#Scrape Customer Reviews

[reviewgatorsusa]

What Are The Steps To Effectively Scrape Customer Reviews From ECommerce Sites

Businesses of all sizes want new ways to grow. One popular strategy is scraping customer reviews. This process of eCommerce review scraping lets businesses learn valuable insights about what customers think of their products or services. Scraped data can also improve marketing and create better business plans. While scraping reviews may seem difficult at first, it can be a helpful tool for boosting a business's profits.

Many factors influence customers' purchasing decisions. When people decide to buy something, they often look at ratings and read what other customers have said. In fact, almost all customers, about 95%, read product reviews before buying. However, businesses struggle to collect many customer reviews from various websites. Web scraping allows businesses to monitor and gather customer reviews from social media and websites.

What is Product Review Scraping?

Product review scraping refers to the process of extracting and collecting reviews and associated data from e-commerce websites and other online platforms. This data typically includes such as customer ratings, written reviews, product details, reviewer demographics, and timestamps. It involves using special software to automatically collect reviews and feedback from websites like online stores, social media, forums, and review sites.

The reviews are then analyzed to get insights into customer thoughts and feelings towards specific products or brands. This customer feedback data allows companies to gauge product popularity, identify improvement areas, and make more informed choices when creating new products, planning marketing campaigns, and enhancing customer service offerings. Companies find value in understanding customer opinions gathered from online reviews by using review scraper APIs. Businesses scrape product reviews to enhance their products and services based on user feedback and sentiments.

Steps to Scrape Product and Customer Reviews from eCommerce Sites

Businesses can scrape product reviews from eCommerce websites by following a specific procedure that helps ensure a smooth scraping process by using review scraper APIs.

Pick a Scraping Tool

Web scraping tools are like specialized software and review scraper APIs that help you extract data from websites. It includes popular tools, including BeautifulSoup, Scrapy, and Selenium. When choosing a tool, consider factors like ease of use, scalability (how well it handles large amounts of data), and customization options. Some tools are more accessible for beginners, while others offer more advanced features for complex scraping tasks.

Find the Websites

Decide which e-commerce websites you want to scrape reviews from. Review the website's terms of service and robots.txt file to ensure that scraping is allowed. Ensure you're not violating any rules or policies by scraping the website's data without permission.

Choose Review Pages

Once you've identified the e-commerce sites, navigate to the specific pages where product reviews are located. These pages could be product detail pages or dedicated review sections where customers leave their feedback. Grab the URLs of these pages so your scraping tool knows where to look for reviews.

Get the Review Info

Use your chosen scraping tool and review scraper APIs to extract relevant information from the review pages. This information typically includes the text of the reviews, star ratings given by customers, details about the reviewers (such as usernames or demographics), and timestamps indicating when the reviews were posted. Pay close attention to the structure of the website's HTML code to locate and extract the desired elements accurately.

Handle Lots of Reviews

Many e-commerce sites paginate their review sections, which means that reviews are spread across multiple pages. Implement logic in your scraping script to navigate through these pages and collect reviews from each page. It is crucial to make sure that your scraping tool can handle pagination and retrieve all reviews, even if they're spread across multiple pages.

Clean Up the Data

Once you've scraped the reviews, the data may contain noise or inconsistencies that need to be cleaned up. This involves removing unnecessary HTML tags, standardizing formats (such as converting dates to a uniform format), and handling missing values. Cleaning up the data makes it easier to analyze and extract meaningful insights.

Follow the Rules

Adhere to the website's policies and guidelines while scraping data. Avoid aggressive scraping techniques that may overload servers or violate terms of service. Scrape at a reasonable rate to respect the website's bandwidth and server resources. Always be respectful and ethical in your scraping practices to maintain a positive relationship with the website and avoid any legal issues.

Continue reading https://www.reviewgators.com/scrape-customer-reviews-from-ecommerce-sites.php

[datascraping001]

Google Search Results Data Scraping

Google Search Results Data Scraping

Harness the Power of Information with Google Search Results Data Scraping Services by DataScrapingServices.com. In the digital age, information is king. For businesses, researchers, and marketing professionals, the ability to access and analyze data from Google search results can be a game-changer. However, manually sifting through search results to gather relevant data is not only time-consuming but also inefficient. DataScrapingServices.com offers cutting-edge Google Search Results Data Scraping services, enabling you to efficiently extract valuable information and transform it into actionable insights.

The vast amount of information available through Google search results can provide invaluable insights into market trends, competitor activities, customer behavior, and more. Whether you need data for SEO analysis, market research, or competitive intelligence, DataScrapingServices.com offers comprehensive data scraping services tailored to meet your specific needs. Our advanced scraping technology ensures you get accurate and up-to-date data, helping you stay ahead in your industry.

List of Data Fields

Our Google Search Results Data Scraping services can extract a wide range of data fields, ensuring you have all the information you need:

-Business Name: The name of the business or entity featured in the search result.

- URL: The web address of the search result.

- Website: The primary website of the business or entity.

- Phone Number: Contact phone number of the business.

- Email Address: Contact email address of the business.

 - Physical Address: The street address, city, state, and ZIP code of the business.

- Business Hours: Business operating hours

- Ratings and Reviews: Customer ratings and reviews for the business.

- Google Maps Link: Link to the business’s location on Google Maps.

- Social Media Profiles: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook

These data fields provide a comprehensive overview of the information available from Google search results, enabling businesses to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions.

Benefits of Google Search Results Data Scraping

1. Enhanced SEO Strategy

Understanding how your website ranks for specific keywords and phrases is crucial for effective SEO. Our data scraping services provide detailed insights into your current rankings, allowing you to identify opportunities for optimization and stay ahead of your competitors.

2. Competitive Analysis

Track your competitors’ online presence and strategies by analyzing their rankings, backlinks, and domain authority. This information helps you understand their strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to adjust your strategies accordingly.

3. Market Research

Access to comprehensive search result data allows you to identify trends, preferences, and behavior patterns in your target market. This information is invaluable for product development, marketing campaigns, and business strategy planning.

4. Content Development

By analyzing top-performing content in search results, you can gain insights into what types of content resonate with your audience. This helps you create more effective and engaging content that drives traffic and conversions.

5. Efficiency and Accuracy

Our automated scraping services ensure you get accurate and up-to-date data quickly, saving you time and resources.

Best Google Data Scraping Services

Scraping Google Business Reviews

Extract Restaurant Data From Google Maps

Google My Business Data Scraping

Google Shopping Products Scraping

Google News Extraction Services

Scrape Data From Google Maps

Google News Headline Extraction   

Google Maps Data Scraping Services

Google Map Businesses Data Scraping

Google Business Reviews Extraction

Best Google Search Results Data Scraping Services in USA

Dallas, Portland, Los Angeles, Virginia Beach, Fort Wichita, Nashville, Long Beach, Raleigh, Boston, Austin, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Orlando, San Diego, Houston, Worth, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Columbus, Kansas City, Sacramento, San Francisco, Omaha, Honolulu, Washington, Colorado, Chicago, Arlington, Denver, El Paso, Miami, Louisville, Albuquerque, Tulsa, Springs, Bakersfield, Milwaukee, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Jose, Tucson and New York.

Conclusion

In today’s data-driven world, having access to detailed and accurate information from Google search results can give your business a significant edge. DataScrapingServices.com offers professional Google Search Results Data Scraping services designed to meet your unique needs. Whether you’re looking to enhance your SEO strategy, conduct market research, or gain competitive intelligence, our services provide the comprehensive data you need to succeed. Contact us at info@datascrapingservices.com today to learn how our data scraping solutions can transform your business strategy and drive growth.

Website: Datascrapingservices.com

Email: info@datascrapingservices.com

[iwebscrapingblogs]

How Customer Review Collection Brings Profitable Results?

What is the first thing you do when you're about to purchase? Do you rely on the brand's claims or the product's features? Or do you turn to other customers' experiences, seeking their insights and opinions? Knowing the first-hand experience through customer reviews builds trust.

Now, you can transform your role as a buyer, seller, or mediator by reading a few customer reviews and having a wide range of customer review collections. The power lies in extracting data from multiple resources, understanding various factors, and leveraging this knowledge to streamline your processes and efficiently bring quality returns.

This content will equip you with secret strategies for converting customer review collection into profitable actions to ensure your business's success. We will familiarize you with web scraping customer reviews from multiple sources and how companies optimize their marketing strategies to target potential leads.

What Is Customer Reviews Collection?

Review scraping services make retrieving customer review data from various websites and platforms to analyze valuable information easy and efficient. They streamline the complete process of collecting useful information and meet your goals with data stored in a structured format, giving you the confidence to leverage this data for your business's success.

Here are the common platforms to scrape review data of customers:AmazonYelpGlassdoorTripAdvisorTrustpilotCostcoGoogle ReviewsHomedepotShopeeIKEAZaraFlipkartLowesZalandoEtsyBigbasketAlibabaAmctheatresWalmartTargetRakuteneBayBestbuyWishShein

Customer review collection can be completed using web scraping tools, programs, or scripts to extract customer reviews from the desired location. This can include various forms of data, such as product ratings, reviews, images, reviewers' names, and other information if required. Collecting and analyzing this data lets you gain insights into customer preferences, product performance, and more.

How Is Customer Reviews Collection Profitable?

They are a source of customers' experience about specific goods and products, which means you can easily understand the pros and cons. Here are some of the benefits of data for your business that can help you generate quality returns:

Understand Your Products & Services

With access to structured customer reviews, understanding the positive and negative impacts on the audience becomes more manageable. This allows you to focus on the negative section, make necessary changes, and embrace the positive ones to grow and engage more audiences, inspiring your business's success.

Scraping Competitor Reviews

It is essential to know what you are up against in the market. With a custom review data scraper, you can easily filter the data you want to gather from where and when. This gives you the freedom to examine your competitors' positives and negatives. Now, you can build strategies to fulfill customer requirements where your competitors need to improve and improve services where they excel. This will ultimately grab the attention of potential users and boost profits efficiently.

Find The Top Selling Products & Services

It is a plus point if you know the popular products and services when entering a market irrelevant to your target industry. Some common platforms to extract customer reviews for services are Yelp and TripAdvisor, while people opt for Amazon, eBay, or Flipkart for products.

With billions of users active on each platform, you can analyze data about products and services from different locations, ages, genders, and more. The review scraping services use quality tools and resources to make data extraction effortless to understand.

Improve Your Marketing & Product Strategies

The customer reviews collection helps to optimize the production description and connect with your audience. Analyzing the data extracted can help you focus on customer-centric strategies to promote your products and services.

Also, you can get valuable insights about your team to take unbiased and accurate actions to enhance your business performance. Unlike customer forms, surveys, or other media for collecting customer feedback, product reviews are organic views explaining their experience. Customer reviews are unique in that they are often more detailed and provide a broader perspective, making them a valuable source of information for businesses.

Different Methods To Extract Customer Review Data

There are various methods available to scrape customer review data from multiple resources. Let you look at some of them:

Coding with Libraries

This involves using programming languages such as HTML, XPath, Python, Java, and others, depending on expertise. Then, use custom libraries or readily available ones like Beautiful Soup and Scrapy to parse website code and extract specific elements like ratings, text, and more.

Web Scraping Tools

Many software tools are designed for web scraping customer review data. These tools offer user-friendly interfaces to target website review sections and collect data without any code.

Scraping Review APIs

Some websites offer APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) allowing authorized review data access. This provides a structured way to collect reviews faster and effortlessly.

How Does Web Scraping Work For Customer Reviews Collection?

No matter which method you pick to extract customer review data, it is essential to meet the final target. Here is a standard procedure to collect desired data from multiple websites:

Define Web Pages

Creating a list of pages you need to scrape to gather customer review data is essential. Then, we will send HTTP requests to the target website to fetch the HTML content.

Parse HTML

Our experts will parse the content using libraries after fetching it. The aim is to convert the data into a structured format that is easy to understand.

Extraction

Web scrapers find elements like images, text, links, and more through tags, attributes, or classes. They gather and store this data in a desired format.

Organizing Data

Once you have stored the data in SCV, JSON, or a database for analysis, you can structure it efficiently. Multiple libraries are available to manage data for better visualization.

What To Do With Scraped Customer Review Collection Data?

You know the different methods and reasons for extracting customer review data. We will now give you insights about what to do next after gathering data from review scraping services:

Analysis

Go through your collected data to understand customer sentiments towards a particular resource. This involves analyzing customer reviews, looking for patterns or trends, and categorizing the feedback into positive, negative, or neutral. Having a wide range of information from different locations, platforms, and customers can help you find your business's and competitors' strengths and weaknesses.

For example, you might discover that customers love a particular product feature or need clarification on a specific aspect of your service. Allows you to connect with customers and personalize their experience to boost engagement rates.

Tracking

The market changes every second, so with the help of custom review, data scraper extraction will be done in real-time. This allows you to monitor the latest trends, demands, and updates. You can also figure out your business's USPs (Unique selling points) and quickly gain customer loyalty.

For example, you have tracked the market updates regularly for a particular location for previous months. Now, you know which product is highly purchased, the peak time of orders, and more details about the customers. This can help you optimize your promotions and target the right audience to have higher chances of conversions.

Strategize

After analyzing and monitoring the data, it is time to implement strategies to scale your business. Focus on the significant segments where customer reviews and opinions have made a difference. This can be a location, time duration, or a popular product with quality services.

For example, if you notice a trend of positive reviews for a particular product feature, you can emphasize that feature in your marketing campaigns. If you see a lot of negative feedback on a specific aspect of your service, you can address it and improve customer satisfaction. This could involve updating your product description, offering additional support for the feature, or adjusting your pricing strategy.

Social Profiling

Customer feedback helps optimize marketing strategies and gain the trust of other visitors. Social profiling means highlighting the positive customer reviews on your apps, websites, or social media channels.

You can demonstrate credibility by showcasing these reviews and letting potential customers make more informed decisions. This becomes an excellent source for new visitors to understand your services and the quality of customer care.

Wrapping It Up!

We have made your journey effective whether you are planning to scale your business, gain potential leads, understand the company's pros and cons, or gather information about competitors.

Web scraping has become a go-to solution for extracting customer review collection data stored in structured form for analysis. Pick the right tools, platforms, and experts to streamline the process. Whether dealing with competitor analysis, marketing, pricing, personalization, customer sentiments, or more, ensure you have a precise output for analysis.

At iWeb Scraping, a trusted provider of web data scraping services, we help you harness the power of customer review collection to boost your business's profits smartly. Data is dynamic and readily available. You need the right resources and expertise to convert that into high returns like ours.

[reviewgators]

[inkykeiji]

character: valentino warnings: 18+ minors do not interact, possessiveness, toxic relationship, daddy kink, gun play, slight oral fixation, fem!reader who has unspecified piercings notes: for @sovya, who is val’s precious lil princesa ♡ and who always listens to my insane ramblings about ideas i had at exactly 6:20am hehe c: words: 687

Valentino has an interesting little quirk, you’ve come to learn; he always has to have something of his inside of you. It’s a simple fact, really. No matter what it is or where you are, a piece of him must always be within you in some way, shape, or form. 

He, of course, prefers for it to be a part of his body—his fingers, his tongue, his cock—but unfortunately that isn’t always feasible. 

And, of course, there are other objects that work well, too. 

Sometimes it’s his gun, barrel rammed down your throat as far as it possibly can be, teeth scraping against the N of his bedazzled name as you desperately attempt to swallow more, knees sinking into the plush shag of the carpet beneath his work desk, your chin resting on his thigh as you sit at his feet. Your lips pucker tightly around the barrel as they suck, thick dribbles of saliva oozing from the corners of your mouth to drizzle off your jaw in shimmering cords, while a dutiful tongue curls around the heated metal in a protective, almost loving embrace, eager to siphon it further into your body. 

Sometimes it’s one of his shiny gold rings, pressed flat under your tongue as you suck it into your flesh during your daily outings, the metal clacking daintily against your teeth while you mindlessly toy with it, the tip of your tongue hooking through the band then circling the halo in a lazy, messy outline, encrusted salt melting against your tastebuds, staining your tongue with the zest of his sweat. 

Sometimes it’s his favourite bullet vibrator, soft pink silicon engraved with his full name and a smattering of cute little hearts buried deep in your cunt as you go about your day, never knowing when Val might turn it on, turn it up, but always knowing that he’s watching through the discreet cameras he had Vox plant all over your shared condo, always ready for that telltale video call that you better fucking answer right before you cum—and knowing that if you don’t, you’ll be suffering endless edging until Daddy gets home (and sometimes after that, too). 

He gets off on it just as much as you do, chuckling darkly when your knees knock together and your thighs tense, a sharp gasp spilling from your throat and nails chipping as your fingers curl around the edge of the kitchen counter, tauntingly asking if something is wrong, amorcito? as his face swims into view, sadism stretched sharply across his face, eyes glowing with the knowledge that he holds all of your pleasure, all of that power, in the silky palm of his hand, controlling it with the single flick of a notch. 

Sometimes it’s his custom-made heart-shaped studs and barbells, embellished with ostentatious V’s and filling all of your piercings, glinting in the late afternoon sun or heating under your clothes as he drags you from store to store, an arm tightly linked through your own—showing you off, his most cherished accessory, his prettiest prized possession, his best accomplishment.  

If he has to pick a favourite, though, it’s his fingers, one of his four hands wedged between your soft thighs, two fingers stuffing your cunt full and idly stroking the silky walls as he works—writing scripts or reviewing footage—and you play—mashing buttons on your pretty pink handheld or colouring a picture for him, book folded at the spine and balancing against your bent knees, little tongue playing with the point of your fang as you concentrate. 

And yet, despite the sensuality of it all, it isn’t even sexual half of the time, going far beyond the shallow pleasures of carnality. Because that secret, shared knowledge that there is a piece of him constantly inside of you—a private claim of ownership in the most intimate sense—provides a deep-seated comfort; a warm, dense calm that roots itself at the very core of your souls, that soothes anxieties and serves as a steadfast reminder: that you are owned, that he owns you, that you belong to one another, always. 

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

End Game 5

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as noncon/dubcon, age gap, stalking, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: Your gaming buddy asks to meet up but it doesn’t go exactly as planned.

Characters: Andy Barber

Note: 😘

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Please do not just put ‘more’. I will block you.

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

There’s another tap on the window. You shake your head, ignoring it. Go away, go away, go away. Another comes, this one louder and you turn, ready to shout at him to leave you alone. Why is he there? Why is he bothering you? 

You spin and stop short. A little boy smiles from just over the little ledge and his dad stands behind him, his hand hovering at the window. You blink and move forward to slide open the glass. As you do, you peer around, searching for the bearded man in his button-up. He’s gone. You think. You hope. 

“Sorry, I was cleaning,” your voice tremors before it evens out, “how can I help you?” 

“What do you want, kiddo?” The man puts his hands on his son’s shoulders, “rocky road?” 

“I want choccy!” The kid demands. 

“Double chocolate or chocolate chip or chocolate brownie?” You prompt, smiling as your eyes continue to rove around, waiting for any glimpse of that man. 

“Double,” his dad answers for him, “I’ll have a scoop of praline and cream.” 

“Sounds great? Bowl or cone?” 

“Sugar cones are fine,” the man replies as he takes out his wallet. 

You go through the transaction on habit alone. The man seems slightly agitated by your twitchiness but still drops a tip in the jar. You thank him and lean out the window to see along the side of the booth. Is he gone? Really gone? 

You can’t shake his shadow. You just can’t believe he would show up like that, then act so casually. Like you’re old friends. You chatted for one year and you didn’t even know who he really was. That’s not a friendship, that’s just strange. 

You don’t close the window. You’re already nervous about having it closed for so long. Your manager takes complaints very seriously and you can’t exactly afford to drop one job when you’re considering a second. 

You check the time. Right. A couple hours. You can make it through. If you see him again, maybe you’ll call the cops. Won’t that be funny to explain? Maybe he could use the humiliation of fessing up to his betrayal. 

You don’t feel better about the back-up plan but at least you have one. Sort of. It all depends on if they even believe you. 

The after-dinner crowd begins to burgeon and you find yourself forgetting the unwanted customer for a whole line of new ones. You scoop and scrape and dish out the flavours with a faulty smile. When you’re through the rush, the tip jar is close to full. At least you had a fruitful night. 

You hope that the locals scared Andy away. Or your reaction. You don’t think he came all that way expecting that. Surely, he wouldn’t bother if he thought you were just going to turn him away. Yet why would he expect anything else? 

You really don’t understand. 

As your shift comes to an end, you’re anxious to lock up. Leaving is another matter. You can’t help but look over your shoulder as you twist the key from outside. You turn your back to the wall and wearily wade through the dark. You won’t be caught off guard again. 

You take a different route than usual. You don’t know why but it seems like a clever idea. You keep in the sheen of the street lights. You keep your phone in your hand just in case. You remember all those precautionary safety presentations they had on campus about walking home alone. 

You let out a sigh as you reach your street. Your grandmother’s house sits nestled behind the overgrown walnut tree. You feel safer in sight of it.  

You slow as you sense something off. There’s a car you don’t recognise. An SUV that doesn’t fit in the neighbourhood. He wouldn’t be there. Then you think of the flowers. He knows where you live. 

Your name makes you yipe as a shadow emerges from the silver vehicle. Your feet tangle and you stumble. Keep going or go back. Either way won’t be an escape. You stop and face him wide-eyed. 

“Please, leave me alone,” you beg. 

“Honey, please, I’m not here to do anything but apologise,” Andy strides across the street and you can’t help but shy away. “Won’t you just hear me out?” 

“No, I told you--” 

“And I sat and listened. Don’t you think you owe me the same courtesy?” He insists. 

“But-- I already told you, Andy, what you did--” 

“I know what I did,” he breathes, “I think about it constantly. Every second of every minute of every day. I think of you and I can’t get you out of my head because I know it was wrong. I can’t stand that I hurt you so bad. You don’t deserve that. After everything you’ve gone through--” 

“I only told you those things because I thought you were someone else,” you hiss, “I can’t... I can’t forget the lies. I can’t move on, alright? And honestly, I don’t think we have much in common. We’re in different places.” 

“That didn’t matter before. We got along--” 

“Because you--- you were pretending to be a teenager,” you bluster, “how old are you? Can’t you see how insane this all is?” 

He winces and his jaw ticks. In the glint of the streetlight, his eyes sockets are dark pools and his broad shoulders seem even wider, his figure even taller. You lean back on your heel and sway, looking towards you grandmother’s house. 

“It’s not... I never meant to hurt you.” 

“You did,” you shrug, “Andy, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. We were just gaming, shooting the shit, that’s whatever. The best thing you can do is get help. Talk to someone.” 

“I want to talk to you,” he says. 

“A professional,” you insist, “I’m nineteen. I can’t help you.” 

“But you did,” he snips. 

“Not how you need to be helped, okay? I’m asking you to stop. Go. It’s over. It never really was. I was friends with Jacob, not Andy. You chose that.” 

He hangs his head and heaves. You stand in silence. Slowly, you sidestep and flinch as he mirrors you. He reaches for you and you back away from him. He retracts and pushes his fingers through his hair. 

“Sorry, sorry, I just...” he croaks, “honey,” that word, again, “if I get help, will you talk to me? If I go, get some pills or something, will you just give me a chance?” 

You huff and shake your head, “Andy, there’s lots of people online you can game with. People your own age. Maybe you should try the discord--” 

“No, not them. You.” 

“Andy,” you plead, “I’m... no. No. You can’t do this. You can’t just show up and make me listen. You can’t send me flowers and come to my work and force me to be your friend. Alright? That’s not... healthy.” 

“I wanna be better. For you. That’s what I’m telling you,” he steps closer until you’re against the prickly hedges. “I wanna do everything for you. I can make your life so much better. Honey, don’t you want that? Don’t you want someone who wants you? For once?” 

You’re quiet, stunned by the insinuation, of the truth in it. 

“That’s cruel,” you whisper. 

“I don’t mean—not like that. I only, I’m trying to show you what I can give you--” 

“I don’t want anything from you,” you sniffle, “or anything to do with you. Can’t you get that through your head?” 

He staggers back as if he’s been struck. He shakes his head and stammers, “what-- why? Why not?” 

You blink, long and hard. How many times do you need to repeat yourself? You roll your eyes and turn on your heel. You brace yourself for him to follow but he doesn’t. 

His shadow looms just along the edge of your peripheral and as you turn into your grandma’s yard, you glance back. He watches you but stays where he is. He just stands there. You shiver and raise your phone, lighting up the screen, hoping he gets the idea. You could call the police. 

He takes a step back then pivots sharply. He crosses the street back to the SUV and the door slams behind him. You jump in your shoes and quickly scramble up the walkway to your grandma’s front door. You’re hoping that’s the last time you have to tell him to go away. Next time, you might just have to be mean about it. 

🎮

You try to sleep. It comes in shallow spurts that leave you more and more tired. You don’t have a shift, thank god, but you’re also not so grateful to be left without distraction. You give in to futility as the sun peers in between your curtains and you groan at the dull weight in your temples. 

You creep out quietly to make a coffee. Just instant powder so the machine doesn’t wake your grandma. You go back to your room and sit in a groggy daze, waking yourself with the warmth of each sip. You sigh out and hang your head. 

There was enough to figure out a week ago. Now, you don’t know how many problems you truly have. You’re not so certain last night got the point across, especially after the first two times didn’t work. Third time’s the charm, right? Besides, how much effort are you really worth? 

You can’t just sit still. Your eyes keep itching to look at your Switch, a now cursed item in your collection. You finish the coffee and change out of your pajamas into a pair of sweats and faded tee. You’ll catch up on some chores, keep yourself busy and grandma happy. Besides, you’re not brave enough to venture outside just yet. 

You grab your head phone and pop them over your ears and search through your phone for your cleaning playlist. You’ll start with the living room. Give it a sweep and a mop, wait until grandma’s up to do the vacuuming. Dishes next and the kitchen. Scour the fridge for the forgot produce in the back and take out the trash. You have more than enough to do. 

You wipe off the end tables then the coffee table, sorting the clutter and clearing the trash. You dust the television and the shelves of knickknacks and the ornamental fireplace against the wall. No matter what you do, there’s always a slightly dingy smell to the place. 

When the living room is decent, you move into the kitchen. You turn up your music and drown out the house around you. Dishes, floors, cupboards, cobwebs... You feel the effort in your muscles as you stretch out the kinks from your pitiful sleep. 

You’re entirely obliviously to the existence of others until your grandmother appears with a scowl, pinching your arm as she glowers in her house robe. You glance at the time. You’ve been at it for a few hours. You pull your headphones off your ears and pause your music with a tap of the button on the cord. 

“Oh, morning, do you want some coffee?” You offer. 

She’s unimpressed by your efforts as she crosses her arms. It is kind of early for her to be up. Her nostrils flare as she sniffs. 

“You better make a full pot for your visitor,” she sneers. 

You blink at her and scoff, not understanding her, “visitor?” 

Her eyes are narrowed and her lip curls, “the one who’s been pounding on my door while you’ve been listening to your racket.” She jabs an ear of your headphones, “damn woke me up.” 

“I don’t... who?” 

“Says you knew his son. The dead one,” she shakes her head, “sad, I suppose.” 

You stare at her. You hear movement in the front room, just on the other side of that wall. You glance through the archway and see a shadow shift. She’s not lying. How else would she know? 

“What did he tell you?” You breathe. 

“More than you, eh,” she snaps, “what are you doing gaping at me like a fish, I need a damn coffee. Too early for this nonsense. A dead kid, some stranger in my front room... what trouble are you getting into?” 

“N-nothing, grandma, I don’t... get him out of here. I don’t know him--” 

“He knows you. Knows your name. Says you and his boy were at school together. ‘Splains the flowers, I guess. Condolences, not that you cared, did ya?” She shakes her head, “you always were off in your own little world. Well, I’m not doin’ your dirty work for ya. You ain’t gonna be your mother if I can help it so you want him gone, you tell him you didn’t give a damn about that dead one.” 

You frown. You don’t understand why she’s so callous. She’s never shown any concern about anything but her books. It’s not your fault your parents didn’t want you. Or that she doesn’t either. You only ever begged for her attention, for a sliver of her approval. 

You blow out between your lips. You won’t argue. There’s no use in it. Besides, it’s a small house, you know he heard all that, that he knows you’re on your own. Maybe that’s why he came all this way. Because he knows you have nothing. 

[hellishjoel]

tequila!

6k / pairing: linecook!frankie x waitress f!reader

Series Masterlist l Previous Chapter

summary: a night off and some well deserved drinks put you and frankie in the same spot on a friday night. 

warnings/information: MA 18+ (minors DNI), food and alcohol consumption, intro to triple frontier friends, reader is mentioned having hair and wearing perfume, swearing, pet names (princess), jealousy, angst, hot girls cry in the bathroom, smut, fingering (f! receiving), cum eating, discussions of men being douchebags. if I missed anything, please let me know!

A/N: it’s been since halloween! how are we doing?! here’s more frankie and princess figuring out their shit and actually communicating! can we get a round of applause? thank you to @undercoverpena for the emotional and plot support! thank you to @saradika-graphics for the dividers!

follow hellishfics and turn on notifications to see the next time I update!

The town was small, but you guys knew how to kick it. 

Pool balls clattered, people cheered, and butts of beer bottles clinked in celebration. 

This was exactly what you needed, a night off and a fucking drink. 

You tried to tell yourself that your spat with Frankie a month ago hadn’t taken its toll on you, but he was plaguing your thoughts. The fastest way to forget your inhibitions? To forget Frankie? 

Tequila.

Sideways was known for breaking health code violations and overserving its customers. Despite their negative Yelp reviews, they were the only bar in town packed on this Friday night. 

You were two and a half drinks in with your girlfriends, the ones you never get to see from working late shifts. They were sweet and funny as hell. They were the pick-me-up that you really needed after what happened with Frankie.

It was still sitting in the back of your mind, playing on a loop like Christmas songs do in the winter. 

“What do you want from me, huh?” 

“I don’t know.”

Heat scorches your throat, burning and scraping at the inside as you accept a shot from a stranger. Not your smartest decision, but you suppose you haven’t been making a lot of those as of late anyway. 

Just as you take a deep sigh, you see it. That stupid hat and nest of dark curls accompanied by broad shoulders. What was Frankie doing here? 

You try to drop your head, avert your gaze, but it's pointless. The moment your eyes meet, time warps into slow motion. His usual honey-brown eyes look oaky-brown in the low light ambiance Sideways provides. His face softens at the sight of you, taking you in. Even as he walks past your small table, his head cranes to keep you in sight. 

Then his friends slap his back and keep him moving, their large and loud group weaving through the sea of strangers. And it’s over. He’s gone, probably somewhere tucked in the back of the bar ordering drinks. Time returns to its normal pace, and the loud hum of drunk twenty-somethings returns. 

“Jeez, Fish, that’s like the second bullseye tonight.” Frankie’s friends playfully clap with mustaches tickled with white foam from their beers. 

Frankie shrugs a shoulder, glances at your table, sees your pretty smile and the way your hair swishes before his eyes return to the dart board. An angry huff leaves his lips before he raises his arm, eyes narrowed on the dart board a good seven feet away from him, before he releases the dart like a lightning fast whip and he sinks it right into the center. 

His friends howl, a little smile on his lips at their approval. 

“Make that three!” One chimes in. “He’s hot tonight, folks! Get’em while he’s hot!” 

Despite being with his friends and cheap alcohol, Frankie didn’t feel very happy. Not after what went down after the last time he saw you. And now, you were here, which was making the pistons in his brain fire a whole lot faster. He wonders what happened, why you threw up your hands that night and pushed him away. 

Work has been hell trying to avoid you. Nothing more than giving him orders and brushing past him with your pretty smelling perfume that has put him in a trance since the first day he started at the diner. Now you were here, huffs of people in between you two, and he could still pick out the sweet blossomy smell he considers to be your own.

“I need a fucking drink,” Frankie mutters, plucking the darts from the board as he slaps them in the hands of his buddy for his turn. 

Frankie pushes through people to the bar, gently rapping his knuckles against the dark wood of the bar for a beer. His head dips down to look for his wallet, pulling it from his back pocket. The last thing he expects when he looks up is… not you. 

“Do you know that girl or something?” Your friend nudges, eyes still locked on the glowing redhead who had approached Frankie at the bar. 

“No.” You mutter, sucking in at the side of your cheek as you watch her put the moves on an adorably awkward Frankie. 

“You sure seem to act like you know her, you won’t stop staring.” She teases before she’s distracted by one of your girlfriends spilling off her barstool. 

All you can see is the way she blocks your view of Frankie, doing all the typical flirtatious moves you can get away with when you’re hot. Twisting her hair around her finger, smiling at Frankie like he was the funniest guy in the world, leaning into his front. She had a gorgeous body, tight waist, glowing smile, and a huge fucking rack she purposely accentuated when she threw her head back in laughter. 

First off, you hate the way she looks at him like he’s already hers. Second, when did Frankie become so goddamn funny?

You huff out a sigh and throw back another tequila shot as soon as it’s delivered. 

Jealousy wasn’t your thing. Frankie just knew how to pinch your fucking nerve. It’s so fresh still, you know? Now here he was, talking to another girl. Part of you feels like you deserve it. You cut him loose, there were no more strings that tied you two together. So why did you feel like this? Angry, annoyed, sad. Jealous. 

Fuck that. 

“Another tequila?” The bartender perks up upon seeing you nudge your way to the front of the bar’s counter. 

You give him a tight nod and a blank mhm leaving your mouth, leaning over the counter as you wait. 

His cologne shatters your thoughts. “Hey.” 

You look up to see Frankie has turned away from his girl, eyeing you over. You couldn’t deny how good you looked tonight, taking advantage of your one night off to wear something that accentuated your figure. 

And it was catching more eyes than Frankie’s. The woman beside him glares at you as if you took her favorite toy on the playground, as if she had dibs. 

You hate to admit that your eyes drift as well, a certain sexually charged energy between you both. His classic khaki jacket and ballcap accompanied by a dark wash pair of jeans. His stupid hands are stuffed in his stupid pockets, and his stupid chocolate curls curve up toward the brim of his hat. 

Frankie’s eyes fell to your sweet neck, then to the curves of your body, your mouth going dry at the way he was drinking you up. 

“Hey,” you muster up, giving him a tight-lipped grin as you nod as a greeting. 

You want him. He looks so fucking good tonight. But he already had a date going, you didn’t need to interrupt. You nip at your lower lip and force yourself to stare elsewhere. 

“Rum and coke, please, Frankie,” The woman coos, an attempt to stray Frankie’s attention from you. She’s obviously seen the way he looks at you, both of you practically eye fucking each other right in front of her. You kind of got a kick out of getting under her skin, though. 

“Hi,” you say as you reach your hand past Frankie, offering the woman a handshake and your name. “I work with Frankie.” 

She gives you a snotty little hmph, nodding tightly instead of shaking your hand. 

“I’ll meet you at the table with my drink.” She insists to Frankie, leaving the two of you on your own, but not without a squeeze to his broad arm and a certain look in your direction. 

“Wow,” you fake applaud, “she’s a real keeper, Frankie. No, really, I mean it. Didn’t know you had a thing for girls with tits bigger than their face.” 

“I just met her ten minutes ago,” Frankie mutters as he’s served his beer and the girl’s rum and coke, as well as your tequila shot being delivered. 

You try not to roll your eyes too obviously. “Well, she’s certainly all over you.” 

“What do you care?” He counters, finally facing you again, his eyes still lingering on your body for longer than you know he should. “You came up here to us, princess. If there’s something you wanna say, say it.”

A larger group comes in through the front door and pushes through to the bar, a light gasp leaving you as you’re shoved into Frankie, your fronts aligning. You feel his toned torso and smell his fresh cologne as his hand instinctually clutches your waist to keep you upright. 

Both of you take one another in again, not being able to fight the tension between you both that could be cut with a knife. 

The last time you were this close was Halloween. The last time he touched you was Halloween. Now, he was touching you again, and god, all you wanted was for him to flip his hat around, duck down, and kiss you. Kiss you hard, make up for all the time you had lost. 

Have you ever missed someone so much you feel physically sick? You had no idea how much your little talks in the kitchen meant to you until you forced Frankie to let you go. You had the overwhelming urge to run away, like he was too close, he would learn everything about you, and he’d leave after finding out you’re just a broken plate that can’t be glued together. 

You were unfixable. And Frankie was a fixer, down to his bones, and in his heart, he would try to mend you back together, only to be disappointed after many failed attempts. You wouldn’t put him through that, and more importantly, you didn’t want anyone to try. It would just hurt you more.

But you looked at each other a little too long to be just friends. 

If there’s something you wanna say, say it. 

I can’t. 

Frankie’s eyes sink as you throw back the shot, feeling the liquid burn your throat and then your chest again. This is what you’d rather feel than hurt. 

“Well,” you say, a bit raspy from the fresh alcohol. You gently push your hand into Frankie’s abdomen in an attempt to squeeze out from between him and a random drunkard, nails sinking into his toned torso. “Have a good rest of your night. See you at Tommy’s.” 

Your shoulders swivel back and forth as you carve through the bar to the rest of your friends, toppling over people to get back to your seat as you sigh defeatedly. God, why are you torturing me?

It’s an hour later, followed by two tall water glasses. Your friends have ordered some appetizers off the menu to soak up the alcohol. And because you were all damn hungry. Your eyes stray to Frankie’s table every few minutes. 

You couldn’t help it, you were overthinking. Was he looking at you when you looked away? Was he not looking at all, too into Miss Red? The more you thought, the more your chest felt like it wanted to give way. But you weren’t prepared for what you saw the next moment you looked up. 

Big Red decided to make her move, her long fingernail catching Frankie’s chin and swiftly guiding him to face her as she leaned in and kissed him. 

She kissed him, your Frankie, she kissed him. Put her pink lipstick on his mouth and marked him as her own. 

Goosebumps flood over your skin, eyes sinking as you watched helplessly from across the room.  Suddenly, it was all too much. The loud talking, the buzzing of people, the alcohol, her and him, it was all too much. 

Your feet find the floor before you can stop yourself, you feel like you might shed a tear in your race to the bathroom. You tug on the handle, and it’s locked. 

“Occupied!” Some snotty girl whines. 

“Hurry the fuck up,” you shout amongst the crowd of people to ensure she can hear the urgency in your voice. Your throat feels thick with wetness. 

Finally, the door opens, and the woman looks you up and down in annoyance. You don’t care. You put a hand on her shoulder to guide her out of the doorway, trying to push yourself in and close the door. Not before a familiar pair of thunderous boot steps echo in your ears. 

You let out a grunt as you attempt to slam the door, but you see a hand curve around the frame. He speaks your name, it’s Frankie. Your stomach falls, and you quickly shake your head, feeling angry tears threaten to spill. 

“Fuck off,” you say behind gritted teeth, attempting to use your body to finish closing the door. But he’s a hell of a lot stronger than you. 

“Come on, princess, open up, just wanna talk.” He pushes himself in, tall figure looming over yours as you look away with annoyance. He flips the lock and presses his hand above the wall you’re leaning back on. “What’s wrong?” 

Anger surges through your voice, planting your hands on his chest as you attempt to shove him away again. You find yourself confused when your own hands curl in on his shirt and bring him closer. “I told you to fuck off, I’m fine.” 

“You don’t look fine.” He says as his hands attempt to cradle your face, but you shove them down. 

“Then stop looking,” You quickly shake your head, the heat of his hands making your stomach churn. 

Suddenly, you don’t want to cry, you want to shout. 

“I saw you kiss her!”

Frankie’s eyes met your glaring ones, your lips parting as you let out panted breaths.

“I didn’t kiss her,” he starts to say before you interject. 

“I saw you! Why are you lying to my face?” You accuse, feeling your body flush with warmth as your hands gently push at his pecs. “Get away from me.” You mutter, but Frankie always returns despite how many times you push him away. 

“I’m not goin’ anywhere until you listen to me, okay?” Frankie goes to cup your cheeks again, but the warning look on your face makes him groan in annoyance and drop his head before he comes back up to look at you. “She kissed me, I didn’t kiss her back, and-and I didn’t want her, okay? I want you, I want you, I want you, goddamit, I want you!” 

You quickly shake your head, feeling your hoop earrings gently hit your cheeks. “No.” You whisper, feeling small under his gaze. And he’s looking at you again like you put the sun in the sky. You absolutely hate it in some ways, but he looks at you with such clarity that it makes your heart flutter. Like he knows his place is with you. 

“No, what?” He challenges. You find yourself fisting at his shirt, both in comfort and also a way to keep him at a distance. 

“No, you don’t want me, Frankie,” Your face is pinched in anger, eyes searching for his intentions. You watch as his face sinks at your words, hurt by what you’ve said. 

“How can you fuckin’ say that? How can you say I don’t want you? You don’t get to decide that for me, alright?” His voice is stern, eyes narrowed in on yours as he fills the space between you two, no matter if you take a step back, he’s right there on your toes. “I like you.”

“You don’t know me, not really,” You say.

“I want to, though. I’m scared as hell to want you, but here I am, telling you I want you anyway because that’s how much I care. I want you more than I fear the rejection on Halloween happening all over again.” 

All you can do is shake your head, feeling the mixture of angry sad tears start to melt at your eyes again. You hurt him so badly on Halloween, yet he was still here trying to say how much you mean to him. 

“Frankie,” your lower lip wobbles, straying eye contact. 

“No, listen to me, I’ve got more to say,” he says as he cradles your face once more, and this time, you don’t push him away. His beautiful brown eyes pour into your own, and you feel so drunk that he’s kissing your soul with his eyes. 

“I haven’t even missed you,”

“Bullshit, I know you fuckin’ miss me because I miss you.” He sees through all your lies, you feel transparent as he holds you close, backing you up against the sink as he strokes a thumb along your cheekbone. 

“No,” you start to say, shaking your head as tears cloud your vision. 

“No, no, no,” he mocks, “Is that all you can say?”

You despise how much your throat feels swollen, and your words sound thick with wanting to cry. “I just wanted you to fuck me, but then I got greedy, and I wanted you to love me, too. But that would be a waste of your time, Frankie, you need to listen to me.”

The admission felt like a dam breaking inside of you, and Frankie only pulls you closer. Suddenly, the buzz of everyone else outside the bar died down, and all you could think or hear was Frankie. 

“Loving someone is never a waste,” Frankie whispers. 

You playfully scoff and wipe under your eyes around his hand. “You don’t love me.”

“No, not yet. But I could. I know I could. Because this past month has been hell without talking to you. I don’t wanna walk around the diner, pretending like you don’t exist or that you don’t do something to me. You do everything to me, you are everything.” 

Frankie starts swiping away the tears you didn’t even know were falling, taking them away with the pads of his thumbs. 

“I think of you at two in the morning when I can’t sleep, you’re always the first place my mind runs to. You stayed over once, once, and my body just fuckin’ craves the way I got to hold you. It was addictive, how it felt to finally be close to you, when you finally let me in.” 

You force yourself to close your eyes and try to breathe, his words feeling like the powers a hurricane carries. Your shaky fists are still clutching his shirt at his sides, not willing to let him go after his confession. 

After you gather a few breaths, you meet his eyes. “Frankie, once you care, you’re fucked.” It’s a warning.

Now, he’s the one shaking his head. “I don’t believe that for a minute. I’ve cared for you ever since I started working at Tommy’s, and even more when you kissed me at the Christmas party last year.”

You playfully scoff and break a smile. “We were both drunk.” 

Frankie shrugs. “Yeah, and I wished I was sober so I could remember every bit of how good it felt. Now we’re almost a year later. It took me from December to August to make another real move on you, and I don’t want to let you go. Not after having the real thing. This feeling doesn’t just go away. I miss you.” 

You nip at your lower lip, goosebumps flying across your skin away. 

“I just don’t want to get hurt,” you whimper, your forehead gently leaning into the support of his large palms. Your glassy eyes make him melt. 

He hushes you gently, your voices growing softer the closer he comes to you. Your noses gently brush, making your wet eyelashes flutter. Frankie sighs before he speaks. “If you promise to stay, I’ll promise not to leave.” 

Frankie’s care for you was evident. You knew pushing him away was wrong, trying to save yourself only wounded you both. But what a waste it would be not to try with someone who was as good-hearted as Frankie. 

The douchebag you once knew was long gone. In fact, it feels like he started to drift away after last December. Because he had made up his mind a year ago that he wanted to be with you, and he would change for the better to make it happen. He’s been showing you all this time what you mean to him, that he wouldn’t hurt you. 

You must have left him hanging for too long because he parts his lips to speak your name. 

“Stop talking,” you whisper as you lean up and crash your lips against his. No more words needed to be said. 

You can feel Frankie’s cheeks perk up from his smile, both of your mouths upturned, happy to be in one another’s arms again. Being apart felt like a drought, and he was finally touching you. And both of you were fucking starved.

Frankie’s once soft movements turn greedy. As do yours. Hands are gliding over waists, teeth are tugging lips, and your core physically buzzes as Frankie flips his hat to face backward without breaking your kiss. Jesus Christ. His tongue glides against your bottom lip and you easily part your lips to grant the access he so desperately craves. 

“Lemme make it up to you,” Frankie mutters against your mouth, tasting remnants of his ale and he, your citrussy-lime tongue. 

“Please,” you beg. 

He doesn’t waste another moment, nipping at your bottom lip and making you mewl while his large palms find the back of your thighs. His strength makes lifting you look easy, gasping into his mouth as he sets you on top of the sink while his hands fasten on your waist once more. 

You push his hand towards the button of your jeans and he pops it open with one hand. 

“Fuck,” you moan out, jaw dropped as his hand pushes past the band of your panties, large fingers gliding down through your slick, then back up your valley. A breath catches in your throat, your back archiving off the mirror as Frankie takes the opportunity to bury his head into your chest, planting kisses along your breasts over your shirt. He eventually moves his lips up your body, across your sweet neck, to where he nibbles on your jawline. 

Your jaw drops against his cheek, your faces smooshed together as you feel his familiar stubble scrape against your soft skin. It’s like there’s a non-stopping rollercoaster in your mind, with his fingers moving up and down your soaking pussy, you can’t fucking think. 

A weak cry leaves your lips against the shell of his ear as he plunges two fingers into your entrance. You brace an arm around his shoulder and pull him into you, ensuring he keeps his damn fingers stay buried in your cunt. 

“Please,” you whimper, grinding your hips with vigor against his hand, his wrist rolling with you. 

“That’s it baby,” his silken voice purrs with praise, “let go for me.” 

You become completely pliant under his touch, under the lead of his fingers. He was already filling you up, you couldn’t imagine being filled up by the girth of his cock after a month without it. 

With two fingers inside of you and his thumb working sweet circles around your clit, you feel as if you might explode. He walks a line between kissing and sucking on your neck, the surface of your skin becoming clammy and raw. 

There’s a sense of safety in his arms, his tense bicep that’s hardened from the one that’s working up into you.

You barely acknowledge the knock on the door, forcing yourself to bite down onto Frankie’s shoulder and his jacket flap to keep yourself from spilling out loose moans. Loud music and even louder chanter is muffled by the door. 

“Fuck, fuck, Frankie-” you moan, mouth stuffed and jumbling your words. 

Frankie clamps his free hand over your mouth, guiding your head to rest back against the mirror once more, your hot pants fanning against his palm. 

“So fuckin’ loud, don’t remember you bein’ this loud for me.” He says with a wide cocky smirk. You will yourself to roll your eyes, but they end up staying at the back of your head as you continue to fuck yourself against his fingers. 

He curls them inside of you, your back arching as you feel your stomach swirl with excitement. Your small hands clench at his jacket, gasping shakily as your high nears closer. 

Your muffled moans stay concealed by Frankie’s hand clamped over you, letting your weak moans and cries land into his palm. It felt so good, the way your clit twitches under his control and his fingers work effortlessly to plunge deeper and deeper into your depths. 

There’s another incessant knock at the door. Fuck, there was no way to be quiet. 

Frankie smirks wider as your walls clench around his fingers, one long moan of his name landing muffled against his fingers as his eyes fixate on your own, spilling your orgasm across his fingers. 

“Good girl, just needed to get off, didn’t you?” He belittles.

You sigh weakly against his hand, hearing still fuzzy from feeling so over the moon. A slow, tired smirk grazes your lips as you playfully push his face away. 

“Such a douchebag.” You mutter, nipping at your lower lip while Frankie gently removes his fingers from your entrance. You feel empty, you hate it. 

Frankie raises his two fingers to your lips, your eyes studying the pretty cream he’s gathered amongst the mix of your slick. 

“Taste yourself, baby.” Such a fucking charmer. You can’t help the heat that gathers at the back of your neck, shyly leaning in and wrapping your lips around the tips of his fingers. You lock your eyes with his own as you flatten your tongue and hollow your cheeks, sinking your mouth lower and taking him to the knuckle. 

Your heart pounds thinking about his cock angrily twitching against his thigh, desperate for his own release. But he’s always put you first. And you always make his loyalty to you worth his while. 

Frankie’s cocky face slowly melts as you swallow around his fingers, lips parting as he looks over you in a sense of pride. 

Another damn knock on the door. More like an incessant pounding.

He forces himself to release his fingers from your mouth.

“What?” Frankie protectively barked, voice laced with annoyance. 

“Fish?” A voice called from the other side. One of his friends. 

He looks at you apologetically, grabbing you by your hips and lowering you off the sink.  His hands are already on the hem of your jeans,  and securing the button while you zip the fly and hurry to make yourselves presentable. 

Frankie puts his hand on the knob, ready to flip the lock. He feels compelled to kiss you one more time. He spins on the spot and cups your cheeks, meshing your lips together and pulling your chin up to face him. He savors it, lets his tongue tangle with yours to get that last taste of come on your tastebuds. 

He forces himself to let you go, finally opening the door. 

“Santi? What, man?” He asks in annoyance, seeing his friend on the other side. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he pauses to look past Frankie, to you, a sly little smirk on his lips after he’s put two and two together. “Listen, uh, Benny’s been arrested.”

Frankie shares a look of confusion with you. Frankie and Santi both stand there a little dumbfounded, unsure of what to do. 

“Well, come on, he can’t stay there all night. Let’s go.” You urge. It’s enough to snap the two out of their surprised trance. Frankie takes your hand and leads you towards the bar’s exit, pushing people aside with his arms and broad shoulders so no drunk asshole knocks you around in the crowd. 

You’re surprised to see his friend, who you’ve gathered is Santi, doing the same. It felt like you had two incredibly handsome escorts. Or maybe a better term would be guard dogs, pretty and sleek Dobermans. 

After saying goodnight to your friends and grabbing your purse, Santi catches up you both while Frankie drives his truck. 

“This drunk guy came up and started hitting on this girl he knows from.. somewhere.. I don’t know, but then he started getting all belligerent when she rejected him, and Benny stepped in. They started knocking each other around, it was so fuckin’ crowded in there, and I didn’t know where you went. Surprised you guys didn’t hear all the commotion.” 

You weren’t surprised you missed the whole fiasco. Frankie had you coming so hard that you saw Jesus Christ himself. 

“So, what?” Frankie prodded, annoyance laced in his voice as he drove over the bumpy road, glancing in his rearview mirror every few moments to see you. “The police got called and they both got arrested?”

Santi makes an affirmative humming noise, looking out the window as they pull up to the town’s police department. 

“Fuck,” Santi swears as he hops out the back of the truck. “I haven’t done this in a few years. Don’t remember how it goes.” 

You jump in before you can stop yourself. “We need to go in, ask for his name, and figure out what he’s being charged with. We pay his bail, he completes his release paperwork, and as long as he didn’t bad mouth any cops in there, we should be in and out, bada-bing-bada-boom.” You say as you clap-wipe your hands in demonstration of how painless this process should be. But Frankie and Santi still look starstruck. 

“Don’t ask. Let’s go.” You say as you hop out of the truck, the two men following suit. 

You imagined their friend Benny to be this mean, big, bad guy. But you guys didn’t see the way this man smiled upon seeing his friends come to pick him up. He was the definition of a Golden Retriever if we’re still speaking in dog lingo. 

Tussled dark blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a smile that would make any person melt. He just wasn’t what you were expecting when you heard that one of Frankie’s drunk asshole friends was arrested. Maybe you expected another stoner-type who didn’t give a fuck. You were wrong. 

“Arrested for defending a woman’s honor,” Benny scoffs as he digs his possessions out of a large envelope. You eye the way he delicately places his watch back on his wrist before bumming a cigarette from Frankie. The glow of the lighter illuminates his face a mute orange before the end of his cigarette caught blaze. Then you were all surrounded by the blue of a midnight sky again.

“What, like you wouldn’t do it again?” Santi teases, stuffing his hands in his pockets as the cigarette slowly made its way down the line to Frankie. 

“Fuck that, I’d do it again tomorrow if I had to.” He chirps with a laugh. “Fish, you should have heard the way this guy was badmouthing this woman, I mean, the most vulgar shit that came out of his mouth just because she wouldn’t let him buy her a drink.”

“M’glad I wasn’t there. There would have been two guys arrested tonight.” Frankie mutters, the cigarette passing from him to you. 

“Wouldn’t believe how often that shit happens.” You mutter before you take a drag. Benny leans forward to take a look at you, maybe just now realizing you were even here. 

“Yeah?” He probes for more as you slowly nod, tipping the ash off the end of the cigarette. 

“My friend was called a cunt last week after saying no to a guy wanting to sit next to her at the bar. He knew the seat was taken, our other friend just went to the bathroom. He purposely waited until she was alone to make a move.”

“No shit.” Santi hummed curiously. 

“Seriously. Called her a fat bitch, said he’d hope somethin’ really bad would happen to her. If I was there, I would have knocked his teeth in.” 

Benny slowly smiles, nodding proudly. “I have no doubt. Just wish you didn’t have to do that stuff in the first place.”

You sigh as you glance at Frankie, who’s looking at you with sympathetic eyes. But he knows you don’t really like it when he looks at you like that, so he quickly glances at his shoes. 

“Wait,” Benny whispers with a goofy grin. “Fish, is this the girl from the diner you always talk about?” 

Even in the dark of night, Frankie’s sweet glowy blush tints his face. Or maybe it was the alcohol, but he wouldn’t have driven if he was that out of it.

“Yeah, yeah, Benny, this is her.” 

“Oh shit, hi,” Bennys says as he stands in front of you and offers you his hand to shake. “I know this is kind of a bad start, gettin’ me out of jail and all, but I’m Benny Miller, nice to meet you in person. My guy here,” Benny pauses to playfully yank around Frankie’s shoulder, “he’s always tellin’ us stories about the diner. Can’t think of one you’re not mentioned or the star of the show.” 

The smile on your face can’t help but grow as you playfully eye Frankie who is being all too quiet. You hand Frankie the cigarette as a distraction, shaking Benny’s hand. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Benny. And trust me, I’ve met guys under worse circumstances. Like working with them at a diner.” 

“Oh, fuck off,” Frankie mutters playfully around the cigarette in his mouth. 

The whole group erupts into laughter, Benny and Santi both taking the opportunity to say their proper greetings and apologies for busting up your night with their friend. 

“I should probably get back to my brother.” Benny hums, motioning his head back to the bar’s general direction. “If he thinks I had to do another overnighter, I owe him twenty bucks.” He teases as you all start piling back into the truck. 

Frankie drops Santi and Benny back off at the bar, the entirety of the building shaking with applause and whistles to see that their noble heroes have returned. A very specific pretty blonde rushes up to Benny and thanks him with a kiss. 

“And he still gets the girl.” You hum, watching from the passenger side window. 

“He always does, that one.” Frankie teases, his hand coming over to rest on your upper thigh, thumb making gentle circles over your jeans. “Lemme take you home.” 

You swallow down a lump in your throat, gently resting your hand over Frankie’s. “Is home your apartment?” You ask, slowly raising a hopeful eyebrow as he nods. 

“Can be.” 

A nod to that, Frankie starts his truck down the road again. 

You need to tell him the truth, that this didn’t make you official. That you were still wary, trying to learn how to ride a bike again, sort of thing. 

“What?” He asks, knowing you’re thinking too loud in your head. 

You part your lips to speak but realize you shouldn’t feel bad about what you have to say. “I’m not ready for a full commitment. You’re not my boyfriend, Frankie, not yet. I just wanna take things slow. See if this is what we both really want.” 

The right side of Frankie’s mouth twitches up into a smile. “We’ll figure it out. If no label is what you want right now, I’ll wait.” 

You can feel your heart swell at his understanding. The last thing you wanted was for Frankie to start announcing to the world that you were dating. Not when you didn’t feel fully ready. You had bad relationship habits, ones you were ready to finally outgrow. But you didn’t want him to be subjected to your learning process. So you both could wait. 

Frankie’s hand rotates palm side up, fingers apart. You slip your hand over his, your fingers interlocking as he starts the familiar route back to his apartment. This would be a lot of work, and you both had to be patient. 

“Take things slow...” Frankie slowly murmurs. “Does this mean we can’t have sex?”

“No, fuck that.” You both laugh, squeezing his hand in your hold. 

here's my masterlist!

follow hellishfics and turn on notifications to see the next time I update!

[sebastianswallows]

The English Client — Five

— PAIRING: Tom Riddle x F!Reader

— SYNOPSIS: The year is 1952. Tom is working for Borgin and Burkes. He is sent to Rome to acquire three ancient books of magic by any means necessary. One in particular proves challenging to reach, and the only path forward is through a pretty, young bookseller. A foreigner like him, she lives alone, obsessed with her work... until Tom comes into her life.

— WARNINGS: Tom hurts himself like an idiot and tries to hurt reader like an idiot

— WORDCOUNT: 2.6k

I

When she returned the next morning, she didn’t have the sense that anything was wrong, even when she found the ledgers placed in the wrong order underneath her desk. It wouldn’t be the first time… So she followed her routine and spent the chill hours of the morning making coffee in the little kitchen in the back and finished a review of Pliny the Younger she’d begun two days ago.

It wasn’t until later, after lunch, when she went into the back rooms to put Pliny in his place that she realised something was definitely wrong. The carpet, usually so carefully smoothed over the trapdoor, was creased in a light wave, its yellow tassels ruffled. The table in the centre of the room was quite askew as well, the items on it shifted to the right. She froze, then rushed to check the hidden door.

But the door was safe. There wasn’t even a scratch on it… She placed her signet ring into the keyhole and it popped open with a click, just as it always did. She lifted it and stepped inside, down the steps that led into the tunnel. It was dark and quiet… Nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe she was the one who made that mess the last time she was there. She did tend to be a bit clumsy sometimes…

With a sigh of relief, she climbed back up, and as her face reached the level of the floor, something shiny underneath the table caught her eye. She got up and closed the door behind her, then crawled on her knees underneath the table to grab the foreign thing.

It was one of those fancy pocket knives with all sorts of uses… Red handle, stainless steel blade. Her heartbeat turned frantic and sweat cloyed at her hairline, and she felt her stomach drop — someone else had been there. And she’d have to report this. With brisque and heavy steps, she went back to her desk and picked the phone up.

“Hello?” she whispered once the Curator picked up. “It’s me, upstairs. Erm, has anything gone missing? What? Oh, n-no reason, just, I think we had a break-in and — No, it’s fine! Just — I don’t think so. Erm, did I call him? Not yet. I —”

She listened to the frustrated cursing of the man downstairs as she stared at the Swiss knife, turning it in her hands, her whole body tense and weak, when suddenly her frown melted away and lips parted. There were two letters inscribed into the blade: C. M.

“It’s someone with the initials C and M,” she said quickly. “Know anyone? No, I don’t either… Alright. Alright, I’ll call him now. Thank you.”

II

“Yes, it’s not much to go on, but —”

“There is no need,” scraped the voice from the other end of the line.

“What?”

“You said nothing was taken?”

“A-as far as I can tell… Downstairs is safe too.”

“Hm. Possibly something forgotten by a customer.”

“H-how can you be sure?”

“If it had been an intruder, you would not have found a knife,” he said. “You would have found a corpse.”

She frowned, not really understanding him but ready to accept this resolution.

“S-so, what would you like me to do?”

Silence on the other end. Perhaps he expected her to increase security, or just carry on as normal since he seemed so calm about it…

“Put a copy of Torchia on display.”

“What?!”

“If it really was a break-in, and it has to do with the auction, we will test the resolve of our thief.”

“Do you want that book or…”

“Yes. Ask Ambrogio,” he said, and in the background, she could hear the scratching sound of him writing something down.

“Alright, sir…”

The scratching persisted until he hung up on her.

III

Tom smiled against the receiver. He so hated telephones with their smooth plastic in unnatural colours, but they were faster than an Owl… Besides, muggles seemed to love them.

“Yes, if you could manage it, I’d be ever so grateful,” he drawled silkily, putting on the same boyish airs he did when meeting with another of Burke’s clients. “No no, not right now. I’ll tell you when. Is that alright? It is? Oh, wonderful. You know, I keep thinking of that hotel you mentioned. You were right about this one, it’s awful. Yes. Yes, I’ll consider it.”

He hissed a few more pleasantries and said goodbye. When it was over, he reached to the bedside table to hang up, but not without some difficulty. He sighed and rested his cheek against his long cold palm cushioned by the pillow. Tom was lying on his front on the narrow hotel bed, a pack of ice on his hip — just a few cubes tied up in a handkerchief. It did little to reduce the bruise that bloomed there, but at least it kept the swelling down. He could think of a dozen potions that would do much better than this, but he had none of the ingredients on hand. His own fault for leaving London without buying some supplies first…

He held the pack to him and got up gingerly, growling all the while. He should have been happy, he’d made a great deal of progress in finding where they held the book, even if the way was closed to him. And with a bit of luck, he might yet find a way to gain their trust.

Tom limped over to the window, a drop of water sliding down his naked leg. The sun was setting and the streets were filling up, frothing with white dresses and silk scarves. How he hated being around muggles…

He let the curtains close again and waved his wand to brew him a cup of tea. Fire spells were so useful even if you didn’t have your mind on arson. He was at least glad he’d brought some tea leaves with him, and could brew them at just the right temperature. The milk they served around these parts was also not so bad, and worked wonderfully with the brew. It soothed his nerves if nothing else.

He sat down in the armchair, legs askew, loose shirt covering him to his thighs, and picked up his notebook. At least he knew they had the Trevisan that he was after... It would make the perfect excuse to visit again — in a more overt manner.

Absentmindedly, he placed the ice pack on his lap, and immediately jumped up in his seat.

“Oh fuck! Cold!”

He growled and with a sharp flick of his wand transformed the pack into a pillow, and settled down again.

IV

It should have delighted her that Frederico found the freedom to ask her out for lunch again. She sometimes thought she worked too many hours, but that impression faded when she heard from him. All Fred ever talked about was work. His shop was two streets away — not his of course, just as Casa Ur wasn’t hers — but he behaved as if it was his child sometimes, so dutifully he tended to it. She put it down to the speed with which she worked, as she was younger than most of the other book dealers in the city and less worn down by its pressures. But even she could not muster the endless enthusiasm of her friend.

Their lunches together had nothing romantic about them, they never did. He was a kind, soft-spoken man in his mid-forties, his skin just starting to sag around his cheeks, his forehead creased from frowning, brown eyes wet and tired behind a thick pair of glasses. The way he looked at her unnerved her sometimes, but then again, he seemed to look at everything that way…

He picked her up from Casa Ur and they went to a restaurant together, his paunch swinging before him and the sun shining brightly on the bald spot at his crown. He loved to talk, his high hoarse voice filling up the silence. She didn’t mind. She needed the company.

“And anyway, to prevent the shipment from being late, we found an old pathway they could take to avoid the flood, and they arrived five minutes before schedule,” he said, finishing the latest drama from his shop as they sat down at the restaurant across from the Fontana Trevi. “Can you imagine? Flooding, in the hottest summer on record?”

“Oh, last summer was even hotter.”

“You think so, but that’s not what they said on the weather report.”

“I think I’ll have carbonara,” she hummed, licking her lips. She loved the menu at this place…

“Hm? Oh, parmesan gnocchi for me, I think. With cream and garlic, oh yes… Wine for you?”

“No, I don’t think so. Just water.”

“Might be a while until they come around to us. So many tourists out today. Awful. Anyway, I wanted to tell you about the reason we found that route. Guess.”

“I don’t know,” she laughed.

“Guess, guess! Alright, so, it was our collection of Martinelli maps.”

“Fascinating. Oh, there’s a waiter! Scusi, cameriere!”

She hadn’t liked Fred when they first met two years before, but she’d gotten used to him. Or, she’d learned how to put up with him, allow herself to be carried on the wave of conversation that he wove. Now, it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, eating in the open air, letting his enthusiasm drown her worries as he wagged his sausage fingers in the air to summon up the largess of the maps that saved his boss’ shipment.

Every one of their colleagues was different, each with their own flaws and problems — broken marriage, spiteful children, loneliness and illness and malaise — but they all carried the same passion for books. Books most people never heard of, books only obsessives cared about, books older than countries. They, few and a little insane, were together enchanted by their beauty.

So she could forgive Fred his childlike wonder, even during their lunch break, because the same passion smouldered, albeit very deeply, within her. It was what kept her going in spite of her loneliness, her anomie, and the drudgery of daily life.

“By the way, who’s coming at the next auction?”

“Most of the same,” she sighed, her breath fogging the half-empty glass of water. “A few new names this time. Foreign names. Can’t say I know any of them.”

“Must be invited by Oso.”

“Oh, I doubt he has the authority.”

“No, but you know how the Baron looks up to him.”

She chuckled, her lips pursed to stop a toothy grin. “Given his condition, it’s hardly surprising.”

“What do — Oh, you mean the… Oh, that’s quite cruel,” said Fred, his eyes two charcoal slits beneath the fat dark crinkles of a smile.

“Sorry, sorry…”

“But anyway, you know he could talk him into doing just about anything.”

“Maybe… Would you like to have some coffee before we go?”

“Sure,” he said. “I know you don’t really like talking about the auctions.”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that… just that…”

“Just that you don’t like it,” he laughed.

She was playing with her fork in the leftover sauce of carbonara while Fred waved a waiter over when she noticed from the corner of her eye a familiar contrast of black hair and deathly pallor. Was that Mr. Riddle? His eyes were hidden by shades and his full lips were pressed against the rim of a wine glass, but she was certain it was him. She turned before he spotted her.

While Fred kept droning on about another fascinating problem he’d had at work, she found her thoughts drifting, dreaming, and a soft smile blossomed on her face at just the memory of how good Tom looked the last time he was in her shop. Those dark curls falling over his eyes, how she longed to ease them back, to trace the sharp angles of his jawline, to kiss him… His lips looked so soft.

She sneaked another glance his way when the waiter took their plates. Leisure looked good on him, even if he seemed an amateur at it. A workaholic, perhaps, like her… He wore a pale green shirt today. The colour tasted sweet in her mind, like pistachio gelato. It was generously parted at the neck where his sweat was cooling, and underneath the table she could tell his legs were crossed, clad in sinfully tight silver-grey trousers.

“And once we had the original manuscript, we realised it referred to the Capuchin Catacombs, not the Parisian ones! My dear, are you listening?”

“What? Yes, the catacombs, of course,” she said, hiding her warm smile behind a cup of coffee.

V

The shop was more quiet than usual when Tom stepped in that day. That was to say, it was quieter than when he’d broken in. There was a tense silence to the place, one that slithered up his spine and settled pleasantly at the back of his brain.

He hadn’t missed the Torchia displayed in the window, in the centre of a carefully constructed swirl, holding court over far lesser volumes. In fact, it was the reason he had come.

“Buongiorno.”

“H-hello!” she called from behind her desk, getting up quickly enough to knock over a stack of papers when she noticed him.

“Didn’t expect to see me again, did you?” he grinned, sliding a hand casually in his pocket.

“Not really, no,” she chuckled. “How can I help you?”

Her eyes flitted to the window before coming back to him. She was expecting him to ask for the Delomelanicon again. She probably had a whole little script ready once he did. As if Tom would fall for so obvious a trap…

“Well, I was wondering if you had a copy of The Lost Word, by Bernard Trevisan.”

“W-what?”

“Is it a bit too obscure? He’s a —”

“Fifteenth-century alchemist,” she said, her smile suddenly beaming with nothing of the apprehension from before. “The Lost Word is a famous alchemical treatise! Yes, I know it. Which edition?”

“Doesn’t matter. Any would do.”

“We have a solid copy. Not too old, but faithful to the original, and at a good price.”

She began leading him into the second room before she’d even finished speaking. What a charming girl… She’d hoped he hadn’t been the intruder, and Tom had just confirmed it. He had gained her trust.

He followed her quick and careful steps, a heady perfume trailing behind and the metronomic echo of her thin high heels.

“It’s quite deep inside,” she said.

“Is it indeed?”

His hand came slowly out of his pocket, holding his wand.

“Not much further now, through this door.”

Tom stopped, took aim, and cast it.

“Imperio.”

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” she asked as she kept walking.

“…Nothing?” Tom muttered to himself in wonder. He looked down at his wand as if it were impotent.

“What?” she said, half-turning.

He shoved the wand back between the folds of his jacket before she could see it.

“Ahem, nothing,” he smiled. “Please, continue.”

A chill ran down his skin and bile rose in his throat in anger. It was clear to Tom now that this building, or perhaps the very land it sat on, was protected by some counter-charm. His usual solutions of bending locks and minds would not suffice, but he could not call himself the Heir of Slytherin if he could not find a way. Tom eyed her figure, infuriating and sleek, and decided then and there that she would be his key.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

On SEPTEMBER 24th, I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!

#20yrsago AnarchistU, Toronto’s wiki-based free school https://web.archive.org/web/20040911010603/http://anarchistu.org/bin/view/Anarchistu

#20yrsago Fair use is a right AND a defense https://memex.craphound.com/2004/09/09/fair-use-is-a-right-and-a-defense/

#20yrsago Bounty for asking “How many times have you been arrested, Mr. President?” https://web.archive.org/web/20040918115027/https://onesimplequestion.blogspot.com/

#20yrsago What yesterday’s terrible music https://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/09/open-mike-likely-to-close-out-legislators-career.htmlsampling ruling means https://web.archive.org/web/20040910095029/http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002153.shtml

#15yrsago Conservative California legislator gives pornographic account of his multiple affairs (including a lobbyist) into open mic https://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/09/open-mike-likely-to-close-out-legislators-career.html

#15yrsago Shel Silverstein’s UNCLE SHELBY, not exactly a kids’ book https://memex.craphound.com/2009/09/09/shel-silversteins-uncle-shelby-not-exactly-a-kids-book/

#10yrsago Seemingly intoxicated Rob Ford gives subway press-conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbcETJRoNCs

#10yrsago Amazon vs Hachette is nothing: just WAIT for the audiobook wars! https://locusmag.com/2014/09/cory-doctorow-audible-comixology-amazon-and-doctorows-first-law/

#10yrsago Dietary supplement company sues website for providing a forum for dissatisfied customers https://www.techdirt.com/2014/09/08/dietary-supplement-company-tries-suing-pissedconsumer-citing-buyers-agreement-to-never-say-anything-negative-about-roca/

#10yrsago New wind-tunnel tests find surprising gains in cycling efficiency from leg-shaving https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/the-curious-case-of-the-cyclists-unshaved-legs/article20370814/

#10yrsago Behind the scenes look at Canada’s Harper government gagging scientists https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/federal-scientist-media-request-generates-email-frenzy-but-no-interview-1.2759300

#10yrsago Starred review in Kirkus for INFORMATION DOESN’T WANT TO BE FREE https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cory-doctorow/information-doesnt-want-to-be-free/

#10yrsago Steven Gould’s “Exo,” a Jumper novel by way of Heinlein’s “Have Spacesuit, Will Travel” https://memex.craphound.com/2014/09/09/steven-goulds-exo-a-jumper-novel-by-way-of-heinleins-have-spacesuit-will-travel/

#5yrsago Important legal victory in web-scraping case https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/web-scraping-doesnt-violate-anti-hacking-law-appeals-court-rules/

#5yrsago Whistleblowers out Falwell’s Liberty University as a grifty, multibillion-dollar personality cult https://web.archive.org/web/20190910000528/https://www.politico.com/magazine/amp/story/2019/09/09/jerry-falwell-liberty-university-loans-227914

#5yrsago Pinduoduo: China’s “Groupon on steroids” https://www.wired.com/story/china-ecommerce-giant-never-heard/

#5yrsago Notpetya: the incredible story of an escaped US cyberweapon, Russian state hackers, and Ukraine’s cyberwar https://www.wired.com/story/notpetya-cyberattack-ukraine-russia-code-crashed-the-world/

#5yrsago NYT calls for an end to legacy college admissions https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/end-legacy-college-admissions.html

#5yrsago Purdue’s court filings understate its role in the opioid epidemic by 80% https://www.propublica.org/article/data-touted-by-oxycontin-maker-to-fight-lawsuits-doesnt-tell-the-whole-story

#1yrago Saturday linkdump, part the sixth https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/09/nein-nein/#everything-is-miscellaneous

The paperback edition of The Lost Cause, my nationally bestselling, hopeful solarpunk novel is out this month!

[buggernaut-kal]

Hi, Zack!

Finished up the Hobby Hizack, barring a few stickers. As somebody who wanted the Hobby Hizack as a kit since I saw Char’s Counterattack this is pretty neat, but I do have some mixed feelings here and there. Call this a pseudo-review:

PROS:

Great part separation, stickers are mostly for vent and vernier details. Impressed the shoulder thrusters are separate parts!

Articulation is great for a High Grade. It’s got the Zaku II Revive’s swivel-elbow-thing so you can spin the forearm around while it’s bent AND it has a dropping hip joint to get better kicks and a great ab crunch.

Solid construction. Everything holds together nicely despite all the joints. Feels really good to pose and handle.

CONS:

Oddly enough they abandon the “chin switch” monoeye control in favor of popping the head open like the old HG Zaku II. Better than the static monoeyes of old but still strange.

The front skirt clashes with the waist when tilted past a normal walking angle… so making use of the dropping hip means you have to scrape parts past each other. It’s a weird tolerance oversight.

No hand options. You only get the “holding” hands.

Price. Previously a Side F exclusive and now P-Bandai, it came out to about $30. With no accessories either, that’s a pretty penny for a High Grade.

NOTES:

The Hobby Hizack being a civilian-use machine explains no weapons, but in absence of Hizack weapons I would have liked at least one open hand.

This design borrows some elements from the Hizack Custom, which has no model kit. The shoulder armor and leg boosters can be considered “exclusive” as such.

Despite originating from Char’s Counterattack this model is based on Advance of Zeta’s design. Given the different aesthetics it’s gonna stick out next to your CCA models.

Final Thoughts

The Hizack was derived from the Zaku II F2 in lore, and while I don’t have a standard Hizack I do have an F2. Interestingly, the AOZ proportions of the Hizack line-up quite well with the F2. I’ll have to see how a standard Hizack fares when I get one later down the line.

Overall I grabbed this because I really like the Hobby Hizack as this civilian-ified mobile suit that’s also derivative of the Zaku II. It’s got great shelf presence, is a really fun build, and has some excellent engineering, but the only turn off is exclusivity and price. I certainly don’t regret picking this up but I’d say only go for it if you’re a diehard fan of AOZ or Zaku derivatives in general.

[tribow]

I don't get the discourse around supporting Tumblr.

Like if you give money to Tumblr you are supporting all of their bad decisions!!!

Okay, but then how do they keep the site alive? Ads? How many people are clicking on ads here? Tumblr hasn't been scraping every tiny piece of data they can get to sell it like Facebook does either. Should they start doing that? Or should they sell more ad space even though they're already known to be a site that isn't all the great for advertisers.

This is the only two routes I can think of for attempting to stay sustainable without the use of getting money directly from their users.

Someone's gotta pay to maintain this site and also pay all employees working to do so. This isn't a one man job you need a whole team for this. Tumblr costs quite a bit to maintain.

Is it wrong to pay for an online service you frequently use? I mean, let's imagine every Tumblr user magically unite to protest against all the changes to Tumblr they disagree with by making sure Tumblr gets no financial support. What would happen? Who is paying Tumblr's staff to listen to the demands of its community? Does anyone know how long that could take? Would that really save the site or would that send it straight to its doom?

To change topic a bit. Is financially supporting a company indicative of you agreeing with what they are doing? Is it not entirely possoble to critique a company in spite of your support? There's still things like review bombing and disrupting customer service. Besides, without being a paying customer you wouldn't have much of anything to threaten Tumblr with. If majority of the userbased was supporting with money it would be very scary for Tumblr if a ton of people really pulled out.

I....

I don't know it just seems to me that people want to protest to Tumblr staff by just....doing nothing and continueing to use Tumblr. What does that do??? Do YOU want to become the product??? Tumblr could axe Tumblr Live right now all of those people complaining wouldn't give Tumblr a dime for it. These devs are fairly communicative. They have several blogs dedicated to development, there's devs with their own blogs who respond to the community and even post surveys for suggestions to other staff, they did a Q&A in Tumblr Live (annoyingly), and have been fairly transparent in clearly communicating their plans while keeping it very open to criticism.

I can't really say that about many other companies. Tumblr staff gives its users SO MANY avenues to communicate. It's almost too open. The staff can get harassed very easily (I'm sure some do). Are the people complaining about this site not using these avenues to get staff's attention? I don't see how not giving them money will get their attention. If anything it would make them more desparate to get money from us through other means than something as inoffensive as merch.

This is a website that you are using. Is it wrong to compensate those maintaining/providing this service as you use it? If it is wrong, then what are the alternatives? Am I just stupid am I missing something?

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, Season 2, Episode 17, "Dead Uncles and Vegetables", Part I

I have little to no recollection of what happens in this episode except that it involves Luke's dead uncle (duh), which probably means it's filler. Glorious, glorious filler. And I can be free to be SILLY! This one will be silly. Read my reviews of all previous episodes here. The episode opens with Lorela growing irritated as she listens to an excessive amount of answering machine messages left by her mother. Oh, but when Dean does it, its cute?

I feel like I should put this screen capture in my pocket for later use, it might come in handy.

Oh Michel, how I've missed you.

I hope this is one of those episodes where everything is calm and I can just bask in references to outdated technology. Luke calls Lorelai at work because his uncle his dead and he needs to book the inn.

She found 9 available rooms that quickly, business must be slow.

"Today's Desserts" haven't changed in 2 years.

Haven't seen this guy in a while.

Sure, it's bad customer service, but I think Luke should tell more people to shut up. The citizens of Stars Hollow need to be humbled. Where's Jess to help juggle all those orders? Is a little bit of child labor too much to ask for?

I love how Stars Hollow in general is always behind techology wise (I'm not convinced they even have dial up internet yet) but Luke is always even further back. While the citizens are enamored with this new technology called a "cellular phone" Luke has banished them from his establishment and hasn't even caught up to "cordless landline" yet.

Okay, but Luke asking you if you know how to make coffee is a reasonable question. You are in here every morning, afternoon and night where Luke makes your coffee for you. I never see you brew it at home.

The answer to this question is always "Upstairs, jerking off."

If Jess should be at school, then why aren't you at school? Just sayin.

Rory dared to go upstairs alone to look for Jess and Lorelai didn't follow behind her and lasso her with the Rope of Sexual Abstinence? What is the urgent and pressing business that Rory needs to discuss with Jess? Why does she sound, idk, angry? This is puzzling.

Whoa, mama! He looks smoking hot here! His hair is gorgeous and that shirt looks great on him! I'm a slut for rolled up sleeves! I have no memory of this whatsoever. What a nice surprise.

Listen Rory, I like you, but like, why don't YOU get a job? Luke is the Kingpin of Teenage Labor. He's employed Jess, Lane, Zac, and April and he's even had his own girlfriends pitch in and wait tables. He wouldn't be against employing his future stepdaughter.

Rory never worked a paid job in high school except supposedly, working at the Inn in season 1, which I don't believe was a real thing.

Blah blah, she's focusing on academics, blah blah.

Love the bright orange dildo lamp complete with balls.

"I'll be down in a minute, the Spice Channell just unscrambled for a few seconds and I thought I saw a booby."

"I was just about to take my pants off." "Just assume that Jeannie's going to get Major Healey out of whatever scrape he's in." I've never seen that porno. #IDreamOfWeeny #ICreamOnJeannie #OkayOkay #IllStop

TOMATOS SIGN! MY BELOVED! I MISSED YOU! Lorelai's shirt says "For good luck rub my tummy." Lorelai accuses Kirk of hoarding packets of sweeteners to bring home, as if Luke didn't just offer Lorelai a gigantic no strings attached loan some episodes back and he couldn't afford to lose a few sugar packets. Jess emerges from upstairs with Rory close behind him after being out of sight and alone with her for several minutes and for once Lorelai doesn't seem all that concerned that Jess could have been having 2 minutes of raw unprotected sex with her daughter. Remember when she said Christopher got her pregnant in under 10 minutes (lmaaaao, what a sick burn) so she can't leave Rory and Jess unsupervised?

She's even being suspciously nice to him. Huh. Weird. Oh, right, Teach me Tonight is coming up so she's just conserving her energy.

Jess says Rory is gonna break his neck and Rory replies at least it's not his arm.

J: "I need my arm for jerking off." How many masturbation jokes can I fit into one post?

To be continued.

[purplehanfu]

Self Indulgent Birthday Post: 2023

notes: Spoilers!, probably. Yay, it's my birthday again! Enjoy some of my finest unfinished work!

Oh? You have both my interest and attention!

Booooo.... (this disappointment brought to you by The Young Brewmaster’s Adventure, which happens to be the prequel to Blood of Youth)

Recap Recycle Bin

So many dramas and never enough time to write a full review. Read on! 

Dominator of Martial Gods

tl:dr for this drama

Each episode is 35 minutes long, feels like 3,500 minutes, and delivers maybe 10 minutes worth of story. Impressive! 

We waste a great deal of time in the first few episodes watching Qin Chen and the bootlicking alchemist refine a needle that will allow our hero to activate his bloodline. Intriguing, because you often hear dramas refer to treasures being refined into weapons, but you never see the process. There's a reason for this- it does not make for compelling viewing. But that does not stop us from standing around arguing about the specs and adding things to the oven. This process was more fun when Chu Wanning just takes you up to the lake. On a technical note, I am enamored of the way the ever present green screened background makes no attempt to be in scale with the human actors.

My Deepest Dream

Ooh, a plot with a time loop, evil birds, superpowers, getting sucked into the Marianas Trench when you just wanted to go on a scuba diving excursion and JIN HAN!!! But, as always, there's a glitch in the matrix.

Our heroine realizes she has lost a year of her life and no one has noticed. No one except the astrophysics PhD candidate turned car mechanic Wu Yu (JIN HAN!!!). Wu Yu divulges that he can read a phone screen at 10 kilometers. But mostly he uses his special eyes to keep an elaborate dossier on the comings and goings of the FL, who lives across the street from the garage he works at. Is that creepy or romantic?

don’t be silly, if it were a Marvel movie we’d be having an interminable CGI sky battle 

Till the End of the Moon

Meet Tantai Jin. As you may have noticed from his costume design, he's totally evil.

He's a goal-oriented CEO who's turned the Devil Sect into a high reliability organization that generates impactful customer experiences (annihilation). I bet he's evil enough to use six sigma. But where Tantai Jin truly shines is personal branding. You may not be buying what he's selling, but product recognition is through the roof.

Tantai Jin seen here working out of his travel office: a flaming, flying boudoir with melting skull detail. This is why CEOs should never make more than 10x what the average worker does.

Circle of Love

I can see why the Republican period was relatively short. Everybody setting fire to each other's estates, staying out late ballroom dancing, getting uniforms tailored, making sure there are enough manacles to chain the female lead to a bed... it doesn't really leave a lot of time for governance.

We start out, as we generally do, with a clean sweep of the FL's family, in this case via a big ol' raging house fire. Where is everyone? Or even anyone? Even Maid's Revenge scraped up some extras to be dead family members.

My Kung Fu Girlfriend

Slow your roll, it ain't GL.

You know what they say- it's not whether you win or lose the MMORPG, it's how you min max all your stats and then act like an ass in chat about it.

Meet Huang Xiao Yu. She clearly did not pay to win because she is the low XP real life martial sister of a kung fu champion. In this drama, she'll level up in love and life with the help of an OP MMO NPC who escapes her game and shows up uninvited in the real world.

The Antarctic Octopus

Not to be confused with the 2020 film Big Octopus. I guess that's the great thing about having an audience of over a billion people- even the most niche interest has plenty of content.

This is how you dress when you visit your Uncle Pete in Antarctica.

In this movie: monsters, explosions, a supercharged ice jalopy and a dedicated ignorance of the laws of physics usually only seen in a Fast and Furious film. But credit where it's due: The Antarctic Octopus delivers. Only 12 seconds in and we get our first tentacle!

available free on youtube although how bravely they were fighting is up for debate

Bonus Content: Superlatives

In the Day We Flipped

My post of the year!

Getting over 500 likes on a review? Unexpected.

Forgetting to add a link back to my other recaps? Priceless.

Bloody Romance

still my favorite drama

when your grandma’s a zombie and she was left in a cave to guard a tiny box with one (1) restorative pill in it and she’s suspended by her hair but her hair is also like tentacles that can kill people and she thinks you’re your mom but she still loves you. 💚💚💚 But then she starts screaming and tries to strangle you with her hair.

Heroes

2nd favorite drama

you know something’s good when you have a file called ‘sappy su mengzhen yang wuxie edits.txt’

go get your man, Wuxie!

pinboard full of recaps!

[iwebscrapingblogs]

How Customer Reviews Scraping Improves Efficiency and Business Growth?

In today's digital age, where information is abundant and accessible, customer reviews play a crucial role in shaping consumer decisions. Whether it's choosing a restaurant, purchasing a product, or booking a hotel, people often rely on the experiences and opinions of others shared through online reviews. For businesses, harnessing the insights buried within these reviews can be a game-changer, not only for improving efficiency but also for driving substantial growth. Enter customer reviews scraping – a powerful tool that unlocks a wealth of actionable data to propel businesses forward.

Understanding Customer Reviews Scraping

Customer reviews scraping involves extracting data from various online platforms where customers leave feedback, such as e-commerce websites, social media platforms, review websites, and forums. This data extraction process is automated using specialized software or web scraping tools, which sift through vast amounts of text to gather valuable insights.

Improving Efficiency Through Data Insights

One of the primary ways customer reviews scraping enhances efficiency is by providing businesses with a comprehensive understanding of customer sentiment, preferences, and pain points. By analyzing the language used in reviews, businesses can identify recurring themes, common issues, and areas for improvement.

For instance, a hotel chain might use customer reviews scraping to uncover recurring complaints about slow check-in processes. Armed with this insight, the hotel management can streamline their check-in procedures, allocate more staff during peak times, or implement self-check-in kiosks to enhance the overall customer experience.

Moreover, customer reviews scraping can help businesses stay ahead of emerging trends and anticipate shifting consumer preferences. By monitoring sentiment analysis over time, companies can identify patterns and adapt their products or services accordingly, ensuring they remain relevant in a dynamic market landscape.

Personalizing the Customer Experience

In today's era of personalized marketing, understanding individual customer preferences is paramount. Customer reviews scraping provides businesses with a treasure trove of data that can be used to tailor offerings to specific customer segments.

For example, an e-commerce retailer can analyze product reviews to identify which features resonate most with different demographics. Armed with this knowledge, they can personalize product recommendations, marketing messages, and promotional offers to better align with customer preferences, ultimately driving higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

Driving Business Growth

Beyond improving efficiency and personalizing the customer experience, customer reviews scraping can directly contribute to business growth. By leveraging insights gleaned from reviews, companies can make data-driven decisions that lead to increased sales, customer retention, and brand loyalty.

For instance, a software company analyzing user reviews may discover a recurring request for a specific feature not currently offered. By prioritizing the development of this feature based on customer feedback, the company can attract new customers and retain existing ones who were previously on the fence due to the missing functionality.

Furthermore, positive reviews can be leveraged as powerful marketing assets to build trust and credibility with potential customers. Sharing testimonials and excerpts from satisfied customers not only boosts brand reputation but also serves as social proof, persuading hesitant buyers to make a purchase decision.

Conclusion

In an increasingly competitive business landscape, the ability to extract actionable insights from customer reviews is indispensable. Customer reviews scraping empowers businesses to enhance efficiency, personalize the customer experience, and drive significant growth by tapping into the wealth of information available online.

By harnessing the power of data analytics and sentiment analysis, companies can gain a competitive edge, staying attuned to customer needs and preferences in real-time. As the digital ecosystem continues to evolve, embracing customer reviews scraping as a strategic tool can unlock untapped potential and pave the way for sustained success in the modern marketplace.

[sunwarmed-ash]

I'm rewatching Bee and Puppycat LIS for the 1298743298th time

so im obligated to reshare this drabble I wrote for @strangebrainrot

Detroit Cat Cafe

"Ugh! Mr. Sweaty Napkins no!!!" Gavin shouted, louder than he probably should have at the senior tabby cat, who on the best of days tolerates humans. But he had knocked over a glass of water for the 7th time now and this time it landed all over his phone.

In the cat's defense, he really wasn't supposed to be on his phone. He's supposed to be working. But the customers who come into the Cat Cafe (which is attached to the Detroit Cat Rescue) on Thursdays are always dicks. It's always the same 4 assholes who come in, loiter in their restaurant, spend no more than the cost of drip coffee, and worst of all, mistreat the cats.

Howell won't even kick them out. Their cafe\adoption shelter was barely scraping by as is. Any money coming in, even from bad customers, was worth it.

However, Gavin wasn't standing for it today. He shook the water off his phone and finally looked through the kitchen window to see what Mr. Sweaty Napkins must have been trying to get his attention about.

Charles, M.S.N's longtime boyfriend and best friend, is up on one of the red and teal booths, his hackles raised all the way up. He's hissing and swatting at Resident Jackass Number 4 who is currently shoving a fork in the animal's face for fun.

"Hear ya loud and clear buddy," Gavin says to the orange tabby before demanding it to stay put, knowing he would do whatever he damn well pleased before heading into the small dining room to address the situation. "Hey, asshole! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Gavin's sudden and angry presence startles the man and subdues the cat, who jumps immediately onto Gavin's shoulder when he gets close enough.

"What, we're just playing," the man scoffs, confidence back now that they had an 'audience' to entertain.

"Bullshit. I mean, are you stupid? He was phcking hissing. He's telling you he's not cool with that shit. So knock it off."

The man's smirk only grew when their spectacles humored the other dickwads that seemed to show up too often for comfort.

"Oh I'm sorry, I don't speak pussy."

The lewd comment doesn't bother Gavin, but it does bother the other smattering of customers. Specifically, the handful with kids and Gavin growled and doubled down.

He yanked the scrawny man up by his jean jacket, reveling in the man's sudden choked surprise.

"Time to go asshole," he mutters quietly, pushing the squirming man up, out the front door, and out of their lives.

Howell, his junior, blue-haired twink of a boss was furious, of course, because the man, a 'Jeremy Turnpike' left a one-star review of their cafe a half an hour later and Gavin got his ass chewed for it.

Gavin didn't care. Even if Howell didn't have his back, he knew he made the right choice. He did the job he was hired for. He protected Charles, and all the other cats from cruel assholes.

"Well?!?" Howell demands suddenly and Gavin grimaces because he definitely checked out the second his boss started bitching him out.

"Well, what?" He asks anyway, getting another pretentious scoff from the younger man. 

"I can't believe you Gavin. I just can't believe you!"

Me? I can't believe you don't have my back! Gavin shook his head and made up his mind.

"You don't gotta believe me anymore. I quit and I'm adopting Charles and Mr. Sweaty Napkins when I leave."

-----

[So, how is Sumo with multiple cats… 1:23 PM]

His phone was still struggling to load certain apps and would need a rice bath when he got home but he was at least able to text Hank and Connor, forewarning them of the two new roommates coming home with him.

Hank texted back a,

[How many we talking?]

Knowing Gavin all too well and Connor called requesting video proof.

The camera only loaded partially, gaining confused remarks from the other side.

"Sorry if you can't see much. This guy, decided to knock a glass of water onto my phone. But it was to save his partner. So I guess I can't be too mad."

The cats were currently sitting in the zipped-up fur of his winter jacket, looking at the inside of his car while the old engine roared to life.

"They sure are cute Gav," Hank says, a softness in his voice he only gets when he's talking about animals or babies.

"How soon until you're home Gavin?" Connor asks, a child-like eagerness in his voice that accompanies the addition of animals. The first time Gavin brought a kitten home Connor and the thing were practically inseparable.

"You'd know that better than me wouldn't you, computer boy," Gavin teased gently, no longer holding any malice for the android.

Whatever Connor was gonna say next was halted by an inhuman static squeaking noise that confused both the humans and the cats. When they realized it was Connor's verbal reaction to the cats falling asleep in Gavin's jacket, they all laughed collectively.

"I'll be home soon as I can. I think you're gonna get along with these guys Con. They are a couple of old grumpy gays like Hank and I."

"Hey!" Hank rebuffed, causing another wave of laughter to fill his car, adding a bit of silver lining to his storm cloud of a day. 

I feel like I need to draw this. Feel free to draw it too!

[sleepyselkiesims]

Part 13

Cooking for one was no fun. Though with her newfound powers, cleaning up after herself was a lot easier!

Hopefully she could clean up the restaurant just as well. Especially because Karim had come to see her restaurant!

Tiana gave him the warmest host welcome she could manage, for someone who'd been asleep. She knew the restaurant wasn't much, but Karim supported her big dreams of the future.

At least, to her face he did. And he was nice enough to help clean up the restaurant! But he seemed pretty downhearted when he got out of sight.

With Karim having wandered into the void, Tiana began talking up her next hopeful customers. Maybe she could talk them into believing the place was a palace.

Ah, finally!! The third host Tiana hired actually showed up!

Anybody wanna come grab a table? Anyone?

Worried that something was amiss, Tiana decided to set an example and ask for a table for herself. Cause apparently you can request a table at your own restaurant!

See, guys? There are tables! You can request to sit at them and receive food!

The waiter Tiana had hired was everything she could've hoped for, with impeccable manners, friendly attitude, and suggesting only the most expensive foods.

The chef was great too! Despite the lack of experience, she wielded a knife like she'd fought at some great war.

Ah, the sweet smell of success! And the first meal from her very own restaurant!

Tiana gave her compliments to both waiter and chef, and posted a great review. Surely this would inspire some people to actually order!

....Ok, they were too busy pranking the toilet.

Aaaaand they're all starving instead of simply requesting a table.

Alright, time to call it a day and try to earn back the money she'd spent on her worker's wages!

Tiana got to serve quite the eclectic bunch at the bar!

Oh uhh.... hi, Koji. So nice to see you.

Please don't talk Tiana's customers out of giving her money!

A paying customer is a paying customer! And Tiana would do whatever it took to scrape together enough money for her food palace.

Bonus

NO