapped against your bedroom window.

Tuesday went by quickly, with your coworkers so immersed in their own drama that they barely noticed you, thank goodness.

When Wednesday rolled around, you and Wanda spent your entire lunch hour going over potential conversation starters for when you had to be nice to Natasha and Clint. The plan was to emphasize that you’d moved on, even if you still felt a little hurt (which you were never to admit to them now or ever, per her instructions). Wanda had reasoned that it was okay to be hurt, but carrying it with you wasn’t helping you in any way, and you knew she was right.

On Thursday, you intended on spending lunch alone, but your quest for solitude was broken by a nervous Bucky.

Yes, James Buchanan Barnes, the unstoppable hero of Wakanda, Inc., was nervous about a pitch. If he was nervous, what right did you have to be so calm about it?

So, Bucky sat with you at your usual table in the café across the street from the office, but he wasn’t eating. His chicken salad sat untouched in front of him while he furiously typed on his iPad, adding some last minute touches to his spiel that he was going to use on Natasha.

You were busy looking at Facebook again, frowning at new pictures that Natasha had posted this morning. She and Clint were posing in front of your old high school, holding each other happily.

“Why are you glaring so hard at your phone?”

Your eyes flickered up to meet Bucky’s. “It’s nothing.”

He made a face, showing he didn’t buy it. “Try again.”

“It’s just…they keep posting pictures of themselves, and I keep torturing myself by looking at them.” You glanced back down at the picture.

Realization washed over Bucky’s features. “Ah…you mean the ex-friend and ex-boyfriend?”

You nodded solemnly, turning your screen so he could see. “I know I shouldn’t even look, but…”

Bucky rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he peered at the happy couple. “You know, we probably ought to have a couple of photos too, just in case. Most couples do, don’t you think? If we’re going to seem convincing, we need to step it up a little.”

Now it was your turn to make a face. “Yeah, but, we aren’t a couple, and my family and friends will see, and-“

“Isn’t that the point?” he interjected, brows raised. “At least for now? I mean, my friends will see it too, but that’s part of what makes it seem real and convincing. Think of us as part of the pitch. We have to sell ourselves to the client, in this case Natasha.”

He did have a point. If someone were to search for either of you on Facebook, they would see that you were single, with zero pictures of each other anywhere. How believable would that possible be?

Natasha wasn’t stupid. She would be able to see right through something that seemed insincere.

“Well, we’re out and about,” you said, shrugging. “We can take some selfies and pictures.”

You stood up and moved around the table until you were sitting beside Bucky. “Café selfie!” You waited for him to smile before taking the picture. “Selfies in one location aren’t going to be convincing enough.”

“We can make this an official work lunch,” Bucky suggested. “Let’s go walk around the city and take some more.”

“Okay.” You didn’t see the harm in it; it was only temporary, and the breakup would be public, too.

It’s just for work.

---

“There’s the fountain over there,” you pointed. The Lincoln Center fountain outside of the Met was one of your favorite places to visit in the city. It was beautiful, and the setting was elegant, and you didn’t really know why, but you never got tired of seeing it. “We can take one there.”

You didn’t even stop to wait for Bucky to catch up as you made your way over to the fountain with a small smile on your face. There were school kids running around, and a young couple sharing a snack, and a large group of tourists taking pictures.

But your eyes never left the water; it sparkled in the sunlight, and gave the whole place a magical feel.

“I never saw anyone so fond of a fountain before,” Bucky said, finally appearing beside you.

You peeled your eyes away to grin at him. “I don’t even understand it. I just…I love it here. This city is amazing.”

He gave you a smile of his own, and for the first time in a while, Bucky looked almost like he did understand.

When he reached for your hand, you felt your face heat up, but you let him pull you along until you were on the other side, facing the Met. There were less people on this side because everyone wanted the tourist shots. “A real New Yorker doesn’t care,” he explained with a chuckle.

He instructed you to have a seat along the edge of the fountain, while he went over to the younger couple and asked them to take a picture.

The guy agreed, standing up and following Bucky over to you. Bucky sat down beside you and threw an arm around you.

“Smile!” the kid said, aiming Bucky’s phone at you.

“One more,” Bucky called.

“Sure!”

To your surprise, right before the next picture was taken, Bucky kissed your temple.

Now you were really mortified, though when you looked at the aftermath, the pictures looked very convincing. You were actually beaming in that second picture.

You looked like a real couple.

He cleared his throat and tucked his phone back in his pocket, seemingly unaffected. What you would give to seem that cool and collected all the time. “Come on. We can see what’s going on in the theatre district.”

Wordlessly, you stood and followed him, only flinching a little bit when you felt his hand at the small of your back. You’d have to work on that for Saturday, just in case he did that more often.

After a few more stops at iconic locations, you and Bucky begrudgingly headed back to work in a taxi. He held the door open for you, and then let you on the elevator first.

It was like he was a whole different person outside of the office.

You bit your lip, eyeing him carefully while he stared at the flashing numbers above the elevator door. When he realized you were staring, he turned to meet your gaze.

“What?”

“Nothing, I just…” You shook your head, not exactly sure how to phrase what you wanted to tell him.

Bucky’s eyebrow lifted in question.

“I just... when I first started, I heard that you were married to your job, that you didn’t really know how to have fun.”

He nodded twice, then turned back to the door. “I get that a lot.”

Your heart sank at the tone of his voice. “I didn’t mean anything by it, I promise.”

“It’s fine, really.” His expression didn’t give away what he was feeling.

You turned your face forward, too, trying not to make things worse. Just before the number changed to seven, you looked back over at him. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s true. I had fun today.”

Bucky’s blue eyes met yours in surprise, but before he could reply, the elevator doors opened, and you both saw T’Challa standing in the hallway with his arms crossed in front him as if he’d been waiting.

He didn’t look happy.

---

Bucky was pulled away into an emergency planning meeting, but he promised to upload the pictures to Facebook as soon as he could.

After about an hour, you received a friendship request from him on your app, followed by a relationship status update and a tag for every single pic you’d taken today.

Almost immediately, you got a bunch of likes and messages.

Whoa, you look great! Hope you’re safe and happy! (That one was from your mother).

He’s a hottie, where’d you find him? (Your sister couldn’t help but chime in, too).

Your eyes narrowed when you saw that Wanda simply put a smiley face. She was probably loving this right now.

The next notification that popped up was one from Natasha.

You froze when you saw the little message with her name beside it.

She hadn’t interacted with you for so long that you couldn’t believe she’d be reacting now. Then again, with the reunion coming up, maybe she was just happy to see you’d finally moved on. Maybe she thought the two of you could reconnect.

It was all for work. You didn’t move on, though you were working on it.

But Natasha didn’t need to know that.

You decided to distract yourself by looking at Bucky’s Facebook page. He had quite a lot of friends, but very little content. There were a couple of pictures of him with an older couple, probably his parents. There were pictures of him out at bars or work events.

Then there were a couple of older pictures, not on his page but ones he was tagged in, of him and a beautiful woman. His arm was around her, and he looked happy.

For some reason, your heart sank when you saw those. You couldn’t figure out her name, but you could see from the date they’d been uploaded that they were a couple years old. You wondered what happened. Did he love her? Was it serious? Who ended it?

You shook your head. Did it matter?

Throughout the rest of the afternoon until quitting time, you amused yourself by completely avoiding any work and merely watching the notifications on your new pictures on Facebook. Bucky’s friends were commenting now, saying congrats and that it was about time he found someone. This one guy who seemed to be Bucky’s best friend, Steve, commented that he was really happy for him.

You couldn’t stop the cheesy grin on your face when you saw Bucky’s reply.

Thanks, man. I’m really happy, too.

“What are you over there grinning about?”

You snapped your attention to Sam, who’d finally returned from whatever meeting he was in all day. You turned your phone slightly so that he couldn’t see the screen. “Nothing.”

“Uh huh.” He gave you a look, then grabbed his jacket. “So you’re leaving early tomorrow, then?”

You nodded your head. “The boss wants us to leave early, so we’re driving out tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oooh, the boss wants you to do something. Look at you! Big Shot and Golden Boy.” Sam stood in front of you, placing a hand on your shoulder. “I’d say good luck, but seeing as golden boy has all the luck you need, I’m just gonna say this, instead: I see that moon-eyed look on your face. It ain’t real, Y/N. Don’t convince yourself it is.”

“I- of course not,” you sputtered, frowning up at him. “I know that, Sam. It’s just for work. I am trying to get ahead here, and I’ve actually been learning a lot from him. That’s literally all it is.”

With one more look showing he was completely unconvinced, Sam turned and walked away from you to the exit. “Whatever you say, Y/N. Just don’t come cryin’ to me on Monday, you got it?”

You didn’t reply. Were you really that bad already? Hell, you could have been watching cat videos for all he knew. Sam was just assuming.

But you weren’t, and you knew it. This was dangerous grounds for someone like you, someone with a big heart and the ability to fall too hard, too fast.

What Sam didn’t know was how badly you’d been hurt before. Surely you weren’t about to let someone in that easily again? That was absurd. Bucky had told you to your face that this was all part of the pitch.

You chewed your lip while you tried to convince yourself that you were stronger than that.

Just to take some initiative, you fired off a text to Bucky, telling him you’d see him tomorrow and to have a goodnight.

Bucky was having none of that, though. He texted back almost immediately, protesting your plans, and not long after, he showed up at your desk. “Leaving without me?”

“I figured we had the plans down already,” you replied lamely, looking up at him with a shrug. “Aren’t you sick of me yet?”

The corner of his mouth lifted ever-so-slightly. “Nah. Besides, we have to talk about Natasha, don’t you think?”

Your eyes narrowed almost immediately. This was the part you’d been dreading. “What about her?”

Bucky held his hands up. “Whoa, I just meant that it would help me do the pitch if I knew a little more about her. What is she like, what’s her personality…you know…”

You looked down. “Fine. We can go to my apartment, though, because I’m far too lazy to trek across town from yours, and I have to feed my cat.”

---

When you got home, you opened the door and held it so Bucky could step inside. It was still light out, but the sun was going down, so you walked over to turn on the lamp beside the couch, before moving to shut your blinds. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

Bucky stood there in the middle of the living room, hands in his pockets, and looked around. “It’s nice.”

You scoffed, reaching for Mr. Fuzzypants when he came running to you. “It’s not Uptown nice, but it’s home.”

“Uptown isn’t all that exciting,” he said softly, moving over to you. He reached out to pet Mr. Fuzzypants, who started purring almost immediately.

“He likes you,” you told him, a small smirk on your face as you shoved the cat into his arms. You took your shoes off and made your way into the kitchen. “Do you want takeout? Maybe some pizza?”

“That’s fine,” he agreed.

After you ordered, you changed into a t-shirt and pajama pants, no longer caring how you appeared in front of Bucky. If it was all for work, you’d have to start acting like it. You flopped down on the couch beside him.

“So,” you began. “Natasha.”

“Natasha.” Bucky looked at you expectantly. “Our target.”

“What do you want to know?”

He had his iPad at the ready to take notes. “Personality traits.”

“She’s...nice.”

Bucky looked at you with an are-you-serious kind of stare. “You’re gonna have to give me more than that, Y/N.”

“I mean, to be fair, Bucky, I haven’t spoken to the woman in ten years. She could be a housewife with a neighborhood watch god complex by now for all I know.”

That made him chuckle. “Tell me what you do know, then.”

You let out a sigh, adjusting to get more comfortable as your cat made his way to the couch to sit between you and Bucky. “She was popular, gorgeous, sophisticated, basically everything I’m not. You know the drill; hot cheerleader befriends someone much nerdier and uglier to keep up appearances, that sort of thing.”

He rolled his eyes. “All I’m hearing is your astonishing inferiority complex. What else?”

You suddenly found your couch cushion to be very interesting. “She used to say she was going to move to the city one day, and she’d be a big-time executive, and marry someone rich and successful…” You looked up at him, eyes narrowing. “She actually used to be a lot like you, only she never got quite that far.” It kind of irritated you, now that you noticed the similarities.

He didn’t say a word, didn’t even look up but instead kept typing, so you continued.

“By the time senior year rolled around, I was busy trying to plan my future with my boyfriend, and as it turned out, so was she.” It was kind of mortifying to even admit it to Bucky, but he needed to know the truth, especially if he was going to meet them soon.

Bucky stopped typing to look up at you in surprise. “How did you find out?”

“It was right before finals week. I turned Clint down for dates a couple of times so that I could study.” You shrugged your shoulders again. “Natasha didn’t turn him down. After one evening spent studying advanced calculus, I went over to Clint’s house to surprise him. I found her wrapped around him instead.”

“Damn,” he muttered, running a hand over his face. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah, I don’t condone anything they did…but at least they are still together now. At least it meant something in the end.”

“We might be able to use whatever personal guilt she might still be feeling to our advantage here. I mean, not to drag it out anymore than someone should, but it might help us get our inside info, or even a meeting with a higher-up.”

“Yeah.” You looked away, biting your lip. The thought of your sad, sorry past helping your future didn’t seem all that bad until you remembered that you had to, ya know, confront it.

“I get now why you really didn’t want to go to this reunion.” His eyes were full of sympathy, and you hated it. You didn’t want to be pitied.

Luckily, the doorbell rang, and the pizza provided a great distraction.

In between bites, you looked back over at Bucky. “You know, this is a lot of effort for one event. I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Me too,” Bucky replied, running a hand over his face.

Very reassuring, you thought glumly. All hope of getting through this weekend unscathed was slowly disappearing.

“Let’s do another one of those selfies,” he suggested. “You can post this one, since we’re at your apartment.”

“Okay.”

Bucky grabbed your phone, since his arm was longer, and the two of you took another selfie together, which you posted right away. “What should I write for this one?”

“Call it date night.”

The corner of your mouth quirked up. You knew he was trying to make you feel better about the whole Clint thing. “Done.” You uploaded and tagged the picture, smirking as it instantly got attention.

Bucky left about an hour later, bidding you and Mr. Fuzzypants goodnight. “See you tomorrow. Don’t worry, it’s almost over. We’ll have the account in no time.” He flashed a charming smile, then turned and walked down the hallway.

You shut the door behind him, feeling like someone had just doused you in cold water. Man, Bucky was convincing. He was a little too convincing. No wonder he always won the accounts he was after.

You repeated your new mantra in your head as you made your way to your bedroom:

It’s just for work.

---

Part 5

PERMA TAGS: @sprinkleofhappinessuniverse @minaphobia @amrita31199 @aenna-4 @ailynalonso15 @psingh97 @sofiadiaz04 @mirkwood—princess @lilasiannerd @coffeeismylife28 @capdanrogers @melissalovesmusicyay @hollycornish @northscorpio @gallifreyansass @ancchor @vaisabu @alurea-actually @hailey-a-s @buckyswinterchildren @minervaem @blackcoffeeandgreenteaforme @winterboobaer @kjs-s @hardcorehippos @rchlnwtn @seeyainanotherlifebrotha @aeillo @wydari @jay-birdbitchez @crownie-sr @neverbeforgotten @givemethatgold @notsoprettykitty @punk-rock-princess-626 @dracsgirl @giannastoico @cosmic-avenger @rockintensse

Story Tags: @srgtjamesbarnes107 @caitsymichelle13 @karipaleta @unevenpages @themistsofmyavalon @themanwiththemetalarm @marvelgoateecollection @awwtommo @stentorian-lore-n @lilyoflothlorien @tenaecious @winterhurricane @musichowler @38leticia @buckybarnesbestbabe @maece-rette @the-renaissance @mrs-lamezec @skywalkerswift @grumpybeyonce @cadetomlinson @captainmqmeep @killer-stiles @sociallyimpairedme @fancybasementpersona

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes drabble #bucky barnes reader insert #bucky barnes x you #bucky x you #james buchanan barnes x reade #au!bucky #AU!buckybarnes #just-some-drabbles

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haebxtna · 8 years ago

Note

i know i haven't posted your starter yet but shh, text me

Drabble List || Status: Always accepting { you may send more if you wantto ;) }

Text me: I’ll write a drabble about mycharacter texting yours or your character texting mine.

A roundof quivers was felt on her thigh - a sudden rise in excitement came inimmediately and she quickly fished for her mobile phone on her pocket. The nameof the sender fell short of her expectation - it wasn’t her father. But it wasa message she has also been waiting. Only she doesn’t know what would’vecome next.

Sittingbehind the counter on a rather benign afternoon, her fingers fiddle on thescreen, tapping the speech balloon icon which then revealed a message from aunknown number.

📩 : +82-13067884Miss Yoo Haebitna. Your work starts this weekend. Please be advised on therules and familiarize yourself with the shop. - Jun Okada

A secondjob wasn’t entirely needed, but seeing the poster and being mesmerized by theshop itself had piqued her curiosity. Plus an additional income would stillmatter. She could use it to buy gifts to be sent to his father.

Haebitnasaves his number before responding

📨 : 사장님Hello 사장님! I’m glad to hear from you.Thank you for letting me have this job. Certainly I will do my best! ^___^

A smilecreeps on her face at the good news the message held. She slips her phone backto her pocket and with regained energy, began arranging the displays of bread.At the back of her mind she was already recalling few of those the owner hasintroduced to him about the shop.

It onlytook two minutes before another wave of vibration was felt again.

Mr. JunOkada doesn’t seem the type to be a mobile addict but it surprised her to seemessages from him again, and at a very fast rate. Haebitna was informed thatmostly the shop is closed on weekdays. Perhaps today is one of those and he hadnothing else to do. Or was he worried if she’ll do a good job?

📩 : 사장님Miss Yoo, it is expected that you MUST do your best. I am generous enough togive you the job because it is urgent.

📩 : 사장님Also I have lots of things that I need to attend to. And I need someone to helpme organize them.

📨 : 사장님A lot have praised me for being a fast learner, so I think I can do well. Noneed to worry, 사장님! I’ll do my tasks the fastestpossible~ ^^,

Acustomer came, followed by another, and another. The clock hits 3 in theafternoon and it is again the start of their busiest hours. Her feet ran fromgetting orders, to serving them, to restocking displays and she is continuouslydistracted by her mobile phone pulsating again and again.

She triesto reply, stealing a fraction of a minute from the bust bakeshop so as not todisappoint her new employer but with every reply came another message.

Andanother.

Andanother one.

Haebitnais usually patient but she starts to find it fairly irritating.

📩: 4 unread messages from 사장님

She breathes in, breathes out. Responding one at a time.

📨 : 사장님Yes yes, 사장님. ^_^

📨 : 사장님Copy that, sir! ^_^

📨 : 사장님Will definitely bring them on my first day! ^^

📨 : 사장님I won’t be late as I don’t have classes on Saturdays, Sir.:)

Her bodyis tired and her eyes are tired from reading his messages. If she just do notneed to impress her employee, she would’ve sworn him in her second languagethru text. Calm down. Just answer his queries. You’re more patient thanthis.

Haebitnahasn’t officially started working for him but it seems like already did.

#;drabbles #yokviboy #;junokada #{ it's okay u know I'll patiently wait for it ^^ }#{aaand I hope this is okay. this is only one and first of his text flooding lol }

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hotspreadpage · 7 years ago

Text

How to optimize featured snippets for voice search

SEO is an exceptionally fast-paced industry, and sometimes keeping on top of the latest updates and imminent changes can be a full-time job in itself.

One factor that is having an unprecedented effect on organic search is voice search. The combination of an increase in mobile searches and the rise in voice assistants has meant that the way in which people are searching for information online is changing dramatically.

Whether it’s Siri, Cortana, Amazon Echo, Google, or another robot friend, there is no questioning the importance of voice search. According to Google, more than half of queries will be voice search by 2020, and this requires a refreshed approach to SEO.

Featured snippets

One of the key aspects of this is featured snippets, as these are the results which are read aloud in response to voice searches. Featured snippets are often referred to as ‘Position Zero’, a phrase coined by Pete Meyers. They are the direct answer results that appear at the top of the SERPs in a box, and they often include a link back to the source of the answer.

Source: Stone Temple

According to Stone Temple Consulting, nearly 30% of 1.4 million Google queries tested now show Featured Snippets. That’s a lot of affected searches. Updating your search strategy to include optimization for featured snippets should therefore be a priority.

The key point to remember with featured snippets is that if a searcher is using voice search and expecting a verbal reply, they will not be presented with a choice of results. Instead, only one result is read out and where there is a featured snippet, this will be the choice of the voice assistant.

You could have the most mind-blowing and enticing meta description and title tags in the world, but if you’re not in that sought after position zero, then your lovingly crafted content will not be read aloud and will therefore remain both unseen and unheard by the searcher.

Long-tail keywords

Of course the key difference between voice search and standard search is the use of more natural, conversational language. This new style of search and query formats must be factored into your strategy. Cue long-tail keywords!

The first step in your journey to the exclusive realm of featured snippets is to identify the informational queries related to your product or services. Use keyword tools, but also ask customers and consider the frequently asked questions you receive on a regular basis.

Answer the Public is a fantastic tool for these more conversational search queries. The tool allows you to dig deeper into user intent by separating the results into question starters, such as ‘who’, ‘why’ and ‘how’. Build on this research by uncovering other similar queries, using the ‘People also asked’ feature on Google.

Test the questions that you generate by typing them into Google and analyzing the results of the featured snippets. Use these as a basis, but work out what you could add or improve on to make the result even better. Perhaps the article source does not provide much further information, or perhaps the current answer displaying isn’t long enough.

Optimizing content

The next step is to write a response to these questions, which is likely to be in the form of a blog post. Sure, Google only shows a small percentage of the text from an article in the featured snippet, but this does not mean that your article should only answer the question directly.

Include a direct response, but expand on this further in the article and provide depth. We all know that Google loves depth of information and given that featured snippets provide the option to click through to the source, you need to be offering additional information that could be of use to the reader.

Adopt the formula of answering the question directly and then follow it up by covering other related search queries. This should help you cover all the bases and achieve that coveted spot. Ultimately, you may need to do a bit of testing and reiterating to see what works best.

It is also worth integrating more Q&A style formats into your content. These do not have to just be limited to an FAQ page and it is worth revisiting how you can optimize some of your content to fit this Q&A style. The easier you can make it for Google to pull the featured snippet from your content, the more likely you are to appear in that prized position zero and therefore benefit from voice search as well.

More than a third of featured snippets and knowledge boxes contain an image, so another tactic to experiment with is to utilize different formats, such as tables or graphs. Try using numbered points to break up the content into simple steps, as this helps to optimize the content for voice search.

Plus, if there are too many steps to display in the featured snippet, then Google will include a read more button that links through to your website, which can be an effective way of converting people from voice search into website traffic.

Local searches

Voice search is characterized by its prevalence on mobile devices and its focus on local searches. This is of paramount importance to local search strategies, especially given that 50% of mobile visitors who perform a local search will visit a store within one day.

Although these may not bring up featured snippets, they do reveal the Google My Business profiles, which can be read aloud as directions. In fact, directions are one of the most popular queries for voice search, unsurprising given the push towards hands free, particularly when driving.

Source: Google Official Blog

As far as local searches go, you need to make sure that all of your contact information is as accessible as possible on your site. Make Google’s life easy when it comes to crawling your site; you’ll be more likely to feature high up in the featured results and therefore be the winner of the voice search game. Ensure your contact information isn’t simply within an image or this will certainly damage your chances of appearing.

You know what else you can do to make the Google bots even happier? Schema markup – it will significantly increase the chances of obtaining a featured snippet.

It goes without saying that you need to keep your Google My Business up to date. Again, this should be part of your SEO efforts anyway, so no sweat there. Once your contact information is updated and where it should be, help the process along by submitting a sitemap to Google. Also submit any new content that you add to your site, just to speed up the process.

Mobile ready

Don’t forget to focus on mobile. Given that the vast majority of voice searches occur on mobile, it is essential that the mobile version of your site is fully optimized.

I know what you’re thinking: but voice search entails that only the featured snippet will be read aloud, so what’s the point of a fancy pants mobile friendly website? Well, Google likes fancy pants mobile friendly websites, that’s why. Don’t believe me? Riddle me this – why are they moving to a mobile-first index?

Even using voice search, there is always the chance that the user decides to delve into their query further to read more. In which case they’ll head straight to your site, and if it’s not delivering in terms of user experience then you won’t be staying in that top spot for long.

Conclusion: User intent is key

When it comes to trying to get that valuable featured snippet place, there is no special technique that is any different to standard SEO. In short, if you are thinking carefully about user intent then you should be fine.

Given the recent updates like Hummingbird and Rankbrain, user intent should already be a priority in your search strategy. So if you’re doing this then your content should already be optimized for featured snippets and voice search.

Using voice search for commercial intent is only in its infancy at the moment. However, we are only expecting this to evolve and develop over time as people become more and more comfortable with voice search.

So you’d best be ready!

How to optimize featured snippets for voice search syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm

0 notes

alanajacksontx · 7 years ago

Text

How to optimize featured snippets for voice search

SEO is an exceptionally fast-paced industry, and sometimes keeping on top of the latest updates and imminent changes can be a full-time job in itself.

Featured snippets

Source: Stone Temple

Long-tail keywords

Optimizing content

Local searches

Source: Google Official Blog

You know what else you can do to make the Google bots even happier? Schema markup – it will significantly increase the chances of obtaining a featured snippet.

Mobile ready

Don’t forget to focus on mobile. Given that the vast majority of voice searches occur on mobile, it is essential that the mobile version of your site is fully optimized.

Conclusion: User intent is key

So you’d best be ready!

from IM Tips And Tricks https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/09/04/how-to-optimize-featured-snippets-for-voice-search/ from Rising Phoenix SEO https://risingphxseo.tumblr.com/post/164968791905

0 notes

kellykperez · 7 years ago

Text

How to optimize featured snippets for voice search

SEO is an exceptionally fast-paced industry, and sometimes keeping on top of the latest updates and imminent changes can be a full-time job in itself.

Featured snippets

Source: Stone Temple

Long-tail keywords

Optimizing content

Local searches

Source: Google Official Blog

You know what else you can do to make the Google bots even happier? Schema markup – it will significantly increase the chances of obtaining a featured snippet.

Mobile ready

Don’t forget to focus on mobile. Given that the vast majority of voice searches occur on mobile, it is essential that the mobile version of your site is fully optimized.

Conclusion: User intent is key

So you’d best be ready!

source https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/09/04/how-to-optimize-featured-snippets-for-voice-search/ from Rising Phoenix SEO http://risingphoenixseo.blogspot.com/2017/09/how-to-optimize-featured-snippets-for.html

0 notes

sheilalmartinia · 7 years ago

Text

How to optimize featured snippets for voice search

SEO is an exceptionally fast-paced industry, and sometimes keeping on top of the latest updates and imminent changes can be a full-time job in itself.

Featured snippets

Source: Stone Temple

Long-tail keywords

Optimizing content

Local searches

Source: Google Official Blog

You know what else you can do to make the Google bots even happier? Schema markup – it will significantly increase the chances of obtaining a featured snippet.

Mobile ready

Don’t forget to focus on mobile. Given that the vast majority of voice searches occur on mobile, it is essential that the mobile version of your site is fully optimized.

Conclusion: User intent is key

So you’d best be ready!

from Search Engine Watch https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/09/04/how-to-optimize-featured-snippets-for-voice-search/

0 notes