#double sided leaflet printing
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skbsnssspprtsservices · 1 year ago
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Looking for Double Sided Flyers Printing Service for Your Business
Double Sided Flyers Printing can help spread the word about your business. Our designers also provide you double sided leaflet printing service with unique designs and the best templates. Contact us now!
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warabidakihime · 6 months ago
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Rules and Roses Chapter 4
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★ characters: kibutsuji muzan x reader x akaza
★ plot summary: Kibutsuji Muzan has finally decided to expand his empire, and the way he intends to do so is by running for the highest political position. With you, his darling wife, at his side, he believes he can achieve and have everything the world has to offer. He is, after all, the Phoenix of Phario.
★ fic playlist: sometimes, same day, as time stops, wolf’s song (this is also the vision board for the fic). 
★ content warnings : implied violence and abuse, profanities, toxic relationships, smut.
★ Previous Chapter
a/n:
hello!
just want to hop on here and say thank you to everyone who has been giving their likes and reblogs. huge thank you to those who are taking the time and effort to read my story as well. i've been wanting to continue this story for so long but i'm just so busy with work, but i'm glad i am able to find the time to write and update as regularly as i can.
hopefully someday i can hear your thoughts through your comments though haha i would really love to hear what you think about Rules and Roses and the way i write the characters as it is my first time. tbh, i am extra curious to know if i'm giving muzan's character justice HAHA but yeah, it never hurts to leave comments so feel free to send them my way.
i also would like to give those people who have not read the manga a heads up, that in this chapter and in the succeeding ones, there will be minor to moderate manga spoilers, so ready with caution.
also, moving forward, things will steadily pick up, so get ready HAHA!
enjoy reading everyone!
-
The sun had barely risen over Areswood, its golden hues taking its time enveloping the sky, but Muzan and Douma were already up and busy at Obelisk Kibutsuji, going over their next course of action for their campaigns for the next few months.
Muzan stood at the center of his spacious office. A large map of Phario's electoral districts sprawled across the narra table in front of him, dotted with colorful pins representing key areas of support. 
Douma, on the other hand, leaned over the map, his eyes narrowing as he assessed their next move. 
"We need to double down our efforts in the southern districts," Douma said, twirling his fan languidly. "The latest polls show we're losing ground there, but it is the opposition's home turf, so I'm not surprised," he added with a hint of mirth.
Muzan nodded, rubbing his temple as he processed the information. He'd been up since dawn, reviewing speeches and strategies. The weight of the campaign was beginning to show in the faint lines on his face and the dark circles under his ruby eyes.
Unlike Douma, Muzan couldn't afford to make light of the situation. Keeping a straight and serious face, he continued to rack his brain for strategies. After a few minutes, Muzan finally spoke, catching everyone's attention.
"Let's schedule a town hall meeting in Azudellin. We need to connect with the voters there and show them we're listening to their concerns."
"Today?" Douma asked.
"Yes, why? Do we have other agendas for today?"
Douma quickly checked his calendar on his phone.
"We have an interview with the Areswood Times in an hour, then a fundraiser lunch at noon, followed by debate prep, and a gala dinner with key donors tonight."
Muzan sighed, his frustration evident in his voice. "We can't afford to delay this. Azudellin is slipping away from us."
Douma, feeling a bit depleted himself, shrugged. "The earliest we can fit it in is next week. It might be too late by then, but who knows? Maybe a miracle will happen."
In the midst of a very important meeting, a knock separated everyone from their own thoughts. One of Muzan's executive assistants, Nakime, walked in with a stack of freshly printed leaflets, oblivious to the tension in the room.
"Sir Kibutsuji, Sir Hashibira, these just came in. The design team finalized the new posters and pamphlets for the campaign trail."
Muzan barely glanced at the leaflets, his mind racing. 
"Thank you; just leave them on the table."
Nakime quickly left after obeying his orders, clearly sensing the gravity of the moment.
With mindless eyes, Muzan continued to rack his brain for any backup plan or anything that could be of significant help to the predicament they currently have. Letting out a resigned sigh, Muzan finally opened his eyes and turned to everyone. 
"We'll have to make do with what we have," he said, turning to Douma, who's listening intently. "At our interview with Areswood Times today, maybe we could give Azudellin a special shout-out—say something that can please their ears. This is your specialty, so I leave this to you." 
Douma nodded, a peculiar smile present on his face. "I'll handle it. I'll make sure our message is loud and clear in the interview today."
Muzan merely nodded at his running mate before turning to the rest of his party. 
"Let's deploy a few of you to Azudellin today; get some boots on the ground. We'll organize smaller meet-and-greets throughout the week to keep our presence felt until we can hold the town hall altogether. Take this chance to highlight your own platforms and campaigns as well, but don't oversell yourselves and turn off the locals. Understand? We can't afford any missteps."
A chorus of 'yes, sir.' and 'understood' rang in the room after listening to Muzan's orders. As usual, his commanding voice and his overall demeanor exuded charisma and extreme strictness, which made everybody in the room yield to him so easily.
Muzan scanned the room, making sure everyone's conviction matched his own. Technically, his party has been dominating almost all polls across the entire country, and it's safe to say that he is the number one candidate to win the elections, but he didn't want to remain complacent.
He doesn't want to attribute his victories to silly things like fate or destiny. He did that before and miserably paid the price; after learning his lesson, he vowed to never rely on foolish things ever again and will do everything in his power to ensure his indisputable victory.
Taking a deep breath, Muzan felt assured again. 
"Alright. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everyone."
*
"Oh, really? That's good to hear, darling. I'm happy for you," Muzan said softly, followed by a fond chuckle as you continued to share what happened during your hair appointment.
You were at the salon, enjoying your usual 'pamper time.' While you were getting your hair done, an A-list celebrity approached you. Initially, she only intended to have a small chat, as you are technically an A-list celebrity yourself. However, as your conversation continued, Ume confided in you that she recently got engaged but hasn't announced it to the public yet.
She personally requested you to be her wedding planner, and of course, you gladly accepted.
"Ahh! I'm so excited. I'm still preoccupied with Ms. Rivera's wedding, but so many ideas for Ms. Ume's wedding are already flooding my mind," you told your husband gleefully.
Muzan chuckled again, his eyes turning into crescent moons as a smile spread across his face, a total contrast to the serious expressions he had earlier.
Muzan prided himself on being level headed even in the most dire situations, but all that bravado would always melt away whenever he was with you. He couldn't help it. Your energy has always been contagious, and when it came to you, he was nothing but a man hopelessly in love with his wife.
Douma, seated in the backseat with Muzan, looked at his running mate with pure intrigue, watching him transform into a lovesick puppy while talking to you.
"Ah, yes, the meeting went great, my love. There were a few bumps here and there, but we managed," Muzan said to you. Knowing you, he anticipated your worry and was proven right when he heard the concern in your voice.
"I see... well, if there's anything I can do to help you guys, you know I'd be more than willing," you said from the other line.
Muzan smiled softly, clearly touched by your investment in his endeavors as much as he was in yours.
"Well, if you're free next week, you can tag along to our town hall at Azudellin," he proposed.
You smiled, having left the salon and decided to go to the mall for some much-needed retail therapy. Akaza wasn't with you today, as he had something to take care of, so Gyokko, one of your security guards, was accompanying you today.
"I don't have anything planned next week. I don't mind joining—wait, can I also do my own charity event there? I haven't done one in a while, and don't you think this is the perfect time? It could help your campaign."
Muzan immediately smiled at this. "You're more than welcome, darling. I'll have my people assist you with your preparations. Just let me know what help you need."
"Aww, you don't have to! But thank you. Let's talk more about this at home later. Maybe we could tailor this with your own community outreach initiatives. I believe you have a couple, right? We can make it a joint one, hitting two birds with one stone."
Muzan was listening intently when Douma reached out to let him know they had reached their destination. Muzan gave him a curt nod before returning to you.
"That's right. Alright, let's talk about it later, Y/N. I need to go; Douma and I are here at the studio already. Take care on your way home, okay? Call me if you need anything."
You nodded with a happy smile on your face. "Okay. See you later, my love. And good luck today. I love you," you said with passion.
Muzan replied just as passionately, "I love you too. Mhm, yes. Goodbye. See you later."
After ending the call, he turned to Douma; his whole demeanor had already changed. "Let's go."
Douma complied, climbing out of the car after him.
As they walked inside the building and toward their dressing room, escorted by a handful of media staff, the vice presidential candidate subtly nudged his running mate.
"It seems like that phone call improved your mood, Pres ."
Muzan smirked, his strides toward the TV studio exuding confidence and pride. "My first lady is quite the wonder woman."
Douma chuckled softly, amused by Muzan's demeanor. "It seems like she has quite an effect on you."
"She does," Muzan replied, his tone unapologetically confident. "She's not just my wife; she's a force to be reckoned with and my equal."
Douma raised an eyebrow, intrigued by Muzan's unabashed praise. "You sound almost unbeatable when she's on your side."
Muzan merely nodded, the cocky smile on his face still present. "Indomitable."
Douma chuckled softly. "You've really got it bad, haven't you?"
Muzan shot him a sidelong glance, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Do you not feel the same about Shinobu?"
Douma chuckled again. "Hey now, don't underestimate me. My wife is a force of nature herself."
The proud CEO of Obelisk Kibutsuji and Phario's leading presidential candidate simply offered his running mate a rather shallow chuckle as a response and a nod to convey that he agrees with him.
Finally, they reached the TV studio, and the two of them noticed that it was a full house.
"Are you ready?" Douma asked Muzan.
Muzan's gaze swept across the room, his presence commanding attention.
With a confident smirk, he declared,
"To make history? I was born ready.'"
He made his way to the stage, greeted by applause and camera flashes, projecting an aura of assured victory as he took his seat on the couch.
*
The day was finally coming to a close. After spending the entire day at the mall shopping, you were exhausted and hungry.
Initially considering Italian cuisine, it suddenly occurred to you that the downtown burger joint you and Akaza had visited a couple of days ago was nearby.
Opting for convenience and familiarity, you decided to head there and also decided to order takeout for both Akaza and Muzan, as well as Kokushibo and the maids and guards.
Surely, both had returned home by now or were on their way. Muzan's jam-packed schedule guaranteed he would appreciate indulging in fast food after such a long day, and Akaza would undoubtedly welcome the gesture.
And it wouldn't hurt to treat your house staff every now and then. It is something you do every now and then, as it's one of your ways of showing appreciation for the services they provide you.
For Muzan, you chose to order the same as yourself, knowing he preferred healthier options but trusting he would enjoy something you approved.
You already ordered Gyokko to prepare the car, so when your orders are ready, you can just hop in and make a beeline home. As you waited at the counter, you hummed to yourself, glancing around the familiar surroundings of the burger joint.
Once again, a sense of déjà vu struck you, from when you entered earlier and throughout your stay. It's honestly starting to worry you.
"It's nice to see you around here again, my dear."
You turned to the voice—a kindly old lady. "Excuse me?" you asked politely.
The old lady smiled warmly. "It's been quite a while since your last visit."
"Oh, I've been busy these past few days," you replied with a smile. "I really enjoyed my first time here last week."
Confusion crossed the old lady's face at your response.
"Aren't you one of our regulars?"
You frowned, puzzled. "I'm not sure I understand..."
"You've been coming here for years , haven't you? Or am I mistaken?"
Your unease grew visible. "I'm sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else."
Before you could finish, the old lady turned and retrieved a photo from the wall behind her, returning to you with a smile.
"This is you and your fiancé, right?"
She handed you the photo.
In it, Akaza had his arms around your waist, both of you beaming happily.
Your eyes widen in sheer shock.
"What..."
Turning the photo over, you saw a note scribbled on it:
Hakuji Soyama x L/N Y/N - Just got engaged! (03/03/2015)
-
taglist: @bffrrufr @unadulteratedhandsbanditdreamer @unlikelybananawerewolf
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pinbones · 5 months ago
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You go to the dentist. The wall is plastered with advertisements for aesthetic dental surgeries and products. The radio is playing. Its is playing advertisements.
After the dentist you go to the corner shop next door. Its door is covered in faded pictures of ice creams and their prices. Half of these are no longer sold and the rest are more than double the price now. You buy the cheapest crap you need, while listening to adverts on the shop's radio, and bring them to the till. The package of the bread advertises two other types of bread. The till is swamped with last-minute-impulse goods, including vapes. The total leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You have to pay extra for a bag, and the bag reminds you to visit that chain shop again.
You get in your car and turn it on. The radio is somehow still playing adverts. As you drive you pass billboards, handmade business signs, signs tied with zip-ties to railings, ads on the side of buses, ads printed onto the back and sides of cars, tiny ads you can't quite make out peppering the community display board and the lampposts.
You arrive home. The letter slot is wedged open with spam and local business leaflets. You let yourself in and unpack. The Alexa in the kitchen slowly cycles through advertisements, reminders that you haven't bought X in a while and should reorder, and inane headlines. You switch it off at the plug.
You sit down with a snack and turn on the telly. It's playing adverts. You turn off the telly and open Youtube. An unskippable ad plays. The video begins as you take a bite. This video is brought to you by their sponsor.
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gelblasters56 · 3 months ago
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Same Day Leaflet Printing London
Same Day Leaflet Printing London
Leaflets are a great option when it comes to both cost and return on investment. However, there are instances where you might prefer an instant delivery of your pamphlet so that you can start seeing benefits. Don't worry, printing flyers in London is a simple and quick process.
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mo79zz · 1 year ago
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InDesign 2
In this workshop I designed a zigzag fold leaflet that shows my Adobe workshop so far. I learnt how to format my InDesign page to suit the brochure type style I was going for and made sure that the measurements were correct for each fold: 100mm - 100mm - 97mm. This totals up to 297; the length of an A4 page. I had to understand what page showed what as there were folds involved so I needed to make sure my front cover was on the correct section of the page. The layout for each section (left to right) is "inside1, inside2, inside3, flap, back, front". It would get printed on a double sided sheet of paper, so I needed to make sure each part was cohesive to the next.
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Additionally, I also learnt about drop cap, paragraph, character and object styles and their preferences, including font, size, leading, kerning etc. These settings allow you to create a style and apply it to all objects/text without having to change each one manually. This skill will be super helpful when it comes to bigger projects where there is a large body of text needed and they all need to be the same style - including headings/subheadings.
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I really enjoyed this workshop and the thinking behind having to line up each section to make it work as the physical copy opens up and would love to use this style leaflet/brochure in my work in the future.
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reenasingh12 · 2 years ago
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A4 Double Parallel Leaflets
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A4 Double Parallel Leaflets is the perfect choice for you if you are looking to promote and market your brand, an event or new product launch. It’s a professional way to showcase your products and services. This double parallel design allows multiple pages to be viewed at once, offering more flexibility when it comes to displaying information. This leaflet is perfect for highlighting colours, text, photos and other visuals. Its A4 size offers plenty of space for printing detailed information on both sides. It has perforated edges which ensure easy tearing along the seams.
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bestserviceblog · 2 years ago
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Standard Flyers Print
Choose your paper type, size, and whether you want the design to be single or double-sided. Pick your plan for standard flyers and send it to us. We will print and deliver it on time.
📞 020 8144 0304 📧 [email protected]
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Order Now: https://ezprinters.co.uk/product-category/flyers-leaflets/
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digipubu6 · 2 years ago
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28 Feb | B2: Planning your Publication
SAS
Today you will be planning out the content for your publication, based on your Proposal. 
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Overview of publication requirements
There are a few guidelines for you to follow, so please keep these in mind.
Publication can be any format (eg. book, magazine, information guide, puzzle activity book, leaflet, comic, zine, newspaper, foldout posters...)
Any page size (eg. A5, A4, square 20cm x 20cm etc...)*
Minimum 28 inside pages + 4 cover pages.
Any additional pages MUST be in multiples of 4 for printing purposes.
*Foldout posters must be minimum set of 5, A2 in size, double-sided.
Flatplanning helpsheet here.
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TASK 1: Write a bullet pointed list of all the content you would like to cover in your publication. 
For example, if I was creating a magazine, I might include content such as an editors letter, a contents page, a short factfile, an interview with someone relevant, a longer article on a topic, adverts, puzzles etc. 
TASK 2: Consider the publication format you have chosen and how you would like your reader to move through your publication. Write a 200+ word summary about how you plan to organise the order of your content. Explain why ordering your content in this way is best for your readers. 
Tip: a common way to pace a publication is by starting with bitesize content first to ease in the reader, longer form articles in the middle, then shorter content again at the end - think of it like a sandwich.
TASK 3: Sketch out a flat plan on paper for your publication. Click here for help with flatplanning. 
You could pay some consideration to layout design (but this is not too important at this stage). The main purpose of your flat plan should be to essentially map out the order of the sections.
Add all work to your Supporting Document.
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You have 5 weeks until Thursday 30th March to fully complete your publication, before we move on to the remaining products.
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waxonwaxoffprojects · 2 years ago
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Inside the box, there will be a leaflet, like what you get inside medicine boxes with ingredients, side effects, instructions and other details to make this seem as real as I can. Here, I have scanned a folded sheet of paper and placed the two documents of text over each other to look like a double sided print. There is some satire in here as well as as much contextual knowledge needed about the product. I quite like the layout, it’s simple and to the point. This could change or be reworded but for now this will be quite small and hard to read as the box to place it in will be small as Potentia have to include this legally but don’t really want people to read it either. 
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skbsnssspprtsservices · 1 year ago
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justtasia · 1 year ago
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Situatuon update/little story time under cut:
It took me like 40 minutes and honestly I have no idea whether they are willing to hire me or not. I was interviewed by two quiet chill guys which is nice because they doesn't make me more anxious but they were demanding for sure.
I applied for the position of a customer consultant but in a totally different field than one I had worked before. At the beginning, they asked about quite obvious things, such as "what sales indicators are you familiar with", "what the standards of customer service looked up in my previous job", "which of your skills you can use in this job" ect.
Easy.
In second, more practical part they wanted to test if I can use some "marketing witchcraft" (i love to call it that way) like language of benefits to sell phone X instead of phone Y that theoretical client want.
Feel like I could do it better cuz I knew what I want to archieve but got lost in my own explanation in a few moments. I know something about technology, but it's not my main interest. It defenitley wasn't my best performance, but it wasn't the worst one either. Just hope they see that I'm trying my best and I care.
And little offtop: before we got to that, one of them asked me to take out my phone and use it as a requisite X to scene. I honestly didn't expect something like that, but in the morning I unhooked my acrylic straps just to look more like a healthy functioning serious adult and god, I'm so glad I did it. No ideal if they would see anime stuff as professional but it was better for me personally. I swear I would have started laughing my ass off if a 30-something y/o man insisted that he want phone with catboy Reiji and Laito merch. That's just too bizzare.
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^ The acrylics in question. Fun fact, they are glued together with double-sided tape. Firstly I did it cuz they hit each other and made noise with every movement. Then I found od that their backs were poorly secured in production. I also had a Yuma keychain from the same series and the print came off quickly. That tape unintentionally lenghten they livespawn. Little weird at first glance but works!
But that's just my silly thought. Back to the point: After that little roleplay they did another specific thing I wasn't really prepared for. They gave me company's leaflet and told me to remember as many details as possible while we were still having chit-chat. After a few minutes, they started asking me questions about what I remembered. Same as with the previous one - it's hard for me to judge whether they were satisfied enough, because it wasn't perfect either. I focused more on the first casual conversation and because of that my answer was quite accurate or slightly different from the content of the leaflet.
I feel quite mixed but I'm not focusing on thinking abt a negatives yet. If nothing changes by friday or I get a negative response then... Wellp. It is what it is. Psy szczekają, karawana jedzie dalej. As we says. I'll just keep looking.
(Not DL related thing this time)
I'll have a job interview in an hour. Please wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm really stressed out this time and I really need it >.<
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yellowocaballero · 4 years ago
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Human Relations Snippet: Jon and Sasha versus Bad Telenovelas
This is a birthday request from @hihereami who wanted something very Latin American and an excuse to show me her favorite shows. This takes place in early Season 3, before Jude Perry but with Sasha working at the office. Jon fudged some stuff. It features incredibly stupid office dynamics, bad relationships, and a shared history that produced two very different people. Happy birthday, Ami!
CW as usual for Human Relations: explicitly discussed transphobia, references to 19th century racism, and a depiction of a platonic abusive relationship. 
Sasha now understood that she was talking to an expert. 
“Fine,” she said grudgingly, gathering the papers back up. She left out her great outline and timetable, though, because Martin should definitely appreciate it. “But the number one rule here is to keep up an active support system, right? Which means Jon needs more than just you.” Martin gave her a hilariously prissy look, which she responded with an equally prissy one. “He thinks we have a psychic bond or something.” They did but Sasha didn’t want to admit that. “Look, I’ve been harassing Jon for months about how shitty Jonah is. But if he’s going to listen to me, he needs to know that...I guess that I care about him more than I hate Jonah. That I’m not doing it out of spite or with some ulterior motive to get something out of him.”
Martin closed the manila folder, carefully attaching a label on it and writing down their coded filing system on the tab. “You don’t care about him more than you hate Jonah. You are doing this with ulterior motives. But it would be pretty hypocritical of me to care about that, so...he likes television? And he likes hearing about your life and the things important to you. He’s like this historical, cultural, political, anthropological sponge. I mean, he knows everything about everything, but it’s his passion. So if you want to combine the two…”
And, of course, once Martin said that then the answer was obvious.
Sasha liked to be the smartest person in the room.
The problem with people like Sasha was that, very frequently, they were the smartest person in the room. For seventeen years of her life Sasha had been remarkably and thoroughly assured that she would go places, she was really going to make all of us proud, she’s going to take care of us in our old age, Mrs. Pérez’s son just wastes every day with his girlfriend but here you are, studying all day with your complete lack of friends! 
Once she skipped town - well, town, country, Americas, oceans - all of that had been replaced with shiny grades and the bragging rights of Oxford and the implicit looming pressure of her scholarship. Sasha had always been the smartest person in the room. She couldn’t afford anything else - not if she wanted someone to care, not if she wanted to get anywhere in life. 
Every adult was somewhat of a child inside: happily ignoring a toy until it was taken away, at which point they would scream and scream. And when Sasha didn’t feel like the smartest person in the room - or, worse, others didn’t see her as the smartest person in the room - there was nothing tolerable about it. 
Upon retrospect, workplace and academic discrimination, in addition to some healthy insecurity, bothered her so much that she sold her soul to the devil about it, but apparently this was an semi-common occurrence. Abuela had been right. Teach Sasha to doubt her again. 
Mrs. Pérez’s son probably hadn’t accidentally sold his soul to the devil. He and his girlfriend were probably happy with their hard working but low-paying jobs, their cute little smattering of babies, and their mass every week. They’d have long, happy lives, and the amount of life-or-death situations they were put in were probably no more than usual. 
Well. Sasha would literally rather die than do that, and that resolve had been tested very thoroughly. She stood by it. Sasha had never regretted a decision she made in her life, besides the ones that sold her soul to the devil, and also maybe some things about Tim. But most of her decisions were good. And even if they weren’t good, she stubbornly stood by them.  
That’s why this was difficult. For all of Sasha’s insecurity reasons that, to be fair, had mostly drifted into the background of her life while she had been on the run for murder. And because it was Martin. 
“Sasha, I’m not sure what help I can give you.”
Godfuckingdammit.
“Please?” Sasha slid into the seat across from Martin, giving him her best big cow eyes. “Don’t hog the emotional manipulation. You’re the expert in making Jon do what you want, just...work your magic!”
Martin looked up from the statement he was organizing shot Sasha an extremely flat look. Martin was extremely good at looking extremely unimpressed. “Because I’m the one who can magically make people do what I want.” 
Sasha winced. “At least you didn’t sell your soul to a demon about it?”
“I know you tell yourself a lot of people do that to make yourself feel better about doing it, but literally nobody does that.” At Sasha’s double wince, Martin sighed. “Don’t listen to Jonah. You didn’t do anything a normal, non-satanic person wouldn’t do. If I could…” Martin trailed off slightly, staring a little in the distance, before shaking back to himself. “I’m not helping you manipulate Jon. That’s my place in this ecosystem.”
“Then we should team up,” Sasha wheedled. She reached into her briefcase - which nowadays contained little more than alcohol and Statements, she wasn’t sure that Georgie had been a good influence on her - and yanked out the print-outs before slapping it on the table. “See, I did research!”
Martin slid the papers closer to him, leafing through them quickly. Sasha waited for him to look very impressed and appreciative of how socially competent yet intellectual she was, but he didn’t look very impressed at all. “ “Help someone in an Abusive or Controlling relationship”, ‘3 ways to support someone stuck in a controlling relationship’, ‘How can I help someone in a toxic relationship’...”
“You aren’t going to deny it, are you?” Sasha asked heatedly. “Because Tim just does not get what I mean no matter how many leaflets I show him because he ‘framed me for murder’ or whatever -”
“Do not pretend as if you’re forgiven him for the murder thing.”
“I fucking hate his guts over it. I will never, ever forgive either of them.” Sasha’s heart spiked in her chest, and she forced herself to take a few calming breaths. “This is a problem. Jon and Jonah are a problem. I don’t think we’re in a position to take on Jonah right now - even if I am working on it. But Jon is a weak link here. We know he’s impossible to kill -” At Martin’s extremely alarmed look, Sasha quickly elaborated, “ - and I wouldn’t want to, although he would really technically deserve it with all of his human rights violations. It would be far easier, and a better use of our resources, if we got Jon to our side. Then hopefully those two could...blow each other up, or something.”
Martin stared at her, expression implacable. Sasha became abruptly aware that she had just threatened to blow up this guy’s semi-boyfriend, and resisted the urge to apologize. She wasn’t apologetic. This was what she had to do, and Sasha always did what had to be done. It didn’t matter if she hated Jon so much that she wanted him dead, when he would be more useful to her alive. It doesn’t matter if she knew that, deep down, Jon was an exceptionally kind and caring person who loved very deeply, and that who he was now was a product of a great deal of influences mostly out of his control. If he was who Sasha was going to turn into, given enough time. 
She would stick to the plan. Sasha was going to get herself and her Assistants - including Melanie now, for some reason, who still refused to believe them about the psychic vampire thing despite how many times Jon confessed to it - out of this. 
Finally, Martin said, “I’m not going to deny it, Sasha. I’ve printed out all those guides, I’ve read all of the books, I’ve done everything. I’ve been working on this since - I think since I decided that I loved Jon more than I hated him. I’ve got Jon’s trust. And, way more importantly, Jonah is convinced that I’m harmless. He doesn’t pay any attention to me. I think he, like, secretly hates it whenever Jon has someone - whatever. But he is obsessed with everything you do.” At Sasha’s disturbed look, Martin shrugged. “He micromanages. Jon complains about it. I don’t think Jon gets that he really spills the cards on all of Jonah’s plans when he gets drunk and bitches about him.”
Sasha now understood that she was talking to an expert. 
“Fine,” she said grudgingly, gathering the papers back up. She left out her great outline and timetable, though, because Martin should definitely appreciate it. “But the number one rule here is to keep up an active support system, right? Which means he needs more than just you.” Martin gave her a hilariously prissy look, which she responded with an equally prissy one. “He thinks we have a psychic bond or something.” They did but Sasha didn’t want to admit that. “Look, I’ve been harassing him for months about how shitty Jonah is. But if he’s going to listen to me, he needs to know that...I guess that I care about him more than I hate Jonah. That I’m not doing it out of spite or with some ulterior motive to get something out of him.”
Martin closed the manila folder, carefully attaching a label on it and writing down their coded filing system on the tab. “You don’t care about him more than you hate Jonah. You are doing this with ulterior motives. But it would be pretty hypocritical of me to care about that, so...he likes television? And he likes hearing about your life and the things important to you. He’s like this historical, cultural, political, anthropological sponge. I mean, he knows everything about everything, but it’s his passion. So if you want to combine the two…”
And, of course, once Martin said that then the answer was obvious.
*******
Sasha was now willing to admit that Martin was smarter than she was.
It was always kind of a crapshoot when looking for Jon. He was only around the Institute half the time, probably less, and he refused to buy a cell phone so anybody could stay in contact with him. Tim had also flatly refused, because Jon would inevitably go to him for help with figuring it out, and apparently that could take hours. Sasha had volunteered to help Jon with accessing some online archives, and apparently she had explained it so confusingly that Jon was left refusing to touch a computer for a month. 
The farthest they could go was convincing him to take a Jitterbug for emergencies. Tim had taken great pains to explain the LifeAlert function, to Jon’s increasing lack of amusement. When Sasha had explained the adventure to Georgie, a known social media sensation over wine at their weekly girls night, she had found it hilarious and was very impressed. 
“Jon must be really attached to you guys,” Georgie had said, carefully nibbling at her luxury chocolate. Girl’s nights with Georgie were decadent. “I mean, not that he doesn’t talk about all of you nonstop, but he can spend ten years incorporating the Beholding into every piece of technology in the country while willfully refusing to learn how to work a computer.”
Sasha hadn’t missed Georgie’s word choice - deliberately refusing instead of an incapability to learn - but something else in the sentence was stranger to her. “I thought he was all about all kinds of knowledge.”
“I hear that the future can be terrifying for a lot of people,” Georgie had said wisely. “No matter how much of it they experience.”
“Is it terrifying for you?”
“Goodness, no.” Georgie had flashed her a bright grin - not so much a showing of teeth as it was a peek at a bone-white skeleton. “I always know what the future holds.”
 As it stood, Sasha got lucky today. She wasn’t forced to make Jon use his dreaded phone, and as a result she wasn’t forced to understand what the fuck Jon did all day. He was in the Magnus Institute, and when Jon was in the Institute there were three places he could be. 
The Archives, which Sasha had just come from. The Institute Library, occasionally terrifying the graduate students and more frequently helping them write their papers. Sasha had heard that they had communally begun sacrificing one grad student to his hunger per week in exchange for study sessions. Which...she should discourage...whatever, it was probably ethical. Or, at the very least, voluntary. 
The only other location Jon visited was Magnus’ office, where he could spend hours relaxing on the evil little bastard’s couch and annoying him. That was a last resort scenario, and was usually saved for complete and total emergencies.
Thankfully, today, Sasha found Jon in the ‘D’s. He was lying on his back, legs propped up on the bookshelf across from him, reading what looked like a very fascinating philosophy text regarding humanity’s search for aliens that Sasha silently resolved to borrow from him later. He didn’t look up when Sasha approached, so she carefully tipped a book off the shelf above him to fall on his head.
He yelped, dropping his book and sitting upright. He rubbed at his head, scowling, and Sasha saw that he had restyled his hair since the last time she had seen him. It had been growing long, but instead of cutting it and returning to his short twists styled into a loose curtain over his forehead he had pulled it back into a puffy bun. It was...somewhat more fashion forward than Sasha had ever seen from him. He had swapped his greatcoat for a primmer and shorter pea coat. Even his glasses were now thin-rimmed, circular, and kind of stylish. 
“Oh my god,” Sasha said, “has Martin started dressing you?”
“Martin can barely even dress himself,” Jon said automatically. “It was Georgie. She said I have to ‘clean up nice’ if I ever ‘want a man’. What does any of that mean?”
“Isn’t it kind of weird that your wife is setting you up with someone?”
“The concept of monogamy becomes ridiculous after the first eighty years,” Jon said, also automatically. Then Sasha’s words sunk into his brain, and he flushed. “Georgie and I aren’t together right now! And she’s not setting me up with - how can you even consider - what makes you think I’m a homosexual -”
Sasha stared at him flatly. Jon gave up. 
“Just let me know if I need to explain gay shit to you,” Sasha said. “It’ll cost a hundred pounds for me to explain queerness and three hundred if you want to learn about trans issues. Recompense for my emotional labor.”
“Young people think they invented these things. It’s ridiculous.” Jon stored the book back on the bookshelf behind him without looking, before carefully dropping his feet and rolling up. Sasha’s back ached in sympathy. Some people got all of the demon deal luck. “What does Martin say? ‘People are gay, Steven’? Historical figures are gay and trans, Sasha.”
“...are you a historical figure that’s -”
“I apologize for being a cisgender man that’s ruined your life, yes.” Jon arched an eyebrow at her as Sasha spent a second in confused agony over whether or not she was getting through to this guy. “I assume there’s no emergency, considering this conversation, so why are you here?”
There was no way to make this offer sound genuine. Jon would look for the catch - because there was one - or what she was trying to pull. There was something she was trying to pull, but she wasn’t about to admit it. 
In the end, Sasha settled for a fragment of honesty in her heart. Jon always had a way of drawing that out of people. 
“I haven’t watched my telenovelas in years. And I don’t know anybody else who speaks Spanish, and so much of it doesn’t translate that I refuse to watch it subbed with someone else, and they’re something I used to watch every night but now I haven’t seen them in years. And you speak Spanish. So.”
Jon stared at her, blinking owlishly, before his mouth twitched into a small smile. It flowered, moving from a hesitant movement of the lips into a real, close-lipped smile that sent his usually severe and sharp expression into something resembling excitement. Understated enthusiasm over novelty. 
How weird, Sasha thought. That you could be 200 years old and still find excitement over something novel. Over something new. Or, maybe, over someone choosing to trust you with a part of their lives. 
Or maybe it wasn’t that weird. How could someone keep living for that long if something as simple as this didn’t bring you joy? Sasha was only thirty four and she already felt so tired of life, all the time. Either tired or overwhelmed. She wondered if Jon still felt overwhelmed. 
“Sounds like fun,” Jon said. “Can I bring my notebook?”
“...yeah, sure.” Sasha paused, almost uncertain. “Hey. When you get to, like, two hundred -”
“Technically two hundred and twenty.”
“When you get to two hundred and twenty, do you finally feel like an adult?”
Jon stared at her, faintly surprised, before his expression settled into something a little wry. “Anybody who says that they ever feel like an adult is a liar. That’s how you know that Jonah’s full of shit.”
Somehow, it was almost a little reassuring.
First time she had ever said that about Jon. 
********
Their adventures, of course, were quickly throttled by practicalities. 
Sasha suggested just watching it on a laptop, but Jon’s expression had wrinkled in distaste. Jon suggested just watching it at her place, but Sasha liked to pretend that he didn’t know where she lived. Far too much intimacy, and somewhat hilariously Jon seemed very awkward about being alone with a woman in her flat. Also they were still working, technically. 
Martin, overhearing their argument in the Archives as Sasha collected her laptop, suggested Jon’s place, since it was pretty nice and cozy and close to the Archives. This forbidden knowledge, the shining proof that sometimes a little knowledge could be a terrible and traumatizing thing, the sheer mental image that imprinted itself behind her eyelids, shook Sasha to her core.
“For christ’s sake,” Martin said, “we are not fucking.”
“Sounds like someone who’s fucking our boss would say!” Tim called, from his position asleep on the break room couch. Sasha had spent roughly five hours yesterday convincing him that her plan to manipulate Jon’s psychological weaknesses was the most effective defense against evil fear powers that they had, and since he had lost the argument he was now resentfully napping on the couch. “If I walk in on you doing it in the office over a desk I’m going to fucking kill both of you and then myself!”
“Does this place have an HR?” Melanie asked, from where she was sitting at her desk actually trying to work. “Can I report all of you to HR? Please?”
“Jon can hardly fire himself,” Sasha told her sympathetically. “This shit will all make sense if you accept the fact that -”
“God, I get it, enough with the workplace hazing!” Melanie threw up her hands, as Jon unsubtly whispered something in Martin’s ear that made him blush. “You can all drop it now, it was never funny!”
“If Sasha just let me prove it to you,” Jon said, exasperated, “then you can see -”
Simultaneously, all three of them snapped, “Do not!”, cowing Jon immensely. 
Tim was no help in problem-solving, since he was resentful that Sasha was doing this at all. He had been spending almost all of his time lately throwing himself into research into the rituals, into anything that explained the strange and obscure rigor of this universe. Jon only explained as much to them as Jonah let him, and the most he ever did was mysteriously drop off boxes that held a lot of information about clowns and sawdust.
He always seemed a little surly as he did it. Sometimes he looked very guilty. Sasha noticed, every time. She couldn’t afford not to. 
All Sasha could try to do for Tim was help him. Their relationship had already been fractured by the way they kept secrets from each other, and although they both wanted to repair it they were forced to confront the fact that now they had to tell each other things. Accept help. Sasha hated acknowledging that she couldn’t do everything by herself, and Tim hated putting Sasha in the danger he relentlessly and suicidally threw himself into, but neither of them would let the other continue on their self-destructive path. 
It wasn’t sweet. But it was the most solid and tangible proof Sasha had that they loved each other. Maybe it was the most solid proof anybody could have: that, in life or death, they’d choose wherever you were. 
If Sasha followed Tim into whatever dangerous shit he was getting himself into, then he would be more careful. Tim wouldn’t survive it if he lost her, and she knew it. 
Between her and Tim, and Jon and Martin...why did all of their relationships feel like mutually assured destruction?
Eventually, Jon’s solution was, as usual, the worst one. Jon’s solution to every problem always worked, but it was always the one thing that nobody wanted to do and that everyone hated. But anything else was either vetoed or improbable, and Sasha refused to back out once she committed to something, so that was how Sasha stuffed a laptop and an HDMI cable into her bag to trail behind Jon as they rode the elevator up to the third floor. 
The number three rule of the Archives was not relevant right now (let Sasha have two cups of coffee before bothering her about how terrible their lives were). But the number two rule of the Archives was this: don’t fuck with Rosie. They both gave her their brightest grins as they passed, impeccably polite without actually asking if Jonah was inside. Rosie smiled munificently at them and complemented Sasha on her heels. They were in. They were now breaking the number one rules of the Archives. 
The number one rule of the Archives was, of course, this: never talk to Jonah Magnus unnecessarily. 
On the bright side, from this perspective Sasha could see how Jon worked his magic - that is, how he always entered Jonah’s office through kicking the door open and infuriating the other man tremendously. He actually took the time to open the door a crack first, completely silently and almost imperceptibly, before crashing it open in as annoying a way as physically possible. 
“I need your fucking office!” Jon called. 
When Sasha poked her head in behind him, she was treated to the sight of a terrified employee cowering in the hard plastic chair in front of Jonah’s desk. Sasha was well aware how that chair could feel like an electric chair. Across from him, Jonah looked distinctly unamused, already kneading his brow. 
“I’m in a meeting, Jon.”
“Good for you.” Jon pointed at the door, and the employee silently scurried out. “Not anymore. Now fuck off, I need your office.”
Impossibly, Jonah looked even more unamused. “Fucking your Archivist on my desk in the middle of the day is a bit beyond the pale even for you, Jon.”
Sasha was immediately so fucking disgusted that she switched into Spanish and called him a great deal of incredibly rude things for an incredibly long period of time. 
Talking over her, Jon said, “Take out your resentment over 1899 on someone else. We want your television, we’re watching Sasha’s programmes.”
“Right. Like how you and that boy Martin are always watching programmes -”
“Me cago en tu puta madre--”
“Honestly, Jonah, just because you had all of those men over for revision of your manuscripts doesn’t mean everyone’s as euphemistic as you are. And Sasha, that’s remarkably vulgar.”
For the first time, Jonah looked alarmed. “What is she saying?”
“Sólo porque tienes un rabo chiquito -”
“Go learn Spanish.”
“Ms. James, this is a professional office, and -”
“Melanie’s fucking right, we need a fucking HR.” Now this was a matter of pride. Sasha flounced into the office, collapsing onto one of the dumb uncomfortable leather couches facing one of those screens that rich people had in their offices to show their powerpoint slides or whatever. “I’m going to Stare you to death if you don’t leave us alone to watch telly.”
Hilariously, Jonah looked at Jon, alarmed. “Can she do that?”
Jon opened his mouth, before Sasha shot him a look. “She’s progressing amazingly rapidly. At this point, not even I know what she’s capable of.”
What a wingman. Jonah looked faintly uncomfortable, but he went back to his computer anyway instead of doing the rational thing and getting out. “This grant is due in three days, Jon, and I have no time for your little fancies. Do what you will, but leave me out of it.”
Sasha was not thrilled at the prospect of Jonah fucking Magnus hanging out in the background while Sasha and Jon watched telenovelas. She’d be outnumbered by the evil fear demons, for one. But Sasha had a sneaking suspicion, and maybe if she couldn’t genuinely stop this guy’s evil plans she could annoy him to death.
At the very least, it would make her feel better. Sasha was beginning to recognize the value of anything that just made you fucking feel better. Maybe Tim was onto something with constantly being a giant bitch all the time. 
“Ignore that cunt,” Sasha said in Spanish, catching Jon’s attention as she stood up to plug in the HDMI cable and turn on the television. “I got crisps and chocolate in my bag, I’m putting on Marimar.”
“Is she insulting me again?” Jonah asked. “Jon, what’s she saying?”
“I’m afraid I only consume trauma,” Jon said, also switching to Spanish. His accent was fucking bizarre. He sounded like her great uncle, or an even worse version of Sucedió en La Habana. At her boggled look, he elaborated, “The Witness gifted me with understanding of all languages very early in my development, but it bestowed verbal fluency in...1910? Perhaps? I’m afraid that without a little practice and frequent use I’m a little bit stuck there. I was able to beat my Chinese and Russian into sounding modern, but I’m afraid that people now tell me my Chinese is somewhat 1960s and my Russian is fairly 1980s.” He scowled. “Why does modernity change so much?”
“I think telenovelas can fix this for you,” Sasha decided. She paused a beat as Jon sat down beside her, a careful distance away. “The Witness? Is that a weird translation thing? You called it the Beholding last time.”
Jon shifted, a little guiltily. In English, he said, “The term Beholding’s better...it’s more academic, and more people use it…”
“What are you two -”
“Is ‘The Witness’ your word?” Sasha asked, and to her horror she found her tone almost gentle. It was almost easier, in her own words.
This time Jon truly looked uncomfortable, and he shifted back into Spanish - perhaps, Sasha thought, because Jonah could not understand it. “Smirke contributed all of the nomenclature for this, and he never...well, none of Jonah’s little circle liked me very much.”
“Wow, wonder why.”
“Exoticism only gets you so far, I suppose,” Jon joked weakly, before sharply swerving the subject. “I always felt as if it gave me its own name. When I began to understand, really understand what it was and how we could feed each other...I felt as if it told me. And that’s what it told me. So it’s always been my name.”
Hm. Sasha wondered what it was like, to have your religion be - so tangible, so grounded. Sasha believed, and she had faith with all of her heart, but - well, you wouldn’t need faith if you had incontestable proof. Faith was about believing because you knew something in your heart. But Jon...when he had nothing else, maybe, he had this.
“I just put down ‘James’ because I thought it would make that small-dicked asshole more likely to hire me,” Sasha finally offered, her only equivalent for something like this. “Tell you what. Call me James Martinez, and I’ll curse the name of the Witness, okay? If you’d like me to.”
Jon brightened, and for a second Sasha saw her own faith in his brilliant green eyes. “My gift is shared with you, Sasha. Of course you can.”
It was not a gift. It was a terrible and disgusting curse, and it was one that Jon had inflicted upon her. But Sasha was playing nice...and this was knowledge, understanding Jon was knowledge that could save her life one day...and there was something strange about Jon’s hesitant and multi-barbed trust. 
It had to be the trust of somebody who had it betrayed a hundred, thousand times. But he gave it so easily, and he reached out incessantly. Sasha knew lots of people who cared too much, although she had never been one of them - Tim and Martin, for one - but she could already see how it was making them a little bitter and jaded. 
Jon wasn’t. Sasha didn’t know why. 
So Sasha kicked off her heels, tucking her legs underneath her as she pulled up her favorite episode of Marimar on her laptop. It was a comfort show, having context wouldn’t help, she had rights. 
“Okay,” Sasha began, a little aggressively, “we’re starting a lot of the way in, so I have to catch you up. Like a lot of telenovela protagonists, Marimar is a wholesome young girl who lives in a little sad hut shack on the beach and she can’t read. She’s raised by her grandparents and her dog talks. This is the essential premise of the show.”
“Wow,” Jon whispered, “just like me.”
“I - okay, you are not obligated to give me your backstory, but what?”
“Martin keeps calling me a ‘sad little Victorian orphan’,” Jon said defensively. “And dogs talk to me too!”
“...what do they say?”
“If you’d believe it, nothing interesting.” He paused a beat. “But Georgie’s cat is kind of a psychopath, if that helps.”
“That’s a stereotype against cats,” Sasha accused. “Just because humans don’t understand cat body language -”
“Oh, no, cats are lovely, my favorite animal. But the Admiral’s kind of a freak.”
“If you two are going to sit here and trash talk me in my own office,” Jonah said, aggravated, “then please at least take it outside.”
Actually, this was a great idea.
Sasha ran through the plot of Marimar, down to the love interest with the terrible chest hair (Jon and Sasha then got into an argument over chest hair that was so heated that Sasha suspected Martin had chest hair), the evil step-mother (they both agreed that women in soaps tended to fall within the madonna/whore complex), and the weird amounts of humiliation. Sasha loved to hate Mr. Douchey McChesthair in this one - he wooed Marimar and promised to raise her up from poverty, but he ended up ditching her when she wasn’t refined enough for him. She wins him back at the end with her nice dresses and inherited money, and they settle down with a baby and a big house. Sasha always hated the ending. Marimar should have become a career woman. 
“It’s massively cheesy,” Sasha warned, finally playing the episode and letting the cheery theme song play, “so don’t sit here and point out the logical inconsistencies. We know. It’s part of the experience.”
But Jon just arched an eyebrow, unbuttoning his own pea cot to throw over the back of the sofa and lounge in his seat. “Watching telenovelas, in the office of the Director of the facility where you work, with his boss, in London, is the experience? And we’re all - how do you put it - evil fear demons?”
“You haven’t met my auntie,” Sasha said darkly. But she ended up shaking her head too, picking at her stockings a little. “The experience is...eleven pm, and the whole house is dark. The kitchen light is on, this flickering yellow thing that pops and buzzes. There’s cicadas outside, and somewhere you can hear someone playing music too loudly. Dad’s in his ripped up armchair, snoring. Mom’s on the couch, reading a magazine. They’re only half-paying attention, but it’s late, and you feel like you never get enough time with them. So you sit on the couch next to Mom, and because neither of them say anything you watch the show with all of your attention, just happy to be near them...it’s family bonding, you think. It feels like it.”
Jon was silent, staring at her. Not fixedly, or intensely - just looking, as if he was waiting patiently to see if she would say anything else. But Sasha trailed off, picking at her stockings, until she forced herself to stop. She didn’t want to say anything else. She was worried that he would know what she wasn’t saying. He always did.
“My grandmother couldn’t read,” Jon said finally, and Sasha fought the surprise. Jon never talked about this, not in any specific words. “But she would darn clothing by the fire at night. She did it for the neighborhood and earned some extra money.”
“What about you?” Sasha asked, hoping it was a safe topic. “What did you do?”
Jon grinned at her, sharp and amused. “I got into trouble.”
They both turned their attention back to the television, and Sasha silently mouthed the words along with the screen as Jon paid rapt attention. 
It was later in the show, when Marimar was showing up all of the people who did her dirty when she was poor. She had a fine dress, lingering on the arm of her rich and kind of creepy father, and she walked around with her head held up high. Her old husband who treated her terribly saw her at the opera and he was stunned by how hot and cool she was now. 
“Good for her!” Jon said abruptly. “Go find someone better, Marimar!”
“Oh my god,” Sasha groaned. “She ends up with him!”
“What!”
Quicker than Sasha would ever have expected, Jon got wrapped up in the episode. He gasped with her at the right parts, cheered at the screen whenever Marimar said something particularly sassy, and they booed whenever Douchey McChesthair showed up. 
When Sasha glanced behind her - not that she did - she saw Jonah fixedly ignoring them. He was gritting his teeth a little. Every so often he would glance at the screen, obviously look terribly confused, then go back to his computer. 
When the credits rolled Jon declared this second-hand trauma, which terrified Sasha deeply but raised interesting questions about her own future diet. 
“It’s about the humiliation, fear, and voyeurism,” Jon told her. “Supernatural trauma and devastation tastes rather similar to these telenovelas.”
“...what do they taste like?”
Jon thought hard. “Taste, but if it was a feeling.”
“...what’s the -”
“What’s the feeling you have?”
Sasha was forced to concede the point, and put on another episode. 
In this one, Marimar’s new dad tied tragically, and she very cunningly has him sign all of his money over to her. Sasha cheered her on very enthusiastically, and Jon agreed that Marimar was the definition of girlboss, but he found it kind of a dick move. 
“I thought you hated pretentious, old money rich white Britons,” Sasha accused. She knew that Martin had been working on him and trying to convert him to socialism,, but it was slow going. 
“I do hate entitled, old money people,” Jon said shortly. “But it’s hardly illegal to work your way up the social ladder and improve your station in life. Marimar isn’t putting the work in, she’s just inheriting all of this blood money. If she doesn’t make something of her life then what’s the point in all of that suffering?”
“You do know how social mobility is a lie fed to the lower class by the upper class to keep them complacently participating in the system, right?” 
“I’m not saying many people do it,” Jon said, ignoring Marimar’s grotesquely fake sobbing, “but it’s possible. I’ve met plenty of people who worked hard and became successful.”
“Yeah, and those people were lucky. Most of us just sit around in poverty and suffer.” Sasha rolled her eyes, unwrapping her chocolate bar. “Not all of us can be Dr. Faust.”
“You didn’t sit around,” Jon said, turning to face her. Sasha didn’t meet his eyes, focusing on her chocolate instead. “You were smart, you worked your way up, you got your scholarship, and now you’re part of something far greater than yourself. You took what happened to you and you used to make you stronger, just like I did. Anybody can do it if they work hard enough.”
Sasha’s teeth clamped down on the chocolate.
Abruptly, stupidly, she got angry. 
“I’m not better than the thousands of other trans women who got kicked out, Jon,” Sasha snapped, but Jon didn’t flinch. “I’m just luckier! I know I worked hard, but I’m not more - more worthy of what I have than the brave women back home who have nothing. And I’m not going to stomp on them to make myself feel better like you do!”
“I do not -” Jon started, outraged, but Sasha cut him off. 
“You tell yourself that you worked hard for the security, money, education that you never got as a child! But you deserved all of that! That’s shit that anybody who lives deserves. But because you think of it as some kind of stupid reward, then it’s something that can be taken away. And when what you have can be taken away at any moment, then you have nothing!”
She cut herself off abruptly, unwilling and incapable of saying anything more. There were lines you couldn’t cross with Jon, and lines that she didn’t deserve to cross no matter how callous he was. She couldn’t accuse him of forgetting where he came from, or of betraying his people. Sasha knew well that Jon had never forgotten, not for a second. 
He had just - twisted everything around. He had to justify to himself what he’d done, so he’d taken the truth and molded it to fit his own desires and call it holy. 
It had killed her. It had killed her, how Jon told her that they were the same, but he did all of this shit to her anyway. But maybe that was no surprise: Jon hadn’t done anything to her that he hadn’t done to everybody else, and he hadn’t made any justifications to himself about his behavior towards her that he hadn’t made about everybody else. 
You couldn’t live like he did with emotional honesty. Good people could do bad things - Sasha knew that better than anyone - but it required a truly disgusting level of willful blindness and cowardice that Sasha had never tolerated. 
“Nobody gave me being a woman,” Sasha whispered, too full of - something, to even look at Jon. “I didn’t take it from anyone. I didn’t steal it. It was something that I always deserved, and that I always was. And because of that, nobody will ever take it away from me.” She exhaled heavily, forcing herself to stop shaking. “Nobody can make me something I’m not. Not even you.”
Jon stared at her, toxic green eyes wide and something foreign in his expression. It looked almost as if he believed her. Ha. “Sasha, I -”
“I swear, it’s like you two are making an effort to be as intrusive as possible. Jon, can’t you control your own Archivist?”
Jon almost jumped, as if he had forgotten that Jonah was in the room at all. Something in his chest seized closer, and a year ago Sasha would have just called it a twitch. 
It wasn’t. It was an aborted, concealed cringe, seen only once before. But there was only one other person in this world who cared about that. 
“Jonah!” Jon said, switching back to English immediately. “Sorry, we were just - having a really heated discussion about - uh, about -”
“Brujeria and how it changed when adopted by members of the Catholic church,” Sasha said smoothly. “I think his weird compulsion thing is just advanced witchcraft.”
“Yes! Yes, of course - you remember, I took inspiration from p - pagan rituals, you know, for our early work. I think you called it -”
“Bizarre?” Jonah asked, arching an eyebrow. “Jon, there were bones involved.” Jon silently pointed at the human skull taking up proud residence in Jonah’s cabinet of curiosities. “That’s different, a friend gave me that.”
“ ‘Have you seen Barnabas lately, Jonah’, I said. ‘He hasn’t seemed to have written lately’, I said. ‘Have you grown distant?’, I said. And you said -”
“Yes, he was very distant,” Jonah said dryly. “You hardly complained. You hated the man.”
“I hated all of your friends,” Jon said. He was smiling, once again relaxed with his arm spread over the back of the couch. Sasha furiously bit into a chip. “Didn’t mean you let them die.”
“Yes, but he was your least favorite, so I figured there was no harm done there.”
Improbably, Jon brightened. He smiled again, a curved slash of the mouth that had always been reserved for Jonah. It always spoke of secrets, a private joke. “You do care.”
“I’ll care more if you stop chattering when I’m trying to get us funded for another cycle.”
“Whatever.” Jon turned to face the screen again, letting the smile fall into a curiously blank expression. “Next episode, Sasha?”
“Sure,” Sasha said slowly. “But it only gets worse from here.”
 It would never stop being weird how - well, maybe that was no wonder. How could Sasha begin to understand a relationship as strange and esoteric as theirs? Two hundred years in the making, forged by cruelty and passion? Two lives, intertwined so closely they fed in a parasitic loop, starving the other to feed themselves? 
“Oh, I don’t mind a little tragedy,” Jon said. He spoke in English, vowels carefully rounded, posh accent meticulously stretching his words. “It’s the most entertaining.”
Sasha thought about print-outs. She thought about a many-eyed, malicious tumor of fear and pain consuming humanity alive. She thought about the face of God, and the tired and resigned face of Martin. When Sasha spoke, she stayed in Spanish.
“Even though she gets married to Mr. Douchey McChestHair at the end?”
“I’m sure he’s not all bad,” Jon said, and wouldn’t say anything more. 
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fanonical · 4 years ago
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Day 1 of the 2020 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar
today, we are opening the first door!
this year’s advent calendar is specifically themed around the Yule Ball, which hopefully will lead to more specific and unique builds compared to some of last year’s. i’m looking at you, The Same Flag Packaged Four Individual Times But In Different Colours.
i must admit, i’m very excited for the rest of the month after opening door 1 to find...
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[image description: a lego model of a candle on a stool, and a minifigure of Harry Potter in a dress robe tuxedo, holding his wand in one hand and a leaflet for the Yule Ball in the other. image description end.]
it’s Harry Potter! the boy who lived! he’s here, no need to open any more doors, because the man of the hour has arrived, and my-oh-my does he look dashing! as shown in the photo, Harry’s all dolled up in his dress robes for the party. he comes with a wand, a brick-printed leaflet for the Yule Ball, and a candle on what i imagine is supposed to be a little wooden stool.
it didn’t come out well in the photo (just like last year, curse it!) but he’s complete with a little lightning bolt scar on his forehead. i haven’t attached a photo showing this, but his face is also double-sided, which is pretty common for minifigs these days but is still a nice touch to be able turn our hero from “content” to “miffed” in exactly as many seconds as it takes to wipe the pizza grease off my fingers and twist this teenager’s head the entire way round like a damn owl.
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[image description: another photo of lego Harry, this time with an angry expression. image description end.]
i’m really happy with this door! i’m starting to rack up quite a lot of Harry minifigs due to the amount of sets people buy me (i actually have a spare one of these calendars lying around) but this is the first Yule Ball themed one i’ve ever had.
10/10. a perfect boy in a perfect bow-tie.
also! last year i gave each door’s build a 1-to-10 rating, but this time i’m also going to give them a secondary rating, following the format of O.W.L results, based on how they compare to their equivalent build/door number the year before. specifically, i’m very excited for today’s door, because i said the following in my review of last year’s Harry:
i wish he had legs that were bendable — most child minifigs don’t, so it’s understandable, but i’ve seen a few that do, like my LEGO Stranger Things set, so i’ve become a beast of Want and Decadence as of late.
and this Harry totally does have bendable legs! i’ve found out since last year that there are actually three sizes of legs for minifigs -- small, for children (or sometimes short characters, like Dobby or Flitwick), large for adults/older teens, and a new medium size introduced a couple years back specifically for Harry Potter characters (but then reutilized in other sets). the small legs are still as static and unmoving as ever, but these medium ones are just as articulated as the standard minifig legs!
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[image description: the Harry minifig lying on his back, waving his arms and kicking his legs like a silly little infant]
i know this is a super silly thing to think is awesome, but it provides me with (a) exactly what i asked for and (b) a way to further distinguish between all the other Harries i have. for that alone, i’d have to give an Exceeds Expectations, but last year’s Harry was simply a minifig alone, wheras this one comes with a stool, a candle AND an a Yule Ball leaflet. for that, i reward this door with Outstanding.
thanks for reading, and sorry it’s late! today’s should be up within a little while!
stay tuned for Door 2 in like thirty minutes when i’ve written the review for it i guess oops!
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robbenjon · 4 years ago
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Promote your events with our single-sided or double-sided promotional flyer printing services. Design & print colourful flyers, leaflets, & pamphlets online.
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sheffieldleaflet · 4 years ago
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THE BEST PLACE TO DISTRIBUTE FLYERS
We live in the digital age and the age, but still need a variety of printed marketing materials , including flyers . Your seasonal and promotional flyers must be targeted to your demographic, and be designed cleverly and engagingly. Before designing, you must consider where to distribute the flyer. For best results, each ad has a different promotion code flyers location, so you can calculate the return on investment.
STACKABLE DROP
When you travel, do not allow your eyes open to find the location of a local business to leave flyers or business cards. It usually includes coffee shops, restaurants, community centers, co-working spaces, laundromats, and libraries.
Be strategic when choosing where to keep the flyer. Any place within walking distance is a great place because it will alert customers of nearby businesses. If it is more strategic outside your neighborhood, choose a drop-off location frequented by your crowd.
Don’t just throw things away, but first ask the owner or store manager’s consent, and then get their consent. Make sure to leave the business card and take it, because you might think that the next flyer might be a cross-promotion between the two companies. Leaflet distribution is also very helpful to any business because everyone need low cost and big return so this process plays an important role as well ..
DIRECT MAIL
There are two main strategies for sending flyers directly. The first is to mail to your current customer list. If you are a B2B or B2B2C company, be sure to send flyers to exactly who you want
The second strategy to work with local direct mail marketing have local customer service or your preferred area of customer database companies. For the greatest return on investment, choose a company that targets mailing lists instead of sending mail to everyone with an address.
SEND FLYERS
Direct leaflet distribution is always effective. Just make sure you understand the local leaflet distribution laws. Then, choose a strategic time and place to distribute the flyer. For example , in high-traffic lunch breaks or peak times. Some options to consider include:
Advertise the flyer during checkout, and put the products to be promoted in each customer’s schoolbag
The final check flyers and stay in your restaurant or bar
Distribute flyers while standing outside the store or at the nearest street corner
If allowed, place the flyer under the windshield of the car
With permission, go to local community events or shopping centers to distribute flyers
If allowed in your area, send the flyers door to door to local houses and businesses
Add the flyer to the gift bag of your sponsored local event
Distributed at community events, industry events or trade shows you participated in
BLADE
In addition to advertising in local or industry newspapers or magazines, you can also explore ways to add flyers as inserts. This usually gives you larger and cheaper advertising options than printing directly in the publication. Small local publications even allow you to add inserts for free.
By adding inserts, you are responsible for your own printing, so you can print on your own printer paper selection and high gloss or matte . You can even print double-sided ads. Of course, you need to submit a design that meets the requirements of the publication guidelines, but compared to traditional advertising options, you are much less restricted. For best results, please direct the flyer to the readership, season or publication. On the one hand, are you sure that your current advertising is sufficient? On the other hand, do you think your existing advertising model is sufficient to meet the needs of target customers?
Leaflet distribution (promotion to families) is still one of the most effective ways to attract potential customers, even in the Internet age. Leaflet distribution can be targeted, and it looks more individual.
​Your restaurant may be known in a small area, but what about a larger area?
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reenasingh12 · 2 years ago
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A2 Folded A4 Leaflets
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Make a statement with our high-quality A2 folded A4 leaflets! These leaflets are very compact and concise which make them very easy to read and carry around. Our premium leaflet printing service is not only affordable but also produces superior-quality results. The leaflets feature full-colour double-sided print, providing high-definition images and vibrancy. They have an easy-to-fold design that makes them perfect for mailshots as well as handouts at exhibitions or trade shows. Recipients are less likely to find them daunting and so are more likely to have a quick look at what you’re offering.
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