#Kevin loves them even if they make social events difficult

[queer-lovebot]

any Andreil getting jealous over Kevin hcs

I feel like Neil would be very possessive and Andrew would get jealous

OH THIS IS FUNNN. You see I think it’s the complete opposite! I feel like Neil is more jealous while Andrew is knowingly possessive. Andrew doesn’t care who Kevin’s with as long as he comes home, and as long as everyone knows Andrew is always there. Watching. Lurking. Andrew will always be one of Kevin’s boys and he is NOT scared to flaunt that.

Neil, however, needs Kevin’s attention on him at all times. He and Kevin are twin flames and Neil is really annoying about it. “Kevin, wanna learn a new pass? Recorded the match between the Banshees and the Birds if you want to watch it, Kevin.” He hates when Kevin offers to train other players and tries to be so normal. Yes, he did hear Kevin say an up and coming player on the opposite team is promising. No, he is Not going to target them. He’s mature. (Lying)

If Kevin is being flirted with at the club, Andrew is more likely to place a hand on his waist or by his pulse point. Possessive. Showing that he will always have Kevin’s attention. Neil, however, is running that smart mouth and giving death glares.

[ledenews]

Cathy Flanagan: It Can All Be Blamed on the FALALALA

She plays electric guitar and she sings and her jeans have frays and holes earned through time and not bought to be fancy. She speaks clearly, sings beautifully, and she’s going to do all of it over and over again because she and her bandmates are THAT popular here in the Upper Ohio Valley. But her lust for music wasn’t born from an exposure to stars like Debbie Harry or John Lennon or Joni Mitchell or even Freddie Mercury. No, Cathy Flanagan’s love affair with music sprouted thanks to a grade school soloist and the innocence of a FA-LA-LA-LA holiday, and then it blossomed during rock-n’-roll’s best decades – the 1970s-80s – here in the Upper Ohio Valley. Ever since, Flanagan has been on a stage and singing somewhere, and for more than a decade she’s joined the men of The Muddle while gigging on both sides of the Ohio River. The set lists are eclectic, the narration brief, and crowds are quiet with attention. Maybe the best parts are that you can name that tune, sing those songs, and transport back to the show or party where you heard the melody that very first time. The Muddle performs a solid show for sure, and it’s Flanagan who humbly fills the role as band leader. She schedules shows, promotes on social media, does the radio interviews, and it’s Cathy who thanks the crowd for their shows of appreciation for each little ditty. Not bad for someone once anxious when standing up front, huh? Flanagan sings and plays guitar for The Muddle, and the band can be enjoyed at various venues in the valley. Why The Muddle? Where did the name come from? Working as a duo being myself with Kevin Schlick or London Stadler – and, at times, a trio with Matt Uhlly – promotion was difficult. We needed a name. I was at the lobby bar at Nemacolin when the bartender served up a beautiful purple martini to the guy next to me, When I commented on it, he said the secret is to “muddle” the fruit. Muddle! We became “The Muddle,” because in the dictionary it also means “confusion.” This was perfect because it was really not clear who would be showing up to be it. Would it be a duo, a trio? We didn’t know, and eventually we’d even be a four-piece band for some performances. What performer or band led you to music? I don't think there was any one band or person that influenced me to want to play music. I loved music. I liked music class as long as we were singing. I didn`t care for learning music signatures or anything related to it. I took flutophone with hopes of making a band and failed the written test part. I was learning by ear. in 7th grade a classmate sang a solo in the Christmas program and I was mesmerized. I picked up a few instruments along the way. I played clawhammer banjo somewhat years ago with a trio. I struggled with stage fright. Flanagan interacts often with the audiences that attend The Muddle's shows. What female vocalist do you consider the greatest of all time? Why? I cannot say I consider any single one female or male vocalist to be the greatest, there are way too many fish in that sea. I wouldn't want to leave anyone out. What is the best job you’ve ever had? I've worked many jobs. Pondering the best makes me realize how many. I can honestly say I liked them all. Maybe the Riviera Bowling Lanes stands out. I worked in the Downstairs Lounge. I loved working in a rock club. We had top-notch bands come through there. I got to be friends with great musicians. I still have charts that Rick from the BE Taylor Band made for me. This was before the internet – at least for me. I got to be friends with The Toys, Dino and John. They knew I strummed some guitar and suggested I pick up bass. They said bass players were scarce. So, I did. The Muddle have played shows in bars and restaurants, sure, but also for steak frys and other outdoor events. What happened to rock n’ roll? Where’d it go? Well, I think rock n roll might still be around. Maybe just harder to find? Read the full article

[sankyeom]

the c in ceo stands for cute | k.yh

pairings: kim younghoon x reader genre: ceo au, secretary!reader x ceo!younghoon, strangers to lovers summary: in which your handsome boss is often mistaken as cold due to his good looks and forward personality, but is actually the sweetest introvert you’ve ever met word count: 7.2k series: sankyeom’s 2k followers celebration

masterlist

“It’s been such a pleasure working for you, Mr Kim,” you told the CEO of the company you worked for, genuinely meaning every word.

Mr Kim beamed at you, eyes bright behind the large frames of his glasses. “The pleasure was all mine, Y/n,” he assured you. “You’re a marvellous help. My son is going to love you,” he was sure.

The heir of the Kim corporation, Kim Younghoon, was returning from getting his Masters degree from Harvard Business School just in time to take over after his father retired. He was a little young to be the CEO of such a large corporation, but Mr Kim had a lot of faith in his son, and spoke very highly of him.

“I’m sure we’ll get along just fine,” you smiled, even though you were lying through your teeth.

There had been enough rumours about Kim Younghoon going around for you to know what to expect. His schoolmates said that he was often cold to them, giving blunt answers instead of mingling with his peers, and having an air of superiority around him. You asked some of your older coworkers if they knew much about him, since you had only been Mr Kim’s secretary for a little over two years, and they feared him too much to have ever really approached him.

Of course you knew that it was unfair to judge a person by the rumours surrounding them, especially if you never even had the chance to meet this person, but there seemed to be no positive stories about Kim Younghoon at all. Sure, his face was plastered across billboards for being an excellent businessman and for having great instincts when it came to the stock market, but he never smiled in any pictures; not even the ones on his social media (which had millions of followers).

Mr Kim seemed to know you well, giving you an intentional smile. “He’s not what people expect him to be. You’ll see when he arrives,” he promised. You decided to take Mr Kim’s word for it and give the new CEO a proper chance, despite the fact that Mr Kim was very biased in this situation.

“I think it’s time for me to get home,” Mr Kim admitted, handing you his almost-full champagne flute.

The Seoul division of the corporation’s office had held a farewell party for Mr Kim, celebrating his many years of building up the company and all the people whose lives he impacted while he was CEO. “So soon?” you asked, helping him up from his chair. “You’ve only had one slice of cake.”

Mr Kim laughed. “I’ll take a good night’s sleep over a second slice of cake,” he assured you, taking your arm and letting you walk him to the elevator. “You know that I like you a lot, don’t you Y/n?” he asked you.

You couldn’t help but smile back at the man who was almost like a second father figure, and your most influential mentor. “Yes I do, Mr Kim. It’s been a pleasure.”

“I consider myself quite lucky,” he replied, saying his farewells to you before letting his chauffeur walk him to his car.

You waved as the elevator doors closed and sighed to yourself when Mr Kim was gone, looking around to see what was left of the office party.

You knew you were good at your job. Throughout high school and college, you found it difficult to figure out what you wanted to do with your life. All you knew was that you had good organisational and people skills, and you wanted to do something creative and exciting. At first, the idea of being someone’s secretary sounded dreadfully boring and time-consuming. But as you started to learn more about the profession, you liked the idea of being able to be apart of different projects as well as organising someone’s time.

“Hey, Y/n,” your coworker Kevin called over to you. He was someone you worked with a lot because he was a part of the design department, and no design ever went out without Mr Kim’s direct approval. “Where did Mr Kim go?” he asked.

You smiled, making your way over to him and the group of people he stood with. “Home,” you informed him. “I think he appreciated the party, but when he said he wanted to retire, he really meant it.”

Kevin laughed, raising his champagne flute in the air as a toast. “Fair enough,” he allowed. “Did he give you any details about the new boss?” he wondered, quirking an eyebrow in inquisitiveness.

“Not really,” you admitted. “He said that he thinks we’ll get along, and that he’s not what people expect him to be. But aside from that, he didn’t give me much.”

“Damn,” Kevin sighed. “I just want to know if he’s as scary as people make him out to be. I mean, attending a prestigious business school overseas and not making any friends? That seems kind of weird.”

“A little,” you agreed, accepting the champagne he offered you and sipping it. “I don’t know. I guess if you already have a decent set of friends at home, and your priority is to finish school as quickly as possible, then I can see why he might come across as unfriendly.”

Kevin hummed. “I suppose,” he agreed, downing his champagne. “Now c’mon. We need to dance and actually have fun at the party that you spent weeks planning,” he insisted, letting you finish your drink before dragging you over to where you had pushed chairs and tables away to make room for dancing. “Tomorrow, the new boss arrives. And if he’s half as bad as people say he is, you’re going to wish you had partied.”

You arrived at the office the next day an hour earlier than you usually did. You weren’t sure what time the new boss would be arriving at, so you just decided to be early. Fidgeting with your clothes, you smoothed them down as best as you could as you waited in front of the CEO’s office for Younghoon to arrive. You had already printed out a plan of things Mr Kim had left him to finish up for the next three months, but you didn’t have any more specific plans after that.

After half an hour of waiting around, hushed whispers rang around the office area. Taking this as a sign that Younghoon was on his way, you stood up tall with all of your papers, planner, and clipboard, and took a deep breath in to calm down. Not long after, Younghoon’s familiar face – which you recognised both from billboards, magazines and articles, as well as Mr Kim’s framed pictures in his office – appeared in front of you with two men trailing after him.

He was handsome in a chic way, with deep set eyes and high brow bones. His cupid’s bow was slightly pointed, and his lips in general were turned down into a sort of passive frown, as if he had a mild case of resting bitch face. All in all, he was intimidating. Tall, handsome, and rich. You dealt with men like this every day, but none of them looked at you as indifferently as Kim Younghoon was.

You put on your best smile. “Good morning Mr Kim,” you greeted. “My name is Y/n. I’m here to assist you with whatever you need. I’d like to go over your schedule for the next few months based on what your father already had planned, if now is a good time,” you told him, wanting to get that over and done with.

“Now is perfect,” Younghoon replied, allowing you to open the door for him before he let himself into his new office. You breathed out a quiet sigh of relief when he was inside, recovering quickly to smile at the two men he came with.

“Nice to meet you both, I’m Y/n. I’ll be Mr Kim’s secretary,” you introduced yourself again.

Both men returned your cheery expressions. “Nice to meet you, Y/n,” the one with the dark brown hair greeted. “My name is Sangyeon. I’m the head of Younghoon’s security, but I’m mostly just an old friend,” he admitted. “This is Juyeon,” the man with the black undercut smiled, which made his otherwise angular face seem soft and cute. “He’s Younghoon’s chauffeur but he’s another old friend.”

“We’ll see each other a lot so I hope we get along,” Juyeon chimed in.

“I’m sure we will,” you promised, already feeling comfortable around them. The two men exuded positive energy and a carefree attitude, which helped to calm your nerves just a little bit. Following them into Younghoon’s office, you motioned for them to sit in the two seats in front of Younghoon’s desk, where he was already sat in his office chair.

“We can talk about redecorating the office after we discuss your schedule, if you’d like,” you suggested to Younghoon, noticing the way his eyes were darting around the office. It was left the same way that Mr Kim had wanted it, only most of the belongings that he cherished had been moved into his personal office at home.

“Don’t bother,” Younghoon replied in a quiet voice, leaving you to smile awkwardly at his friends. “You said something about my father having plans for me?” he added.

“Right,” you nodded, taking out Younghoon’s agenda and placing it down in front of him. “Your father had already agreed to a few things before he retired,” you explained. “As the new CEO, you’re expected to carry out these events. I’ve colour coordinated everything that you have set, as well as given you the time and location of every event,” you pointed to the different coloured sticky tabs. “Since we’re going into the last quarter of the financial year, it’s not as busy as the rest of the year but there are more charity-related events than at the start of the year.”

Younghoon held your gaze, taking in your worried eyes and your shaking hands. “How kind of you,” he decided, sending you a half-smile before thumbing through the rest of his journal.

You thanked him quietly, feeling even more deflated now than when you were waiting for him. “Just so you know, I’m going to be arriving the same time everyday as I did today. You don’t need to arrive before me, we can arrive at the same time. And please don’t call me Mr Kim. Mr Kim is my father, you may call me Younghoon,” he said in his calm drawl, done looking through his schedule and glancing up at you. “Can I keep this?” Younghoon motioned to the planner.

“It’s yours,” you assured him.

“Then that’ll be all for now,” Younghoon gave you another half-smile, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ll be familiarising myself with my father’s previous system of organisation and then I’ll meet the main teams this afternoon after lunch. Send the word out that I expect an update on what they’re working on right now, but I don’t want any presentations. Just an informal chat.”

“Of course,” you nodded, placing the stack of papers you were holding on his desk. “These are from legal, they need you to sign off on some patents by Thursday. I figured I’d give you some time to read through them and I can collect them from you Thursday morning,” you informed him. “My schedule for the day is always on this,” you tapped his desktop screen. “We have access to each others’ electronic calendars. It has everything that I put in your planner so far in it already. You can add whatever else onto it so I’m up-to-date. You can see my calendar so you know where I am if you ever need something and I’m not around. I’ll call the team managers right away and schedule your meetings with them.”

“Thank you, Y/n,” Younghoon said.

“Can I get you anything to drink or eat?” you offered, extending your words to Sangyeon and Juyeon as well.

“We’re good,” they assured you, Younghoon nodding in agreement.

“If you need lunch reservations, just let me know,” you smiled, exiting the room and almost collapsing onto your chair. After a moment to catch your breath, you picked up your phone and began to dial the number for Kevin’s cubicle.

“What’s he like?” Kevin exclaimed instead of answering.

You rolled your eyes. “Mr Kim wants a meeting with all the main teams. I’m having the design team go first so. How does 1 o’clock sound?”

“Fine,” he agreed, so you opened your laptop and updated Younghoon’s digital calendar. “Seriously, though. What’s he like? Apparently he didn’t smile when he came into the building at all.”

“Sound accurate,” you mumbled quietly. “I don’t know, Kev. I’ve only met him once. He seems like he’s focused and willing to do the job, so there’s not much I can say.”

“Yeah, okay. But is he a jerk? Unsociable?”

“Well, he’s no fairy princess,” you allowed. “That’s all I’ll say. Like I said, I’ve only met him once. And he’s the CEO of a huge corporation. We’ll have to see.”

“I guess so,” Kevin sighed. “Oh my god. He wants a meeting with all the main teams? I don’t have enough time to make a presentation, what am I supposed to do?”

“I think he wants to be caught up on the current projects and put some faces to the names, is all. Don’t worry too much. You’ll do great,” you motivated your friend. “Now I have to make some other calls, so don’t freak out, okay? Bye.”

As you hung up, Juyeon stepped out of Younghoon’s office. Automatically, you stood up to give him a smile. “Do you need anything?” you offered, earning a grateful smile from him.

“No, no, I’m just on my way to do some errands for Younghoon,” Juyeon waved off your concern. “Thank you, though.” You nodded, sitting back down and going back to organising the team meetings. “You seem like you’re good at your job,” Juyeon complimented. “Very organised. Colour-coded, even,” he added.

“That’s me,” you laughed. “Was it too much?” you wondered. “I mostly did it to kill time waiting for him to come into the office.”

“You’re all good,” Juyeon assured you.

“What errands are you running?” you inquired. “If Younghoon needs anything, I can do it for him. It is my job, after all.”

“Just picking up some stuff for his office,” Juyeon said vaguely, giving you a sheepish smile. Recalling the way that Younghoon disregarded your offer to help him redecorate his office, you felt the nervous feeling in your stomach rise up again.

“He doesn’t like me very much, does he?” you said gloomily.

“He doesn’t know you,” Juyeon retorts. “And you’re great, really. If you were my secretary I’d be jumping for joy,” he promises. “You just… need to get to know him. He takes time to get comfortable with people.”

“Okay,” you smiled sadly. “Well, let me know if I can help with your errands. You can call the lobby and ask for me, they’ll forward your call.” Juyeon waved goodbye and you watched him walk out, slightly upset that Younghoon wanted his chauffeur to do your job, even if they were old friends.

“He’s scary,” Kevin told you when you came to check on him after his meeting with Younghoon. “The new Mr Kim is nothing like the old Mr Kim,” he added.

“What happened?” you asked, wondering what wound Kevin up so much. You knew that Kevin often overthought social interactions, as most socially awkward people do, but you had never seen him so jittery at work before.

“All he did was stare at us and take notes,” Kevin revealed. “He didn’t make any comments or expressions or anything. He just sat there, listened, then dismissed us like we’re school children.”

You winced. “That must have been tough,” you sympathised. “But I mean, it’s only the first meeting,” you tried to find a way to defend Younghoon, giving him the benefit of doubt.

“Sure, but first impressions are kind of important,” Kevin argued. “It’s not like I need to be his best friend the second we meet, but a little communication would have been nice.”

“I’m sorry, Kev,” you sighed. Just as you were about to offer to grab him some coffee, knowing how much he adored the bitter concoction, your phone rang. “Mr Kim,” you answered, seeing that it was forwarded from from your office.

“Younghoon,” he corrected.

You grimace. “Yes, Younghoon. I’m sorry, sir, force of habit,” you said, making Kevin cringe when he realised who you were talking to.

“Where are you?” Younghoon asked, his tone even.

“I’m taking my break,” you explained. “It’s on my schedule.”

“Yes, I see,” Younghoon hummed. “I’m looking at it right now. It doesn’t say where you are, though. I thought it was supposed to say that.”

You cursed silently. “You’re absolutely right, sir. I’m sorry. I can come back immediately,” you offered.

“Please do,” Younghoon said before hanging up the phone without saying goodbye.

“It is Mr Sunshine?” Kevin said sarcastically. “What’s up with you calling him by his first name?”

“He asked me to,” you shrug, putting your phone back in your pocket. “I gotta run. I’ll see you later?” Kevin waved and off you went back to your desk. “Mr- Younghoon,” you corrected yourself, finding Younghoon leaning against your desk waiting for you. “I’m sorry. What did you need me for?”

“You didn’t have lunch,” Younghoon said, tapping your laptop, which was open with your schedule on it.

“Pardon?” you asked.

“You didn’t take your lunch break, which means you haven’t eaten lunch,” your boss elaborated. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to lunch.”

Startled by his offer, you started shaking your head. “That’s alright, sir, I’ll just make a reservation for you.”

“I insist,” Younghoon retorted, taking his phone out of the pocket of his slacks. “Do you feel like eating anything in particular?”

“I’m not picky,” you said quietly, realising that you wouldn’t be able to get out of this.

“I’ll order in,” Younghoon decided, handing you his phone. “Pick whatever you want, it’s on me.”

“That’s really not necessary,” you attempted to argue, but Younghoon insisted.

Half an hour later, you were sat in the plush chair in front of Younghoon’s desk in his office, eating your noodles slowly as you observed your new boss. You weren’t sure if you were just misunderstanding him, or if he really was as blunt and cold as people said he was. However, you respected his father too much to make assumptions based on the first day of meeting him.

“My father speaks very highly of you,” Younghoon broke the silence in between bites of food. “He says that you’re the best secretary he’s ever had. And that you’re one of his favourite people he’s ever worked with.”

“Wow, that’s very high praise,” you said, stunned that Mr Kim even shared his compliments to you with his son. “I’m sure you and I will get along once we get to know each other better, too,” you offered.

Younghoon nodded. “People often misunderstand me,” he began. “I know that people think I’m cold and antisocial. Some people even think I’m arrogant,” a smile graced his face, one that was full and genuine. It lit up his sharp features and softened his entire face, causing him to practically glow. “The truth if that I’m just not very good at what I do yet. A lot of people have expectations of me and I want to meet them. But I’ve always been more reserved and introverted, so expressing that is hard for me.”

Pleased that he was opening up to you, you gave him an encouraging smile. “I understand,” you assured him. “I found this job really scary and hard when I first started. Mr Kim helped me a lot, and he made the office a warm environment where I felt comfortable.”

“I want to do that too,” Younghoon said. “But I also want people to take me seriously. I know I’m taking over much earlier than everyone expected me to, myself included, and I want to make a good impression.”

“You will make a good impression,” you told him. “It will just take some time.”

Younghoon nodded. “I think I scared the design team this afternoon,” he mumbled.

“You did,” you confessed, having just heard Kevin’s experience. Younghoon’s eyes filled with worry, brows furrowing together slightly. “But I think they would’ve been scared no matter what you were like.”

“I have a lot of positive things to say about them,” Younghoon told you, taking out his tablet and handing it to you. You took it, scrolling through the notes he took during the meeting. It was filled with compliments and suggestions to better the project.

“Kevin would love this,” you exclaimed. “These notes are very conceptual and visual, that’s exactly what helps him.” Handing his tablet back, you had to ask. “Why didn’t you say anything? Apparently, that’s what made the meeting the most daunting.”

“I didn’t want them to think that I thought I knew how to do their jobs better than them,” Younghoon confessed. “Because I don’t. That’s why they’re here.” The realisation that Younghoon was truly misunderstood hit you hard, and somehow it made you feel quite relieved. “I must have scared you this morning, too, then.” You nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you,” you said easily. “Everything is still very new. Anytime you need help with this kind of thing, or if you’re unsure about anything, just talk to me. That’s what I’m here for, after all.”

Younghoon smiled again, and you observed how his handsome face could actually look quite cute. “Thank you, Y/n. Now eat your noodles before they get too cold.”

“Yes, boss,” you agreed, grinning before digging back into your lunch.

You first heard the news that the cost of company shares had plummeted from one of your friends in the finance department. Chanhee was good friends with you and Kevin, and he practically ran to your desk when he first saw the numbers going down.

“What happened?” you wondered, confused as to why the shares were going down in value all of a sudden. “Our most recent project was incredibly successful. Our shares should be going up in value more than anything.”

Chanhee bit his bottom lip, eyes flitting to the large oak door that led to Younghoon’s office. “He’s at a lunch meeting with a prominent fashion designer,” you explained, causing Chanhee to nod in relief.

“It’s Mr Kim,” Chanhee admitted, lowering his voice.

“Mr Kim?” you echoed. “Did he do something before Younghoon took over?”

Chanhee rolled his eyes. “No, I mean the new Mr Kim,” he corrected. “He only lets you call him by his first name,” he added, something that you hadn’t known. “When the news broke that he’s taking over, people started selling their shares at low prices. So, the value went down.”

“Oh,” you breathed out, confused. “But, he hasn’t even been here for a month yet? How can the public make such quick decisions on how he’ll impact the company?”

“Reputation is just as important as skills,” Chanhee reminded you. “You know that well. Mr Kim’s reputation is… Well, you work with him. I’ve been in meetings with him. He seems a little…”

“Cold?” you offered, sighing at the predicament at hand. Chanhee merely smiled, lifting one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “Okay. We can fix this. I can talk to Younghoon when he returns from his meeting and-“

“Talk to me about what?” Younghoon called, stepping into the room with Sangyeon and Juyeon in toll.

Juyeon waved. “Hi, Y/n,” he greeted you, Sangyeon nodding in acknowledgement.

“Hi Juyeon, Sangyeon,” you replied, standing up from your chair as Chanhee trembled. “Younghoon, I was just talking to Chanhee about the company’s finances,” you said vaguely, giving Chanhee the chance to bow and duck out of the room.

“I’m assuming you mean the share and stock values,” Younghoon nodded, motioning for you to follow him into his office. “I saw it before heading into my lunch meeting. I don’t think it should be a big deal,” he decided, taking a seat at his desk as you closed the door behind you. “I can just have a meeting with the investors to explain my situation and get things straight. Once they know I’m reliable and competent, the matter will surely be resolved.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” you confessed, causing Younghoon to pause in his action of opening his planner. “It’s just that reputation is very important here. Especially in large companies such as yours,” you added. “I think it would be best if we focused on stimulating your image more. So far, people only have rumours about you from your business school peers, as well as magazine and newspaper interviews to go off of. You’re still a mystery to the public.”

“I like my privacy,” Younghoon explained, a small pout forming on his mouth.

You averted your eyes from his lips. “But image is still important. Your father had the image of a friendly family-oriented man who raised money to build homes for the underprivileged population,” you recalled. “We could have some events to stimulate your own image. Parties, charity events…”

“You really think this will help?” Younghoon asked, eyes resembling those of a scared puppy.

The fact that he had terrified you so much upon your first meeting felt like a hundred years ago to you. Now that you had been working together for almost a month, you had seen how nervous Younghoon was. And how cute he could act. Seeing him around Sangyeon and Juyeon also helped. The pair was hilarious and they always brought out a happier, more relaxed side of Younghoon that you were pleased to see.

You knew that Younghoon just wanted to do well and make his father proud. He was less confident in his abilities than you thought he should be.

You nodded. “What should we do?” Younghoon wondered.

“I think we should find something that you enjoy and promote it,” you began. “What do you like to do, other than work?”

“I don’t have time for much else,” Younghoon thought. Whenever he was deep in thought, his head tilted to the side and and his eyes looked up at the ceiling as he mumbled under his breath. It was a truly cute sight.

“He likes music! He’s actually a pretty decent singer,” Sangyeon supplied for his friend, giving him an encouraging smile when Younghoon stammered a denial,

“That’s great,” you exclaimed. “We could talk to our charity department and look into funding music programs at schools. Arts are always underfunded and could use our help,” you suggested. “And I think that meeting with the investors is a good idea. But instead of talking about your qualifications and experience, you could talk about the direction you want to take the company in. Focus on the fact that you took over from Mr Kim the second he needed you.”

“Does that makes me sound soft and emotional?” Younghoon asked. “I don’t want to look weak in front of the investors.”

You smiled. “The investors are here because they trusted your father’s vision for the company, and they trusted that he was a family man who wanted to do good with the assets his company had.” You recalled the many meetings you sat in on with Mr Kim, and how much everyone adored him. “You take after your father. The fact that you finished business school early to help him with the company, and that you want to do well will please the investors.”

Juyeon laughed. “Your secretary knows this company better than you do,” he teased his friend.

Younghoon managed a smile, meeting your eyes amongst his giggling friends. “That’s why I need her,” he reminded Juyeon, a comment which made you beam.

“Y/n!” Sunwoo from advertising called out to you as you walked down the hall. He came rushing in your direction, despite the fact that you stood still to wait for him, holding a stack of papers in his hand. “Could you get these to Mr Kim for me?” he asked you, passing the papers on. “They’re the final proposals for the advertising of his charity event,” Sunwoo explained.

Younghoon’s meeting with the investors had gone really well, and he had definitely won their favours and respect. He mentioned wanting to invest in art and music programs because of his own passion for music, and had many ideas for a charity event to promote their program. The investors, always happy to go to a party and excited for the direction Younghoon wanted to take the company in, were overjoyed with his suggestion.

“Um, sure,” you agreed with furrowed brows. “Why don’t you just bring them to him, though? Your office is on the same floor.”

“Oh,” Sunwoo stared at you with large, round eyes. “Can’t,” he stammered. “Meeting. Gotta go. Thanks, Y/n!” he called, waving at you as he darted away in the direction of the elevator.

Ignoring his odd behaviour, you flipped through the pages to make sure everything was there before making your way back to your desk. When you arrived, you sorted out the notes you had photocopied for Younghoon from Sunwoo’s proposals, just as you heard another person call you name.

“Would you be able to give these to Mr Kim?” Changmin from human resources asked, showing you a thick stack of papers, stapled together in the top left corner. “They’re the human resources policies for the next financial year. He wanted to see them before the end of the week so he could sign off on them.”

“I can,” you agreed. “But his office is right there. Why don’t you just go in and give them to him? I’m sure he’d be happy to see you since he’s cooped up in his office all day.”

Changmin gave you a nervous smile, dimples appearing in his cheeks. “I would, but I actually have someone on hold at my desk,” he admitted.

Your eyes widened. “Why did you bring me this while waiting for someone? Go, go! It could be important,” you shooed him away, earning a loud thank you from him before he rushed to get back to his desk.

Sighing, you stacked his papers on top of the ones you were organising and made your way into Younghoon’s office, knocking on the door to let him know you were coming. “Woah,” Younghoon stared at the large pile of papers in your arms as you entered, leaving the door open behind you. “That’s a lot of photocopied notes from your meeting with Mr Park,” he observed.

You laughed at his comment, spreading the papers out in three neat piles in front of him. “I also have Sunwoo from advertising’s final proposal for the charity event ads, and I have Changmin from human resource’s policies for the next financial year.”

At your revelation, Younghoon groaned and buried his face in his hands. “They hate me,” he whined, looking at you from in between his fingers. “They don’t even want to come into my office. I always wonder if people are meeting their deadlines, since nobody ever comes to see me. But they just like you better than me.”

“They don’t like me better than you,” you deny, causing Younghoon to laugh ironically, removing his hands from his face so his pout was visible. “They just know me better than you! You’re still their new, cool, super educated boss. They haven’t gotten to know you yet.”

“You’re probably right,” he mumbled, flipping through your notes. “How do I get them to know me better?”

“Well, it might help if you don’t just stay in your office all day,” you suggested unsurely. “You don’t seem very… accessible to them.”

“But I like being in my office,” Younghoon told you. “It means you’re just a single door away. I like when you’re close by. It makes my day better.”

Your eyes widened at his unexpected compliment, causing Younghoon’s expression to follow suit. He laughed awkwardly, pink dusting his cheeks in embarrassment. “Was that inappropriate? I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” he apologised quickly, clasping his hands together and leaning slightly away from you.

“No, it’s okay,” you reassured him. “I’m glad that you’re comfortable around me.”

“I’m more than comfortable with you,” Younghoon corrected, standing up from his chair to be at eye-level with you. His tall presence used to want to make you cower away, but now that you knew Younghoon personally, you felt secure enough to meet his eyes and lean into him. “I’m… safe. Happy, even.”

The admission made you grin, not minding the way you could feel his breath against your cheek or the fact that you could hear your heart pounding in your ears. “I make you happy?” you whispered teasingly, relishing in the way that Younghoon’s cheeks darkened even further, a nervous laugh leaving his lips.

“Blissful,” Younghoon corrected, his eyes shining with warmth.

“This is cute,” a voice called behind you. You startled, turning to see Juyeon and Sangyeon standing in the doorway of Younghoon’s office, smirking at the two of you. Sangyeon had spoken, looking like he was ready to burst into giggles at any moment. “Do you guys always make fond eyes at each other when we leave you alone?” he teased.

Ignoring his comment, you greeted the two with a smile and excused yourself from Younghoon’s office to go cool off; you could feel your face heating up with embarrassment and wanted a moment to catch your breath.

In the time that Younghoon had taken over as CEO, you had gotten to see many sides of him. On the first day, he was open with you after making a bad first impression on you and you had decided that you would give him a chance. You hadn’t realised how shy and cute Younghoon could be. Of course, he could be loud and carefree around old friends like Sangyeon and Juyeon as well, and he was slowly starting to make jokes with you as well. Now, he was saying that he felt downright blissful when you were around.

The change made you really happy.

On the night of Younghoon’s charity event, you had arrived early to make sure everything was in order. Dressed to the nines, you had to admit that you were pleased with how you looked that evening, putting in a lot of effort since you knew that the event meant a lot to Younghoon.

After discussing how the dishes should go out with the catering company, you allowed yourself to take in the large ballroom now that it was empty and before it would be overcrowded with rich investors, businessmen, and press. Just as you were going over the schedule for the evening with the event planner, you heard a sharp intake of air behind you.

“Wow,” you turned around, revealing Younghoon standing there breathlessly.

He wore an elegant black suit and tie, topped off by perfectly styled hair and his usual silver watch that his father had given him for getting into Harvard Business School. Younghoon always looked handsome, but in this moment, he was absolutely radiant. He looked like he belonged at this event, like he was the CEO of the Kim corporation.

You smiled. “I could say the same,” you complimented, motioning to Younghoon with your hands. “You clean up pretty nicely.”

“Ah, well, my secretary did get my suit perfectly tailored to fit me,” Younghoon said, smoothing down lapels of his suit jacket with a beam.

“Your secretary must be smart,” you replied, stepping towards Younghoon and adjusting his tie properly. “Because you look great. Dignified, sophisticated-”

“Handsome?” Younghoon asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

“You know you’re handsome,” you retorted with an eye roll.

“Maybe,” Younghoon shrugged, placing a hand on top of yours on his chest. You froze at his action, glancing up at him through your lashes. “But I want to hear what you think.”

“You look very handsome,” you allowed, trying to speak as smoothly as possible without indicating how fast your heart was beating in your chest.

“If I look half as good as you, I’ll be happy,” Younghoon replied, gently releasing your hand and clearing his throat. “You did a really great job arranging this event. It’s exactly what I wanted.”

“Well the event planner organised it, I just told her what you wanted,” you said humbly, denying the large part you had in the event.

“I don’t believe that for a second,” Younghoon told you. “If I know you at all, then you were constantly jotting down details that I mentioned vaguely and made sure that the event planner fixed everything to my preference,” he paused. “And I’d like to think that I know you quite well.”

“Believe me, you do,” you answered. “And thank you. For seeing the work I put in.”

“It’s you,” Younghoon shrugged. “I always see you.”

As the event began and more guests started coming, you were delighted to see Mr Kim enter with Younghoon’s mother on his arm, beaming at all the familiar faces he saw. “Mr Kim!” You called out to him, not having seen your old boss since his farewell party.

“Y/n,” Mr Kim replied, accepting a hug from you and releasing you so you could greet his wife. “It’s wonderful to see you again.”

“I’ve missed you, Mr Kim,” you admitted. Of course you loved working for Younghoon too, but you hadn’t seen Mr Kim in far too long.

“I’ve missed you too, Y/n,” Mr Kim promised. “Although, I’ve heard a lot about you from Younghoon any time we meet. It seems that you’re all he has to talk about, more so than his company,” Mr Kim narrowed his eyes at you playfully, a knowing glint in his eyes. “He seems quite taken with you.”

Taken with you. You could feel the butterflies start to wake up in your stomach as your heart beat a little faster at Mr Kim’s implication. “He’s wonderful to work with,” you told him, brushing off the way Mr and Mrs Kim were both giggling at you. “You’ve raised an amazing man.”

“Well, he certainly make us proud,” Mr Kim allowed. “You look nervous. You should be relaxing, Y/n. You planned a very successful charity event.”

“I’m more nervous about Younghoon behind nervous,” you admitted. “I just want him to know that he’s doing well. He always thinks he’s not doing good enough even though he’s gone above and beyond.”

“He might relax if he sees you have some fun,” Mr Kim said, stopping a passing waiter to get champagne for himself, Mrs Kim, and you. “A toast to Y/n and Younghoon’s partnership,” he proposed, causing the three of you to clink glasses and sip the bubbly beverage.

“Mum, Dad,” Younghoon appeared at your side, greeting his father and then his mother with hugs. “I didn’t know if you two would make it tonight.”

“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Mr Kim assured his son, causing Younghoon’s lips to spread into a wide smile. 

“You did great today, Younghoonie. You and Y/n have a lot to be proud of,” Mrs Kim added.

“Thank you, Dad, Mum,” Younghoon was ecstatic to hear praise from his father. “I couldn’t have done it without Y/n, though. I’m grateful that you hired her.”

“I bet you are,” Mr Kim hummed, winking at his son before facing Mrs Kim. “How about a dance?” he offered, excusing themselves and making their way to the dance area.

When you turned to face Younghoon, his face seemed to have reddened. “What did my dad tell you?” he wondered.

You raised an eyebrow. “Um, just that you talk about me to him a lot. And that you’re quite taken with me,” you recalled, realising how romantic Mr Kim’s descriptions were.

Younghoon whined embarrassedly, shutting his eyes as if it would make him disappear. “I told him not to talk to you about any of that, I wanted to tell you all that myself…” he muttered, opening his eyes to see your curious expression.

“All what?” you asked dumbly, hoping that you weren’t just getting your hopes up at Mr Kim’s implications.

“The way I feel about you,” Younghoon explained nervously. “I wanted to tell you… Tell you that I’ve loved working with you these past few months. That you make me nervous and excited and happy whenever I’m around you. How hearing your voice makes my day and how I can barely contain a blush any time we’re alone. That I’m falling in love with you more and more every single day…” he trailed off, gently taking your hands in his. His touch was familiar now. “I didn’t want my declaration to be in such a public place, though,” Younghoon’s eyes flitted around he crowded ballroom.

You laughed, tears blurring your vision just slightly. “It’s fine,” you promised him, lacing your fingers through his. “I don’t care where you tell me, as long as I know.”

Younghoon nodded, taking your comment as permission to pull you closer to him. “This is the part where you tell me that you feel the same,” he whispered, close enough in proximity for you to hear his murmur above the noise in the ballroom.

“You seem confident that I return your feelings,” you mentioned, trailing your hands from his up his arms, across his shoulders and eventually to rest on the back of his neck. “What happened to the sweet, introverted Younghoon that couldn’t even smile at me when we met?”

“Precisely that: I met you,” Younghoon told you. “Now, if you’re not going to tell me that you feel the same, you should at least kiss me,” he added as an afterthought. “It would only be fair.”

“Well, in the name of fairness…” you trailed off, lifting onto the balls of your feet to lean up and press your lips to Younghoon’s. 

The pounding in your heart only intensified, encouraged by the way Younghoon smile against your lips before returning your kiss. In that moment, it didn’t matter that you were in public at all. All you could focus on was the way Younghoon’s lips felt on yours and how he pulled you impossibly closer to him with each bruising kiss.

“Disgusting,” you heard a voice mutter, easily recognising it as Juyeon’s after months of seeing him almost every day. Reluctantly, you pulled away from Younghoon, glancing sideways to where Sangyeon and Juyeon were sipping on champagne to hide their excited smiles.

“You guys know that you’re in public, right?” Sangyeon added.

“It’s my event,” Younghoon shrugged. “If I want to kiss my secretary then I will.”

“I hope you don’t go around kissing all of your secretaries,” you retorted with a laugh.

“Just the one I’m in love with,” he replied, sending you a wink that made your heart flutter.

note: this was a long one but i hope you still enjoyed it!

[combineherbsarchive]

𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐘. ––––  religion & a crisis of faith.

for most of her childhood and teenage years, cindy was raised in a somewhat progressive but traditional household. whilst her family held their beliefs and biases they were not as close-minded as many white christians tend to be, though she was raised to trust authority, respect her elders and parents, to dress modestly, give to charity and help those in need. as a young child, she was not conscious of the more bigoted aspects of her faith, but upon hearing how members of her church talked about those who were not “like them” wished to distance herself. cindy considers one of her own core moral values to be that of love one another (john 15:17) regardless of who they are - and whilst she has had to learn and outgrow the community she was raised in, she still maintains her faith as a vital part of her. it is not something she consciously discusses or brings up, but does attend events like mass and goes to church every sunday if she is able to.

whilst living in raccoon city, she attended saint michael’s church. moving to raccoon city certainly broadened her knowledge of people, cultures, history, sexuality and gender and whilst it took her time to learn, she has always accepted people with an open heart and a willingness to improve and listen. working at j’s bar allowed her to interact with many people she would not normally be in contact with, and she will always be grateful for that and the better person it made her. she considers herself a progressive christian, promoting core values such as compassion, questioning tradition, acceptance of human diversity, social justice and charity.

this can be seen by how she treats linda - who is part of the responsible party for the outbreak even indirectly as she works for umbrella, and was working with the tyrant project. she aids linda whilst injured, and makes several comments about god as she does so. whilst references to god don’t appear outside of random comments, her upbringing can be seen in her relationships with kevin and george - both being men in professions that are highly regarded (a police officer and a doctor), as well as how she responds to the various policemen then encounter during the outbreak, showing confusion as to how they could ‘heartlessly’ leave them behind and tell the survivors to make their own way out of the city, and how she puts faith that marvin and his remaining officers will help them. though for the most part most of the policemen they encounter come across as self-sacrificing (particularly marvin), and many of them during the outbreak were trying to do their best with limited resources and sabotage from chief irons, it opened her eyes, as she had seen them as infallible carriers of justice. the same can be said for the doctors, and particularly those of umbrella, and their responsibility for the tragedy at hand.

following the events of the outbreak and the subsequent destruction of raccoon city, cindy struggled with her faith for the many months that followed. the death toll had been great, and with the raccoon trials stretching on for years to come with no justice, she struggled to believe a merciful and loving god would have subjected people to a corruption of the body and the incredible suffering for those who did not manage to escape. for months she attended regular therapy, suffering with depression due to the ptsd and shock of the event as well as her following crisis of faith - out of character for a young woman who had been known for being optimistic and welcoming.  

eventually coming to terms with the events and allowing herself to move on, especially as umbrella began to fall, she slowly regained her faith though still carries some doubts. she continues to live with an open heart and mind, being compassionate wherever she can - though faith is something that betters her life, she finds it difficult to turn to god in her time of need as during the fall of raccoon city, she felt they had been abandoned.

“oh, I could never wear this. what would they think of me at church?” — upon examining the sexy lipstick.

[instaplesis]

How to Use IGE TV on Your iPhone and Ipad

Instagram is an online social media networking site owned by Facebook, designed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and first launched on iOS in July 2021. Unlike other social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, Instagram does not have a "profile" feature which enables users to set up their own page. This makes it difficult to build a network on which you can market yourself and/or your products.

 However, it is fairly easy to get started on Instagram, as the website itself was recently purchased by Facebook for a whopping $1 billion. As an official app, users will be able to take full advantage of the functionality and features of this popular platform, as Instagram has an incredibly user-friendly interface and intuitive user interface design. Additionally, Instagram offers a set number of unique features which set it apart from its competitors. One such unique feature is the ability to upload full high-resolution images directly to one's own Instagram account.

 With the acquisition of Instagram, Facebook is making another great step into the world of mobile social media platform development. Now, instead of focusing their resources on developing apps for mobile devices alone, they are putting their money where their mouth is and developing an app specifically for the iPhone. Instagram is the perfect application to complement Facebook's existing iPhone and iPad applications. If you've been looking around at Instagram, you know that the platform is extremely popular and growing. In fact, it recently hit one billion active users and is projected to reach two billion in the future. There is no doubt that Instagram is set to be one of the biggest internet phenomenons in the next few years.

 If you haven't already signed up for an Instagram account, I encourage you to do so now. It is amazingly simple to do, and once you do you will be automatically taken back to the app store where you can choose which apps you would like to download from the huge list available. You can also choose to purchase Instagram gifts for your loved ones once you have purchased an Instagram app for your iphone or you can go with the free route and try and create a great user profile for yourself first grow your instagram brand in 2021.

 The app allows users to make and receive Instagram messages from other users right from their homes, office, or wherever they may happen to have their computers. Instagram messages can then be shared with friends, family, or anyone else who has signed up as a user, and messages can even be sent to groups such as "iors." The feature is a great way to quickly communicate and build relationships with your close associates.

 For example, one of the major complaints users have with Instagram live is that they are frequently left out in the cold not knowing what is going on around them. They can get news alerts, but they aren't always notified about important upcoming events (such as local concerts or movie releases). By using the IGE TV app you can get notified each and every time something happens via text message, email, or both so you never miss out on any important event.

[kevindayprotectionsquad]

The Foxes and their totally real horseback experience

Okay, so, I made this in the Kindle app notes on like my second or third reread of the Kings Men so bear with me, but here is how I think horseback riding went for the Foxes. This is also loosely based on my own experiences lol!  

Neil: The vacation was his idea, so he feels obligated to join when it is decided (suggested by Allison) to go horseback riding. He is actually super nervous go, both because of his injuries and because he’s never even seen a horse up close before. It helps to see the upperclassmen (and Nicky) so excited. He never even had a fish growing up, so he has no animal experience, and doesn’t understand how he is supposed to control a whole horse. On a good day, where he was feeling himself and not like a walking pin cushion, he would struggle with the concept of riding. Now he has to worry both about not hurting himself more AND control an animal that is much bigger than him. Luckily he gets a sweet, old gray horse that just follows the other horses, and doesn’t even need Neil. 

Andrew: Is. Absolutely. Terrified. Internally screaming the entire time, but will not admit it. He refuses to look like a wimp in front of everyone. When they are brushing the horses, he is holding the brush as far away from him as possible. The pinto pony swishes her tail and stomps at a fly, and it takes everything in Andrew to not jump out of his skin. Neil has to talk him into finishing brushing her. He makes sure Neil is on safe first before even worrying about getting on himself. He contemplates just walking away, but forces himself (with a pep talk from Neil) to get on the pony. He wants to be offended they gave him a tiny pony, but he is also grateful he doesn’t have to get on anything bigger. He has exactly zero trust in the pony. He spends the entire ride counting down until he can be done with the whole thing. 

Kevin: Poor Kevin also struggles with the concept of riding. It’s not like exy where he is in complete control of his racket and where he sends the ball. Horses think for themselves, so whats stopping them from killing all humans? He tries to tell himself this is just another sport, and that he can do it. He pays close attention to the instructions on how to get the horse to walk, how to steer, and how to stop. He starts to feel more confident... Until his horse starts walking. The bay mare is absolutely not going to hurt him, but she also isn’t going to let him just sit there. If he wants her to stop, he has to make her stop. He has the “I don’t want to hurt her” mentality, and she takes advantage of him. By the end of the ride, he has gotten the hang of it, and has decided he loves the mare. He secretly named her Athena. He thought it was fitting. 

Aaron: Also. Absolutely. Terrified. Just like Andrew. Does not trust his pinto pony. He thinks he’s too good for the whole thing, but he will be damned if he is going to be shown up by Neil and Andrew. He stays as far from the pony as possible. When he finally gets on, he realizes sitting there is not that bad, but as soon as the pony starts walking he goes into Panic Mode. It doesn’t help that the pony keeps getting left behind and speeding up to catch back up with the the others. Aaron is only happy when he is safely on the ground on his own two feet. 

Nicky: Is so excited. His favorite part is grooming his horse. He loves how soft the horses are. Especially their noses. He sneaks pictures of the twins brushing (being terrified) their ponies. He loves that the twins got matching ponies. When he is on, he really wants to gallop, but thinks trotting is too fast. Luckily his black gelding is the patient sort, and knows when Nicky is asking for more than he can handle, and takes good care of him. Nicky has an absolute blast. 

Matt and Dan: They feed off each others energy and have similar reactions to the horses. They are in awe and want to learn as much as they can about the horses. Dan asks a million questions and Matt is right next to her listening carefully. Matt doesn’t want help putting his saddle on and accidentally puts it on backwards. Luckily, the sorrel gelding forgives Matt when he gives him a cookie. Dan loves how bold her black mare is, but is a little nervous to get on. She gets over it quickly when she see Matt get on. He is immediately having fun, and Dan doesn’t want to miss out. Matt decides he wants a horse ranch when he retires. Dan lets him dream. 

Renee: This isn’t Renee’s first time around horses. She participated in a horse therapy program for at risk youth after escaping the gang, and actually really enjoyed it. It was similar to the trail ride operation.The gray mare she is assigned to loves her, and Renee loves her right back. No one is shocked. Everyone loves Renee, why wouldn’t animals love her as well. She happily chills in the back of the group, letting the mare pick her own pace. 

Allison: This is also not Allison’s first time around horses. Horseback riding is a rich person’s game. The social aspect, the fashion, the blatant flaunting of money. When she was younger, before exy, Allison rode competitively. She was an eventer, much to her parents dismay. They wanted her to be a hunter/jumper. Thats what all the other girls in the family’s circle of frends were doing. But Allison loved the thrill of going full speed on a cross country course, the adrenaline rush she got in a stadium jumping jump off, and loved all eyes being on her in the dressage ring. The hunter ring didn’t offer her any of that, and she gave it all up for exy. She doesn’t regret it. A trail ride with her teammates isn’t the same, but she gets quite the kick out of watching them all trying to figure the horses out. The trail guide gives her the difficult chestnut mare and Allison has to chuckle to herself. She always loved the sassy ones. Up until the trail ride, Allison had never shared her horse person side with her teammates, but she couldn’t help but show off a little. Seeing all their faces when she sends her borrowed horse over a fallen tree was priceless. 

[mrscullensrutherford]

Quarantine Q&A

Thank you for tagging me @rpgwarrior4824 and @obvidalous!!

Tagging: @fogsblue, @oops-gingermoment @mythicaitt, @pikapeppa, @dafan7711 , @kittleskittle , @myrddinderwydd, @blueboxness, @schoute, @natsora, @n0rmandysr1, @vorchagirl with no obligations. Only if you want to do this.

Are you staying home from work or school?

I am a stay-at-home mom and a pro BETA reader, so I am almost always home anyway. The quarantine has effected me by having my space and time filled with my family instead of generally being by myself. I can’t complain about it though. It has been nice to have them here but it does make some aspects of my job slightly difficult. Reading or writing with an eight-year-old trying to talk over anything you do does get taxing. Luckily, my husband is good about distracting him so I can get a little work done each day.

If you’re staying home, who’s with you?

My husband, son and two dogs.

Are you a homebody?

Absolutely. I am quite introverted. I do not like large crowds and I prefer sitting at home and reading to going out any day of the week. I am missing going to the bookstore and other human interaction outside of my immediate family but it isn’t something likely to really bother me. 

An event that you were looking forward to that got canceled.

There are a couple of things. I have half my head shaved and it is something that requires regular maintenance in order to look good and I missed my last appointment due to the closures and now it will be another month or so before I can get it redone. (Small worries but we may all come out of this looking a little silly.) But my son was also about to start daycare. He has a lot of issues from his previous life (he’s adopted) and one is he doesn’t like socializing. So, we were taking small steps in reintegrating him back into school (currently homeschooled)  and into social settings. This has been put on hold in the face of the virus. 

What movies have you watched recently? What shows are you watching?

The last movie was one I found ridiculous in the best way. Mr. Right with Anna Kendrick. It is about two rather mentally ill people finding love. And when I say mentally ill, both are a bit off their rockers but one is a former CIA agent turned hitman and the other is just a bit looney but they find their soul mates in each other. I have also started a rewatch of TVD. I am a sucker for Vampires and it is nostalgic for me.

What music are you listening to?

Mostly my writing playlists. I am currently working on a few Kinktober fics that I never got around to and my Shega WIP, so the music I curated for those stories are my background noise. 

What are you reading?

I have been trying to read more fic lately and have been going through a few one-shots. Currently working on @natsora‘s Reyder one-shots and @kittleskittle‘s HZD long fic. As far as actual books, A Plague of Giants - Kevin Hearne. I was supposed to do a BETA and review for it but I have about eight books that got lost in the hubbub of the recent year. So far, it is really good and reads like the Canterbury Tales. 

What are you doing for self-care?

I am making an effort to carve out alone time and time for writing/reading. Not only are they my job, but they are also my ways of relaxing. I am also trying my best to keep up with my skincare routine, as it helps me to feel like I am not a gross hermit human. Some days I even put on makeup to remind myself that I can be pretty.

[madefate-a]

a general timeline of significant events in lex foster’s life, fostered verse. years assumed as if black friday takes place in 2018, offset a few months from the events of the guy who didn’t like musicals that did not transpire. i love taking a shitty town & making it better ... tw for mentions of child abuse, negligence, and alcoholism. ( canon timeline. ) 

fostered. 

nov. 18th, 2000. lex foster is born to evelyn foster; her biological father is not present; lex never learns his identity.

sept. 2005. lex is enrolled in hatchetfield elementary school, beginning kindergarten.

march 2007. second grade: lex gets into a brief argument with her classmate ethan green that turns physical on her end – punching him in the face when he informs her quite seriously that girls can’t fight. he attempts to stand up for her but her mother is called regardless. she sports bruises for the next week, but CPS is not called at this time and no intervention occurs.

spring 2009. hannah foster is born; lex holds hannah through the first few nights she’s home when hannah cries – this becomes the status quo for their relationship & evelyn’s lack of relationship.

summer 2009. evelyn foster drops hannah; hannah appears unhurt but evelyn doesn’t take her to a doctor; lex refuses to let anyone hold hannah after this; not very much changes in the foster household after that decision, but hannah is never dropped again. 

august 2009. after a summer that went relatively quietly, social services shows up at the fosters’ door. the day they arrive is the last day that lex or hannah see their mother; within the span of two days, lex is introduced to gen. john mcnamara as the person who is now, ostensibly, their guardian for the foreseeable future. 

august 2009, continued. the entire month is a period of adjustment; lex is constantly on guard around their guardian -- whom she calls john -- and immediately moves hannah’s baby furniture into her own room ( with john’s help once he realized what she was doing ). she also refuses to let john hold hannah ( until he talks to her about it and allows lex to show him the way she holds hannah ). 

january 2010. one of lex’s usual nightmares gets too difficult to handle and she wakes up yelling, startling hannah and rousing john; she is terrified that she’s finally angered john, but he talks her through her panic and comforts her; she hangs onto him and asks him to stay until she falls asleep. 

spring 2011. over the last few years, the foster-mcnamara household settles into a comfortable routine. hannah receives early intervention and support for her specific learning styles; lex uses more ASL than invented gesture to supplement hannah’s vocabulary; hannah’s first word is an approximation of lex’s name -- dada is her second. 

summer 2013. lex gets a job walking the dogs in the neighborhood -- the idea comes to her after hannah is excited to see neighbors with dogs around and lex realizes she can both make her sister happy and make some money, too. 

fall 2013. while cutting class, lex accidentally falls out of a first story window when she attempts to run before getting caught, breaking her arm; she is patched up by becky barnes at hatchetfield general hospital; not long after, john has becky stay at their home for a week; lex isn’t sure what’s happening but she does promise her father to stop cutting class, and offers becky her extra bedding. 

fall-winter 2013. lex starts referring to john as her father to other people, but still calls him john to his face. 

march 2014. after an altercation between other students in the cafeteria, lex finds herself in trouble for a fight she didn’t cause; john is called and lex is terrified that she has royally fucked up a decent home environment; instead, john defends her in front of the administration and takes both her and hannah our for ice cream that evening. 

april 2014. lex gets into a fight with kevin peterson; no one is hurt, but lex realizes that she’s not a fan of her own anger; she asks john to help her practice ways to control her anger, hopefully resulting in fewer verbal confrontations and far fewer fistfights. 

september 2014, freshman year. lex enrolls at hatchetfield high ( go nighthawks ! ); she excels more at math, but struggles with reading and her self confidence takes a hit; despite this, her grades remain average. 

december 2014. at a school dance, lex experiences her first crush with grace chastity. still confused and clumsy with her feelings, she lets the chance to let it become something more go, but remains friendly with grace; she similarly keeps up with her friendship with alice, the daughter of john’s PTA buddy. 

june 2015. lex starts smoking pot occasionally; she sells, too, but only to supplement her income, get hannah some extra, fun things, and make sure she has an emergency fund in case things go wrong; she doesn’t drink.

july 2015. the family goes on their first beach vacation; hannah’s a fan and lex -- who loves the beach -- is delighted; she tries to play it cool, but fails spectacularly at it. 

september 2016, sophomore year. lex’s grades start to rise for the first time since starting high school when she is able to take shop class; she completes her first project – a jewelry box that she gives to hannah. 

october 2016. after overhearing some classmates snidely gossiping about john, lex confronts them in an altercation that turns physical; she refuses to tell anyone why it escalated and why she wound up having to defend herself. 

november 2016. lex turns sixteen just before the holidays and gets a job at toy zone at the lakeside mall; her first official shift is on black friday weekend 2016.

january 2017. after a family emergency over the holidays pulls mr. houston out of school indefinitely, shop class is cancelled; john, friends with jane for some time, spends time extending a hand to help mr. houston in the aftermath; lex struggles with her grades and her self-confidence without her favorite class, but works on seeing past her own problems in the wake of the houstons’ tragedy. 

february 2017. lex catches ethan green attempting to steal collector’s item card sets at the lakeside toy zone. they share a moment, and the next day ethan begins to act as if they have known each other for years. 

april 2017. lex and ethan share their first kiss under the bleachers of hatchetfield high’s field, where they are ducking out of sight of the rest of their PE class. 

may 2017. lex starts alternating between calling john john and old man / pops. 

june 2017. lex has a meeting with the dean of students about her grades, which aren’t bad enough to put her on probation but worrying since they’d taken a dip in the fall; self conscious and self-defeating, lex cries for the first time in front of ethan who encourages her; after picking up hannah from school at the end of the semester, ethan cheers hannah up for the first time after hannah is bullied, and lex realizes that she is in love with ethan. 

august 2017. ethan is invited to the annual foster-mcnamara beach vacation; he surprises lex with a wonderfully cheesy date night on the trip; lex buys hannah a charm bracelet with the promise that they will start buying charms for every cool place they visit, and john buys her her first charm: a little sun. 

november 2017. that holiday season at toy zone, lex gets very good at handling pepper spray. 

spring 2018. lex gets into her first fight in a while, unable to control herself when some of the usual snide remarks she gets target hannah instead; ethan has her back and joins in; john patches them up when they get home, and instead of disappointment, he offers to teach them the basics of hand to hand self defense; they continue to practice through the summer. 

august 2018. on the annual beach trip, lex and ethan talk about their future; lex is conflicted -- she doesn’t think she’s college material, and doesn’t know if she wants to be; she floats the idea of getting into acting and ethan tells her that he wants to be with her, no matter where they go or what they do; lex posits that it might be nice to see the rest of the world -- settle in california for a while, take hannah there when she’s old enough so that they can live in sunshine. 

early november 2018. john starts coming home from work more and more exhausted; he asks lex if she’ll take off from work on the holiday weekend, but she tells him that’s fireable on their biggest day of the year. 

black friday, 2018. cue the apocalypse. 

[kariachi]

Some more Levinstar. Fight me.

~~

Mike’s life was going fairly well, if he did say so himself. He was wrenching a successful acting career essentially out of the aether with naught but skill, good looks, and his own riches. One of his best friends was a member of the Elite Four. The other was a big name in tech circles around the globe. Young mutants everywhere looked at him as an idol. His pokemon were healthy and vibrant enough to feature in magazines across the region. Yes, he and Elena’s elementary school ‘if neither of us are married by thirty’ agreement was looking more and more likely to be followed through on, but really in the end life was good. Very good.

Which is why he was kicking himself about his inability to just cross a fucking room and-

“Mike, if you don’t go talk to him I will.”

“Fuck off, I saw him first.”

Galas were essentially Mike’s lifeblood. He could schmooze and socialize with the best of them, a master of social maneuvering before he’d even started his pokemon journey. But tonight he’d found himself hopelessly distracted, enough so that Elena had been forced to rescue him before he made of fool of himself in front of somebody important. So there they were, stood at the edge of the room with glasses of champagne Mike’s service Delcatty was very cross at him about. But what could you do, when nobody ever planned for non-drinkers at these things and you were stuck staring at a very handsome man from the other side of the crowd.

“I can’t believe you’re too nervous to go talk to somebody. You flirt like attention is air!”

“I am not nervous, I just… am waiting for the right moment.”

Kevin fucking Levin was at this event. Mike had three of his books at home. Two of his sculptures. He was, at that moment, wearing a Xerneas brooch on his scarf that had been designed and handmade by the very bastard. What did you say in that circumstance? He couldn’t pretend to be unfamiliar with the man’s work, he was wearing it and the people who came to events like this knew everything about what they wore, but he didn’t want to risk coming across as some obsessed fan, no matter what the evidence might say. Normally if he met someone he was a fan of at these events it was other people in film and media, and he could use work as an icebreaker. If they were trainers he could turn to Elena for an introduction, which made things easier. It was only a good impression he wanted to make, there wasn’t really any pressure, but here, with Kevin…

He’d seen the man and his insides had done things that hadn’t since he was a teenager.

Across the room, the artist broke away from the little group he’d been talking with a smile, beelining for an empty spot near a far wall.

“Now���s your chance, he’s alone and unprotected!” As subtly as she could- they were at a formal event- Elena began shoving Mike in his direction.

“Hey!”

“I don’t want to have to marry your flat ass, move!”

Sending a glare over his shoulder at her, Mike did as instructed, weaving around the crowd toward what was, if he was quite honest, the most handsome man he hadn’t met yet. There was only a brief pause in his forward momentum, a stop by a decorative mirror to fix his hair and clothes, check his makeup. Perfection was required for these events, yes, but something like this called for an entirely new level of it. He didn’t just want to make a good impression, he wanted to dazzle. To that effect he also took the time to check Elissa for any out of place fur or loose threads in her vest.

Perfection.

Kevin was stood with his back to the crowd, fingers buried in his service Espeon’s fur as he inspected one of the sculptures on display. It wasn’t fair, no man should’ve had arms like that. Or a jawline like that. Or cheekbones like that. If Mike hadn’t been so into it he’d have had to kill him for daring to look so good. As it was it was surprisingly difficult not to reach right out and touch him. With an easing breath Mike slipped casually into place behind him, pulling out his most charming smile.

“What do you think, was it worth what they paid for it?” There was no sign of surprise when Kevin turned- people with Espeon were rarely surprised by anything- and holy shit his eyes were even browner in person. How was that allowed? At least there was a bit of a victory to be gained as Mike’s heart lodged itself in his throat, the other man going pink as soon as he saw him.

“I don’t think so,” he said, “but then abstract has never been my style.” He glanced back at Mike, going a shade darker, and the blond silently cheered what he was going to call a success. “Nice brooch.” Fuck.

“Thank you,” he said as if he wasn’t worried about coming off too big a fan, “was made by a very talented artist.” Kevin shrugged.

“Couldn’t get quite the colors I wanted,” he said.

“It’s perfect,” Mike replied almost before the other’s sentence was done. Kevin took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders as the color began fading from his face, then turned to face him completely with a smile that could’ve melted butter.

“So, Mike Morningstar.” He knew his name. This wasn’t surprising- he was a famous actor for fucks’ sake- but it still set his heart jumping.

“Kevin Levin.” And the man went pink again, at least this time he stayed looking at him.

“You know,” he said, “I’ve been watching your movies since I was yea big.” He put his hand as a spot just below his waist. Mike chuckled.

“Give I’ve been making them since I was that size, it’s quite a compliment.” Kevin shrugged again, still with that damn smile.

“You’re good, and most of your films are up my alley. Especially since you stopped being the bad guy.” That had been part of what had him using his own riches- if he was the one funding the movies then nobody could try to shoehorn him in as a villain, or brush off his auditions with excuses that barely hid the actual ‘there’s no place for chompers like yours in this’ reasons. Besides, it meant he could get more mutants involved, as much out of spite as anything.

“I try.” He considered and discarded several directions to take this conversation. “I don’t think I’ve seen you at one of these events before?” He knew he hadn’t, he’d have noticed, but if he said that it might come off creepy.

“Everyone kept telling me to come to one of these and network,” Kevin groaned, throwing an exaggeratedly put-upon look Mike’s way. “It’s not really my thing. I like my workday chill and my parties loud, ya know?” Mike didn’t know. He could make any social gathering work, but this was his native habitat, and work for him was hustle and bustle and at least one case per film of someone threatening to quit over something inane. (The last one had involved one of his costars sneezing on a camera and the man behind it, already stressed by a long day, late dinner, and impending wedding, throwing up his arms and swearing he was abandoning the industry entirely. He’d come back, but Mike had still made sure he had the week until the wedding off alongside the time he was already taking for his honeymoon.)

He didn’t necessarily understand it, but he knew the area, as well as an opening when he saw one.

“Well,” he said, inching just a bit closer and internally preening when Kevin looked him over instead of moving away, “if you’d rather, I know a few bars around here where we wouldn’t get too many strange looks for showing up in formalwear.” The smile that crept onto Kevin’s face was sharper this time, more purposeful. This time he was the one in motion, scooting just close enough for his hand to brush against Mike’s.

“Do you now,” he replied. “Ya know I haven’t really gotten to explore around here before, I would love to get the tour.”

Yessss.

“Well then-” Mike put out his arm, actively preening when Kevin took it with an appreciative look and a flash of teeth. “-let’s get you someplace less stuffy, hm?” It wasn’t too early to go, nobody would even miss them. Well, the paparazzi might, but he got gossiped about constantly anyway, and Kevin was very attractive with those coffee dark eyes, so… Fuck it.

“Lead the way, Mr. Morningstar.”

It didn’t take them long to reach the exit, especially as they skirted the crowd, evading the people already too drunk to respect their pokemon were working and saying goodbye to enough people that there wouldn’t be excess talk. Given the way Kevin bristled when people approached his Espeon, Mike was glad he was getting him out then, before he could make a scene and cause himself trouble. He lead him quickly past those sorts, throwing a wink at a grinning Elena before he slipped them out the back doors.

If he played his cards right, his life was about to get a whole notch better.

[ztafraternity]

Awards, Leadership, Education and Sisterhood at the NPC Annual Educational Conference

By Hailey Rogers, Director of Digital Media (Delta Psi Chapter alumna)

The National Panhellenic Conference hosts its Annual Educational Conference to “bring together member organization volunteers and staff, interfraternal partners and other guests for educational programming regarding topics of interest to NPC members and the greater fraternity/sorority community.

We have lots to be proud of following this year’s NPC Annual Educational Conference. Read on to learn more!

Pictured: (left to right) Hannah Drum Norman; Malaea Nelms Seleski; Alicia Patten Williams; Dr. Darcy L. Russell, Ph.D.; Meghan Vicinus Parker; Laura Ladewig Landers; and Alison Templeman

NPC board of directors

Malaea Nelms Seleski (Eta Rho Chapter, University of North Alabama) is one of the few women who help guide NPC as a member of its board of directors. The board helps establish the strategic path for NPC as it addresses the many challenges facing the fraternity/sorority community.

Along with her various other duties, Malaea led a group discussion for all Panhellenic organization inter/national presidents and executive directors/CEOs.

“Everyone involved with NPC respects Malaea because she is fair,” said ZTA’s current NPC Delegate Laura Ladewig Landers. “She always does what’s best for NPC. People trust her. They enjoy working with her because she is brilliant.”

Pictured: Laura poses for a picture with Malaea during the Conference.

Remembering a special sister

Betty Gilmore Woods (Beta Epsilon Chapter, University of California, Los Angeles) passed away earlier this year, but her impact on the Panhellenic community will continue for an untold number of years.

During Thursday night's memorial service, Mrs. Woods was recognized for her creation of what would become NPC’s Release Figure Methodology for Structured Recruitment. Using a $10 hand-held calculator, she developed the method in 1967 while assisting the four NPC groups at California State University, Fullerton. Now, RFM is the standard for campus Panhellenic associations across the country, equalizing the Recruitment process and bringing as many women as possible into sorority membership.

Read more about Betty’s life and contributions here.

Award-winning Zetas

Several awards were given out at the conference, with three of them being presented to Zetas. Each of the following women makes an impact in the lives of Panhellenic women and the fraternity/sorority experience as a whole.

Pictured: From left to right, Amy Davenport, Heather Matthews Kirk and  Darcy L. Russell, Ph.D.

Darcy L. Russell, Ph.D. (Sigma Chapter, Baker University)

2019 Women in Higher Education Achievement (WHEA) Award

The award recognizes an outstanding woman who has made or is making a significant difference in higher education through her scholarship and leadership.

ZTA National President Alicia Patten Williams said Darcy "loves learning and teaching and has made it her lifelong quest to make difficult subjects understandable."

Read more about Darcy and the WHEA here.

Heather Matthews Kirk (Delta Kappa Chapter, LSU)

NPC Impact Award

Heather is the first-ever recipient of the Impact Award. She was recognized for her work to advance the sorority movement, specifically for her leadership on the Stand Up to Harvard campaign during her time as chief communication officer at the North American Interfraternity Conference.

NPC chairman Carole Jones said, “We are greatly indebted to the work Heather put into the Stand Up to Harvard campaign and her leadership ensuring we were delivering the right message on the right channel at the right time. Her zeal for the project was shared by many.”

Amy Davenport (Beta Delta Chapter, Miami University)

2019 Interfraternal Partner Award

Amy is one of three joint recipients from Arnold & Porter, the law firm where she is a policy advisor. Together with her co-workers Kevin O’Neill and Samantha Martin, she has helped monitor important issues at the federal level and directly impacted legislation to benefit students and NPC organization members.

“I am personally grateful for the guidance and support Kevin, Amy and Sam have provided me as NPC chairman as we work to protect the single-sex experience and freedom of association rights of our members,” said Carole Jones. “All of us at NPC are very thankful for their engagement and their commitment to preserving the sorority experience.”

Read more about Heather, Amy and their awards here.

An evening of sisterhood

After the conclusion of Friday’s programming, Memphis Alumnae Chapter members and Zetas who attended the conference gathered at The Peabody for a reception to honor Malaea and our award-winning sisters.

Pictured: Memphis Zetas pose with the Conference attendees during the reception.

ZTA receives Laurel Wreath Award

For years, ZTA has partnered with Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Nu and Pi Kappa Phi to create educational resources related to harm reduction and safety. This year, the joint educational poster series is being recognized for its wide range of topics and distribution.

ZTA is honored to be among the organizations chosen for the North American Interfraternity Council’s Laurel Wreath Award. The Laurel Wreath Award is presented to individuals or groups in recognition of their unique programs, community outreach or influence within the fraternal world.

Read more about our partnership and the Laurel Wreath Award here.

Zetas take the mic

Columbus Alumnae Panhellenic Association President Laura Segna was given the opportunity to speak during a breakout session at this year's event. Her session, called "Sisterhood in Action: Engagement Across Badges," reviewed case studies where the use of social psychology led to successfully growing sisterhood as well as the health and happiness of the sisters.

“Laura's session on alumnae development was insightful and informative,” ZTA National President Alicia Patten Williams said. “She took the audience down the path of understanding why alumnae are engaged and what attracts them to our organizations. Laura is very passionate about alumnae growth and development, as evidenced by the successful membership increases in both her ZTA alumnae chapter and with the Columbus Alumnae Panhellenic Association.”

Pictured: Laura Segna and National President Alicia Patten Williams after Laura's presentation.

[noisykate]

Azores to Falmouth - or nearly

The Azores are lovely, and deserve much more than the few days we gave them.  Another time, perhaps.

Horta is the main port of arrival, the marina full of boats which have had big adventures. The social atmosphere is very relaxed; everybody here has ‘been there, done it’ to a significant degree, and the normal tensions arising from watching new arrivals – do they know what they’re doing, can they handle their boat – simply don’t apply.  It is difficult to explain – the nearest I can get is that when you pull in to a service station on the M1, there are no learner drivers. It’s a bit like that. A bit.

It is truly wonderful to get back to sensibly priced groceries, decent bread and cheese, and restaurants which don’t hustle you out at 9pm and expect huge tips regardless of the food, because the staff don’t get paid.

The Azores are volcanic: the centre of this island (Faial) is a huge caldera, which we drove up to in our little hire car, with John and Sue, and Carl. We circumnavigated the island, stopping to walk around the area of the 1950’s eruption, which inundated the old lighthouse and a small whaling village on the western end. Stopping for a great lunch of mussels, which Carl thought he didn’t like – disguised with prodigious amounts of garlic, they were a huge hit. Surprisingly green and rural, the island is charming, cattle everywhere.  The architecture is Portuguese in style, but mitigated with a more subtle use of the highly patterned tiles we saw in the mainland.

We left Horta on Monday – 17th- after waiting for a predicted blow to pass through. It was a bit of a non-event in Horta, but we weren’t the only ones to play it cautious. Stopping at the fuel dock was a bit of a game, with three boats already in place, and a wind sufficient to pop fenders on the inside boat, a crippled French boat with a broken stay – and, it has to be said, rubbish fenders. Still, the weight of three other boats pressing him into the dock under the influence of 20 knots was a bit much. The marina seemed blithely unconcerned; this is clearly quite normal.

We are now 400 miles out, about 1/3 of the way to Falmouth. The weather has been all over the place, with some flat calm, some fog, and now some windy, rolly conditions, with winds gusting up to 30 knots, and seas up to 4m. The boat is behaving very well, the hydrovane (mechanical wind-driven steering system) coping with most of what gets thrown at it, although you have to be ready to take over for the squalls. Thankfully, these mostly lie in wait for Carl’s watch, to the extent that he is the only one who preps for his watch by putting full oilies on.

Sleep deprivation has taken its toll on tempers - mine particularly. Doing 4 hour shifts nominally gives each person two eight-hour periods off-watch, which should be plenty, but when the boat is rolling hard, it is difficult to get to sleep and then stay asleep long enough to clear the deficit. Fitting in communal eating times also cuts into it.

The food has generally worked out ok, if I say so myself. Homemade bread and cakes (all right, the cake was from just-add-an-egg packets) most days, and cooked-from-scratch dinners most days. The Omnia (stovetop oven) has been brilliant, as has the pressure cooker. The boat oven has hardly been used.

Overall, though, I am done with long passage-making. The magical milky-way star-lit nights with phosphoresce sparkling in the wake as we bob along in a gentle breeze are an absolute delight, but sleep deprivation, uncertainties over the weather, and the physical challenge of cooking and doing the normal stuff of life while being thrown about are the norm – glad I’ve done it, but don’t need to do it again.

Really, really looking forward to getting to Falmouth; family and friends, a long list of jobs, and the prospect of some paid work for both of us; me in acoustics, while Mike will be looking for something boat-related. Berthing master at a handy south-coast marina, with a free berth thrown in, would suit. Not holding our breath, but no chance if you don’t ask!

26 June 2019

We’ve turned towards A Coruna, in the face of persistent north-easterly winds, and the threat of a full gale in the Falmouth area a few days ahead. Now making slow but steady progress, hard on the wind. Winds 20-25 knots, occasionally up to 30, from just north of east.

We were getting advice to divert from Falmouth to either (a) a point south of Ireland, then east, or (b) head direct to Camaret (Brittany, near Brest). In the event, neither option was really tenable – (a) put us in the path of a still unknown quantity, which at times threatened to be quite nasty, and (b) simply did not work – we could not make a course which put us anywhere close. All thoroughly fed up, some more than others; Coruna was the nearest available and attainable land. Carl can fly to London from there, and we will regroup and sort ourselves out before continuing home. So very, very ready to be not on the boat for a while.

27 June 2019

Motoring the last few miles into Coruna. Boring. And a slightly anticlimactic end to our Atlantic odyssey. We expect to arrive in the very early morning, perhaps 4am, and will probably anchor until daylight.

28 June 2019

So we got here, eventually.  Marina Coruna, north-west Spain. Tintin got in first, and were anchored just outside the marina when we arrived at about 6am local time. No dramas, apart from the night of no sleep for Mike, as the 50-mile (=10-hour) band around this corner of Spain is very busy with large shipping, and the alarm kept tripping every few minutes, all night. No danger, plenty of warning, but little chance of proper sleep. I got off best, lying down at 11pm, getting up for a few short-lived non-events, then up properly at about 5am to help get in to the marina.

We crawled into the first appropriate berth, had breakfast, and bodged around, all very grumpy and sleep-deprived, until it was time to check in, which -as usual- took ages.

Carl and I set about sorting the inside of the boat; laundry, damp cushions and mattresses, grime everywhere.  Mike got back eventually, and bodged about some more, in a foul mood, before conceding that the problem was lack of sleep. Carl went off on his own to explore, his one-and-only chance to check out this part of Spain, and, with luck, pick up some of the special fids (rope-splicing tools) he had been coveting since Mike showed him ours.

Partly revived by about 3-hours on the saloon sofa, Mike and I had a beer and a light lunch in the marina bar, while the first of several loads of washing did its thing. We bumped into Carl, on his way back to the boat for his passport so he could check in to his flight – he looks pretty dreadful – almost as if he’d had no sleep.

We were delighted to find Barbara and Simon (Cartagena friends) in situ in the marina, and I was able to have a coffee and a catch-up of sorts, promising to make a better go of it sometime in the UK – their boat is destined for a mooring off West Mersea! They fly home tomorrow, having decided that the current (wrong for sailing north) weather is set to last for at least a week. We shall see.

And phoning home, of course – got hold of everybody to some degree or another, only to find that Rachel and David had planned a big surprise arrival party in Falmouth, which we have utterly harpooned by not going there at the appointed hour. So very disappointing, but deeply touched that they wanted to make the effort.

So – we’ve been stuck in the Bahamas, stuck in Puerto Rico, St Thomas, the Azores, and now Spain. So far, Spain is by far and away the most amenable.

1 July 2019

Weather here is cloudy, and it has been quite cold today, with blustery winds from the north. Still no sign of any change in the conditions which would allow us to head out.

Have wasted most of the day watching films on TV, disheartened after finding all my stored-away warm clothes damp and covered in mildew. Some may be revived by a wash, but some are clearly trashed. Nothing valuable, just really, really annoying.

We had a lovely evening with Jacquie and Kevin off Tintin last night; good food, good company, lively conversation.

Intensely frustrated to be here, and not back in the UK – things to do, people to see… spending time each day on weather sites, but still failing to find anything useful.

[madelainesvixens]

Can you do 40 and 41 for joavin please.

To make up for the tragic and heartbreaking episode that was 3x06, here’s some Joavin prompt, xx 

Please continue to sent requests from this list of prompt!

40.‘‘You did what you had to do.’’

41. ‘‘I love you.’‘

.

Kevin had drunk a lot of Cristal during Veronica’s inner-circle birthday sleepover. Like…a lot.

Beside a beer or two during parties or a cocktail at the Pembrooke on Fridays, Kevin wasn’t a big drinker. Although he loved the buzz the alcohol gave him, he didn’t need to drink to have fun. He’d much rather snap videos of his drunk friends making fools of themselves on the dancefloor or singing badly - and very off-beat. Kevin had several of Betty and Veronica from Cheryl’s summer party. What an eventful night!

He was often - always - the designated driver, therefore, he had to stay sober and make sure everyone gets home safe.

Tonight was different. Tonight was a sleepover which meant Kevin won’t have to take his truck until the next day. In other words, the alcohol could flow. It flowed so much he lost count after Veronica poured him a third re-filled.

“Has Archie planned anything for your birthday?” Kevin asked, sipping his umpteenth glass of champagne. They had gone through two bottle of Cristal and Veronica was about to pop the third. Crazy, considering its high price but, Hiram couldn’t say no to his adored daughter. After all, it was her seventeenth birthday.

“I like to think he did although he hasn’t said a word.” Veronica turned to Betty. “Did he tell you anything?”

“My lips are sealed,” Betty replied, miming a zipped lip.

Veronica squealed. “Oh my god! He did! He planned something. Can you give me a hint?”

“I promised Arch I wouldn’t tell you anything. Sorry, V.”

The birthday girl huffed, a pout on her berry colored lips. “And you call yourself my best friend…”

Knowing Hiram had rented a whole venue to celebrate her Sweet Sixteen, Archie had to step up his game. Unlike with Betty, burgers at Pop’s weren’t an option. He had to go big for Veronica Lodge.

Betty rolled her eyes, grabbing the bottle and pouring the last drop of Cristal in her glass. “I had a dirty dream about Jughead last night. I was wearing a dark lingerie and…a wig. You know, the black one. I’ll spare you the details but, a whip was included.”

Kevin and Veronica sat in shock and turned to their blonde friend.

“Betty Cooper!” Veronica gasped. She didn’t know her best friend was into…that. They all perceived her as the innocent one due to her pastel colored closet but, little did they know, she was the less innocent soul of the group. And Jughead didn’t have to corrupt her.

Betty shrugged her shoulders and grinned. “It’s just a dream. We haven’t done anything of that sort.” She took a sip of her drink. “Yet,” she added, hiding behind her glass.

A wave of warmth washed trough Kevin’s body and he suddenly felt dizzy. The champagne was starting to get to his head and he knew he had to lay down. So, he did.

Laying on his back on the white carpet, he stared at Veronica’s ceiling, noticing how the lilac paint was perfect. Even the wallpaper was glued to perfection. Guess that’s what you get when you pay professionals to do your home decor.

The girls continued chatting about their boyfriends while Kevin zoned out.

“Talking about hot males, how are thing between you and Joaquin? Have you rekindled?” Veronica said, pulling Kevin out of his bubble.

“Eh, not really. I texted him but, he didn’t text back.”

“Try again, maybe he didn’t get your message? The signal is horrible on Southside,” Betty encouraged.

Kevin scoffed. “It’s unnecessary. He has already replaced me…”

The sadness in Kevin’s voice tugged at the girls’s hearts. They genuinely thought Joaquin was it for Kevin but, a silly misunderstanding made everything crumble and now the brunet was brokenhearted.

Betty pursed her lips in a thin line, feeling helpless while Veronica concocted a cocktail to cheer him up. While alcohol was only a temporary fix, it would make Kevin forget about his sorrows for a few hours.

“Here. Drink this.”

Kevin sat up, eyeing the drink suspiciously. “Is this vodka?” Veronica grinned, pushing the glass in the brunet’s direction but he shook his head. “I’ll pass. Last time I mixed champagne and vodka I threw up my insides on the carpet and died for two days.”

Two cocktail of happiness later, Kevin had completely forgotten about Joaquin and their breakup and was dancing with the girls to some Beyoncé. Veronica’s bedroom wasn’t dancefloor appropriate, it was safer than going clubbing illegally downtown. And, they had full control of the playlists. Dancing evolved to karaoke and Hiram’s ears were probably bleeding in his study. Sorry, Daddy.

“-must confess I still believe,”

“Still believe,” Betty and Kevin echoed.

“When I’m not with you I lose my mind. Give me a siiiiign. Hit me baby one more time. I must confess, that my loneliness is killing me noooow. Don’t you know I still believe. That you will be here. And give me a siiiiign. Hit me baby one more time.” Veronica posed, hitting the last note.

After karaoke, everyone clocked out.  

Well, everyone except Kevin.

Unlike the Betty and Veronica, the alcohol hadn’t put him to sleep yet. On the contrary, he was wide awake, browsing on social media via his phone.

The effects of alcohol were starting to reverse and his thoughts returned to his ex-boyfriend when he fell on a cute picture of Troye Sivan and Jacob Bixenman on Instagram. He started thinking about the night it ended. How his nosey ass got him to assume Joaquin had cheated on him with a certain Bianca. Kevin had called him all kinds of nasty names and ended their relationship without letting Joaquin explain. Well, Joaquin did explain himself but Kevin didn’t listen. He left the trailer with one last 'fuck you’ and slammed the door.

Then, he thought about all the good memories they had together. Those late night watching old classics on Kevin’s laptop in the darkness of the trailer. Secret makeout sessions at the back of the Bijou during Kevin’s breaks. All their casual dates at Pop’s.

That’s when it hit him how much he missed Joaquin. He missed his arms around him, tanned skin tattered with black ink. He missed his woody scent. He missed his soothing, calming voice. He missed his kisses, soft lips over his. He missed everything about the raven haired Serpent and it was his fault they’re not together anymore.

Without realizing what he was doing, he picked up his phone, scrolled down his contact list and pressed dial. It rang two times before someone answered.

“Preppy? It’s…one in the morning. What is it?” a sleepy Joaquin answered.

Kevin furrowed his eyebrows. “Is it really? I…I needed to hear your voice.”

“Oh. Eh, okay?” Joaquin furrowed his eyebrows, a bit perplex.

There was a long pause until Kevin’s voice filled the phone again. “I miss you, Joaquin. I miss you and I love you and I’m sorry for going through your phone. I’m such a nosey bitch. I know you’re not a liar, I should’ve believed you when you said you didn’t know this girl and that she was Sweet Pea’s bootycall and not yours and-”

Joaquin cut off Kevin’s ramble. “Wow, wow. Slow down,” he coaxed, having trouble catching half the words. He just woke up, his brain was still slow.  

“I don’t want us to be apart anymore. It’s so lonely without you, I…” Emotions got the best of him and Kevin felt his eyes prickle with tears. He tried blinking them away but failed.“Fuck.”

“Kevin. You okay?” Joaquin asked worriedly. He sounded out of character and the Serpent had a feeling some alcohol was involved. “Do you need me to come to you?”

He wanted to scream 'yes’ but he wasn’t at home; he couldn’t invite him over.

“No. I’m at Veronica’s.”

“Oh. I see.”

“I wish you were here, holding me.”

Joaquin closed his eyes, feeling a sting in his chest. Me too, he wanted to say but he had a feeling drunk Kevin wouldn’t be able to handle it. Because, that’s what he was, right? He was drunk. Sober Kevin would’ve never called him in the middle of the night to ramble and messily apologize.

“But, it’s never gonna happen because I fucked everything up,” Kevin slurred right before he started crying.

“Hey, hey,” Joaquin said softly. “Shh, stop crying. I’m not mad at you. You did what you had to do. You’ve been toyed with so many times, I understand your thoughts went there. You were looking out for yourself.”

Hearing Kevin cry like this and not being able to comfort him was difficult for Joaquin. If he hadn’t been at Veronica’s, he would’ve drove over and pulled him into his arms until his tears stopped. 

After a minute of sweet taking from Joaquin, the tears were still running down Kevin’s cheeks but he wasn’t ugly sobbing. The alcohol was to blame for this random crying session and Kevin was going to be embarrassed in the morning. He hated crying with a public.  

“You should go to sleep,” Joaquin suggested. If Kevin was drunk enough to be an emotional mess, he was certainly going to be hungover the next day. “We can talk about this when your mind is clear.”

Kevin hummed, feeling his eyelids become heavy. 

“And…maybe we could watch a movie after? If you want. No pressure.”

“Like we used to?” Kevin murmured, 

“Like we used to,” the Serpent confirmed, knowing it was one of Kevin’s favorite thing to do together.

“Night, Joaquin. I love you.”

Kevin hung up and fell asleep almost immediately, his phone still in his hand. 

“Goodnight, Preppy. I love you too,” Joaquin said although the line went dead.

[hazyheel]

WWE Smackdown Live 6/11/19 Review

We started with a rendition of Miz TV. Miz had a new shirt of his dad having his fists up at Wrestlemania, and I guess he was being forced to host this edition. He was reading off of a literal script for Shane. He kept saying best in the world wrong for a laugh, but it wasn’t much of anything. Shane then came out with Drew McIntyre and Elias. Elias was the musical guest, and the crowd chanted you suck at him. Miz called out Shane for having only tainted wins, which Shane didn’t seem to care about. Mcintyre talked about how he would beat Roman at stomping ground. Miz pointed out that McIntyre is wasting his potential by being Shane’s lackey, which makes a lot of sense. Shane and Miz started to hurl insults at each other, and nearly came to blows. Shane challenged Miz to a gauntlet match. If he could beat both Elias and McIntyre, then he could fight Shane. 

So, we went right into the matches, starting with Miz vs. Elias. This was the match where I noticed that Miz doesn’t do the corner dropkicks like Daniel Bryan anymore, but he does corner knees. Interesting way to make the move his own, and to transition into a face role. Miz quickly took care of Elias by dodging an elbow drop and hitting the skull crushing finale for three. 

He then fought Drew McIntyre. Miz was actually brutally beating down McIntyre for a lot of this match, such as a super stiff baseball slide and a brawl on the outside. At one point, Miz went for the skull crushing finale, but Shane distracted him, so McIntyre could get the Glasgow kiss, and then a claymore for the win. 

After that happened, Shane said that he would still fight Miz. There was actually a bit of back and forth until Shane locked in a triangle for the win. 

Grade: B-. I wasn’t sure about putting this whole segment on the positive side, but I think the matches were mostly fine, and the heel work from Shane at the end there was really good. So yeah, I’ll give this a B-. I normally don’t like the style of heel that Shane is, smarmy but also not quite good enough at being smarmy. But this was probably his best work, challenging a beaten down Miz like that. I liked it, especially how happy he was that he is now 3-0 over Miz. That record is bullshit and shouldn’t exist, but at least it’s because Shane is being a dick. 

Backstage, Ember Moon talked to Fire and Desire while she was playing on a switch. They told her to focus on a real life superhero like Mandy Rose, and then smacked the switch out of her hand and left. Moon was pissed and threw some stuff.

Then we had the Planets Tag Team Champions. Daniel Bryan said that there would be a title match, against a couple Jobbers holding cardboard titles. But before they got going, Heavy Machinery came out to interrupt. Heavy Machinery said that they were ducking the challenge for the belts. So, Daniel Bryan said that if they can beat the jobbers, they will get a title match. Heavy Machinery won quickly with the compactor.

Grade: C. Yeah this was an inoffensive squash match, but I’m also rewinding the grade a bit because Heavy Machinery was off TV for so long and are now just getting a title match. That is BS, but they are certainly the team that should get it. 

Backstage, R-Truth and Carmella were talking about how terrible being the 24/7 champion was. He said that he pinned Jinder on a plane 49,000 feet celsius, that was funny. Carmella heard someone coming, so she told Truth to get in a box. It turned out only to be a production guy, but the case locked and Carmella had to leave for a match with Sonya Deville. So she left, and Jinder showed up and tried to open it, pretending to be Carmella as he did, So this was the 24/7 shenanigans of the evening, and I was into it. 

So we came back to the match between Carmella and Sonya Deville. At one point, Carmella locked in the code of silence, but Rose put Deville’s foot on the rope to break things up. She chased Rose around, but Deville caught her with a brutal knee to the stomach for a near fall. Carmella then threw Deville out of the ring, and gave both women a suicide dive, hitting Rose with an extra superkick. As Carmella went back in, Deville hit a step up knee for the win.

Grade: C-. Lots of interference, and it was not wrestled the best. I really don’t care much for this feud, and it seems just to be a placeholder before fire and desire break up. So not a great match, and I think it’d be much better if Carmella was actually involved in the 24/7 championship picture.

So then we had Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross backstage. Bliss told Cross that a bunch of people were being mean to her on social media, and that Bayley liked one of them. She said that Bayley is the same as everyone who calls Cross names. She told Cross not to hold back during her match with Bayley. I like how Bliss is manipulating Cross here, it is good. I wish it was someone who wasn’t supposed to be a crazy person, but its fine.

Then we the return of Big E, ahead of the 6-man tag later on. New Day cut a promo and they joked about how if Big E had a title run for every time that he returned, he would be Charlotte Flair. Kofi said it was a booking joke, and Woods cut him off by talking about their match. They talked about how Kofi has beaten all of their opponents at one point or another. Ziggler interrupted, and talked about how Kofi cheated to beat him at super showdown. Kofi just said that it was revenge for Ziggler kicking Woods earlier in the match, but then Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn interrupted. Zayn and Owens said that it was injustice, and I found it was difficult to disagree with the heels here. Zayn said that the rules are more important than who the fans like. Zayn called the fans hypocrites, and I kinda get where he is coming from. Big E then put over Kingston and defended him, and Kofi told him that he won’t have any more excuses after the steel cage match. 

Grade: C. Everyone could talk in this segment, but it was very filler, and the heels were being perfectly reasonable. A heel promo that really makes the good guys look like the bad guys are a problem. Ziggler has every right to be mad, Kofi did cheat. So it’s difficult to say he is in the wrong.

Then we had Bayley backstage, being asked about Bliss manipulating Cross, and Bayley just didn’t care.

Then we had Aleister Black continuing to offer an open challenge. He had someone open the door, and shout out of it, saying that the door is wide open. Black is so much better than this. 

We went right into Bayley vs. Nikki Cross. They were brawling right at the bell. At one point, Bayley went for the dropkick under the corner on the outside, but Cross trapped her behind the apron and beat her down. Bliss did get involved minorly at one point, distracting her and allowing Cross to get a cradle for a near fall. Bayley got the win with the elbow drop, staring right at Bliss when she did.

Grade: C+. Match didn’t have much to it, but I did like how Bayley looked right at Bliss when she hit the finish. Other than that this was a nothing match.

Jinder went back to get Truth out of the box, but it was gone. Truth was still in the box, and he was getting shipped to LA in the box. 

24/7 stuff: B-. Not nearly as funny as the stuff on Raw, but still good. I like this gag, and it’ll be resolved on monday. 

Then we had Apollo Crews being interviewed about the attack from Andrade last week. Zelina Vega showed up to run him down, and told Crews to stay away from Andrade. Then randomly, Chad Gable was there taking notes. I-I don’t know why.

And into the main event, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler vs. the New Day.  A lot of fast paced action here, and oddly enough Kingston was normally the one on the backfoot. At one point, Woods went up for the limit breaker, but Ziggler crotched him on the top rope. On commentary, Graves emphasized the fact that the face commentators are always okay with the faces cheating, which I though was quite interesting. At one point, Kevin Owens hit a moonsault for a near fall, and I would love to see that move enter his arsenal more. Big E had a huge hot tag during the match, destroying Ziggler with suplexes and a splash. Ziggler blind tagged in Zayn, who held Kofi for a superkick. Kofi dodged so it hit Zayn, and Kofi nailed Ziggler with a trouble in paradise, followed by another one to Zayn for the win.

Grade: B-. Fast paced action and a good pickup for Kofi. I might’ve preferred to see Big E pick up the win, but I will never argue with making a champion strong. Good stuff here, and the match of the night. 

Also, something I noticed that happened tonight was that on commentary, they keep mentioning how WWE is the only “cross cultural” sports entertainment company in the world. So that is them taking pot shots at AEW. 

Overall Grade: C+

Pros: nothing overtly good, but i thought that Graves gave a good commentary performance. 

Cons: Heavy Machinery hasn’t been on the show; carmella vs. deville; filler promo

[migleefulmoments]

Closeting in Hollywood: What Have Ricky, Matt, Kevin, Wentworth, and Colton Said

The CC fandom has spun a convoluted and elaborate fantasy that claims that Darren Criss has been kept in the closet for 9 years because of a morality clause that was attached to THE Contract when he signed to play Blaine Anderson on Glee. 

A “morales clause” as used in the entrainment industry has come to reference any number of contractual terms that cite certain behavior of the contractual individual and serve as a basis for termination of the agreement. ...the clause allows advertisers to terminate a talent agreement when an actor’s conduct is detrimental to the employer’s interests or otherwise devalues the performance due” (X)

In other words, a morality clause allows the studio to fire an actor who breaks the clause. That’s it. It can’t force an actor to lie about his sexuality. It cannot force an actor to create an entire fake life in order to keep his sexuality hidden from the world at the instruction of a studio.  It can’t force someone to hide their true life or risk “breaching the contract”.  You can read an in-depth look at morality clauses in sports and entertainment, here. 

I have already shown that in CA, the longest an employment contract can be is 7 years- which means the had Glee not ended- which ended the contract- the contract would have ended in 2017. 

So let’s see what these men have said about their experience “in the closest” in Hollywood:

Wentworth Miller- 

Wentworth came out in August 2013.  He spoke publicly soon after about his experience being closeted.

Miller spoke of the pressure in Hollywood to keep his sexuality a secret, particularly when he became the star of the 20th Century Fox series Prison Break

"I did thousands of interviews. I had multiple opportunities to speak my truth, but I chose not to," he said. "I was out to family and friends, to people I trusted, but professionally, publicly I was not.

"I had to choose between out of integrity and out of the closet and I chose the former. I chose to lie. Because when I thought about the possibility of coming out, and how it would impact me and the career I had worked so hard for, I was filled with fear." (X)

Ricky Martin

Pop star Ricky Martin says he "wasted energy" hiding his sexuality at the start of his career.

The 46-year-old came out in 2010, and recently married Jwan Yosef, with whom he has two sons, fathered by surrogate.the star said he regretted the lengths he had gone to disguise his sexuality."I was a closeted gay man who was making my partners hide," he said. Some of his partners had gone "back into the closet" on his behalf, he added.Martin said he had taken extreme measures to avoid speculation, in case it harmed his career."I didn't open doors to new relationships, and I'm not talking about romantic relationships, I'm talking about any relationship, because I didn't want people to know me too much. "I wouldn't even sit down and have a cool relationship with amazing producers or great film directors because I was afraid that if they spent more than two hours sitting with me they would know my nature."I wasted so much energy trying to manipulate my sexuality."Martin has previously explained it took him years to come to terms with his sexuality - and he was still "struggling" with the issue at the height of his fame in 1999."Even though I had relationships with men after separating from my first love, I was still not ready to accept myself as gay," he wrote in his autobiography, Me.Martin has previously explained it took him years to come to terms with his sexuality - and he was still "struggling" with the issue at the height of his fame in 1999."Even though I had relationships with men after separating from my first love, I was still not ready to accept myself as gay," he wrote in his autobiography, Me. (X)

Before the addition of his twin sons Mateo and Valentino, Martin was struggling internally with his sexuality because of society’s pressure and the stigma of being a gay man. As he told CBS Sunday Morning, Martin feared rejection because he had been told for so long that his “feelings were evil” and that by feeling the way he felt about men then he wasn’t a good person. So, in 2010, Martin declared to he world, and his fans, that he is a “fortunate homosexual man.” (X)

Colton Haynes

Nowadays, Colton Haynes is out and proud and engaged to the love of his life, but it was only a few short years ago that he was struggling to cope with anxiety that stemmed from being forced into the closet by his management...his team routinely tried to set him up with women to distract rabid fans from learning the truth about his sexuality...“I was literally told from the day that I moved to Los Angeles that I could not be gay because I wouldn’t work," he said. "Then I was with my management team and a team of people that just literally told me I couldn’t be this way. They tried to set me up with girls. I was rumored to date Lauren Conrad for six months because they were kind of angling a story. And then I dated every other young person which of course I didn’t date.”  (X)

In the span of approximately two years, Colton Haynes ditched his MTV and CW roots, came out, fired his management and took some time off... Newly engaged and freed from the leash of career advisers who wanted to market him as straight, Haynes has processed the anxiety that accompanied his private life being laid bare...I literally quit acting for over a year and then I re-signed with a new agency, The coming-out thing was a year ago in May, so yeah, it was basically that whole process. When that happened, it was me figuring out, “OK, is this a good move?” I parted ways with my team, and it was a really tricky year for me. My anxiety was terrible, and eventually I was like, “I’m not going to literally waste the last 10 years of my life.” So I started back and it’s going well. No, I never thought — I’ve been told by so many people that you cannot be out and have a career. Literally people would set me up with girls for press.In what context were you set up with women?I would be at a party. There was this whole story that ran with Lauren Conrad, who I love — she’s the best. Basically my old manager at the time was like, “Oh, take a picture with her.” He just basically ran this story trying to say that I was dating Lauren Conrad. It was there for about six months. I was like, “Oh, great, I have to do this.” That’s how it is in Hollywood. But not anymore. You have all these amazing showrunners who actually embrace people’s personal lives and embrace people’s truth. I think that’s really pivotal. I’m surprised you were dealing with that even a few years ago. I figured we’d moved past that. Yeah, I did that for seven or eight years. I was told by my first manager, like 10 years ago, “You will never work in this town if people know [you’re gay].” I assume that’s what led to your management changes. Oh God, yeah. That was like, “Bye! You gotta get out.” God. I wish I could say more.You can! [Laughs] Yeah. It was a compete team change. (X)

Matt Dallas 

The 26-year-old Dallas had not publicly come out as gay until Sunday, but there had been speculation about his sexuality for years. In early 2009, he was linked to “Mean Girls” actor Jonathan Bennett, from whom he reportedly split that same year. In September 2009, Dallas and Hamilton were spotted together grabbing food in West Hollywood.

Dallas’ coming-out is in line with what appears to be a trend of celebrities addressing their sexuality in remarkably subtle ways — really, nothing more than “I’ve never been in.”“Gone are the days of the ‘Yep, I’m Gay’ magazine covers,” notes HuffPost Gay Voices Editor-at-Large and SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile, “with celebrities making a spectacle of coming out, and thus focusing on the fact that they were in the humiliating and painful gay closet... The closet isn’t going away any time soon. But one step toward dismantling it among public figures it to make it a difficult and embarrassing place to be. From the looks of the latest celebrity self-outings, that’s perhaps starting to take hold.” (X)

Matt Dallas revealed executives of hit show Kyle XY told him not to publicly come out as gay.

The 36-year-old played the title character in the American science fiction television series for three seasons from 2007.

‘I was told to stay in the closet,’ he revealed. ‘Not talk about my sexuality, to be on every red carpet with a girl on my arm – because you could not be successful if you were openly gay in the entertainment industry, at least in front of the camera.’

‘I wish I had not taken that advice,’ he added.Dallas then said: ‘Because of the advice that was given to me to stay in the closet, I became very disconnected from who I was.‘There’s a lot of residual stuff that to this day that I still deal with where I find myself [thinking] “I sound too gay” or “I’m acting too gay” because it was so drilled into my brain,’ he said (X)

Kevin McHale

McHale added that, although he hadn’t explicitly come out as gay before, though he did not hide it and has been very explicit in social media about his private life and sexuality. “The person I was with came from the most accepting family, but one of the family members, he was terrified of them finding out,” he said (X)

Let’s be real..closeting happens in the Hollywood but NOT the CC fantasy version. It doesn’t happen through morality clauses and contracts. Closeting happens exactly like this group of men have described- managers who are supposed to be looking out for the actor’s best interests advise them to stay in the  closet in order to have a career. It is studios telling an actors they shouldn’t come out and to have a woman on their arm at events. But all of these men have described being “advised” or “pressured” not being forced.  

The way that closeting works in Hollywood: 

society tells LGBTQ kids that they are not worth as much as straight people, that there is something wrong, they are abnormal, weird, freaks. 

By the time they get to Hollywood, the self loathing, anxiety, depression and confusion are well established. Add a manager or studio telling you if you want this career you have worked so hard for you had better stay in the closet and it is becomes overwhelming. Colton and Wentworth both have spoken at length about their severe anxiety and depression. 

The manager who pressures the actor to stay in the  closet may very well be giving solid advice. It is true that gay actors are passed over for leading man roles because casting agents don’t believe they are believable as straight. But telling someone to literally hide a major part of themselves from the world when the spotlight is shining directly on them is asking an impossible taste.  

casting agents often won’t even consider openly queer actors for straight roles because they believe that the audience won’t believe they are straight. 

Bringing attention to ways in which LGBTQ persons are discriminated against is  important.  But lying about HOW closeting works and promoting outrageous lies because they make fulfill your fantasy about a straight man, is pretty disgusting and isn’t helping queer actors. 

[the-firebird69]

Your son says to modify most of them and in like two major areas to keep the originals than to add in smaller ones or to move the large one away and put the smaller ones closer but he wants the big ones in clothes it's going to be a final race and tons of people's eyes are widening and mac daddy says yes and it's going to be grueling the regular race will probably be 200 MI and the final will probably be like 3 or 400 they have to work it out and test because people might just get hurt it might not be able to be able to do it but we at least suddenly see what he's saying our intensity and others must be at least matched in some way so we're going to start modifying tracks and we're talking to Mac about it he says I need 10 so can I get you 10 and they're in foreign countries and all over the world and our venues are not too far away from the main area and a lot of people go there okay we have images and pictures of tons of people including Kevin Costner the star of Saturday night fever Trump's been there a million times Uma Thurman and Trump goes and he rides any socializes it's ridiculous he's got like a dark side it's really out of the language and his friends too tons of his friends are gone famous people Bruce Willis has been a bunch of times the way has been there a bunch of times they go there and have a great time so sound like it's not used in the small track will attract a lot more people I'm going to leave the large one for The Big race and people are now calling it The Big race it's like Clint Eastwood and the big fight and that's what they call it so now you have a track you can ride on without dying and you have people who compete against and learn how to compete with us potentially and then a large track for a big event like a final exam they make a lump in your throat and it's nice and comfy hahaha they'll hate it so they love it

Thor Freya

We hate the lump in our throat and nobody ever remembers my character's name but I'm from every which Way but lose and I was in the fight and he's right this has been building up to this you guys want to fight and we're going to put up a fight I'm going to train racing against you then we're going to train in the Big show it's not called the Big show not the big race it is

Every which Way but lose fighter opposite Clint Eastwood

In our venue people find that it's a little bit crazy some of them have the indoor ring where you drive the motorcycle and you actually use the frisbee and you compete with it it's insane it's a game and it's a lot of fun there's some injuries but mostly people don't get into it they don't have to go that fast but some people take it seriously and we might start tournaments

Thor Freya

The tournaments are one thing our boy says but when it comes to the real thing it's the race and that's what it's going to come down to it's a lot of fun and it's going to be a great time but the race is a serious race it's professional and there's tons of sponsors coming out Brad has people sponsoring him to build bikes and he needs factories and they have factories it's on okay we might be building our own only and you asked for it

Mac

We shall see the bikes have to last during the race it's a grueling race and it is 100 mi and there's a lot of stress turns and it's a very difficult course the one that you picked one of those bikes might not make it they're going to vibrate and fall apart and we've seen it happen even in qualifying a lot of the lower level guys are bikes Fall apart it's not a matter of lactate it's quality it's a type of bolt and screw as well

Thor Freya

[mythaura-blog]

Hey all! Welcome to our monthly development update, apologies for (another) late post! Here is what lies under the cut.

What’s new?

New Special - Python!

The Dashboard - Your home page.

New Monsters and New Item Patreon Illustrations.

Community spotlight - Lorehounds.

What’s new?

February has been a busy month for us behind the scenes - We had hoped to launch an updated version of the Beast Demo along side this update, however we have found some significant bugs that need to be squashed before release. Our talented front-end coder is working hard to get the updated demo into your hands soon, some of the features you can read about in our last development update.  But here is some good news - A new Special marking has been created and is ready to be played with on our current demo! The Python Special was created thanks to our lovely Patreon supporters who voted on the topic and design, thank you guys! The design of the special itself is the work of our resident artist Gelly. Python applies a marking similar to that of a Python snake, and works quite well with it our other reptilian inspired Special, Skink. I can’t wait to see what new designs the community comes up with.

Python is now live on the current demo! -> Click here to play!

Other game play elements are progressing this month - right now we have a focus on building social elements of Mythaura which includes the forums and their related functions. We’ll have more to share on that by March. We’re also developing and conceptualizing the Dashboard..

The Dashboard - your home page

* note that the above image is conceptual and subject to change!

Upon logging into Mythaura, you will land upon what we are currently calling the Dashboard.  The Dashboard will contain all the current events and snapshots of current events happening within the game. Each container will contain clickable links that will bring you to the updated areas. 

The upper container will show the latest news updates, clicking on this will take you to a news post on the official forums where you can read the entirety of the news as well as share your comments or read comments by others. 

The containers below the news will contain different topics depending on what is new or recently updated. For example they could show lore updates, current faction leads or status, or new items.

Below those containers again will live four others. Here there will be a randomly featured Beast from the community, trending forum topics, site tickers or current status and custom bookmarks. Custom bookmarks are any page on Mythaura that you can save to your dashboard to make it easier to navigate to your favorite pages. They can be changed at any time. 

We are still thinking of other ideas and features for the Dashboard - if you have any ideas or what you would like to see, please don’t hesitate to voice them! 

Mythic and Artisan Patreon rewards have the opportunity to work with the artists to create their own Monsters and Items that will appear in-game. Here are the illustrations that have been created this month. Many thanks to our incredibly creative supporters! Mythaura would not exist if it wasn’t for your amazing support. Monsters: Avakiru - Created with Malis! Armored Dale Wanderer - Created with Fizzywits! Celestial Stalker - Created with Mezzo!

Items: From left to right: Black Moonlily - Created with Keith Winn! Fish Spirit Pearl - Created with Sungmin Kim! Magic Obsidian - Created with Kirkeyressa! Geode Locket -  Created with TwinFishies! Dunkleosteus Skull - Created with Frillshark! Red Rose - Created with Aku!

Community Spotlight

There are so many awesome creations that the budding Mythaura community create every single day, I really wish I had more room to include every piece here! In the future, there may be a separate post showcasing both the art talents and the writing talents. For now, this month’s community spotlight will be directed upon the incredible lorehounds. Check out these fantastic head cannons and pieces of fiction inspired by Mythaura!

Created by Discord user Fimbrethil - A map of their own Port Damselfly built near Dawn Ruins and the Sleeping Waters.

An inspiring piece of writing by Discord user kevin!  

Feathers blessed by the stars, one often finds the beast conjuring charts between her claws. Those who hold the galaxy on their bodies are often found in this manner, the female being no exception. Much like the celestial bodies that drift from their pelts, the hippogriff's wings can't seem to take her close enough to the skies above. Mapping the marks on her wings sates the need to take on the sky, as even the dullest birds know that the universe is too vast for one chart. Yet this doesn't stop her from trying, eyes longingly gazing from her deep blues and blacks to the light-constructed diagram. Someday, a perfect map of the painted dome will be complete.

Discord user BettaSenpai’s poetic head canon on Hippogriffs! A beast of bird and steed: noble, graceful, and strange. A wing beat and the galloping of hooves. Never a day goes by I wonder if they live here, in this land filled with magic and dreams. Perhaps somewhere I am in my bed asleep, and my mind and soul found this place. Maybe I am daydreaming about magic and adventure strong enough to see this beautiful place. And yet, dream or not, the reality is I have never felt more alive to see their grace and power before me. I am humbled. Mighty beast, if you may hear me, know that I admire you. Know that I wish to understand you and that if this is a dream, I pray to return to you. To this world. Fly now dear beast; I shall awaken, and remind the world of your beauty again. There they are again. This time they soar and dive above me in some acrobatic show that dares you to look away. They move through the sky so effortlessly. Such fantastic beasts... They are closer now as if they have become used to me being here and now as they slowly get more comfortable with me I realize how much I admire them. Before I might have just looked on in awe but now as I return again and again it gets harder for me to leave them. I can hear them call, perhaps they are saying my name? If only I could decode such a melodic sound. Would it lose its magic if it was understood? Could it still be a mystery? Whatever they may be saying as I feel myself leaving their world I find it harder and harder to go. Rest now beasts of land and sky, noble, fierce, and graceful. I remind myself of who I wish to be. 

Discord user and Mythic Supporter Fizzywits description of the Armored Dale Wanderer Monster!

The Armored Dale Wanderer is what appears to be a peculiar cross between plant and animal. This hybrid of sorts has been known to consume insects of every shape and size, but evidently can also survive exclusively through photosynthesis. Armored dale wanderers are heavily dependent on intraspecies symbiosis, and will inevitably perish if separated from others of its kind for at least half a season's worth of time. 

 These strange beasts are named (rather uncreatively) after their characteristics: they possess tough scales that serve effectively as armor. Composed primarily of bark and chitin, these scales are difficult for insects to chew through. Furthermore, they often reside in or along valleys - though they begin their lives as sedentary creatures, when they mature a few years after birth, they migrate seasonally in massive herds from one side of their local valley to the other. They dig deep holes to lay and bury their eggs in; they stop to dig only when confident in the quality of the surrounding soil. They breed in the summer, and healthy saplings tend to emerge come early autumn.

 Little is known as to how these blind creatures are able to navigate - despite possessing what appear to be a heads, each wanderer has at least one pair of orifices and one mouth-like structure per head, none of which serves as a sensory organ for sight. They will lie dormant in the spring and autumn until a dramatic shift in temperature instigates movement. Although they are not hostile creatures, they will travel without rest during migration period, and feel no remorse for trampling anything that happens to be serving as an obstacle between themselves and their destination. As much as they depend on numbers for survival, groups do not seem to exhibit any defined social hierarchy with the exception that the eldest wanderer is the first to wake and thus leads the rest in migration. Skirmishes with these beasts are rare. They are neutral to other organisms who decide to inhabit their bodies. 

 Anatomically, armored dale wanderers resemble hydra. They are hermaphrodites and boast flowers and vines decorating their bodies. These floral arrangements may differ depending on region.

The official Discord has added some fun little emoticons of our favorite faction leaders - Esris and Reine. Click here to join in on the conversations! 

That’s it for now! Thank you all for being so patient, we will have more exciting things to share very soon. 

❤ Grif