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[cupid-styles]

late night talking

in which harry’s quiet, shy, and always sends y/n tips during her cam streams. or: nerdrry x cam girl y/n

word count: 5.9k (wanted to get this out before christmas so it’s a bit on the shorter side than my other longer fics!!)

content warnings: sexual content (y/n is a cam girl soooooo voyeurism/exhibitionism is implied), smut (mutual masturbation, dirty talk/sexting, daddy kink, slight dom/sub dynamics)

please lmk if you’d want a part two for these cuties !

part two here

. . .

On a day-to-day, this is how Y/N typically spends her time:

She wakes up and throws herself in the shower with her eyes half shut. She eats some type of sustenance for breakfast, whether it be a granola bar or a warranted effort at some overnight chia seed concoction, and then heads to her main job, where her boss, Sam, has half her experience and somehow gets paid double her salary.

She does whatever's asked of her all day because she went to school for graphic design and she quite likes it, but only when Sam isn't up her ass, asking her to do tasks he's too lazy to do. At 5 pm on the dot, Sam is usually trying to get her to stay late but she's already on her way out the door. When she gets home, she forces down another quick meal — sometimes it's one of those frozen, premade things, other times she has the energy to make a veggie pasta or stir fry — pulls on a lingerie set, and sits on her cam site, where she strips and touches herself for money from strangers. 

Her cam streams are her favorite part of her day.

She guesses she's some type of exhibitionist if she enjoys getting off in front of people she doesn't know, but it's a win-win considering they're voyeurs, too. Plus, when you put monetary tips on top of it — well, Y/N can't really complain. 

She hides her face because her worst nightmare is her family finding out (that just sounds like a nightmare of a conversation to have with her parents), but she does have a few regular customers that come to most, if not all of her streams, are consistent tippers, and are always sweet to her. They ask about how she's doing and are polite in their requests, typically following them up with some sort of financial compensation so she has a reason to go through with it. It's not a bad deal at all — she enjoys her little community and the whole double life thing isn't the worst thing in the world. 

Y/N's been doing this for about a year, so she's gotten pretty familiar with the types of customers that come through her stream, but there's one in particular — fleetwoodlondon — that somehow still has her stumped. 

The thing is, this fleetwoodlondon person is far too nice. That's what confuses her the most. He (and she assumes it's a guy, because she doubts any woman would do this type of thing, but maybe she's just stereotyping) sends her tips for nothing in exchange, always tacking a bit more on when she's mentioned that she's had a rough day or she hasn't had a chance to eat dinner yet. She's messaged him privately, too, thanking him for his generosity and asking if he wants anything special in return, but he always says the same thing: No, that's alright. Thank you for the offer. Have a good night. x

There's a part of her that feels like it's bazaar, but there's a larger portion that's fascinated by him. She wants to know why he does what he does, why he feels that she's special enough to even do this in the first place. 

It's a shame he's rarely willing to exchange more than 10 words with her. 

. . .

Harry's days usually go like this:

Wake up, do some yoga or meditation, and log onto work. He works from home as a computer engineer for some large company that, if he's being honest, he doesn't really know a ton about, but they pay him extremely well and let him stay home all day, so it evens out. He's a diligent, hard worker on a small team of other shy, quiet people, so meetings are few and far between. On the occasion where he does have to present something a larger group, he'll stumble and stutter his way through a PowerPoint slideshow and take a puff of his asthma inhaler the second he's done. 

When work is over, he hangs out with his cat, Beatrice, cooks them a yummy, healthy dinner, and watches TV with her. At the top of the 7 pm hour, he shuffles Beatrice off to his bedroom because he doesn't want her to see how her dad spends his free time: Watching a girl he doesn't know on a dodgy cam site, getting his rocks off, and sending her a large tip at the end of the night. 

The first time he stumbled across her stream, he felt weird about it. It was semi-dystopian to watch someone in this way, knowing she was doing it live somewhere in the world. But she seemed to enjoy it and she had a decent crowd of subscribers and tippers in the chat, so it made him feel better when he eventually gave into his own temptation, dipping his fingers beneath the waistband of his sweats and fisting his cock the way she'd been encouraging her viewers to do. And the thing is, he never planned to attend another show — he assumed he'd just go on his merry way and that was the end of it.

But he couldn't stop thinking about her.

The softness of her skin, the lacy set that covered her most intimate parts, the giggles and teasing comments that fell from her plushy lips. He couldn't see any other parts of her face, but she had a pretty voice, and he just knew she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever see. 

And, in complete honesty, he really loved when she shared small details about her life. It wasn't in a creepy way — he saw the way commenters replied in her chat and it made his stomach turn — but it was just... nice to get a peek into her life outside of this site, where Harry had to click out of porn pop-ups and erectile dysfunction ads every 5 minutes. 

Hearing that she saw a cute dog on her way home from work or she got a free cookie with her lunch today was what reminded him that she was just another human, doing her best, the same way he was. And maybe it was true that he could never get her to pay attention to him in real life, but at least on this platform, he stood a chance. 

Harry had more money than he knew what to do with. He lived a comfortable life, he didn't have a partner or kids, and his savings account was plentiful. If he sent moan-a-lisa (the first time he read her username, he did smirk at the playful pun) a decent tip at the end of the night, he wouldn't feel bad about it. His money could be going to worse places.

It was only when she started to message him privately that he started to panic. 

About once a week, she would thank him profusely and ask if he wanted something in return — a custom video, pictures, even a phone call. But when he thought about it, he was just too anxious and scared — he felt like maybe he portrayed a slightly cool persona online, but if that wall got broken down, she'd see that he was lame. A computer nerd that stayed home all day and spent his money on a girl he'd never know in real life.

At least at a distance, she might at least think he's nice.

. . .

"Alright cuties, thank you so much for joining me tonight!"

Y/N watches as the chat floods with a variety of responses to her ending the stream: Some were kind (thank you for spending ur time w us!!!! have a good night!), others were sad and slightly parasocial (nooooo :( I'll miss u so much baby don't go), while the slight minority were just plain mean (stupid bitch u didn't even do anal 2nite). 

"I'll be back tomorrow at the same time, 7 pm eastern standard," she says with a toothy grin. She waves them a goodbye, clicks the "end live" button, and lets out a sigh of relief when her camera finally shuts off. Her show ended up being nearly four hours long tonight and she could feel a warm bubble bath calling her name. 

As she begins her post-streaming routine of grabbing a snack, starting her bath, and peeling the lingerie set off her body, she hears her phone go off. Almost like clockwork. 

She grabs it and glances down at the notification. Unsurprised, her eyes scan over the message: fleetwoodlondon sent you $300!

Rolling her lips into her mouth, she clicks on it and opens the app. Immediately, she thumbs over to their private conversation, where she types out a message. 

moan-a-lisa: please tell me you've reconsidered and are willing to let me doing something in return for all these tips.

As she's tossing her peach-toned lace set in the hamper, her phone dings again. She already knows his response before she even reads it. 

fleetwoodlondon: Nope. Have a good night. x

She smiles playfully at his reply and shakes her head, eyes still glued to her screen as she walks to her bathroom. She shuts the door, lights her favorite candle, and climbs into the porcelain tub, breathing out a deep sigh as the warm water and bubbles begin to soak her sore joints and muscles. 

moan-a-lisa: please???? im in the bath rn and could give u a fun little peek:)

With the exception of customers that pay for phone sex or custom videos, Y/N never produces off-the-cuff content. But the mysterious air of this fleetwoodlondon user is enough to make her break some of her own rules. 

She's surprised when she receives a near-immediate reply — she'd mentally prepared herself to wait 10 or so minutes before he typed back, like he usually does.

fleetwoodlondon: Cute. 

fleetwoodlondon: I just don't want you to feel pressured to send me anything. I don't tip you for that reason. 

With a confused expression, she sits up to shut the water off. She nibbles on her bottom lip as she lowers back into the water, contemplating the weight of his words. In the end, she decides to  go with her gut.

moan-a-lisa: why do you tip me then?

She's not entirely shocked when she doesn't receive an instant response to her question. She sighs, dipping her head back into the warm water. It's annoying, the way this person she doesn't even know is sticking around in her brain. She's not big on dating or seeing people romantically, so it's pretty unusual for her to be so focused on someone. 

She tosses her phone onto the plushy bath mat on the floor and decides to enjoy the comfort of her bath instead of worrying over it. She takes care to wash her body and face, and when she gets out she puts her favorite skincare products on before brushing her hair out. When she finally looks at her phone an hour later, she sees a notification from the user himself. 

fleetwoodlondon: I just think you deserve it. 

fleetwoodlondon: But again, I never want you to feel pressured into sending me something just because of the money..

She shakes her head as she walks back to her bedroom. Pulling a pair of comfortable sweats on, she's still confused by the angle he's playing at. And while most guys would maybe weird her out, she wonders if she's being naive by feeling some sort of kinship with this person. 

As she's contemplating her response in the darkness of her bedroom, her phone buzzes again in her hand. 

fleetwoodlondon: I just like hearing about you. Knowing that there's just another regular human behind the screen, I guess. I promise I'm not trying to be weird because I know you probably get a ton of odd messages from people all day.. but I suppose maybe I'm just sort of lonely? And I enjoy the consistency of knowing I can watch your stream every night.

fleetwoodlondon: I'm so sorry if that crosses a line. Reading that back, it's probably creepy. 

She has to bite her lip to hold back the smile that curls onto her mouth from his words. It's not creepy, not coming from him, anyway. He seems... innocent, somehow, despite being a frequent viewer of her streams. And, in all honesty, she gets it — she's lonely, too. She doesn't have many people in her life besides her family and the people she works with. She understands why her viewers come to her daily streams because she shows up for the exact same reason.

moan-a-lisa: it's not weird. i get it

moan-a-lisa: but if you're not interested in receiving content from me in exchange for ur tips, can we do something else then?

fleetwoodlondon: What?

moan-a-lisa: tell me about your days too

fleetwoodlondon: Really?

moan-a-lisa: yeah. i think im lonely in the same way u are. it could be nice.

fleetwoodlondon: Okay. I can do that.

moan-a-lisa: good:)

. . .

Harry doesn't entirely realize what he's signed up for when she starts messaging him the next day. 

In theory, he assumed that maybe she was just saying that stuff to be nice. He knows she has a habit of trying to relate to her viewers and make them feel special. It was kind of her, but he chalks it up to that — that is, until he receives a private message from her at 11 a.m. the following morning. He's never spoken to her during the day, only during or after her streams in the evening. His eyes nearly bulge out of his skull when he reads her username on his phone — he's working on a big project with a few coworkers and they're on a meeting together (cameras off, of course), and he immediately chokes on his spit, excusing himself and turning his mic off. 

moan-a-lisa: how's ur day going so far?

He swallows nervously. What is he supposed to say? Isn't there some cardinal rule about not revealing private information to strangers on the internet? (Though he thinks maybe that went down the drain awhile ago, considering how they ended up in contact.) He nibbles on his bottom lip as he quickly types out a response, trying his best not to overthink it. She's just being nice, he reminds himself, she probably thinks you're some desperate loser who needs companionship. 

fleetwoodlondon: It's been alright, just working. Nothing too exciting. How about you?

He attempts to redirect his focus back to the coworker that's currently asking him a question about the project when his phone instantly lights back up. 

moan-a-lisa: boring:( im working too except i kind of hate my boss. he's a douche

moan-a-lisa: what do u do for work? 

"Harry?" 

He stutters, clicking the button to turn his mic back on, "Yeah, that sounds good, Mike," he rushes out nervously, "I trust you, you know what you're doing."

"Alright, we'll move forward with that, then."

"Great. I actually need to take a break for a bit, need to feed my cat," Harry says quickly. "Let's reconnect on this tomorrow."

His coworkers agree and the meeting ends, allowing him to focus all his brainpower on replying to her. Is it messed up that he ended a working session for this? Yes, potentially, and he feels guilty for it, too. 

fleetwoodlondon: I'm a computer engineer. And I'm sorry to hear that you hate your boss... do you have another job outside of streaming?

moan-a-lisa: yea I do graphic design during the day

moan-a-lisa: computer engineering??? so in other words ur smart as fuck and that's how u afford to pay me ridiculous tips so often?

He snorts to himself. He's always felt his job title sounds more impressive than it actually is. In reality, tech stuff is all he's ever been good at, so it was a natural move to major in computer science in school. He never thought he was particularly intelligent, even if his professors and peers insisted that he was. To this day, he feels like he's just a computer nerd that got lucky.

fleetwoodlondon: I mean, I wouldn't say I'm 'smart as fuck' but I do have more money than I know what to do with. So yeah, I guess that would explain the tips. 

moan-a-lisa: i feel like ur being wildly humble rn 

fleetwoodlondon: Definitely not. I just happened to find the niche I'm good at.

fleetwoodlondon: Do you like graphic design?

moan-a-lisa: yeah but i think i would like it way more if i could do freelance work or go to another company. like i said my boss sucks, he's kind of a misogynist and has way less experience than me.. not saying i should have his job BUT 

fleetwoodlondon: ...But you should have his job.

Harry's stomach tightens at the description of her boss. Thankfully, he's never been on the receiving end of such treatment, but he has friends that have — one of college peers was even told by a higher-up that she'd never get a managerial role at the company because of her sex. It makes him sick to think about, but especially when he imagines her being in that position. He doesn't know why he feels so protective over her (he knows she doesn't need that from a stranger online), but he does, and it's weird.

She doesn't reply after that and Harry forces himself to be okay with it. Now that he knows she has a day job, he reminds himself that she's busy and doesn't spend all of her time replying to private messages on her cam site. It's a bit of a struggle to focus on his job, but it's a welcomed distraction so he doesn't have to think about what she's doing or why she hasn't responded. 

He ends up working late to make up for the meeting he cut short and the time he took to reply to her messages. But when he peers over the screen of his laptop and sees the digital clock in his living room tick towards 7 pm, it's almost as if it's some sort of Pavlovian response, the way he grows antsy and begins to thicken up in his pants. He takes his time logging off from work and heats up a leftover stir fry from the night prior, swallowing hot mouthfuls so he's ready in time for her show. 

Just as he's done eating and he's bringing up a private tab on his phone, he gets a notification from their prior conversation. His stomach pings with anxiety, his eyebrows raising in surprise when he reads the words: will you be watching tn?

He thinks it's a stupid question — of course he'll be watching, but maybe she doesn't know she's part of his evening routine. He swallows, fingers trembling as he presses on the notification and quickly types back. Maybe he's over exhausted from staring at his computer screen all day, but the flirtatious response that comes from his end is even a surprise to him. Wouldn't miss it for the world, he sends back. 

She responds with a few angel emojis, his heart doing a flip as he reads the words she sent: good. i like knowing ur in the audience:) message me after and let me know what u thought. 

When her stream starts, he wants to bite his fist. She's wearing a beautiful navy blue set that serves as a gorgeous contrast to her smooth skin. The bralette and underwear are intricate with sweet lace detailings, providing peeks of her nipples and the small patch of pubic hair that decorates her mound. 

"Hi everyone," she greets with a grin. Despite the usual angle that only reveals a bit of her mouth and chin, he somehow feels like he knows more of her now. Selfishly, he realizes that he hopes she doesn't talk to other viewers the way they've chatted. "How are we doing tonight?"

There's a lull in conversation and he knows it's because she's reading through the immediate uptick of responses in the chat. He recognizes a few of the usernames who are also regular viewers, while others likely found her on the homepage. 

"I'm good, thanks for asking!" she replies, rolling her plush lips into her mouth, "I didn't have too bad of a day, actually. Had some nice entertainment to get me through work."

Harry's heart stalls slightly. She couldn't be talking about him, could she? It's probably wishful thinking, assuming that she would think that highly of their short conversation. 

"You guys are so nosy," she giggles, the sound of it making him smile, "Since when do you care so much about my personal life? Thought you just wanted to watch me cum."

As if that serves as some sort of reminder for her viewers, tips begin to flow in, along with demands in the chat. He watches her tug her bottom lip between her teeth as his eyes scan the messages too, stomach churning at what people ask of her. He wonders if it bothers her, but then again, he assumes she must have thick skin to do this. She doesn't need someone like Harry to defend her against horny strangers online.

"You're all silly," she murmurs as she rises onto her knees. Her thumbs find the thin fabric that hits at her hips, pulling the straps teasingly before letting them snap back against her skin. "Hold on, I have to do something."

For a moment, she cuts away from the screen, only leaving her legs in the view. Harry swallows as he lets himself examine her soft skin, fingers twitching at his sides as he imagines touching her — maybe even pressing kisses and dark marks into the surface of her thighs, too. 

His eyes flicker up to a notification at the top of his screen and it reminds him to turn his phone on do not disturb. However, instead of finding an email from work or a text from a friend, it's her. She's messaging him while she streams, knowing he's watching. His stomach tightens almost instantly. 

moan-a-lisa: are u watching?

fleetwoodlondon: Of course I am.

He watches as her lips curl into a small smile now that her body is back in frame. Her phone is in one hand while her other brushes up over her torso and chest and back down to her legs. 

moan-a-lisa: what do you want me to do tonight?

He swallows harshly as she lowers her phone. She starts to reply to other messages in the chat, knowing it's important to engage with her viewers to keep them entertained. 

"You guys know what my hard limits are, stop asking me to do that stuff," she says playfully, wiggling her hips slightly, "I promise, no amount of money will make me want to fist myself."

He snorts at that, momentarily forgetting that she's waiting on a response from him. Honestly, he doesn't know what's appropriate to ask of her — the last thing he wants is to make her uncomfortable.

fleetwoodlondon: Do whatever you want. You should get to call the shots for once.

On screen, she hums, though it seems like it's mainly to herself. As she plucks at the straps of her bralette, slowly lowering them down her arms to reveal the valley of her breasts, her tongue peeks out to lick over her lips.

"I really just want someone to dominate me tonight," she says, her tone dropping seductively, "I wanna be told what to do and how to do it. My brain's so fuzzy from being so horny all day, I can barely make a decision for myself."

Harry swallows harshly at her words. The chat instantly goes wild as tips quickly flow in, volunteering to be the ones to do it. She smirks, winding her arm around to unclip her bra, letting it fall to the floor. 

"Sometimes I just think about you dominating me, you know that?" she murmurs, pursing her lips as her hands find her tits, gently squeezing at her nipples. "Today at work, it was all I could think about... made me so wet, I had a mess in my panties by the end of the day."

His eyes are bulging out of his head now — she couldn't possibly be talking directly to him, could she? It seemed silly and improbable, but also... they had spoken today while they both worked. 

"Maybe someone from London, y'know? I've always had a soft spot for guys with British accents."

He almost comes in his pants on the spot. 

At a surface level, Harry is kind and quiet. He's always been quite introverted, he prefers to be alone, and he thinks he could go days without seeing a single person, except for Beatrice. But somehow — and there's probably a psychological explanation for this, one that he's uninterested in finding out — he makes up for it in the bedroom. He doesn't know why, but when he's with someone intimately, he just becomes... dominant. He's aware that his tastes aren't vanilla, like many of his past sexual partners had assumed, as spanking, bondage, toys, edging, and overstimulation are all some of his favorite pastimes. And with the way she's teasing him right now, it's only pushing him further to the dominant threshold he typically keeps tucked away. 

Pulling their conversation back up, he doesn't think much or read his message over before sending it.

fleetwoodlondon: If you wanted me to tell you how to touch your pretty little pussy, all you had to do is ask.

He sees the smirk that curls at her lips through the screen and he swallows, wishing he could taste them. 

"Yeah? You wanna tell me what to do?" she asks breathily, wiggling a bit in her seat. His cock is already throbbing in his pants as he taps at the screen, eager to respond. 

fleetwoodlondon: Spread your legs. Tease yourself. 

It's not even 30 seconds before she's shifted onto her butt, knees to the sky as she opens her legs. Her underwear is still on, covering her modesty, but she uses gentle fingertips to trace over her mound and down to the crease of her thighs. He watches her shiver beneath her touch. 

fleetwoodlondon: Move those pretty panties to the side. Let me see how wet you are for me.

"Fuck, 'm so wet for you," she moans, echoing the words from his message. She does as he requests, plucking the damp fabric from her center to reveal her glistening lips. Harry wants to verbally moan at how gorgeous she looks. "Can I touch myself, daddy? Please? Want it so bad— wanna be your good girl."

fleetwoodlondon: You are being good.

fleetwoodlondon: You can touch yourself, but only with your fingers. 

She dives in almost instantly, fingertips ghosting over her clit as her head falls to the side, slightly overwhelmed by the pleasure after waiting all day. She trails them down to her hole, where she's leaking steadily, and smears her arousal up to her clit, giving it a soft smack. She whimpers from the quick sting. 

"Do you see how wet I get for you?" 

fleetwoodlondon: Open yourself up. Pretend it's my fingers instead of yours. 

She moans as she pushes a single finger inside, arching deeply from the sensation. With her bottom lip wedged between her teeth, she gasps as she nestles a second in.

"Not big enough," she whines, grinding her hips down against her fingers, "Can't— they're too small, daddy, need yours instead."

fleetwoodlondon: I'm sure you do, but I'm not there. So be good and keep fucking yourself open with your pathetic little fingers. I want to watch you cum and lick it all up.

Harry can barely take it, watching her take her fingers knuckle-deep as she falls apart on screen from things he commanded her to do. He can see her thighs beginning to tense, her jaw slack as whimpers fall from her lips, and he wants nothing more than to finish with her. Quickly, he frees his cock from his sweats. So much pre-cum is leaking from the tip that he's almost embarrassed by it — he doesn't need any extra lubrication, so he wraps his fist around the head, bringing the substance down to the base of his length. He groans lowly and sets his phone up on the coffee table, leaning it against a box of tissues so he can use his other hand to pull at his sorely full balls.

"Fuck, daddy, you're so filthy," she moans, fitting a third finger in. She gasps from the stretch and it makes his eyes roll back as he pumps himself, trying to match the beat of her own thrusts. "Are you— y'gonna cum with me? Please, I want it, wanna lick up every last bit of it—"

"Jesus fuck," he mutters to himself, pausing momentarily to squeeze his base. She normally makes him finish fast, but it's never been this quick before. He has to give himself a break before he bursts all over himself. 

"I'm gonna cum," she bleats, almost as if it's a promise, "Fuck, it's coming, I'm gonna cum for you, daddy— shit, it's all for you—"

He watches with wide eyes as her pussy pulses around the trio of fingers deep inside of her, a slew of curses falling from her lips as she falls apart. It's so beautiful, even if he's not privy to seeing her facial expressions. Her whines and whimpers are music to his ears, and finally getting to watch her reach her peak is all the permission he needs to reach his. 

When he does a few moments later, all he can imagine is her hand wrapped around his cock, fisting it quickly while she mouths at the tip to catch the warm spurts of cum. He feels himself, heavy and twitching and tensing beneath his grasp, involuntarily whispering out similar sentiments to hers: "it's all yours, fuck, it's yours, it's yours."

His eyes flicker open to see her sucking on her fingers, a smirk on her lips as she gags around them. Her mouth is drooly and messy with spit and Harry wants to fall over.

"Thank you, daddy," she breathes out, "And thank you for watching, cuties. I appreciate all the sweet tips. I'll be back tomorrow at the same time, 7 pm, eastern standard time."

In the blink of an eye, the screen is blank, she's gone, and Harry has cold cum resting on his stomach. 

. . .

If Y/N's being honest, she's not sure what got into her last night.

She can't stop thinking about him — fleetwoodlondon — and how he became the dominant of her dreams. They didn't exchange any messages after she ended the stream, and she wonders if that made things worse. But he's all she can think about at work today as she pretends to work on a project for a minor client that Sam passed off to her this morning.

With a nervous swallow, she pulls her phone from her pocket. She keeps hoping that he'll message her first, but she's not entirely surprised when the only notifications she has are from her work calendar. Sighing, she brings up their private conversation, biting her lip at the last dirty text he'd sent her. 

moan-a-lisa: hi

moan-a-lisa: how's ur day going?

In an attempt to distract herself while she awaits his response, she redirects her focus to the project she’s working on. She can’t help glancing over at her phone every five seconds, wondering if maybe she took things too far last night and he doesn’t want to talk to her anymore. By the time an hour goes by and her stomach is growling with hunger, her spirits are crushed as she leaves her desk to head downstairs to the cafe for lunch. 

She’s pouting over a panini and a blondie when her phone buzzes on the table. She thinks her mind is playing tricks on her when she sees his username, only to realize she actually had an unread message from him. 

fleetwoodlondon: Boring, I’ve just been working all day. Was just thinking about you actually. 

With raised eyebrows, Y/N’s curiosity is peaked. She assumes he’s referring to her the stream — to be fair, it had been incredibly hot for her, too, so she fully understands if that’s all he associates her with. (Even if she has to force herself to suppress any disappointment seeping from within.)

moan-a-lisa: yeah? what were u thinking about? 

fleetwoodlondon: I picked up a book about graphic design and iconic advertising. It’s really interesting and I was thinking you might enjoy it. 

fleetwoodlondon: Sorry. That’s probably the dorkiest message you’ve ever received on here. 

Y/N doesn’t think she’s grinned this wide in weeks. 

. . .

Y/N and Harry continue to text every day after that. 

It’s weird. She’s never had this close of a relationship with a viewer before, and Harry has never found himself caring about someone he barely knows like this before. They don’t even know each other’s names and yet, they’ve been talking for a month, revealing tidbits of their lives that their closest loved ones don’t even know. In a sense, the consistent presence of the other on the phone is the most comforting thing either one has ever experienced. 

Harry knows about her siblings, the time she broke her arm on a swing when she was five, and when she got so drunk in college she threw up in her friend’s lap. Y/N knows that he moved from London for graduate school, he has a cat named Beatrice that he adores (and feeds right before tuning into her stream every evening), and watches Titanic when he’s had a bad day. 

So, he doesn’t really get why he’s so nervous to talk to her on the phone tonight. 

It had started as a joke — they’d been messaging earlier today, making fun of the fact that they felt like teenagers the way they were glued to their phones to talk to each other. Y/N had brought up wanting to hear his voice so she could finally hear his accent. Harry noted that he didn’t even know her name. And so, they made plans to talk on the phone at 5:30 this evening. 

He’s so anxious he feels like he might puke. As he watches the time slowly tick by, he grips his phone in his hand, waiting for it to start buzzing with an incoming call. He wonders if she feels nervous, too, or if this is no big deal for her. He feels silly for wondering if his infatuation has developed into a full blown crush, but he doesn’t think he can help it. He really, truly thinks he’s fallen for her just based off of chatting with her every day. 

Beatrice feels the tension radiating off of Harry’s body so she wiggles herself into his lap, nuzzling her head against his thigh. He welcomes her comfort, giving her gentle pets at the clock finally ticks to 5:30. His phone begins to vibrate promptly. 

He takes a long, deep breath. 

And then he clicks ‘answer.’

And he hears the most beautiful voice he’s ever heard before. 

part two

[sindri42]

What is capitalism if private ownership and monopolization are out

This is about the insulin thing, right? Let me walk you through the steps.

The current situation is, there are three big corporations making insulin. They make it for super cheap, like $2 a dose or something including packaging and distribution and all that jazz, but they know that people need this stuff in order to not die, so there's no reason to restrain themselves as far as pricing goes. So they sell the stuff for like $500 a vial, earning a tidy 25,000% profit, because what are customers gonna do, not buy it?

In a capitalist system, this is a huge opportunity for anybody with a few thousand in seed money and a smidge of ambition. The process of making insulin is hardly a secret. I might not have the economy of scale going and I need a big up-front investment for equipment, but even if it costs me five times as much per dose to produce the stuff, that's still less than 2% of the current market price. So I start making and distributing the stuff for $10 a vial, and selling it for $400, and all the customers see that they can get the same product for $100 less so they stop buying from those three big companies and start buying from my startup. Then a month later, somebody else comes along with the same idea but undercuts me, and I lose all my customers to sombody willing to sell the stuff for $350, but that's fine I just change all my labels to sell for $300 and they come rushing back, and I'm still making $290 pure profit on every vial. Fast forward a couple years, and the market price of insulin is like, $12 a vial tops, because if you try to get profit margins any bigger than that you're the most expensive option and nobody buys from you. There was never any altruism involved in that process, no magic, no glorious savior who figured out a way to impose their will upon the world in order to save lives, just ordinary greedy humans fighting each other to make more money for themselves, but the end result is that the people who need this stuff to survive get it for a tiny fraction of what they used to be paying.

In the system that we're actually using, the three big corporations go to the government with three big suitcases full of cash, and the government passes a law that says anybody who tries to make insulin who isn't one of the three big corporations goes directly to prison forever. All the competition vanishes, and without the risk of somebody selling the same product for less they're able to keep raising the price as much as they want. I mean, if you get up to the point where the majority of your customers literally can't buy it anymore and they die then you have fewer customers, so going up into the millions per vial would be counterproductive, but as long as the majority of people who need insulin can just barely scrape together enough, you maximize your profits. And all it costs is widespread human suffering and a few surprisingly affordable bribes.

And then here's the really funny part: the corporations that benefit most from government interference in the market? They're the ones that fund all the media that convinces kids that the solution to all their problems is to give the government even more control over every aspect of life. They're the ones who pushed the narrative that 'libertarian' is synonymous with 'pedophile'. They're the ones who bury stories about corrupt politicians so you never question how a congressman can have a salary under $200,000 a year, go into the position with a net worth of a million dollars, and come out eight years later as a billionaire. Almost every "anti-capitalist" movement out there, if you follow the chain of evidence back, is funded directly by the corporations it claims to oppose, because shifting the balance of power further away from the individual and more toward the State means more profit for the people who are in a position to manipulate the state.

Now, this isn't to say that a free market is without problems. If there was zero regulation of the production of insulin, then a particularly unethical person could undercut the legitimate sources by making a loose approximation of the product people need for much cheaper by using dangerous or ineffective methods, and then sell it at prices that legitimate manufacturers can't compete with because the purchase price is lower than the manufacturing price. Which means that when you buy insulin, you would need to do your own research into who's got a reputation for quality, and there would be people who straight up die because they decided to go for the $4-6 "insulin" instead of the $12-15 insulin. But I'm pretty sure that would still be better than the only option being $500.

[theshadowrealmitself]

Okay my favorite batshit au for Spiderman that’s incredibly self indulgent to me is:

Peter starts out as a Spider mutant, of course no one really knows this because he’s a very quiet and cautious kid and the stuff he has isn’t that noticeable to other people

On top of that, due to the age gap between his dad and his uncle, Ben and May already old when they take in young Peter (closer to comic canon), which comes with the side effects of being raised by older legal guardians

Side effects like because of their age they’re so tired when they come home from work that they can’t really give Peter the attention and energy that he needs and they want to give him, and because they’re always so tired and old and stuff, Peter, who’s already an obedient kid, doesn’t want to make their lives harder and their health worse, hides away anything that can upset them

(This is very important because it explains how Peter gets away with so much as a kid, there’s gonna be a lot of well meaning neglect in this au, and is also the very beginning of that deep anger taking seed inside of him, he feels can’t show emotion about his parents abandoning him, can’t make a fuss about Flash bullying him because the school won’t help and it’ll only stress out his aunt and uncle, he just feels like he can’t show anything and has no outlet for it all)

So Peter, even before going to live with his aunt and uncle didn’t get much attention because his parents were focused on their research and trying not to get killed, and then after moving in with them, feels like he has to make his presence as little as possible

He becomes a very, very independent little kid, even though May and Ben keep trying to let him know he can just be a kid, it’s okay, but at some point one of them has a health scare, there’s the hospital bill from it and the possible chance of future medical bills, so both adults start working more and more hours to afford all that

Which leaves poor Peter alone most of the time, he doesn’t want to make a fuss so he just accepts, and because the adults are too busy to really sit down and coordinate their time together, they don’t even realize how much they’ve left him on his own, thinking that the other adult was helping him

Peter gets himself up for school, washes the laundry, cleans what he cans, and cooks himself breakfast and maybe makes some for Ben or May if they haven’t left yet, packs his own lunch, then he’s responsible for getting himself on the bus to school (where he gets bullied all day), and then getting back to school, then because of the hours they’re working, he usually comes back to an empty house and makes everyone dinner, eats his, then puts himself to bed early after doing homework alone

At this point, Peter is now 10 years old, he’s formed a new friendship with his next door neighbor, MJ, who’s being purposely neglected by her shitty angry drunk dad, and another boy at school, Harry, who’s being emotionally neglected by his dad

The three of them start hanging out at Oscorp and getting to see the new stuff that the company is developing before it’s put out, one of those things is radioactive spiders, and one of the spiders with specific markings becomes Peter’s favorite

After some time, Norman makes a deal with the army to sell one of the spiders to them because of their own research with radioactive bio specimens, unfortunately, the spider he sells is Peter’s favorite one

For the first time in his life, Peter decides to try and be vocal about something he wants, but he’s too scared to interrupt Norman’s conversation, too used to being quiet, so he follows Norman along, waiting for a break in the conversation to ask him to sell a different spider, just following aaaallll the way to the army base, just being so quiet that no one notices him

Norman makes the handoff and Peter ends up following the spider, eventually getting his hands on it and accidentally releasing it from its container where it then bites Peter

Now remember, Peter was already a mutant, these spider mutant powers already included super strength, climbing on walls, and being able to produce webs, and also because being Spidery was a core part of his being, he has also has a ton of spider behaviors and instincts that he has to constantly fight to appear normal in public so no one calls his relatives and stress them out

After the bite, all of the hair on his body, not just the hair on his head, but the body hair, eyelashes, eyebrows, just everywhere, becomes bright red and blue patterned, his eyesight becomes supernaturally incredible, but when he uses his eyes like that, they become entirely black, I’m talking pupil, iris, and the whites become a dark inky black, and when he’s not using it, his eyes look normal, but his eyesight is back to being crap, he also now has fangs that produce a high intensity venom, and his super strength becomes so much stronger than it was before

These effects start slowly taking over as Peter starts wandering around with his spider, that he’s already forgiven for biting him because of course the poor thing is scared, trying to find an exit, but instead he stumbles upon the other radioactive specimen in the army’s care: the Hulk

Peter, being the sweet kid he is, lets the Hulk out and the Hulk remembers that and becomes a lifetime friend of “bug-man’s” from that, and the two escape the army base with the cameras capturing footage of a blue and red spidery creature helping the Hulk, starting Norman Osborn’s lifetime hatred for Spiderman (no one notices Peter’s excursion which takes a couple of days getting back home because quiet kid, kinda being neglected, teachers didn’t even mark him absent because they didn’t notice he hadn’t actually showed up, etc)

Peter is now visibly a mutant and so his friend and neighbor MJ notices immediately when he comes back and helps him out immediately even though she likes his new look, but it gives her a chance to try out makeup looks and hair dyes on someone else, and that’s what starts them becoming best friends, MJ starts hanging out more at his house to get away from her home life, Peter isn’t so alone anymore, it works out great for the two kids and starts Peter’s huge crush on her since this is the first time he’s actually been close and open with another person

(Also cause of the neglect, man it feels awful saying May and Ben neglected him in this au but there’s no other way to put it, Peter doesn’t ever return to the doctors and get checkups, and no one investigates because fuck it they lost Peter’s file or something)

Peter and Harry don’t have that moment where they suddenly intensely bond over something, but over the next four years, the three of them slowly become inseparable, to the point that many times MJ and Peter forget that they haven’t shared their big secret with Harry

(Although Peter hasn’t become a vigilante yet, him and MJ still go off and have adventures during this time, like helping the Hulk or meeting up with the x-men, this ends up being another thing that helps him hide his identity as cameras keep picking up grainy images of him without the stuff he uses to hide his looks at school and of course no one’s gonna assume a kid is out doing these things, so Spiderman, when he makes his debut, has to be much older than the Parker kid is what everyone thinks)

So instead of the spider bite being what causes his fight with Uncle Ben leading to him running out and consequently his uncle dying, it’s Harry finding out that MJ and Peter had this secret they hadn’t been sharing with him, and Peter’s resentment at not being able to go to his relatives for advice because how would he even explain any of that to them?? He doesn’t even know how they feel about mutants much less a mutant who’s now been made radioactive!! That causes his anger issues acting up and then the origin story with Uncle Ben except now his death includes him apologizing to Peter for not being there more often and knowing that he’s a mutant (but not the other stuff) and letting him know that he’s okay with it and he’s sorry he made Peter feel like he couldn’t share that with him

This is depressing for everyone, because even though him and Aunt May dropped the ball a lot (in this specific au), he was still a great relative when he was able to be there for him, he was also a great adult figure to MJ and Harry

So after that, all 3 of them decide to get into the vigilante business, with Peter being the face of it since he’s the only one that could actually handle fights and stuff (but with Harry’s money and Peter’s smarts they do end up making equipment for Harry and MJ), just these 3 little traumatized, neglected 14 year olds forming a vigilante group together

They find an Oscorp warehouse that Norman forgot about, put it in Harry’s name, and completely reinvented it to be their base, and over time it becomes less lonely, at first it’s just the Hulk hiding out there occasionally, maybe some x-men they befriended, but once they turn 18 and Spiderman becomes less of a cryptid and starts actively putting himself out there (because Harry and MJ couldn’t stand the idea of losing him so they made him promise to stay out of the limelight) their group starts really taking off

(Getting people like Gwen Stacy, Daredevil, Nova, Iron Fist, White Tiger, Power Man, Wolverine, Venom, Squirrel Girl, etc)

While staying completely hidden from SHIELD the entire time, Nick Fury doesn’t find out for ages that all these other heroes were secretly connected to Spiderman and had a base together this whole time

And eventually of course Miles joins, with his origin story being that he found Spiderman on the brink of death, saved him, accidentally got pierced by one of his venomous fangs, which acted the same way a bite from a radioactive spider would affect him, which is not something any of them had known, apparently a full on bite would kill a person, but a tiny amount of venom makes them radioactive, so that’s something to worry about now

Miles’ uncle eventually joins their little superhero gang sometime after that because it’s my self indulgent au and I want that kid to be happy with his family

Also after Uncle Ben’s death, Aunt May makes a concentrated effort to actually full on be there for Peter and all his friends, it doesn’t magically make his childhood better, but it’s healing

And a good portion about this is: Peter’s identity being so hard to find because how he shows himself in his civilian life isn’t what he actually looks like, so when his mask gets ripped off there’s not actually much to worry about, doesn’t mean he’s not still doing The Most™️ to hide his identity to protect not only Aunt May now but also his group

And also I wanted him to be as strong as possible, like could fight Superman strong, as well as have all these abilities that would make you think he’d be a part of the avengers fighting aliens and stuff and he’s just like “I really gotta dedicate all my attention to stopping muggers and bank robbers” because that’s so him

Also I think he’d look incredibly pretty with the red and blue coloring as well as the completely black eyes, and because it’s funny to me, while the Hulk is a part of them, Bruce Banner has no memory of this in the slightest, and Johnny Storm is pissed when he finds out Spidey has a hero team with a base that he didn’t invite him to

The neglect and stuff also really ties into not joining SHIELD, because Peter is still the unofficial leader of the group and he's not used to depending on others, but also he's worried about SHIELD trying to force him to become a big named hero when he does just want to stop robbers, and he's terrified of SHIELD knowing his and his friends' identities and what danger that could lead to for them

There’s probably a ton I forgot to put down but this post is already so long 😭 lemme know if anyone has any questions!! would love to answer any

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #36: 1985

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Wham!, Madonna, Wham!, Foreigner, Chaka Khan, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Tears for Fears, Dire Straits, Madonna, a-Ha. End description]

More information about this blog here

1985 showcases many significant moments in pop music history. For one, this was the year of Live Aid and We Are the World -- two high profile instances of the charity single and the benefit concert. Today's poll also features one of the first uses of computer-animated human characters with Dire Straits' Money for Nothing. The team behind the video, Gavin Blair and Ian Pearson, continued working in the field of computer animation. Under their new company, Mainframe Entertainment, they also created the animated TV series, Reboot. With their extremely prolific work in computer animation, there have been some accounts that they're not thrilled being reduced to just "the Money or Nothing guys". They reference the music video in an episode of Reboot.

But one of the biggest things to mention here in my opinion is the presence of Madonna. While her first singles were released earlier in the decade, 1984 and 1985 is really when we see her moment take off. In 1984, Madonna performed Like a Virgin at the MTV VMAs and the number culminated in her rolling around on stage in a wedding dress. The performance was controversial and there were those who saw it was career suicide, but the backlash wasn't enough to stop her upward momentum. If anything, the backlash made her more of an icon in the public eye. Like Michael Jackson and Prince, the decade doesn't make sense without considering her influence, both in music and in aesthetic.

Speaking of Prince, his presence on the charts is once again featured on this poll with the inclusion of Chaka Khan's I Feel for You. The song was originally performed by Prince in 1979 and he returns to provide vocals and instrumentation to Chaka Khan's cover. However, I'm bringing it up to draw attention to the music video. As I mentioned in my way-too-long 1973 ramble, hip-hop and rap have already been in existence for a while (by this poll, the subculture has been around for over a decade) and has found some significant success. I've resisted the urge to ramble about The Message and Rapper's Delight, since those songs didn't get as much Billboard pop success and I try (oh god do I try) to keep these posts focused. However, the 1980's is when we start to see more mainstream audiences forming for the genre. It will be a while until we see rap itself find its place on these polls, but by this point, the movement was recognizable enough to the general public.

And, of course, there is another notable music moment that happened this year. I am of course talking about the release of post-punk band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' second studio album, The Firstborn is Dead.

[winterswhite]

A3! Play-Off!

Calling all directors! It's time to find out what the most loved play by MANKAI Company is! With nine performances by each troupe and even more mixed-troupe plays, there are lots of stories and characters to love, but some hit us harder than others. @arigatonamuse and I are here to find out which of them reigns supreme!

As of now, MANKAI has put out a grand total of 49 plays on the stage, not counting the tenth rotation of troupe plays. Since this number does not fit into brackets, and for the sake of seeding (yes, we are doing seeding, that's what you get when a data nerd and a sports nerd try to do brackets), you will first be voting for your top 10 plays out of all of them. The 32 plays with the most votes will make it into the actual bracket.

Instructions:

As the form states, you may select up to 10 (ten) of your favorite plays.

You can select fewer than 10, but you only get one submission, so use it wisely.

The form will be open until March 24 21:00 EST (GMT-4)

General Guidelines:

Propaganda is extremely welcome

You can repost and self promo your creations as propaganda

Lovemailing is also extremely welcome, it doesn't have to be coherent

Do not attack people over this poll, this is just for fun and to express our love for A3! plays

Each poll will be open for 24 hours

All the play-off posts will be tagged with "a3! play-off" as well as the respective round

[pennaraptor]

did you want to know my opinions on the most commonly available "large" (around 30x20 inch) freestanding flight cages? no! but here they are

(note - i have not owned basically any of these. this is based only on appearances so far; in general the average reviews for all of these are the same so make of that what you will)

if you google search "flight cage" or "large flight cage" or similar you will get a lot of options like these

they are perfectly functional, more affordable, and slightly more spacious IF your bird will use the bottom portion. the first one appears to be the cage i have, i dont remember exactly because it was around 10 years ago. but theyre all more or less the same thing: the most basic construction, no extra frame for the door, no designated food and water dish spots. possibly not sturdy or secure enough for a larger or escape artist bird but certainly great for budgies or finches or other very small birds. there are many other variants of these.

the next kind you will see a lot of is basically the same shape as the above, but with a sturdier frame and single (or double) framed door(s) with lock. there are many many similar to this and i assume theyre great besides still not having convenient access to food cups (if you care about this). here's this one

then there are the playtop and dometop cages from a&e (x, x, x, x) and prevue (x, x, x). both companies have one of each and they have some differences. as seen in my links, you can also find the identical cage under other "brands." all of them have designated feed doors and removable seed guards (lol) as well as overall what appears to be very sturdy construction, so would be better for slightly larger or more escape oriented individuals.

a thing i dislike about ALL these is that they dont have a shelf/dont even have space for one in the case of the prevue cages. the a&e cages i dislike that the door is so tall and narrow, especially on the playtop version which has nowhere to attach perches above or below the door. and the prevue cages have 3/4ths inch bar spacing (unlike half inch or 5/8ths like most of these) which limits how small of a bird you can put in them. these are also generally very pricy just to look nice, which they do, but not enough to make up for their potential shortcomings in my opinion.

my final two options are also from a&e! the one i was considering for the longest and almost bought is the "charlonda" from wayfair (i found this cage on the a&e website but not for sale under the a&e name from anywhere i trusted). the other is the elegant top flight cage (a name sometimes shared with the first one i mentioned), which is much more widely available as an a&e cage, including from chewy.com and also wayfair.

what i like about the "charlonda" is what appears to me to be better designed food cup doors than the rest of these and all horizontal bars (which is rare to see and better for any bird with reduced mobility). i like both of these for looking stylish but still having a flat top that you can set things on and not being overly complicated. i think i have decided to go with the second one because i am changing my mind about wanting the horizontal bars at the last minute, and think it looks a bit less cluttered for having the food doors positioned differently. A NOTE about this one: the "decorative gaps" around the doors are 3/4ths of an inch (so it says) even though the rest of the bar spacing is half inch. so this one wont work for smaller birds. the "charlonda" doesnt have these gaps.

thanks for coming. if you have any others youve seen i can say some shit about them as well

[farming-seeds]

The future of the Indian seed industry in the years to come will be determined by technology and customer requirements.

[swantranslations]

New FMA Merchs! (as of 6th Dec, 2023)

Pop-up store @ The Chara (Announced on 4 Dec)

Official Website

A variety of merchs (pins, stickers, clips, mugs, charms, acrylic stands) featuring brand-new illustrations!

The pop-up store will commence in Osaka from 8 Dec 2023 to 17 Dec 2023, then in Tokyo from 4 Jan 2024 to 16 Jan 2024. Unfortunately, these items seem to only be available at their physical store, so no luck in ordering them online T_T...

2. Pop-up Store @ Princess Cafe (Announced on 1 Dec)

Announcement

Brand-new illustrations of the characters in formal attires. People went insane over Riza wearing suits + top hat as well as Envy wearing garter belts.

The pop-up store will commence in Tokyo from 15 Dec 2023 to 29 Dec 2023, as well as Osaka from 15 Dec 2023 to 30 Dec 2023.

Doesn't have any information regarding the exact products yet, but you can seek updates on the princess cafe twitter or website. Their past products were usually available online, so I expect this time should be the same as well, and international shipping is supported through an official third-party company WorldShopping Global (have not used it, cannot comment on reliability).

3. Contents Seed Merchs (Announced on 30 Nov)

Announcement

New products using older illustrations. There are cushions, charms, acrylic stands, stickers, clips, mugs, and mini mirrors.

You can order them from the Hobby-search website or the colleize website (overseas shipping supported) starting from 30 Nov 2023 to 10 Dec 2023, and the products are expected to ship by the end of Jan 2024.

4. New Nendoroid Doll! (Announced on 2 Nov)

Announcement

Good Smile Company announced that they will make a new Edward Nendoroid Doll, no preview or information is available yet, but we can look forward to it! (Might be my first Nendoroid :3c)

Please be reminded that the Nendoroid Doll is the newer "premium" line of Nendoroid, the ones that are a bit taller, with better mobility and the clothes are in fabric so you can change their clothes. So this one will be quite different from the previous Nendoroids!

5. Don Quixote Collab (Announced on 28 Oct, already sold out)

Announcement

Exclusive merchs sold at the Japanese discount store chain Don Quixote.

It's already sold out, but I really want to include this because I absolutely love the logo design they used on the bags. So pretty!!!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

When I was in my early twenties, I set out to become a writer. Step one was to study the work of writers I admired, and E.B. White was at the top of that list.

Sixty years later, I’m still reading him, trying to figure out how he always manages to write from "the simplicity that lies on the other side of complexity."

Having read White in the springtime of my adult life, it was wonderful to find this piece on the way his wife, Katherine, lived into the late autumn of her life—the season I’m now in—“calmly plotting the resurrection.”

I love what my old friend Bob Raines wrote in the book where he shared the White quote: “There is room for all of us in the resurrection conspiracy, the company of those who plant seeds of hope in dark times of grief or oppression...”

We are in such times right now. So let us be grateful for those who spend their days planting seeds of hope. Better yet, let us BE such people.

Someday, those seeds will flower—may that day come soon. In the meantime, keep plotting and planting!

[My 10 books are at tiny.cc/qocmuz AND http://tiny.cc/5rcmuz.]

[Parker J. Palmer]

[across-violet-skies]

Febuwhump day 2: solitary confinement

Whumpee: Wind

Whump Rating: 3/10

TWs: kidnapping, being held prisoner, social isolation, mentions of "losing one's mind"/"going crazy"

Wind had always been one of the more extroverted heroes.

He was always happy to talk to people (strangers included) and if there was silence to fill, Wind would gladly do so. The sailor was easily excitable with a dynamite personality that could brighten up even the lowest moods. He had spent his entire life talking and being around people– from his home on Outset Island, to adventuring with Tetra and eventually the King of Red Lions, to traveling with eight other reincarnations of the Hero’s Spirit… well, Wind had never really been alone. Not for long, anyway.

Well, until now.

He had gotten captured by some Yiga in Wild’s Hyrule while wandering near the stable they were staying at. He hadn’t even seen it coming– he just wanted to talk to the woman hovering by the side of the road! One thing led to another, and now Wind was sitting in a tiny cell, cut off from all contact. And it was driving him crazy! He would even talk to one of the Yiga at this point.

Having never truly been alone for the entirety of his life, Wind wasn’t sure what to make of his new predicament. Logically, it was fine– he was unharmed, fed, hydrated, and reasonably comfortable, for a cell. They had even given him a blanket! So why did he feel like tearing out his own hair?

Wind huffed, pacing back and forth in the tiny space. Okay, so he was alone. Nobody knew where he was. Not great, but someone would notice his absence eventually, right? They would be here to save him soon!

He just had to wait. He could do that! Wind wasn’t exactly the most patient person in the world, but he knew about waiting. He sailed across the Great Sea many times during his adventure, and a lot of that was waiting! Oh, but he had the King of Red Lions to keep him company… hm.

Wind sighed, gently tapping his forehead against the wall of his cell. Waiting officially sucked. There was nothing for him to do! He couldn’t even talk to anyone!

…Wait.

The sailor scrambled, putting his hand down his shirt to grab his necklace. How could he have forgotten? It was right here- or maybe it was- hm.

Okay, the Yiga must’ve taken it. Back to waiting.

Wind hummed to himself, tapping his fingers along the wall of his cell. Maybe there was a hidden switch! All he had to do was find it! Now, where…

Wind woke up with a groan, rubbing his eyes. He must’ve fallen asleep while looking for a secret switch… oh well. He sat up, only to find a small plate and a glass of water on the floor. He was back on his feet instantly– maybe the person who gave it to him was still outside!

“Hey!” He shouted, banging on the door with a fist. “I know you’re out there! Let me go!” He jumped, trying to peek out of the small barred window near the top of the door. He was still too short.

The sailor landed with a muttered curse, huffing as he sat back down. His eyes were drawn to the food– a simple meal of rice balls with an exotic-looking fruit sliced cleanly in half. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was nice enough considering he was their prisoner.

Wind picked up half of the fruit, sniffing it with a shrug before biting into the soft flesh. The seeds were small and plentiful, so he didn’t bother to pick them out as he chewed slowly. The fruit was sweet, with a slight tingle as he swallowed it. The sailor lazily ate through both halves of the fruit, setting the empty outer shells down in a stack. The rice balls were next, but Wind wasn’t particularly excited about them. They were similar in shape to Wild’s rice balls, but that’s where the similarities ended. These had nothing else in them– no meat, no mushrooms, nothing– just white rice molded into a puffy triangle.

Still, it was better than nothing, so the sailor took the first one and nibbled at it, letting time pass as he slowly ate away the edges of the rice ball. It was so boring! Wind needed excitement and company, not a sad meal eaten alone in a tiny cell. He wasn’t sure how long he could stand this, the waiting and the boredom and the loneliness. Is this how some of his brothers felt during their adventures?

Wind wrinkled his nose at the thought, frowning. He would hate for anyone to feel this way, other than Ganon and maybe the Yiga that captured him. A taste of their own medicine might do them some good.

With a dramatic sigh, Wind slumped so he was lying on his back. The ceiling was plain, as was the rest of the cell. He grabbed the blanket, curling his fingers in the thin fabric as he examined it. The blanket had probably been white at some point, but age had turned it a light shade of yellow. It was raggedy, especially around the edges, and small threads were loose and fraying in one of the corners. To his captors’ credit, it smelled clean enough, despite the blanket’s haggard appearance. The sailor was thankful it didn’t have any stains from blood or other bodily fluids, but that could also just be the work of some strong cleaning supplies.

The sailor ran his fingers along the edges of the blanket until he found the frayed corner, rubbing the fabric between his fingers. He wondered who had been in this cell before him. What were they doing now? Were they released, rescued, or something else? Would the Yiga release him or would he be rescued first? Or were they waiting to kill him?

Why was he in this cell? Usually people were kidnapped for a certain reason, and nobody had mentioned blackmail or a ransom to him. Nobody had mentioned anything to him. Wind had no idea what was going on outside his cell, nor did he know what the Yiga had planned for him. It was driving him mad, being completely out of the loop. He wanted to know what was going on! He wanted to know if his brothers were coming to rescue him! But maybe most of all…

…Wind wanted someone to talk to. He had never gone this long without talking to something, Hylian or not. But here there was nothing– no talking boat, no friends, no brothers. Just four walls, a ceiling, and a ratty blanket.

He sat up with a sigh, grabbing the glass of water to hold in front of his face. If he angled it a certain way, Wind could make out the vague shape of his face, and it was almost like having someone there with him.

“Hey, Wind,” Wind murmured, waving a hand. “How are you doing?”

“I gotta tell ya, Wind, not great,” Wind replied, shaking his head. “There’s nothing to do here. I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“You probably are,” Wind agreed, shrugging. “I mean, you’re talking to a reflection of yourself.”

“You’re right, Wind,” Wind sighed, nodding. “I think I’ve been alone for too long. How long have I been here?”

“A day and a half, I think,” Wind answered, making a so-so motion with his hand. “It’s hard to tell without a clock or the sun… or anything at all.”

“Yeah,” Wind murmured, sighing. “This sucks. Well, um-” The sailor scrunched up his nose, setting the glass down with a grimace. “Thanks for talking to me… me.” He buried his face in his hands, shaking his head with a small cry. “What the fuck. What the fuck. I just had a conversation with my reflection. My reflection!” Wind muttered, shaking his head into his hands. “This is officially the worst. I think I’d rather be physically tortured.”

The sailor flopped back on the ground with a huff, rolling around uncomfortably. His skin felt itchy and warm, and the walls were all too close. This was too restricting! Wind needed to move around, he needed to do something, he needed to talk to people.

With a determined growl, Wind pushed himself off the ground, slamming his fists against the door. “LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU BASTARDS! I’LL KILL YOU ALL MYSELF! I’LL-” Wind huffed, panting heavily with the effort of screaming. “I’LL MAKE YOU ALL REGRET BEING BORN! I’LL FUCK YOU UP!” The sailor pounded his fists against the door furiously, letting out a screechy yell of frustration and anger. “LET ME OUT!”

In the distance, between bouts of screaming, Wind could hear a commotion. He hoped it was someone coming to let him out. He thought he might lose it if he had to spend one more second in this stupid tiny cell!

A heavy door slammed open, footsteps rushing closer. “Wind?!”

The sailor gasped, shaking the door frantically. “Wars!”

The Captain’s blond hair poked through the bars on the door, blue eyes peering down at him. “Thank Hylia. Are you hurt?”

“No, but get me out of here!” Wind shook the door again for good measure, bouncing between his feet with anticipation. Keys jangled in the lock before the door swung open with a creak, Wind immediately rushing out to grab onto Warriors.

“Woah there!” The Captain grunted, resting a hand on Wind’s back as he dropped the keys with a clang. “It’s good to see you too, Sailor,” Warriors chuckled, patting Wind’s head. “But we should get out of here. Champion’s got the whole place rigged to blow as soon as we get out.”

Wind grinned devilishly. “Think he’d let me set it off?” He wondered, letting Warriors lead him out of the Yiga hideout.

The Captain snorted, shrugging. “Absolutely not.” He ran out of the hideout, Wind right on his heels. Warriors gave a loud whistle as they exited, grabbing the sailor’s hand to hide them both behind a large rock.

Wild whooped loudly, laughing. “This is what you get for messing with us!” In an instant, the Yiga hideout blew to pieces, burnt paper and tapestries floating through the air as the structure collapsed, sealing off any exits.

Wind and Warriors coughed as the dust settled, both of them unharmed. Wild drifted down on his paraglider, dropping down to see them. “Wind!” The Champion exclaimed, eyes bright. “Are you okay? They didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

The sailor waved a hand dismissively, shaking his head. “No, I’m okay. I was just lonely, but now you guys are here,” he explained, shrugging.

“Oh! That reminds me.” Wild tapped at his slate until a crackly static came through. “We got him! Meet back in five.” The static ended as Wild grinned at him. “Sky and Four got your stuff. The others were scouting nearby, so we’ll grab them on our way back.”

Wind beamed at his brothers, relieved to be out of that cell and back in the real world. “Thanks for saving me. I thought I was going to lose my mind in there!”

“I thought you already had,” Warriors remarked offhandedly, smirking.

“Oi!”

The Captain chuckled, resting a hand on Wind’s shoulder as they walked. “It’s nice to have you back, Sailor.”

–> support me on ao3!

[amoradevid]

Top 10 Laravel Development Companies in the USA in 2024

Laravel is a widely-used open-source PHP web framework designed for creating web applications using the model-view-controller (MVC) architectural pattern. It offers developers a structured and expressive syntax, as well as a variety of built-in features and tools to enhance the efficiency and enjoyment of the development process.

Key components of Laravel include:

1. Eloquent ORM (Object-Relational Mapping): Laravel simplifies database interactions by enabling developers to work with database records as objects through a powerful ORM.

2. Routing: Laravel provides a straightforward and expressive method for defining application routes, simplifying the handling of incoming HTTP requests.

3. Middleware: This feature allows for the filtering of HTTP requests entering the application, making it useful for tasks like authentication, logging, and CSRF protection.

4. Artisan CLI (Command Line Interface): Laravel comes with Artisan, a robust command-line tool that offers commands for tasks such as database migrations, seeding, and generating boilerplate code.

5. Database Migrations and Seeding: Laravel's migration system enables version control of the database schema and easy sharing of changes across the team. Seeding allows for populating the database with test data.

6. Queue Management: Laravel's queue system permits deferred or background processing of tasks, which can enhance application performance and responsiveness.

7. Task Scheduling: Laravel provides a convenient way to define scheduled tasks within the application.

What are the reasons to opt for Laravel Web Development?

Laravel makes web development easier, developers more productive, and web applications more secure and scalable, making it one of the most important frameworks in web development.

There are multiple compelling reasons to choose Laravel for web development:

1. Clean and Organized Code: Laravel provides a sleek and expressive syntax, making writing and maintaining code simple. Its well-structured architecture follows the MVC pattern, enhancing code readability and maintainability.

2. Extensive Feature Set: Laravel comes with a wide range of built-in features and tools, including authentication, routing, caching, and session management. 

3. Rapid Development: With built-in templates, ORM (Object-Relational Mapping), and powerful CLI (Command Line Interface) tools, Laravel empowers developers to build web applications quickly and efficiently.

4. Robust Security Measures: Laravel incorporates various security features such as encryption, CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) protection, authentication, and authorization mechanisms. 

5. Thriving Community and Ecosystem: Laravel boasts a large and active community of developers who provide extensive documentation, tutorials, and forums for support.

6. Database Management: Laravel's migration system allows developers to manage database schemas effortlessly, enabling version control and easy sharing of database changes across teams. Seeders facilitate the seeding of databases with test data, streamlining the testing and development process.

7. Comprehensive Testing Support: Laravel offers robust testing support, including integration with PHPUnit for writing unit and feature tests. It ensures that applications are thoroughly tested and reliable, reducing the risk of bugs and issues in production.

8. Scalability and Performance: Laravel provides scalability options such as database sharding, queue management, and caching mechanisms. These features enable applications to handle increased traffic and scale effectively.

Top 10 Laravel Development Companies in the USA in 2024

The Laravel framework is widely utilised by top Laravel development companies. It stands out among other web application development frameworks due to its advanced features and development tools that expedite web development. Therefore, this article aims to provide a list of the top 10 Laravel Development Companies in 2024, assisting you in selecting a suitable Laravel development company in the USA for your project.

IBR Infotech

IBR Infotech excels in providing high-quality Laravel web development services through its team of skilled Laravel developers. Enhance your online visibility with their committed Laravel development team, which is prepared to turn your ideas into reality accurately and effectively. Count on their top-notch services to receive the best as they customise solutions to your business requirements. Being a well-known Laravel Web Development Company IBR infotech is offering the We provide bespoke Laravel solutions to our worldwide customer base in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia, ensuring prompt delivery and competitive pricing.

Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 5.0

Avg. hourly rate: $25 — $49 / hr

No. Employee: 10–49

Founded Year : 2014

Verve Systems

Elevate your enterprise with Verve Systems' Laravel development expertise. They craft scalable, user-centric web applications using the powerful Laravel framework. Their solutions enhance consumer experience through intuitive interfaces and ensure security and performance for your business.

Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 5.0

Avg. hourly rate: $25 

No. Employee: 50–249

Founded Year : 2009

KrishaWeb

KrishaWeb is a world-class Laravel Development company that offers tailor-made web solutions to our clients. Whether you are stuck up with a website concept or want an AI-integrated application or a fully-fledged enterprise Laravel application, they can help you. 

        Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 5.0

Avg. hourly rate: $50 - $99/hr

No. Employee: 50 - 249

Founded Year : 2008

Bacancy

Bacancy is a top-rated Laravel Development Company in India, USA, Canada, and Australia. They follow Agile SDLC methodology to build enterprise-grade solutions using the Laravel framework. They use Ajax-enabled widgets, model view controller patterns, and built-in tools to create robust, reliable, and scalable web solutions

      Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 4.8

Avg. hourly rate: $25 - $49/hr

No. Employee: 250 - 999

Founded Year : 2011

Elsner 

Elsner Technologies is a Laravel development company that has gained a high level of expertise in Laravel, one of the most popular PHP-based frameworks available in the market today. With the help of their Laravel Web Development services, you can expect both professional and highly imaginative web and mobile applications. 

      Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 5

Avg. hourly rate: < $25/hr

No. Employee: 250 - 999

Founded Year : 2006

Logicspice

Logicspice stands as an expert and professional Laravel web development service provider, catering to enterprises of diverse scales and industries. Leveraging the prowess of Laravel, an open-source PHP framework renowned for its ability to expedite the creation of secure, scalable, and feature-rich web applications. 

      Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 5

Avg. hourly rate: < $25/hr

No. Employee: 50 - 249

Founded Year : 2006

Sapphire Software Solutions

Sapphire Software Solutions, a leading Laravel development company in the USA, specialises in customised Laravel development, enterprise solutions,.With a reputation for excellence, they deliver top-notch services tailored to meet your unique business needs.

     Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 5

Avg. hourly rate: NA

No. Employee: 50 - 249

Founded Year : 2002

iGex Solutions

iGex Solutions offers the World’s Best Laravel Development Services with 14+ years of Industry Experience. They have 10+ Laravel Developer Experts. 100+ Elite Happy Clients from there Services. 100% Client Satisfaction Services with Affordable Laravel Development Cost.

     Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 4.7

Avg. hourly rate: < $25/hr

No. Employee: 10 - 49

Founded Year : 2009

Hidden Brains

Hidden Brains is a leading Laravel web development company, building high-performance Laravel applications using the advantage of Laravel's framework features. As a reputed Laravel application development company, they believe your web application should accomplish the goals and can stay ahead of the rest.

     Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 4.9

Avg. hourly rate: < $25/hr

No. Employee: 250 - 999

Founded Year : 2003

 Matellio 

At Matellio, They offer a wide range of custom Laravel web development services to meet the unique needs of their global clientele. There expert Laravel developers have extensive experience creating robust, reliable, and feature-rich applications

     Additional Information-

GoodFirms : 4.8

Avg. hourly rate: $50 - $99/hr

No. Employee: 50 - 249

Founded Year : 2014

What advantages does Laravel offer for your web application development?

Laravel, a popular PHP framework, offers several advantages for web application development:

Elegant Syntax

Modular Packaging

MVC Architecture Support

Database Migration System

Blade Templating Engine

Authentication and Authorization

Artisan Console

Testing Support

Community and Documentation

Conclusion: 

I hope you found the information provided in the article to be enlightening and that it offered valuable insights into the top Laravel development companies.

These reputable Laravel development companies have a proven track record of creating customised solutions for various sectors, meeting client requirements with precision.

Over time, these highlighted Laravel developers for hire have completed numerous projects with success and are well-equipped to help advance your business.

Before finalising your choice of a Laravel web development partner, it is essential to request a detailed cost estimate and carefully examine their portfolio of past work.

[ahedderick]

Being Frank 2

This post would be TOO long, so I’m breaking it up into two parts. Frank continues:

   “The next project was to get timber for the floor joists. Where I got most of it for the subfloor and the joists was from the power line that was put through. The trees were cut down and left lay. I didn’t have a truck to haul these logs, but there was a 1952 Chevy two ton with the motor shot. I went to Saccos salvage and got a motor out of a Chevy that was wrecked. It fit in the truck and I used that to haul the logs to the sawmill in Palo Alto. It was twenty dollars a thousand board feet to have them sawed. I worked by myself logging. I drug the logs down and backed the truck into a ditch. I played out cables across the bed and used the tractor to winch the logs up in the bed; that was how I loaded them by myself. I had excess lumber after milling. Mike C. approached me to take down a silo and he put it up at his house. It was forty feet high. I had to take all the excess lumber and build a wooden scaffolding inside the silo. I got paid 500 dollars and I hired two guys who were tree trimmers to help. They were used to working high in the air. It took me two days to master myself to go all the way to the top of it. In those days I was afraid of heights! Everything had to go in those manholes and they’re not big! You put a round of scaffolding around every six feet. That’s how I got more seed money to build the house. I had no deadline and that was key. You can eat an elephant one bite at a time. It was a labor of love. 

   Now I began my hunt for other materials, wherever I could get them. After the trees from the farm, I bought a stone ranch house up on Brown Ave that was going to be demolished for Interstate 68. It was on a concrete slab and all stone exterior. I paid 100 dollars for it. All I wanted was the stone, rafters, paneling, 2x4 studding, and  bathroom fixtures. I sold the windows, doors, and roof to a friend of mine who was building on Oliver Belt Rd for $100. So I got my money back on that deal. I hauled all that stone and material out here on that old truck, loading and unloading by hand. The basement of this house was studded out with the 2x4s and the paneling from that house. The bathtub was square and had two seats in it. The fireplace insert came from that house. I did have an old man, Elsy C., help me haul the stone. The stone for the planter came from Costello Construction, which was located on Valley Street, and I purchased other building material for the meat shop at the same time. The planter here, Max, laid that for me. He was a mason.

    I was deer hunting over at the Gordon farm, now Hemmis, and found that big stone out front to the left. The one downstairs over the fireplace came from Cosgrove’s farm when I was plowing. There are some fossil stones on the patio that came from Wills Mountain. All the stone windowsills and lintels came from a building on Bedford street that was a tombstone company. When they were being demolished, I was able to get all the windowsills. I saved a pile of money on that! The stone slabs approaching the porch came from the parklet next to Times News when they were renovating. I bought all the cement I needed to lay the block and stone for 15 dollars from the B&O railroad damaged freight depot. Their freight agent was Tom R. One corner of the freight car got damp and I removed all the cement and cleaned the car out. When I was using the cement I had to take a window screen and put it over a 50 gallon drum. I had to screen all the cement so there wouldn’t be lumps in it.

   The steel beam needed to run the entire 48 foot length of the house. Moore farm was having a sale where the current AC College is. I bought a two steel beams there that would cover the length and hauled them on the old Chevy. I also bought a stack of pine 2x10s. The beams were over the top of the truck and 5 or 10 feet out in front. I put a flag on the longer piece and hauled it on Sunday morning when there was no traffic. I put the beam on a wagon and brought it around to the back of the house with the tractor. I had pipes on the wall and slid the ends on one at a time. I worked each end over to the center and set it by myself. Next thing was to set the floor joists. I used sidecut boards on a diagonal for the subfloor. All oak! The diagonal boards add to the strength.

   Over to the garage: the garage door came from a house in the Dingle where I was able to salvage many items. The structural steel supporting the roof/patio I set by myself with an old Dodge truck with a telephone pole on it. The header was steel, and came out of the B&O freight station on George Street. The other major steel beams came from the demolished Sears building that stood where the Holiday Inn parking lot now is. The next steel was 30ft long coal mine rails that came from Abe Feldstein’s salvage yard in LaVale. The corrugated metal decking that the concrete was poured on came from a B&O derailment at Swanton. Some of the same corrugated metal was used on the barn roof. 

Interviewer: Well, Frank, did you get anything from West Virginia?

Frank: Hell no, they didn’t have anything to throw away!

   The posts on the patio were originally pipes that I welded plates on the end of. The 6 inch steel beam that goes across the center was also salvage from a building. In later years when the Bowman’s addition flood program began, I salvaged some ornamental aluminum posts from a house behind Hartman’s Store. They weren’t long enough, so I cut the short ones and spliced them into the long ones. The ceiling joists for the patio were the 2x8s from the stone house I tore down on the I68 right-of-way. The patio step stringers were two pieces of timber from the B&O freight station. The two posts that are on the stairway came from the old German Brewery and the handrail, redwood, came from the farmhouse (Old George’s porch). All the rafters and ceiling joists for the house portion were salvaged from the loading dock at the B&O freight. All the plywood on the roof was from a ‘fire sale.’ The rail car overheated and the floor caught fire; the smoke damage to the plywood was severe enough that they couldn’t sell it. I paid 75 cents a sheet. 

   Downstairs there’s one room I didn’t finish. All the ceiling was salvaged drywall that had been damaged by forklifts at Valley Lumber. I had an Amish man swirl the ceiling down there. On the other side downstairs the ceiling was finished by tile that came out of the Woodmen of the World building, along with that maple cover over the planter. It was previously a banister at Woodmen of the World. The bedroom downstairs was finished with mismatched paneling from Valley Lumber. The interior of the closet was lined with leather-type paneling that came out of B&O. 

   My uncle Charles built these cabinets in the kitchen out of birch plywood. He was a finish carpenter. He also trimmed out all the oak trim doorways and baseboard in the house. The front doorway was custom built by Slim (Cecil), neighbors down the road here, and Don, from my sketch. The two birch doors, front and basement, solid core, I bought from the B&O freight claim agent Tom for 15$. The sidelights on the front door I bought from Bernie G. in Frostburg. The outside hanging light was from a yard sale for $5. It had a sidearm on it, but I figured I could adapt it to hang on a chain. The inside light there on the steps came from Westons department store. 

   There were many people who helped me build. We traded labor. Floyd, a carpenter, helped me frame; we traded labor. The stonework was crafted by Hayes Albert Northcraft, a WWI veteran. Elsy was the mudmixer. I was at this time working 7 days a week at the Kelly. Hayes laid all the stonework and this fireplace for $1,400 with no time in it for job completion. I had a dump truck with scaffolding I’d drive around the house and we’d throw the stone in the bed of the truck, then hoist it up on the scaffolding for him to pick out what he wanted. I was to move the scaffolding every day after he was finished. One time I missed it and he was laying the stone under the bay window. He left a divot in the stonework because I didn’t move the heavy timbers for him. That’s a forever reminder that I didn’t do my duty. Hank P., whom I worked with at the Kelly, was a part-time cement finisher. He’s the one who placed the penny in the front stoop. 

  Well, that was a long story. It seemed like I had all the time in the world in those days, and lots of energy. You might ask when I finally finished the house. I don’t think I ever have! In fact, this year (2016) I reclaimed the large plate glass windows from the solarium at Roy Roger’s restaurant when they tore it down and I’m using them to put a sun room on the back of the house. It’ll have a hot tub when I’m finished, and also the washer and dryer. So, you see, it remains a work in progress to this day.

  My note: Frank, like my parents, was born slightly before WWII and lived in this area all his life. Members of the “Silent Generation” are getting fewer these days. I had my doubts about committing to this project, but now I’m very glad I did.

[musettina]

His smile is everything🌞

He is everything😭💗

NowVIZ mag's season 2023 digital issue is finally out with the interview & photoshoot with Lorenzo that was done before his participation in the Miami Masters 1000 (you'll remember those sneak pics...😏🥵)!❤️‍🔥

Often, it's a single moment in the course of your career, a moment that may be overlooked by onlookers, that makes you realize you're on the right road.

For Italian Tennis pro Lorenzo Musetti, that came after a five-set loss to former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the 2021 French Open. The then 19-year-old Musetti took the first two sets against the Serbian maestro in what was his Grand Slam debut.

"It was a fantastic experience. I was playing my best tennis, for sure," the young player who ranked 76th at the time later told the press, adding, "Now I know how I can play, how far I am from the biggest in the tour, like Nole, so I know that if I play good I can stay at this level."

It was a moment of clarity for Musetti that propelled the player to become one of ltaly's top three tennis players less than two years later. But though he claimed his highest ATP ranking ranking of World No. 15 on 26 June 2023, the road to sporting success had been a long time coming for the Italian star.

Musetti, who was born in Carrara, Tuscany, in Northern ltaly, on 3 March 2002, began playing tennis at the incredibly young age of four. When it quickly became obvious that he had a gift for the game, his father, Francesco, a marble producer, and his mother, Sabrina, a secretary in a local Tuscan company, didn't hesitate to support their only child's tennis dreams.

At the age of 10, Musetti was taken under the wing of tennis coach, Simone Tartarini, who has remained the Italian champ's coach to this day. A regimented training routine and the tight circle of supportive family and friends around him were instrumental in keeping Musetti focused during his teen years as he evolved into a strong junior player.

Between 2016 and 2019, the young Italian won seven singles titles, reaching his peak as the winner of the 2019 Australian Open boys' singles and ranking junior world No. 1 that same year.

2019 was also the year that the star player turned pro. Receiving a wildcard and passing the qualifiers, 17-year-old Musetti made his ATP Tour debut at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February 2020.

In 2021, he reached the semifinals of the ATP Tour 500 Mexican Open where he had his first top-10 win, beating world no. 9 Diego Schwartzman in three sets. Later, he played in the Lyon Open and the French Open, and finished the season with the Next Generation ATP Finals.

In 2022, the determined tennis dynamo scored 44 wins from 74 matches. He scooped winning titles at the Napoli Tennis Cup and the Hamburg European Open, where he beat current Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz. Reaching the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters 1000 Musetti faced-off with Novak Djokovic once again and took another loss against the tennis superstar.

That would change in 2023. In a three-set thriller against Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters in April 2023, Musetti finally defeated the former world No. 1 and reached the championship's quarter finals.

"I am really proud of myself," the ltalian player told the media in his on-court victory interview afterwards. "I am struggling not to cry because it is a dream..."

And though he added, "Beating Novak is something remarkable for me," perhaps, beating Djokovic was also an inevitable step on the road to tennis greatness that only a few years ago Musetti had realized was the actual road he was on.

Lorenzo has the phrase, 'Il meglio deve ancora venire' tattooed on the side of his chest. Translated in English as, 'The Best is Yet to Come' inspired by a song from Ligabue.

You've been on fire this 2023 season making your top 20 ranking debut with a career-high singles ATP ranking world No.15!

At this year's Monte-Carlo Master's you upset world No. 1 and top seed Novak Djokovic to reach your second Master's quarterfinal. Then you went to the fourth round at the French Open, and the third round at Wimbledon! Will you talk about some of your best moments?

@lore_musetti: "My best moment in this season so far was when I had the chance to beat Nole. I was living a dream for sure! It was the best win in my career and something that I won't forget!"

@djokernole praise on Musetti's game at 2021 Roland Garros: "I really like how he plays. He's got a lot of firepower from both forehand and backhand. He can play with a lot of spin. He's got a great feel, come to the net. He can play short balls and dropshots. He can flatten out his serve. He can open up with a good kick and slice. He's got an all-around game."

You've been coached by Simone Tartarini since the beginning of your career. What is it that makes him a great coach for you?

"Simone is more than a coach; for me, he is like a parent. We have shared a lot of memories and experiences during our relationship and he definitely knows what I need to do the most."

Every top athlete seems to have or has had a mentor, friend, or someone in their corner to offer guidance. We wonder if you do and, if so, how have they helped?

"I think my family is the best support system I could ever dream of. They are always there for me and they are always supporting me."

What motivates and inspires you daily?

"My daily motivation is to get better every day so that I reach my goals!"

You travel extensively when on tour. So besides playing tennis, how do you stay physically fit?

"I train every day either in the gym or the track field. The fitness part is something really important in our sport, but training is also important for my health."

As a top player how do you stay in control of your game mentally?

"I work daily with a psychologist; the mental side is equally as important as the physical side in this sport. It is a long process to develop and takes time to be defined."

How do you fuel your body nutritionally throughout the season? Is there a specific diet or regime you follow?

"I try to stay as healthy as possible and follow a meal plan, especially during tournament week."

"Music is probably my biggest passion. I'm a huge fan of music in general and I listen to it a lot during the day - literally, every kind of music!"

"The top of one mountain is the bottom of the next. So keep climbing!"

-Lorenzo Musetti (do you remember when he wrote this...?🥺💪🏻🏔🤍)

Check out on their site: https://www.nowviz.com/

https://issuu.com/nowvizezine/docs/nowviz_019?fr=xKAE9_zU1NQ

Or on my ig page:

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