#Need to progress my persuasive before I move on to the next area

[lordlawson]

Scandal's down now by the way, I'm just back at Mrs Plenty's to get connections raised. Went into the palace with barely any with the damn Duchess.

[a-dorin]

fulfillment | darth maul

word count: 1,665

warnings: smut, oral (receiving), horn kink, dominance 

summary: after some persuasion from his work, darth maul fulfills your desires. 

the room was dark, dimly lit by a kerosene lamp. a figure was illuminated by the lamp, his features softened by a golden glow. his eyes were narrowed, focused on the transcription before him. he let out a huff of frustration, rubbing his temple with a gloved hand. his amber eyes gleamed, his horns shining ivory. 

the door creaking open interrupted the zabrak, his shoulders flinching in surprise. relief flooded his features when he recognized the figure before him, a soft purr rumbling from his throat, "hello, my love."

you wrapped your arms around maul's neck, placing a tender kiss on his cheek, "you should come to bed."

a sigh escaped maul's lips, "i'm making progress. i need to find his location."

"obi-wan kenobi's location hasn't shifted in weeks," you protested, "it will not change in the morning. he is in hiding. i thought you established this several hours ago maul."

maul growled at the mention of the jedi's name, rage consuming his thoughts, "that is why it is imperative i find him."

"maul," you pleaded, "come to bed. please."

darth maul had been tied to his desk throughout the day. any time you popped in, he was hunched over his workspace, fingers toying with a datapad or his nose deep into paperwork. the zabrak was on the heels of the jedi, obi-wan kenobi. you knew why. maul was desperate to wreak havoc on obi-wan. maul ached to seek his revenge. after all, the jedi took away his legs. maul wanted to take obi-wan's life in trade for all of the pain, anguish, and suffering he endured. 

you were the zabrak's lover, a shy, timid young woman from tatooine. working as a traveling medic, you hopped from planet planet, in search of work. luckily, in your field, opportunities were always present. one brisk summer evening, you bumped into maul at the mos eisley cantina, where he spilled his drink all over your clothes. 

at first, he showed no remorse, only snorting as you let out a yelp. however, once he noticed the tears brimming your eyes, he softened, offering to buy you clothing from the marketplace. you obliged, the two of you connecting on your walk to the vendors. from there, it was the beginning of a beautiful love story. 

the force created a bond, intertwining your souls. although you were neither sith nor jedi, you were force sensitive. darth maul was a sith, fulfilling his destiny under the force. you weren't sure why there was a war among the jedi and sith, but you tried your best to understand. after all, you were in love with a sith lord. and he was very infatuated with you. 

darth maul was not the soft type. the zabrak could slice off heads with ease, showing no signs of disgust or recoil. he had seen mass amounts of bloodshed, often by his own hands. however, there was one thing in the vast universe that made his knees buckle and his throat tighten. it was you, brought into his life by the force. maul felt an intense bond between the two of you, the feeling sweeping him off his feet at times. 

you were the most beautiful thing in the universe, far more gorgeous than the stars. maul adored your (e/c) eyes, the way they glowed whenever he entered the room. the way your lips curved into a bright smile. you were his everything. his soul mate. 

the desperation inflected in your tone piqued the zabrak's interest, snapping him out of his thoughts. he could sense your desire. your want. your need. and it was all for him. immediately, maul rose from his seat, stretching his legs. he placed his hands on your hips, savoring the way your butt brushed against his own hips as you moved. 

"i'm coming to bed," maul purred, "just like you asked love."

blush tinged your cheeks as you entered the shared quarters. it was rare that maul showed affection. of course he adored you, but he was not the type to show it. often, you were the one at his beck-and-call. the fact that he was obeying your request sent a shiver of excitement down your spine. 

maul sat on the edge of the bed, amber eyes hungry, anticipating your next move. you slipped your tunic over your head, breasts bouncing as you did so. maul's eyes widened, the zabrak chewing on his lip to contain his eagerness.

you turned momentarily to fish out a clean tunic from your wardrobe, but you felt his warm hands knead your breasts, rolling your nipples between his thumbs, "don't you dare put anything else on."

a soft moan filled the room as maul pressed light, feathery kisses down your jawline, onto your neck. he nipped at your skin, ensuring that he left marks. there was nothing that the zabrak loved more than marking what was his. 

"let's move this to the bed," maul murmured, his tone laced with lust.

you nodded, laying down so that your back was on the mattress. maul slipped out of his own tunic, casting it to the floor. a flash of admiration passed through you as you placed your hands on his chest, fingertips relishing in the heat that radiated from him. you traced the textured skin, the red and black hues glowing in the moonlight.

your hands wandered to the horns on top of the zabrak's skull, feeling the tough ivory. a groan escaped maul's lips, closing his eyes with pleasure, "tonight is all about you, my love. don't fret about me."

"but i don't want you to feel left out," you pouted.

"don't worry angel," maul pressed a kiss on your collarbone, "i sensed your need for me. as your lover i need to take care of your needs before mine. understood?"

you nodded, your breath stopping momentarily as maul took a nipple in his mouth, his sharp teeth gently tugging. you squirmed underneath him, feeling your pussy drip. maul's tone ignited the spark. now his actions were fueling you with fire. a fire full of want and need. you needed maul to make you cum. 

"i can hear your thoughts love," maul purred, his throat vibrating against your skin, "i'll make you cum. just be patient."

the zabrak's mouth latched onto your other breast, giving it equal attention. he did not hesitate to leave another love bite, this one harsher than the others. his lips roamed your stomach, the kisses becoming needier and needier as they went farther down. maul paused momentarily, his amber eyes raking in the sight of you below him, cheeks tinged crimson, heart thudding in your chest, nerves wired with anticipation. 

"tell me what you want," maul smirked, parting your thighs, "or do i already know the answer?"

"you know," you whispered. 

maul's fingers hooked the waistband of your underwear, sliding them down your legs. he placed two gentle kisses on each inner thigh, before diving into your dripping pussy. maul's tongue was skilled, delving into your inner folds, leaving no area left behind. 

the zabrak worshiped your body in bed, grateful for how you melted under his touch. he adored the way your moans bounced off the wall. the way your thighs shook as his tongue slid deeper into you. 

you squirmed, pleasure washing over you like a wave crashing into shore. the pleasure was overwhelming, but you knew maul wouldn't dare stop till you came undone. his warm palms held you down with an iron grip. maul was enjoying this too much. so were you. 

"maul," you moaned, reaching down and grasping his horns. the action pulled you closer to him, his face buried deeper between your thighs. he hummed, eyes closed, savoring the way you tasted on his tongue. 

maul's tongue circled your clit, sucking gently. he was careful not to be too harsh, as it would more than likely injure you. your hands gripping his horns stimulated his own pleasure, the zabrak desperate for more. his eyes opened, meeting your gaze. 

"i'm going to cum," you threw your head back, gripping the sheets. 

"then cum for me pretty girl," maul encouraged you, his words sweet and enticing, "cum for me."

once more, maul's mouth met with your clit, two of his fingers pumping in and out of you. stars filled your vision, coming undone underneath the zabrak. your thighs shook, your moans filled with an intensity maul had never heard before. he gave your pussy once last lick, before pulling away. your cum dripped from his chin, maul wiping it away. he licked his palm, enjoying your taste one last time. 

"we should probably clean this all up-"

"i'll take care of it," maul rumbled, "stay here."

you collapsed on the bed, chest heaving. you were out of breath, exhaustion flooding over your body. maul returned from the refresher, a warm towel in his hands. his eyes were focused as he pressed the towel on your skin, ensuring he cleaned you up entirely. 

"you've never cum that much before," maul's eyes met yours.

"it's not my fault you're so good at it," you rolled your eyes playfully. 

maul laid beside you, his hands massaging your back, "it was quite the sight. i felt it all in my mouth and-"

"that's enough for one night love," you cut him off, his words promising of another round. 

"mmm if you say so," maul hummed, placing a kiss on your shoulderblade,  "go rest my love, i'll keep massaging your skin."

"i love you," a sleepy smile plastered your face.

"i love you more," maul's tone was gentle as he placed another kiss on your head. 

the zabrak's hands carefully kneaded your skin, soothing sore muscles. you drifted off to sleep, your chest rising and falling steadily. maul admired the way you looked in the moonlight, a warm feeling seeping into his chest. darth maul loved you. more than anything in the universe.

and he would keep loving you. till his last breath.

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Redemption of a Spirit in a Cold War' chapter 7 is out !

"Fleeing"

Summary : Bell is having her last day in Moscow as Belikov help her prepare her escape to the West

To read it on AO3, click here !

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I never thought that Belikov will be very trustful and helpful towards me, I was thinking that he was going to be like a typical CIA agent and try to kill me when he will have the chance but he didn't do it and instead, he decided to help me by starting to create a file about me and for sure, I know that I will be leaving the USSR soon.....and it will be with the CIA, I hope that Belikov will find a persuasive way to get me out of the country without having to reveal my identity.

If the CIA declared that I died three years ago in Solovetsky by an 'heroic sacrifice', they will maybe not found out about me but I think that Belikov was aware that some part of the CIA know the perfect identity of the woman we all called 'Bell'.....an Perseus agent that were brainwashed by Russell Adler in order to gain an advantage against the East and that were disposed off by the same guy. Now, I will need to show them that I'm not someone to be dealed off that easily.

I wanted to check the box that Belikov gave me but I fell asleep on his couch without having the chances to give a look to my old belongings. My whole body were hurting me while I was sleeping and I could feel that I was crying during the night. I was thinking of Park and everything else about my old memories : after all these times, they were all coming back and each time, I rediscovered them like it was the first time for me.

I lived a life that I can't even remember right. I'm only able to have those memories coming back in my head each time I closed my eyes while I'm alone or before I go to sleep. Each of them is like a door opening, making me discovering my own life. Am I really a stranger inside my own body ? I still can remember things like my combats skills and maybe cryptography but what happened in my life is like a whole mystery to me and I hope that one day, I will be fully aware of what I lived.

Waking up was very hard for me : my arms were feeling so heavy and my legs were like burning. I had to redress myself multiple times as I was laying down once I was sit. I then succeeded to stay sit on the couch. I had to clean my eyes too that were too dried after crying during all night and winking a lot of times to get my vision cleared enough to see everything right. I looked at outside and it was a sunny weather. I then looked at the watch at my wrist : it was noon.

I slept again for a long time like yesterday and I hope to clear that quickly. Sleeping for so long is not something I really want these days after having spend 3 years in a coma. My eyes fell on the box that was still on the table, I was going to spread my arms towards it but they were still hurting me, avoiding me to move for a while. Then, I heard someone arriving in the room : it was Belikov who was coming with a plate in hand.

"Hi, miss Bell." He said with a smile, seeing that I was awake on the couch

"Belikov." I muttered, grinning a little.

"I prepared something to eat for you." He put one of the plate on the table allowing me to discover the content of it.....a home-made hamburger.

"A hamburger ?" I told him, very curious of that choice of food since we are in the Soviet Union "The CIA must have gave you some goods things to have you eat these kinds of food in here."

"Yes, they gave me this apartment thanks to their money." He looked around happy as he sit on the seat I was yesterday "One day, I even asked for a baseball cap and they give it to me."  He looked at me. "Did you check the box ?" He asked

"No, I fell asleep before I could do that." I replied before I could feel my body getting better. I can finally move without getting hurt and I took the plate in hand. "About...the file you created for me ?" I asked before taking a bite in that burger that was tasting nice.

"I started to work on it when I leaved you but I took a nap before working on it again in the early morning." He responded, joining his hands together "I will be able to finish it before I can take you out of the city to meet with a CIA team."

"You called the CIA ?" I said, worried and starting to sound angry.

"I called them but it was just for saying that I had a defector to give them, don't worry." He leaned back on his seat, seeing my deadly eyes. "They just think that you are another defector." He added, making me relieved,

"What did you say about me ?"

"I told them that you were compromised and you had to kill 2 of your colleagues." He moved away to get next to a TV. "What you did yesterday did make noises." He turned the TV on before getting back to his seat. It was the first time in three years that I was watching something in the TV and it was weird. When the TV got on, the news were happening and by the odds, they started talking about the incident.

"Yesterday, two policemens from the city of Moscow were found dead by gunshot in an alley near the Lubyanka Place. The chief of the police has stated that 'they will do everything to stop the person who commited these horribles on our peacekeepers and to bring them to the russian people'. According to some rumors, this act was premeditated as some witnesses could see a masked person leaving the area before the police and some could clarify that this person were a woman."

The TV was then turned off by Belikov who got up from his seat and go back at his place, looking at me with wide eyes. I can say that I pulled something big from that event and by luck, he gave the CIA the big pretext for me to get out of the country.....what the odds ! The silence striked the room as I was finishing the burger and once it was done, I pulled the plate back on the table.

"You know...." He started, looking worried "I've heard you cry a lot this night."

"I know." I replied, biting my bottom lips

"Did you cry because of what happened to you ?" He asked

"Yes, everything that happened to me in my life." I looked down, joining my hands together as I was thinking about the night "And about Park."

"Park....I wonder how...." He started to said before I cut him, guessing his question,

"I loved her, right ?" He nodded, I guessed right,

"I remember to have heard about you and her from Adler when you arrived in Mosow three years ago." He crossed his arms above his chest, looking curious "He said that he never agreed about you two and he wanted to do everything to stop that relation to progress."

"Last night, it happened that I slept in the same hotel that we were before our attack in the Lubyanka and the receptionist told me that they had a argument about the rooms." I smiled nervously. "I.....I received a letter from Park, dating from 3 years that Adler broke inside my room and make her go."

"Shit, I'm sorry about that." He apologized

"I loved her because she was incredible, close to me and she believed in me....even she was aware of my true state." I sniffed "I'm still am."

"Don't worry, you will find her....I hope too." He smiled at me "That's why I'm helping you, miss Bell !" He affirmed before getting up from his seat "I need to continue working on your file that I will give to the CIA and once it's done, I will prepare your extraction to the West."

"Thanks you again." I said, grinning as he started to walk away back to his room without saying a thing.

I was now back alone in his living room, having eating something good and finally feeling better. After that little talk with him, I decided that it was time to check that box of mine that was standing on the table for the night. I took the box and put it next to me on the floor and I opened it. I was so nervous about opening that box but it was too late. I could realized that there weren't much in it as it wasn't so heavy : something looking like my records and then some pictures that I wasn't able to see because they were turned on the wrong face.

I decided to start by looking at that big file that I presumed to be my records. I could finally discover my whole identity : I'm named Yirina Grigoriev, born May 8th 1952 in Kiev. At four years old, I....I lost my parents from an accident that wasn't explained at all in the records and after that, it was said that I was take in charge by Perseus himself, raising me.....shit, I was like an daughter to him.

In 1968, I apparently became the youngest recruit in the KGB, having Perseus pulled some strings to make this happen and one year later, I have my first operation outside the country and after that, I rosed through the ranks while staying an field operatives agent until I get stopped, staying as a simple KGB officer under Perseus's orders during the remaining years until 1981. It wasn't marked on the file but I presumed that I could have added 'Disappeared the January 13th 1981 left for dead by an Perseus lieutenant' ! This file wasn't updated meaning that something happened before Trabzon and that box wasn't touched by Perseus during all these times.

By looking at these records, I know that it was better for me to take back everything with me and I put these big file in the backpack that I left just next to the couch. Once I'm done it, I decided to put my hand on the box to take a look at those mysterious pictures. There were actually three pictures for me. The first one.....it was me in my younger days posing in a military outfit, either in training or somewhere fighting for Perseus. I wasn't alone because there were also Freya and Perseus himself standing between her and me. I put it on my backpack, resisting to tear apart Perseus from the picture, leaving only me & Freya.

The second picture was still me but I was looking more older and there were a date on it but only the year : 1980. I was looking at the camera with an embarassed look and dressed in the same uniform I was on in my memories, sit in my office. It was just me and no one else on the picture. I was looking pretty on it, giving me a little smile before I put it on the backpack too. Then, I took the last picture in hands and.....there weren't any of my presence on that picture : it was Zasha on it, their arms around an woman I don't know or remember at all. Strange but it could be useful again if I can one day see Zasha again.

I was now done with the pictures and my attention was now on the letter that was the last thing inside this box. I checked the envelope and it was so curious because it wasn't my handwriting at all on it. It was written : 'For my Yiri.....from Zed'. So, it was a letter written by Zasha for me.....or for that woman on the picture. Is this woman also called Yirina ? The envelope was already opened but I was so stressed out about it that I decided to read it later and that's not for me. Like the third picture, I need to keep it in case I see Zasha or that woman now.

I was done with that box : it was empty now as everything was inside my backpack, giving me some more weight to carry on my back. Right now, I have nothing to do except of waiting.....so I laid myself down on the couch again, looking at the ceilling without closing my eyes and trying to think about something but my mind was very busy at this moment and wasn't so willing to let me have a memory back.

All I can do was to stay on that couch, look at the ceilling and trying to think this time about what will happen in the followings days : I will be able to return back to West-Berlin next to Park, I will have to face Adler about his choices and after that, I will have no choice than to join Park again to track Perseus down. Now that I know that he's still around, I have to help her and the others in their fight....a fight that was mine and became mine again. If I can find Freya and Zasha again, I could feel happy and save them from Perseus's control.

Hours passed and the evening was coming into Moscow. I didn't move at all from the couch until Belikov got out of his room, a file in hand.

"Miss Bell, I have finished to plan everything." He said, proudly

"Everything ?" I repeated, getting up from the couch, curious.

"Yes, your new file and we are awaited." He handed me the file to let me check it and I took it.

"So." I started, giving a look at it "I'm one of your contacts named Tanya Koslova inside the Moscow police that needed to flee after killing two Perseus agents that tried to kill me."

"It was the best way to convince the CIA." He told me, scratching the back of his head before getting his hand behind his back to grab something "You will need this."

"Bandages ?" I saw that in his hands

"To cover your head." He raised an eyebrow "I told the CIA extraction team that you have suffered from a bad burn on your face and that you don't want to show your face to the others."

"It was to convince them ?" I asked, smirking and not sure about this

"No, to make sure they don't recognize you." He replied, still handing me over the bandages. I hesitated and then, I took the bandages in my hands,

"Are you sure it will work ?" I asked, he nodded sure of himself, as I started to put the bandages around my head to cover it. "I will be looking stupid" I thought to myself, joking. Once I was done with that, I checked myself in the mirror, just my ears, my eyes, my mouth and my nose were not covered.

"You're looking great." He exclaimed with a big smile

"Yeah, sure." I sighed

"Take your bag and it will be time to go." He ordered me as he walked to take his jacket

I took my backpack and then, we leaved his apartment, getting down the stairs and getting inside his car in the outside to leave the city. I wasn't looking so sure about his plan to get me covered with bandages around my head but I started to feel that he was right about this : the CIA has maybe erased everything talking about me in my records but they aren't blind. They can still recognize my face after all these years and Belikov was so helpful about thinking about that.

I couldn't believe it but I was really going to get out of the country to return back to West-Berlin and without knowing, it was the CIA that was going to make this part of the job. They will have to know one moment that it's me but when they will discover that, I will be back with Park and when I will face Adler but not before. Me & Belikov didn't talked at lot during the driving as he was preparing himself in his role and I was doing the same too. I needed to play the woman in need of fleeing....with an russian accent.

It took 10 minutes after we left the outskirts of the city to arrive in a secret location : it was a CIA clandestine runway and we were both getting nervous about what will happen. When the car stopped, a man come out of a abandoned building next to that runway, walking towards our car. Belikov ordered me to follow him and to not make any weird moves. I took the backpack and I got out of the car, following him to encounter this mysterious man.

"Belikov !" The man started, looking curious at my sight

"Tom, my friend." Belikov replied,handing his hand to shake it. Both mens shook their hands but this 'Tom' was still looking at me, weirdly, maybe wondering who I was,

"This is the girl you talked about ?" He asked, removing his eyes from me

"Yes, here's her file." Belikov handed over the fake file he has made and Tom checked it for sometimes before taking it. "So, she's fleeing after getting those 2 Perseus agents killed." Belikov nodded,

"Exactly and she need to join West-Berlin like she asked to me." He added, looking at me, winking not in the other sight

"Good, it will take the others 3 days to get her in there." Tom said, crossing his arms to look at a small plane awaiting for us "This plane will take you to another location outside the Soviet Union and then the rest will be told to you with the others."

"3 days ?" I asked in a surprised perfect russian accent

"Yes, the Reds is getting suspicious with people like us." He rolled his eyes, thinking about this "This commie bastards never changed." He looked at Belikov "No offense, Dimitri." He laughed, followed by Belikov and me who was more silent

"I know, got that joke each time." Belikov replied with his laugh

"Well, she's now our responsability until she's brought to West-Berlin." He looked at me, nodding. "You can get into that plane and take a seat. Belikov, you can go now." He then gestured to get moving and I complied, followed by him, not before giving a goodbye to Belikov, thanking him for his help.

I got inside the plane and I took a seat as the plane engine started to make some noises. Tom arrived to give me some details about what I need to do each time I will meet a new team charged to bring me to West-Berlin and once he was done, he left the plane, leaving me alone with just an pilot. Then, the plane take off as the night started to fall on the russian countryside, I was feeling happy about getting out of here thanks to  Belikov and now, I was feeling that I could get some free sleep as I was so tired after spending a day without moving.....and I could feel a memory coming back....

By looking at it, I was standing in the medical room of.....the safehouse back in West-Berlin.....a memory from my time inside Adler's team. I was next to a operation table and cleaning some medical tools after I did something with it....but what for ?  I was looking to a used bullet when someone entered the room : it was Lazar !

"Hey, Bell." He started before closing the door

"7,62 x 54 mm, guess the gun." I showed him the bullet I had in hand.

"SVD Dragunov, I think." He put his hand on his chin "The russians are using that kind of bullet for that sniper."

"Good thinking." I said with an sad face "Forget my manners, good to see you, Laz'" I continued, still sad.

"I heard of what happened in Ukraine to Park." He said, worried

"Yes, she was shot near her chest by that bullet, I reacted quickly to save her but she passed out after we got out with Mason & Woods."  I put my hands on the table, closing my eyes "I could only remove that bullet here because I didn't have anything on the plane to did that kind of thing."

"I know, it's not everyday that we're taking that type of thing in the field." He smiled but he saw my look "What's wrong ?" He asked

"I....I thought that Park was going to die, that what is wrong for me, Lazar !" I exclaimed, raising my voice before I leaned myself on the table "I thought that she was dead when she receives that bullet."

"Bell, you saved her !" He got next to me "That's the most important thing, right ?" He added, putting his hand on my shoulder

"I know and....." I started before cutting myself.

"And ?" He asked

"I don't know if I can tell you this." I got up from the table to face him "I know that I met only Park for a couple of days but I like her."

"That's normal, you're became great friends." He smiled, happy to hear that

"I mean, I....I love her, Lazar !" I looked down "I have feelings for her, she's so beautiful and so kind to me." I looked at him, he was stunned to hear that from me.

"Wow, I never thought that."  He crossed his arms with an little grin "I'm must say that....it's okay for you to feel those things around here. It's not because we're spies that we can't love."

"But Adler....."

"Adler maybe said that 'you need to keep it professional' but you need to do what you want and not what he want." He told me, sure of himself "He's not the one making your life, you are !"

"You're right, Laz'" I smiled "I need to do what I want !" I repeated, feeling happy

"Did you say that to her ? That you love her ?" He asked

"No." I simply responded

"Soon as she got up, tell her what you think about her !" He then put his hand back on my shoulder "I'm pretty sure she's thinking the same about you." He laughed "I saw it in her eyes that she got something for you."

"You're sure ?" I said and he nodded.

"Park is a good person and you will be better when you two will be a thing." He smiled before getting away from the table. "I'm sure that you will do everything for her, right ?" I nodded, sure of my feelings and sure of that.

"Yes....everything."

[dointoomuchsworld]

URT amidst the Pharma war

WUpon selecting a communication theory for this blog entry, I decided, why not- let’s just Google search: “what communication theory can be related to the anti-vax crowd”? The top six search results and their links that pop up spew these headlines and additional phrases:

1. “The anti-vaccination infodemic on social media: A behavioral…: However, the anti-vaccination movement is currently on the rise, spreading online misinformation about vaccine safety and causing a worrying…” (www.journals.plos.org) 

2. “How to respond to vocal vaccine deniers in public- WHO: a vocal vaccine denier is defined in this document as a person who is not only denying scientific consensus but also actively advocating against vaccination…” (World Health Organization 2017 Regional Office for Europe). 

3. “Vaccine hesitancy is a problem attracting growing attention and concern.” (www.sciencedirect.com) 

4. “The online competition between pro- and anti-vaccination… Distrust in scientific expertise is dangerous… Results show that even if anti-vaccine narratives have a small persuasiveness, a large part of the population will be rapidly exposed to them. ” (www.nature.com) 

5. “Conspiracy Beliefs, Rejection of Vaccination, and…: Many conspiracy theories appeared along with the Covid-19 pandemic. Since it is documented that conspiracy theories negatively affect…” (www.frontiersin.org) 

6. “Combating Vaccine Hesitancy: Teaching the Next Generation… In 1999, the anti-vaxxer movement, an organized body of people who refuse to vaccinate and blaming vaccines for health problems” (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) 

Well, this didn’t answer my question. It was surely a lot to read as we dive into my entry here, and it slapped someone with my way of thinking with some shut-down labels: dangerous, misinformed, science-denier, nonconsensual, behaviorally problematic, conspiracist, rejecter.

Do you know what these Google search results say to me? Censorship. 

I am selecting the communication theory of Uncertainty Reduction Theory to apply towards my discussion of the pro-vaccine/anti-vaccine war. 

Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) asserts that “people have a need to reduce uncertainty about others by gaining information about them” (Berger, C.R., & Bradac, J.J.) The information gained can be used to predict the others’ behavior. Reducing uncertainty can be particularly beneficial in relationship development, so it is more typical amongst people when they expect or want to develop a relationship than among people who expect or know they will not develop a relationship.

We have a few basic ways people seek information about another person:

1. Passive strategies: we observe the person, either in situations where the individual is likely to be self-monitoring (in a classroom; in the stands of a public event)

2. Active strategies: we ask others about the person we’re interested in, or set up a way to observe that person (sign up for the same class; sitting at a different table in the same restaurant)

3. Interactive strategies: we communicate directly with the person.

I believe this theory can be used to my topic of discussion because if we are in one of the hottest moments of the ongoing anti- and pro- vaccine movement and pharmaceutical war with COVID-19 at the forefront of it all, no matter which side we put our beliefs, followings, trust, or knowledge in, we seek out others with the same data, statistics, views, and agreeability. We strive to reduce uncertainty with others by gaining their information to benefit one another, and either develop ongoing relationships, or not. If we observe or interact with others to discover where their loyalties lay, we either discuss, debate--or worst of all, we fight like cats and dogs to what seems like the death--or come to an understanding and continue or discontinue the developed relationship. 

Let’s begin how I feel within the war on vaccines. I, if you will, an introvert who isn’t so fond of putting my opinions out there, am publicly posting this in hopes of finding others and reducing my uncertainty about how others may feel, or find if they may feel similarly so that I may stand with them or offer them strength in opinions and studies. Or maybe, just to prompt an open discussion.

1. Pro-vaccine

2. Anti-vaccine

Unnecessary and divisive labels meant to categorize people into black and white thinking.

Where is the label for: I think it’s perfectly logical to want the ability to make decisions about each vaccine available on an individual basis for each of my children and myself?

Pfizer is going for full FDA approval and might have it by the end of this month, emergency approval has already been granted for 12-15 year-olds, and in September emergency approval will be requested for 2-11 year-olds. 

How can you get granted EAU for an experimental drug in an age group that isn’t having an emergency? To protect vaccinated adults? Sacrificing your healthy child for an illness that doesn’t affect them so that vaccinated adults may think you’re a good person and may give you permission to move freely about your lives?

Nothing says I don’t believe in science more than vaccinating a 2-year-old for COVID. 

Imagine being excited to experiment on your own child.

Children don’t stand a chance in this pharmaceutical industry that for decades have put profit ahead of doing what is right. Additionally but important to note, the pharmaceutical industry has not prioritized the research and development of cancer drugs for children. They rely on treating children with adult cancer drugs, which are far more dangerous, toxic, and aggressive on a child’s developing body, because adult cancer drugs are some of the best-selling pharmaceuticals for companies such as Merck & Co., Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and J&J.

Here is an incomplete current list of places making the COVID vaccine mandatory, either for employment or for on site services: Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Officer; WPAFB (when it is FDA approved); Atria Senior Living; Rocky River Senior Center; Continuing Healthcare Solutions; Newburgh Heights city employees; Supers Landscape; Cleveland State University; Kenyon College; Cleveland Clinic fertility center: spouses required to have two doses of vaccine before being able to be present for embryo transfers. Kroger grocery stores now mandate proof of vaccination of its employees in order for employees to de-mask. This is marking the unclean versus clean. Here we are, segregating healthy people and in many circumstances being told to show our private healthcare papers.

There is no place for this behavior in a free society. This is discrimination based on vaccine status. 

A business in Preble County is allowing employees who have taken the coronavirus vaccine to use the fitness room while those who have not, or are naturally immune, are not allowed access. They can work there but they cannot work out there... is this about health?

What changes have you made for yourself as an individual this pandemic to benefit your health and wellness?

The NFL continues to separate their unvaccinated athletes from their fellow vaccinated athletes. Separate practice areas, separate eating areas, and de-masking only those who have been vaccinated. Discontinuing COVID testing twice a week only for the vaccinated. Not allowing the unvaccinated to leave the hotel while traveling with the teams. As if either party is not safe to be around.

As a writer considering her reader, I’m wondering if you’re celebrating right now in regards to these advances, or raising some eyebrows. As for me, it fills me with a primitive rage that I feel only when someone endangers my children.

But let’s keep going.

Vaccines are necessarily risky, as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court and by Congress. 

The risk: benefit ratio varies with the frequency and severity of disease, vaccine safety, and individual patient factors. These must be evaluated by patient and physician, not imposed government, corporations, or other bureaucrats.

The smallpox vaccine is so dangerous that you can’t get it now, despite the weaponization of smallpox. Rabies vaccine is given only after a suspected exposure or to high-risk persons such as veterinarians. The whole-cell pertussis vaccine was withdrawn from the U.S. market, a decade later than from the Japanese market, because of reports of severe permanent brain damage. The acellular vaccine that replaced it is evidently safer, though somewhat less effective. 

After being fully informed of the risks and benefits of a medical procedure, patients have the right to reject or accept that procedure. Preemption of patients’ or parents’ decisions about accepting drugs or other medical interventions is a serious intrusion into individual liberty, autonomy, and parental decisions about child-rearing.

Forcing Ohioans or anyone into receiving an experimental medical intervention in exchange for freedom to go to work or participate in society is contrary to fundamental human rights.

How does one feel about the persuasion to vote YES on Ohio HB 248? How’s this for propaganda: Vote YES, join the movement, on the Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act.

This Ohio House Bill was introduced on April 6, 2021, and is in 25% progression (LegiScan). Per this Republican Partisan Bill, OH HB248 is to enact section 3792.02 of the Revised Code to authorize an individual to decline a vaccination and to name this act the Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act.

Why should we do this? This is a stand for health freedom, for medical freedom; a vital legislation to protect vaccine choice for Ohioans now and into the future. If this legislation isn't passed, you can expect that vaccine mandates and vaccine passports will become a reality of our future. And even if you're fine with the traditional vaccines, even if you have always gotten the flu vaccine, and even if you decided to get the COVID vaccine... Ohioans will be faced with the reality that any future vaccine can be mandated by the state, retailers, employers, schools etc., and we'll have zero to say about it. This legislation will protect all Ohioans from the dystopia that we're currently facing.

Do I sound like one who denies the expertise of science now? I stand with science. I stand with informed consent. I stand with freedom. I stand with healthcare professionals. I stand with Ohio workers. I stand with parents. I stand with students. I stand with this bill for the people, by the people. 

In the year 1983, the total doses of vaccines for children from birth to age 18 consisted of 24 doses and 7 injections. As of 2020, we now administer 69 doses with 50 injections. The CDC child vaccination schedule is bloated, and I will say it from the mountaintops, no matter the reaches for justification. 

Advanced Pediatric, a Cleveland area pediatric practice, is embracing the idea that unvaccinated children are not safe, and must stay masked and distanced, including from others on the playground (advancedped.com). How badly will we damage our children’s social and emotional health with this kind of discriminatory action propagated by adults that are supposed to be protecting them?

Prior to COVID, measles was the much-publicized threat used to push for mandates, and is probably the worst threat among the vaccine-preventable illnesses because it is so highly contagious. There are occasional outbreaks, generally starting with an infected individual coming from somewhere outside the U.S. The majority, but by no means all the people who catch the measles have not been vaccinated. Almost all make a full recovery, with robust, life-long immunity. 

The last measles death in the U.S. occurred in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Is it justified to revoke the rights of all Americans because of the hypothetical risk that a person who cannot be vaccinated due to immune deficiency might catch measles from an unvaccinated American, rather than from a visitor or a person whose artificial vaccine-based immunity has waned? Such mandates establish a precedent for ever-greater restrictions on our right to give—or withhold���consent to medical interventions?

So as I continue, and back to the focus on the COVID fiasco that I am pondering… Per the CDC website in the association with the COVID vaccine, VAERS reports that in the last four months we have recorded more deaths from the COVID vaccine than from all vaccines combined from mid 1997 through the end of 2013. As of April 30, there are 3,837 cases where the COVID-vaccinated patient has died within days to weeks after their intervention. 384 pages of patients age, sex, location, date of vax, date of onset, who administered it, who the manufacturer is, whether they were taken to the ER, and the symptoms or prior health conditions if any.

Adverse events from drugs and vaccines are common, but underreported. Although 25% of ambulatory patients experience an adverse drug event, less than 0.3% of all adverse drug events and 1-13% of serious events are reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Lazarus, Klompas). Low reporting rates preclude or slow the identification of “problem” drugs or vaccines that endanger public health. Barriers to reporting include a lack of clinician awareness, uncertainty about when and what to report, as well as the burdens of reporting. Reporting is not usually part of a clinicians’ workflow, takes time, and is duplicative (Lazarus, Klompas). 

VAERS is a passive reporting system. Healthcare workers are not required to submit reports of deaths or injuries. VAERS only reports 1% of actual injuries according to a report prepared under contract with The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Lazarus, Klompas).

To recap those last several paragraphs, we are constantly told those who decline vaccines for illnesses they themselves are at very little risk for developing complications from, are putting the immunocompromised at risk. What we don’t often hear is that the procedure itself comes with risk and what that risk level is exactly is unknown. 

What we do know is that only somewhere between 1-10% of adverse events are ever reported largely due to medical professionals' lack of awareness on the subject matter. We cannot force healthy people to undergo a medical procedure for which the administrator of and manufacturer have no liability when we know there is innate risk. We can’t trade one group's theoretical risk for another group's known risk. 

We never hear any other side of this argument, it’s censored from us and never presented to us. 

Many of these VAERS reports were from assisted living facilities, and we can determine this by scrolling through the log of reports. Do you trust many assisted living facilities, or do you think many of them had a choice?

As of June 18, VAERS reports for myocarditis or pericarditis in people age 6 to 29 for all non-COVID shots in the entire history as VAERS as: 394. The total number of VAERS reports for myocarditis or pericarditis in people ages 6 to 29 in the last six months for COVID shots: 590. 

Without voluntary informed consent, medicine becomes violence. 

How many billions of dollars do you think has been handed out to mainstream media outlets, such as your favorite radio stations, to propagate the COVID vaccine and to have your favorite channel’s or station’s host, or celebrity, holler into your car or household: to go out and get it now, because all the cool people are doing it; to save our communities. Because you’re a selfish expanse of existence if you don’t. Although they who preach to go get the intervention likely have little to no experience in any of the information I have provided thus far.

The Dayton RTA public transit system has banners plastered onto the sides of their buses in all caps that say, “I’m not afraid of the vaccine!” or “Help Save Lives. Get Vaccinated.” 

When their passengers board the bus, they may show their hand gesture of the peace sign, to indicate they’ve been vaccinated. And at that, you’ll get a thirty-dollar credit in adult passenger fare upon proof of being fully vaccinated. A whole month of free rides and a promotional “Vaccinated” button to wear.

Promotions for vaccinated people are a flawed tactic for both brand-building and public health. Brands across industries are skipping beyond vaccine education and awareness to take a more active role in coronavirus vaccine acceleration. 

One size does not fit all. All humans are not the same and have different risk factors for both the disease and the intervention. There is no greater danger to all of us than the dehumanization of others. Not trusting a vaccine, or any given doctor for that matter, does not make me a science denier.

Where there is risk there must be choice. Not ostracism. Vaccine choice and anti-discrimination.

People who are labeled as vaccine hesitant should really be called people who are hesitant to be coerced in the largest drug trial in history. Because it’s the right thing to do... It’s patriotic... to protect our community and, again, “although I am young and healthy, it’s the right thing to do” (Ohio Dept. of Health).

Mandate advocates often assert a need for a 95% immunization rate to achieve herd immunity. However, Mary Holland and Chase Zachary of NYU School of Law argue, in the Oregon Law Review, that because complete herd immunity and measles eradication are unachievable, the better goal is for herd effect and disease control. The best outcome would result, they argue, from informed consent, more open communication, and market-based approaches.

The safest place for an immunocompromised person who is unable to be vaccinated  (there are very few unable to be vaccinated for COVID) is around someone who has had COVID naturally and is actually immune. Vaccinated people still contract and likely transmit COVID unlike the naturally immune. Similar to the pertussis portion of the DTAP vaccine, most often it’s a vaccinated sibling or parent who unknowingly spreads it to an infant too young to be vaccinated.

Let’s think about our Governor DeWine’s Vax-a-Million. His raffle is a disturbing act of child coercion and misuse of money that we could be putting back into our communities. A predatory bribe to bait those who easily succumb to a gambling incentive. I wish we had this kind of monetary dedication to our homeless, to our schools, to our mental health hospitals, to our trash clean-up organizations for our cities, to students already accepted into colleges. To the small businesses who have had to close their doors for good. What are my incentives for not getting the shot? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Public health should not seek to manipulate. To manipulate in the name of public health is to undermine public health.

This is a marketing scheme. You are not required to take a liability free experimental medical intervention in order to be considered a good person. Those who say you are, are either indoctrinated into a cult-like way of thinking and lack the ability to see anything beyond that, uninformed, or evil.

It's one of many elite U.S. institutions to be completely decimated and humiliated by Pharma. It was gradual, then inexorable, and now it's their identity.

An article printed on May 31 states that a Miami Valley Hospital doctor says strokes are occurring in younger people, ages 18-45 years old. Dr. Bryan Ludwig, the chair of the Clinical Neuroscience Institute of Premier Health, is seeing this increase, including the 36-year-old stroke patient he treated upon being air-lifted to the main hospital campus (WHIO). This article does not yet state what leading causes we can look toward for the increase in strokes and clots in the youth, and does not even state a possibility of what it might be, though I’m sure we can make quite a valid assumption. It would seem that the press is trying to normalize things that are not in the least bit normal, as more articles arise in similarity. 

Was it responsible for our Governor Mike DeWine to send out the tweet: “FACT: The COVID vaccine is safe and effective” upon immediate availability of the vaccine?

It is incredible that vaccine reactions used to only exist in the minds of conspirators, and now we pray for the recipients that they may make it through and only have to miss a few days of work. We don’t know anything about long-term effects but that doesn’t matter, because what about long-term effects from the actual disease? Everyone needs to do it anyway, even those at very little risk, because someone said so. Even those who have had COVID, and likely hold a great deal of immunity. 

Those who came out in droves in opposition of HB248 stated things such as, “up to 30% of our college students are immunocompromised, and this justifies mandating those who aren’t to be vaccinated.”

What are we doing that is causing up to 30% of young college students to be immunocompromised? 

Nonetheless, I find that statistic entirely skeptical. The industry recommends for all who they call immunocompromised, such as cancer patients to get these vaccines, and patients on immune suppressive drugs to get them. They want transplant patients to get them. They don’t actually acknowledge any contradictions outside of anaphylaxis. The “we must protect the herd” sentiment seems entirely feigned and disingenuous. It seems manipulative, dismissive.

Surely, there are immunocompromised people out there who are unable to receive the vaccine or others, but I do think it is rare.

A doctor who believe that everyone should be vaccinated, when questioned, acknowledged vaccine injury and death. She was asked what she would say to those people. Her response, in paraphrase, was, “Thank you for your contribution.” She views the injured as expendable.

The amount of doctors who opposed the house bill of vaccine choice was frightening. And who will politicians follow? Those who have personal attestations who are most oftentimes unheard or underrepresented, or clinicians pushing a pharmaceutical curriculum that acquires compensation based on how many patients are vaccinated?

In a statement made by ACIP member, Grace M. Lee, M.D., M.P.H., associate chief medical officer for practice innovation at Stanford Children’s Health, she goes on to say: “I think the childhood experience our kids have gone through will have long-lasting consequences that may extend across generations. We don’t really fully yet understand the total... physical health, mental health, and educational impact of the pandemic on our kids.”

Kids are durable. They can endure the worst of things, and they persevere. However, now, to grow up in a world that is censoring and erasing valuable information is chillingly monumental.

Considering that 23 million Americans suffer from some type of autoimmune disease, with the rates increasing 4-7% each year, and that environmental toxins are well known to trigger autoimmunity, it would seem prudent to implicate the distended childhood vaccination schedule as a possible culprit to this rise.

We are not smarter or more virtuous than someone because we draw a different conclusion after looking at the same information. Only one side of this charade wants to enforce their will on the other.

In summary, patients and parents currently have the right to refuse vaccination, although potentially contagious persons can be restricted in their movements (e.g. as with Ebola), as needed to protect others against a clear and present danger. Unvaccinated persons with no exposure to a disease and no evidence of a disease are not a clear or present danger. Making the COVID, and other vaccines, optional is the only way to protect the medical and individual rights of our citizens, consistent with good medical ethics.

Unvaccinated people are variant factories, says expert Dr. William Schaffner, from the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on June 2.

My use of Uncertainty Reduction Theory in Communication Studies applied to my stance I’ve taken on medical freedom enables me to seek and find reassurance with others, to find camaraderie with those who will continue to fight. 

The way that I have questioned the pharmaceutical intervention so many times in so many ways throughout this discussion and at the very least find the timeline of events that have transpired to be odd, and furthermore advocate for the freedom of guilt-free choice instead of a blind acceptance to take whatever is fed to me via our government oversight, it may very well blacklist me from an exceeding amount of peoples’ interest.

BUT, no matter what one may think, or if one should ask me why I don’t find something better to do with my time -

What is more important than protecting my children’s freedom and health through social and ethical communication processes?

Works Cited:

Berger, C.R., & Bradac, J.J. (1982). Language and social knowledge: Uncertainty in interpersonal relations. London: Arnold.

Clanton, Nancy. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 16 April 2021. www.ajc.com

Holland, Mary and Zachary, Chase. Oregon Law Review. Children’s Health Defense Team. 23 January 2019. www.childrenshealthdefense.org 

Lavin, Dr. Arthur A. “The End of the Pandemic Begins, for the Vaccinated.” 14 May 2021. www.advancedped.com 

Lazarus, R, Klompas M, Hou X, Campion FX, Dunn J, Platt R. Automated Electronic Detection & Reporting of Adverse Events Following Vaccination: ESP:VAERS. The CDC Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA; April, 2008. www.digital.ahrq.gov 

Shimabukuro, Tom T. MD., Cole, Matthew MPH, Su, John R. MD, PhD. JAMA. 12 February 2021. www.jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776557 

LegiScan Bringing People to the Process. www.legiscan.com 2021. 

National Vaccine Information Center. 2021. 21525 Ridgetop Circle, Suite 100, Sterling, VA 20166. 

www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=AGE&EVENTS=ON&VAX=COVID19

WHIO Staff. “Miami Valley doctor says strokes are increasing in younger people, shares warning signs.” 31 May 2021. www.whio.com/news/local 

[justjessame]

A Little Ass and a Lotta Sass Chapter 21:  A Job...A Purpose...And a Dress

Negan found a ‘job’ for me. It came sooner than I expected, but Laura had found three other guards that I didn’t hate on sight quickly too, so the world was full of surprises.

I’d been at the Sanctuary nearly a month when he told me over dinner. My days had begun to have a sense of routine and normalcy. I’d wake up, wrapped up in Negan, he’d use all the persuasion he possessed to convince me mornings weren’t his father’s least useful gift, and we’d have breakfast. Our chats kept going, even traipsing into less than safe territories, and while I wasn’t able to make him budge on the Kingdom or Hilltop, we learned more and more about one another. Then a shared shower, dressing for the day, and he’d go off to show the community what a badass, yet fair leader he was, and I’d get started on my own day.

I had felt that Laura needed to be clued in on my ‘condition’. She needed to know that Negan wasn’t simply insanely protective of me for my own irresistible self, but that I was growing a tiny little terror inside of me that he’d no doubt burn the world down to protect. With that in mind, she didn’t blink at my daily walks through the Sanctuary and outside in the fresh air and sunshine. She became adept at knowing which way the wind was blowing, literally, because the scent of walker security was a surefire way to make me lose my breakfast.

We’d go through the marketplace, and I’d managed during one such trip, to find a book on pregnancy. I’d been a good student, but science hadn’t been my strong suit, so biology wasn’t high on my list of things to memorize. It’s how I learned that our little demon seed was practically microscopic, and I started preparing for what was coming.

And with this book in hand, my chats with Negan started to include what we were going to be experiencing. “Wait,” he said, holding up a huge hand during dinner the night he would tell me he’d decided on my role inside the Sanctuary. “How fucking big is their head gonna be again?” Yes, I’d been regaling him with the joys of childbirth, during dinner. And we’d decided to call the bean “they” since we didn’t actually know the sex. Shut up, we’re progressive.

I checked the book, and grimaced. “Around thirteen inches in circumference is the low end of the scale.” Ugh, gross. “I was a premie, so if our bean takes after me, they could be tinier.”

“You came early?” He asked, still eating somehow. “Don’t remember you telling the good doc that during your checkup.” I rolled my eyes. “Thirteen inches,” he whistled and I shot him a glare. “That’s-” he held up his hands and gave an example. “Fuck, baby girl, that’s gonna hurt.”

Asshole. I was glaring at the book, and trying not to squirm at the thought of something that size passing through me. “Yeah, but I’ll be holding your fucking hand the entire time, so better start exercising those fingers, I’d hate to fucking crush them.”

Negan laughed, and I took a drink when I looked up at his flashing eyes. “I have good news for you, sweetheart.” I put the book aside, thankful for a break from the terrifying future. “Tomorrow you go to work.”

I raised an eyebrow. Really? “Picked a job that you’re ‘willing’ to let me do, have you?” I knew I sounded cranky, but seeing as I just realized how fucking huge babies really were and the fact that he’d been so adamant that I only work at what he felt I should, well I was fucking cranky.

He leaned back in his chair and grinned. Unfazed by my irritation, which pissed me off a little more. “Yes, I have.” Those damn dimples mocked me. “I have the leaders of my outposts coming tomorrow for a meeting. They think they’re just being introduced to you, my new-” he stopped, we still hadn’t fucking given what we were a label, and EVERY time he made the ‘wife’ suggestion I gagged, at him, mind you. “They think it’s just an introduction.” He moved on, past the confusion of what the fuck we were. “You, my lovely Callie, are gonna use that wonderful talent of yours to let me know just how trustworthy my people are.”

I grinned at him. Clever, that’s Negan. My Negan, I thought, wanting nothing more than to prove myself and also, to show the fucking entire community that I wasn’t just his willing concubine. “Of course,” I answered, pushing my plate away. “What time should I be ready?”

 The next morning, after performing his duty of convincing me that sunlight was not the enemy in the most mind blowing way he could, he smacked me on my bare ass, and ordered me out of bed for breakfast. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Negan had begun beating the delivery people to the punch. I swear to fucking hell, he was waking me up earlier and earlier, and I would one day smother myself with a fucking pillow to stop it, but he took great pleasure of waiting with our living area door open so they couldn’t interrupt or fucking knock.

Fucker, I thought, as I tugged on my morning outfit of whatever shirt he’d tossed off the night before, grabbing a pair of panties that I’d ONLY don during breakfast, and meeting him in the living room. I have to say, watching him wait for breakfast with the same glee I probably waited for presents on Christmas morning, was hilarious. I swear, once he’d decided to take away the unknown power that our food delivery person had over us, he became a fucking child. One day, soon probably, he was going to hide behind the open fucking door and shout “BOO” when he jumped out just to get a new fucking thrill.

I was shaking my head, and getting the dirty dishes from dinner gathered, when I felt him creep up behind me. His arms wrapped around me and he propped his head on top of mine. “Have I ever told you how fucking hot you look wearing my shirts?” His hands were smoothing down my still pretty damn flat stomach, teasing the soft fabric of his t-shirt. “When you come out here every fucking morning in one, it’s all I can do to fight the fucking urge to lay you down on this fucking table and have YOU for breakfast.”

I could hear the rawness in his voice and my stomach clenched with the picture he was painting. Me, laid out, much like our first flirtation on the dinner table in Alexandria, only naked this time and being savored. Jesus, I swallowed at the fucking burn growing across my skin.

He was dipping his head to nibble along my neck when we heard a throat clear. I nearly laughed, nearly because I fully remembered Rule Number 1, and also because for ONCE this wasn’t my fault. Ha. I felt his groan against my skin, and then he pulled away and stalked to our open door. Letting go of a silent giggle, I took the empty dishes to the door to hand them to the poor guy standing there being glared at by Negan.

He took them from me, and I offered what I hoped was a sympathetic smile. Then closing the door, I rejoined the father of my child at the table. Negan was setting the table, something I’d reluctantly become used to, and he held out my chair for me as always. We sat and discussed what I could expect from the meeting he’d planned for the morning.

“Any preferences for what I should wear?” I asked, eating my food without argument. Another concession I’d made during the past month. Why fight the serving sizes? Especially since, and I’d never admit it to Negan, but I was growing more and more hungry by the day.

He considered my question, knowing it didn’t come from a place of vanity. I wanted to be seen as formidable, but also as Negan’s whatever the hell I was to Negan. “One of the dresses?” It came out as a question, mostly because I hadn’t chosen to wear one of them yet. I could tell he wasn’t certain I liked dresses. “They’re all pretty functional, pockets, good length should shit go wrong.” He was building a case for why he’d given them to me, I could see, and I smiled to show him I got it.

I nodded, wanting to sigh because today panties would be a requirement. Fuck, I thought, I hate underwear. We ate, talked about the day, and then he reminded me of another appointment we had today. “Dr. Carson says you’re due for another checkup.” I gave another nod. Yeah, it had been about a month, another checkup would be routine at this point. “I’m thinking after the meeting, we’ll have lunch and head to the infirmary.”

“Sounds fun.” My tone showed exactly how not fun I found the idea.

A shower, brief this morning, since we had so much to do. Then we were back in our bedroom, Negan having a simple task of tossing on his usual outfit. Me, well, I was opening the section of the closet that I’d ignored until now. Dresses. I didn’t hate wearing them, but a part of me wondered how wife-like I’d be looking in one. As I’m flicking through the offerings, I pull out one that makes me question just what kind of fantasies my personal sex machine may harbor for me.

“Negan, baby?” I ask, glancing at him and holding up the very plaid dress I’m holding up. “Is there something you want to share with the class about this?”

His eyes are twinkling as his grin grows. “I thought you’d look hot in it, princess.” Uh huh, in a tartan plaid dress that hints at a schoolgirl fantasy if I’ve ever seen one.

 “Gotta say, Coach, I fucking hated gym, but I’m pretty fucking certain this wasn’t the uniform.” I started to put it away, cute as it was I was pretty sure that wasn’t the image I was going for today. His arms wrapped around me and he nuzzled his face in the curve of my shoulder. “Really?” I whispered, wanting more information, just so I understood. “Is it because of my size, or-”

His laughter against my skin forced a new rush of need to roll through me. “I’m not a fucking pedo, Callie.” He kissed my neck and I could feel his smile against my skin. “You’re so fucking tiny, and I saw it, and fuck if it didn’t give me an idea or two.”

Ah, I bit my lip, running my own scenario through my mind. “I think we’re going to explore those ideas, Negan,” my voice a breath, “soon.”

Another laugh, and another swat on my panty covered ass. “Get dressed, woman.”

I mumbled about the fucking need for panties, the need for a dress, the fucking irritation of having to be awake and dealing with this shit. My hands landed on a wine colored sleeveless wrap dress. Mesh covered the shell which was made of stretchy fabric, and it did have pockets. I wrapped it around me, happy that I didn’t have to change the bra and panty set I’d chosen and smoothed it down so it settled just above my knees. If it was ever necessary, I actually could fight in it. Impressed at Negan’s care in choosing my wardrobe, once again, I pulled out a pair of ballet flats and a pair of canvas sneakers. As I was deciding, Negan offered his choice.

“Sneakers, babe.” He was pulling on his leather jacket, and watching me intently. I raised an eyebrow wondering at his choice, but didn’t argue. They were cute, and they worked, so I tied them on.

He came over to fix my necklace, as I brushed and braided my hair. Dropping a kiss on the bare skin of the back of my neck, he smiled at me in the mirror’s reflection. “You look good enough to fucking eat, darlin’.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” I answered with a smile. “Should we head out?”

I was nervous. I’d met the people around us, fighting to keep hold of their names. And while Laura and Arat were becoming more familiar to me daily, the rest were kept at a distance. And here I was heading to meet the men and women Negan trusted to act in his stead at the outposts. Places that my family had attacked and killed at. As butterflies fought in my stomach, Negan’s hand took mine, and together with Lucille we made our way to meet these leaders, meet them and have me pass judgement, I corrected myself.

Hopefully, I’d find nothing and no one amiss, but I didn’t count that as likely. Negan surrounded himself with people who were fighters and survivors, and I knew, better than most what it took to become either.

[realrisehealth]

Five tips for weight loss

Looking handsome and gorgeous is not only an attractive looking aspect but also the healthy aspect to ourselves. Here we will discuss

five tips for weight loss

which should be considered during any weight loss program you are following.

Everybody needs fast and unhealthy weight loss, which is one of the most widespread obsessions in our culture today. On a daily basis, we’re bombarded with unrealistic body messages in the media, we’re part of social conversations and judgments focused on physical appearance, plus we put pressure on ourselves to be a size “perfect” every time we see ourselves in the mirror.

Generally, it has been admitted that overweight can be controlled through dieting and people practiced the weight loss program by themselves under this scenario. If you start sweating when you think about how you’ll look at an upcoming high school reunion, wedding, holiday party, or beach vacation. The pressure we put on ourselves to drop pounds fast is not only bad for our hearts and minds, it also takes a toll on our bodies. Frankly, the lose-weight-quick promises on books and products are ridiculous and dangerous.

Let’s get one thing straight before moving on: You are handsome and gorgeous, valuable, and amazing just the way you are. What I’m about to share is for those of you who want to lose weight in a healthy, balanced, and realistic way. If you focus on your overall health management and believe that it will take some time to lose your weight up to the desired level, then the weight loss procedure will be effective.

That said, the average weight loss was about 6 pounds over the course of those three weeks. SIX! That may not sound like a lot to you, but keep in mind that these pounds are far more likely to stay off. And, that’s because Crazy Sexy You includes healthy whole grains, plant-based protein, fruits and veggies, lots of water, proper rest, meditation, and simple exercise.

Now, some people lost significantly more than the average, but that often depended on how much the person had to lose and generally settled into the range I’m describing. The point is, if we want to get healthy, we need to do it in a sustainable way that works for our bodies and lives.

There are some key points for any program participants and those who continued to follow the principles of the plan are still losing weight in a healthy way. No deprivation, harsh inner critics, yo-yo dieting or obsessive weight checks. Just good food, self-care, and movement.  

Important five tips for weight loss you should keep in mind.

Target and practice for no more than 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week

Again, I know it might sound like a snail’s pace, especially if you have 50 or 60 pounds you want to lose, but shedding 1-2 pounds per week is going to get you to your goal and help you stay there. One pound is equivalent to 3500 calories. So if you lose 1 pound in a week, that means you’ve eaten 3500 fewer calories that week or burned an extra 3500 calories (or a combo of the two). Here’s a fun way to think about it: If you were to hold a pound of fat in your hand, it’s about the size of small butternut squash. Oh, my gourd! At that rate, you will have lost 25 squash in six months. Bravo!

Change your mindset for weight loss

Slow it down and be gentle with yourself. Take the pressure off and open your mind. Let go of the all-or-nothing beliefs, fads, and myths you’ve picked up along the way, especially when it comes to carbs. Consumption of unhealthy mischievous foods can be the reason for the failure of weight loss activity. If you’re feeling caught up in the stress, then you need a free pass to forgive yourself! Focus on all the other areas of your life that you’re successful in.

Instead of striving to just drop a certain amount of pounds, shift your mindset to improving your overall wellbeing with healthy foods, exercise you like, and self-care. When you do, the weight loss will inevitably follow.

Scale your weight only in a week

To be honest, this is the best of five tips for weight loss, I stopped weighing myself long ago. But if you’re curious (and hopefully not obsessed) here are some things to keep in mind. Your weight can fluctuate 3-4 pounds from day to day due to sodium intake, water loss, dehydration, and even hormone levels. If you’re stepping on the scale each morning, you may feel on top of the world one day, only to find yourself frustrated the next. Avoid this roller coaster by picking one morning a week to weigh yourself, and do it before you eat or drink anything. These numbers will be much more reliable. There’s a caveat, though. Don’t panic if you’ve been eating a veggie-loaded healthy diet, guzzling H2O, and exercising regularly and your weight is going up. You’re likely building muscle. Just keep up the great work and read tip #4. In time, the number on your scale will shift.

Avoiding the scale by and large, particularly in the first place is helpful. Rather, hold up until your garments begin fitting all the more freely. Meanwhile, simply center around connecting with your body's yearning and fulfilled prompts, just as your vitality level. Since you realize that eating well plant-fueled nourishments, skirting the garbage and liquor, organizing rest, and practicing more will get you to your objective, it's useful to make propensities that will bolster economical weight loss and wellbeing first. The scale can come later when you realize you're moving the correct way and simply need a persuasive lift.

Think about taking your body estimations and the following muscle to fat ratio week by week

As we just talked about, it can take half a month for the scale to reflect by and large weight loss, particularly in case you're practicing and eating a fair, non-craze diet. Once more, this regularly implies you're building muscle. In this way, your fat cells are diminishing in size while your muscle cells are developing and getting progressively thick. On the off chance that you've taken your "previously" hip, thigh, midsection and arm estimations, just as your muscle to fat ratio, you'll likely observe every one of those numbers drop on a week by week premise. This tells you that you're progressing nicely at a solid pace. Furthermore, seeing improvement through this viewpoint supports your certainty and responsibility. Crash diets and trends abstain from food ordinarily bring about quick weight loss, yet you're losing muscle, not fat. Thus, you might be getting more slender, yet your body is less conditioned. That is not one of your objectives!

Be careful with the things that can obstruct weight loss achievement

The last five tips of weight loss are stress, Stress is likely the greatest square to weight loss, and being worried about your weight can truly hinder your advancement. In case you're feeling along these lines, think about utilizing some loosening up basic oils, routinely getting a decent night's rest, and ruminating every day. Practices like these will help quiet your nerves and advance adjusted and long haul weight loss. What's more, stress can frequently be the consequence of the weight we place on ourselves. Here and there when we quit attempting, things happen normally—even weight loss. Make a guarantee to yourself that for 3 weeks you're just going to concentrate on sound nourishments, development, and getting rest. Without undesirable desires, you'll feel much improved, stress less, embrace more beneficial propensities, and spotlight on your successes, rather than a number.

Moderate digestion can likewise make weight loss all the more a battle. Look at my digestion boosting tips here for approaches to enable your digestion to work in support of yourself. The vast majority of them are simple things you can consolidate into your regular day to day existence. Calorie cycling—eating a greater number of calories on certain days than others—does the stunt for certain individuals. What's more, it very well may be consolidated into your life in a solid manner (remember that it is not advancing eating an enormous cheddar pizza one day and just rice cakes the following).

Planning and execution should be perfect

For instance, you can plan to appreciate an extraordinary solid treat each other day. Or on the other hand, since you realize that the ends of the week will likely incorporate more calories, you settle on more astute supper decisions Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In the event that you follow these rules, cycling calories can fire up your digestion and give you the weight-loss edge you need in a feeding and adjusted way.

On the off chance that you feel mooched out by adopting a moderate strategy to weight loss, contemplate this. Fast weight loss is, in all honesty, a weight-loss executioner. Losing more than 3 or 4 pounds seven days is OK for up to 14 days on the off chance that you have a lot of weight to lose, yet keeping up this pace not just brings down your digestion altogether and for all time, it likewise brings down your supplement savings. This regularly prompts vitality accidents and yearnings, however, it can likewise imply that your weight will rush to return and increasingly hard to lose next time.

Flowing through these five tips for weight loss will support the perspective for your goal of reducing weight. Making a perceptive and all around paced way to deal with weight loss is the initial phase in building up a sound connection with your body. Since you have the structure squares, I trust you'll move your regard for giving yourself more love and giving your body more opportunity to accomplish its objectives.

Must Read: Top 8 And Best Shoulder And Arm Workout

[bonebreakjack]

Winter Warmth

Knuckles doesn't like the cold, he grew up on tropical island for cry out loud!

But maybe winter ain't all bad.

Genre:friendship

Rating: G

Knuckles let out a sneeze as he shivered in his thick scarf, he didn't like visiting everyone during winter he was always sleepy, cold, and freakin wet! But Amy invited everyone over to her house for Christmas this year and even he for all his responsibility ....can't deny eating his friend’s food around this time of year, especially when she's offering.

Plus Chaos and Tikal insisted he go take a break.

(As well as bring some back for them. Sneaky gluttons, how does a ghost and being made of water even eat?)

Amy always made a lot of food around this time to give and help them through their semi hibernations. It was hard being hibernating mammals, your body ached with the ancient need to stuff yourself till you pop and sleep until you started to see flowers again.

Very annoying when you have to guard an ancient sacred relic with the power to destroy the world 24/7. That does not even mention the water deity of destruction that lived within it.

Their bodies may have evolved the automatic knockout out but they still are slower, sleepier, and much heavier than any other part of the year. It was amazing Eggman didn't attack them more often during this time when their at their weakest but he guesses not even Eggman likes working in this hellish cold.

Hearing voices he moved his head and nearly stopped cold at the crowd that was surrounding Amy's house pushing and shoving at each other. Feeling his hackles rise he let anger burn him warm. If these assholes came to start trouble he will give them a reason to start it!

Stomping his way over Knuckles was going to start laying into them when and even louder high pitched voice did it for him.

"I. SAID. GET IN LINE!!!"

Like obedient and scared school children the people got into a neat in orderly line(even if there was an almost stampede quality to it in an effort to quickly do as they were told.)

Knuckles raised a brow as he saw Amy having come outside her house armed with her hammer huffing pissed off and annoyed. She had her apron and bandana on covered in all sorts of food stains.

"You all are going to wait for your turn! You didn't want to wait for the deliveries? Well then unfortunately you're gonna have to wait in line like proper people." Resting her hammer on her shoulder she turned to Knuckles looking ready to go into another row before she stopped realizing who it was. Squealing, she made the ever so feared weapon disappear to hug him.

"Knuckles! You're early." She pulled him into the house and Knuckles tried to ignore the glares of death as he was allowed entry into the house. He was feeling petty and stuck his tongue out at them not helping their ire.

"Sorry, for that, after the whole thing with the Resistance, a lot of people were left without jobs. So I made this program to help get food around this year to those who can't afford it." Amy took him into the kitchen and he had to blink a couple a time to take in what he was seeing.

Food, so much FOOD. 

Miss Vanilla was currently manning the stove and giving people directions like she was a head chef in a restaurant, not a movement out of place as she cooked and fluttered around to check everyone's progress. Beside her, and Knuckle’s was guessing is her assistant Shadow who was cutting the meats and veggies at lightning speed.

Cream, Chocola, and Cheese were doing the wrapping of aluminum and plastic to keep the food warm before fitting them in the bags already stuffed to the brim. The back door was open for some reason and just as Knuckles was going to bring a voice to his question a familiar blue blur came in and at least half the bags were gone.

At a much slower pace Silver and Big came to take the rest thus starting the process all over again.

"I was cooking but there were too many orders for my area and everyone was already here so I asked them for help. But the deliverers were having trouble with directions so i was delegated to calling and directing the deliveries instead and that fuss outside isn't helping." Amy huffed and rubbed her head as the familiar rustling of unhappy people outside made Knuckles narrow his eyes before it turned into a smirk.

It seems Amy went overboard with trying to help again and is getting stressed. That's a big no in Knuckles book especially at this time of the year where everyone is supposed to be slowing down and resting more. Even on the others, he can see the tiredness seeping into the bodies not wanting to fight nature’s call. 

Amy had enough delivery dogs, and he doesn't think his cooking skills will be much help since Vanilla and Shadow seemed to be a well-oiled machine.

So that leaves only one thing to do to help ease his friend’s burden.

"Hey! Knuckles where are you going?"Amy called out to him as he marched back to the front door.

"I'm going to remind the people outside about *manners*. You already got your army working overtime, I can help by reducing the noise level." Knuckles cracked his namesakes but was stopped as something warm was thrown on his head. He took it into his hand and realized it was a thick warm pink jacket, he turned to Amy confused.

She just smiled gratefully and Knuckles felt happy as he already saw some tension leave her.

"I don't know why you don't get yourself a jacket. It was way too cold to have just a scarf. Take mine and don't be too persuasive now."

They both laughed as he put it on, giving her a salute as he closed the door behind him. The crowd from before were already yapping their complaints but they stopped cold at Knuckles glare.

"Listen here you bunch of ungrateful brats, they are working very hard in there to get you all fed. And behaving like jerks won't help you get it any faster. So, you’re going to sit here, shut up, and behave."

Someone in the middle of the line let out a disrespectful PFFFT before sticking their head out. A kind of turtle teenager who gave Knuckles an unimpressed look.

"Oooo, I'm so scared-"He shut up very quickly as Knuckles got into his face.

"You will be if you keep causing trouble."

A loud swallow and the teenager was shaking in his spot, and for extra measure Knuckles glared at the rest of them before nodding in satisfaction as the now cowed group. Going back to the front he played guard as everyone inside got work in a much more peaceful environment. Slowly but surely the people diminished as they got their promised food and apologies were given without Knuckles needing to do anything. 

A tap to his shoulder woke him up and he looked around to see it was already dark and somehow he had fallen asleep at the door. 

"Hey come inside we're all done Mr. Guardian." Knuckles shivered slowly as Amy took him in and lead him to the living room. Inside there were a lot more people than there was earlier, it made him chuckle a bit as he realized Amy really did put EVERYONE to work today. Guess they earned their winter foods today.

Vanilla was on the couch and while her posture was as perfect as ever she looked ready to slouch and take a nap. Young Cream curled into her mother with her Cheese and Chocola in her lap. Gemeral stood next to them not looking fazed but would occasionally pat Cream on the head. Vector sitting next to her with Espio resting against him knocked out and Charmy splayed across his lap. 

Shadow was in the corner of the eyes closed and arms crossed leaning on Omega who had found the only space that didn't have anything breakable near him. Rogue had lost all her decorum and rested shamelessly on top of his metal head letting soft snores.

Big the cat was on the recliner and Froggy rested on his stomach. Even Sonic was asleep with a blanket thrown over him and Tails as they slept. Silver took the other couch and that’s where Amy led him to lay down and dropped a blanket on him.

"Here everyone is staying here tonight and we're going to work together to make our winter meals tomorrow."She said softly as she gave him a pillow and Knuckles didn't realize how tired he was until his head hit it. The warmth and companionship in the room was making him sleepy.

"Thanks for the help Knuckles."

"No problem Amy, now you got to sleep too you ever relentless meddler."

"Meddler; he calls me." It got him a tired giggle but he finally heard the girl leave to rest as she had thrown blankets on everyone.  He was happy he was able to help even a little bit, hopefully, he can help more than just guard tomorrow. 

As much as he hated winter, this is one benefit he will give it. An excuse to see his friends more often. Yes, he had Tikal and Chaos now, but Tikal was an ancient ghost who hasn't been in touch with the modern world for a long time and Chaos....well was Chaos. It felt lonely up there sometimes even if he did prefer his privacy and space.

It was good to see everyone, checking in on them and seeing how they were. He may not be able to verbally admit it but he had grown close with this strange group of misfits who somehow become friends from saving the world over and over.

He hated winter but Knuckles can admit it’s not all bad.

[fancyharry]

third time’s a charm

hello! this is a little prequel to my niall series “Mother’s Day”, which you can read here!

I am planning to write some more about this little universe, and would love to hear feedback and some more concepts that you come up with! i’m so glad I felt mentally better to finish a piece of work and I'm so excited to share this little world with you all :) Enjoy!!

word count: 3k

trigger warning: miscarriage, grief, loss.

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The warmth of the mild June morning seeps through your skin as you stretch out in bed. You have plenty of room, given that it’s gone eleven o’clock and so your husband will already be halfway around the local golf course with his mates from the pub. He has pulled back the curtains already, knowing how fond you are of waking up in a warm glow with the sun beaming down on you. Sitting up, you smile, gazing out of the nearby window to the somewhat never-ending countryside, seeing grassy hills, lochs, and farms in the not-so-distant landscape.

The peace of the surrounding nature was just one of the reasons you love living here - another being the freedom to do as you liked, as you and Niall are simply locals and nothing more to the people in this little village you now call home. You purchased the house 3 years ago and now, fully decorated, there’s no place you’d rather live with Niall in the whole world. 

Usually, you’d be able to relax, or tidy the kitchen from the night before, perhaps even sit outside to soak up some of the glorious sun. But no. Today, circled on the calendar in a bright red ink it is noted that you have a doctors appointment. Meaning that you have to leave your cosy little haven and discuss your health. Something, as of late, you’ve been keeping an eye on. 

While this was just a regular three month check up, you know that the words which still weigh you down so heavily, are bound to be mentioned - loss, grief, miscarriage. Even the soft and caring “so how are you doing?” was going to be tough to get through. Despite your recent troubles, your doctor has remained good natured and kind during your appointments. She respects you and your situation, and has been of great assistance medically and emotionally in the past year or so. You don’t mind the company, but rather dread the conversation awaiting you.

                                                            oOo

You head out the door after making minimal effort to look better than you did earlier. What need was there to get dressed up when were just going to go to the doctors, come home, and cry? As per usual. You would laugh at the routine you’d accidentally twisted yourself into, but it’s hardly a laughing matter when your husband has to console you for the rest of the week.

Your appointment is 12.30 sharp, and you’re ten minutes early, focusing on the list you’d written in haste a few days prior which had been stuffed into your jacket pocket. It was easier to bring up your list of concerns to the doctor, if it meant you didn’t have to talk about them. This month? Feeling faint, headaches, little energy, irregular periods. All part of the grieving process, maybe.

Maybe not.

“Y/N Horan?” you hear your name called, and tuck the list away back into your pocket before standing, smiling briefly as you follow the doctor through to her office.

“Hi there Y/N...no Niall today?”

“No he...he’s out this morning. He doesn’t know, doesn’t like to check the calendar any more than once or twice a month so...it’s just me” you admit. You didn’t need Niall cancelling his plans and getting uptight and worried about you. It’s better this way, you reckon.

“Well then, it’s your appointment and this of course is all confidential. I hope he is still being supportive?” She speaks calmly, but with a hint of speculation in her tone.

“Yes! Absolutely. He’s great. Just wanted to do this myself. He had plans this morning and I’ve been doing better so...” you tail off, wondering how on earth you will handle this when you return home. You halt that thought with a quick smile directed at the woman sitting opposite you at her desk. “Yeah. He’s the best.”

And he is. Through the last year he’s been nothing but heaven-sent. Holding you close, making sure you rest, eat, and get out of bed on those days that just seemed too hard. You know how much he has suffered too and yet he’d been your rock.

You know that he’s cried at night while he thinks you’re asleep.

Losing one child in the early stages of pregnancy had been bad enough. You’d taken so many tests which had turned out negative, until one finally stated “positive” and “3 weeks”. You only carried that baby for two more weeks before you lost them. You’d cried, he had cried, you took a break from trying, praying that you would heal together and that next time you’d be luckier.

And barely 5 months later you fell pregnant again. You’d thought you were out in the clear at 7 weeks, getting ready to start telling your closest family and friends. 

However, instead of calling people to tell them the good news, an ambulance was called, and your bloodied bedsheets were thrown out. In the space of 6 months you’d lost two babies. Two tiny baby Horan’s, who you had promised to give the world to. Both ripped from you in some sick twist of fate. 

It wasn’t fair.

“Well good!” Your doctor chirps, dragging your from your thoughts. “I’m glad. It seems you have a great support system at home. Now, are there any queries you-”

“Yes!” you blurt out, before cringing at your own eagerness. You fumble with your list before handing it over. She reads it, taking her time to smooth out the crinkled paper and thinking over every possible symptom and diagnosis she can make from what you’ve written. For you, the silence in the room is deafening.

“Okay...so from this, there’s a couple of tests i’d like to run...would that be alright? I could always schedule you in for another t-”

You stop her again in her tracks. “Now is good. Whatever needs done, I can do it now.”

                                                           oOo

You take 3 different types of tests, each taking only a few minutes to register results. The thought that whatever is wrong with you is so tangible and potentially serious that your doctor asks for you to take three tests right then and there, is doing nothing for your nerves. You’re sitting alone in the office as the doctor prints through the results, and you wish - for the first time since you first sat in the waiting room - that you’d at least told Niall. And just maybe, that you’d brought him here, too. He always knew how to make you feel better, safe, and calm, even if he was facing the same outcome.

Your thoughts are interrupted as your doctor walks into the room - luckily with a smile.

“Well, one positive result came up for you”

Your heart just about stops with her news. Positive? A diagnosis about something today? Right now? 

Without Niall?

“Oh”, is all you can muster up the courage to say “oh, right”.

“Well I know we spoke earlier and you gave me that list to look through...I thought one of the samples you gave could be used for a pregnancy test.”

Okay, now you really needed Niall here.

The doctor evaluates your reaction and pauses. She shuffles her chair closer and smiles, a true genuine smile. It almost makes you feel better.

“Y/N, you said something about having irregular periods, a couple of near-fainting spells...I wanted to double check just to rule it out but the pregnancy test...it came back positive. I believe that you've just been spotting a little, and you’re not getting the right vitamins you need.”

After hearing the word “positive” you’ve gone blank. You don’t hear much else. It’s the third time you’ve heard this news, yet you’re childless. You swallow back a mix of saliva and bile as it rises in your throat.

“it says you’re between 7 and 8 weeks. I think it’s important we discuss this.”

                                                           oOo

Heading home, you clutch the steering wheel, trying to ignore the small pile of paper on the passenger seat in your peripheral vision. Pregnant. Well, you hadn't seen that coming. And your husband definitely won’t either. Your mind is between driving, and wondering how on earth you’ll do this, how you’ll prepare, how you’ll even go about telling Niall because you know the moment you see his face, you’ll break.

It’s a long 15 minutes home. The radio is muted, while the country landscape provides some form of comfort blanket as you worry through each scenario racing through your mind. It’s only 2pm, but you just want to go to bed and sleep away the fogginess of whatever hallucination you're living in. Dream it away and wake up to clearer skies and a sense of understanding.

You roll up the driveway, right next to Niall’s land-rover. You remember when he bought it, not even needing much of the car salesman’s persuasion; “it’s perfect for rural areas, plus big enough to take up to 7 people. Can also fit in any size of child carrier, which we also stock.”

Niall was sold, and at the time, so were you. Now you just see the car and its emptiness. Even if you filled the back seats with shopping or luggage, there was only just the two of you travelling. Well, maybe three now.

                                                          oOo

Stepping into the house, you can’t help but already feel your eyes start to brim with tears. Your favourite candle is burning, and you can faintly hear music from down the hallway, coming from Niall’s home studio. You didn’t even mind that it was only 70% soundproof - his talent was unfathomable and you enjoyed listening to him create music as if he was pulling the melodies and chords straight from the sun and stars above.

You shuffle your shoes off, heading over to the studio just to be near him for a moment - just before you fully break. You want to remember him like this; not knowing. Not worrying.

He has headphones on and is scribbling words and chord progressions down. Whether it comes to fruition or not, he thrives on the process. He bashes out a few more chords while you go to take off your coat and move away from the door, when he looks up through a sliver of the window in the door.

He’s surprised, to say the least. Of course, given that he hadn't seen you all day, he’s delighted that he’s finally able to embrace you and spend the rest of his day with his favourite person.

Niall had in fact, been a bit worried when he arrived home to see that you had left in the car. Nevertheless, he decided that spending time in the studio would ease his mind. He’d also been entertaining the possibility of having a pet, a new life inhabiting the beautiful 4 bedroom home you lived in. A puppy, he was thinking - or a kitten if it’s what you’d want instead. He just wants you to be happy, knowing that your true purpose in life is to care for others. It hurts him that you’re barely managing to care for yourself, and that he hasn't been able to give you a child, a little love created by the two of you. 

“There’s m’lover, where ya been?” he opens the door and steps out just in joggers and a casual t-shirt. His eyes are pure sunshine, his embrace warm, open, and loving, until he sees you’re trying to hold back tears. In an instant, his eyebrows furrow as his face deepens with worry. His embrace is softer, kinder, now afraid that one wrong word and he’ll have lost you for the rest of the day. 

Tentatively, he whispers, stepping much closer to you.

“...What’s happened? hey c'mere”

You can only shake your head silently as the overwhelming mixed emotions build up, and so he pulls you in even closer, hoping that it will make things even a little bit better. You can’t be in his arms for long though, and he realises as you weaken against him. The sofa in the studio is already pulled out and he makes sure you're stable enough to sit you there, before kneeling before you.

“you need to sit, Ni. Please, for me.” And this time it’s not just for the sake of his bad knee.

So he sits, taking your hand to hold, rubbing your thumb with his as he faces you waiting for you to stop nervously biting your lip. 

“Baby c’mon, you’re scarin’ me...” Niall prompts you, his own voice shaking now as you both wait for you to get your words out properly.

“I was at the doctors Ni...I, somehow I, I know we weren’t trying but....I’m pregnant” 

Your breath is now held, time ticking by so slowly it feels, as you sit there waiting for his reaction. The wind had most certainly been knocked out of you when you were told. The terrifying prospect of having another chance after the trauma of losing two in just a few months prior, is extremely daunting, and causes for a true silence to be better able to come to terms with the news.

“And i’m scared, we stopped trying because we can’t lose another one...not again.” Your voice breaks as you finally let the tears fall. 

The whole time, he’s been frozen still, his mouth parted slightly and blinking every few moments when another stream of information floods his brain with possibilities - both positive and negative. He can’t quite believe it, all this news coming to him at once leaves him utterly speechless. He’s surprised, not only that you went to the doctors office alone, but that you’re expecting his baby, too. 

He finally breaks the dam of deafening silence as he sees you cry. Your words had previously been muffled in his head ever since you had said “pregnant” when his mind began racing a mile a minute. But now you’re in front of him, crying, and scared of losing yet another baby, something that has broken you twice before, back when he world felt against the two of you and when soft touches and intimacy were coated with what-ifs, and an unmistakeable tension between the two of you.

You weren't sure you could face that for a third time.

“Darlin’, oh darlin’ it’ll be okay...” he comforts you, immediately by your side and holding you close “Did the doctor say the baby was healthy?” 

Seeing you nod through your tears was enough for him, his face lighting up as you confirm that you’re growing a healthy baby.

“Yeah?” he smiles softly “Please don’t cry. I can’t see ya like this. Can’t see the mother of m’child like this...we’re gonna be parents” and in his wonderful charming way, he’s finally able to get a small smile from you. He squeezes you and kisses your temple as he sees this. “This is gonna be it, I can feel it. We deserve this. S’gonna be alright this time. M’gonna look after ya.”

“But what if it’s not alright again Ni..I can’t lose a third...I can’t put us through that again...what if I can’t carry a baby full term and I only ever get to be 8 weeks along! I-” You burst out, confirming Niall’s thoughts that the pressure of a healthy pregnancy was weighing you down already, your past already threatening you with the worst before you even get to envision the best. He’s about to console you further, explaining that you’re just early, you can take it slow, and he’ll be there for you regardless, as he promised when he married you all those years ago.

It’s not until you say 8 weeks, that he halts his words before he’s even begun, and his mouth falls open in surprise.

“8 weeks...8?! Already?! You’ve definitely had a drink or two love, and we’re not exactly tame in the bedroom...’v’never made it this far before...does it not make ya think....that this one is already so strong?” Niall reasons with you, tenderly. Your tears have run down your cheeks and your face remains red and slightly puffy but for now, you’ve stopped crying, considering his words carefully.

“Yeah i guess..it’s just terrifying Ni, I can’t-” you start off strong, but continue your thoughts with your head bowed in shame, whispering “it’s like I’m scared to love them...’

He shushes you, heartbroken that you feel even the tiniest bit of doubt that this time, it won’t happen. That this is just another set up for a certain loss. He kisses your temple, his arm wrapped around your waist protectively.

“Whatever happens, we have each other. we’ll do what we have to do. But ya gotta know that i’m gonna start loving on this baby from this very moment, ‘cause i know we’ve got a little fighter in there.”

And he means it. He intends to keep that spark of hope alive for the both of you until you feel like perhaps there is a happy ending, and that the third time is the charm after all. He takes you upstairs after he’s able to lift your spirits, the studio soon filled with soft laughter and so much love. When you go to order some dinner, he absolutely insists on you making an appointment to see the baby. 

He’s with you through all of your fears as you candidly discuss them together that evening. It’s something that your doctor had recommended, and it means that you’re both on the same page. He can soothe your worries, and you get to tell him everything you know about the baby. It makes it much more real and far less scary when you look at things together. 

                                                          oOo

You head to bed together that night. He’s soothed almost every little worry you have for hours and in turn, he’s now an expert on the tiny little love inside you. 

“Gonna get ya some vitamins tomorrow. Gotta keep ya strength up for this little lover” Niall whispers in the darkness of the bedroom. 

“Little lover is a cute nickname,” you muster up the courage to hope and dream, “we can write that on their crib, too.’

Niall grins.

The curtains are shut as you both lay there, talking about all the possibilities you have now as three. He’s pressed against you in the middle of the bed, his hand with his wedding ring on your barely-there belly. You feel safe, comfortable, and most surprisingly of all, excited. The love between you and Niall in this very moment is tangible and deeper than you could’ve ever imagined. 

You may be in the same room as you woke up anxious and alone in that morning, but here, now, in that very place, you realise that home is a person, not a place.

[afvisende]

Ango is sent on a precarious mission to infiltrate and gather information on the Order of the Clock Tower. Agatha, isn't fooled, but welcomes the man into her organization, slowly warping his mind down the sinister path of perfidy.

Don't flame me for this, I’m just a sad excuse of a person who creates nonexistent pairings. I always fancied the idea of Agatha and Ango, but did nothing about it. This story nailed my coffin, I'm deep in rare pair hell. I also miss HawMitch, but these two are my newest obsession.

It'd been a few years since the infiltration and he's acclimated to nearly everything except one thing. Whenever Agatha's near; how she spoke, her mannerisms, something about it made him nervous. Why was she so eloquently persuasive? He detested how she treated him like a guest from the start. The agent worried if she had any ideas of his true purpose of joining the Order of the Clock Tower. He worked tirelessly as her hound so she wouldn't suspect him. After another toilsome day, she promised him an exquisite meal at her side; an honor rarely given to any of her subordinates. Nerves began to run rampant. Would his tea or food be laced with poison? He wouldn't be able to elude it if he was in her presence.

He really was a fool, wasn't he? Ango's unsure why after his bath he opted to wear his best suit for this occasion. "It's only dinner…" He repeated to himself. There's a subtle knock at the door and he turned to answer. "You may enter. Is this about the invitation with the Knight Commander?" No, it wasn't someone else rather it was the commander herself. Hands lifted her long skirt as she took elegant steps towards him. Watching her alone left him frozen in place. What were her intentions? "Dame Agatha…" Before he could finish her gloved hands reached for his tie undoing it completely. Sakaguchi couldn't stifle his embarrassment; a faint tinge of pink spreading across his pallid cheeks. "What're you--?" Her hands worked adeptly to tie his tie more effectively.

"Learn to tie your ties better. I do so loathe a sloppy appearance. You're fortunate to be skilled in other areas." There's a quirk of her glossed lips into a full smirk and it's unsettling. Most unsettling was her proximity to him. She was so hazardously close; that the scent of her luxurious perfume drowned out the rest of his senses. This wasn't the first time she invaded his personal space, nor the first time she's been so intimate with him. Ango never knew what to make of these gestures, they left him both abashed and flustered. Was it part of a ploy? This was a highly dangerous and intelligent woman, it was safe to say he didn't trust her. Yet, in the deepest and darkest corner of his conflicted heart… for some sick and twisted reason he wanted to. He wanted to believe there's a degree of genuineness in Agatha's actions.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to be more careful next time…" He's uncertain of what else to say as he stared off to the side in an attempt to avoid eye contact.

Nonchalantly, Agatha played with his collar, before hooking two fingers at his tie; pulling him down to her level, so that his gaze wouldn't shyly avert. "Turning away, Mr. Sakaguchi? How unbefitting of you. No one turns away from me as we're speaking." Her grip at his tie tightened and she applied an unusual force. That degree of assertion fascinated him, but added to his inner tension. "Something's discomfiting you, isn't it? Why don't you speak your mind? We're associates, are we not? You can trust me." Her intonation was smooth and spoken in a low hiss; this lady truly was a serpent; one that tempted him down a darker path.

Lies. Due to the nature of his profession involving subterfuge, he knew little else, but to lie. "There are some things a subordinate shouldn't tell his superior… I hope you can respect that."

How cute. Trying to play the personal card was a poor choice. She's not easily deceived, not when she can read him like an open book. Agatha knew more than she let on and that power she held over him made her revel. "So… you're keeping secrets from me. Do you know what punishment that'd entail?" He's heard from the others that punitive measures were harsh, it suited the callous mind that orchestrated Mimic's downfall from the shadows. There's no punishment he wouldn't endure for this operation or for the Japanese Ministry that he ceaselessly served… He couldn't conceal a sense of dread that washed over him as her blue eyes pierced icy daggers into his warmer pools.

"I'm not hiding anything." He swallowed the lump in his throat and that look of trepidation made her sneer. His fear, misgivings, and silly antics were all quite risible had she not found them utterly pathetic. Somehow, this was the most brilliant man that led numerous daunting operations for the Ministry without fail. She knew he was a perfectionist that lamented any minor errors he made along the way. He utilized these mistakes as opportunities to improve himself, but lacked refinement. He was the ideal puppet, or rather, she'd mold him into the perfect one to suit her goals instead. He was a paradigm of diligence and intellect, but he could be so much more under her guidance.

"I highly doubt that. There's much to discuss, but not here…" Her enunciation was rather suggestive. With a tug, she whispered near the shell of his ear. "Dinner awaits us, lest you've forgotten."

"I haven't… I simply was surprised you came for me yourself." As she released him and pulled away, he began to miss the closeness. Would it be out of line to reach for her hand?

The poised woman turned to look at him inquisitively. "If you wish to take my hand, you may." Gloved digits outstretched for him to take and he was reluctant to do so, but managed to. "Tighten your grasp and lead with confidence."

These were crystal clear instructions he endeavored to follow. At the elaborate dinner table, he pulled her seat with his opposite hand and gently allowed her to settle into her seat. Before he could retreat to his own, she called for him. "Protocol, dear Ango. You were remiss not to upon my entrance." This was standard for him, but it didn't change how bashful he was to do it. He wondered if she purposely instated it to rile him up. The man was nigh unflappable, she must've relished watching him lose his composure. He'd been bombarded by a farrago of emotions he was not accustomed to and it bothered him.

"Must I do it myself?" Calmly stated, but no less scathing. From her seat she rose, heels clicking towards him and her lips carefully were planted on one cheek first and then the other. "Is that too difficult for you?"

"It's not." Entire years of mind games and he's at a boiling point, he's unsure what to call this bizarre dynamic of theirs. He dared to wrap his arms carefully around her, his lips ghosting over her own, but gloved digits came between them.

"Patience, darling. That'll come later." How needy could he be? Inciting that desperation in him amused her greatly. Tantalizing him to the apex only to drag him back down was undoubtedly thrilling.

He frowned and she despised how that attractive mole on the upper left corner of his lip drooped slightly with the shift in expression. She'd keep her end of the bargain, but when it was opportune.

Dinner went smoother than expected. In fact, so smoothly, that after any qualms he had of the comestibles being envenomed; he began to have suspicions. She told him to wait for her at his quarters as the night progressed. He was prepared. His gun was cautiously concealed. He had to. No, he needed to. Someone like her was too menacing, too cunning, too cruel… and too lovely. That wasn't right. He shouldn't have harbored these thoughts, much less these frustrating feelings. She'd done nothing but welcome him fondly to her organization; treating him as one of her own from the start. He felt valued, desired, he was rewarded for his exploits. Not to mention, he was allowed reasonable time for himself to rest, before setting off on parlous undertakings. As demanding as she was, Agatha wasn't entirely unreasonable; fairly allowing her subordinates leisure. Gladly they'd lay their lives down for her as meager pawns in her game and that frightened him. Her strength, her wit, her suasion, and leadership; all of it was too potent.

The long awaited moment… Those distinct steps, he knew they were hers and she finally entered. As she approached him, he immediately cocked his gun, pointing it directly at her. There's not a hint of anger, sadness, fear, or shock to her lineaments. Her eyes were as cold and calculating as ever and it stung him deeper than it should've. "Don't get any closer."

As if she'd listen to a lowly underling of the incompetent Japanese Ministry. Truly, they were undeserving of a man of his prowess and devotion. Devotion better used in her service, she silently ruminated. Yet, her gaze was unyielding and condescended upon him as she dared to move a heel forward in his direction. "You haven't the gumption to pull that trigger." Analytical to a fault, she pointed out the conspicuous look of consternation on his face instead. "You look surprised. Why is that? I had always known of your treacherous nature. Is betrayal all that you know?" A soft laugh followed. "There is not a thing I didn't already know about you, Ango Sakaguchi."

He felt the sweat trickle down his forehead, but his hand remained firm on the firearm. Why couldn't he bring himself to fire? "You! You knew and yet you let me in?!"

Agatha smiled wickedly. She continued to defy him, closing the gap between them. "I wanted to personally see what one of the most esteemed agents of the Japanese Ministry was like. You exceeded my expectations."

"Don't test or try me. This is your last warning..." He pressed the gun to the side of her head, but she retained her equanimity. "That means all of this was fabricated… All your words, everything… none of it was genuine."

"Oh? Was it? I'm not so sure about that." In a flash, he's uncertain how she managed to press the barrel of a pistol at his jaw. "You see, I thought a battle of wits betwixt us would be more entertaining. Countless times, I could've had you slain to your lack of notice."

He's horrified to relive the constant pain that resulted from Oda's demise. Working for the Ministry meant following orders and going with plans that didn't align with his personal morals. He hated it, hated himself, and he scarcely stammered his response out. "Then why didn't you?"

"You divert me. I've seen qualities that others overlooked, as well. The organization you're most loyal to doesn't deserve you." It's paralyzing how she coquettishly leaned in while still keeping that pistol harshly pressed to his jaw. "You belong with me in the Order of the Clock Tower and I will not take no for answer." Truthfully, should he reject her proposition, she wouldn't hesitate to shoot him where he stood. Refusal wasn't an option, it never was.

"Against better judgment, I believed in you. I liked working for and with you, but I am only loyal to--"

"To whom? Your friends? We know how well that ended. Don't toy with me. You only value lives, but you cannot safeguard any with the way you are now or whilst working for that lackluster organization. You have to accept that the road to protecting what's dear requires loss. Sacrifices are necessary, you know this better than anyone. Yet, you still reject it. It's what makes you so weak."

This was a losing battle, all along, these efforts were in vain. He no longer had the will to persist, his gun slipped out of his fingers. There was nothing left for him to say, perhaps, this was the fate he deserved.

"Ango… I will not ask again. Will you betray the Japanese Ministry and join me or choose death?" She spoke his name so softly, but the rest of her words were caustic. Despite all the years that elapsed, Christie remained an enigma to him. He wanted to know her for all that she was in greater depth. He swallowed any pride he had left. To abandon his own people and the organization he offered his life for… He'd accept her offer. Had he not grown weary of mistreatment? Change was daunting, but without it there'd be no growth. She was right, no matter his attempts, innocents still died. He took no pleasure in it. The greater good was but an illusion. As she implied previously, there's an ashen perspective, one where malice and benevolence commingled. Embracing a new life and organization... It couldn't be so bad, even if it was a lifestyle that'd taint his hands in additional blood. Of that, there was no true escape.

"I'd be honored to remain at your side. I cast away my former ties. I will tell you all that I know." Slender digits brushed against her cheek affectionately and she smiled triumphantly.

"A wise choice that suits a man of your caliber. There's little I don't know, but I'd be glad to hear it during a private conference."

Undeniably, there's a mutual attraction that fostered throughout the years. It felt forbidden and risky… He was unsure if she felt the same connection.

Agatha tossed aside her pistol using that same hand to remove one of her gloves. It fell to the floor. Her thumb gently brushed over that exquisite mole of his. Ango was truly beautiful, so delicate, it tempted her to watch him crumble beneath her touch. He leaned into it fondly, his own hand settling atop hers.

"Do you recall what I said earlier?" Another stroke to that endearing mole.

"I'm uncertain which you mean?" Brows rose curiously over his glasses.

Wordlessly, her lips were upon his in a fiery kiss that she gradually deepened. He's astonished by how sudden it was and inadvertently moaned into her mouth. Agatha simpered smugly, indulging his distinct taste for all its worth. An experimental and hungry tongue met her own. His hands gripped her hips to restrain himself from the urge of bringing her body closer to his. Ango was so terribly starved, it's unfair how she exploited it. Her own slippery muscle flattened his completely with dominant strokes to later run the tip along his teeth. Helplessly, he moaned again, his inability to stop causing his cheeks to flush. As she retracted, her teeth viciously sank onto his bottom lip; tugging the flesh in admonishment.

"Your vulnerability is so appealing to me, but do not forget your place. We'll have other opportunities, my dear." Ever cordial, she placed a gentler kiss to his mole, and a lighter one to the lip she previously abused.

Ango's perplexed, entranced, and if he didn't know better, he could've sworn she somehow wormed her way in and stole his heart. "Please… I… One more. Just one more."

He certainly knew how to beg, but she's sadistic at heart. "One more what? Tell me how badly you yearn it. Plead for me."

Sakaguchi begged for reasonable things in the past, but never something like this. "I want another kiss, badly. I had thought of it many times, but knew it was not in my place. Please, allow me another." His fingers left her hips and threaded into her golden locks as his eyes glimmered with want.

"Now that's a good lad. Come take your reward." She wouldn't kiss him, she wondered if he possessed the courage to kiss her himself. Even in this situation she still toyed with his mind. "What are you waiting for when I'm right in front of you?" The blonde goaded, going as far as to press her body against his. His hands left her hair as arms encompassed her waist holding her form tightly to his own.

His osculate lacked the finesse of hers, it's messy, but ravenous. His tongue swirled, sampled, and he sucked as much as he could of Agatha's flavor. Her lips were so soft, smooth, and delectable… Not once did she relinquish control during the exchange, however. Her own appendage lashed back offensively and ran torturously slow along the underside of his. He seemed so lost in the moment, she couldn't help but tease him. A lustful sigh purposely left her to fill his mouth which caused his whole face to grow crimson. As the kiss was broken, she shamelessly licked away the remnants of saliva upon his lips as he panted softly.

"That was inappropriate… Allow me to apologize… Surely… There's something I should've told you..." He's at a loss of words, in spite of his attempts to regain his aplomb, appearing somewhat stern. It's naught but a poorly crafted veneer and Agatha saw through it.

"Save it, Sakaguchi. I already know what you're thinking and about to say. I always knew you fancied me and I honestly can't blame you."

To think even her hauteur was dignified, he's enchanted by it. "I don't know what all of this means…"

"It can mean whatever you wish it. I'll be expecting you in my office tomorrow morning. Don't be late, I do so value promptness. There's a lot of work waiting for you." The commander managed to ease out of his possessive hold, before turning to exit his room. Was she teasing him again? With Agatha it was difficult to tell more often than not.

"Understood. I can assure that I'll arrive without delay." He emitted a long breath of relief, but once she's at the door she left him with one more thought.

Christie had higher expectations of him now. "Eager to please me, aren't you? Let's see if you'll keep providing satisfactory results." Her vague wording intended to stimulate him, she definitely knew how to play dirty. Certainly, she meant satisfaction with his performance as her most indispensable agent.

With her gone and the door shut, he collapsed onto his bed. His palm moved over to his mouth where he could still taste her. He's amazed by what transpired. He didn't fully comprehend the ramifications of the decisions he made today. What sort of life awaited him in this foreign nation? Most importantly what did this mean for him and Agatha? It was a future clouded in obscurity, but he couldn't deny it. The Englishwoman robbed him of his heart and if she were the one to crush it, he wouldn't feel the least bit rueful.

[jinsung-doyum-1the9]

UP10TION BLUE ROSE; DETECTIVE AU PT3

The 9 members of up10tion walk away from JUST and Wei. JUST head into their company car except for A, who continues walking a couple steps behind Wei.

“Yah A! you not coming? Wei wait up we could give you a lift too!” KU suggested. A continues walking without giving them an answer. Wei turns back to say “no thank you” and gives them a small wave before continuing forward.

M sends the two off and runs after A. “You can’t be walking alone at this time” he stated when he reached her side. Wei turned back to them, “Especially after what we just saw, who knows if the culprit is still around?” he added. A pays no attention to their concerns and says she’ll be fine. “Well I guess I’ll just have to get some exercise with you then..” M sighed.

JUST and Wei eventually split ways. They wish each other a “goodnight”, a couple waves and smiles as a farewell. Once they’re both out of each others view their manner changes.

Wei starts running and meets up with two men, both couldn’t beat Wei’s height but Wei still felt intimidated even if this wasn’t the first time they met. “I lost them” Wei informs. “Good, Up10tion don’t seem to suspect you of anything even with JUST’s suspicions” Kookheon said. “you still need to be careful..” Chunjin warned. Kookheon seemed to be Wei’s boss, he got the info and tasks from him. While he only saw Chunjin a few times with Kooheon, he seemed more serious and precarious than Kookheon when they would meet Wei.

Kookheon:” I think it’s time for you to understand the whole mission..”. Chunjin leads the way through the dense trees they were surrounded by, while Kookheon explained a bit more of Wei’s role as their inside man. He clarifies that their mission is a form of revenge for the Boss against A and how Wei mostly has to get info on their progress in the case that their Boss has created for A’s downfall.

The boys reach two heavy metal doors, Chunjin is first to enter holding the door for them before continuing down a flight of stairs that lead to another pair of doors. “but wait why would the Boss want revenge on a little girl like A?” Wei inquires. Kookheon and Chunjin exchange a look before Chunjin replies with “Maybe she’ll tell you..”.

“SHE?” Wei exclaims as he’s greeted by more members. Lucas opens the doors from the inside and Wei is met with a giant table across from him, the table proportionally too big for the young girl sat in the middle who greeted them after looking up from what seems like paperwork.

Wei chuckles slightly, “you’re kidding, right?” he commented. Not because ‘The Boss’ was a female teen but the fact that she looked very much like A. “I wouldn't disrespect her.. especially in your position” Lucas cautioned.

Wei turned serious and followed the others towards the giant table to accompany the Boss. He looked around the rest of the space, to his left there were a few steps followed by a small circular space for computers, cameras and other sorts of tech being watched by another teen, this time male. Moving further from that area he saw what looked like the kitchen and dining area, the kitchen part looked small but the dining area looked like it could hold at least 20 people. Wei’s eyes were lead towards a commotion to his right, where 3 different flat-screen TVs lined in a row that was situated in front of a few other boys and another girl, all around A’s age.

------

Once Wei was seated the boss began speaking, “so this is our inside man that’s unfortunate enough to have to work with my sister for the next few weeks... maybe months if I feel like it..” She askes as a rhetorical question but then talking to herself towards the end of the sentence. “I’ll make this quick we all have things to do, just keep doing what you’re doing for now, I'll give you more specific orders when the time comes but for now gain more trust, from what I’ve seen Y/N is definitely still sus of you, be careful with JUST but Y/N especially” she finishes quickly before getting up from her seat and calling over one of the boys who were focused on the TVs. “I.N it’s time” she said ominously as I.N returns her nod then stands up from the group on the floor.

“I’m off with I.N, you guys continue your work, I’m sure Wei has met our front men MYTEEN and Lucas.. it’s time for you to meet the rest of the gang, Chae you’re up” She continues to order. Wei notices that his boss who looked like A didn’t act like her from the short time they saw each other earlier. A seemed more fit to be a leader, his boss who was still stood in front of him didn’t seem professional or seemed to care much about her ‘employees’ or the work they’re doing, unlike A who was sure to double-check and was meticulous about her job. Even the way they talked and walked was different, other than their slightly different styled hair his boss and A looked very much like the same person.

Kookheon left with the boss and some others he had quickly met before the only other girl in the place, Chaeryoung, came to him with the rest of the crew he hadn’t yet met. Although they all looked younger he was still intimidated by their presence before they all went back to their video games and phones. 

Chenle, Mashiho and Siwoo. Chaeryoung introduced the 3 boys as the ‘01 liners, which included their boss, herself and I.N who had left with the older MYTEEN members. She also explained how Hanseul from MYTEEN is also technically a ‘01 liner by age but he was also a newer member along with Wei and Lucas.

Chaeryoung: “Questions?”

Wei: “I don’t mean to offend anyone.. but you guys are ‘01 liners? aren’t you kids? how did you end up here?”

Chae: ”Technically we’re adults most of us are already 18.. except Chenle, but I guess we all did come here when we were all quite young but, Nyra, our boss, if she didn’t introduce herself properly cause she never does.. but anyway she was given this job by the former bosses when they died, they were named MYTEEN, as you can tell she would’ve been the youngest surrounded by much older people and none of them wanted the youngest to become the leader so they all left but Kookheon and some of the others stayed. Nyra needed more people and wanted more people her age soo she recruited us.. don’t ask how she found us or got us to join, long story short she’s very persuasive.. but a good friend.”

Wei: “okay.. and shes A’s sister? Twin?”

Chae: “Yup they were both raised by the same adoptive parents.. they didn’t get on well hence the Revenge.. not only on A but also towards JUST and UP10TION.. Nyra is supposed to be Dead but A knows the truth”

Wei: “are you gonna be this vague for every question?”

Chae: “You’re the new guy! you aren’t supposed to know all the details! but fine.. A, M and Nyra were on the same detective team before JUST was created because the twins’ Dad is head of the company, they were on a case that ended badly, N was caught up with gang activity.. and then we eventually get to where we are today”

Wei: “and this revenge..? what exactly is it about?”

Chae: “phase 1 is to mess with A, phase 2 show her weaknesses to the public make her crumble, phase 3 is N’s return to blame A and make A look even worse and N would be our insider at the company for another mission.”

-----

[PT2] {PT4}

[themostcleverandwittyname]

There’s Power in Pain

CH1 CH2 CH3 CH4 CH5 CH6 CH7 CH8 CH9 CH10

CH11

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

(LinkxOC)

Summary:

A farmer with a troubled past had found a fallen hero on a riverside and makes the decision to take him in. With Ganondorf gathering power by the minute, there is no time to delay in his defeat however there is a time and place for everything as well as a lesson to learn. Link will have to do the hardest thing he has ever done and that is wait until he is ready to defeat Ganondorf.

But will Link ever truly be ready to rely on help to do the impossible? To accept that even heroes need support even from the most unlikely of people?

Meanwhile, a group of thieves organize to steal the sacred sword of the Hero of Destiny for themselves.

Chapter 10: Beedle’s Bargain Bungalow

Chapter 10 on AO3

“This is Clock Town, as you can see, there is a big clock therefore, Clock Town.”

Annette said boredly, motioning to a giant tower in the center of the town square. He could hardly hear her from where she sat on her horse, the bustle and noise of the town was loud in the midday foot traffic. One thing that was discernible among the racket of raised voices and distant music was a loud, echoing tick from the tower. It was so loud that it could be heard outside of the Clock Town walls. The day was warm and very few clouds littered the sky, so it would be expected that many people would be out, but he never knew a town could be this busy. He had never seen this many people, even in Castle Town.

They made their way through the town square to a horse stable for travelers, the sea of townsfolk parting the way, sending glares their way for interrupting their strides. In no time, Annette had booked a spot for both Cordial and Epona, giving her stead a farewell petting. Link gave his horse another look to make sure she seemed okay in the stable before he followed Annette out into the busy streets. She was wearing orange baggy, Gerudo style pants, from what she had said upon leaving the house, and a black blouse tucked in.

“Keep close and watch yourself. There are thieves that lurk around everywhere here, waiting for someone to be careless. If you ever come here alone, dark alleys at night are not your friend. Just a word of advice.” she spoke to him, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him near to her in the crowd. He pressed his lips together, knowing that she meant well but she was vastly underestimating his ability to take care of himself. He felt bad for anyone who would attempt something in a dark alley that he was in. Still, the brunette held her parcel bag close to her side, and his arm with it. The concept of watching his pockets was new to him, as everywhere he traveled before was safe and most people had good will.

Through the crowd, they ventured to a nook of the square where several shops were nestled. Annette looked up at the signs, squinting to combat the sunlight that was flooding the square.

“Ah, yes. Next to the “rat’s” place. I wonder how much of a discount he’ll give.” she muttered more to herself than to him, her hand falling from his arm.

“Rat? What are you talking about?” He questioned, the area near the shops were less crowded so he didn’t have to shout over the converging voices. Annette looked up and smirked, lifting her hand to point at a general store on the corner.

“That’s Zania’s competition and she calls him a “rat” because his prices are lower than hers and she hates him. Beedle is actually a friendly guy, but Zania and I would engage in a fistfight if she knew I went into his store.” she said and mused for a moment, her fingers caressed her chin. Then with a spark of mischief, she looked up with a grin. “Wanna go check it out?” she offered, her eyebrows arched up. He nodded, intrigued by her rebellious action against her friend.

Even though it wasn’t much, it still felt like he was helping her break the rules and it was amusing. She beamed happily and grabbed his arm again, dragging him along to the storefront. Upon opening the door, the scent of incense and perfumes tickled his senses and he was almost overwhelmed by the clutter of so many things in the shop. Many tables were piled high with various items ranging from region to size. The windows of the shop allowed the screened sunlight to filter in and reveal every item. In the back of the shop were piled boxes and barrels of stock. The thing that interested him most was behind the counter, where an assortment of arrows and a shield lay.

Annette migrated to the tea set that sparkled in the sunlight and he took his opportunity to look over the arrows. Wrapped in ribbon were bundles of arrows, which he counted silently to see that each bundle was ten arrows. The man at the counter perked up as Link approached, his round eyes and large nose were defined and he was certain he would be able to pick him out of a crowd. His middle part and freckles couldn’t be missed either. Taking no pause, the man perked up and welcomed Link in a cheery voice.

“Hello, welcome to Beedle’s Bargain Bungalow, Let me know if you see anything that interests you! I see you’re a new face, so I’ll tell you that our new dynamite powder will knock your socks off!” the man explained excitedly, a giggle punctuated his sentence. Link was immediately drawn in, if dynamite powder functioned like a bomb as he got from the name itself.

“Dynamite powder? How does it work?” Link asked, his eager voice got the better of him and he heard Annette sigh from behind him. Ignoring her minute input, he turned his focus towards the shop keeper for an explanation.

“You can use it one of two ways. You can spread it on the ground in a trail and light one end with a match and watch it burn all the way to the end or you can pour a pile of the powder and light it on fire and kaBOOM, a big explosion! Please know the Beedle’s Bargain Bungalow is in no way responsible for the injury or damage caused by this product and we hold no liability for any consequences Fifteen rupees a sack!” in Beedle’s explanation, Link was already concocting ways to use the powder with his other weapons. A fire tornado when and if he got the gale boomerang back would be all he could ask for.

Link nodded, acknowledging Beedle’s spill, but taking a step back. He didn't have any rupees so there was no reason in getting too eager yet.

Instead, he resorted to giving a thankful wave and joining Annette where she was gathered around an assortment of instruments and such including cases, straps, and polishing supplies. She was looking over at a bow for a violin, it’s mahogany polish gleamed in the low light of the shop. She gave a satisfied hum and placed it down, moving to the next one. He too looked at the assortment of items and a collection of wind instruments laid in their respective sections. There was one odd-looking instrument littered with holes, the label above it read ocarina and he was curious.

Picking it up, he turned it over in his hand and looked it over, yet something close by caught his eye much more than the ocarina. A pan flute laid and it was the only one among the other instruments, the wood pipes curved and were held together with several strands of colored twine, the dark brown, orange, and blue reminded him of Ordon. Annette looked over at him as he picked it up, her hazel eyes recording his actions. After a fleeting moment, she turned her attention back down. With that, he lifted the flute to his lips, without thinking much about the sound it would make, and blew into the flute. The tone sounded out and broke the silence, drawing the attention of the shopkeeper.  

“That one is rare! It’s only fifty rupees here, but any other place would charge much more.” Beedle informed, before going back to organizing some items behind the counter. His eyes didn’t leave it as he sat it down and looked up to find the brunette biting the inside of her cheek, her eyes darted from him to the flute. Giving him a knowing look, she turned and made her way to the counter, whispering something in a hushed tone. He didn’t hear what she had said, but as he joined her at the counter, the conversation progressed.

“Well, Miss Annette, if you would let me sell your jams here, it would just make me so happy.” he said, a fond giggle escaping him as he leaned forward on the counter, chin propped on his palm.

“Thats… I’m sorry, I’ll be disowned if I do that, you know. I already have a place that I’m selling my jams and that place is quite jealous.” she explained, and Link knew she was talking about Zania. Beedle laughed in spite of himself.

“That’s a shame. I know that I would give you a higher percentage of the profits, but you can’t betray your friend. Unless you just don’t tell her?” he said, his cheery tone clashed with his persuasive words. Annette gave him a challenging grin, her nose crinkled a bit.

“Yeah? That would be an ace plan if Zania was deaf. Besides, Zania does a lot more for me than just a little more profit. But nice try.” she said, her voice dripped with a tinge of bitterness, yet could have come across as being teasing. Link had heard the difference and knew it at this point.

“Oh well, that’s a shame then. I would have loved to sell your jams so much, but all I can do is try.” he said, straightening himself up.

“Hmm” Annette began, her voice hinting at some overblown idea that she perhaps had been planning the whole time. With a knowing grin, she leaned forward as if to tell a secret and Link too leaned in, wondering what she was up to.

“You could still sell them. I have honey strawberry jams today, which as you know are a specialty and are rare. But I don’t want a percentage.” she goaded, her eyebrow arching. Beedle’s eyes widened in excitement, but his glee soon faded when he realized there was a catch. He folded his arms defensively.

“If not a percentage, then how much are you asking for them?” he inquired and straightened up, giving a wide smile.

“For five of my super rare, specialty jams? I think that perhaps fifty rupees and three bundles of arrows will suffice. I’ll pay for the dynamite powder because I’m nice like that. What do you say?” She said coyly, her deal laid on the table. Beedle gasped and leaned forward, his arms falling from his chest.

“For five jars? That’s….” he thought about it for a moment and sighed aloud, “You drive a hard bargain but those jams will bring several people straight to my counter.” He huffed and his smile returned. “That's a deal!”

“I knew you’d think so! Great, so…” she motioned and he took the hint and gathered the arrows, dynamite powder, and rupees together for her in a bag. She pulled fifteen rupees out for the powder and graciously took the bag of supplies triumphantly. Like promised, she pulled the five jars from her parcel bag and set them atop the counter. Beedle all but drooled as he pulled them back on the counter towards him.

“Thanks for the deal, Miss Annette. This is greatly appreciated.” Beedle said, beaming and chuckling to himself.”

Annette responded with a dismissing wave and swung the bag out towards Link, her mischievous smirk further proved her manipulation tactic was planned and not at all spontaneous. He looked at her, amazed that she was able to pull that off, he himself had tried to make a deal before with other merchants, only for them to laugh him off and for him to pay full price in the end. For someone who could be so rude with her words, she was clever.

“Here you go! Don’t think that I don’t pay attention, but be warned, if you catch my house on fire with that powder, I’ll strike a bargain for your tombstone.” she jested, glowing with satisfaction. He took a breath and took the sack, peering in at the arrows and promising dynamite powder, his excitement rising.

As they approached the door, Annette covered her face and giggled into her hands, pulling the door open. She looked up at him and he knew she had done something she shouldn’t have.

“Zania is going to skin me, Link.” she said, her laughter cutting through the background noise outside of the store. He gave her a look, wondering if it was just because she dealt with Beedle or if there was another reason.

“Why? Because you made him a deal? Surely she won’t-” she cut him off with a laugh filled response.

“Those were the only five honey jams and she is gonna convulse when she knows that Beedle has them.” She had to take a breath and wipe her eyes as she calmed. He wasn’t sure why, but he too found himself laughing, more from being nervous and out of the feeling that he had helped Annette with mischief, even though in general it wouldn’t be so bad. But then again, the few times he had met Zania he was convinced that she was one to blow things out of proportion.

With no more than a few sparse giggles, Annette put them back on course taking to the street to the tailor shop just next to Beedle’s Bargain Bungalow.

Annette took the discount at the tailor’s shop for his tunic to be patched up. He really appreciated it but he noticed the entire time Annette got things settled at the tailor’s her smile faded more and more. She excused herself and told him to wait there, which he did and enjoyed looking around the tailor’s shop at all of the clothing that hung on racks and were displayed on mannequins. He wondered what had her running out of the shop.

When she returned, she had two bags. Her explanation covered one bag, but not the other one.

“I felt bad so I went out to get Zania’s favorite spice to make the soup she likes. It's a Hylian spin on a Gerudo dish and it’s incomplete without this so I’ll make it for her when she gets back from her trip.” her response explained why she had seemed down after leaving Beedle’s shop. Tucking the bags into her parcel bag, he was still left to wonder what was in the second bag and why she insisted that he stay alone at the tailor.

In no time, however, it was forgotten when they left and made their way along the street to another area of the town, a bustling marketplace full of fresh fruit, a deli, and other commodities sold under small booths spread out in the square. Annette gestured in a certain direction and they walked up to a booth that sold bread and other baked goods.

“What I wouldn’t give for some garlic bread, Link. See anything you like?” she asked, rummaging through a basket for what he was led to believe was garlic bread. He looked around and a certain type of bread caught his eye. He read the label and discovered that it was a cinnamon swirl with chocolate chip bread. Annette looked over, garlic bread in hand as if she were holding up a prime catch from a fishing trip. Spotting the cinnamon bread, she nodded more to herself than him.

“I should have known. You like sweets, right?” she said, more of a statement than a question. He looked down and gave a nod, feeling kinda embarrassed. “Cool, I can give you a nice dessert recipe but um… you might wanna get a friend to make it for you.” she said, teasing at that morning's mishap with the biscuits. Just then, two women came walking by, speaking to each other rather loudly and normally Link would just chalk it up to chatter, but what they said was particularly interesting.

“I just can’t believe he’s selling that for that price. Who even knows what it is?”

“Yeah, it’s doesn’t look useful at all. He claims you can wear it on your arm like a gauntlet, but it’s so ugly who would?”

“Especially with those pointy spikes on the end. He’s lost it for sure.”

Link considered for a moment what they were saying and he immediately thought of his lost clawshot. Could it be? If so, as Annette said, he was very lucky to just stumble across it. Annette stared at him, not realizing that he was looking past her shoulder at the passing women. Without explanation, he moved past her and towards the women.

“Excuse me, uh, can you tell me where you saw the thing you’re talking about? The gauntlet thing?” he spurted out and the women turned towards him, both giving him disgusted and offended looks for eavesdropping and interrupting them.

“You mean the ugly gauntlet thing?” The first one corrected and her friend turned and giggled to her. “Sorry, why do you want to know? You couldn’t afford it anyway.  No one can at those prices.” before he could explain himself, Annette was already at his side, garlic bread forgotten.

“Just answer the question. It’s not up to you whether or not he can afford it.” Annette spoke up, her tone harsh and commanding. Not the way he would have handled it for sure, but he wanted to see where it went.

“Oh yeah, I know about you. I doubt even the cheapest things would keep your hands off, from the rumors I hear.” the second woman said, her aloof expression made Annette take a deep breath. Link looked between the stranger and the brunette but could get no further explanation. No matter, Annette rolled her eyes and went on.

“Look, I just want to know where it is. It won’t inconvenience you to tell us.” she said, faking friendliness. Link noticed that Annette was clenching her teeth under her smile. But not for long as the first girl huffed and rolled her eyes, her defenses dropped.

“Fine, okay. It’s at Marty’s.” she answered, her voice sulky for having to tell. Obviously, it was not the high point of the town as Annette groaned and the other women nodded. With a quick thanks, Annette ignored the women and they went on their way.

“So Marty might have something of yours? That’s not good.” Annette asked and Link nodded, but was certain he could get it back. Besides, he was willing to do anything and it wouldn’t be the first time he jumped through hoops to get something for someone or do something hard for something that he needed.

Annette led him out of the area and to a store on the border of the square. Link kept his eyes sharp, looking around for any indication of something he was without. From the description, he was certain it was his clawshot.

They approached the store and with hesitation Annette pushed the wooden doors open, a long row of counter space showed various odd items lining down towards the counter in the back. Most things looked like inventions that didn’t quite work and were falling apart and others were broken and modified weapons. Screws, pins, sword hilts, bowstring, and other miscellaneous parts filled metal barrels and dared to overflow. The walls were littered with shelves of jars that held fluids that contain things that Link couldn’t place. On the opposing wall, monster heads were mounted among other beasts. One, in particular, were wolves, their faces twisted into snarls. Link felt his stomach turn at the sight.  The place looked like it was filled with junk, but had something to offer for someone looking for a spare piece of something.

In the back there was a workbench and a smith with various tools laid in a messy array on the solid, stone ground. Hunched over something with a magnifying glass, a stout, balding man observed something alarming familiar. Link made his way past the brunette and to the man, who barely noticed their arrival, busy humming to himself. Scooting behind the front table, Link leaned forward to see that the man was in fact examining his clawshots, both of them. He was even luckier!

The man, without looking up, spoke up to Link directly.

“You know this device, don’t you? Had you lost it?” he asked, and Link was taken aback. Before he could answer, the man continued. “They say that devices like this are very old and I can tell that it is not from this time. It has been lost and locked away and only someone who was very determined could have found something like this.” He said and took to his feet slowly, turning towards the blonde slowly.

Link sized him up and he was a man short in stature but he looked like he worked a hard job, his large arms littered with burns. Must be a smithing side consequence. The man had a draping beard that began just under his chin, yet the top of his head was shiny as ever. His eyes gleamed.

“But, only someone stupid could have lost this, so it’s mine now and I’ll only accept 5000 rupees for it.” he said definitively, placing his hands on his sides. Link let that sit for a moment and cursed in his mind, hating how unfair that was. There was always something that could be done in exchange, always an angle. If Annette could do it, he could too.

“What if-”

“You are the one they speak of, aren’t you? The one that slain that evil king in Hyrule field? If you are, then I have a proposition for you instead of a price.” the man interrupted, his face twisted into a hopeful grin. Link gave a glance to Annette, who motioned for him to come over to her. He gave another look at the man and joined her as she led him out of earshot of the man, who looked on from his spot. She pulled him down to her and whispered in his ear.

“This guy is a nutcase and he’s been reading too many old fairy tales about the past. He’s delusional. You don’t have to indulge him if you don’t want to. I might know another way to get it back, but you won’t like it at all.” She began, her words brushing against his ear.

“Why wouldn’t I like it?” he asked in a low voice, but he knew it was probably something that he himself would never do. She closed her eyes for a moment before explaining.

“You wouldn’t like it because I know someone who might be able to get it for you, but it will be illegal. I don’t want to, but if you really need this, I can ask.” she said, her words coming out slow. He was silent and made a quick decision.

“Let me figure out what he’s asking for and then I’ll decide. Thanks for warning me.” he stated, and she exhaled and looked away, muttering a response that sounded like it was nothing . He looked back to Marty, who was waiting patiently for their private conversation to come to a close. With a moment to gather himself, Link formed his question.

“What are you proposing?” he asked, and the man perked up with excitement. He rushed over to the clawshot and scooped it up. He offered it to Link, much to his confusion. He thought the man had a condition?

“Please, show me how to use this! Then I’ll let you know my proposition.” He blurted and Link took the clawshot, it’s weight did nothing good for his left arm, so he switched it to his right. He held it out and in a silent demonstration slipped it on his arm, all the way to his elbow.

“There’s a switch in the inside, right where your fingers should reach. Pull it down and the claw will be shot towards where you aim it. It is spring loaded, so it will immediately retract.” Link explained as best he could, the man watching in awe. He aimed it across the room, towards the front door, hoping the distance would aid him when he pulled the lever. Annette too looked on with curiosity, any cynicism absent from her face.

His fingers curled around the level and he pulled it, the claw launching out from its base, the sound of rattling chains filled the silence. His hope had failed him and from across the long room, the claw still reached the wooden door, it’s sharp metal prongs crunched into its surface with a crack. Before he realized his error in judgment, he was launched across the room, his heels trying to make traction on the ground to regain some control. In any other circumstances, this would be just what he wanted but he knew what would happen if he wasn’t using his clawshot to get to some high place. Just as he anticipated, he slammed into the wooden door and fell over, the clawshot still lodged in the wood.

Groaning, he sat up, recovering from his hit, which luckily had no real consequence on his broken arm. Looking up, he saw that the man had not moved from his spot and Annette stared at him with shock, her mouth hung open. With a tug, he dislodged the claw from the door, with it breaking off a hunk of wood.

Annette, once able to shake her shock away, rushed over to him, falling to her knees where he had sat up.

“Oh my goddess, are you hurt? That looked like it hurt.” her face paled, if possible, and she reached out to tug the clawshot from his arm, setting it aside. Without asking, she pulled his right arm towards her and looked at his hand and arm in a quick one over.

“That was…” she cracked up, her worry vanishing with her nervous laughter, “...the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.” her words marred by her snort, she fell back off her knees and onto her butt. He tried to shake away his frustration, but it flared. Pushing himself up, he felt his face grow hot with embarrassment and he scooped the clawshot into his grip. Annette’s laughter faded, and she looked up at him.

“Oh, are you mad? I didn’t mean to upset you but that was a spectacle. Just look at the door.” she said, her humor still laced in her voice. He looked at the door and immediately felt guilty. Taking the clawshot up towards the front, he heard the woman shuffle to her feet.

The man looked at him, his eyes wide as Link came back to the counter. Link shyly handed him back the clawshot, closing his eyes ready to have the man yell at him about the door. The next thing that came from the man was certainly loud, but not scolding.

“That was the best thing I’ve seen in months! How did you learn to use these! I wonder if I could make a replica for myself!?” he yelled in excitement. Link’s eyes cracked open and he felt his guilt wane.

“I’m sorry about the door…” he began and the man interjected.

“Don’t be! I have a cool story to go along with it! Besides, I would have never figured out how these things work without you showing me.” his mood had shifted and Link thought back to what the brunette had said about the man reading fairy tales.

“So, the proposition? I need those back as soon as I can get them.” Link said, hoping his impatient feeling didn't show in his tone. The man looked back at the other clawshot and sighed, realizing he would have to part with them if Link succeeded in whatever weird thing he was going to ask of him. The blonde waited and the man finally spoke after some thinking.

“My daughter made me a hat and I put all of my fishing lures into it, one of which was rare. It blew away in the wind and landed on top of the clock tower.  I miss my hat so much and I want it back so when I found these, I thought I could use them to get my hat back, but my arms can’t fit inside because I’m too muscular. If you could take one of these and bring my hat back, I’ll give you back the other one.” He proposed, and it was a reasonable request. Link had been asked to do harder things.

Glancing back at Annette, who was returning to her place behind him, he gave her a nod and she returned it, their silent communication doing well enough. He had made up his mind.

“It’s a deal. I’ll get your hat back.”

CH1 CH2 CH3 CH4 CH5 CH6 CH7 CH8 CH9 CH10 

CH11

[your-dietician]

2021 MBAs To Watch: Christina Gohl, IE Business School

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2021 MBAs To Watch: Christina Gohl, IE Business School

“I’m a results-oriented, people-oriented, ex-scientist turned business development professional who loves skiing in the Rockies.”

Hometown: Vancouver, BC

Fun fact about yourself: I met my husband on an airplane!

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Alberta, Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Santevia Water Systems, Role: Director of Sales

Where did you intern during the summer of 2020? There’s no summer break in a one-year MBA – we go 11 months straight – so nowhere!

Where will you be working after graduation? Great question! One-year MBAs are a unique breed, so given that I don’t graduate until the end of July I haven’t accepted an offer yet.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Awards:

Forte Fellowship

Community Work and Leadership Roles

IE Consulting Club Leadership Team. Role: Vice President

The club had slipped in the IE club rankings (a measure of value and effectiveness). I identified the need for a turnaround. I led and implemented a strategy and vision building process with the leadership team which included setting simple but powerful key metrics to measure success. In four weeks, we increased the club’s score by over 100 points, moving from 4th to 1st place.

IE Ambassador – Women4Women Program

Women continue to be underrepresented in MBA programs and through IE’s Women4Women program I aim to change that. Once paired with a prospective female student, I developed a connection and then we explored their needs and goals. My aim is to reduce anxiety by answering their questions but also to act as an advisor. Together we find the right fit, both for them and for IE.

Mentor

Junior profiles in my network have asked for mentorship from me in three areas: sales/business development, team management, and networking. I am currently working with a Masters in Management student to advance his networking skills with a goal to increase his chance of success in consulting applications.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Being published in IE’s Finance Talks. I’m a sales and marketing profile with a Bachelor in Science, so while I’m right at home in data analysis, all the finance I know I learned in a boardroom. As a result, when I came to business school I expected to struggle amongst peers with significantly more experience. I had been following the Game Stop short squeeze in the news, so when it came time to pick a topic for my Financial Markets final paper, GME seemed both interesting and relevant. I’m a good writer, but by no means a financial expert. As a result, I was shocked when my professor reached out saying that not only had I gotten 100% on the paper, but that he wanted to publish it. Since then, it has been reprinted in IE’s student newspaper at the request of the IE Investment Club and I got a 4.0 in Financial Markets to boot.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I always hit sales targets. This started in my first role as a Management Trainee at Enterprise, where I was in the top 1% of sales people province-wide every month I worked there. When I moved to Santevia, I repeated the same pattern. The business was young when I joined, so we had aggressive growth targets: double digits every year. I never missed an annual target. As the business grew, so did my level of responsibility and the size of my team. This meant hitting sales targets was now a function of my ability to lead and motivate 75 others instead of a result of my own direct work. This was a learning curve for me, but a challenge where I excelled. My team never missed an annual sales target in my 7-year tenure at the company.

Why did you choose this business school? I had progressed to the senior leadership team at Santevia and I remember sitting at the boardroom table realizing that while I understood the sales vertical very well, I couldn’t always predict with accuracy the impact my sales strategies would have on other areas of the business. I was a highly competent middle manager, but I needed to up-skill to become an executive. I came to IE Business School to improve my business strategy skills. For me, IE was the right choice because the institution is very forward looking.

The world had just undergone the quickest technical adoption I’ve seen in my lifetime as a result of COVID. Businesses are thus demanding technology savvy, entrepreneurial thinkers now more than ever before. This is IE’s specialty. At this school, I’m building an exam automation start-up called Examind and in two weeks I start a business challenge helping SMEs implement technology accelerators with Microsoft. Without the support and guidance of the professors and administrators at IE, I would never have dreamed of these accomplishments and opportunities.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school?

COVID has affected almost every event or tradition this year. However, one thing that it did not change was the value of diversity at IE. IE ensures that every MBA class hails from all over the globe (our class has 70 different nationalities). While this prompts truly interesting class discussions, it also challenges us to question norms. Sometimes it’s simple things: yesterday, I learned that Italians break a candle from their birthday cake to make a wish instead of doing it when they blow out the candles. And sometimes it’s big, such as how working with multicultural teams presents both challenges and opportunities. Learning to do this well is a skill that I will take with me and I sincerely believe will set me up for success in a world that becomes more diverse by the day. The fact that IE not only understands the value of diverse teams but also has implemented recruiting practices that make it a reality is a testament to their belief in the power of diversity.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I would have focused less on the job hunt in my first semester. The one-year MBA is short, so there is pressure throughout to consider what’s next. While there is a definite benefit in being clear on your next steps and strategy to get there, I struggled with the transition from a career in Canada to academia in Spain. I think I could have been a little easier on myself in those first months and allowed myself more space to make the transition.

What is the biggest myth about your school? You’ll learn a ton of Spanish while you’re here. While it is possible to learn Spanish (and IE provides us ample opportunity), the reality is that you spend most of your time immersed in English. In addition, the demands of a one-year MBA mean that it’s difficult to find time to practice. As such, I’ve found my language skills progressing more slowly than I’d like.

What is one thing you did during the application process that gave you an edge at the school you chose? I focused my time on what I was world-class at. I had to make a choice mid-application: spend more time devoted to studying and re-writing the GMAT to score in the upper ranks of the quant section or focus on my strengths (strong interpersonal skills that allow me to interview well and strong writing skills to write great entrance essays). I decided to do the latter and it paid off: I got into every school I applied to, with generous scholarships.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Luis Fernando Marcos Yepes. Luis is a part of my workgroup (an assigned group with which we do all our group projects for core academic classes). The people in your workgroup are always a bit of a gamble. Will we have similar goals? How do our workstyles differ? Coming together as a team is an art and it can be incredibly difficult. Specifically, at the end of a semester, when a mountain of projects are due, the stress increases and groups tend to struggle, our group included. However, Luis never backed away from hard work or difficult conversations. Not only was he a high performer — excelling at and taking the lead in finance projects as a result of his background as an auditor at EY — he also never shied away from the difficult times. His consistency and dependability was something I really counted on in the midst of some stressful days in the MBA. On top of that, he has been very conscious about growing his team leadership skills. He had natural people skills that he has refined in just a few months into persuasion and motivation abilities. He is constantly seeking out advice and feedback to improve as a leader and I truly admire his growth mindset.

How disruptive was it to shift to an online or hybrid environment after COVID hit? Very smooth. A key reason I chose IE Business School was because of the thought they had put into the post-COVID class experience. IE is the only top business school (to my knowledge) that maintained an in-class experience throughout the entirety of my degree (September 2020 start). This came with some restrictions (mask wearing, class size reductions, COVID tests) but the limitations were far outweighed by the benefit of an in-class experience. My classmates and I frequently discuss how fortunate we are to have benefitted from IE’s planning and dedication to preserving our in-class experience.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? I didn’t pursue business in college (my undergrad), but pursuing my MBA has been a dream of mine since 25. However the push to do it, at 30, came from my mother. She came from a blue collar family in Ontario and was the only one of her four siblings who graduated from university. She pursued her Master’s degree as a single mother when I was young and now she is a successful business owner. She always instilled in me the power of hard work and perseverance. She also taught me that unlike material things, education is something that always stays with you. She showed me the value of investing in yourself.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

I want to be in a position to significantly impact the availability of senior leadership roles for women.

I want to own my own business.

What made Christina such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2021?

“My subject is sometimes completely new for the students. In addition, it is very quantitative and full of very specific terms typical of the financial world. So, it is very easy that, at some point in class, communication is “lost”. The truth is that the lack of interaction with the students, causes a certain feeling of helplessness in myself as a teacher. Precisely when I was having the worst time, Christina began her interventions in class, summarizing difficult topics out loud, giving them her own interpretation, obviously much more within the reach of the rest of the classmates. Through her words, concepts were clarified for the rest. And so, it was throughout the course. I found in Christina a total, unique support that made me feel more comfortable when teaching. That’s because I knew that in a natural way, her intervention would allow us to adequately complete the topic, “round it up”. After more than thirty years teaching, on very few occasions I have had such special students and Christina has undoubtedly been one of them.

In the evaluation process of my subject, it is necessary to present an individual work on a topic associated. I suggest some and the students are free to choose another as long as it has to do with the subject. Christina surprised me again by choosing a current issue, related to the behavior of the GameStop stock. She brilliantly described the functioning of “securities lending” and the establishment of short positions in the market, posing unavoidable questions about the concept of market efficiency and the possible gaps in regulation in a world where the importance of social networks is increasing. I think it has been one of the best-written articles I have read on a current topic. When I finished reading it, I felt that I had something very special on my hands. For this reason, and with the approval of the IMBA management, her article was published on a blog of the Institute. The person in charge defined it as a Top Tier item.

In conclusion, Christina has been an exemplary contributor to the course, she has shown passion towards a subject that was completely new to her and not only has she obtained the highest possible grade with an incredible final work but has left an indelible mark on an old professor who is no longer used to seeing so much talent and humanity.”

Rodrigo Manero IE Business School Professor

DON’T MISS: THE FULL LIST OF MBAS TO WATCH IN 2021

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[epackingvietnam]

According to the Experts: 5 Technical SEO Trends to Watch in 2021

Posted by morgan.mcmurray

It’s no secret that SEO relies heavily on technical components to drive site rankability, and with so many emerging technologies, new tools, and metrics (*cough* Core Web Vitals *cough*), you might be wondering whether these constant updates will affect your more technical work.

To find out more about the state of technical SEO in 2021, we asked seven industry experts for their thoughts. The overwhelming answer? Keep doing what you’re doing.

“The core essentials in 2021 will remain about the same — every SEO needs to understand the fundamentals of crawling vs. indexing and the technical basics that have to be met before a site can rank,” says Moz Search Scientist, Dr. Pete Meyers. “All the fancy footwork in the world won’t get you anywhere if there’s no floor beneath you.”

But what should that floor be constructed of? Read on to find out!

1. Focus on the fundamentals

Click to tweet this!

Technical best practices are the “best” for a reason, so having a strong foundation of basic technical SEO skills is still a must.

“For me, the most underrated technical SEO strategy has always been the fundamental best practices,” says consultant Joe Hall. “It might sound surprising to some, but the vast majority of my clients have a difficulty in grasping the importance of best practices or just the basic fundamentals of SEO. I think this is in large part because of our community's focus and attention on the ‘next best thing’, and not very often talking about the basic fundamentals of technical SEO.”

Those fundamentals include hard skills like understanding how to recognize and fix crawlability, indexation, accessibility, and site performance issues, but also how to prioritize the issues you come across.

SEO expert Lily Ray notes that prioritization is an area of improvement that novice technical SEOs need to address first, as they may be more inclined to cite small things as major problems when they’re really not: “It is common for new or junior SEOs to send a laundry list of technical items as exported by [SEO tools] directly to clients, without prioritizing which ones are the most important to fix, or knowing which ones can be ignored,” she says. “In many cases, the tools don’t even flag some of the more severe technical issues that may be affecting crawling, indexation, or rendering… Good technical SEOs are able to pinpoint real problems that are having a significant impact on the website’s ability to rank well, and they know which tools or other resources to use to be able to solve those problems.”

So start taking note of not just the what when it comes to technical issues, but also the influence those issues actually have on the sites you work on.

Need to brush up or build on these hard skills? Not to worry — Moz Academy recently released a Technical SEO Certification that can help you do just that!

Sign Me Up!

Beyond the more hands-on, practical skill sets required for building and maintaining search-optimized websites, our experts agree that basic soft skills are just as important, with several citing the need for cross-team collaboration abilities.

“Technical SEO implementations generally require working with multiple teams... which means there’s a lot of partnership, persuasion, give and take collaborations,” says Alexis Sanders, the SEO Director at Merkle. “Having project management, client services, storytelling, and communication skills will support implementation.”

So don’t get stuck in the weeds of your technical work — make sure you’re in constant communication with the teams and stakeholders who will help support your initiatives.

2. Gear up for Core Web Vitals

Click to tweet this!

One of the hottest topics in the industry right now is no doubt Core Web Vitals, the new Google ranking factors update expected in May 2021. But do technical SEOs really need to worry about them?

The experts say yes, but to work as a team to address them, and make your SEO voice heard. Alexis Sanders puts it this way: “The page experience update consists of Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, web app security, and removing interstitials. Regardless of how teams are structured, making progress is going to require a wide array of talents, giving SEO a more involved seat at the table, as these elements affect our bottom-line.”

When prioritizing what to focus on, make sure that improving site speed is at the top of your list.

“If you only work on one area of Technical SEO in 2021, make it site speed,” advises Kick Point President Dana DiTomaso. “Site speed is one of those great parts of technical SEO where the benefit isn't only for search engines — it also helps the people visiting your website. Remember, not everyone is coming to your website using the latest technology and fastest internet connection.”

When asked about their favorite ways to optimize, here’s what the experts suggested:

Start using a content delivery network, such as cloudflare.com.

Implement server-side caching for markup and design assets like CSS and JavaScript, and minimize the number of individual requests made for each page by bringing CSS and JavaScript in-line.

Optimize media files by converting to next-generation formats and compressing for size and use of data.

Use tools like BuiltWith, Wappalyzer, and Lighthouse to investigate what third party scripts have been loaded on a page, and remove them if you no longer need them, or move as many as compatible to a tag management tool.

Focus on image performance optimization.

Work with analytics and other internal teams to establish processes and expectations for adding and removing tagging.

Set requirements and expectations around page speed early in the development process.

Addressing any site speed and usability issues now will set you up to better weather rankings shake-ups caused by Core Web Vitals.

Click to tweet this!

3. Use schema and structured data strategically

To ensure that crawlers can read, index, and serve the content of their sites to searchers, many SEOs rely on structured data and schema frameworks to organize everything — as well they should. But when implementing structured data, the experts agree, make sure you’re using it to achieve specific goals, and not just because you can.

“Some structured data has material impact on search results or how Google can process and understand a site, while other structured data will be totally irrelevant to any given site or have no measurable impact,” says Dr. Pete. “We need to use structured data with clear intent and purpose in order to see results.”

Lily Ray agrees, pointing out the debate on the topic of schema within the industry:

“There is a wide range of opinions on this topic within the SEO community, with some SEOs wanting to ‘mark up all the things’ and others not believing schema is important if it doesn’t generate Rich Results. Personally, I like to apply structured data if I believe it can provide search engines with more context about the entities included in our clients’ websites, even if that schema does not generate Rich Results. For example, I believe that adding Schema attributes related to your brand and your authors is a good approach to help solidify information in Google’s Knowledge Graph.”

The takeaway? Get clear on your goals, and implement structured data if it makes sense for your strategy, but don’t “mark up all the things” if doing so will create unnecessary work for you and your team without bringing about the results you’re looking for.

4. Leverage automation to get things done

Click to tweet this!

Emerging technologies don’t always stick around long enough to become useful, but one innovation that won’t be going away anytime soon is using languages like Python to help automate various workflows, like data analysis and research.

“The technical SEO industry has been exploding with new ideas and innovations in the past couple of years, particularly related to analyzing data at scale and automating SEO processes, which has resulted in programming languages like Python moving into the spotlight,” says Lily Ray.

Why is automation important? Not only can it make your day-to-day work easier and more streamlined, it can have positive effects on your business as well.

“I still think that improving time to task completion (performance optimization) is core to every business,” says Miracle Inameti-Archibong, the Head of SEO at Erudite. “Not just because of the page experience update coming in May, but because it affects all channels and directly affects the bottom line of the business (sale, leads) which is what key decision-makers are interested in.”

In 2021, explore ways in which automation can help you achieve both your technical SEO and broader business goals more effectively.

5. Don’t forget about analytics and reporting

Click to tweet this!

SEO success is incremental and gradual, usually taking months to years before you can definitively show how the work you put in has paid off. But if something goes wrong? Well, Dr. Pete has the perfect analogy: “The truth is that technical SEO is often like washing dishes — no one gives you much credit for it, but they sure notice when you break something.”

While technical SEO is the basis for all other SEO work, your non-SEO co-workers and managers will likely pay attention more when things are going wrong than when they’re going right. To help mitigate this issue, he suggests steering clear of “vanity metrics”, such as pages indexed, and instead “showing how a clear plan of action led to improvements in relevant rankings, traffic, and sales.”

Click to tweet this!

Make sure you’re outlining specific metrics and goals from the start of every campaign, which will help guide your efforts and give you an easier framework for reporting on things down the line. And don’t forget to factor in outside forces that may be affecting your results.

“Organic traffic can be impacted by a lot of external factors, or your other, non-technical SEO campaigns,” says Tom Capper, Moz’s Senior Search Scientist (say that five times fast). “Tactics like SEO split-testing or, at a more primitive level, counterfactual forecasting, can help to isolate these effects in many cases, and happily technical changes tend to have a quicker, more direct impact than some other types of change that don’t see returns until the next core update.”

So when analyzing and reporting, remember: quantity isn’t always quality, and make sure you have the full picture before gleaning insights.

Conclusion

Click to tweet this!

While the core of your technical SEO work will stay the same in 2021, there is plenty of opportunity to build and improve on foundational skills, implement structured data and automation, clarify the way you analyze and report your results, and plan for Core Web Vitals to take effect. And while technical work can sometimes feel isolating, remember that cross-team collaboration is key to success, and that you’re part of a community of SEOs with similar goals!

Speaking of community, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the amazing work of Areej AbuAli and the Women in Tech SEO network.

“If you identify as a woman, do join the Women in Tech SEO Slack channel and subscribe to its newsletter,” advises Miracle Inameti-Archibong. “I wish I had a community like that at the beginning of my career. There are loads of people always willing to help with not just technical SEO issues, but mentoring and sharing of opportunities.”

Have questions for the experts, or advice not mentioned here? Let us know in the comments!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

#túi_giấy_epacking_việt_nam #túi_giấy_epacking #in_túi_giấy_giá_rẻ #in_túi_giấy #epackingvietnam #tuigiayepacking

[bfxenon]

According to the Experts: 5 Technical SEO Trends to Watch in 2021

Posted by morgan.mcmurray

It’s no secret that SEO relies heavily on technical components to drive site rankability, and with so many emerging technologies, new tools, and metrics (*cough* Core Web Vitals *cough*), you might be wondering whether these constant updates will affect your more technical work.

To find out more about the state of technical SEO in 2021, we asked seven industry experts for their thoughts. The overwhelming answer? Keep doing what you’re doing.

“The core essentials in 2021 will remain about the same — every SEO needs to understand the fundamentals of crawling vs. indexing and the technical basics that have to be met before a site can rank,” says Moz Search Scientist, Dr. Pete Meyers. “All the fancy footwork in the world won’t get you anywhere if there’s no floor beneath you.”

But what should that floor be constructed of? Read on to find out!

1. Focus on the fundamentals

Click to tweet this!

Technical best practices are the “best” for a reason, so having a strong foundation of basic technical SEO skills is still a must.

“For me, the most underrated technical SEO strategy has always been the fundamental best practices,” says consultant Joe Hall. “It might sound surprising to some, but the vast majority of my clients have a difficulty in grasping the importance of best practices or just the basic fundamentals of SEO. I think this is in large part because of our community's focus and attention on the ‘next best thing’, and not very often talking about the basic fundamentals of technical SEO.”

Those fundamentals include hard skills like understanding how to recognize and fix crawlability, indexation, accessibility, and site performance issues, but also how to prioritize the issues you come across.

SEO expert Lily Ray notes that prioritization is an area of improvement that novice technical SEOs need to address first, as they may be more inclined to cite small things as major problems when they’re really not: “It is common for new or junior SEOs to send a laundry list of technical items as exported by [SEO tools] directly to clients, without prioritizing which ones are the most important to fix, or knowing which ones can be ignored,” she says. “In many cases, the tools don’t even flag some of the more severe technical issues that may be affecting crawling, indexation, or rendering… Good technical SEOs are able to pinpoint real problems that are having a significant impact on the website’s ability to rank well, and they know which tools or other resources to use to be able to solve those problems.”

So start taking note of not just the what when it comes to technical issues, but also the influence those issues actually have on the sites you work on.

Need to brush up or build on these hard skills? Not to worry — Moz Academy recently released a Technical SEO Certification that can help you do just that!

Sign Me Up!

Beyond the more hands-on, practical skill sets required for building and maintaining search-optimized websites, our experts agree that basic soft skills are just as important, with several citing the need for cross-team collaboration abilities.

“Technical SEO implementations generally require working with multiple teams... which means there’s a lot of partnership, persuasion, give and take collaborations,” says Alexis Sanders, the SEO Director at Merkle. “Having project management, client services, storytelling, and communication skills will support implementation.”

So don’t get stuck in the weeds of your technical work — make sure you’re in constant communication with the teams and stakeholders who will help support your initiatives.

2. Gear up for Core Web Vitals

Click to tweet this!

One of the hottest topics in the industry right now is no doubt Core Web Vitals, the new Google ranking factors update expected in May 2021. But do technical SEOs really need to worry about them?

The experts say yes, but to work as a team to address them, and make your SEO voice heard. Alexis Sanders puts it this way: “The page experience update consists of Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, web app security, and removing interstitials. Regardless of how teams are structured, making progress is going to require a wide array of talents, giving SEO a more involved seat at the table, as these elements affect our bottom-line.”

When prioritizing what to focus on, make sure that improving site speed is at the top of your list.

“If you only work on one area of Technical SEO in 2021, make it site speed,” advises Kick Point President Dana DiTomaso. “Site speed is one of those great parts of technical SEO where the benefit isn't only for search engines — it also helps the people visiting your website. Remember, not everyone is coming to your website using the latest technology and fastest internet connection.”

When asked about their favorite ways to optimize, here’s what the experts suggested:

Start using a content delivery network, such as cloudflare.com.

Implement server-side caching for markup and design assets like CSS and JavaScript, and minimize the number of individual requests made for each page by bringing CSS and JavaScript in-line.

Optimize media files by converting to next-generation formats and compressing for size and use of data.

Use tools like BuiltWith, Wappalyzer, and Lighthouse to investigate what third party scripts have been loaded on a page, and remove them if you no longer need them, or move as many as compatible to a tag management tool.

Focus on image performance optimization.

Work with analytics and other internal teams to establish processes and expectations for adding and removing tagging.

Set requirements and expectations around page speed early in the development process.

Addressing any site speed and usability issues now will set you up to better weather rankings shake-ups caused by Core Web Vitals.

Click to tweet this!

3. Use schema and structured data strategically

To ensure that crawlers can read, index, and serve the content of their sites to searchers, many SEOs rely on structured data and schema frameworks to organize everything — as well they should. But when implementing structured data, the experts agree, make sure you’re using it to achieve specific goals, and not just because you can.

“Some structured data has material impact on search results or how Google can process and understand a site, while other structured data will be totally irrelevant to any given site or have no measurable impact,” says Dr. Pete. “We need to use structured data with clear intent and purpose in order to see results.”

Lily Ray agrees, pointing out the debate on the topic of schema within the industry:

“There is a wide range of opinions on this topic within the SEO community, with some SEOs wanting to ‘mark up all the things’ and others not believing schema is important if it doesn’t generate Rich Results. Personally, I like to apply structured data if I believe it can provide search engines with more context about the entities included in our clients’ websites, even if that schema does not generate Rich Results. For example, I believe that adding Schema attributes related to your brand and your authors is a good approach to help solidify information in Google’s Knowledge Graph.”

The takeaway? Get clear on your goals, and implement structured data if it makes sense for your strategy, but don’t “mark up all the things” if doing so will create unnecessary work for you and your team without bringing about the results you’re looking for.

4. Leverage automation to get things done

Click to tweet this!

Emerging technologies don’t always stick around long enough to become useful, but one innovation that won’t be going away anytime soon is using languages like Python to help automate various workflows, like data analysis and research.

“The technical SEO industry has been exploding with new ideas and innovations in the past couple of years, particularly related to analyzing data at scale and automating SEO processes, which has resulted in programming languages like Python moving into the spotlight,” says Lily Ray.

Why is automation important? Not only can it make your day-to-day work easier and more streamlined, it can have positive effects on your business as well.

“I still think that improving time to task completion (performance optimization) is core to every business,” says Miracle Inameti-Archibong, the Head of SEO at Erudite. “Not just because of the page experience update coming in May, but because it affects all channels and directly affects the bottom line of the business (sale, leads) which is what key decision-makers are interested in.”

In 2021, explore ways in which automation can help you achieve both your technical SEO and broader business goals more effectively.

5. Don’t forget about analytics and reporting

Click to tweet this!

SEO success is incremental and gradual, usually taking months to years before you can definitively show how the work you put in has paid off. But if something goes wrong? Well, Dr. Pete has the perfect analogy: “The truth is that technical SEO is often like washing dishes — no one gives you much credit for it, but they sure notice when you break something.”

While technical SEO is the basis for all other SEO work, your non-SEO co-workers and managers will likely pay attention more when things are going wrong than when they’re going right. To help mitigate this issue, he suggests steering clear of “vanity metrics”, such as pages indexed, and instead “showing how a clear plan of action led to improvements in relevant rankings, traffic, and sales.”

Click to tweet this!

Make sure you’re outlining specific metrics and goals from the start of every campaign, which will help guide your efforts and give you an easier framework for reporting on things down the line. And don’t forget to factor in outside forces that may be affecting your results.

“Organic traffic can be impacted by a lot of external factors, or your other, non-technical SEO campaigns,” says Tom Capper, Moz’s Senior Search Scientist (say that five times fast). “Tactics like SEO split-testing or, at a more primitive level, counterfactual forecasting, can help to isolate these effects in many cases, and happily technical changes tend to have a quicker, more direct impact than some other types of change that don’t see returns until the next core update.”

So when analyzing and reporting, remember: quantity isn’t always quality, and make sure you have the full picture before gleaning insights.

Conclusion

Click to tweet this!

While the core of your technical SEO work will stay the same in 2021, there is plenty of opportunity to build and improve on foundational skills, implement structured data and automation, clarify the way you analyze and report your results, and plan for Core Web Vitals to take effect. And while technical work can sometimes feel isolating, remember that cross-team collaboration is key to success, and that you’re part of a community of SEOs with similar goals!

Speaking of community, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the amazing work of Areej AbuAli and the Women in Tech SEO network.

“If you identify as a woman, do join the Women in Tech SEO Slack channel and subscribe to its newsletter,” advises Miracle Inameti-Archibong. “I wish I had a community like that at the beginning of my career. There are loads of people always willing to help with not just technical SEO issues, but mentoring and sharing of opportunities.”

Have questions for the experts, or advice not mentioned here? Let us know in the comments!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[nutrifami]

According to the Experts: 5 Technical SEO Trends to Watch in 2021

Posted by morgan.mcmurray

It’s no secret that SEO relies heavily on technical components to drive site rankability, and with so many emerging technologies, new tools, and metrics (*cough* Core Web Vitals *cough*), you might be wondering whether these constant updates will affect your more technical work.

To find out more about the state of technical SEO in 2021, we asked seven industry experts for their thoughts. The overwhelming answer? Keep doing what you’re doing.

“The core essentials in 2021 will remain about the same — every SEO needs to understand the fundamentals of crawling vs. indexing and the technical basics that have to be met before a site can rank,” says Moz Search Scientist, Dr. Pete Meyers. “All the fancy footwork in the world won’t get you anywhere if there’s no floor beneath you.”

But what should that floor be constructed of? Read on to find out!

1. Focus on the fundamentals

Click to tweet this!

Technical best practices are the “best” for a reason, so having a strong foundation of basic technical SEO skills is still a must.

“For me, the most underrated technical SEO strategy has always been the fundamental best practices,” says consultant Joe Hall. “It might sound surprising to some, but the vast majority of my clients have a difficulty in grasping the importance of best practices or just the basic fundamentals of SEO. I think this is in large part because of our community's focus and attention on the ‘next best thing’, and not very often talking about the basic fundamentals of technical SEO.”

Those fundamentals include hard skills like understanding how to recognize and fix crawlability, indexation, accessibility, and site performance issues, but also how to prioritize the issues you come across.

SEO expert Lily Ray notes that prioritization is an area of improvement that novice technical SEOs need to address first, as they may be more inclined to cite small things as major problems when they’re really not: “It is common for new or junior SEOs to send a laundry list of technical items as exported by [SEO tools] directly to clients, without prioritizing which ones are the most important to fix, or knowing which ones can be ignored,” she says. “In many cases, the tools don’t even flag some of the more severe technical issues that may be affecting crawling, indexation, or rendering… Good technical SEOs are able to pinpoint real problems that are having a significant impact on the website’s ability to rank well, and they know which tools or other resources to use to be able to solve those problems.”

So start taking note of not just the what when it comes to technical issues, but also the influence those issues actually have on the sites you work on.

Need to brush up or build on these hard skills? Not to worry — Moz Academy recently released a Technical SEO Certification that can help you do just that!

Sign Me Up!

Beyond the more hands-on, practical skill sets required for building and maintaining search-optimized websites, our experts agree that basic soft skills are just as important, with several citing the need for cross-team collaboration abilities.

“Technical SEO implementations generally require working with multiple teams... which means there’s a lot of partnership, persuasion, give and take collaborations,” says Alexis Sanders, the SEO Director at Merkle. “Having project management, client services, storytelling, and communication skills will support implementation.”

So don’t get stuck in the weeds of your technical work — make sure you’re in constant communication with the teams and stakeholders who will help support your initiatives.

2. Gear up for Core Web Vitals

Click to tweet this!

One of the hottest topics in the industry right now is no doubt Core Web Vitals, the new Google ranking factors update expected in May 2021. But do technical SEOs really need to worry about them?

The experts say yes, but to work as a team to address them, and make your SEO voice heard. Alexis Sanders puts it this way: “The page experience update consists of Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, web app security, and removing interstitials. Regardless of how teams are structured, making progress is going to require a wide array of talents, giving SEO a more involved seat at the table, as these elements affect our bottom-line.”

When prioritizing what to focus on, make sure that improving site speed is at the top of your list.

“If you only work on one area of Technical SEO in 2021, make it site speed,” advises Kick Point President Dana DiTomaso. “Site speed is one of those great parts of technical SEO where the benefit isn't only for search engines — it also helps the people visiting your website. Remember, not everyone is coming to your website using the latest technology and fastest internet connection.”

When asked about their favorite ways to optimize, here’s what the experts suggested:

Start using a content delivery network, such as cloudflare.com.

Implement server-side caching for markup and design assets like CSS and JavaScript, and minimize the number of individual requests made for each page by bringing CSS and JavaScript in-line.

Optimize media files by converting to next-generation formats and compressing for size and use of data.

Use tools like BuiltWith, Wappalyzer, and Lighthouse to investigate what third party scripts have been loaded on a page, and remove them if you no longer need them, or move as many as compatible to a tag management tool.

Focus on image performance optimization.

Work with analytics and other internal teams to establish processes and expectations for adding and removing tagging.

Set requirements and expectations around page speed early in the development process.

Addressing any site speed and usability issues now will set you up to better weather rankings shake-ups caused by Core Web Vitals.

Click to tweet this!

3. Use schema and structured data strategically

To ensure that crawlers can read, index, and serve the content of their sites to searchers, many SEOs rely on structured data and schema frameworks to organize everything — as well they should. But when implementing structured data, the experts agree, make sure you’re using it to achieve specific goals, and not just because you can.

“Some structured data has material impact on search results or how Google can process and understand a site, while other structured data will be totally irrelevant to any given site or have no measurable impact,” says Dr. Pete. “We need to use structured data with clear intent and purpose in order to see results.”

Lily Ray agrees, pointing out the debate on the topic of schema within the industry:

“There is a wide range of opinions on this topic within the SEO community, with some SEOs wanting to ‘mark up all the things’ and others not believing schema is important if it doesn’t generate Rich Results. Personally, I like to apply structured data if I believe it can provide search engines with more context about the entities included in our clients’ websites, even if that schema does not generate Rich Results. For example, I believe that adding Schema attributes related to your brand and your authors is a good approach to help solidify information in Google’s Knowledge Graph.”

The takeaway? Get clear on your goals, and implement structured data if it makes sense for your strategy, but don’t “mark up all the things” if doing so will create unnecessary work for you and your team without bringing about the results you’re looking for.

4. Leverage automation to get things done

Click to tweet this!

Emerging technologies don’t always stick around long enough to become useful, but one innovation that won’t be going away anytime soon is using languages like Python to help automate various workflows, like data analysis and research.

“The technical SEO industry has been exploding with new ideas and innovations in the past couple of years, particularly related to analyzing data at scale and automating SEO processes, which has resulted in programming languages like Python moving into the spotlight,” says Lily Ray.

Why is automation important? Not only can it make your day-to-day work easier and more streamlined, it can have positive effects on your business as well.

“I still think that improving time to task completion (performance optimization) is core to every business,” says Miracle Inameti-Archibong, the Head of SEO at Erudite. “Not just because of the page experience update coming in May, but because it affects all channels and directly affects the bottom line of the business (sale, leads) which is what key decision-makers are interested in.”

In 2021, explore ways in which automation can help you achieve both your technical SEO and broader business goals more effectively.

5. Don’t forget about analytics and reporting

Click to tweet this!

SEO success is incremental and gradual, usually taking months to years before you can definitively show how the work you put in has paid off. But if something goes wrong? Well, Dr. Pete has the perfect analogy: “The truth is that technical SEO is often like washing dishes — no one gives you much credit for it, but they sure notice when you break something.”

While technical SEO is the basis for all other SEO work, your non-SEO co-workers and managers will likely pay attention more when things are going wrong than when they’re going right. To help mitigate this issue, he suggests steering clear of “vanity metrics”, such as pages indexed, and instead “showing how a clear plan of action led to improvements in relevant rankings, traffic, and sales.”

Click to tweet this!

Make sure you’re outlining specific metrics and goals from the start of every campaign, which will help guide your efforts and give you an easier framework for reporting on things down the line. And don’t forget to factor in outside forces that may be affecting your results.

“Organic traffic can be impacted by a lot of external factors, or your other, non-technical SEO campaigns,” says Tom Capper, Moz’s Senior Search Scientist (say that five times fast). “Tactics like SEO split-testing or, at a more primitive level, counterfactual forecasting, can help to isolate these effects in many cases, and happily technical changes tend to have a quicker, more direct impact than some other types of change that don’t see returns until the next core update.”

So when analyzing and reporting, remember: quantity isn’t always quality, and make sure you have the full picture before gleaning insights.

Conclusion

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While the core of your technical SEO work will stay the same in 2021, there is plenty of opportunity to build and improve on foundational skills, implement structured data and automation, clarify the way you analyze and report your results, and plan for Core Web Vitals to take effect. And while technical work can sometimes feel isolating, remember that cross-team collaboration is key to success, and that you’re part of a community of SEOs with similar goals!

Speaking of community, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the amazing work of Areej AbuAli and the Women in Tech SEO network.

“If you identify as a woman, do join the Women in Tech SEO Slack channel and subscribe to its newsletter,” advises Miracle Inameti-Archibong. “I wish I had a community like that at the beginning of my career. There are loads of people always willing to help with not just technical SEO issues, but mentoring and sharing of opportunities.”

Have questions for the experts, or advice not mentioned here? Let us know in the comments!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[xaydungtruonggia]

According to the Experts: 5 Technical SEO Trends to Watch in 2021

Posted by morgan.mcmurray

It’s no secret that SEO relies heavily on technical components to drive site rankability, and with so many emerging technologies, new tools, and metrics (*cough* Core Web Vitals *cough*), you might be wondering whether these constant updates will affect your more technical work.

To find out more about the state of technical SEO in 2021, we asked seven industry experts for their thoughts. The overwhelming answer? Keep doing what you’re doing.

“The core essentials in 2021 will remain about the same — every SEO needs to understand the fundamentals of crawling vs. indexing and the technical basics that have to be met before a site can rank,” says Moz Search Scientist, Dr. Pete Meyers. “All the fancy footwork in the world won’t get you anywhere if there’s no floor beneath you.”

But what should that floor be constructed of? Read on to find out!

1. Focus on the fundamentals

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Technical best practices are the “best” for a reason, so having a strong foundation of basic technical SEO skills is still a must.

“For me, the most underrated technical SEO strategy has always been the fundamental best practices,” says consultant Joe Hall. “It might sound surprising to some, but the vast majority of my clients have a difficulty in grasping the importance of best practices or just the basic fundamentals of SEO. I think this is in large part because of our community's focus and attention on the ‘next best thing’, and not very often talking about the basic fundamentals of technical SEO.”

Those fundamentals include hard skills like understanding how to recognize and fix crawlability, indexation, accessibility, and site performance issues, but also how to prioritize the issues you come across.

SEO expert Lily Ray notes that prioritization is an area of improvement that novice technical SEOs need to address first, as they may be more inclined to cite small things as major problems when they’re really not: “It is common for new or junior SEOs to send a laundry list of technical items as exported by [SEO tools] directly to clients, without prioritizing which ones are the most important to fix, or knowing which ones can be ignored,” she says. “In many cases, the tools don’t even flag some of the more severe technical issues that may be affecting crawling, indexation, or rendering… Good technical SEOs are able to pinpoint real problems that are having a significant impact on the website’s ability to rank well, and they know which tools or other resources to use to be able to solve those problems.”

So start taking note of not just the what when it comes to technical issues, but also the influence those issues actually have on the sites you work on.

Need to brush up or build on these hard skills? Not to worry — Moz Academy recently released a Technical SEO Certification that can help you do just that!

Sign Me Up!

Beyond the more hands-on, practical skill sets required for building and maintaining search-optimized websites, our experts agree that basic soft skills are just as important, with several citing the need for cross-team collaboration abilities.

“Technical SEO implementations generally require working with multiple teams... which means there’s a lot of partnership, persuasion, give and take collaborations,” says Alexis Sanders, the SEO Director at Merkle. “Having project management, client services, storytelling, and communication skills will support implementation.”

So don’t get stuck in the weeds of your technical work — make sure you’re in constant communication with the teams and stakeholders who will help support your initiatives.

2. Gear up for Core Web Vitals

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One of the hottest topics in the industry right now is no doubt Core Web Vitals, the new Google ranking factors update expected in May 2021. But do technical SEOs really need to worry about them?

The experts say yes, but to work as a team to address them, and make your SEO voice heard. Alexis Sanders puts it this way: “The page experience update consists of Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, web app security, and removing interstitials. Regardless of how teams are structured, making progress is going to require a wide array of talents, giving SEO a more involved seat at the table, as these elements affect our bottom-line.”

When prioritizing what to focus on, make sure that improving site speed is at the top of your list.

“If you only work on one area of Technical SEO in 2021, make it site speed,” advises Kick Point President Dana DiTomaso. “Site speed is one of those great parts of technical SEO where the benefit isn't only for search engines — it also helps the people visiting your website. Remember, not everyone is coming to your website using the latest technology and fastest internet connection.”

When asked about their favorite ways to optimize, here’s what the experts suggested:

Start using a content delivery network, such as cloudflare.com.

Implement server-side caching for markup and design assets like CSS and JavaScript, and minimize the number of individual requests made for each page by bringing CSS and JavaScript in-line.

Optimize media files by converting to next-generation formats and compressing for size and use of data.

Use tools like BuiltWith, Wappalyzer, and Lighthouse to investigate what third party scripts have been loaded on a page, and remove them if you no longer need them, or move as many as compatible to a tag management tool.

Focus on image performance optimization.

Work with analytics and other internal teams to establish processes and expectations for adding and removing tagging.

Set requirements and expectations around page speed early in the development process.

Addressing any site speed and usability issues now will set you up to better weather rankings shake-ups caused by Core Web Vitals.

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3. Use schema and structured data strategically

To ensure that crawlers can read, index, and serve the content of their sites to searchers, many SEOs rely on structured data and schema frameworks to organize everything — as well they should. But when implementing structured data, the experts agree, make sure you’re using it to achieve specific goals, and not just because you can.

“Some structured data has material impact on search results or how Google can process and understand a site, while other structured data will be totally irrelevant to any given site or have no measurable impact,” says Dr. Pete. “We need to use structured data with clear intent and purpose in order to see results.”

Lily Ray agrees, pointing out the debate on the topic of schema within the industry:

“There is a wide range of opinions on this topic within the SEO community, with some SEOs wanting to ‘mark up all the things’ and others not believing schema is important if it doesn’t generate Rich Results. Personally, I like to apply structured data if I believe it can provide search engines with more context about the entities included in our clients’ websites, even if that schema does not generate Rich Results. For example, I believe that adding Schema attributes related to your brand and your authors is a good approach to help solidify information in Google’s Knowledge Graph.”

The takeaway? Get clear on your goals, and implement structured data if it makes sense for your strategy, but don’t “mark up all the things” if doing so will create unnecessary work for you and your team without bringing about the results you’re looking for.

4. Leverage automation to get things done

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Emerging technologies don’t always stick around long enough to become useful, but one innovation that won’t be going away anytime soon is using languages like Python to help automate various workflows, like data analysis and research.

“The technical SEO industry has been exploding with new ideas and innovations in the past couple of years, particularly related to analyzing data at scale and automating SEO processes, which has resulted in programming languages like Python moving into the spotlight,” says Lily Ray.

Why is automation important? Not only can it make your day-to-day work easier and more streamlined, it can have positive effects on your business as well.

“I still think that improving time to task completion (performance optimization) is core to every business,” says Miracle Inameti-Archibong, the Head of SEO at Erudite. “Not just because of the page experience update coming in May, but because it affects all channels and directly affects the bottom line of the business (sale, leads) which is what key decision-makers are interested in.”

In 2021, explore ways in which automation can help you achieve both your technical SEO and broader business goals more effectively.

5. Don’t forget about analytics and reporting

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SEO success is incremental and gradual, usually taking months to years before you can definitively show how the work you put in has paid off. But if something goes wrong? Well, Dr. Pete has the perfect analogy: “The truth is that technical SEO is often like washing dishes — no one gives you much credit for it, but they sure notice when you break something.”

While technical SEO is the basis for all other SEO work, your non-SEO co-workers and managers will likely pay attention more when things are going wrong than when they’re going right. To help mitigate this issue, he suggests steering clear of “vanity metrics”, such as pages indexed, and instead “showing how a clear plan of action led to improvements in relevant rankings, traffic, and sales.”

Click to tweet this!

Make sure you’re outlining specific metrics and goals from the start of every campaign, which will help guide your efforts and give you an easier framework for reporting on things down the line. And don’t forget to factor in outside forces that may be affecting your results.

“Organic traffic can be impacted by a lot of external factors, or your other, non-technical SEO campaigns,” says Tom Capper, Moz’s Senior Search Scientist (say that five times fast). “Tactics like SEO split-testing or, at a more primitive level, counterfactual forecasting, can help to isolate these effects in many cases, and happily technical changes tend to have a quicker, more direct impact than some other types of change that don’t see returns until the next core update.”

So when analyzing and reporting, remember: quantity isn’t always quality, and make sure you have the full picture before gleaning insights.

Conclusion

Click to tweet this!

While the core of your technical SEO work will stay the same in 2021, there is plenty of opportunity to build and improve on foundational skills, implement structured data and automation, clarify the way you analyze and report your results, and plan for Core Web Vitals to take effect. And while technical work can sometimes feel isolating, remember that cross-team collaboration is key to success, and that you’re part of a community of SEOs with similar goals!

Speaking of community, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the amazing work of Areej AbuAli and the Women in Tech SEO network.

“If you identify as a woman, do join the Women in Tech SEO Slack channel and subscribe to its newsletter,” advises Miracle Inameti-Archibong. “I wish I had a community like that at the beginning of my career. There are loads of people always willing to help with not just technical SEO issues, but mentoring and sharing of opportunities.”

Have questions for the experts, or advice not mentioned here? Let us know in the comments!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!